We're going wandering

All aboard

2008-04-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

In both Cambodia and Thailand the vehicle of choice is the moped. I used to think this was quite a restrictive vehicle in the UK. Only for one or two people, not very fast and you can't really carry anything. I couldn't have been more wrong. So far Clare and I have seen mopeds with:

- about 30-40 live ducks hanging from it.
- Several bails of hay on the seat
- baskets that have pets or even children in them
- Four grown men
- Two people with arms full of shopping
- Two blokes where passanger is covering eyes of driver

But best of all, and not at all rare, one with five people on it. Dad, mum, three kids with Dad driving whilst talking on the mobile and mum carrying the shopping.

It's fashion....of a sort

2008-04-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a strange fashion phenomenon in Cambodia for the ladies.

Wearing pyjamas as everyday clothing. Not just any old PJ's but the Mini Mouse PJ's. I don't think it'll catch on.

The long and winding road

2008-04-01T01:26:00.000-07:00

After being away for as long as we have, you have some unique travelling experiences, but the Bangkok to Siem Reap (Cambodia) journey was simply the worst journey of my life.

Starting at 7:30 we got the coach from Bangkok for the start of our journey and the first four hours to the border were relatively trouble free. Then it all went a little pear shaped. Numerous people (including our bus driver) tried to sell us entry visas into Cambodia for twice the price. Once we finally got through to the Cambodian side, our bus appeared to have left us behind although it eventually turned up.

The road from the border to Siem reap is notorious for being under developed and rocky, and it didn't fail in its reputation. Occasionally there was tarmac but for the most part its an uneven, bumpy dirt track (Apparentley a Cambodian airline is paying the govenment off to keep it that way encouraging people to fly instead......allegadly). This road is bad enough at the best of times, let alone when it's raining. When that happens the road then turns into a muddy sludge which took us from a heady 30k per hour down to 10kph. That is until we reach one particular corner. For some reason this corner was banked at either side, which made it even more challeging. SO much so that it had caused three rather large dumper trucks slid of the road into ditches.

After all of that we finally got into Siem Reap around 10:30pm, only for the police to pull the coach over and try to extort money out of the bus driver. By 11:30 we finally made it to bed.

Hey Mister. Where you going?

2008-04-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

After beautifully serene experiences in Malasia and then Phi Phi Island in Thailand, we arrive in Bangkok. It's an assult on the senses. I've never been anywhere so busy in all my life. Just crossing the road is to take you life into your own hands! It's the only place I know where on a one way street, vehicles travel in three different directions and then your tuk tuk drives straight through the middle of them. Crazy.

I hope you're sitting comfortably

2008-04-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

I've just downloaded another load of photos on to CD. I reckon we'll have around 7-8000 by the time this is all over. If you're invited round to see our holiday snaps - You better get comfy!

Suck in the gut

2008-03-22T02:34:00.001-07:00

So, we're in Indepdence Square, KL being all touristy when I spied three idian fellas walking around together, taking photos of the sights as well. Nothing odd there. That was until one of them, stood in front of a momument to have his photo taken and took of his shirt. He stucked in he's gut as much as he could, put he's hands on he's hips in a iron man kind of pose and smiled. Photo got taken, back on went the shirt and off they all walked - Random.

Lumper Lumper, stick it up your jumper

2008-03-22T02:21:00.001-07:00

Kuala Lumpur is an interesting place.

Great arcitecture, stunning shopping centres. A real technilogical masterpiece. Yet, it does smell like a dirty toilet, and at times it's really overwhelming. It's a very bizzare contrast, yet there is something a little bizarre about KL - Period.

We went to the Petronas Towers, it was the biggest in the world, until some bloke in Tiepei came along and made a bigger one - Cheeky git.

The tour of the towers is free, which is really rare for......well, anything. But it does come at a non-finacial cost. You have to sit down to the all singing, all dancing, ain't petrol great, Petronas corporate video.....in 3D!!!! Who decided that 3D would make this any more interesting or convincing obviously had more money than sense, but it did mean Clare and I could wear 3D specks, which was actually more entertainment than the video itsself. We also had to go through several security scanners, which in this day and age is understanderble, that was until they confiscated our umbrella. Not the weapon of mass destruction I was expecting.

Food glorious food.

2008-03-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

The food in Asia is ACE!

There's so much to choose from and it's so cheap!

In many places there are areas called Hawker Markets, which are market stalls for food. Now this is my kind of shopping!!!!! You can all kinds of varieties from all regions of Asia. Wash it down with a can of cheap beer and you're laughing!

The one thing alot of the food does seem to have in common is spice. Now, I can been a bit of a fairy when it comes to spicy food, but Clare's a real conisseur. When I'm crying a turning purple, Clare will quite happily inform me that the taste of ginger really compliments the meal.

"I'll have to take you're word on that darling. At the moment I'm struggling to stop my head from exploding"

Even here though, Clare's finding one or two of the meals a little on the hot side. I don't know what she thought of them 'cause I was running to dunk my head in a bucket of water.

Up above the streets and houses, Youngs are flying high.

2008-03-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

Once again the Youngs have blasted across the skies in a metal tube to their next destination. Saying goodbye to Oz for good this time, we we're off to Asia.

First stop - Singapore.

I don't get Singapore. Is it a city, is it a country? It's so small on every map we have, that it's covered by a small dot. Anyway, one thing I do know......it's damn humid - Cue sweat.

Your blog's not a good as it use to be.

2008-03-01T20:48:00.002-08:00

Ain't that the truth.

Apologies for not updating the blog much over the last couple of months and when I have it's not been that funny or interesting. For some reason I really just can't get into it. We've got six weeks left when we'll be going around Asia, and I'll try really hard to finish it with a flourish!

Mmmmmmmmmm my precious

2008-03-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is amazing. End of story!

When watching Lord of the Rings, Clare and I both thought bits of the scenery must have been enhanced or pieced together from different locations but it's not, it's all here and it blows you away.

Such an amazing contrast from what we had scene in Australia, we had 10 days to look around as much of the South Island as possible. In the next new van, we were off like a rocket. Now, New Zealand is no where near as big as Australia but the winding roads mean that you are driving for just as long. We got to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook on day one and carried on from there. We got to Milford Sound, Fox Glacier, Franz Joseph, Queenstown and Clare also managed to go hang gliding.

Working 9-5......yeah, chance would be a fine thing.

2008-03-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

As well as accommodation being in short supply in Sydney work was even shorter. After looking for a couple of days a coming up with nothing, speaking to several other travellers things started getting desperate. We had planned on three months of work to get money together for our trip to New Zealand and Asia. Now I setting the scene here to help justify our eventual place of work. We got a call from an agency that there was a job available for Clare and I, it wasn't ideal, but it was work. It was working in a call center, which I was fine with, Clare's done it before and I've known plenty of people who have done it. It was more what we were doing whilst we were there. We were working in outbound telesales......selling American Express credit cards. Noooooooooooo. I was about to become everything I hated. I think it's great if people can avoid using credit cards and I'm rubbish at sales. This ain't gonna be pretty.

It's raining men.

2008-03-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Sydney and Christmas spells one thing - Backpackers!

As we got closer to arriving in Sydney it became apparent that even in mid November that we weren't the only ones looking for somewhere to stay for a couple of months. Accommodation was in short supply but we managed to get a nice little room, 20 mins walk away from the city. Nice. Now, between our room and the city is Oxford street. Neither Clare or I were really aware of Oxford street and its' reputation before we arrived. It did become very clear, very quickly however. Lots of men walking very little dogs was the first clue, bars looking out onto the street that had just blokes looking out and then, possibly the biggest giveaway, rainbow flags all the way down the high street. It really is an eye opener!

And they're off.

2008-03-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Once the trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide finished we made our way to Melbourne. Time for another Wicked Van, which was fine, until it started raining and we found out the hard way the their appeared to be a hole in our roof. After some very dodgy and temporary repair work by yours truly we were off. Now Melbourne can be considered Australia's second city behind Sydney, but don't say that out loud. Melbourne likes to consider itself as the intellectual, artisan capital of Oz. There's plenty of cafes and culture, but our main focus was on one thing. The Melbourne Cup. One of the biggest horse races in the world, the Melbourne Cup is made up of four days of racing with hundreds of thousands of people attending spending their hard earned cash. We weren't in Melbourne for the main event, but got tickets for the Saturday event The Emirates Stakes Day, other wise known as the Family Day. This sounded great until we arrived. You have never seen so many kids dressed up like they were auditioning for boys bands in all your life. It was unreal and there was an unhealthy amount of strutting. I even had to wear a wrist band to show that I was over 18 so that I could get a beer.

That 70's show

2007-12-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

After Uluru, we carried on down south stopping at Cober Pedy.

Now, for those of you that don't know, Cober Pedy is a famous Opal mining town. IT has to have a lot of opals because there's absolutely no other reason to live there! But the reason most tourists go there is not to see the opals, it's to see how people live. Because it's so damn hot and barren there, many of the houses are actually built into the rock faces and are essentially under ground keeping them and the occupants cool all year round. We got to look round one of the houses, which was interesting. Now, I don't dispute that the people who actually live here have it extremely tough and have to endure harsh conditions, but come on, sort out the 70's decor. It was like being in a time warp. I was waiting for the Brady bunch to appear round the corner!

Climb any mountain.

2007-12-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

From Alice Springs we booked a 6 day trip to take us down through the centre of Oz to Adelaide. This was where we were to take in one of the world's most iconic natural wonders, Uluru, or Ayres Rock to you and me.

We spent most of the morning driving back and fourth through Alice picking up various passengers for the trip. With 24 of us in tow, the journey began.

This was proper Australia. The roads were red and dusty, the sky was clear and the heat haze was rising from the road. This was the outback. Strange then that in this context, the fact that we were a coach full of Irish, German, Korean and of course, English.

Our trip was to start with the biggest attraction first, Uluru and the Olgas. We'd then head south to Cober Pedy and Flinders ranges to name a few. Now, I had mixed feelings about Uluru well before we got there. One, we'd travelled a long way into barren Australia to see a what essentially was a rock in the ground, not just that, a sacred rock. I'd seen it so many times on TV, I was a little worried that it might not live up to expectation. Secondly, there was the question of whether to walk up it. As I mentioned, to the Aboriginals Uluru is a sacred rock, part of their heritage and fundamental to their beliefs. In their eyes walking up it is a big no, no. But, it's also a major tourist attraction, so you are actually allowed to climb it, if it is open and you've got the energy and will power to do it.

So, what to do. First of all, I thought, I'm gonna climb it. Then I heard about the aboriginals beliefs in the rock, and I thought, no I won't climb it. Then I saw it, and thought, yes I am.....then no I'm not. Phew. Yes, no, yes, no. Blimey this was getting stupid. Then we found out it was shut. Decision made.

Are you man or a mouse?

2007-11-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Alice Springs. The place where men are hard as nails and the place takes no prisoners. Well, not exactley.

Alice Springs is actually quite modern and the reputation of being a hard and difficult place seemed to be slightly unfounded. It's actually quite nice. Now I must add that we were only there for one night before our trip to Adelaide so it could be that all the hard arses were having a night off, but it didn't seem all that bad. It was a tad dusty though so atleast part of the reputation remains in tact.

Alice Springs. Not that bad, just a little dusty.

Something hot and spicy????

2007-11-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

Needing a few bits a pieces for dinner, Clare and I found a small supermarket in a very small town on the Great Ocean Road. Seeing a couple of ingredients and knowing the facilities that we had on the camp site, Clare decided that we were going to have Indian. Get in, was my immediate thought as I hadn't had an Indian in ages.

We got just about got all of the necessary bits and pieces together (Which was difficult in a) a shop of that size and b) in a country that doesn't stock much in the way of ethnic cooking in supermarkets (Compared to the UK anyway). Clare was desperate to have poppadoms with the meal so we hunted high and low throughout the store (which was actually only about three-four isles). I had been less than confident from the start that we would find any, but Clare, determined as ever, carried on trying. Approaching a young, shop assistant of Eastern Asian origin (very PC) Clare asked very forwardly if they stocked poppadoms. The assistant, strangely, appeared to be quite taken aback by this request, but replied that they did and that they were at the front of the store. Clare, clearly excited by this, looked at and said, "YES, they've got some". This seemed to make the assistant even more uncomfortable. They walk through the store to the front, and the assistant presented Clare with her request, a shelf full of CONDOMS. Clare confused, then laughed and said "POPPADOMS....for an Indian meal?" The penny then dropped with the assistant "OOOOOoooooh.......no we don't have any".

Whale world, whale world. Party time. Excellent

2007-11-06T20:16:00.001-08:00

Near Albany, right down the bottom of the West Coast is Whale World. This sounded like an interesting place to visit and learn about Whales, their habitat and which whales can be seen where. WRONG. It turns out that this place was the last Whaling station in Oz and this was the place that once the Whales had been caught, were chopped up into little pieces, stuck in an oven and oil then extracted. Not the kind of Whale world we were expecting!

Saying that, it was quite interesting and did provide a different perspective on the subject. They also heavily promoted saving the whales and conservation, which was great.....apart from one of these conservation videos was shown in one of the old ovens they used to cook the whales pieces.

...and now for something completely different.

2007-11-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

After a long and interesting trip we've arrived in Perth.

The problem with arriving in a large city is that you start to run out of things to do that are new and different. There's always museums, galleries and that but it does become a little repetitive. So Clare and I made an effort to do something new and different in Perth. With that in mind we went into tourist information and looked at various fliers in a quest for something new. And then we saw a billboard. What it was advertising was definitely something that we had not seen on the trip, was unlikely to be seen on the rest of the trip and was certainly different. We agreed that we should go and take a look. So we did.

20 minutes later, Clare and I were paying to go into SEXPO 2007. Funnily, this hadn't been mentioned as a attraction at the tourist information centre but it certainly seemed to draw a crowd. Many of the crowd we giggling 20 year old blokes or slightly eccentric looking couples but we ventured in nonetheless.

The hall was full of stalls selling books, videos and 'equipment' for the disconcerting consumer. I think the one thing that stood out (If you'll excuse the pun) was the guy painting peoples portraits......in the nude.....with his privates. Not something you'd see at the Tate gallery. I just wonder what the guys' thought process was when he came up with the idea.

"I'm quite a good painter but I need an angle......."

This could get a little messy

2007-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Having another week left with the van we decided to drive past Perth (Our final destination) and look at the bottom section of WA. We went to the Margaret River, which is like Wine mecca for WA. A very up market area with lots of wealth looking, maturer couples, our Cat woman wicked van blended in quite nicely.

Being in an area famous for it's wines we decided to take a little wine tour. We signed up and were picked up at 10am the very next morning. It was to be a day of wine, chocolate and cheese tasting, with a small in dependant brewery thrown in there for good measure. Now, for those of you that don't know, Clare doesn't drink but I happy volunteered to take up the slack. As I say, we were picked up at 10am and went to a few other places to pick up others. By 11am, I had my first taste of wine. Now in a taster session you only get around 20ml of wine, which may seem tight but as the day progressed I was quite pleased that this was the case. We spent around 45 mins at our first vineyard where we tested a sparkling white, two whites, two reds and a port. A hell of a start to the day! Clare was quite happily smelling and swirling the wines, and I was quite happy drinking them. What I didn't realise was that we had another 4 vineyards to go and all were testing two whites, two reds and a port. By vineyard three, things were starting to get a little blurry and I certainly wasn't the only one!

Once it was time to come home it was like a grown ups version of a 18-30 holiday............which is exactly the same!

Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got.

2007-10-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

On our way to Monkey Mia, we stopped at Hamelin Pool to see something quite amazing. At Hamelin Pool is a colony of Stromatalites. Now, to the untrained eye, Stromatolites are a loads of rocks in some shallows of water. To those in the know though, these rocks are almost identical to organisisms that existed more than 1900 million years ago and give us clues into the biulding blocks of life. The stromatolites were over 3500 million years old and were still living - WOW. Now, as amazing as this was, it was a little hard to see past them just being rocks.

The day we nearly died

2007-10-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Six months in and it's finally happened. We've encountered our first snake! It was a good 10 to 15 centimeters long and, although it can't be confirmed that he was poisonous, had a look in its eye that said "you don't want to be coming any closer pal". Ironically I'd nearly stepped on the fella thinking it was a small stick, but thankfully my razor sharp instinct told me otherwise. I jumped into a defensive stance and told Clare to stop moving, knowing that any sudden movements could send this potential killing machine into a wild frenzy. Clare looking somewhat bemused, looked at me, then the snake, and then back at me. We had to get past and only careful and slights movements would ensure our safety. "Just slowly walk around the edge of him" I said. I demonstrated this by slowly sliding round the other edge of the path and past the snake. Clare was a little more blase about the situation, strode past him saying "Isn't he cute". Once she was safely past we continued walking. Both I and the snake exchanged glances knowing that today was not a good day to die.

Let's talk about sex baby.

2007-10-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

There's a very familiar pattern when you travel Oz, especially when you enter the bigger towns and cities. The streets have a familiar sights, namely betting shops, RSL's (Sort of like a working mans club) and........sex shops, and there's plenty of them. The irony of this is that every third advert on the radio is for premature ejaculation and impotence problems. Is this coincidence or are our aussie cousins struggling???????? The radio ads claim that Nasal Technology can help cure the problems. Quite what your nose has to do with it I'm not sure but hey....I ain't no doctor!

That's a big 10-4 rubber ducky

2007-10-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Because the West Coast is quite empty, seeing another motor vehicle on the road can be quite a novelty. Between Broome and Port Hedland, I'd say that you'd see another vehicle every 10-15 minutes. Because of this, many of the drivers acknowledge each other as they pass, and my, there is quite the variation in techniques. The most popular is the basic raise one index finger from the steering wheel. I used this for a time, but then took it a step further and changed it into a peace sign. Nice. Clare has gone a bit more elaborate using both hands, yes both, and does a wavey, jazz hands kind of thing. A lot of effort, but rewarding nevertheless. We've had numerous replies like the rock sign (Index and little finger), a wave, one potentially racial hiel Hitler, although he could have been just bit slow to wave. We've also had one middle finger, which whilst offensive, was a change from the norm.

For other Wicked Campers though the real big guns are reserved. The Wicked camper community is a very friendly one, and everyone waves, flashes lights and beeps their horns at each other. Clare and I are no exception to this although because the indicators/light switches are on the opposite sides of the steering wheel to the UK, every time I went to flash the lights, I just squirted water across the windscreen. Can't help but think that the other vans must have been a little confused by this.