Fi & Bryn's Big Trip

We made it to the border and were glad to make it across with all our dollars, as there aren't any cash machines for foreigners in Turkmenistan, and no hassle for our artwork. Across the border, we met Timur, our guide/driver - foreigners aren't allowed in Turkmenistan without paying for a driver and car every day, as the government doesn't want just anyone walking around their country(?!). We set off immediately down to Konye Urgench - another silk road city! This one was slightly different as the main sights are all set out of town, surrounded now by desert as the river changed it's course and the city was abandoned. It was slightly disappointing to have come all this way and for the main sights to be locked as they are trying to erradicate a pigeon problem. But it was interesting to see how all these buildings look without the zealous restoration efforts that we'd seen in Uzbekistan.

It was amusing to watch the Turkmen women undergoing an ancient fertility ritual that involved donning a thick coat and rolling down a hill! It looked quite painful so Fi chickened out!

We set off through the Karakum desert to the Darvaza gas craters....these are the results of Soviet gas exploration in the 1950s. There are three of them....one filled with bubbling water, another with bubbling mud and the last which was to be our campsite for the night is alight.

It was quite a sight when we arrived in the middle of the afternoon....40m in diameter and depth....and flames everywhere! It was quite hot to stand next to....and we made sure not to stray too close to the edge! As the sun went down....it started to glow....it really was an amazing sight....and we had to agree with our guidebook which describes it as the gates to hell. It really was quite quite an astounding sight....and we were able to see the glow all night through our tent!

The next day was a long desert drive south to Ashgabat, the capital. We had loads of fun spotting the camels at the side of the road......Timur had said a few times that they were really dangerous for drivers as despite it being a straight desert road....the small dips and hills means that sometimes people don't see them in time. It turns out that people let their camels roam free in the desert for up to 4 months before they head after them, on motorbike, asking at local villages when their camels were last seen!

Sure enough though, we sadly came across an accident that had probably happened 20 minutes previous. It was shocking to see the driver of the car hadn't made it.....not likely with 300kg of camel crashing into his windscreen.

We arrived into Ashgabat and got settled into our Soviet era hotel, complete with moody babushka on each floor. Definitely one of our more downmarket establishments...complete with scampering mice that died each night in our bathroom! Ashgabat was the jewel in the crown of Dictator Niyazov's regime...and something his successor is keen to build on. It really is quite something.....gold self-obsessed statues interspersed freely in between the gleaming white marble buildings - everything in the centre of town has to use Italian marble. They were very proud of having the biggest flagpole in the world....well done them!

There were public parks everywhere but no one seemed to use them!

Everyone drives everywhere as gas is so cheap but like the parks there were far too many roads for the number of people using them....

It quickly became a little freaky and seemed like some sort of cross between 1984 and the Stepford Wives. It seemed a little odd that the only people on the streets were ourselves, the army of streetcleaners and the military policemen stationed on each streetcorner. Not many photos because the police won't allow it! People seemed to act a little like zombies, their laughter and chatter kept behind closed doors. To be honest the whole place seemed to lack any real soul - the central pedestrian areas of European cities and the hustle and bustle of Asian cities were non-existant. The powerful nanny state actually made China seem pretty soft. On the other hand, it is similar to China in that the people are not used to anything else so what they don't know won't hurt them? The free gas, free electric and practically free petrol keep people pretty happy.

Our feelings of unsettledness deepened as we were randomly refused entry to a couple of markets by plain clothed policemen....only to enter moments later unhassled by another entrance! Enough was enough for Fi though, as we set off one night to find a reccomended Chinese restaurant and after 30 minutes walk a plain clothed cop tried to usher us off the road! Fi, worrying that she was about to be kept from her Chinese feast, demanded to know what was going on from this rather ambivalent/unfriendly cop....thankfully, someone came to our aid and said we only had to get off the main road for 10 minutes while the President's calvalcade came whizzing by....before we could proceed to our Chinese restaurant! Dumplings....Mmmm.

We whizzed round the main sights in Ashgabat....going up the arch of neutrality, complete with a gold statue of their man Niyazov - which spins round every day to ensure he's looking directly towards the sun.

Bryn then enjoyed the rest of the time in Ashgabat viewing every Turkmen carpet in the city and conducting a thorough price/quality comparison.

Enough was enough though of toy town Ashgabat and we were thankful to hit the desert road. Our first stop was the ancient site of Gonur where the current excavations have been dated back to a staggering 3000 BC!! Despite having had our reservations at looking at a pile of sandy mounds in the middle of the desert we really were gobsmacked at what we saw. There were pottery shards everywhere and the foundations were in pretty good nick. We saw ceramics kilns, shashlick ovens, water purification works, the royal palace and even a drainage system! They are still uncovering stuff and we were able to go and have a look at what they were currently working on....no need to cordon off the area etc....we were able to get right in and see what they were up to! We saw the burial tombs where the royalty were buried alongside their horses.

The most staggering thing we saw though was a human skeleton complete with a bronze bracelet and ring still in situ!

Back at the entrance we got chatting with one of the local archaeologists who'd worked there for the last 20 years.....it was amazing watching him undertake what must be the world's most complicated jigsaw puzzle as he restored an ossuary. I don't think they get too many visitors....before we knew it we were being ushered over to meet Viktor Sarianidi...the 79 year old Russian/Greek lead archaeologist. He'd discovered the site 50 years ago and had led the excavations twice a year since then....considering the heat, dust and bumpy journey over the dunes to get there we thought this pretty good going. He thought that this year would be his last though. We got to ask him loads of questions and uncovered that funding was a big issue for them....it turned out that he'd sold his Moscow flat to pay for the excavations.

We also visited Merv....which only dates back to 600 BC, and with many of the remains being dated much later - it's actually a succession of cities spread over about 1000 years. Over the years they'd played host to many of the world's major religions Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. They've only excavated about 10% - so we needed a better imagination than in Gonur, and often what they had excavated had been fairly comprehensively restored which somewhat destroyed the magic of the place.

We then drove 700km through the desert to the SE corner of the country, right next to Afghanistan. We visited the dinosaur plateau in search of the footsteps of Turkmenosaurus Rex who came this way 155 million years ago. The dinosaurs had left loads of footprints on the bed of a muddy lake....which had then dried rock hard in the sun, there was then a volcanic eruption which covered the lakebed in lava sealing the footprints for us to view all these years later. We'd been quite sceptical about this...until we saw it.....it's not just one footprint....we were able to track where the dinosaurs had been heading all over the rock face!

We also visited the Kyrk Gyz cave where we were welcomed by the local mullah who kindly said some prayers for us.

We were then given a bit of cloth each and we had to throw it, and make it stick to the roof of the cave....achieving this would grant us a wish.

They weren't specific about whether we'd still get our wish if we weren't successful on the first attempt....

All that was left to do in Turkmenistan was another long desert drive to catch our $21 flight all the way across the country back to Ashgabat. And then onwards back to India

We arrived into Tashkent, Uzbekistan and headed for the train station hotel which surprisingly enough we'd heard good things about. The train station is super clean and like everywhere in central Tashkent - full of police - whom we tried hard to steer clear of as corruption is rife. We felt quite dodgy, trying to avoid the cops, as we changed money on the illegal black market. Especially as in Uzbekistan the largest note is only worth 50 cents, so you end up counting bank robber-style wads of cash and carrying it all off in shopping bags. Heaven knows how they pay for something like a car!

We didn't do a whole lot in Tashkent.....it's a Soviet city complete with wide roads, lots of nice shady trees and plenty of cafes serving us tasty shashlick and beers. We visited the national history museum and went off to the massive main market where all manner of fresh and dry produce is for sale. The guidebook had told us of whole rooms full of flour etc which we hadn't really believed until we found the onion warehouse!

One night we came across the Gasthaus, hidden behind the train station, which was really quite bizarre. As the night went on we got quite confused where we were.....were we really in Uzbekistan?? The waiters and waitresses were in typical Bavarian costume, we were eating fantastic german sausages and drinking great cloudy microbrewery beer. Had we been transported to Bavaria for the night?

Being at the train station, we of course had to depart by train and we had a very pleasant 4 hour ride to Samarkand, the first of our silk road cities. The sights here really knocked our socks off.....the Registan, the centre of Timur's 14th century capital, was absolutely magnificent.....it's a massive square surrounded on three sides by medrassas (Islamic religious schools), all decorated with stunning turquoise mosaic tiles.

90% of the sights in Uzbekistan are massively restored....and although there were some dodgy Soviet restoration attempts, on the whole the result is impressive. Walking round the Registan in the evening was quite spellbinding....

As we ticked off some of the smaller sights in Samarkand we realised that after 10 months of travelling....we were the subjects of yet another scam! Arriving at a very minor sight, and hearing the quite high entrance price we walked off....and were surprised to hear the lady calling after us "Student discount? Only 2000 then? 1500?" From this point on, we wised up and played hard-ball with the smiling middle aged ladies writing any price they fancied on the tickets.

We moved onto Bukhara which was a nice change to Samarkand. Although, Bukhara is a typical tourist town it at least has some sense of 'ye olde worlde' to it. In between the sights in Samarkand are immaculate squares, manicured gardens and gleaming shops.....in Bukhara you get more of a feeling that camel caravans really did come through here once upon a time....

We went to the Ark - which was a fortress occupied right from the 5th century until the Soviets invaded in 1920. We visited the prison where, in the 1840's, two British envoys, Stoddart and Conolly, were kept for 3 years in the 'bug pit' before they were marched to their deaths....all because Queen Victoria hadn't personally replied to a letter from the Emir.

We cheated death on the Soviet era fairground wheel....which seemed to sway alarmingly in the breeze....

And of course more mosques, minarets and medrassas! We had fun going in a medrassa that was actually closed to the public as it hadn't been restored yet. We paid for our 'tickets' to some local pensioner who keenly showed us round and yabbered away in Russian to us We had fun scrambling up the stairs into crumbling rooms, taking care to avoid the sheer drop offs and up onto the roof.

By this stage in our central Asian experience we were having food issues..... Bryn was laid up in bed and Fi was sent out to find acceptable food items. For 4 weeks now, we'd pretty much survived on a diet of salty shashlyck, bread, and tomato salads. They really don't seem to eat much else in restaurants despite having the finest array of fruits and vegetables that we'd seen on our trip so far!

Soon we were in Khiva, another silk road city, which is a pretty compact version of Bukhara. Literally every building, is a medrassa, a mosque or a minaret. Bryn being laid up in bed again, Fi went up the ancient minaret solo, dodging teenage Uzbeks making out in the narrow, dark, winding staircase! The view was pretty good though...

As the sun went down it was pretty special as the tour parties cleared out and the sunset cast everything in a soft orange glow. Sadly Fi had to enjoy the romantic vistas on her own!

We moved on from Khiva up to Nukus, right next to the Turkmenistan border. The main reason for visiting Nukus is to visit the art gallery which contains a massive collection of artwork, banned in the Soviet period. We had a great time wandering round and it made a nice change to silk road sights. They had a great shop with artwork for sale and soon we were off to the market to change our dollars and count our giant wodge of notes to procure a couple of nice pieces.

After a 12 hour bus transit from Almaty, Kazakhstan we finally arrived in Cholpan-Ata, Kyrgzstan at 9pm....ever so slightly worried where we were going to stay the night. We needn't have worried....we were met off the marshrutka (minibus) by a friendly babushka (grandma) who led us off down a dark dirt track to our 'homestay' which turned out to be one of the more simple places we'd stayed.....the facilities being past the potatos and right at the blackberry bushes. Cholpan-Ata is set on lake Issyk-Kul - a massive freshwater lake at 1800m. There were numerous beaches around town where Russians, Kakakhs and Kyrgyz all flock during the summer to sun (sunburn) themselves, including pregnant women wearing g-strings! We made it down the beach but after a quick dip in the freezing glacial waters we went for some lunchtime shasklyk and beers instead!

Moving round the lake we arrived in Karakol - the trekking capital of central Asia. We stayed in a lovely homestay courtesy of Babushka Fatima. Her daughter-in-law spoke good English which was a real help and made asking questions about Kyrgyzstan and the USSR much less painful. It was interesting to hear how the people really struggled to cope without socialism for many years as they had never had to think about their careers or generating money. They were suffering an almost institutionalised mindset that was difficult to break free from. Only now are they starting to get used to trade and entrepreneurialism and starting to see the benefits.

Kyrgyzstan is full of two types of vehicles - Ladas and German-manufactured cars from the 1980s. I did not know it was possible for these cars to still be on the road, I thought they went to a little car heaven in the sky when we got rid. Now I know different. Most of the cars we went in had 500,000 miles on the clock BEFORE the mileometer stopped working! I wonder why we cannot be more sustainable in the UK and repair and reuse like here? Although, to be fair, I am, not sure that even 5% would pass a UK MOT.

We were lucky to be in Karakol on a Sunday to see the second largest animal market in central Asia....where we arrived bright and early at 6am! Lots of horses, sheep and cows.....and men in felt hats whom Bryn had a particular penchant for photographing with his long lens....

Not quite the same as in the UK...no pens for the animals so you had to watch out for the bucking horses and we did see a few sheep being stuffed in the boot of a Lada for the journey to their new home!

We had resolved that for our trek into the hills we didn't want another 18 year old 'guide' accompanying us so we set off round town in search of some camping equipment to rent, which is surprisingly difficult as most the operations who have equipment only rent it out as long as you hire a guide/porter/cook from them. However, after a couple of days we had sorted our gear and got in our bright blue Lada taxi (Bryn very excitedly hand picked this) which whizzed us up to Jeti-Orguz the start of our trek, undaunted by our 18kg packs.

The first day was pretty easy ambling up the beautiful valley in the baking sunshine. After a couple of hours walking we spied a yurt that agreed to bring us some chai.....what we didn't bargain on was that in Kyrgzstan, tea is never just tea....you simply must eat as well. So there we were....with a beautiful view down the grassy valley....tucking into a cream tea that would have gone for good money in central London....the homemade blackcurrant jam was the best we'd ever had! Grudgingly, we set off in search of our campsite for the night.

Day 2 was actually an easy day but for some reason we made rather slow going. We were walking up narrow alpine valleys full of grass, streams with big tall green conifers everywhere....all very Soviet. However, it was very pleasant walking mainly....apart from fording a couple of glacial streams where we needed to take our boots off. We'd done this a lot in Borneo but hadn't quite realised quite how cold the glacial meltwaters would be - people must have heard our swearing 20km away!

It started to rain just as we reached our campsite....we got our tent up pretty quickly and spent the rest of the afternoon cowering from the rain. Just before bedtime an inquisitive and insistent cow herd decided that they wanted to become friends and several times we had to shoo away a snuffling snout that was trying to get into our tent!! After living in fear of the cow shadows outside the tent all night , we generated the courage for a stern face to face dawn showdown....

We also spotted some interesting looking orange scurrying fluffy things that later turned out to be marmots.

Day 3 we got up a little late due to more rain and set off for the first high altitude pass of the trek.....this was where it turned out that the maps we had weren't exactly Ordance Survey quality. We missed the path and ended up doing most of the 1000m ascent up the river course....at one point going up some pretty steep sections as we got pelted by hailstones. This wasn't exactly the summer walk we'd planned.

Luckily, the weather got better as we approached the 3800m pass and there were some pretty stunning views as we trekked across the barren plateau.

Going down from the pass was a lot of fun as we got to ski down about 400m.....ok no poles or actual skis....but we made it down in record time and thankfully no broken bones in this remote place!!

At this point, we thought we'd done the hard work....but oh no....our crappy maps made it a tough afternoon for us. First we trekked one km too far down one side of the valley before realising that there was no way through due to some nasty looking morraine piles....so we had to head back up to where we could actually cross the river.....then we headed too far down the other side of the valley...and ended up having to descend about 400m down an extremely steep track through pine forest.

We had another equally tough day to follow - made even harder by the fact that our legs were wooden from the previous day - pretty difficult to motivate sufficiently to wriggle out of our sleeping bags! After a lot of slow trudging and a picturesque stop for tea at 3,000m....

....we were finally at Ala-Kol Lake (3500m) for a late lunch just as the hail starting to pelt down again! It was really quite scary walking round the lake as the heavens ominously rumbled. There were hardly any trekkers, no where to pitch a tent and we were dressed in summer gear as slowly everything started to turn white!

We made it to the pass at 5pm, definitely not on schedule.

Our jubilation at having finally made it up quickly evaporated as it was snowing heavily (covering tracks) and starting to get dark. Unfortunately, because of this, we could not locate the path down from the pass. We searched for around one hour, including one near fatal descent investigation! At 6pm we really thought we would be those silly trekkers who disappear after going off on their own into the wilderness - it was too late to go back to the last place a tent could go, too cold and exposed to stay on the pass and no route down! Finally we see something resembling a slighter gradient and decide to go for it - after sliding down on our bums for 30 mins we were down and thankfully still in one piece. Shortly after it started to thunder and hail so we erected our tent in record time and as we looked out later we were surrounded by a foot of snow! We decided we needed to celebrate our survival through a tough day - what better way than a fine chilled vodka and caviar supper. Perfect.

An easy half day walk followed to our end point, Altan Arashyn, where we were able to go in a butch lady's shed for a hot spring bath - perfect recovery. The mutton knuckle soup wasnt anything to write home about though! Only one vehicle was due to make it's way back into Karakol that day so we waited around until the departure time of 6pm. 3 hours later we were still waiting as the driver had decided that fermented mares milk in the hills was a much more appealing propsect. Our spirits started to slump as we realised that we weren't going to be having our celebratory beer and shashlick feast that evening Then we saw a jeep revving its engines and hollared the locals in our best russian to give us a lift. After a bit of negotiating we were on our way. This was the roughest track we had ever been on - it took over 2 hours to go 20km - at one point we all had to get in the total darkness and walk down while the jeep skidded down the worst bits! A flat tyre didn't help matters....but at least our head torches came in useful as they tried to change the tyre by mobile phone light! We were very happy to arrive back late, and safely, in our nice homestay where they invited us to join them for a supper - bread, jam and tea.

After a day of laundry and recovery (i.e. more shaslyk and beer!) we headed off around the lake to Kochkor, the land of rolling green pastures, in contrast to the more rocky snow-capped mountain scenery at Karakol. This was where we did our 'Life of a Shepherd' horse trek wedding present, courtesy of the Centric boys, Chris, Sean, Andrew and Pete. Thanks lads. This was great fun. With no riding experience we were a little nervous, but then, as we mounted our steads, we realised these were friendly chaps. We were quickly learning the Kyrgyz horse language e.g. "Tcho" and a kick to the gut to go faster. But there were no real worries as our mounts were certainly no sprinters! Bryn, in fact, had a particularly flatulant mount and was regularly scorned as he moved upwind of the group. It was a great experience staying in the traditional yurts. They are so warm, and the families make you feel so comfortable and serve endless food - "more cream tea anyone?" Another girl, Nona (American), came along with us and she proved to be quite a mean card player!

There was a cute little puppy at one of the yurts who'd had his ears and tail cut off! It turns out that they do this all across central Asia so that the dog has less problems when it gets older and starts fighting!

At the end of day two, our horses were starting to turn asthmatic and sweat heavily so they were glad that we dismounted for the final time. Our guide departed back to the yurt from the previous night where he had been exchanging glances with a sweet sixteen, and we relaxed by the glacial lake at 3500m. A really good trip.

We just spent two nights in the capital, Bishkek, as no real sights and no cheap hotels. We did appreciate our bathtub and separate living room in our $40 hotel for a treat though! We wandered the leafy streets and had a final meal out with Nona, before beginning our 2 day overland journey back through Kazakhstan to Tashkent, in Uzbekistan. It was disappointing that as we got off a matrushka in Kazakhstan that Bryn was surrounded by a group of jostling men, one of whom kept making repeated attempts at his pocket.....for his 'wallet' which thankfully was just a wodge of toilet paper. A difficult situation as they were all in on the scam and we were trying to get our bags off the bus at the same time before it drove off....

2 days, 3 countries, 1 randomly shut border crossing for foreigners only due to a power cut!, 2 borders successfully crossed. Uzbekistan here we come!

We arrived into Almaty at 3am and at that time in the morning there was nothing to do except wait it out at the airport until the city got going. It's a tough place for backpackers as people speak little English and prices are more aligned to Europe than Asia. We felt lucky to find a room in our price range at the very Soviet and soul-less Hotel Saulet where Bryn was promptly propositoned by some Kazakh chap looking for a 'foreign acquaintance' for his rather ropey looking 40 year old 'girlfriend'. Bryn was pretty happy to be able to point at his wedding ring.

Almaty is definitely the most European place that we'd been all trip and we felt quite at home walking along the wide tree-lined streets. It's a pretty affluent place...so it was a surprise for Fi one day to be walking along, without her bodyguard Bryn, and have some little Kazakh chap make a pickpocketing attempt on her rucksac. Not too sure who was then most surprised by the reflex reaction right hook that landed on the left side of his face. He didn't get anything But it was a reminder to us to start using those money belts again!....particularly as Fi had just withdrawn $1000 from the cashpoint!

There's not really loads of key sights in Almaty but having been in 40 degree Delhi for 6 weeks it was a bit of a novelty for us being able to walk around without triggering undue perspiration. It was wierd for Fi, after 2 months in India being starred at for exposing any flesh, now being starred at for quite the opposite reasons. It's definitely not wrong in Kazakhstan to wear 6 inch sparkly heels for a stroll in the park.

We went up the cable car one day for a pretty hazy view over Almaty and were amused to find the Beatles at the top with all the Kazakhs queueing for photos.

We got tickets to the circus one afternoon, and despite out initial horror at realising that we were the only adults in attendence who didn't have children with us, actually had a great time watching all the performers. We then headed out for a slap up central Asian feast...mouth watering lamb shashlik...yum. This, and the circus, was all courtesy of another wedding present - thanks to Great Aunt Tillie for all of that!

Dog school was actually pretty funny

And as for the giant orange skipping fluffball...

We headed out to the Charyn Canyon for a day trip on a bus full of Kazakh/Russian tourists. Charyn Canyon is definitely not the Grand Canyon but we had fun wandering through all the sandstone formations.

We also headed out into the mountains just 10km from Almaty to stretch our legs. We headed to Medeu where they are currently refurbing a massive ice rink in preparation for the Asian Winter Games. We set off on our Lonely Planet walk and were disappointed for it to finish 10 minutes later as we'd actually only walked along a BMX track.
Undeterred we set off up a small path leading straight up a steep hill. We quickly gained height heading up through the trees and stubbornly kept going as the path got narrower and narrower. We did wonder whether we actually were on some sort of animal track as the vegetation closed in further around us......careful what you wish for.....round the next corner there was a massive hole leading into the earth......a bear's lair!!! We beat a hasty retreat.....we didn't feel quite so confident without our jungle guide. We headed further up the hill into a lovely Alpine type clearing full of flowers and aromatic herbs...however, by now there really wasn't a path and our mountain was getting steeper and steeper.

We realised we had to head back down and as the heavens started to rumble we realised it was the right one. We felt quite elated to be back down at the road as the rain was really starting to come down, so we found somewhere to shelter with a load of Kazakhs. These were Kazakhs on holiday and despite their lack of English and our lack of Russian - they wanted to be friends. We all posed for photos and then the vodka bottle came out and before we knew it there we were, in the middle of the afternoon, doing shots of vodka with the locals in the middle of the beautiful mountain scenery.

Ok, off to Stan number 2.....

We were pretty sad to leave Temple Tiger as we'd grown rather accustomed to life there. But like with all our luxury treats, it was back into the real world with a jolt. It took us about 10 hours on a stiflingly hot sardine bus to get to the border - what should have taken about 5 - due to more Nepalese strikes.

Crossing the border into India was definitely one of the more relaxed border crossings that we'd done so far. Due to the large numbers of people crossing every day they seem to have given up on examining passports etc and instead if you want a stamp you need to go and ask for one.

We caught a bus no problem to Gorakhpur where we had booked tickets on a sleeper train to Varanasi. Getting off the bus in Gorakhpur at midnight was a real eyeopener. The scores of people who simply lie down on the pavement for their night's sleep, the children to whom the island in the middle of a roundabout is home and the figures lurking in the shadows preparing their evening fix. In the station it really wasn't clear who was waiting for trains and who was living on the platforms. Despite having reserved sleepers, we were keen to stretch out on them, having heard nightmare stories about people wanting to 'share' your seats etc in India. It all turned out OK in the end and we actually had a great night's sleep in our non AC, second class coach.....arriving in Varanasi 8 hours later...all for the price of a UK beer.

Arriving into Varanasi was like stepping into a tandoori oven. By the time we had found somewhere to stay we'd drunk 4 litres of water and by the end of the day.....another 6 bottles had followed. Trying to economise, thanks to our Temple Tiger splurge, we'd opted for a fan only room. This just wasn't sensible in the 40 degree heat......our only escape from the heat were our hourly showers, no need to towel dry, just go and stand in front of the fan for 2 minutes. Our days were spent getting up early...around 6am and going to see the Ganges, taking a boat ride before retreating into our hot box for the next 10 hours until we could venture out again for our evening stroll along the Ganges. Despite the touts etc, Varanasi did have a pretty special atmosphere. The bodies draped in bright orange fabrics, with long processions of family following on, winding their way through the narrow lanes down to the Ganges; the burning ghats visible from afar in the evenings; the smell of incense in the air from the evening ceremonies; the old men, followers of Shiva sat passing the time with their painted faces and long hair. It still gave us a bit of a fright though to see a body floating down the Ganges one morning.....it turns out that there are a few circumstances whereby you don't get burnt and instead you are set into the Ganges, supposedly weighted down but obviously not in this case! Leaving aside the pollution in the Ganges, it's wierd to see everyone bathing happily despite what might float by...

Fi declined the opportunity to practice with the Ganges Swimming Club....

We caught another sleeper train onward to Agra. This one was AC.....and seemed like luxury to us. Bryn was impressed that his evening meal order was taken at one station and delivered an hour later to his bunk at the next station....all for 40p. Sadly we had to get off at Agra though and negotiate our way through the tout throng to the sea of rickshaw drivers. We were impressed to find a bargain place to stay with a view of the Taj!

We went off to Agra Fort and were immediately introduced to Indian tourists.....who want their photos taken by us...on our camera for some bizarre reason

We were outside the Taj for 6am along with a long line of other tourists. Stepping round the corner to see it for the first time was quite spell binding. It really is a very impressive and beautiful building. Actually being there, seeing the green lawns, fountains and pools was certainly better than seeing pictures etc. We spent quite some time posing for photos!

Our evening trip onto the other side of the river to see sunset wasn't quite as successful as Bryn forgot his camera battery and then it turned out that there wasn't even a colourful sunset that day!

We'd been thinking for some time that a rest from travelling would probably be good.....and we'd decided that Delhi would probably be the place to do it as we'd have easy access to plenty of amenities. We needed to engage our brains on something other than bus timetables and managing our budget.

However, with 6 weeks in Delhi now complete and about 12 embassy visits under our belts it's time to push on for our seven week tour of the Stans....Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan!

Leaving Tibet, we did have a bit of a nightmare trying to get on our flight as no-one seems to understand our round the world ticket – the ‘Star Alliance’ has obviously just been thought up by the CEOs – the ‘alliance’ concept is yet to be communicated to the airline staff on the ground. Eventually Fi had to take snaps of everyone involved and Bryn had to raise his voice for about a hour, quite interesting when the Air China staff spoke no English, but it made Bryn feel better – they only let us on at the last minute.

We did arrive in Nepal though after a lovely mountain flight from Lhasa, getting a great view of Everest.

It’s not quite the same though as staring up from base camp

After a bit of research in the LP we checked into a nice hotel in Kathmandu to ‘celebrate’ Bryn’s 30th birthday, and treated him to a slap-up Italian meal with a bottle of Pouilly Fuisse – god we miss wine – after a walk around Durbar Square.

After a couple of days in Kathmandu, catching up on some western food....including the biggest steaks in the world....

....and getting some shopping done we had to get out. It really is hectic, dirty, and in the tourist area, quite a sleazy city. The hash boys and tiger balm salesman whispering in your ear every five minutes does wear you down quite quickly. Although it is sad to see kids rummaging through the piles of litter left on the street for collection each evening, before the dogs come and take anything remaining that is even slightly edible.

Now it was time to move on to the main event – the 2 week Annapurna circuit trek. We had been preparing for months, three summits, carrying full packs, humid and cold conditions….we were ready. We decided against porters and guides as we had never felt in better shape. We packed the slabs of Dairy Milk and headed off. Testing out our new fake Arcteryx waterproofs right from the start which didn't turn out to be that waterproof

We met a nice pair of French guys, Christian and Ben, and a pair of Canadians (not Americans Bryn), Chris and Sheryl on the bus to the start point. From this point on these would be our hiking buddies.

The trek didn’t start off well for Bryn as he had the squips and was sick at the side of the trail twice on day one. But in the blistering lowland heat we pushed on. It was cool being able to get cups of tea at the teahouses every hour - unique.

These little places all had strangely similar, yet varied menus – be careful when ordering western food though as a ‘Lasagne’ failed to contain pasta and none of the ingredients were cooked. They also often contained sweet little playful children….

We started to find our rhythm after a tough first couple of days, and with the aid of cooler climate each day of ascending we were walking at a good pace and had already gained a day on the book’s walking itinerary after 4 days.

Passing by the local weed plantations.....

At the village of Upper Pisang we got our first really good view of the snow-capped Annapurna peaks – time for photos at our well positioned lodge for the night.

The sun was really hot in the day so, as Bryn forgot his hat, he had to improvise the headgear!

Once we got to the village of Manang at 3,500m we stopped for a day to acclimatize, as Bryn had been altitude sick in Tibet at Everest and we didn’t want any repeat.

Some local apple crumble helped make us feel comfortable It was starting to get pretty darn cold in the evenings though and this would be our last shower for 4 days!

The days started to get very easy for hiking now as we were limited by the amount of altitude we could sensibly cover in a day – trying to keep it less than 500m per day. We were now leaving at 9am and finishing at 2pm even with lunch and tea breaks.

The lodges were now putting charcoal burners under the tables which was a godsend as it was starting to get damn cold!

Finally, the time had come for the most challenging day of the trek, climbing from 4,500m to 5,500m over the Thorong La pass and then back down to 3,800m to Muktinath. You have to get over before the strong winds come in, so given the ascent coupled with the inability to walk to the loo without losing breath at this altitude we headed off at 6.15am after a bowl of apple porridge and pot of mint tea.

The walk was incredible – we were walking on our own up a mountain with practically zero visibility and snow everywhere – a real sense of mystique and adventure.

By 10am we had reached the pass and felt a real sense of achievement and a little relief that after thinking about the trek for 6 months we had completed it.

Our weary lungs and legs were pleased it would be downhill from hereon in and we vowed to relax and focus on enjoying the villages were walking through and the people we would meet.

Fi's new temple buddies from Muktinath...

Highlights included Kagbeni, a little traditional village, set in the middle of the rainshadow desert....appearing like an oasis to us....

We stayed in a little place run by three Nuns, complete with private chapel and a monk chanting outside our room. The village felt like a medieval film, with its ramshackle stone housing, narrow lanes and free-roaming livestock…

Passed up a visit to the well known ‘YakDonalds’..

We also really liked Marpha – the home of the Nepalese apple – an experiment founded by the King after a visit to France – the apple juice is amazing – quite a few litres consumed!

The further we descended the more rain we were walking in with no decent waterproofs. The clouds were now covering all the mountain peak vistas by about 7am each day. Also, unfortunately for tourists, a jeep track has now been established for virtually the entire route once over the pass, which for us took away the magic of walking in the Annapurnas.

We therefore decided to stop at Tukuche and head back to Jomsom and fly to Pokhara and use the the remaining three days better elsewhere. The Annapurna Circuit completed for us in 11 days.

On the bus back from Pokhara to Kathmandu we caught up in one of the seemingly regular Nepalese strikes. We don’t quite understand what these are about, but they do cause gridlock. We joined a queue of traffic 40km outside of Kathmandu that was not allowed to enter the city for a further 5 hours. So we all sat in midday heat, packed on buses with no aircon and no water. Ambulances could not get through the traffic to help people. People were taking refuge wherever they could find shade…. It was chaos.

Back in Kathmandu we headed off for another one of our Wedding presents – a Meditation and Yoga retreat courtesy of Mike and Alex. We had three days in a lovely secluded retreat learning how to try and achieve balance between our mind, body and soul. We got quite into it…..ohm, ohm, ohm, ohm, ohm! Even Bryn managed to keep the sarcastic comments at a minimum. We also enjoyed treatments as part of the package - Ayervedic massage, oil dripping on the head thing, and steam bath….!

Fully mentally and physically reinvigorated we now caught a bus to Royal Chitwan National Park – where Bryn had struck a great off-season deal on a luxury lodge in the park, Temple Tiger, as few visitors go when it is so hot and wet – didn’t deter us though!

It is amazing to be able to go from the Himalayas to a lowland jungle in less than a day’s driving – Nepal is a lot more geographically diverse than we had imagined. We had an amazing time, a real highlight of our trip. We went on 5 elephant safaris, jungle walks and a boat trip in only 4 days. We saw loads of Rhinos up close and personal, four types of deer, a monitor lizard, 18ft Python, wild pigs, a flying squirrel, jackals and Langur and Rhesus Monkeys.

It really must be one of the best places outside of Africa for remote and natural wildlife. For most of the time we were the only guests and so received totally personal service – a real treat after backpacking for so long. It was great to be able to sit back and relax in the evening on the viewing deck and watch the Rhinos wallowing in the mud with a drink in hand – paradise. We got lucky with the weather in that it was baking hot but bone dry.

In addition, we were able to include another wedding present – from Katie – where we spent an afternoon with all the elephants, learned about them, got to play with them, and most importantly, helped to wash them!

After a great month in Nepal, we are now ready (?) to step over the border into blistering summer heat of northern India. Let the fun continue!

It was great arriving back in China - back on familiar turf. Spitting men, smelly drains, babies with no nappies, helpful signs in the toilets....

We checked into a brilliant hostel which used to be a printing factory back in the 1970s so we were straight down to the bar to use the free wifi and drink beer for 25p. The main reason people visit Chengdu is to visit the Giant Panda Sanctuary on the outskirts of town. It really was quite fantastic and we hadn't realised that there would be so many pandas and that we would get so close. The young ones were really very cute and seemed quite playful.

Of course, being in Sichuan we had to try the famous Sichuan Hotpot.

We'd had one of these when we were in China before...a bubbling pot of chilli where you cook your stuff much like a fondue. This time though we decided to step things up a notch and add some duck's tongues into the mix.....probably not something we need to do again......

And then it was on another plane and onwards to Lhasa! It had been quite a challenge getting all the paperwork and the tour organised for Tibet as the restrictions change all the time. At present the Chinese government has decided that all Western tourists must pay for a guide and a car each day. So it was a nice luxury for us to be met at the airport by our guide Nawam and transported straight to our hotel in central Lhasa. We met Sharon and Steven there who are both from Malaysia and were the other two members of our group. We all went out for lunch and immediately realised we were at 3600m as we almost passed out trying to bound up the 2 floors to the restaurant. Fi got stuck into some yak dumplings....the first of our many yak products. Yak lasagne, yak cheesecake, yak butter tea, yak cheese, yak steaks, yak yoghurt. We also walked the first of our many Koras...or pilgrim walks....around the Jokhang Temple seeing the sights and smells of Lhasa. It's imperative that you walk clockwise...the only people who don't do this are the patrols of Chinese soldiers.

Yak Butter...

Bryn getting stuck into the local home brewed barley beer

Prayer Wheels a plenty whichever way you look

We spent a couple of days with our guide doing the main sights of Lhasa. The summer palace of the Dalai Lamas, from where the 14th made his escape to India back in 1959.

And the first of many monasteries...the Sera monastery where we were treated to the monks 'debating' in the open air courtyard. They get quite impassioned by it....

We visited the Jokhang Temple early in the day,past the pilgrims doing their protestations out front....

And then on with the rest of the pilgrims and followed the trail through the numerous chapels all lit by yak candles. We played spot the Buddha with our guide........trying to guess the difference between the Past Buddha, Present Buddha, Future Buddha, Medicine Buddhas, Protectors, Disciples, Tara, Kings etc etc We weren't very good at it.....Buddhism is pretty complicated.

But we did have some fun on the roof looking out across Barkor Square and all the pilgrims doing their koras and protestations.

The Potala Palace is definitely the star attraction in Lhasa. It was a beautiful day for it as we puffed our way up the steps

No photos allowed inside as usual.....but we were blown away by it. The gold coffins of the Dalai Lamas were particularly impressive. It was sad to see the living quarters of the 14th Dalai Lama who is in exile in India. But all in all a very impressive building.

We were glad to get out of Lhasa and to see the Tibet landscape. We did a very long day trip to Namtso Lake...one of 3 holy lakes in Tibet. Namtso Lake is at 4700m and the highest salt lake in the world. Many barren landscapes on the journey there with a few yaks in....

The lake was really pretty....frozen round the edges, prayer flags fluttering everywhere.

We puffed slowly up a small hill at the side of the lake for a better view. It's very wierd getting so out of breath doing so little!

And then we off on our Everest Trip with a scattering of more monasteries on the way. We caused chaos with our Chinese guide who was quite unused to tourists wanting to walk anywhere! We did persuade him to let us walk the kora around the monastery at Shigatse early one morning. More prayer wheels, pilgrims and reincarnation merit for all Buddhists out there.

Lots more driving and we found ourselves in Shergar at 4300m a cold, windy place. Nothing to do there apart from huddle in bed!

And then up early for our final assault on Everest. Our first views from a distance!

And then after a very bumpy road for 4 hours we were off...walking the 4km from the tourist camp to the proper mountaineer base camp! Lots of stops for photos as we puffed our way up to 5200m!

But then we were there! A really great moment

And also a photo of our new travelling buddy who actually stowed away in our luggage - unknown to us!

And then a quick march back to the van trying to escape the impending storm...

Then it was a long long journey back to Lhasa (too much for some)....

....where we said goodbye to Steven and Sharon. We spent a quiet few days...feeling guiltly that we'd paid money for a guide and car and all we wanted to do was chill out. We did however go on a great walk in the hills around Lhasa where we saw the skyburial sites. Tibet isn't blessed with either soil for burial or trees to provide fuel for burning so they rely on vultures to dispose of their loved ones. We felt quite queasy as our guide explained how the bodies were pounded up. We walked to our first nunnery - where we were welcomed with open arms and spent half an hour chatting with one of the head nuns - with the aid of our interpreter/guide.

We try to maintain open minds in all countries that we visit. Things are always more complicated than they seem. And we tried our best to find out as much as we could on the politics, economics, culture etc of Tibet from our 3 guides. Having Tibetan and Chinese guides did give us a more balanced view on things. Whilst many businesses were run by Han Chinese...there were options to patronise Tibetan businesses which was great. It was interesting understanding the Chinese viewpoint.......and whilst there are definitely pros and cons of Tibet being part of China, it was quite sad some of the things we found out. It's sad that they aren't allowed photos of the 14th Dalai Lama as he is their religious leader. It's wierd that the 11th Panchen Lama is stationed in Beijing and not in Shigatse where all Panchen's before him have stayed......leaving aside whatever happened to the little boy who was installed as the 11th Panchen Lama before him. It's sad that some Tibetans are seemingly not allowed to get passports. There's definitely a very visible Chinese military presence in Lhasa. Definitely no photos allowed of them!....we did see them run after tourists who tried to take photos! But just a reminder that Big Brother is always watching you in Tibet....

After a grueling day of 4 buses from Brunei we arrived in Miri and caught our 15 minute flight to Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

Where we had our sights set on their most challenging trek that they offered to help prepare for our Nepal trip - 'only for the super fit'...and us it would seem! Mulu is set in the middle of the dense Borneo jungle and it was great to see that not all of Borneo is palm plantations

Gunung Mulu NP is really well organised and they offered a whole series of trips ranging from canopy walks......

To Clearwater Cave, the largest cave system in the world....

However, before we knew it we were off on our 4 day trek up to the Summit at about 2500m - a 48 km round trip.

It was quite a pricey trip and we'd been lucky to meet up with Linus from Sweden to share the costs. Linus turned out to be an ardent Middlesborough supporter and he and Bryn were able to talk football for four days solid. We had a great guide, Henry, who was really keen on doing the trip. It turns out that only 10 groups do the summit trip every year despite the large numbers of visitors who go to the park so the guides don't often get to do the trip. We'd already been prepped that day 1 was going to be tough....and it was! 6km on the flat, dodging the mud swamps and crossing a couple of big rivers, and then 6km straight uphill to 1500m. It was really tough carrying all our gear and food for 4 days! However, we were truly impressed when we arrived at Camp 3. It had a kitchen, toilets and a great sleeping area to hang our luxury mosquito net!

Bryn and Linus cooked up a storm in the kitchen and did their best with the tins we'd been able to buy in Mulu.....cockle curry being one of their delights.

Day 2 was up and down....passing pitcher plants - carniverous plants which trap insects in their pitcher shapes which are filled with water. Thankfully day 2 was a lot easier than the previous day and we were able to take time to admire the views....

And arrive in enough time for a game of 500 on the helipad at Camp 4.

And assessing the summit....

Before getting up pretty early for our summit ascent.

Thankfully we were able to leave our packs behind in camp 4....because before we knew it we were hauling ourselves up ladders, hanging onto ropes next to sheer drops and generally scrabbling up the mountain anyway we could.

Getting to the top was a great moment

Just a pity that Fi couldn't see the view from the viewing pole....

After half an hour wait at the top the clouds finally parted as we had to start our descent! Note the pitcher plant on the side

Going down Tracker Fi spotted a tiny bright green frog on the trail.....which Bryn promptly picked up.......and then threw away quickly as Fi screamed it could be poisonous. Henry had only been telling us the day before that frogs can be much more deadly than snakes!! Turns out that this one wasn't poisonous and that actually it was quite rare. People have gone up the mountain for weeks just to see the frog and failed!!

Going downhill was pretty tough going and it took us all day to get back to camp 3 - where Bryn uncovered a near deadly leech attack.....

We'd actually been really lucky with leeches as it hadn't rained once on our trip - which was unbelievable luck as that would have made things even tougher!!

The next day, despite having trailed the lads all trip, the talk of post trip beers powered Fi down the mountain in record time...arriving at Camp 1 for a long river swim before the boys even turned up! Everyone was impressed to see us back in time for lunch. We were quite the celebrities down at HQ as all the staff seemed to know about our trip! Unfortunately Linus had to go catch a plane so we headed off on our own to Royal Mulu...the posh hotel in the area for our post trip beers.

The next day was a few more caves....Deer Cave, the largest open passage in the world....

With it's spitting image profile of which US president??

And Lang's Cave with it's impressive stalagtites and mites...

And then the bat exodus at 5:30pm. This was a really amazing sight.....as 2-3 million bats exit the cave for their nightly supper. They tend to leave the cave and swirl round until they have sufficient numbers to head off in curling ribbons made up of thousands of bats.....trying to stay as part of the group to avoid the bat hawks which in turn are after their supper. These ribbons went on for about an hour and we watched completely mesmorised by this display....we're told it is on Planet Earth for those with the DVD.

And then it was off to Singapore and a manic 48 hours there. We were staying in Chinatown which is a great place to stay and although we arrived at midnight we checked in and were straight out and enjoying our beloved dumplings...yumyum The next day we headed over to Raffles for our Singapore Slings, courtesy of a wedding present from Tom - thanks! We had fun eating the monkey nuts and chucking them everywhere.

Reeling slightly from the effects of a mid afternoon cocktail we headed over to Harbourfront where we were reunited with our winter clothes which friends of Katie's had been looking after for us - thankyou Nicci and Neill! We had dinner in Little India and the next day headed to Changi Airport which is definitely worth the hype. We were just upset that we hadn't arrived earlier in order to make use of all the facilities!! However, Bryn got himself in prime position for the Premiership roundup....

And then at 2am in the morning we were off on our flight back to China!!

Finally had to leave the wonderful Philippines with time ticking on and a RTW flight schedule to try and keep to.

Flew into the capital, Kota Kinabalu, and Bryn struggled on and off the full public bus into town at every stop with our full rucksacks in order to make room for people....not good in the searing humidity! Got our first taste of Malaysian food since a trip to Penang 6 years ago - as good as we remembered. We loved the Philippines, but the food really is poor (thank you America!)

We had a lovely trip to see the fireflies and Proboscis monkeys on a jungle river just outside KK, courtesy of Pip and Colin's wedding present - thank you! It was great to see the trees lit up like christmas, which considering it was lashing with rain was quite impressive, even if we were cowering under our lifejackets. Photos impossible though

On to Sepilok for the Orangutans at the rehab centre, which we thought was really good (others thought a little to captive). They really are all characters! They all live alone though which is wierd - what do they do each day?

Also came face to face with a roaming green viper!

Again - the heavy rain was a little frustrating but you just have to go with it.

On to our Jungle Lodge in Kinabatangan - The Last Frontier - which Bryn had booked up in advance....a bit of a treat really....a couple of slightly more luxurious days than many backpackers have in the jungle! French cuisine, ensuite bathroom, air con private 4wd transfer, private wildlife spotting boat cruises. Its a tough flashpacking life!

We got a better look at the human-like proboscis monkeys; plus got to see hornbills and eagles. The long lens came in handy....finally worth lugging it round for 5 months!

We went on a short jungle walk tracking animals and were upset to see palm plantations as far as the eye could see instead of pristine jungle

The pre-dawn boat cruise was all a bit much for some........

Our final destination in Sabah, Semporna, aimed to further capitalise on Bryn's newly acquired scuba skills and Fi's newly acquired dive buddy. We did three days diving at various islands, based from our resort on a wooden platform in the ocean - Singamata. Our resosrt had it's own aquarium which we could snorkel in....it had some really giant fish which was great fun.

Off on our dive trip, our boat actually got lost in the middle of the ocean on the first day as the rains came in and we weren't able to see more than a few hundred metres. We were literally going round in circles in the mist for an hour!

It was hilarious to see the fishermen fishing in their pants as it rained - although the dancing guy complete with Peter Stringfellow g-string and posing pouch was a little too much!

And although we're not complaining It was so cold from the constant rain that between dives we had to sit in the water to keep warm!

The coral wasn't as good as in the Philippines but we got to see massive turtles from a couple of inches away! Also saw schools of Jackfish, Devil Scorpionfish, an Octopus etc etc (god we are turning into dive bores! Bryn and Fi felt pretty good now buddying up together with perfect buoyancy.....a lot better than poor old Marco, the nice Italian in the group, who refused to let go of his inflator and shot up and down clattering coral left right and centre! Big let down was that we were unable to get permits for Sipadan, which is the premier dive spot (only a limited number of divers are allowed per day), but together with Mount Kinabalu, which we were also unable to get permits for, they will make for a great future 2-3 week holiday.

After a 10 hour night bus, and 7 hour boat trip we were now in Brunei, oil country! Picked up some duty free wine on the way and nearly got into problems at customs for not declaring it in a Dry State ..ooops.

This Sultan is seriously wealthy. Checked into the only cheap hotel in the country - the youth hostel....separate dorm rooms for Bryn and Fi. The capital BSB is immaculately designed and cared for, with immaculte roads, flower border, gleaming mosques and no crime issues. The problem is, it is a bit boring after a couple of days - even the locals say so! Dry state and everything closes at 6pm, even the buses stop running. However, the salaries are good and as the Sultan provides free education and healthcare, cheap efficient public transport and subsidised pilgrimages to Mecca(!) people seem to stay. Virtually all the museums and sights are free which is nice, as tourism revenue is small fry next to oil money. Don't know what will happen when the oil runs out in 10 years if predictions are correct?!?!

The beautiful main mosque..........

Over half of the capital's population live on the river villages - a complex network of stilt houses, so we thought we would hire a boat and get a better look........

Not quite a Barratt new build development, but similar.....

The villages are all fully self sufficient, complete with their own....

satellite tv, parking spots

schools

gas stations (possible the most scenic in the world!)

rubbish collection

exposed electrical switchgear!

Also good to watch all the locals having some banter down at the market....

Our main reason for staying so long in Brunei was actually to get our Chinese visa for Tibet. We'd been warned not to tell the embassy that we were planning on going to Tibet.....but the problem was they asked for our flight details out of China so we had to fess up. We had a tense half hour as the head honcho explained that we were supposed to have a pre-visa authorisation from officials in China. After some whining and glum faces, they eventually agreed to process our visas without this form...phew!

Off now to see the largest cave in the world and hike to 2500m at Mulu National Park in Sarawak - will keep you posted!

Our flight to Boracay really got us in the mood for more beach time as we had fun spotting numerous desert islands from the plane. The key attraction on Boracay is White Beach where we were busy relaxing approximately 30 minutes after touch down.

The sand really was beautifully soft and white and the waters were perfectly clear. All 4km of White Beach are covered end to end in bars / restaurants / shops....so we took it for what it was and spent a relaxing couple of days lounging round pretending we were on a package holiday....sipping cocktails at sunset and scoffing down all you can eat seafood buffets.

We then travelled down to Guimares (via a stop in IloIlo) a small island in between Panay and Negros. We ended up at the Valle Verde Mountain Resort in the middle of the island which is set in a lush jungle valley complete with it's own spring fed swimming pool. There's only 5 huts there so it was very peaceful and we got plently of reading and DVD watching done. It was a lovely family run business and their home cooking went down a treat.

We did set out on a walk into the jungle one morning before breakfast which didn't bode well for future walks!! Within 15 minutes we were covered in sweat, had lost the trail and our heads were spinning.

After Guimares we got the boat over to the large island of Negros where we planned to climb Mt Kanalaon which is in the top 6 active volcanoes in the Philippines. We visited the Department of Environment Office in Bacolod where we were able to get a permit to climb it. They only allow one group per day so we felt lucky to get our permit. We spent a busy day in Bacolod buying provisions for the trip and equipment. We needed our own tent so Bargain Bryn picked us one up for $12. For some reason we were in charge of providing food for our guide so we picked up a load of tins and hoped we'd be able to whip something up with them. We stayed the night before at a thermal hot springs resort on the slopes of the volcano.

The alarm clock buzzed into life at 5am and to be honest shouldering our full 75 litre packs (we hadn't opted for a porter) at that time in the morning seemed very hard work. We were puffed and sweating by the time we'd crossed the resort for our rendez-vous with our guide! The first couple of hours were extremely tough going....quite steep uphill and with the biggest packs we'd ever walked with in our lives. When we'd booked the trip they hadn't been too keen to let us walk this route due to the thermal power company activity in the national park. Unsurprisingly they have a few issues with green activists upsetting the ongoing activity. However, we passed by the works unscathed and the security guards even smiled at us. A definite blot on the landscape however as we could hear the hum of the thermal plant most of the day. As we ascended though it did gradually get cooler.....and after a long old day walking we finally hit an old crater at the top....1800m higher than we'd started that morning. Our campsite was inside this old crater which is now full of swamp. We explored the swamp swinging through the trees between the dry spots...

We got an early night as it was so cold - and got into our sleeping bags to scoff oreos and try out our new headtorches

The next day was less uphill but provided more jungle challenges for us. But it did give us our first view.....

We spent the whole day ducking, weaving and climbing over things.

At some stages we even had to conduct vertical ascents with our packs on!!

We passed by many pretty lagoons.....

Before we came upon our target.....Mount Kanalaon

We had to camp in the trees near the crater so that they would provide shelter from any ash that was erupted during the night. We tried not to think how our $12 tent would hold up in those circumstances. By this stage the guy ropes were all frayed and the poles were splitting! Goodness knows how Fi managed to fit in there too......!

However, after setting up camp, we made our final ascent up to the crater's edge. It really was a breathtaking moment looking over that crater rim for the first time.

Over the edge it dropped vertically off....straight down a few hundred metres to a pile of ash....and then a large tunnel ominously heading off into the bowels of the earth. We stood staring down at this for quite some time.....it was truly awesome.

Successful team on the top of Negros Island.....

Heading down to our camp for dinner there was a truly spectacular sunset over the crater.....even Bryn was impressed

The next day heading downhill our thoughts had turned to getting to the beach as quickly as possible. Tracker Fi spotted our first wild snake (which Bryn has since identified as a deadly Black Mamba) slithering across our path before settling behind a foothold. We scuttled quickly by! We were back in Bacolod for lunch where we amazed the McDonalds employees with our burger eating capacities before heading to Dunkin Donut for desert. We have built up quite a penchant for donuts - Dunkin Donuts, Mister Donut, Krispy Kreme Donut etc etc!

We then had to spend a whole day on a bus before we arrived at Sipalay where Sugar Beach is billed as Boracay without the crowds. Bryn quite rightly pointed out that it was more like demerara sugar but either way it was pretty nice.

We were staying at Takatuka Lodge which is run by a couple of Swiss guys with an eclectic sense of interior design. We were in the Superstar Suite.....complete with a pink cadillac bed with working headlights

And a movietime balcony

Yes, the light is a video camera and the light switch was a camera!

However, keen to do some diving we soon headed on...spending a night in Dumaguete complete with it's floral wastewater treatment works in the centre of town. Definitely puts Thames Water to shame.

We got the ferry over to Bohol Island where we had a short tuk-tuk transfer over to Panglao Island and the diving. We found the cheapest dive operator in town and headed off in a boat the next day to Balicasag Island where we did two amazing dives spotting the black coral which is a local speciality and also 2 turtles which was an amazing moment The next day saw a spectacular wall dive, us swimming through a coral arch and also our first drift dives where Bryn enjoyed sitting in his Buddha position, not moving a muscle, showing excellent buoyancy control and watching the coral pass by.

We transfered back to Bohol Island and hired two motorbikes the next day and set out on a day trip to see the local sights. It's great that everyone speaks English but a few road signs wouldn't go amiss. Within 10 minutes we were lost and were directed to our destination via some pretty small pot-holed roads. Bryn had to regularly stop for 15 mins or so to wait for 'Hells Angel' Fifi to come roaring round the bends....putt putt putt putt! The child riding the BMX was even suprised to be overtaking her down a hill!

Note the unplanned matching biker outfits........

We made it to the Tarsier Centre mid morning and had a personal tour around the Tarsier enclosure. Tarsier's are one of the world's smallest primates and can fit in the palm of a human hand....their heads can turn almost 360 degrees and their eyes are 125 times bigger in relation to their head size than a humans. All in all pretty cute.

We stopped at the Butterfly Farm for a quick tour. Didnt realise you could touch moths' wings - but we touched this one's............

Before heading to the Chocolate Hills which are a spectacular formation of coral deposits which have eroded into perfect little chocolate drops - during the dry season the vegetation roasts to a chocolate brown colour. Having spent some time negotiating some pretty tough roads we were glad to find a nice flat straight road with perfect tarmac.....but unfortunately the heavens opened and we were completely soaked by the time we arrived at the viewing area! Luckily though we were pretty impressed by the views

Then it was time to leave the Philippines where we'd felt pretty at home for the last month. We hopped on a ferry to Cebu - admiring the wonderful nautical scenery?......

Played a couple of games of bowling and had our first starbucks for nearly 6 months - caramel machiatos all round!

And jumped on our plane to Borneo!