From: Sheila
To: Conor
Subject: india
this is a modified version of our itinerary:
Have u the itinerary set(ish) yet? krista and i are thinking of meeting up w/ u on your travels somewhere - course, I'm sure everyone is saying that to you.
From: Sharkey
To: Conor
Subject:
Ok Dude here's the plan
Take 1-2 weeks in Tahiti or the Cook islands to spend on the beach and do nothing.
Fly to the South Island in New Zealand for 3 weeks, for a bit of adventure. hiking, boating, parachuting, bungeeing in Queennstown, and the glaciers (must take a day hike on the glacier) on the west coast. Take a week on the North Island Auckland is a good spot and the hot mud springs in Rotarua are good bets.
Head across to Oz. You can start anywhere, Sydney is a good town but head up to Cairns and do the reef, also head north into the rainforest and camp a few nights in there. On the wy up visit the croc farms, Rockhampton is a good spot.
Recommend Melbourne and the cricket ground for a bit of footie, or try and schedule for the Irish GAA team in October, or the Grand prix in March, or the australian tennis open in January. Melbourne cup horse racing in November
Never been to Alice Springs, Darwin or Perth but heard it's well worth the trip. Time wise you need at least six weeks for Oz, it's a lot of driving.
If I were you I'd skip Indonesia, a bit unstable and Bali is over rated.
Head to Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia, dead cool city. Watch for scam artists. Take in a week in the Tamon Negra rainforest. About 10 days is good. Option of taking in Singapore first. Very expensive I hear.
Head to Thailand and either Phuket or the Pi-Pi islands. Party center, great scenery, Catch a full moon party. Am also told you should head to the north to Chang Mai, good elephant touring and mountain tribes. Then off to Bangcock for some key Asian action.
If you are into slumming it go to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos is dead cool and cheap spend 10 days. visa is 2 weeks. Nam is different, a bit more of an edge. Go to the gun ranges and fire M16 and Ak 47's. Great tailor made shirts and suits for nothing in the towns. Saigon is more of a party town, Hanoii is still cool. In Hanoii you are only 150 miles from China, might be worth a trip. 3 weeks is good, Visa gets you a month.
Cambodia is a dangerous place, but the temples of Angor Watt are spectacular and the killing fields is well worth a visit. I went to schiounookville but it's just a quiet beach town. Travelling is tough in this part of the world. There are no roads half the time. Personal safety is an issue but if you meet a few fellow travellers you should be ok. Also drugs and brothels are all over the capital Pnom Penh. 10 days max.
Other options are Burma, if you don't mind the political situation.
Don't worry about Visas, if you are travelling in more western countries then ATM's and email are everywhere.
If you have any spare time spend it in New Zealand.
From: Melissa
To: Davie
Subject: information
I have tons of pamphlets and books if you would like to take a look just let me know. I also have a connection in Auckland - i can mail him if you need information about renting or purchasing a car if that is how you are getting around. I used the magic bus network - older crowd and not too bad.
Australia:
Sydney is a great city but a city. Easiest way to see all the harbours is the ferries. Bondi Beach is overrated - Manly is so much nicer and you get a wonderful view of the sun setting over the bridge and opera house if you time the ferry right! If you are staying in Hostel like places stay outta of kings cross - big mistake - there is a few on pitt st (yha and hotel backpak) Backpak place is ok and there is a sister one in melbourne - just make sure you don't sleep with 18 people there :)
The blue mountains are a nice spot to hike after being in the city for a few days. On the way up to Cairns if you have time a sailing trip or even just a day trip on the Whitsunday's. Fraser Island is best if you go on a two day tour - a little kid was mauled by a dingo a few months back so take it or leave it. When in Alice springs - get out and go out to the Rock to sleep - camping is about 1/2 hour away. Take a hike in Kings Canyon.
Darwin, well there is not much to say just don't go if you don't plan on going to the national park. Perth is a interesting place but not all that together. North western is suppose to be beautiful. I headed south from perth to the white crystal blue beaches - Esperance. It is a long trip from perth to Adediale with nothing to see but dead roos and desert!
You really should think about the two day trip to kangaroo island just off of adeliade. It is the most amazing two days. The guy, Dan, who runs the tour is just nuts but in a good way. You will literally scale down a cliff to play with sea lions. This is the only eco tour you will need to do - after this one the rest where crap. The great ocean road is a nice drive to melbourne - nice place but it is best to walk to the park and have a pinic and do nothing all day. St Kilda's is a good spot too - just watch out for needles on the beaches!
New Zealand:
��Fox Glacier - heli/hike trip
��Milford Sounds - bus/boat/plane
��Kaouroa - dolphin swimming
��Routarou - smells to high hell - but the thermal parks are interesting. Just don't go to the public baths they are not the cleanest and you might come out with a disease you never wanted!
��Queenstown - any activity you think of they will try or do! Crazy people.
From: Jennifer
To: Davie
Subject: hodilays!
Delhi
don't stick to main touristy places- i wouldn't recommend staying where we did ie. anything with south extension in its address... avoid! don't ask taxi drivers to put on their meter- bargain with them- you'll probably end up paying a bit more, but you won't spend the next hour on a very fancy trip round all the back streets on what should have been a 5 minute journey! probably best to get taxi for the day if you're sight seeing- don't go to drivers carpet factory even if he says he gets commission to take you there- don't mean to be funny, but pizza hut in connnaught place is a god send!
Agra
get in and get out- the taj is fantastic- go when it opens (hardly any people is total bonus) in the morning and when the sun goes down at night- it is truly awe-inspiring and you know what a cynic i am! red fort is good too! but then get out of there- agra's horrid!
Jaipur (the orangy city)
jaipur is great- the amber fort CANNOT be missed- but be nice to the poor elephants and if ride them, go up, not down stayed in the Narain Nirwas Palace Hotel- not really palace but very fancy old colonial style place- big 4-posters etc. (davie, you never know you're luck!), blokes bring you pakora by the pool etc.- fantastic place to relax if you're a bit knacked- would totally recommend it- think it was about 20quid for a room- really expensive for india but totally worth it for a couple of nights! (it'll be in one of the india books too)
Udaipur
my favourite place. people are so chilled out and so relaxed. do have lunch or dinner at the lake palace hotel- do go for sunset cruise on lake pichola- do not go to any out of town craft villages etc- do go for a wander and walk up the street with all the shops for as long as possible- do have drinks in the city palace- do imagine you're james bond- do not bother going to the monsoon palace (we didn't bother cos we heard it was rotten!)
i just loved udaipur. we stayed at the rang nirwas palace- it was about five minutes walk from the boat out onto the lake- i think most of the hotels are up on the hills- i'd go back to this hotel cos it really cheap and really clean and staff were fantastically friendly and the pool had stone elephants!
even if someone falls ill, desperately misses home, discovers a bomb is about to destroy india- DON'T GO TO BOMBAY!
Kathmandu Valley
you're going to have the most fantastic time! accommodation is basically good in kathmandu- you'll have no problems! shopping is so so fantastic (possibly girly thing though)- just wandering around durbar square and surrounding area leads you to so many fancy sights- if you go on a touristy sightseeing trip, then they'll take you these places and they're definitely must sees: boudhanath (try to hear the monks singing prayers in surrounding monasteries- very fancy!); pashupatinath temple complex (cremation site- sounds horrid but actually quite calming and an eternal memory); Bhaktapur and Patan; monkey temple enjoy the trekking and enjoy the serious throat problems everyone has due to the pollution
Hong Kong
definitely deserves a good few days- visit some of the smaller islands round about- i didn't see as much as i would have liked but would definitely go back!
Bangkok
many exciting temples- wat arun, wat pho etc etc etc etc- all best highlighted in guide books- i'm not a big fan of Bangkok (except for the fancy temples)
Chiang Mai
when getting overnight train from Bangkok: either pay for a bottom and top bunk or make sure you've got a sleeping mask and ear plugs!- no joke- seats are really comfy but if you're top bunk which one out of two people are, then the strip lighting is just awful! But definitely the way to get to Chaing Mai -really touristy place but good to chill out- elephant trek thing is a bit of a no no- nice to see them bathing in river but the circus bit is pretty awful- elephants are fun to ride for the first 2 minutes- if you're choosing, then the elephant ride up to amber fort in jaipur is way to go! (for thrill seekers, try coming down on raju) -wat phrathat doi suthep- fantastic big dragon staircase up to temple (but get the lifty thingy up- you are getting on davie!) -hill tribes- if you can find an authentic one- good luck but i've never seen such a huuuuuuugggggggeeeee hash plant ever!
Kanchana Buri (river kwai)
strange alternative universe karaoke-singing, ten-gallon-hat-wearing, prostitue-ville - terrible WW2 museum in that it's factually incorrect in a kinda constant way, but if you want say you've been here, you'll definitely have stories to tell, and they won't be about the bridgy thingy!
Phuket (aka Magaluf but with many more prostitutes)
nice/ok beaches, an o'neills or was it a molly malones?, lots of girlies, fantastic views if you look for them - we stayed in karon which was much quieter and nice- lots of germans if i remember right!- stunning sunsets. pee pee, phi phi, whatever island- where all the english blokes take their conquests for a dirty weekend- but absolutely stunning- any islands and as many as possible is the way to go- if you're feeling flush hire a boat (i heard it's the only way to get to some of the best) - and when they tell you that you can get a direct mini-bus to mayalasia-it's a lie!!!
Penang
trains and buses are fine all down south east asia! best thing to see- can't remember what it's called but it's the fantastic temple complex on the mountainside- absolutely stunning and absolutely worth the trek up! total place to take it easy
KL
big city, cheap and fake watches at the many night markets, interesting stories to be heard about economic collapse. crazy label shopping- you'll be in your element!
Singapore
main bits= too clean.
(repressed population= you'll probably love it).
huge trendy shops.
night safari was a good laugh- felt about 8 again.
From: Fritz
To: Conor
Subject:
Some of the places I would recommend to go would be :
Phuket, Thailand - An experience not to be missed, there's a good cheap hotel called the Expat Hotel in Patong Beach, right in the middle of all the nightlife, you can rent a motorbike and travel around the Island;
Koh Samui Island, Thailand, a short flight from Bangkok or Phuket
I haven't been to the North of Thailand but I heard Chang Mai is worth a visit. Also close to Bangkok is Pattaya Beach, millions of bars, etc.
In Malaysia, my place is in East Malaysia, Borneo - Miri, just a small town. Other places to visit in East Malaysia would be Kota Kinabalu, Sipadan Island (best scuba diving in the world), Sandakan - to see the Orangutan park.
In West Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur may be worth a visit but its just a big city. The Islands of Penang and Langkawi are definately worth a visit.
Singapore is expensive but if you're keen to go there, Orchard Road, Clark Quay and Boat Quay are the areas where the bars are - a short walk from Raffles Place subway station.
Vietnam is very different from the above if you get a chance to go there. Ho Chi Minh City is very interesting, stay at the Caravelle (top class but not very expensive). Na Thrang is supposed to be good and allot of people just hire a bike or car and driver (don't drive yourself) and travel around from South to North.
Thats about all I know, a good website is www.actionasia.com for information on activities in different parts of Asia.