Sorry for our lack of communication. We fully realise that we have exceeded the normal bi-weekly frequency of our epistles but ... erm ... absence makes the heart grow fonder (?)
Anyway, since we last wrote, we've finished the South East Asia leg of the trip and moved continents to Oz.
Hanoi
Got a very comfortable overnight train from Hue up to Hanoi - free of all the sandstorms, fist fights, 40 degree heat, prisoners and armed guards that we're used to - and after a day of sorting stuff out headed off for a 4 day trip to the North West Highlands of ...
Sapa
Arrived after another very comfortable overnight train to rain and cloudy skies - very disappointing. However, as soon as we bought a couple of very flattering ponchos to combat the rain, the rain obviously subsided and the weather actually stayed nice for the whole time we were there. Our merry little band headed off early on day 1 and was as follows:
Sue - H'Mong hill tribe (our guide): Age - 19: Height - 4'3": Schooling - none: English - just one of four languages she speaks: Footwear - flimsy trainers: Number of falls - zero: Smile percentage - 103%
Frank & Karin - Nice Germans (yes that word was "nice"): Ages - 29 & 31: Heights - 6'1" and 5'7": English - just one of four languages they speak: Footwear - High Tech trek trainers: Number of falls - about 4: Smile percentage - 94%
Jules & Tessa - experienced travellers and trekkers: Ages - depends who's asking: Heights - 6'2" and 5'8": English - just one of ... erm ... 2.5 languages they speak: Footwear - High tech trek trainers for him and a knackewred old pair of Asics for her: Number of falls - numerous: Smile percentage - 96% (downhill) 22% (uphill)
The terrain, apart from being very slippery from all the rain, was quite different to Nepal with the valleys being much less steep and the mountains much less high but the scenery was arguably even more amazing - check out the photos once we get them uploaded. We stayed in local villages each night which was really cool and the food was absolutely superb. Truly memorable and we even improved our German!
Hanoi
Back to Hanoi for a couple of days before flying out to Hong Kong. Checked out Ho Chi Minh's body in the mausoleum (looked like a waxwork if you ask me), went to see the water puppets (entertaining), bought a vietnamese dinner set (bamboo) and wandered about the old quarter (manic).
Hong Kong
Flew into Hong Kong early afternoon and wandered around town for a couple of hours, including getting a tram up to Victoria Peak - big hill overlooking Hong Kong, before meeting our hosts Philly and Simon and going back to their flat which can only be described as compact (500 sq feet for those that know about that sort of thing). Our time there was very similar to Singapore in that we were staying (for free!) with people who knew all the best things to do, had a ready made set of friends, had air conditioning and internet and generally looked after us extremely well ... except for the "all downhill" walk they made us do after a heavy night out when all concerned felt rough. Managed to get taken out for lunch at PwC's expense by Sam Sze (one of Tessa's old managers in London, now in Hong Kong), have a guided tour of the PwC Hong Kong offices (same as London but better views), take a trip to Kowloon for sushi, meet up with Mike Louzado (friend of Tessa's who randomly arrived two days before us on business), get a ferry to Lan Tau to see the biggest outdoor seated buddha in the world (big), go to the southern hills for the "all downhill" (my arse!) walk mentioned above and even get to Stanley for some wakeboarding - we both got up first time and I'm sure some shrewd editing of the camcorder footage will make us look wicked!
Anyway, had a wicked time for 3 days before leaving Asia and flying to Australia.
Perth
Landed at 1am to 9 degrees and rain - extremely disappointing. After phoning about 15 hostels eventually found somewhere that wasn't full and got a cab to downtown.
The first thing that hit us was how expensive this place is. After averaging 5 quid per night for the two of us for the first 5 months of our trip, suddenly we're paying 8-9 quid EACH per night! Looks like we'll be reaching for the Visa cards sooner than we'd thought!
Spent a couple of days in Perth which was very clean, very cold and very devoid of any spare camper vans because of the school holidays and because we foolishly only gave ourselves 2 days to find something - not the best bit of forward planning! Managed to make it down to Fremantle ("Freo") but dinn't manage to get to Rottnest where I was keen to buy a lottery ticket and hence have done the Lotto in Rotto.
We've ended up on a guided bus tour all the way from Perth to Darwin. We were both a bit worried that it would be just like the Oz/Kiwi Experience bus trips that we've done before which were fine when we were aged 20 but a bit too much for the more mature travellers that we are now. So it was with a bit of trepidation that we boarded our bright yellow "EasyRiders" bus at 7am 4 days ago. However, it's been wicked ... so far.
Perth - Exmouth ... "the Easyrider way"
We've been on the road for 4 days now and have met a really great group of people who we haven't been able to shake off yet. We're in Exmouth at the moment and so far we've seen the famous limestone Pinnacles near Cervantes (very Star Wars-esque), the Loop & Z-bend gorges in Kalbarri, the wild dolphins (and equally amazing Pelicans) in Monkey Mia (literally as close as I am to this keyboard), Shell beach (shelly!), the stromaltolites (3 billion year old life forms that formed the basis of our existence here - pretty boring to look at mind!), Coral Bay (corally!), the amazing Turquoise Bay (VERY turquoise) and now Exmouth for some diving on the Ningaloo reef (tomorrow). Also had another "small world" experience in Coral Bay where we bumped into Ali Dundjerovic from (ex-PwC) and literally one of the only people we know to be travelling. Our trips only coincided for 4 hours but we managed to get some beers in!
Despite the enormous size of this country (we've travelled nearly 2,000km in 4 days) the trip up the coast hasn't been too bad at all. Our drinking skills are rapidly improving so that we should be hitting peak performance by the time the World Cup starts. We have purchased our England shirts and are literally chomping at the bit!
To come ...
We've got another couple of weeks until we arrive in Melbourne and the real RWC festivites can start but until then our priorities are replenishing our tans and trying to keep our white clothes safely away from the red sand that covers most of WA!
Hope all is well with you all and keep the mails coming.
Love to all,
Jules & Tessa xxxxxx
Phil & Simon (and friends) - thanks a million for your superb hospitality, hope the "training course" in Phuket was ...erm ... informative.
Mum - have a great trip, see you in 21 days (have you got a travel email address? If not get Will to sort you out a Yahoo address)
Sarah & Jim - We're rethinking our itinerary as we sepak ... further communications to follow
Ali - small world! Love to Cheryl (and can you forward this to her)
Cheryl - see you in Melbourne, we're arriving on the 19th(ish)
Kirsten - Gold Cup could be a goer but not sure of our movements
Tory - get us your itinerary asap
Frank & Karin - back at work yet? (ha ha)
Steve & Abby - had your photos developed yet? Any good ones?
Brian & Lorraine - ditto
Katie & Mike - double ditto
Mike S - where are you?