We're currently on the Andaman Islands (about 12,000km east of India into the sea). They're really quite, peaceful and relaxed. We've spent the last week baking ourselves on the beach and snorkelling. Dan saw a sea cow, it swam right past him while snorkelling. I saw a turtle and convinced myself I had a fish bonding experience when a huge one with a rhino horn on it's head let me swim with it for over 20 minutes... It then swam off, so the experience obviously meant more to me than it! I didn't see the sea cow unfortunately, just Dan, but now he's got an ear infection and hasn't been able to go back into the water since!
What a year it's been!! We've both had adventures and seen things I'd never have thought possible. We've climbed mountains, dived with sharks, treked jungles, white water rafted, eaten and drunk the most incredible (not always in a pleasant way) things... We've seen land so bizzare and barren it looks like another planet and hardly anything lives there. We've been in dense, pristine jungle, so thick with life and growth, that it's as much a challenge as the barren landscape to survive in. We've climbed to the highest point in South East Asia and been at altitudes that make breathing a challenge and your head swim. We've spent hours in the sea, snorkelling and diving. We've treked to Machu Picchu and seen hundreds of amazing buildings and temples (a few too many temples if I'm really honest), we've seen amazing wildlife, where it should be, in the wild. We've tried our hand at so many different languages, some more successfully than others, from Spanish, which we managed ok with in the end, to Pigeon, which I will never tire of hearing. This year has been so fantastic, it's flown by in what seems like only a few weeks!
We didn't have the money or the inclination to travel the world in any sort of luxury. We've travelled thousands and thousands of miles on rickety busses and rammed trains, sleeping on the floor of boats or in hammocks, sweated our way walking through towns. We've taken the local way, and been rewarded for doing so by experiencing the richness of life in each country we've been to. The few times we have 'treated' ourselves to some luxury we've felt we've missed out, sitting in a nice air-conditioned carriage where everyone whispers to each other and there's no disturbances in the night - I can do that at home, where's the lad dressed as hanuman the monkey god, closely followed by a eunuch that puts a curse on you if you don't give her money, where's the guy selling stuff who examines you to see what he thinks you'll want to buy from him and then produces a set of steak knives!
We have met some amazing people on our travels, from locals to other travellers. There've been those who've greeted us with heart rendering warmpth and hospitality, those who've entertained us, educated us, confused us, infuriated us, helped us, got us lost, exposed themselves to us, followed us... they've all been a part of it!!
I'm writing this with such fondness, when I think of what a year we've had, and to have been able to share it all with Dan by my side has been truely incredible!
So next Wednesday we arrive home and much as we would both love to carry on travelling for many months and countries, we're both really looking forward to seeing our families and friends. I want to meet my niece (who apparently was sick on a photo of me Jane showed her in preparation for our return!) and see if my dad really does look like an extra from x-men with his red and black arm bandage, and I want to see for myself that my mum does really keep her new mobile switched on! I want to drink beer that's supposed to be warm and eat cheese!
Not long til home... remains copyright of the author DanSue, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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A old steam engine with a narrow gauge that ambles it's way to the most famous hill station in India. So slow in fact that one of the perks of riding it is that you can jump out at any time, as long at you are not on one of the many cliff edges, run along side it, and jump back aboard. If you do the same journey by jeep it will only take three hours but as you may have read in almost all of our previous entries we love to take slow and laborious public transport. It takes 7 hours if nothing breaks down or 12, like our journey, if it does.
You can get about three hits from the same millet. Small tips like, "don't stir it or you'll get a very bad headache" , and, "we only know of a few people who went blind drinking it", were helpful and just the encouragement needed to finish up. I don't know how we always manage to do it but just finding out what the locals drink can lead to some interesting situations. Not all of them am I willing to detail on this blog.
We return to familiar territory taking the same first steps though the south of India as we did all those years back. Chennai had indeed changed. It seemed quieter, less busy and cleaner. India is, after all, the worlds 4th largest economy now so progress has to happen but the madness of it all is still apparent. Our first night threw up some classic India surprises. We had book a room in a hostel because we knew we were arriving after midnight but when we arrived our reservation had been forgotten about so we had to bed down in a grotty dorm with a snoring Indian guy in his pants. We later found out that the room we reserved was occupied because a wedding that was taking place had run a day over schedule (!) so we were left with dorm with no shower or toilet. We asked for a room with a toilet and the manager said he could sort one out for us. He did this by trying to kick out 12 guys in an other dorm so that the two of us could have the room. We thought this unfair and also a very odd business decision so we moved on leaving the 12 guys wondering why we were so important that they nearly all had to leave.
You get to have a good look at the "wild men of the forest" during their twice daily feedings. 
Unfortunately you and about 200 other people try to share the same view from a platform a few meters away from the feeding site. Some people got so excited at the prospect they would start shouting and elbowing people. The Orangs didn't seem to mind the noise or the crowds so it was well worth it. The Orangs are semi wild. It's up to them if they want this free feed and sometimes they won't show up at all, normally if the jungle trees are fruiting and all the money these crowds bring in helps these ginger jungle nomads to get back to the jungle. We were also extremely fortunate to see some wild Orangutans while on a river boat trip with some Christian twitchers in Sukau.
a pit viper in a bush next to our sleeping hut that didn't move at all the time we were there; 
a troupe of silver leaf langurs came sweeping through the park, with the mums clutching their bright orange babies; 
and best of all, we saw lots of proboscis monkeys, which are extremely rare and only found in Borneo. 
Some came really close to the boarded walk round the mangroves and the male gave us a good look at his huge bulbous nose 
- very sexy to the lady proboscis! You can smell where the proboscis are long before you see them - must be all those digestive juices produced to help digest the inedible leaves they feed on.
We hiked to a nearby beach in the midday sun and enjoyed colling down in the green waters. 
We also decided to get up at 5am and hike quite a steep trail to another beach for sunrise. Well worth it, as a monitor lizard and then a troupe of Macaques came down to the beach to join us.
Tough on the calf muscles and thighs. It was all going swimmingly until the last Kilometer of the first 6k. It all got a little hard. The steps got steeper and the air thinner. with no time to acclimatize to the altitude our heads began to pound and legs started to give way. Relief was finally found at the camp just 3k from the peak that would be tackled in the early hours of the next morning.
We only left to have dinner in the nearby restaurant next to a lake. The food was great but at 9pm exactly a swarm of little black stink beetles descended upon us. Only a few at first but by ten past the hour it got a bit biblical. Smelly bugs started falling in out food, on our table and in our hair. They smelt like rancid aluminium if squashed. Lucky for us we had just finished our meal so it didn't matter that they were doing the backstroke through my curry.
I still don't know how we both managed to get so muddy, as we were following others to walk through the muddy parts, but at times we both ended up sunken in mud up to our knees - no-one else seemed to have mud anywhere else but on the soles of their feet where you'd expect it. One guy even had a white bandage on his foot which didn't have a speck of mud on it. I manged to flick mud up into my hair and when Dan lost his flip flop sinking in knee deep mud, without really thinking it through I plunged my arm in up to my elbow to find it - I had to dig around for sometime and nearly got runover by the approaching jeepney in the process, but I managed to retrieve it, only to find it had broken with all the pulling and he had to throw it away anyway! There were only stagnant pools of water to wash in, which we sunk even deeper trying to approach, so we had to climb back on the jeepeny covered from head to toe in Mud. The whole bus found us hillarious and those who hadn't seen teh best part of us actually sinking in the mud just roared at how muddy we were anyway. By the time we'd got out our wet wipes and at least cleaned as much as we could off with 3 inches of damp cloth, we'd arrived at another muddy section and had to do it all over again. Luckily we passed a stream at the end of this one, which the driver suggested we might like to get into!
Dan says they're very venemous, but only bite if you get really close and poke them. We didn't poke it and it didn't bite us, so I guess it must be true! We also saw the biggest fish I've ever seen, which was about 1.5 meters long (Dan says it was nearer 3). It's the first time we've been diving since we learnt in Brazil and it was good to go again before we forgot everything we learnt. 
As cosmopolitan as it first may appear Singapore has very strict rules and no free press. It’s all taken care of by the democratically elected government.
Many of the boats only come once a week, so if you happen to arrive in the departure town a day too late, you're there for the week. We travelled to closer places by canoe, or small boats with motors on, which was a lot of fun. People travel shorter distances by PMVs (Public Motor Vehicles), which can be buses or boats. There's no timetables for any of this, so the way you find out when and where they go is by asking people, until you find someone who knows. This can be very time-consuming and confusing, but gets you talking to the locals and provides you with a unique and charming way of sourcing your information.
This doesn't lessen the amount of saliva produced, but does turn it bright red. The first few times we tried it we had red saliva down to our elbows, down our chins and all up our legs where we'd been spitting. 
We soon develloped a knack and were then able to chew in public a bit more respectably. People were fascinated by dimdims chewing their betal nut and really pleased, so pleased in fact that sellers would give us free betal to chew! The effect of the betal nut is that while chewing it will suddenly make you face go hot and then give you a head rush. We were told that you can get a bad nut that will make just your ear go hot! 
We were right on the beach, with a pristine reef at our disposal. 
We saw the most beautiful fish by the thousands as well as turtles and even a sea horse. Our accommodation was made entirely from natural resources from the forest and the food we ate was either grown, fished, or hunted by our hosts. 
We ate far too many bananas, as they're one of the staples - I never knew how many ways banana could be cooked - banana soup is one I won't be going back for!
A really friendly town though, where people greeted us with 'morning two' whereever we went. The local school was putting on a cultural show, which involved lots of traditional dress, swapping of live pigs tied to poles, dancing and of course betal nut chewing. 
Not really thinking it looked that nice to swim round, but when in Rome and all... but Wow - there were literally more fish that water of all different shapes and sizes, from pipe fish to lion fish and huge shoals getting larger the deeper you went. It's known as muck diving as the water is full of tiny particles and not that clear in many places - I think that's what all those fish feed on.
'Uncle' (we never did learn his true name) would come and chew betal nut with us at night. We were the only English guests they'd ever had. 
and made our way to the North of the North Island. Although the winter months are in full swing the weather in the North Island was mild and sunny. We made the most of it by visiting beaches and just milling about. New Zealand was turning out to be one of the easiest places to travel around by car. The road rules almost the same. The road s are free from traffic and the people very friendly. It appears to have it all. The only problem we are having with this beautiful country is it's bloody expensive...for us anyway. Fuel and food is draining our bank accounts and our daily budgets have been thrown out the window. Apart from that and the two storms that battered the North Island to it's knees, New Zealand is near perfect for those who want the no-hassle easy travelling.
We've had close up encounters with fearless seals, who smell very strongly of foxes wee;
been pulled out of mud on a logging track by a giant logging truck (we ended up on this track, totally unsuitable for our trout van by accident - we took a wrong turn and didn't notice); watched the All Blacks beating Australia in rugby in the local pub; been lost in a giant 3D maze in puzzle world; seen glow worms in a flooded cave, where incidently the cast of Corrie have visited; admired and walked in miles and miles of amazing scenery; had a snowball fight in the snow; Dan is now the proud owner of a branded circle to mark his travels (photos to follow)
; eaten limpets cooked on a hot stone (Dan saw Ray Mears do it), even cracked the stone it got so hot; route planned to take in all the swimming pool where we can go in and have a shower, as don't have to stop on campsites in NZ; have experienced tropical heat after 2 1/2 months of being very, very cold, by driving round with teh heating up full in t-shirts; and driven nearly 5000km so far...
This was the reason we´d come here rather than the skiing, (although we did spend a lot of time riding ski lifts for non-skiiers in a town with no snow!)
So that we could spend more on the wine we economised and hired the cheapest bikes going. This meant that my brakes worked, but only just, and Dan had a cheese grater for a saddle - after a few glasses of wine this didn´t seem too important though. 
We sat outside the immgration house, which looked like an aircraft hanger with the snow getting harder and harder and after 2 hours were allowed to drive in. 
Getting our passports stamped and bags searched was relatively straight forward and we jumped back onto the bus only to spend the next 6 hours sat on it as the snow was too heavy. We were being to think we´d be saving on a nights accommodation and would be spending the night on the bus when the driver announced we were off - the whole bus cheered as after so long sat without the engine running it was bloody freezing - they even brought us round a coffee and wagonwheel to celebrate our departure. The engine started and we drove out of the hanger into the snow, then stopped just outside... we stayed there for another 2 hours while the snow ploughs finished clearing the winding roads and daylight well and truely succumed to darkness. 
There were abandoned trucks all the way down and when the patrol car found a driver sleeping in one he insisted he get out and he boarded our bus. To the drivers credit he drove really well, and thankfully slowly (a rarity in South America). 
- the downside is that these mountains also help to trap in the visible layer of smog over the city.
On the way back to the port I felt sorry for the Elephant seals, the tall rat like things and the “mini-me” Ostriches. The whales had put on such a show that the sight of them didn’t have excited. I will be more interested next time I promise
The hotel was made from mud and looked out onto a volcano. It was really, really nice. 
We all had to wear sunglasses becuse there was a real risk of going snow blind. They still collect salt from these flats. They just scrape it from the ground, crush it a little bit more, bag it and it ends on the dinner tables of South Americans. 
They only life to be found is on the small volcanic rock islands dotted in the plains. they are covered with tall cactus and some very dry looking grass. 
Due to the flat nature of the place we spent ages taking photos with trick perspectives. A bit cheesy but a lot of fun.
It was to do with a type of algae that lives in the water.The green one also had large amounts of arsenic in it so we were not advised to fill our water bottles Flamingos and mountain foxes and a few different types of Llama all living in and round these bizzare lakes at the top of the world.
As the sun rose we were greeted with the amazing sight of huge clouds of steam bellowing from the ground. It was the most dramatic sights I have seen. It was as if we were transported back to the dawn of time. 
It´s amazing that they´re made out of reed and as the reeds rot with contact with the water they literally have to pick up their houses and put more reeds under every 15 days. 
This involved a bus and ferry journey across the lake. Our bus took one ´ferry´ and us another. How the bus made it over on the flat wooden ´ferry´ without toppling over was a marvel.
Nearly everyday we´ve seen them. There was a huge demo in La Paz, literally thousands and thousands of people marching through town, letting of fireworks and bangers. Ended up shut inside an internet cafe at one point and sounded like gun warfare outside. All noise though. It was a very peaceful demo! 
We had arrived to acclimatise before we took on the famous Inca trail, a 4 day hike of mountains steep passes and glaciers.
I can just tell you that we spent half the day there wallowing in its beauty. We were fatigued and our legs ached but we all had a great time. 
There were lots of other birds too, including boobies (tee hee) and seals and we were advised to wear hats to protect ourselves from the white bombs they were dropping. Dan got hit twice! We saw bottlenosed dolphins on the way back, who came right out of the water to have a look at us. They also make Pisco (a white grape brandy) round here, which we treated ourselves to a bottle of and goes quite well with sprite.
We took a dune buggy (driver included) which raced up and down the dunes and was far from the sedate drive we were expecting to our sand boarding site. Dan got the hang of it quite quickly and managed quite a steep slope until he stacked it right at the end and got a face full of sand. I stuck to the safer belly and bottom strategies, which was a lot of fun. Some of the most fun we´ve had!