Louise Coyles and Michael Smith's round the world trip

Preparing for our trip! 3 weeks to go!  Bring it on.....!

Our trip Itinerary is India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and South America.  We will blog regularly and want you all to follow us via this blog.

Day 1:

Group Meal

Namnaste!!

Arrived in delhi fine but thought we landed in the 70's, the airport was like del boys apartment!!


Then we entered in the wacky races with the taxi ride to the hotel, which has a pack of dogs living outside, slept in room for a few hours then went out and about in delhi by metro which louise gt trapped in!!! then ate feast bars form sept 2010, nearly gt run over a million time and Mik had his sunglasses nicked as soon as we walked out the hotel.


apart from that we having a great time. met up with the group and went for a meal and got to know everyone.


Going to have an early 1 tonight as its up at 4am to get train to our next stop Arga where the thaj mahal is.

Lou enjoying a auto rick shaw (whilst holding on for her life! )

Day2

 

Got the 4,30am train to Agra. That was an experience in its self! The whole station is full of homeless ppl sleeping. The sight from the train were amazing - rural India. Grabbed a Costa Coffee (total luxury) and rented a rickshaw for the day which took us to the Baby Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the very surreal Taj Mahal! Indian tourists found us Westerners alot more interesting then the Taj, we posed for pics all day! It was fun!

We stayed at the Taj till sunset - very peaceful. On the evening we went out for a group meal and then it was back to our tour leaders room for rum and card games! Good night!


Day3

Took a local bus to Jaipur. Took a orientation walk with our group leader of the 'Pink City;. Very colourful street markets.


Went to the Cinema for a Bollywood movie, very different to the cinema back home. Locals really go for it! Clapping, singing and takings pics of the screen! They had popcorn which everyone was so excited about!

Back at our hotel Michael and I had a drink with Abi (tour leader...rum of cause). Everyone else went to bed. India life really wears you out! But we our abhi as he keeps giving us amazing hotel rooms because we are a couple - its great!

Tomorrow is a free day to roam the city! watch this space....

Day 4
We met up with two girls in the group Lydia & Catlin and we all headed to Amber Fort. We hired the WORST tuk tuk driver that day. He was seriously in a bad mood and argued with every other driver! We looked at a few Palaces, all beautiful but we are a bit done in with architecture! So that evening we went to a 'very' local restaurant! The food was good but the place was not up to our standards! Michael fell through a chair and found several hairs. Like curry for him is not hard enough!

The 'Very' local restaurant

By this time we were all ready for a drink. We sat on our rooftop bar, rum again. About 12pm we got kicked off the roof so we all headed back to our room to drink till the early hours.

The group enjoying a drink on roof then on to our room

Day5
Off on the road again to Pushkar.  Was an early morning journey which started off fine but during the journey alot of locals joined the ride.  Wen you imagine India buses packed to the rims and ppl on the roof, this basically sums it up! The hotel was amazing, had a pool and even toiletries! We lay around the pool that day before getting Indian'd up for our Camel ride to the desert

I was terrified getting on the camel but the guy whose camel it was so nice and helpful.  The ride ended up being one of the best thing we have ever done. About 1 hours ride into the desert at sunset.  We ate, lit a fire, drank rum (the desert was out of Pushkar so rum was allowed... apparently!) and joined in the traditional Indian dancing!  The camel ride home in the pitch black night when we all had a little too much gin and rum was maybe not such a good idea! But so so fun! Lou's camel stopped for a snack on a mango tree which totally freaked her out as it went onto its hind legs.

The group in the desert 

Louise a little dubious being on the Camel with Pru and Ursella (I wont repeat what she is saying!)

Day6
We had an orientation walk of the City. We met a local priest who performed a protection / good karma ritual on those who wanted it by a holy lake.

Local priest performing at Holy lake

Puskar is a very holy place. No alchol, eggs or meat was allowed in the city. The girls went to the priests wife's house for a cup of Chai and Henna tattoos.  We met their children and the wife's mother. The kids brought their friends round to meet us!

The Girls henna's

That night we watched a bollywood movie on the rooftop of another hotel, Abhi has good contacts! We had a really good meal.


Day7
We walked to the top (well Lou didn't get that far!) of Snake mountain to watch Sunrise.  Its was a hard climb but well worth it once at the top. Those who got there including Mik celebrated with a cup of Chai.

View from top of mountain!

Mik chilling at the top

Sunrise at snake mountain

Sadly that day Andrew in the group from Canada had to make really difficult arrangements to get home for personal reasons. It was a shame. Later that day we had another bus ride, 8 hours in total to Udipur.
Another terrifying journey!  Again with the locals (rather than our private bus! Yes we know...adds to the the experience! But you just try it!). At first, quite relaxining, reading, listening to music but then the rude locals jump on and expect our seats! Respect to elders and everything but when ppl are sooo rude, no way are we giving up seats! They even tell us to 'shoo!' & constantly stare at us Michael eventually gave in and shared the arm rest of his chair with a rude lady (not sure if it was by choice mind!). Hummm! Its was Aurora, a Norwegian girls, 21st Birthday the following day so we began to make plans on the bus for her celebrations! Finally arrived at hotel and although nice, room itself not as nice.  Suppose we have been lucky so far so cant really complain. It was quite late when we arrived. Everyone was really starving and dreading the typical Indian wait for food. After eating we all slept...ready for the day ahead tomorrow.

Day 7-8
After breakfast we had a orientation walk around Udipur. Unfortunately while we were there a Royal wedding was taking place so most 'sight seeing' places were closed as most of the things to see are to do with the Royal family! To be honest, we were all quite plsd. We have seen alot of temples & palaces in the last week or so. We managed to see the Kings palace on the lake which looks beautiful and the main palace is raised so high up so on a night when it is lit up you can see it from everywhere. The sight of it from our rooftop area was amazing.  Apart from that we all took the opportunity to go off on our own to shop in the markets, stop off in cafes, use a near by pool and just totally chill out.  Think it did us all good. On the first night we had the birthday celebration. Stared with food on daybeds, Shisha pipes (sorry Mam & Dad), then we moved to the rooftop for drinks, birthday cake and balloons. It was great we got to do this! Then we did an early celebration of the Holi Co lour festival! Its was so much fun, just the girls, You just throw coloured powder at everyone! We, the hotel, got in so much of a mess but it was worth it! See the pics! We also managed to fit in a tradition dancing show. Open air, sitting on rugs. The dances told stories on how the traditional Indians live, fun and interesting.

Louise after her Holi war!!

Day 9

Left Udipur in jeeps which was cool to travel a couple of hours to Ranakpur. Its was a forest retreat with a pool. Totally nothing around us. I cant believe we are being brought to such nice places. We did travel to a near by temple which was beautiful, one of the best temples in India.

Temple

We saw a tree that was full of these black and yellow bats! It was really creepy to amazing to see them hanging upside down in the bright of day! We also saw couple of working cows turning a wheel to bring water to the local village. Its mad to think life is like that here. We get it so easy at home. The rest of the time was spent by a pool which we had to ourselves and eating and drinking by the fire on the evening.


Day 10

Time for the longest bit of traveling....18 hours on a train, which we had to sleep on!
we left ranakpur via jeeps and traveled to a near by town to catch the 6pm train to Mumbai, the train was very basic and our sleeper cabin didn't even have a door! just a curtain. we all chatted and played a few games before trying to call it a night around 11pm, we closed the curtain but when people walked past they kept opening and looking inside, Michael was woken by Pru as she had noticed her hand bag had been stolen, we informed the tour leader and train conductor and they quickly found the thief, just as well as he had took her passport, camera money and cards!! he then got taken of the train and to the local police station.

we arrived in Mumbai around 11am and gt THE worst taxi ever, no air-con and it was 42 degrees in lots of traffic for an hour. we got to our hotel eventually put our bags in and then headed out to see what Mumbai we could in half a day, we first went to India gate, from there we got a ferry to elephant island where we had a look at all of the ancient caves which were impressive. later we all went for a group meal and stayed out for a few beers.

Lou and Michael at 'The gateway to India'

Day11

We have a flight to Goa in the afternoon so we decided to try and see a bit more of Mumbai while we could, we headed to a market which we were told was excellent but when we got their it was just a local market for fresh food, Mc Donald's for breakfast then back to hotel to meet with group before going to airport.

Day...who knows - Goa!

Arriving on Palolem beach

The beautiful beaches of Goa and the laid back ways was what everyone needed after the intense craziness of India! Its was party time for everyone but also a little sad as the tour ended. We made great friends and couldnt think of better people to have shared the trip with. We covered Calangue, Baga and Anjuna beaches in the North with the hippies from the 60's and then Palolem beach in the south. The Silent Disco parties meant we had more hangover days than exploring here - but so fun! The perfect way to end the India trip. We also got to experiance Holi festival for real!

Holi'd!

Bangkok

Phew! It feels good be be somewhere normal now we are out of India! We cheated a little here and did no touristy sight seeing at all! Kho San Road was our first and only stop! Great atmosphere, great street food!

Vietnam

Street in Hanoi

Hanoi - Arrived...its was raining of cause! Stupidly told Michael that the local delicacy was dog....we ended up in bloody KFC! Big mistake!  A bustling small city, manic mitorbikes, close to death street crossing, home of Uncle Ho & Bai Hoi 'beer cornors"! The beer corners served their local larger which was pricey at 15p for a pint!! Had some great nights out, met a good guy while playing 'Beer Pong' callde Gio-Gio from Italy to turned out to be a friend all the way throught Vietnam. 

Playing Beer Pong

The streets are so ancient but bright  and pretty. Each one is packed out to the rafters, stock splilling out onto the street along with dead & alive chickens just ready to be skwered! Its was very much a culture shock for us, more than India suprisingly. There is alot of french infulance with great coffee & cakes! Its was also amazing to see both old & young people doing some very weird exercises down by the lake through out the day. we left Hanoi by Train, we thought we booked the train designed for tourists which are a lot cleaner than the normal 1's, however it didn't turn out that way and we got put on the local train with 2 old Vietnamese people while we watched all the other travelers on the nice train..... Michael was fumin!!

Michael not so happy in his massive bed!!!

Hoi An

Michael on his bike!

Within the first half hour of arriving (in the rain again must I add) we hired a motorbike! Well Michael the driver, Lou the passenger. Not to such a good start with Michael driving up the wrong side of the road with on coming traffic..Lou on the pavement trying to let him know but couldn't for laughing so much. He survived. Once we got the hang of it we were off! To explore the beautiful ancient town of Hoi An. Close to beach & rivers, great nightlife & restaurants. One night, walked into a bar. Full of supposedly mafia Vietnam people who were refusing to give up the pool table until they got beat. So Michael is straight in there and almost does! He has a whole audience with their fists in their mouths praying for Michael to beat this guy! Apparently it was very close but the Nam's won, boo. Had a fun night and took a risky motorbike taxi (3 of us on the bike!!) to a posh hotel resorts beach club for an after party. then got THE most crowded mini bus ever, it was soo busy Michael literally had to climb over people to fit in, he lost his sandals in the process but it wasn't worth it to get them back and we walked home from the taxi drop off with Michael bare footed!!
the next night we were going home and randomly saw our friend gio gio - small world!!


Nha Trang

It was raining when we arrived in Nha Trang you will not be surprised to hear....Ahhhh! We want tans you know God! The rain really made an impact here as it is a seaside town with not much else to do. So the best thing we could do was go to the bars. Oh well! Met Goi-Goi again (he just appears from anywhere!) and a couple of Indian girls from London. Had some fun nights out with them which resulted in hangovers but it didn't matter so much cos of the rain. We eventually ventured out and visited a couple of temples including the impressive White Buddha, the local church, aquarium (Trish-we've saved all the pics just for you) . Got messy in the Mud Baths and Hots springs. Ever tried to swim in a 40degree mineral water pool? You cant! The water is to 'thick''! On our last day the sun came out. We didn't manage start the tan process but was good to see the town looking good. On our last night, took an overnight bus to Ho Ching Ming city which was a lot nicer than the stupid overnight train we took so we were quite looking forward to it for a good nights kip but we couldn't sleep! Lou had to keep one eye open to maker sure the driver want falling asleep and Michael couldn't fit in the dam thing

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Ho Chi Ming

After the Horrid bus Journey we arrived at 6am and went straight to the hostel for a few hours sleep, the 1st day we did not do much and just had a look at a few sights which were not that interesting but felt we had to do, booked a tour for the next day and went to a Japanese restaurant that sold Italian food!! the next day we woke up early to go to the Mekong Delta's, we saw how the local people make the crafts and sweets which was pretty impressive, then we got on a kayak and the woman who was paddling at the front gave Michael a paddle and said ''You....Paddle'' Michael didn't want to argue with the Vietnamese woman so he paddled!! we met a few English girls who were on the tour and went for a drink with them later on and also met up with gio gio, we had our flight early the next morning so wanted to call it a night early but we ended up not getting in our hotel until 4am!!!! we paid for it on the flight the next day to Kuala Lumpur!

Lou and Michael on Mekon Delta

Kuala Lumpur

Arrived excitedly in Kuala Lumpur. Took the super cool Mono Rail into the centre. We were really amazed by how beautiful the lush green landscape was and how modern everything was. Really didn't know what to expect with KL. We were so excited!  We jumped off the train and it started pouring - like the biggest down pour of rain we have ever saw! We literally couldn't go out into the street as the rain was so heavy and Lou was terrified of the thunder & lightening. The sky was lighting up orange! We huddled under a roof with everyone else which was fine, was quite fun but...McDonald's was over the road! We were really starving and it took us half an hour to get the courage to make the dash across the road but we got there! Nothing comes between Michael and a Big Mac! So, yes, first stop in KL was McDonald's!! After the most amazing meal, we checked into our cool but windowless hostel room (basically a well done out closet!) and got ready for a bit of sight seeing. Theres so much to see and do! We made the next stop the most amazing Petrona Towers! One of the best sights. Totally unexpected! We are in awe!! Below the towers is a shopping centre with every designer you could think of, food courts and a cinema. A really cool place. We spent a while wandering around before heading back to our windowless closet..I mean.. hostel.



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The next couple of days were spent seeing more sights such as the KL Tower which has a zoo enclosed, we drove on a F1 simulator (everything was about F1 in KL was the Grad Prix was taking place while we were there which was so exciting!). We visited Chinatown and met up with our friend Lydia who we met in India, Butik Bintang which is the central area, Times Square shopping centre which has an indoor fairground better then Metroland.  Everywhere is so rich, luxurious and really reminded of us Dubai, everywhere is made to look so good. Really loved KL and would love to explore Malaysia further. It was a break from chaos!