Where in the world?

I arrived in Bangkok, only to find the bus had stopped running, just my luck, running the gauntlet at midnight to get a reasonably priced taxi! Eventually found someone that didn't want an arm and a leg and headed for town where I wanted to go, despite the insistence of the taxi driver that he knew better. Oh the joys of Thailand. My room was OK for 200baht and not on the now hideous Khao San Road. The hotel shall remain nameless to prevent overactive, testosterone ridden lonely planet readers from invading it and turning the once beautiful city into an armpit like Ibiza!!!! There, enough said!!!!
After a few attempts, I managed to find a travel agent who would get me my Chinese visa. With all the hassles of the olympics and changes to visa regs, very few want to make the effort. As this was the first time my precious passport was leaving my grasp, I felt that part of me had been removed and so decided to saty in Bangkok and await its return!
What to do In Bangkok when you've seen all the temples and markets, do them all again? I think not! After managing to take a short thai cooking course in Ciang Mai years ago, I decided my repertoire of curry followed by .....red curry was wearing a little thin so decided to pull out all the stops and take a 4 day course.
Its really hard finding somewhere suitable. There are 3 main ones, Bai Pai, Blue?elephant and Silom Thai. Blue elephant would be good if you've exhausted every option, have a lot of money to spend and are entertaining the King of thailand!!!! At 2600baht per morning it was pretty steep. Settled on Silom thai who pay your transport and are only 1000 baht a morning. What a bargain I headed for my first day. Much of the morning seemed like shopping at the market and then washing things (very slowly in some peoples cases!!!) Then with all that out of the way, the chopping and cooking YES. 5 dishes later I rolled (literally) into the taxi for the journey home. Note for tomorrow, don't eat it all!!!!!!!
I would thoroughly recommend Nusi the chef. he may seem like a headless and somewhat bossy chicken but he is a great chef and his manner is hilarious. I defy you to find better.

WASHED INGREDIENTS READY FOR COOKING

ME SLAVING OVER A HOT WOK!!

After extracting my passport and visa from the travel agent, I headed for the beach. As on a limited time scale I decided on Koh Chang as its much closer than Koh Tao etc. After a 5 hour journey turned into nearly 8 I was wondering why so many people take the cheapy deals around Khao San (myself included) They never deliver what the promise and the journey will be a misjointed hell ride where the bus driver either doesn't stop often enough or stops every half hour for 10 minutes to say hello to a friend he hasn't seen since....yesterday!
The journey was wasted as the weather was terrible, note for diary, buy wellies! Stayed at Tiger Huts which have seen better days but only 300 baht with own bathroom, 150 baht with shared.
Pretty good views though.

SUNSET AT KLONG PHRAO BEACH, KOH CHANG

Nothing much was open and if you wantd to shop it was long and expensive ride to Bang Bae. Invested in some diving as hadn't been for ages. Ecodivers was recommended and Michel was great, even though the visibility wasn't. He can't be blamed for that though!!!! Great guy and his wife is lovely too. he's getting a live aboard dive boat up and running this coming season. The first one in Koh Chang although a little out of my budget.
After 3 days I had enough of the rain so the bus to Siem reap in Cambodia. Watch pout for the visa fees. You will pay 1000baht if you do it yourself and 1200 if you go on the bus from Bangkok. You have been warned. PS the e-visa system seems to have gone haywire and people have bought and paid for but been unable to download their visas and end up having to get another on the border.
me and a couple from Liverpool ended up sharing a taxi from the border to Siem reap. In fact everyone that had come from Bangkok ended up getting taxis so the bus didn't run and they were laughing all the way to the bank!!!!!!!

After a lumpy night we headed to Santiago island and Sullivan Bay where we went fora a walk over the lava flow an eruption 70 years ago. It was pretty weird and looked like a badly iced cake!! The landscape was very barren with few trees or greenery. Quite bizarre!

Me,Krin and Lee Ann on Santiago Island

Very green!!!

After our walk we got kitted up and headed for some snorkelling. As soon as I dropped into the water I spotted a white-tip reef shark........and then another, what a bonus. I heard the others shouting so popped my head to see a small black object heading at me on the surface of the water and then realised it was a penguin!! Later we saw a huge sting ray and loads of schooling fish and the requisite feeding razor surgeonfish, bumpheads and parrotfish. i spooted another moray but the others were too far away and I couldn't be bothered shouting to them. After lunch we did some more snorkelling but not as much life as the morning swim. The best art wa sitting on the beach watching the boobies diving for fish right next to the snorkellers. it was hilarious, with much squealing and choking going on!!!!
After a quick shower we headed up Bartholomew Island for the sunset and some great views. Sunset here happens so quickly. If you literally blink you can miss it.

View from Bartholomew Island

The end of the cruise and we pack our things. I could have booked a longer trip but funds are tight and so am I!!
We left the boat on San Cristobal island and me and the girls found a cheap room, but it was nearest the balcony and had sea views. We didn't waste any time and by lunchtime we were heading off for some more snorkelling.Firstly headed to Playa de los Tijeretas, a bit of a hike but well worth it. A beautiful clear bay but no beach as it was all rocky. Loads of sealions on the rocks and seemed to be taking it in turns to come in and check us out. Some of the larger males were a little scary. Spotted a shoal of razor fish then a large gren blob which turned out to be a turtle, FAB. Next beach was Caba los hornos where sealions were sunning thenselves and loads of turtles kept popping up to take breaths. The water was pretty rough so we just watched from the shore.
The girls were flying out the next day so we had a fairwell dinner and met Steve from Canada and Jonny from Hawaii who I arranged to go snorkelling with the next day.
Steve had been desperate to go to Kicker rock but couldn't get on a trip so organised one himself. Must say it wasn't that hot and it was expensive. we'd have been better sorting out the boat ourselves instead of going through dive shop. Tip for next time! we thought we spotted a shark but the water was cloudy and too deep to see very well.
On the way back we stoped at Isla lobos and played with the sealions, they were great fun and pulled me along on a piece of rope

Sealions at Isla Lobos

I spent the next 3 days on San Cristobal before heading back to Santa Cruz (on a rough trip where everyone from Ecuador was seasick) and my flight back to the dreaded Guayaquil (pretty grim place)

Well,what can I say? You need to get your butt over there now, pronto, horita, maintenant. Before they put the entrance fee up again.
I'd already booked my flight for the 11th June so all I had to do was work out whether I wanted to do a 4 day or 8 day trip. I ended up opting for the 4 day with a couple of nights on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal before and after.

QUEEN OF GALAPAGOS

A ROOM WITH A VIEW! (The view from the toilet)

On the bus from the airport I met Krin and Lee Ann from Florida and it turned out we were on the same cruise so we hung out until it started. They were really cool and had lots of get up and go, unlike some backpackers I know who think they are "travelling" by going out and getting drunk at night then sleeping all day!!! Very Adventurous, NOT.
We stayed on Santa Cruz in Puerto Ayora and managed to get alot of stuff done while we were there. Laguna Las Ninfas and Las Grietas were great swimming places.

KRIN AND LEE ANN AT LAGUNA LAS NINFAS

LAS GRIETAS

We headed off for our cruise and after some confusion about where the boat was, we started our land trip to see the giant tortoises or galapagos as they are known and who the islands are named after. I couldn't get over the size of them, they are absolutely enormous. After seeing them, I managed to get a go in an old shell. Very strange!!!!

A VERY LARGE TORTOISE

DOES MY BUM LOOK BIG IN THIS?

The next day we went to North Seymour Island where we got chance to see Blue-Footed Boobies and Frigate birds, Marine Iguanas, sealions and lava lizards. This place is amazing!!!

BLUE-FOOTED BOOBIES

MALE FRIGATE BIRD

The rest of the morning was spent snorkelling which was spectacular. Just as we dropped into the water, I headed off on my own and spotted a white-tip shark YEH. Loads of fish and interesting things to see but the highlight was the shark.
The afternoon was spent on bachas beach on Santa Cruz where we spent the whole time swatting horse flies!!! Evil things they are. We went to see a small lagoon where there were flamingos and as we were watching, a marine Iguana swam in front of us. COOL

FLAMINGOS AND MARINE IGUANAS

The end of day 2 and we were all exhausted- I was expecting the guys to party but everyone was asleep by 10pm!!!, Me too. This is the end of part one, more to follow!

I totally forgot abut this trip, with all the excitement, its easy to forget 4 days melting in the jungle heat and trying to avoid being attacked by mosquitos!
We left Cusco at 5am and headed for Atalaya via inca tombs and a couple of villages. We stayed overnight in a lodge before heading out on a raft. The group were cool and seemed to get on OK. We stopped to go to a lookout to see the national bird of Peru, "the cock of the rock" and there were loads of them, although with the forest lighting they were difficult to get good shots of.

COCK OF THE ROCK

The rafting was a little hairy as we had an extra person on our side and coordinating strokes was a little difficult. Thankfully the river wasn't too rough. I think if it had been we might have spent some time swimming!!!!
There was a cool Macaw at the rafting centre called Lola although she did many tricks I wasn't letting her anywhere near my fingers.

LOLA THE MAD MACAW

After the rafting we got into a small launch and headed for our lodge which was about 25 minutes downstream. Some of the water was a little rough and I'm not sure how we stayed upright. Our lodge was built right on the riverside where the water flow changes direction so it was kind of interesting getting through the rapids and then the boat having to turn against the current.
The 1st evening we headed out on a night walk in our gum boots and torches. We were only a small way from our lodge when we spotted monkeys. They were easy to see jumping between the trees but impossible to photograph. We also spotted a caiman but not much else of any size. We saw a few spiders and many moths in my headtorch light so we headed back to camp.
The next day we were going to get up early to see the Colpa or clay lick where the parrots get there minerals but it was raining too hard so we got a lie in till 0630hrs!! The rain had stopped and we headed for our canopy ziplines. Those of you who know me well are aware of my fear of heights but will be surprised to know that I managed to zip through the forest canopy 60 metres above the ground!!! Well it was included and you know how I like a bargain!!!!

CANAOPY ZIPLINE

As it turned out, the parrot clay lick was a bit of a disapppointment. The photos they show you when they sell you the trip are obviously taken with a super-duooper camera as when we got there we were at least 150metres away on the other side of the river. My tip is get some binoculars or they look like greenfly!
The days passed really quickly. One day we went to see the local shamen but he was away!!! How dare he not be there!
We saw a few strange birds that look like turkeys but sound like a cow, thinks its called a Hoatzin. We also saw some nocturnal monkeys who had, unwisely decided to sleep just above the tourist path. Not very clever of them. This photo wa staken by Bjorn as he was the only one with a good enough camera.

NOCTURNAL MONKEY FAMILY

I really enjoyed the jungle although would have liked to see more wildlife. I know like anything in nature nothing is guarenteed but would probably try to go to Puerto Maldonado and fly back if I had the money.

I was looking forward to reaching lima as I was meeting up with a girl and her daughter who I had met in Cusco. This was the only highlight of Lima for me. What a grey and dismal city!!. Its probably fine if the sun is shining but it wasn't and I was told it wasn't likely to!!
Met up with my friend and went for a "couple" of drinks.

The next day I decided to get the hell out of dodge and booked a ticket to Trujillo further north. Bought Cruz del Sur as several buses have been held up on this route when they stop for passengers. Got there and surprise, surprise, more grey skies. Only wanted to visit to see Chan Chan, so booked a day tour then my ticket out to Ecuador!
In the morning we went to Huaca del la luna (moon temple) which is pre-inca (Michu tribe if i remember right) then in the afternoon to Chan Chan, also pre-inca but this time chimu tribe. It originally covered 28 square km and housed 60,000 people, you can only visit a small part that has been restored but many of the other walls are still visible and stretch into the distance.

Chan Chan

Restoration work at Chan Chan

The last part was a detour to Huanchaca by the sea, pretty touristy but good surf.

Surfs up

Then 6 hours hanging around waiting for my overnight bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Galapagos here I come!!!!
I know the blogs a little short but little to say for once and very tired and hot. Will be sure to make full report from the islands!! xx

Just a couple more photos to add!!

Moon temple Trujillo

Fantastic hairless Peruvian dogs