Will Wanders the World

Homeward Bound

2007-11-24T04:32:00.000+07:00

Erm, oops. I kinda spent a bunch of time in a bunch of places having fun, and forgot that not everyone in the world uses facebook, so might not know I'm still alive :)

Briefly, I've been learning some rudimentary spanish and living with a family in Guatemala, learning to surf and forgetting spanish in El Salvador, and getting rather good at diving (if I do say so myself), and forgetting yet more spanish, for the last 5-6 weeks in a tiny island off Honduras.

I've been kinda tempted to stay for another month or so and becoming a dive instructor and not coming back, but lack of funds and fear of parentally-guided assassins has put me off, so I'm gonna be back for christmas, as promised.

In fact, I'm pretty much on my way home now. I finished my Dive Master (and my last dive) today, and so I'm off celebrating with all the other staff at the dive shop, and then I'm spending a few days in back Guatemala before flying home on the 28th.

I'm also gainfully employed - I start back at Transitive on the 3rd December, so I'll see all you Manchester folks soon.

Apologies for the lack of contact, and I hope you took it as a sign I was having fun, rather than worrying too much :)

See y'all soon,

Will.
(Just back from Jewel Cay, near Utila, The Bay Islands, The Caribbean coast of Honduras, Earth)

Grito de Dolores!

2007-09-15T22:37:00.000+07:00

Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! ¡Viva Fernando VII! ¡Abajo el mal gobierno!

It's Mexican independence day tomorrow, which means all kinds of partying tonight. As if an excuse were needed :)

I've been making my way down through mexico over the last few weeks. Most of it's been great fun (day trips to Tequila, anyone?), very occasionally it's been tourist hell (puerto villarta, I'm looking at you), often it's been super-chilled (Guanajuato is the best town in the world, and Oaxaca and San Christobal rank pretty high), and everywhere in the last week or so has been fiesta-central (don't believe anyone who tells you mexico city isn't awesome, though I may be biased by turning up just before independence day).

As far as I can tell, Mexicans don't really need much of an excuse to party, and one of their biggest excuses is tomorrow, so everywhere's decked out in bunting and good to go this evening. I'm in a little town called San Christobal, which is in the mountains quite near the guatamalan border, and also very pretty. It's probably a bigger party up in mexico city, but after the weekend I want to hot-foot down to a small town in Guatamala to go learn some spanish for a few weeks so being close to the border is good, and anyway - judging from last night, I don't think finding a party is going to be too difficult.

Still having fun,

Will.
(San Christóbal De Las Casas, Chiapas, México)

Hola, todos!

2007-08-24T01:17:00.001+07:00

I´ve made it to mexico!

Just had a muchly fun couple of weeks with Ben & Roni, road trippin´ from Vegas, through route 66, the grand canyon, more national parks than you can shake a turkey vulture at, through to Los Alamos (atomic bomb design centre and general scary zombie town), Roswell (I believe. Definitely), and an awesome cave with a few hundred thousand bats. Between that lot, the options for lame running jokes was just endless. I´m supprised roni didn´t go all texas chainsaw on our asses.

Onwards to El paso, I crossed the rio grande not once, but 3 times, in increasingly confusing attempts to get the right stamps on my passport (it seems you can wander through into mexico without anyone looking at your passport or ID even once. Getting back´s a little trickier).

That done, I stretched my laughable spanish to the limit whilst trying to work out which local bus would get me to the bus station, then watched 3 truely terrible movies turned up to the max in spanish on my way to Chihuahua. It´s probably a good job they were bad - it turns out a predictable plot is just as predictable, even if you only understand every fourth word.

Chihuahua´s nice. Not seen any small annoying dogs yet though, which is kinda disappointing. Lots of revolutionary history here though - cars riddled with bullet holes and the like - nice!

Tomorrow I head to a place called the Copper Canyon, through which a supposedly amazing train journey weaves its way. The canyon is bigger, longer and deeper than the grand canyon, yet not being in the states, it´s almost completely unknown. I´ll report back in a few days.

Hope everyone´s well,

Will.
(Chihuahua, Mexico)

Holidays at home

2007-08-07T02:25:00.000+07:00

Howdy y'all,

I really have been pretty lax at providing updates. On the other hand, I've been pretty busy...

- Getting a lift to the rugby with the New Zealand Airforce band (and getting drunk with them on the base afterwards)
- Pretending I'm famous on the Fijian resort that turned out to be the set of celebrity love island. With Kava (google it)
- Swimming with sharks. Really, really big, 12' long bull sharks. Loads of them. Without a cage. Brilliant.
- Dead good snorkelling just off a tiny island, and meeting up with Ed, Mo and Dee
- Getting sunburnt in San Francisco, and totally failing to meet up with any of the people I know who live round there
- Flying halfway round the world back to the UK for a week
- Watching my brother get married! Congratulations Matt & Suzi!
- Celebrating my brother getting married. Quite a lot. My head still hurts.

And in a couple of days I fly back to the US of A to hunt for aliens for a couple of weeks with Ben (other brother) and Roni. Which rocks.

Will.
(London)

The Rainbow Warrior

2007-07-19T14:00:00.000+07:00

Hi all,

I went out diving today. The wreck of the Rainbow Warrior lies just off the coast from here (Paihia, at the very north of North Island). She was in port in Auckland at midnight almost exactly 22 years ago, ready to sail to the Pacific to protest French nuclear testing. The French decided they didn't like this idea, and plated two bombs on her hull. They sank the ship, and killed Fernando Pereira, a Spanish photojournalist who had escaped but then went back on board to get his equipment. The two French agents were swiftly captured by New Zealand, but this was the first time they'd had to deal with international terrorism (especially when it was sponsored and later publicly endorsed by a foreign state), and bowed to presure from the French government. The two agents were deported to a French Ponynesian island, where they kicked back for two years, before being free to return to France and make a whole load of money writing books about it.

Meanwhile, the boat was raised for forensic analysis, then laid ot rest off the coast, in a carefully chosen spot that has almost no current, and is just under 30 meters deep, allowing coral and underwater life to flourish, and making it a really, really good dive. It was my first wreck dive. It's pretty hairy - as well as exploring the hull, we went in through one of the doors into the cabin, down a coridor and out a side-door on the other side of the boat. It doesn't sound much, but when you're 25 meters under water, it's dark & murky and there's something solid between you and the surface it makes things a bit interesting. There's a plaque on the bow that's pretty covered in gunk, but is discernably a dove.

The second dive of the day didn't have quite as spectacular a historical background, but I did see a feckin' huuuuge stingray. It's difficult to work out sizes underwater, but Ty - the guy leading the dive - is about 6' tall, and he was only just longer than it was. After the whole Steve Erwin thing, I gave it a pretty wide bearth. I also *almost* caught a big crayfish, but the bugger got away. Damn.

Off back to Auckland tomorrow. I'm going to see the All-Blacks play Australia, in the final game of the 3 nations. It'll decide both that and the Bledisloe Cup - the kiwi-ozzie equivalent of the ashes, except it's rubgy. A Maori bloke on the dive today was explaining the story of the Haka. It's quite rude!

Ban the bomb,

Will.
(Paihia, New Zealand)

Will's ill on the West coast :(

2007-07-10T10:22:00.000+07:00

Hi folks,

I was due to go ice-climbing today, but started feeling lame last night and had a rubbish nights sleep, so I got up this morning and cancelled before heading back to bed. Been up since lunch, eaten some food, been donated a kiwi by a generous fellow traveller (which, oddly enough, didn't really taste like a kiwi. Closer to a mandarin. I wonder if oranges in china taste like something different?...)

Ho hum. So I'm catching up on learning spanish today, and generally feeling sorry for myself. Luckily, I'm in quite a nice hostel, so it's not all bad, and I'm not in too much of a rush just now (I need to be in north island by monday, which is only a few days travel away). If I don't feel better by this evening I'll probably just cancel the ice-climbing altogether. There's a different glacier up the coast that you can go ice-climbing on as well, so maybe I'll fit it in there.

Now I think about it, apart from a minor bit of food poisoning in Laos, this is the first time I've got ill, so I'm not doing too badly :)

Back to bed for me,

Will.
(Fox Glacier, New Zealand)

All roads lead to Home

2007-07-04T14:29:00.000+07:00

Hey folks,

Snow! Unfortunately not too much of it - one of the two resorts in queenstown was shut when I was there at the weekend, as was half of the other. Luckily there was plenty of nice snow on the half that was open, and (even more luckily) I blagged a spare pair of skis, a place to crash, and a free ski pass. Oh, and it's been snowing like crazy around queenstown all week, and I'm back this weekend. As they would say round these parts... Choice as, bro!

So on Sunday I hitched to Te Anau (for some reason there wasn't a bus), then went kayaking on Milford Sound on Monday. Stunning. Just stunning. Apparently, in summer, you get around 70 kayakers a day out there, but it being winter, our group of 6 had the whole fjord to ourselves. Also rather, erm, choice!

A lass in the hostel was driving south and wanted to split petrol, so I've been driving with her round the Catlans - a pretty remote area of the south coast. Lunch yesterday was at Slope Point - the most Southernly point of South Island. So far I've gone 100° East and 172° South of home, so I figure this is pretty much as far as I get before turning around.

The way out's been fun, all in all. Choice as.

Will.
(very much The Other Side Of The World)

Winter Wonderland

2007-06-28T15:43:00.000+07:00

Hey folks,

It's cold. Ooooh so cold. Welcome to New Zealand. The dilapidated student flat I've been hanging about in for the last week or so has no insulation. In the most southernly university in the world. In the middle of winter. The latest plan to keep it warm involves putting cling film on the windows. Genius.

Off skiing tomorrow in Queenstown for a few days. If only I had any feeling in my extremities, I'd be all good :)

That is all,

Will.
(Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand)

Sydneysiding

2007-06-14T09:49:00.000+07:00

I've reached sydney. Not sure I should leave.

Turns out I know someone that's living here just now - Rob, aka Face, who's a friend of Lee's that I've met from many a silly night out in manchester/silly night out in bristol/silly weekend out at glastonbury.

So I was on my way to the pier last night, to catch the ferry to Manly, where Rob lives. I started walking across the big park, then realised I was walking across a big park, in the middle of a big unknown city, on my own, and it was very dark, and this might not have been the most sensible idea. Slightly wary of what I was doing, i rounded a corner and found... a whole load of people. Circuit training.

Ozzies are all nuts - everyone has a sport, and they all throw themselves at it in wild abandon, either in the morning before the sun comes up, or the evening, shortly after it goes down. Maybe that's why they win at everything.

Even better, they finish their self-flagellation, then proceed directly to the nearest pub. Awesome!

Meanwhile, the city is full of nice buildings, the parks look great, it's the coldest part of the year but still a lovely day, some of the best surf on the work is on your doorstep, there's untamed mountains and outback an hours drive away, and there's constantly loads of stuff going on. It rocks!

Case in point: tomorrow, I'm going to see a free concert. In tribute to, and attended by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Who's speaking at it. How cool is that?!

Right, off for a walk round manly, then a trip to the zoo to see some great galahs. Streuth!

Will.
(Sydney, Oz)

Bring me sunshine

2007-06-10T08:36:00.001+07:00

Hey all,

The weather's picked up - yey!

I'm heading south, so it's slowly getting cooler, but at least the sun's out again. Had a great time in brisbane the last couple of days - exploring the city and being cultural in the day (sooo nice to have a day to myself!), then blatent flaunting of queensland regulations in the evening with parties in the hostel in the evening (and bringing your own beer! Call the cops!). It's been a big weekend cos they have a bank holiday for the queens birthday on monday - how come we don't get that?

Rocked into the imaginatively named Surfer's Paradise this morning. Think blackpool with a cleaner beach. Byron bay down the coast is supposed to be nicer, but I've got a voucher for a free night here, so might as well use it and head down to byron tomorrow. Off to catch a few waves (well, attempt to) this afternoon. Given the name of the town, it'd be kinda rude not to.

Just heard from a friend in new zealand that it's snowing where he is just now, so I guess I'd better make good use of this sun while I still can.

Will.
(Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland, Down Under)

Streuth! A wet dingo!

2007-06-07T16:44:00.000+07:00

G'day all,

Sailing rocked, and we had suprisingly nice weather, given the average weather just now. Much drunkenness and tomfoolery, plus Whitehaven beach, which is quite possibly the best beach. Anywhere. Oh, and some great snorkelling.

From there onto Fraser island - the biggest sand island in the world, and site of foolish travellers messing about in 4x4 jeeps down the beach, aka the motorway, aka the airstrip. Is nice! Unfortunately we only had one really nice day (at Lake Mackenzie, which is the best bit anyhow), but there was quite a lot of rain.

In a little place called rainbow beach for a night tonight. I read a queensland paper today - it had the first 5 pages, celebrating the rain! Turns out they had the most rain yesterday in 2 and a half years, and it's needed to turn round a massive drought, so I don't feel too bad about the weather. Kinda sucks that it had to be just now, though!

Anyhow, internet's about to run out, so godda run.

Will.
(Rainbow beach, Oz)

The 3000km sprint

2007-05-30T08:38:00.000+07:00

Cairns to Melbourne in 3 weeks - Go!

Had a few days in Cairns with some diving on the great barrier reef, and managed to find some sharks and a turtle, which was awesome - they're much easier to find here than in thailand, and the reef is amazing :)

After that I had the first of my 4 overnight coaches that take me remarkably quickly down a remarkably long coastline over the next few weeks. I'm in a place called Airlie beach, from where you can get a sailing boat out to the Whitsunday islands - I head off in a few hours. Because I didn't book very far in advance, the really cheap boats were all booked up, so I've got the slightly more expensive (but far more fun) reconditioned 85' racing yacht. Oh yes.

Back on shore in a few days, when I'll be hot-footing down to Fraser island, for a few more days of driving about on a 4x4 down a highway that happens to also be a beach, dodging dingoes.

Oz seems well expensive after Asia, but I'm not here all that long so I'm trying not to worry about it too much :) There's plenty of distractions...

Will.
(Airlie beach, Oz)

aaaand relax

2007-05-23T12:58:00.000+07:00

Hi all,

I've been in bali for a week or so, and it's ace - spent some time in a quiet beach in the north called lovina, and the rest of the time in Kuta, which is the craziest bali gets (most other places are almost asleep). The big draw of Kuta is the excellent surf - had a few lessons here and might have one or two more in australia when I get there. It's pretty difficult (and seriously hard work on the arms), but I'm getting there :)

Speaking of australia, I head there tomorrow night, arriving in cairns on friday morning, hopefully in ideal time to meet up with Ed, who should also have just arrived - that should be ace.

Also, I've sorted all my flight dates for the wedding - I have 4 weeks in australia, just over 4 weeks in new zealand, then a week in fiji before about 20 hours in san francisco then flying back to london. In london between the 1st to the 7th august, if anyone's about (though I'll be busy for most of the weekend).

I've also booked myself on a return flight from Mexico to get back just before christmas. I'll maybe push it past new year if the money's looking ok by then, but I might be too skint and have to come home...

I'm off surfing today because I hurt my back a bit yesterday (rubbish bed in a cheap hostel), but I should be ok to do some more tomorrow before the flight :) Meanwhile a bit of shopping for cheap board-shorts is in order, then off down the beach to catch the end of Diane's surf lesson.

Hope everyone's well,

Will.
(Kuta beach, Bali)

Malaysia to Singapore

2007-05-13T09:18:00.000+07:00

Hey folks,

only 2 minutes of internet, so godda be quick...

Been to The Best Beach In The World (Perhentian islands, Malaysia), then to the Cameron highlands, also Malaysia, for tea and scones, and have now hit Singapore! Which is well civilised, and accordingly expensive. Maybe a sling will help.

D'oh. Didn't manage to finish in my 2 minutes. Another dollar down the pan. Anyhow, Malaysia was ace, if a little whistle-stop, and we've now got 3 days in a very posh, though slightly over budget hostel. Godda fill up on the free breakfast to make it worth while. We're meeting up with Dave's brother Daniel this afternoon, who's gonna tell us what we should do for the next few days.

Oh, and I've splashed out on a new iPod. Pleeeeease don't let me lose this one...

All's well & much fun,

Will.
(Singapore)

Clowning around

2007-05-05T12:20:00.000+07:00

Howdy all,

Quick update, cos I've got a boat to catch.

I did my diving and got my padi open water qualification, then went to koh phangan, where they have a big party every full moon (actually, they have pretty big parties pretty much every day, but the full moon is particularly silly).

Unfortunately a 4 day tropical storm decided to hit the island just as we got there, but luckily dancing about in the rain is the new black, so no one minded. Unfortunately, I don't seem to remember too many details. Something about getting lost for 4 hours in the middle of the night on the way back to my bungalow and meeting all kinds of cool people, none of which were any help in finding my way home rings a vague bell, but for some reason my memory is a bit hazy.

Anyhow, back to more sensible pursuits (hi, mum). I decided the diving was ace, so did some more of it. I went back to koh tao and did my advanced open water, which lets you go much deeper, do a whole bunch of different kinds of dives (phosphorescence on night dives is awesome), and a bunch more navigation.

Including navigating my way across a dive site to where a family of clown fish live.

Yes, I really did find Nemo.

Anyhow, as I say, I've got a boat to catch. We get to the mainland this afternoon, then catch a night train south, that gets us to the Malaysian border tomorrow morning. From there we head to some islands off the east coast for a few days. Probably just lounge about for a bit, but there is supposed to be some great diving there as well, so you never know...

Hope all's well,

Will.
(about to leave Thailand)

Hastily erected wooden shacks

2007-04-22T14:29:00.001+07:00

Hi all,

So I've left Cambodia. Had a bunch of time in phnom penh learning about the atrocities, which was interesting and important and should be more widely taught, but very hard to deal with. After that we headed down to the coast to celebrate Cambodian new year - 3 days or partying, loud Cambodian pop music and a big water fight. With talcum powder. And the cheapest beer anywhere. Awesome!

Then we headed to Siem Reap, from which you explore Angkor (of which Angkor Wat is the most famous temple). It's *huge*. And awesome. I could go on about it for ages, but I'll just post some of the best pics up sometime in the next week or so and make you all jealous that way instead.

From there, we (Diane & I) left the two folks we've been travelling with, to break the landspeed record in getting from siem reap to Koh Tah (and island off the south east coast of thailand) in less than 24 hours (we were expecting more like 36). The first 6 hours are national highway 6 to the thai border. It's an impressive sounding name, but it's actually little more than a very long, single track dirt road*. The rumour goes that an unnamed airline is paying unnamed cambodian government officials an undisclosed gratuity to delay the construction of a proper road to thailand, so that people fly instead. Your arse is numb for days, it's a wonder we survived. Still, what fun would the good bits be without a bit of hardship!

So anyhow, we made it fine, and are kicking around in Koh Tao for a day or two to relax (looking round the wonders of the world is hard work, you know!), before learning to dive tomorrow. It's weird coming back to thailand - after being in laos, vietnam and cambodia for a month or so, thailand seems *well* expensive. Almost a pound for a beer?! You're joking!

In other news, my brother's getting hitched! This summer! So I'm gonna take a weeklong holiday in the UK in early august or so to come and celebrate. Yey!

Keep emailing,

Will.
Koh Tao, Thailand.

* Apologies to Sasha, Digweed, and David Attenborough

Just call me Lance

2007-04-09T18:28:00.000+07:00

Howdy folks,

Thanks for all the birthday messages (& donations to the Will's liver destruction fund!). We went out for a muchos nice meal in Saigon, and had a bottle of wine for the first time since leaving - such luxury!

Unfortunately, we had slightly too silly a night and totally failed to get up in time for our bus to cambodia. Oops. So we just had a day of bumming about in Saigon, then took a trip the day after that took us into the Mekong delta to a bunch of villages & stuff, stayed overnight in a place called Chau Doc, and got a boat up the Mekong, into Cambodia. Fortunately, we avoided both going loopy and getting shot with arrows, which was nice.

So now we're in Cambodia! We had our first full day in Phnom Penh today, and did the 'nice' bits - royal palaces and the like. We're going to do the difficult bits tomorrow - a school building that was used as a torture and internment camp set up by Pol Pot's security forces where moer than 17,000 people were held and then killed in 3 years in the late 70s. It's pretty hard to take in.

On a lighter note, amongst the stuff at the palace today was a model of Angkor Wat, and I can't wait - it's gonna be amazing. We're heading to the beach first, the day after tomorrow, and then heading to Siam Reap (from which you get to Angkor) in a week or so.

Hope you're all well,

Will.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The hardest way to make an easy border crossing

2007-04-01T14:34:00.000+07:00

Trials and tribulations, I tell you!

The day after the last post, we checked out of our (pretty nice, pretty cheap) guest house, and headed to the Vietnamese embassy, expecting to get the visa that day, and jump on a (31 hour!) bus that evening to Hoi An (in Vietnam).

Obstacle #1: It takes 2 working days to get a visa.

So, we do the other bits and pieces we need to do for the day, which takes up most the day, then head back to our guesthouse.

#2: Our guesthouse is full.

#3: Every other guest house is full.

After much looking about, we find a place. It only costs 2 dollars each, whilst most of the full ones cost up to 6 dollars each. This should have raised warnings.

Out of desperation, we take it anyway. The ceiling is being replaced (not directly under our room, fortunately), so we have to climb up the most rickety staircase you've seen, then past a load of builders & random bits of masonry. Barefoot, since we left our sandals downstairs. The room's ok. Bit hot, with a not-very-good fan, but ok. We don't notice how thin the 'mattresses' are, and that the beds consist of a small handful of thin metal slats that the mattresses sink through immediately, until later on.

We consider a shower, but after the horrors of just using the toilet (flushing using a bowl from a vat of water is fine. Having hundreds of mosquitoes swarm out of the vat when you dare venture your hand towards it is not), we decide a shower might be out of the question.

After a day trudging round sorting stuff and no shower, we go for food, not in the best of moods. A pretty lame nights sleep follows.

Next day was much better - moved back into the nice place, splashed out on the entry to the pool of a posh hotel for the day, and ate some nice food.

Around 5am the next morning, it appeared the food wasn't quite so nice. A very restless night and a day of being food poisoned meant there was no way I was getting on a bus that night for a day & a half. Luckily I had a Diane to get supplies of water, and Harry on the iPod (straight back in Marrakesh!), so got through it ok, and was pretty much ok the day after.

So we got our visas, and got the bus, but didn't manage to sleep all night, mostly through the driver's insistence of keeping himself - and everyone else - awake by playing ear-splittingly loud Thai and Laos pop songs. Nice.

After crossing the border, it was about 7am, and I probably could have slept, if it wasn't for the scenery in Vietnam. Blimey it looks great! I must have fallen asleep at some point though, because I was woken up with a start around midday, to learn we were in Hue, and had to get off.

In my dozed hurry, I got off... but my iPod didn't. And there's no way of contacting the bus company or bus station. There goes all my music and most of my photos.

Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.

Since then, things have been getting markedly better. We're in Hoi An, which is very pretty indeed, with a great beach, and Vietnamese food is *ace*. Plus the rest of the bus journey had just as amazing scenery. I think we're only spending a little over a week in this country before hot-footing to Cambodia (time's short), which is a real shame - Vietnam is incredibly lively after dozy Laos, and that energy is pretty infectious. Plus, the north is supposed to be ace.

Ah well - guess I'll have to come back here at some point :)

Oh, finally - think we're gonna get to Ho Chi Min city (Saigon) in time for my birthday on Thursday. Should be fun!

See you, folks,

Will.
Hoi An, Vietnam

Todays show was brought to you with the letter 'V'

2007-03-25T19:46:00.000+07:00

Hey folks,

We've left Vang Vieng, and are in Vientiane getting a visa for Vietnam, where we're headed as soon as we can, to a town called Vinh.

Ok, so we're actually headed for a place called Hoi An, on the coast, but Vinh is where you head after you cross the border, cos it's on the train line.

Quite glad to be shot of Vang Vieng (again). I bumped into two people there that had been there the last time I passed through. They'd already been there for 3 weeks back then, and swore to me they planned to leave the same day I was leaving. I got back this time, and they hadn't left yet. Which is a month after I left. They both swore blind to me that they were leaving today, but I get a definite sense of deja vu...

Anyhow, we've decided to forgo the very south of Laos, because we want to push on through to Vietnam and then Cambodia, which will give us an extra week or so in Malaysia in a month or two, once we get down there. Anyhow, Hoi An is supposed to be an ace place, so looking forward to that. Vientiane itself (where I am now - the capital of Laos) is nothing special to be honest, but we can get a Vietnamese visa here then move on as soon as possible.

Spent most of today on the most crowded local bus you've ever seen. The conductor wasn't able to shut the doors at one point cos there were too many people on the stairwell, and the roof was jam-packed. Genius!

All for now,

Will.
Vientiane, Laos

I'm alive - honest!

2007-03-21T13:59:00.000+07:00

Howdy all,

I've tried a bunch of times to write about the meditation retreat, but the world (well, computers) seem to be conspiring against me, and I keep losing my post then not being bothered to do it again, so I think I might give up.

Here were the headlines:
- up at 4am. Every day.
- concrete beds with wooden pillows
- complete silence for 10 & a half days
- knees destroyed from trying to sit cross-legged for 7 or 8 hours a day
- crazy wildlife - poisonous centipedes and scorpions, snakes, frogs, huuuuge geckos (which rock, btw), never-ending mozzies (which suck. In all senses), ant motorways across the path, dragonflies, huuuuge great spiders (which *Aren't* poisonous, luckly), plus endlessly noisy roosters and crickets
- Doing tai chi as the sun rises from behind the lake and the coconut groves
- Finding out a whole load about buddhism in general, and how meditation fits in with it, which was ace
- Having an awesome experience during a meditation session on the 2nd day, that got well deep and felt ace, and then totally failing to recreate it for the rest of the retreat!
- Having your internal monologue go a bit loopy after 10 days of not saying anything

Anyhow, sorry for not writing it up properly, but I realised it's almost a month since I last posted, so should probably write something :)

Meanwhile, I've been back to bangkok for a few days to meet Diane. We then looked around bangkok for a bit, then went to see the bridge over the river kwai and have a history lesson (google it - it's pretty serious stuff).

After that we came back to bangkok to meet diane's mate christi, gone to an *uber* posh bar on the roof of a posh hotel on the 61st floor, with an *awesome* view over bangkok. Waaay over our usual budget, but good fun every now and again.

After that, there was some more sight-seeing, then we got the night train back to the laos border, and got a bus from there back to Vang Vieng. We're gonna kick around here for a few days then I'm not sure were we're planning - either southern laos or vietnam.

To make up for my lack of posting, I've put a couple of photos up on flickr! Check out www.flickr.com/photos/willlovett/

Anyhow, I felt a bit deprived of gossip from the outside world during the retreat, so let me know how you're all getting on.

Laters,

Will.
Vang Vieng, Laos.

There's a whisper down the line, at 11.39, when the Night Mail's ready to depart

2007-02-26T08:39:00.000+07:00

Hi folks,

Been a bit lax with posting while i've been in Laos, cos internet is slow & expensive. I spent a few more days in Vang Vieng, but somehow managed to escape - better than some of the people I met who'd planned to be there for a day or 4, and ended up staying for months...

Went from there, with a days canoeing, down to Vientiane (the capital of laos), where I spent the night before crossing over to Nong Khia, on the Thai side of the Mekong, and took the night train back to bangkok. Had a dramatic storm as I was tucked up in my little berth, which rocked - first rain I've seen since arriving, and it cleared the air a bit, which has been getting hotter over the last week or two.

Got a day to waste in bangkok, but I just bumped into someone I was travelling with in Laos, and she has a friend staying with business at a posh hotel, so a bit of living-it-up in the sauna may be in order.

Tomorrow morning I head south down to a small town called Chaiya, and spend the night there before heading to a templed called Wat Suanmokkh for 10 days of silence and meditation!

All that means I'm unlikely to post again until I get back to bangkok on the 12th of March.

Hope everyone's well,

Will.
Bangkok, Thailand.

Vang Vieng. A town in serious need of adult supervision.

2007-02-20T20:00:00.000+07:00

I'm in an inner tube on the river Nam Song, just up river from a town called Vang Vieng, about 3/4 of the way from Louang Prabang to Vientiene, floating very slowly downstream.

I'm facing backwards to watch the sun set behind the cliffs, towering hundreds of meters above me, with trees clinging precariously to tiny outcroppings in its face. The general consensus amongst the others floating beside me is that this is the best scenery we've come across in our combined travellings in laos, which is no small praise - between us we've cast a fairly wide net. The road between Louang Prabang and here comes a close second.

There's a shout from just behind me, "Beer Laos! Beer Laos". I spin around to see a local, perched on a small rock in the middle of the river, who magically has a bin full of ice and - tasty beer! Unfortunately for him, the previous entrepreneur had no change for 20,000 kip (a quid), so I was forced to take two and had lots left.

If you take the tube straight downstream, it'd take a couple of hours to get back into town, but to do so isn't really the point. This isn't so much an outdoor activity as a water born pub crawl.

There are bars on each shore. The staff fish for punters with bamboo poles, pulling you towards them with promises of cheap beer, good food, beach volley ball and huge swings suspended over the water. There's a collective wince as a girl fails to take a good purchase on the bar of one such swing, and belly flops into the river from the ledge, 30 feet up. A tense second or so passes before she breaks the surface, to a loud cheer from the shore.

So the day went. All of it. You get a vague feeling at the back of your mind that anytime now a parent, teacher or other authority figure is going to break the whole place up and tell us to stop acting up. But you look about and all you see is 20-somethings. Grinning.

Will.
Vang Vieng, Laos.

P.S. The elephant festival was *ace*, but I wouldn't really do justice to it until I put up some pictures, so you're going to have to wait till I'm somewhere less back-of-beyond, that has cheaper internet. However, I was hanging out with a lass called Lindsey there, who has a blog (with pictures!), at http://www.travelblog.org/bloggers/lp

One for Benny

2007-02-15T18:20:00.000+07:00

I saw bears today! At a sanctuary! Is nice!

Unless something goes wrong (this is laos, after all), I should be heading to a little village back up the river for an elephant festival tomorrow, and be back in Louang Prabang on monday. I expect I'll spend some of the 7 hours on the boat back writing something about it, that i'll post up here early next week.

Oh, and I spent the day swimming in waterfalls, which pretty much beats working for a living. Do I have to come back?

Will.
Louang Prabang, Laos

The Slow Boat to Louang Prabang

2007-02-13T13:31:00.000+07:00

The boat's almost full, at around 10.30 on Sunday morning, the scheduled departure time down the Mekong river on a 200km, two-day trip from Huay Xai, on the border with Thailand, to Louang Prabang - a lovely former french colonial town in the middle of northern Laos. Our craft is maybe 100 feet long, 12 feet wide, wooden, with two rows of two-person wooden benches, a thin walkway down the middle, an engine at the back that runs very loud and very hot and, mercifully, a wooden roof to block the bright sun. It's quite cool this far north but when the early afternoon sun gets on you, you warm up quick.

I realise I've left my only bottle of water at the guest-house breakfast table, a 10 minute tuk-tuk ride away. Since I'm going to be on the boat all day, I decide to risk going back up the sand-bank shore to buy another before we leave. I check with one of the drivers that it'll be ok, and he nods and half-laughs. I get the feeling that he knows something I don't.

Getting back on board, I'm behind a queue of what I take to be the last of the passengers, and am glad I already have a seat saved, as they take up the final spare seats. There's still no sign of movement from the crew.

There's no hurry. We wait for a while and another group of people turn up. Some plastic chair appear from nowhere, and get lined up single-file down the walkway for the late-comers, leaving no room to move. More people, more chairs, more waiting. The whole walkway crammed with chairs, a final dozen or so people arrive and have to content themselves with a square of floor at the very front, just behind where the two pilots share a central wooden wheel.

I'm beginning to be glad of the bag of clothes I separated from my main bag - stowed unobtainable in the aft - that I'm using as a cushion on the hard, thin bench. Having said that, I'm starting to wander whether the real cushion my bench-mate spent around a dollar on before we got aboard might have been a good investment.

In other places, the crowd might be getting restless by now, but this is Laos. Although most of us only entered the (still theoretically communist) republic last night from Thailand, as soon as you climb up onto this side of the river there's a tangible sense of calm and laissez-faire. The most impatience anyone shows are quips about how many times friends have recommended to take this boat, and how they might not be such good friends after all.

There are eventually signs of movement, and we push off to a jovial cheer from the tightly packed crowd, a mere hour or so late. Packed like sardines we might be, but still in a great mood.

5 hours later. The seats are hard, there's no space, and there's another two hours left to go, yet as I childishly hum Doors records and stare out across the slow, almost glass Mekong river at the scarred rock and sand banks, the water buffalo and the deep, rain forested valley we're cutting a route through, and I'm not sure I'm going to want to get off.

Except, of course, we're only halfway there, so perhaps I should stretch my legs this evening before we get back on board tomorrow morning, and do the whole thing all over again.

Will.
Having made it to Louang Prabang, The Laos People's Democratic Republic.

p.s. It turns out an hour late is pretty good. It was over 3 on the second day.

I'm the only farang in this village

2007-02-06T22:57:00.000+07:00

Hey all,

I was in a slightly down mood earlier this evening. I left bangkok yesterday morning, and haven't really met *anyone* since. From people to hang out with coming out of my ears to a ghost-town was a bit of a shock.

I'm in a middling-sized place in central thailand between bangkok and chang mai called phitsanulok. Nothing special, at all, in itself, it turns out. I stopped off there because it made the journey north easier, and meant I got to spend today visiting sukhothai which is this *awesome* 14th-16th century ruined Khmer city. So that was great, but got a bit down later on when I came back here, and the 'bustling' youth hostel has no one but me in it. Again. And the most happening strip in town... appears empty of bars.

So! I decided to get outa here. While sat in a restaurant on the way back to the hostel, I resolved to book myself on a night train that leaves in about an hour from now (half midnight) to chang mai, which I *know* to be ace, where i'm gonna hang out for a day or two before heading to the laos border, which is pretty close to there.

Having made this decision I left the restaurant and headed back to the hostel with a spring in my step. Only to be blinded by a police officer flashing his flash light from the opposite pavement. Unpeturbed, I crossed over, and he signaled for me to stand on the pavement and wait. Looking up and down I saw a *lot* of policemen about. I guessed there was a motorcade coming because the street was empty and a sole police car blarred down the middle of the street with its lights on. I asked a street vendor that spoke a few words of english, and discovered it was the Queen of Thailand going past.

Now she's a pretty damnedly important person round these parts, so i've decided it's a sign. Off to Chang Mai I go!

Speaking of which, I have a night-train to catch.

Laters all,

Will.
Leaving the back-of-beyond, Thailand.

Dealing with Jetlag

2007-02-04T12:26:00.000+07:00

Hey folks,

Friday night was pretty long through jetlag. Woke up about 4am, and didn't sleep. Still, it wasn't so bad - it's not actually as hot as I was expecting, and there was running water outside my window & chimes, so I just chilled. Given how close it is to KSR (khao san road) it's pretty quiet.

However! I think I have it beat now. I ended up not getting back to sleep after that, but kept myself awake until pretty late last night then got up this morning with a bit of a hangover but feeling distinctly more normal. I've met a bunch of people at the first guesthouse that I went to Chatuchak market, which is pretty huge - about 15000 stalls. I bartered hard to get a thin strip of leather to hang my evil eye pendant off (thanks Jossie!)

Totally failed to get a Laos visa. I was trying, because you only get a 15 day visa if you get it at the border, but it's 30 days if you get it at the embassy. Anyhow, I went on a trek for hours across the city in the hottest part of the day yesterday, got lost, gave up, found a taxi, got to the embassy, and found it's shut on weekends. I want to leave Bangkok first thing tomorrow, so I'm not going to bother going back - you can get a 15 day visa on the border and just extend it, and I hear rumours that they've started issuing 30 day visas at the crossing point in the far north near Chang Mai which is where I was heading anyway.

Right - off to sit in a park and watch some tai chi before meeting up with someone for lunch. It's a hard life :)

Will.
Banglampo, Bangkok, Thailand.

It's too late. I'm already here

2007-02-02T22:23:00.000+07:00

Howdy, all.

Arrived in bangkok earlier today. Took a number of days to get through security - my hopes of the flight being empty were unfounded - it was packed to the rafters.

Anyhow, no worries. Managed to get to get some sleep, and got an invite to stay in melbourne from some dude I met on the plane, so it's not all bad.

I've had my first beer Chang, and my first plate of stir fried basil & chilli chicken, so I can sefely say I've arrived. Off to the biggest market in the world tomorrow (15000 stalls!), and might find time to sort my Laos visa, but I might be too busy having lots of fun.

Bangkok's as crazy & smelly as ever. All is well.

Will.
Just off the Khao San road, Bangkok, Thailand.

Trials & Tribulations #2: Ghosts at the airport

2007-01-29T23:39:00.000+07:00

I kid you not. As reported by the BBC, they're talking about re-routing flights back to the old airport. Because of Ghosts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6309539.stm

In other news, I've got my updated tickets, so I'm due to be leaving on Thursday evening. Top thing of the day (other than the ghosts), is:

I leave Fiji at 10pm on the 14th August (Ed's birthday, as it happens). I arrive in LA, hang about for a few hours, get on another plane, fly to San Francisco, and arrive there at 5.05pm on the 14th August.

That's 5 hours earlier the same day!

That's a pretty quick plane!

Will.
Feeling things are a little surreal, in Manchester, UK.

P.S. I've just heard they've cancelled the strike. Still leaving on thursday though, cos I've made my plans now :-/

Proper fodder

2007-01-29T00:50:00.000+07:00

Been back to see the folks this weekend, and overdosed on some rite proper food - black pudding and lancashire hotpot at the Three Fishes. Awesome. Now, I can leave.

Back to the packing...

Will.
Home.

Will doesn't wander anywhere

2007-01-26T00:02:00.000+07:00

The cabin crew branch of the Transport and General Workers Union has notified British Airways that it plans to strike on Tuesday 30 January and Wednesday 31 January.

That'll be the day I was supposed to fly to bangkok, then. And the day after.

I'm now booked into a flight on thursday.

This sucks.

Will.
Very much still in Manchester

edit: I've had to put my counter back by 2 days. Harrumph!

Last weekend in Manchester

2007-01-19T22:48:00.000+07:00

My tickets arrived today - they look like a cheque book!

Having a silly time this week. First there was beer festival fun on wednesday, which was great.

Then I was supposed to go to Sheffield to see crazy scientist bod Colin Pillinger talk about the Beagle 2 last night, but armageddon put paid to that idea - the whole city ground to a halt in crazy winds, and there was no way of getting anywhere. Cars and lorrys piled up everywhere, no trains, buses gridlocked - madness! Tom* and I found solstice in a pub instead.

Not sure about tonight yet, but tomorrow's my leaving do - going to a great indian in town then some beerage. I thought it was going to be quite small, but last count I think we've got about 16-17 people coming :)

Last weekend in Manchester feels quite strange though. I'm pretty tired & could do with taking it easy, but that'd hardly be fitting now, would it? I'll have plenty of time to rest soon...

Will.
Mancland Central, uk.

* Tom: Partner in crime & general top-class monkey

p.s. Today's quote of the day:
"I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down."
-Mitch Hedberg

It's exciting, I tell you!

2007-01-16T22:53:00.000+07:00

Alright, so you might not think it's that exciting...

... but I've got a notebook! And it's dead good!

Roni* told me about Moleskine notebooks at christmas, and Stanfords have just got them back in stock, with barely a week to spare.

I'm gonna take lots of photos and all that, but that's mostly for other people. Random stuff I write in my notebook is gonna be entirely selfishly mine, which is why I'm getting overly excited.

I'll have more interesting** things to talk about when I've actually left - promise!

Will.
(Yeah, still Manchester)

* Roni: My brother Ben's significantly better significant other***
** well, marginally more interesting, anyhow
***Actually, Ben's been pretty damnedly great this week himself - cheers benny!

One for worrying parents

2007-01-16T16:33:00.000+07:00

I've got travel insurance! Aren't I good.

The Vague Plan

2007-01-15T23:45:00.000+07:00

January 30th - Fly to Bangkok
Feb, March, April - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
Start of May - head overland down Malaysia to Singapore
End of May - Bali, Lombok, surrounding islands
June - From Caines, head down east coast of Oz to Melbourne
July - Up through New Zealand (from Christchurch to Auckland)
Start of August - Fiji (political situation permitting)
End of August - California for a couple of weeks
September to January - Mexico & Central America, probably with a month in Peru

Which sounds fun, to me. The vague direction is pretty much fixed because I can't change the flight route, but I can change the dates of the flights quite easily.

In other news, I got a cryptic text off Ed* asking where I'd be in March, which I'm taking to mean he might head over to S.E. Asia. Do it!

*Ed: an ex-BBC hack & fellow Prestonian who's travelling round Oz

Will.
Still in Manchester - only 2 weeks left!

I have a passport! With a stamp!

2007-01-05T17:40:00.000+07:00

Despite the best efforts of the royal mail (the guy at the post office forgot to put the postage paid stamp on my special delivery envelope), my passport got to birmingham and came back with a Thai stamp in it.

I'm not letting it back out of my sight for 3 weeks.

It was supposed to be so eeeeasy

2007-01-03T22:52:00.000+07:00

Spot the mistake:

Save up
Buy round the world ticket with missus
Quit job
Break up with missus
Go travelling with... oh.

Anyhow, Hello World. Some of you seem keen on keeping up with my travels, so I'm gonna write every now and then on here, cos myspace sucks as a blog. Hi to the Bristol folks who persuaded me to do something online, and nice one for the new years party :)

More later,

Will.
Manchester, England.