Uluru (Ayer's Rock) Tour

I went to visit Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and King's Canyon this past week. Both of which are absolute marvels. I was with a group called the Rock Tour, there were 17 of us with a guide. I thought in the beginning that it was way too big, but the combination of Germans, Dutch, British, Swede and me the lone Canadian worked out very well. The drive from Alice Springs to King's Canyon - the first stop on our tour - was about 5 hours. On the way we saw a herd of wild camels, they're not native to Australia but were brought here by early settlers and have since thrived in the area. King's canyon was beautiful, we walked for about three hours around different parts of the canyon, had some opportunities to look down into the canyon from the edge. It was pretty freaky. The first night we made camp at a 'bush' camping ground, no toilets - just a bush. We cooked our meal over the fire and it was delicious. We slept in a swag. A swag is an Australian creation, its a canvass bag that zips up with just your face out. It has a small mattress and you put your sleeping bag inside. It was a great way to sleep, with your last sight for the day being the amazing southern night sky.
The next day we drove to Uluru. Uluru is the word that local Aboriginal groups have given Ayer's Rock. We arrived at the Rock at sunset, we set up our rolled up swags in a semi-circle and ate supper while watching the splendor of light setting on Uluru. The changes in colours has the sun set were spectacular. The next morning was an early one, we left our camp site around 5:45am, this time to watch the sunrise on Uluru.... also an amazing sight.
I feel like I experienced the outback in a real authentic way with the sleeping outside, cooking over an open fire and seeing the sun set and rise on this very sacred sight.

Pictures from the Outback

Here is the public Facebook link to some Outback pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=245454&id=763065018&l=d764ef8133

Deep in the Outback

I came to Australia with no plans. I like having the flexibility to decide when Iarrive in a new country. I really intended to go to New Zealand, then I checked out the temperatures for this time of the year. It's COLD there. So, I decided to stay in Australia for my six weeks in the south Pacific. I spent six days in Melbourne, its right in the southern part of Australia, so it was pretty cold there for a few days. I met a guy from Sweden, he suggested going to the outback, Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. I kept thinking... sounds like a plan. So after three long bus rides, each about 12 hours we arrived in Alice Springs. We spent one night in a small town called Cobber Pedy, its a little mining town about 800 from Adelaide and that far again from Alice Springs. Talk about being in the middle of nowhere. I stayed in a hostel that was carved out of stone under ground. Many of the houses in this town are under ground, mostly to get away from the scorching summer temperatures, apparently it gets into the 50's. It was a very unique place. Not much to do but unique nevertheless. We arrived in Alice Springs yesterday. The town is pretty much closed today because of Good Friday. We leave on a three day tour of King's Canyon and Ayers Rock on Sunday. We sleep outside under the stars in 5-10 degrees. BRRR. Should be a lot of fun. Funny thing is I thought Ayer's Rocks was in or very close to Alice Springs, its about a 4-5 hours drive due west. Who knew.

I haven't uploaded many pictures lately, I've been having some trouble with one of my camera chips, I lost all of my pictures from Singapore and Melbourne. I moved onto a new chip. I'll upload some next week of Ayers Rock.

I just finished booking travel tickets home. I arrive in Vancouver on May 27. Hard to believe its time to think about that.

Singapore and Beyond

I just arrived in Melbourne, Australia. I spent the past week in Singapore. I don't know what to say about Singapore. It was very expensive, especially after spending the past few months in India and SE Asia. Singapore itself is a beautiful city, it looks very 'planned' and 'manicured'. I stayed with a friend in the downtown core for the first part of the week. I think Singapore has more malls than any place I have ever been. It certainly would be the dream of a 'shopper'. For me, not so much. I spent the second part of the week with an old university friend from Newfoundland. It was great to meet up again.

I have no idea what is going to happen in the next six weeks. I had first planned to go to New Zealand, but it is very chilly there now and I'm not sure if I want to end my year of traveling in the cold. So I may head north in Australia and find a good beach.

Lost in Hanoi

I've spent the last few days in Hanoi. It's a great city to wander in, lots of great things to see. I've been to see Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is seen as the great liberator of Vietnam and is held in very high regard. The funny thing is, he had requested a simple cremation before he died. His request certainly wasn't heeded. He is laid to rest in a giant glass 'cage' in a monster of a building. Hardly simple. It was interesting to go though, I was surprised to see that I was one of the few foreigners. Most of the visitors were Vietnamese, who visit to pay their respects.

My Friends Joe and Hannah left a few days ago for Laos, it was great traveling with them if for the simple reason I had someone navigating my way. I have been lost so many times in the past few days. This morning I headed out to an area around the lake, and wanted to wander through all the narrow market streets. Once again, I got severely off track and ended up in a completely different area of the city. I know this must sound humourous, but when you suffer from the 'direction disability' it can be very frustrating, especially when you're wandering in hot humid weather.

Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore to meet up with some friends and just a week later to Melbourne, Australia.

Halong Bay, Northern Vietnam

I'm doing a very bad/LAZY thing, I went on an amazing tour of Halong Bay in northern Vietnam. I went with a great couple Joe and Hannah from England. She wrote about it on her blog and did such a great job, I thought I would copy parts of it. Thanks Joe and Hannah.

I've put some pictures on Facebook again, you can see then with this public link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=234147&id=763065018&l=2930a089f8

At 8am we took a very small (and quite precarious looking) boat to our new home / boat for the next 2 days. Our crew Bin, Tim and Fi, made us feel instantly at home by bringing us a cup of traditional Vietnamese Tea. We sat up on the roof deck, lounging in our reclining chairs feeling like lord and lady muck! Shame the tea had been boiled in the same utensils they use for tea, as it had a very fishy taste! The three of us (Max has come with us, and the 3 of us have a huge boat all to ourselves) dutifully drank the tea, making the correct, polite um and ahh noises until Bin had gone down below, and we threw it over board, hoping the crew would think it was a fish jumping!

We motored out of Cat Ba Town Bay and just went around lots of different islands, each new turn providing a beautiful scene, fit for a kodak moment. Although the weather isn't great (its the low season, a bit cold and misty) it added to the magical sense. After a few hours of lounging about, admiring the scenery, we docked at one of the floating houses. The only other boats we have seen have been local fishermen and their floating houses / fish farms where they keep lots of dogs to amuse them. The fishermen keep fish in nets to fatten them up, an also grow muscles and other shell fish, but it can take 3 years for them to grow so they have a lot of spare time on their hands! We picked up some kayaks and donned our swimmers, before taking off on an hour long kayak tour around the bay we were in to a lovely beach which was covered in purple shells. There were all different types of shells, yet they all ranged from light to dark purple, it was quite bizarre, but very beautiful. There are so many little beaches where no one goes all around this area.

After the feast called lunch (fresh fish, veggies, spring rolls, rice and seafood - which Max ate, he's so happy he's on a tour with us, as he gets to eat all the stuff we don't like!) we once again motored out, the boat is called a junk, but it doesn't have those lovely red sails we were hoping for but its still a wonderful experience. After taking loads of photos, we once again kayaked in the afternoon, this time going though a cave complex (which got a bit dark and scary at one point!) which has been hollowed out of the cliffs by years of erosion, to bring us out into a lagoon.

The afternoon involved more motoring between the small islands. We just relaxed and enjoyed the views, soaking up the scenery. We visited a fish farm in the afternoon where our lads got a fish for tea -so fresh it tried to escape!

In the evening we ate yet another feast before retiring to bed down below at about 8pm! There isn't really too much to say, as most of the day has been spent up top, just relaxing! Perfect!

Day Two on Halong Bay

Arose at about 8 am, (Max rose just after 6:00) and we were promptly fed a lovely fried egg butty by the boys on our boat. Soon after we were underway with Captain Fi and his very cool quiff hairdo pushing us on further and deeper into the huge limestone monoliths. This morning he took us to some floating fishing villages and we all hopped in the kayaks for a closer inspection.

The trip over the shallows was fantastic and we managed to see some pretty interesting coral through the vivid jade coloured waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The crabs all take on a lovely purple colour as do most of the other shell fish and we loved getting close to the edges of the karst towers to see them scatter away when we paddled near. Once back in the boat we were taken to Thien Cung grotto which is a huge cave complex comprising of three large chambers containing large numerous stalactites and stalagmites. After 40 mins of walking around the caves it was time for lunch and once again it was a feast fit for kings - except the tea we had yesterday was twice as strong and fishy this time!

At about 1 ish we dropped anchor at another limestone tower that had some more interesting coral and a lovely beach and spent a good 50 min paddling slowly up and down the edges taking in the surroundings. Sadly our Halong Bay time was coming to an end and the junk we have been on for the last 2 days set course for Cat Ba island. It took us no time to get back as we reflected on the great couple of days we've just had and we were back at the hotel for 4:30pm. For anyone considering coming here - do it! - t'was superb - maybe check out this website and see what you think - http://www.catbaventures.com/ - get thee to Phong Lan hotel and Mr Tung will sort it!

Vietnam

I have been in Vietnam for just over a week. I first went to Ho Chi Minh, it is most commonly called Saigon. I have never seen so many motorcycles in all of my life. The Lonely Planet guide book warns you about getting across the street. You literally have to weave in and out of hundreds of motorcycles. It's crazy. I had no idea where I was going from Saigon, I looked at the my trusty Lonely Planet and found a small 'beach' town called Mui Ne. It was about four hours north, I got there and it was indeed by the ocean, but there was no beach. Apparently the beach washes away for certain months of the year, well March is one of those months. I had a good two days there just the same, I rented a bike and wandered around from one end of the town to the other. It was a very hot day, so I bought a pool pass at a really nice hotel and hung out poolside. From Mue Ne, I took the bus to Da Lat. This town is in the mountains, about 1500m above sea level. You can notice the difference in temperature right away, especially at night. Today I hired a local guide named Vu. He was great, he took me on his motorcycle to all the different areas around town and out into the country side. We were having an amazing day until about 3:00 when it started to rain, 'pouring out of the Heavens' kind of rain. By the time I got back to my hotel, I was soaked to the skin. I've posted some pictures again on Facebook, I figure since I can post the public link on here, it will be easier.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229412&id=763065018&l=3ce0e