CAMBODIA PHOTOS

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INDIA PHOTOS

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THE LAND OF SMILES - THAILAND 11th-18th JULY

Our only aims for the Thailand trip was to relax, shop and get our OPEN WATER DIVING cert........
all of which we did rather well.
After a melting day in Chatachuk market in Bangkok we boarded our over night bus to Koh Tao.
This turned out to be the journey from hell as we had the worst seats at the back of the bus and we ended up at the ferry point hot, tired and my feet had swollen up the size of elephants which resulted in my first trip to the Koh Tao doctor of the holiday
When we got to Koh Tao we started back to school and had to do loads of theory for our PADI, our instructor Alex was great and there were only two more students in our group Charlotte and Mathieu.
Diving itself was amazing! I struggled a lot with equalizing and my ears were pretty painful for the first 2 days.............it was also a weird feeling being under water, breathing like Darth Vader and having loads of beautiful fish swimming about - but I soon got used to it!

On the last day, we had two fantastic dives were we went down to 18m and got up close to a sleeping sea turtle. AMAZING. and suffice to say we all passed the tests and got our PADI.

So with one day left in Koh Tao before heading back to Bangkok I decided to spend the days relaxing on the beach...........George on the other hand wanted to hire motorbikes and go explore the island. Pamela and I decided this would be a more exciting way to spend our last day and so we signed up for the adventure too.

What a ride it was - the result was treacherous dirt track roads that sent me skidding off my bike, we had to get some locals to bring our bikes back to the main road for us and I had to go to the doc for the 2nd time to get 6 stitches in my knee. this was also the end of my swimming in the sea for this holiday!
the bummer was the next day when we had to spend more than we had the whole week in Koh Tao to the rental women who held Georges passport hostage, until we forked up enough money to replace parts on the bike whenever they were only scratched. Live and Learn.

Then we were back in Bangkok in time for another melting hot shopping day at Chatachuk and some great food at our favourite street stalls before flying to Cambodia............

INCREDIBLE INDIA 4th-11th JULY

Our arrival in Delhi was a hot and tired one - it was 4am and our flight had been delayed. So it was really nice to finally arrive at our luxurious accommodation - ha yeah right! india is a whole new world when it comes to travelling and we realised we would have to adapt pretty quickly!

George was instantly put off by the rubbish and dirt, people using the street as a toilet and the cow poo everywhere. I could tell from the start this would probably be his one and only visit to India.

After spending a couple of days with the billion people who live there and of course the "holy cows" we set off from Delhi on the train to meet my lil sis Pamela in Jaipur (this turned out to be a lovely city and thank goodness she had been working hard to find a nice hostel before we came and she did a brill job!)

Then from Jaipur we went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal - this made the visit to India really worth it. It is magnificent - you think you know what it will look like since we've all seen the photos so many time but in real life it just surpasses all expectations. Other than the Taj Agra is pretty much the same as elsewhere and it rained a lot so we were walking in sewage sludge constantly. nice.

Then one humid evening while sitting on our rucksacks in a train station till 2.00am in the morning (while our train was 4 hours late) we managed to see more rats running around than all of us had seen in our lives all together.

 Pamela even managed to go to the same toilet as one at the same time!

When our train finally arrived it took us to Varanassi............apparently a very enlightening place.

Varanassi was definitely completely different to where we had been so far and the Ghats along the Ganges were really amazing. No matter what time we went there was something interesting happening and lots of colourful characters about. We were so keen to see the Ghats at their best we even got up at 5 in the morning for a boat ride. For Hindus this is a very sacred and spiritual place and many people come here to cremate their dead on the river and then mourn for them by bathing in it.

This was another highlight of India and when we managed to escape the loony that chased us up the road shouting "LEAVE INDIA NOW" and put the dirt, rubbish, heat and beggers to the back of our mind - I did genuinely like Varanassi and could see why people fall in love with it.

RUSSIA - MOSCOW 30th JUNE - 3rd JULY

RED Square, the Kremlin, St Basils Cathedral - all were amazing and really worth the vist.
The only other good thing about Moscow is the McDonalds, which we ate at nearly every day mostly because we could read the menu & it was the only food we could afford (MOSCOW is really really expensive)......they have the cleanest poshest McDonalds I have ever seen!!

People weren't unfriendly but were as warm as a Siberian winter and it was a really difficult city to get around. Although the Metro stations are superb with the most fascinating designs for each individual one. Each stop was like walking into a new Art Gallery.

Glad we have been - don't feel the need to go back (to Moscow) again!.

quick summery of Cape Town so far.........

Robben Island - where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his life behind bars with hundreds of other "political" prisoners . Our guide was a former political prisoner so we got a very "real" insight into life there.

George thought he looked like Wesley Snipes and was very impressed.

Waterfont - Touristy and expensive.

Table mountain - Got engaged!!!!! views are amazing. Stayed in a gorgeous hotel in Camps Bay.

Cape of Good Hope - unfortunately the heavens opened up on this day. The locals are right when they say the weather can be very unpredictable.

SHARK diving in a CAGE. Amaxing experience seeing Great white sharks up close, which was a surprising calm experience.

tomorrow we fly to London then Edinburgh for our week in Scotland.

CAPETOWN and the Proposal!!

we finally made it to this beautiful city that looks really spectacular with Table mountain at the back and gorgeous beaches to the front.

The big news is that George asked if I would marry him when we were sitting at the top of Table mountain looking out on the world below! I said yes!

It was midday 26th May 2008!