Hi Guys, For maybe the last time......
Since Cusco, Peru it has been none stop overnight bus journeys (mainly uncomfortable). First went to Arequipa home to the 2 deepest canyons in the world, then up the Peruvian coast to Nasca, Lima and Trujillo and then into Ecuador to Guayaquil, Banos, into the jungle in the NE of the country and then to Quito, the capital, virtually on the Equator and the end of this six month trip.
Highs First for a change....
- The Nasca lines are a massive mess of lines drawn in the desert containing huge pictures of animals and other shapes. The lines were drawn about 1,500 years ago and are only visible from the air so we had to take a flight over them. The largest animal is a bird 285m long although some of the smaller ones (around 50m long) are better drawings. Why they were drawn is still a matter of great debate ranging from a map of where to find water, a map of the stars, solstice lines to pictures to appease the gods. How they did it is another matter. The lines themselves were made simply by removing dark stones to reveal the lighter desert stone beneath. How they achieved the accuracy of patterns is not so easy to explain. Some people claim they must have been able to see them from the air by using a primative hot air balloon, or perhaps they were geometrically advanced and had inveted a method of enlarging small pictures. Unfortunately even if they were advanced they (like all other Andean tribes prior to arrival of the Spanish in 1532) had no system of writing and so we know little about them.
- In Trujillo, Chan Chan is the largest mud city in the world and the largest pre Spanish city in the Americas was built around 1300AD and housed 55,000 people. They simply moulded mud into brick shapes without baking them and built a city. The advantage they had was that it can go for decades without raining here although even in those days the odd El Nino did a lot of damage. There are still many walls left although the water damage is obvious. Amazing that something so basic could last so long and that a civilisation advanced and organised enough to organise 55,000 people did not want (or maybe didnt need) to use more advanced methods of building.
- The 5 day trip into Ecuadors rainforest was a great experience - well at least it was when it wasnt raining.
Two things should ye know about the rainforest before ye enter. Firstly, it is a FOREST.
Secondly, it RAINS.
This may seem rather obvious but I have met people on trips into Rainforest who express surprise that it rains. That is rather like going to London and being surprised that the River Thames is a river! I know there are exceptions - like Panama hats being made in Ecuador and the Hundred Years war lasting 126 years , BUT some things are obvious and rain in a Rainforest
is surely one of them.
When it wasnt raining we say loadsa monkeys, birds, butterflys and a few mammals. We slept in mossie nets on a covered wooden platform in the middle of nowhere - there is nothing like going to sleep and waking up to the sounds of the jungle. No electrity or showers but we had candles and a river to swim in and it was just perfect. Perfect except for the mossies that is, they took a liking to my feet for some reason and my insteps did a fair impression of a relief map of the Andes.
A few LOWS
- Lima in Peru. A large costal city not far from the Equator. Rio is further from the equator and has fantastic water and beaches so I was hoping for something similar here. But.... to start with the sky was the most dowdy shade of grey imaginable as if it was just off to a particularly large
and important funeral. The sea was pretty much the same colour, as was the beach (just pebbles) and not only was it cold but there was a cold wind blowing. Just to top it off there was a small pier and a single mad local swimming. Yes I was actually in Brighton on a summer weekend ....... and the water temperature ... I didnt get close enough to find out !
- Rice, Rice, Rice. Dry, Dry, Dry. At every meal in this part of the world they serve rice .... with everything! Even ordering a portion of chips guarantees an accompanying mountain of rice sufficient to keep a large Asian family for a week. Whoever first introduced it here didnt actually tell the locals how to serve it properly ..... Dry chicken, dry chips and dry rice.
Of course hardly anyone actually eats the rice ... even the locals who you would of thought must be used to it by now are adept at pushing it towards the edge of the plate as if saving it for last .. and then just as they are about to start the arduous and painful process of consumption, they declare they are already full.
- Endless overnight bus journeys. Compared to most of SAm Peru does not look that big .... but it is enormous and many of the roads are not the best, and neither are the buses. Plus the people here are fairly short and so they design buses without legroom. Apart from that its great - what I mean is - they are cheap !
The Rest
- The Equator - The thing itself is hardly a highlight - I mean it is just a line (about 6cm wide in this case) and its yellow - Amazing that on all maps its always black but in reality its yellow ! How did the cartographers get that wrong?
But getting there (and having the usual crap picture taken) means the end of this journey. In the past 20 months I have been to 31 countries including almost every meaningful country in the southern hemisphere, across 6 continents (Antartica will have to wait for next time or when I have some money). I have spent far too long on buses but even though I never got travel sick , maybe now I am sick of travelling and want to sit in the same place for more than a couple of days.
Of course the trip would not be complete without a few Awards so here are a few random samples ........
Hottest place - Yangon and Bangkok just before the monsoons. Nobody did anything cos it was very hot and 100% humidity.
Coldest Place - My parents house near London
Most expensive place - London
Cheapest Place - Sumatra, Indonesia (For what a pint of beer costs in London you could live here for a day including accomodation, decent food and a beer !)
Cheapest Beer - Hanoi, Vietnam (Beer Hoi on the street cost 10 US cents (7p) a glass and it was pretty good. We still haggled over the price though!!!!)
Worst Food - Lao and Easter Island
Best Food - Argentina
Highest (Legal) Adrenalin sport - Skydiving, NZ
Highest (Legal) Adrenalin sport that I would actually do again - White water rafting down the Zambezi, Zimbabwe.
Best Man made wonder - Cities and temples at Angkor, Cambodia (Absolutely stunning)
Best Natural wonder - View of Southen Ice Field and glaciers, Torres del Paine, Chile
Although notable runners up include
- Mount Bromo at Sunrise, Java, Indonesia
- Iguassu Falls, Argentina/Brasil
- Moreno Glacier, Argentina
Favorite country - Myanmar (Burma)
Most played record worldwide - YMCA by Village People. That just proves it is a really sad world we live in!
I will be back in England on 19 July and will be staying at my parents as I cant afford to get my house back until I have a job ......
Several people have asked me what I intend to do when I get back - as if after 20 months I havent thought about it. I know exactly what I will do..... I will sit on my sofa at my parents house and think What the hell am I going to do now!
Thanks to all the people I have travelled with for making this such a great experience - if youre still on my email list then it cant have been that bad !
See you soon
Love
Pete
The End (?)
Showing posts with label rainforests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rainforests. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 July 2002
Thursday, 28 June 2001
Where 9 Singapore --OR-- More Western than the West
Hi Peeps
I have been really busy the past few weeks so haven't had time to email (those beaches and clear waters are really time consuming.....)
After Myanma I went South from Bangkok to Thailands east coast and spent 3 weeks on Ko Tao island. Then to the west coast to see the limestone pinnacles at Krabi. South to Malaysia - Penang , Kuala Lumpar, into the jungle (not that KL isn't) in Tamar Negara for a few days, Malaka and then Singapore.....
Highs
- Diving and snorkelling in Thailand was excellent - saw loads of fish, sharks, octopus, squid, hard and soft corals etc... including Xmas Tree Worms which look like tiny colourful Xmas Trees underwater!
- Passed my Advanced Open Water PADI (diving certification) and did night diving and night snorkelling - just a bit creepy night snorkeling on my own!
- Limestones pinnacles rising out of thw water near Krabi - this is where they filmed 007 'The Man with the Golden Gun' in 1973. The bit they used in the film looks a lot bigger on the screen than it did in real life !! (But then in 007 films everything looks bigger than in real life !! - apart from the things that look smaller that is.....)
- Tallest buildings in the world in KL. The Petronas Towers are 452m tall and have 88 floors. The view is good but partly blocked by all the other tallest buildings in the world ! (Actually we could only go up to level 41).
- The oldest rainforest in the world - the jungle at Taman Negara in Malaysia in 130 million years old and is full of trees, bushes, trees, vines, trees and trees and is fantasticly beautiful. The trees grow up to 60 m tall and their surface roots seem even longer ! There are a few animals living there but there is just about zero chance of seeing any (even though you can hear them all night long !) as the jungle is very dark and denser than most US presidents. I spent the last night in a hide deep in the jungle with all the other people who booked it - except that no-one else did and I was alone !! Apart from the bumps on the roof that is ....well .. I mean you've all seen 'Friday 13th' right......
- Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan - it had to be done as it is a bit of an institution. It was good fun but a just a tad over commercialised - maybe the highlight of the night was watching England beat Greece 2-0..........
- The food ! It's just great and cheap - even in S'pore you can get cheap food if you know where to go.....
- Night Safari in S'pore - definitely worth a visit - the best bit was going into a large cage with flying fox bats (the largest bats in the world) they are huge (half rat and half wing)but they are (nearly) cute really!
Not so Highs
- Having my camera stolen on Ko Tao (Ok so I shouldn't fall asleep on the beach at night) - luckily I didn't lose any good pictures....
- lascerating my hand on coral while diving. The worst bit is looking at all the green stuff coming out of my hand ..... After a bit I worked out that all the red light is absorbed by the water at that depth and so blood looks green. Well at least that's what I hoped it was......
- Being attacked by a Trigger fish whilst snorkelling. Thay are less than 0.5m long but are very fast, have big teeth and can easily bite off an ear. On Ko Tao they are very aggressive for no reason. I shoved my sandals in it's face but it kept attacking, 4 times in total. I was as scared - as a fish out of water ! And I didn't go near any trigger fish after that.
- Cost of S'pore (especially the beer). It wouldn't have been so bad but it was just the place for a party so we spent shedloads on the stuff.. and had a great time (I may have to stay in US$1 per night places in Indonesia though...)
- Culture shock in Malaysia and Singapore - the places are so westernised. Everyone had a mobile phone the first I have seen in months. KL has more McDonalds than any other place I have ever been. S'pore is more westernised than any western place I have ever been - where is all the dirt ??? At least they still have rats in S'pore although not a single pigeon ! Any
guesses?
And that was the posh places - now to the grime of Indonesia .......
Best Wishes
Luv
Pete
I have been really busy the past few weeks so haven't had time to email (those beaches and clear waters are really time consuming.....)
After Myanma I went South from Bangkok to Thailands east coast and spent 3 weeks on Ko Tao island. Then to the west coast to see the limestone pinnacles at Krabi. South to Malaysia - Penang , Kuala Lumpar, into the jungle (not that KL isn't) in Tamar Negara for a few days, Malaka and then Singapore.....
Highs
- Diving and snorkelling in Thailand was excellent - saw loads of fish, sharks, octopus, squid, hard and soft corals etc... including Xmas Tree Worms which look like tiny colourful Xmas Trees underwater!
- Passed my Advanced Open Water PADI (diving certification) and did night diving and night snorkelling - just a bit creepy night snorkeling on my own!
- Limestones pinnacles rising out of thw water near Krabi - this is where they filmed 007 'The Man with the Golden Gun' in 1973. The bit they used in the film looks a lot bigger on the screen than it did in real life !! (But then in 007 films everything looks bigger than in real life !! - apart from the things that look smaller that is.....)
- Tallest buildings in the world in KL. The Petronas Towers are 452m tall and have 88 floors. The view is good but partly blocked by all the other tallest buildings in the world ! (Actually we could only go up to level 41).
- The oldest rainforest in the world - the jungle at Taman Negara in Malaysia in 130 million years old and is full of trees, bushes, trees, vines, trees and trees and is fantasticly beautiful. The trees grow up to 60 m tall and their surface roots seem even longer ! There are a few animals living there but there is just about zero chance of seeing any (even though you can hear them all night long !) as the jungle is very dark and denser than most US presidents. I spent the last night in a hide deep in the jungle with all the other people who booked it - except that no-one else did and I was alone !! Apart from the bumps on the roof that is ....well .. I mean you've all seen 'Friday 13th' right......
- Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan - it had to be done as it is a bit of an institution. It was good fun but a just a tad over commercialised - maybe the highlight of the night was watching England beat Greece 2-0..........
- The food ! It's just great and cheap - even in S'pore you can get cheap food if you know where to go.....
- Night Safari in S'pore - definitely worth a visit - the best bit was going into a large cage with flying fox bats (the largest bats in the world) they are huge (half rat and half wing)but they are (nearly) cute really!
Not so Highs
- Having my camera stolen on Ko Tao (Ok so I shouldn't fall asleep on the beach at night) - luckily I didn't lose any good pictures....
- lascerating my hand on coral while diving. The worst bit is looking at all the green stuff coming out of my hand ..... After a bit I worked out that all the red light is absorbed by the water at that depth and so blood looks green. Well at least that's what I hoped it was......
- Being attacked by a Trigger fish whilst snorkelling. Thay are less than 0.5m long but are very fast, have big teeth and can easily bite off an ear. On Ko Tao they are very aggressive for no reason. I shoved my sandals in it's face but it kept attacking, 4 times in total. I was as scared - as a fish out of water ! And I didn't go near any trigger fish after that.
- Cost of S'pore (especially the beer). It wouldn't have been so bad but it was just the place for a party so we spent shedloads on the stuff.. and had a great time (I may have to stay in US$1 per night places in Indonesia though...)
- Culture shock in Malaysia and Singapore - the places are so westernised. Everyone had a mobile phone the first I have seen in months. KL has more McDonalds than any other place I have ever been. S'pore is more westernised than any western place I have ever been - where is all the dirt ??? At least they still have rats in S'pore although not a single pigeon ! Any
guesses?
And that was the posh places - now to the grime of Indonesia .......
Best Wishes
Luv
Pete
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