Fare Thee Well Brave Wanderer....

I am drunk

And off to India!!!

Peace

Full reports please Crraangg!

latest update from mund

Hello all!

Most importantly....HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!! Xx

Well, we have been in La Paz, Isla Del Sol and now Peru since the last
email. A quick catch up...

La Paz – This is really just another city, not that much to look at
other than the amazing view as you enter or leave the city. You drive
into the city from a non-distinct plateau, then all of a sudden you
arrive at what looks like a cliff face covered in buildings, all
falling down into the valley. The valley is full of the main La Paz
area which is mainly really steep with narrow streets. It is a really
good place to go and get really really drunk all the time, but not
good if you want to visit lots of cultural sites and stuff. There are
some museums around, but I would say that it is best to be used as a
bar / launching pad for other trips to the Amazon, Peru, Salt flats,
etc. You can also get lots of souvenirs here for a lot cheaper than
the other places...not good news for me who likes to avoid
shopping...but great for Laura who wanted to buy all of Bolivia. We
did stay for a week in La Paz...I know there is nothing to do other
than drink...which is kind of why we stayed! We met up with a load of
other mates we have made while travelling and just enjoyed ourselves.

While here we did cycle down the death road, which is known as the
world’s most dangerous road due to the number of people who have died
by falling off the cliff edge. It was a main road until 2007 when the
bypass was opened. The road is really a 1 lane rocky passage that is
mostly only just wide enough for a coach to pass. If you fall off the
edge you fall hundreds of feet to a certain death, so of course we had
to cycle down it at speeds up to 40km per hour round blind corners
into oncoming buses...basically scaring the hell out of ourselves! It
was really good fun, even when my bike managed to explode (the
description used by the guys behind me) as I turned a blind corner,
rendering me without a gears or a back brake at some stupid speed.
Somehow I managed to stop safely using just my front brake and a foot,
but the fact that I was about 2 feet away from a sheer drop was a
little unnerving! We all managed to get down in one piece though,
Laura made it down with us in the stupidly fast group too which was
really good! That was one of the best bits of the holiday so far
though, major adrenaline rush and some heavy exercise!

We also went to the cinema to watch the Hurt Locker (in English) which
was pretty good...plus we went to see the Cholitas wrestling show.
This was advertised as women wrestling all night, but there were only
3 female wrestlers. It was good for the first hour, but as it was so
bad and fake (it turned out to be a kids show really) we got pretty
bored and were very glad when the 4 hours was up!! The best bit about
the wrestling was an old lady in the crowd getting soaked by a
wrestler throwing lemonade around, then trying to kick the crap out of
the wrestler. She then tried to get around the back of the arena to
the changing rooms to carry on but the 2 security guys managed to stop
here. The rest of the 2 hours she sat there fuming and complaining to
the organisers...but that is all I have to say about La Paz really!

We obviously needed a little culture and regain some brain cells (or
find my one brain cell in my case) so we decided to head on to Lake
Titicaca for some Inca goodness. The bus ride there was the best in
Bolivia....they had a paved road!!! It was also the shortest so that’s
probably why it was so good! We got to Copacobana on the lake and
jumped straight onto a boat to Isla Del Sol. This is the island of the
sun, the birthplace of the Inca religion. Their versions of Adam and
Eve were created on this island and they spread from here to the
Andean regions all around. The lake and the island are really
picturesque, we were lucky as it really hot and sunny while we were
there, which was unexpected as we were so high up. The worst part
about it is that it is a walking only island plus is very hilly. When
you get off the boat you have to walk up the Inca steps to the
hostels...with your bag. Now the Inca steps may sound nice, but when
you are carrying a ton of (Laura’s) stuff up a very long and steep set
of stairs, it is more like hell! We also went on a full day trek from
one end of the island and back again, saw some really good Inca ruins
and really knackered ourselves out! Then we feasted on fresh trout
from the lake and went to bed very tired. The trout was one of the
best bits about the Lake trip...everywhere sold fresh trout for next
to nothing, so we gorged ourselves on it while we could! We only
stayed a couple of nights on the island, you could do it all over one
night but we wanted to relax and get some sleep after a hectic La Paz.
From here we moved on to Peru...which we had not planned to do
originally, but is full of lots of historical brain feed.

Cuzco is a city in Peru, close to the Bolivian border, which also
happens to be where we are right now. We got a bus from Isla Del Sol
and came straight here to a hostel called Loki. Cuzco is a really nice
town, very picturesque too, lots of old colonial style buildings and
15 churches in the city. It is also the launch pad for tons of good
Inca ruins as it is next to the Sacred Valley. This is a section of
Peru that contains loads of past Inca cities and temples. We decided
to buy a 10 day pass to all the main ones and book individual tours to
see them. This was not recommended by the guide books so none of the
other ‘young people’ in the city seemed to do them. This meant that
Laura and I were the youngest people on these tours by a long shot! We
did see and learn lots about the Inca ways though, especially as our
guides consisted of a local historian (who worked on Inca history for
the local TV stations) and an honorary professor of Incan history in
Virginia University. It was very interesting and for some reason all
the golden oldies on the tours loved Laura and I. So much so that when
we were spotted by a few of them in the town the next day, they called
us over and gave us their contact details in Australia...offering us
free boat trips in Sydney and free accommodation in Perth if we get
there! The old Inca ruins themselves were really impressive. I was a
little unsure of how much you would be able to see due to erosion,
things being roped off, etc. You could pretty much climb on stuff if
you wanted too (we didn’t of course) but the freedom was there to roam
about almost as much as you wanted too. Plus a lot of the buildings
were very intact, bar having any form of a roof, so you could really
see what the towns would have looked like. We did a couple of days of
tours which were actually really goods and worth every penny, so
ignore any guide book saying leave them if you come here! Also, the
nightlife is pretty hectic over here, so we have had little sleep due
to being in a dorm room with lots of annoying / loud / childish girls
coming in at 4am talking about the night’s drama with random boys.

Since being here, our plans have changed a few times! We were going to
head back to La Paz to go on a 3 day jungle tour, but we have since
learnt that we could go on a 4 day jungle trek to Machu Picchu as it
is due to re-open on the 29th March! So we have booked ourselves on
that for next week (setting off on Monday) which means were are sort
of stuck here for a while. We have now decided to go to Nazca to fly
over the Nazca lines, another thing I thought we would miss, so I am
really glad that we can do that now! This could end up being an 14hr
overnight bus there, a flight over the lines, then another overnight
bus back on the same day!! Hectic! This leaves a day here to fill up,
so tomorrow (Tuesday), we are going to do some volunteer work helping
people who have had their homes destroyed by the recent flooding. We
will be digging out their old homes which are up to a meter deep in
mud, as well pulling down old houses that are not redeemable. It will
be very hard work but rewarding I’m sure. I also have to find out if I
have a gig in a club over here on Friday night, called Zazu. The
manager of the club said he was up for me doing a two hour set and
they are going to promote it with the hostel we are staying at...a
joint venture with its manager who I was also chatting with. Of
course, this is South America and I have already had one gig fall
through on the night, so I am not holding my breath yet! If it is not
going ahead, then we will stay a night or two in Nazca to break up the
week a little!

Well, the next update will probably be after Machu Picchu...IF it
actually opens when said! If I have time I will stick up pics from
Isla Del Sol plus the ruins seen so far.

Hope all is well with you all,

Mund / Laura

Have these two died or something?

Mark we'd like to hear from your travels on here too...

There in thailand somewhere haven't heard from mund in a couple of weeks

Okay, here goes.

Friday afternoon we left Durban and headed north to Matumbatumba which is about 40km away from the game reserve we were visting. The drive in itself was an adventure. These guys over here take no vistors once they hit the road. I've done plenty of driving ince I got here but this journey was another level. Managed to make it to the lodge alive and in once piece. We stayed at a really nice little game lodge run by a couple. I'm not big on the whole b&b scene but this place was really nice, all the rooms were en suite and the guys who owned it were very welcoming. The self service bar helped with a bottle of peroni citsing R15 (about £1.40).

On Saturday we went on Safari in Umfolozi game reserve about 3 hours north of Durban. Got to the reserve gates about 6am, just before sun rise. On entering the park we encountered a pack of wild dog out on a hunt. Followed these guys for about 45 minutes until they disappeared into the bush. Watching how the group worked together and interacted during the hunt was facinating. Would have been great to see them actually take something down.

In the next couple of hours we saw impala, kudu, waterbuck, warthog and huge monitor lizard. All of these animals were literally at the side of the road, most in touchig distance. The thing I found amazing is that they just act as if you're not there.

We stopped off for coffee at a picnic spot and were treat the the sight of a Cheetah out on the prowl. At this point, as you can imagine, we retreated to the safety of our jeep. The cheetah stopped short of us and decided to have a chill out and we hit the road again. Drove round until lunchtime, on the way saw some zebra having a munch on some grass. Again they went about their business like we weren't there. Also saw some wildebeest. Probably the dumbest lookig animal I have ever seen. No wonder they get taken down by the lions.

Stopped for lunch at an amazing picnic spot by a bend in one of the rivers that runs through the reserve. This was amazing. Saw a herd of buffalo come through the bush at one side of the river, stop for a drink and then cross the river. These things are huge and there were loads of them, an amazing sight. Next to come along were two white rhino, this was what I had come to see and I wasn't disappointed. 2 tonnes of rhino is a very ipressive sight.

After lunch we drove again and saw giraffe, mindblowing animals at over 7 metres tall. Saw a fang of baboons and then saw the cheetah again chilling out under a tree and some black rhino. After all this we hadn't seen any elephant, which was a bit disappointing as many of the group really wanted to see them. Our guide took us to every spot he knew but no elephant so we set off back for the park gates. 500m before the entrance there were a hrd of elephant. We stopped and watched them feeding and a few actually passed right by out vehicle, at one point actually brushing up against us. It was an amazing end to an amazing day.

Sunday we went on a river safari to see hippo and crocodile. Saw lots of both and had a very relaxing morning cruising down the river. Then went to the beach in St Lucia. One of the most beautiful places I've visted.

If any of you have ever considered safari I can't recommend it above. It is difficult to put into words the vastness of the game parks and how different the animals look in their own environment. Can't wait to go again when my girls come to visit in August.

Pics will follow when I get them on to my laptop.

Ay ! good work fella

Top read Mark!

Good work mate looking forward to the pics.

I'm well jealous especially you getting to see Cheetahs, if you see any leopards please get some pics for me!

Leopards in this reserve are very rare. Our guide had been doing the park for 7 years and had only seen them on 5 occasions. You have a better chance in Kruger.

Here's a couple of pics, more to follow once I've finished filtering through them all

amazing pics mate!

wow I m well jealous

a new update from mund

Thanks to a nice Thai hostel that does not put passwords onto their
WIFI, we have been able to download some new TV programs to keep us
occupied when it rains out here! It has also given me the chance to
add the pics I sent to you guys 2 days ago, plus send this write up of
the Thai Islands we visited.

Koh Tao, which means turtle island, is a small island in the Thai
gulf, close to the famous full moon party island of Koh Phangan. We
arrived here to have a bit of a chilled, money saving time, but upon
seeing just how beautiful it was we wanted to stay longer than a
couple of days. The first couple of nights we stayed in a horrible
room that was like a furnace. The electricity kept on cutting out so
the fans would not work for long periods of time, plus the water
stopped working preventing any type of washing for hours. At night we
were right next to a bar so we had to move as we were not getting any
sleep. We luckily found a really nice little place with a few
bungalows by the beach that happily took us in. It was just as warm
but at least it was quiet and we had our own veranda to chill out on.
We spent a couple of days there just relaxing and checking out the
beach, then decided to go on a night out at the local big club. After
just having a very quick chat with a flyer girl, we were introduced to
the promoter of the club who said he was interested in having me play.
He then proceeded to become Laura and my best friend and provided us
free drinks all night, before telling the DJ to let me play with his
tunes for the last 45 mins of the night. The short set went well and
one of the people listening owns a bar in the town, so he decided that
he would like me to play at the opening night for his bar. The
promoter was also happy and asked me to play at the club before their
next international guest.

As we had a around 2 weeks to fill before the next gigs, we decided on
a period of relaxation and island visits. We spent a couple of days on
Koh Tao exploring the whole Island on a Quad bike, which was great
fun, plus jumping on a boat for a snorkelling tour around the whole
island. After that we decided to head over to the nearby island of Koh
Phangan, which is known for having one of the biggest monthly full
moon party in Thailand, if not the world. We arrived after full moon
so we chose to stay in the chilled resort of Baan Tai where the half
moon and black moon parties are. It turned out to not be the best
decision as it was really quiet and there was no cheap restaurants /
street food around. The place where the main parties are is called
Haad Rin Nok, which is where all the bars, street food and actual
people are. The place we were staying in was really nice though, we
actually had aircon which was a nice change after some heavy heat that
stopped all sleep at night, a swimming pool, plus a shower that did
not pump out brown water. We hung around here for 10 days, spending
our time doing nothing, sitting by the pool, watching ‘Law and Order’
or ‘House’ on TV or sweating. We were good at sweating.

We headed to the Black moon party which was on the beach close to our
place. Unfortunately the entry cost was £10 per person, which was just
ridiculous for the season and the fact that we were used to seeing
Thai prices for all events (95% free but up to £4 entry MAX). We
decided to buy a couple of bottles of Thai whiskey and get completely
wrecked on the beach next to the party with some randoms we met up
with. It was good fun, we didn’t need to go in as the music was so
loud and covered the whole surrounding area with entertainment. The
next day was a complete write off of course! We found a small bar on
the beach which was run by an English guy called Lee. It turned out
that he used to live in Leeds and was an ex police man turned hippy!
We sat with him drinking beer and chatting about Yorkshire, festivals,
Thai business practices and how to pay off Thai police who try to
arrest you for doing nothing wrong! After a night of chatting and
getting on well with him, he offered us a card that allowed us cheap
entry to the Half Moon party that was also supposed to be £10 each.
The Half Moon party is set in the jungle on the island, in a natural
amphitheatre location. The music was not too bad, starting off like
the hardest stuff I would listen to, but it slowly got harder and
faster and began to feel a little bit like a drill outside your window
at 7am. We did enjoy ourselves but that was mainly due to way too much
drink before we arrived as a cost saving option!

From Koh Phangan we headed back to Koh Tao in time to do some
promotion work for the gig at the Castle club. We spent the next two
days handing out flyers in between hanging around the beach, or being
taken on bar crawls to ‘introduce me to the other bar owners’. The
actual night that the party was due on started off promising. We set
the pre-party bar up and got ready for the first punters…then for the
first time on 4 months the heavens opened providing the outdoor bar
with 3 new streams and 2 meter visibility. Laura was out flyering when
this happened and had to sun into a local hotel lobby. We thought it
would last about half an hour to an hour max. 1 hour later the
lightening and thunder claps surrounded us and exploded with furious
abandon, which helped us deduce that it was not going anywhere. I was
lucky to be sat in the bar where I was due to be playing anyway, so I
was getting free drinks thrust down my neck for the whole time. Laura
was rescued by the promoter after about an hour sat in the hotel
lobby. He took her to the rest of the promotions team where he then
bought them all a load of cocktails and they sat around getting merry.
Basically the evening was washed out. The rain sort of cleared up at
around 12:30am which was way to late for the club to bother opening up
for. About 30 people turned up for the club and they got brought over
to the pre-party bar where we still were, along with Laura and the
flyer team, so we carried on drinking until around 4am.

The next night we had to try to promote the whole thing all over
again, re-convince the punters that they should try to come on this
night instead and that it was definitely going ahead this time! The
rain came on at 4pm and pretty much stopped at about 5:30, meaning
that we could go ahead as planned. The only problem was that lots of
people had left the island for Koh Phangan as the full moon party was
coming up in a few days. I played at the club from 10pm to 1:30am,
which I fully enjoyed. The crowd actually came and the party was
really good. I got truly drunk and got paid for it too, which was a
great help! After finishing the party at 8am, we then went back to our
bungalow, packed our bags and relocated to an air-conditioned house
that we had been provided for free by the promoter!

Later still that night, at 11pm, Laura and I proceeded on our
necessary visa run to Burma. As the party had gone on a night later,
we had overstayed our visa by one day, meaning a 500 Bhat fine each
for the day. We got the overnight boat to the mainland, then a bus to
the Burmese border. From there we went by Boat to the Burmese
immigration office and hung around there for a while getting the
stamps that we needed. Then we had to do the journey in reverse back
to the island! It was basically 17/18 hours of non stop running around
to ensure that we could stay in the country for longer! We got back to
the island and then had to decide on how we were to get to the full
moon party. We decided to get a boat over the next day at 5pm, go to
the party, then get a boat back at 8:30am. We relied on our drinking
power and the copious amount of redbull they put in the drinks. It
does also help that the red bull still contains amphetamines over
here….

Full moon was actually a brilliant night out. I was not expecting to
enjoy it that much, mainly due to its usual music policy of cheesy R&B
or progressive trance. Laura had been to 2 before so she knew what to
expect and was preparing me for the worst. There is also a charge to
get onto the beach for the party, so we arrived a little bit early and
had dinner there, meaning we didn’t have to pay. We were on a really
tight budget so we sent the girls to the shop to buy a big bottle of
booze, then sent them to the bucket bars to get discounts on any other
drinks we needed. It worked wonders! After some good searching around
the beach we found a bar that I had heard about that had a no trance
music policy. It was playing loads of great music so we hung around
there for most of the night. The beach was set out really well, lots
of stalls providing the booze, people painted in UV paint running
around, enormous sound systems on the beach that must have destroyed
the eardrums of the Thai guys working 2 meters in front of them. As it
was low season there was only about 13,000 people there…but that was
enough for me as they were all put onto the one strip of sand! At the
end of the night we climbed up to the mountain bar overlooking the
beach, chilled with a happy shake and reflected on the night. Come 8am
we didn’t want to leave but the boat was calling us. We got a taxi to
the pier which is about 10km away from the party beach and seemed to
acquire a new Australian passenger. He was alone, lived in ‘some
bungalows’ and was so trollied he didn’t know where we were going. He
insisted that we were all smashed and that he wanted the taxi to stop
for a beer. He once tried to climb out of the back of the taxi as it
was going, as he didn’t realise that we were moving. Of course, as we
were in a hurry we were not going to let the car stop, so when we got
the pier he slowly realised that he was 10km away from where he lived
and that he had no cash! He then complained to us that we brought him
all this way and would not have a beer with him!! It was the perfect
close to the full moon party, a smashed aussie complaining that we
were too drunk and would not have a beer with him! When we got back to
Koh Tao, we chilled for one last day then headed off to Chiang Mai in
northern Thailand.

Well, that was the islands, maybe we will head back there when we come
back to Thailand to fly out to Hong Kong...or maybe we will check out
some other zones instead. Right now I am sat waiting for a bus to take
us to Laos from Pai. This is the area that the could get more
interesting for us as there are bandits on the roads (in one
province), electricity for 4 hours a day (in the smaller villages) and
the money is 12,000 Kip to the pound! Hopefully we will be living on
£5 a day between us though....

Hope all is well back home...send us any news you have!

Love,
Mund / Laura
X

jealous


another good report

Howdy spamily!

I trust you are all well?

We are now well into the Devaney grand tour of the western United States. Currently sipping a cold beer on 104 degree heat at Lake Havasu.

Spent the previous few days in LA doing the whole tourist thing and loving it. Stayed in Santa Monica which was very nice but just as bland as I remember. Had a day in Hollywood doing the walk of stars, Chinese Theatre, Sunset Strip (including a trip to Carney's for a hotdog!), Chateau Marmont etc etc For a film buff like many on here it has to be one of the greatest places on earth. It's just like walking round a massive film set.

Chilled around Venice for a bit, watching crazies and eating mexican food at pavement cafe's. Saw a skateboarding bulldog (pic attached) which made the holiday so far.

Took a good part of a day to drive up to Lake Havasu from LA through some of the most amazing desert scenery. You basically climb up 2500ft into the mountains after leaving LA and drive at that height for about 3 hours until you get to Needles where you drop down into a valley. Absolutely stunning.

Well, that is my brief report for now. Driving to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Got a trek into the canyon booked with a guide from national geographic for Friday which I am extremely excited about.

Stay cool my friends, more to come later.



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Nice report, you lucky bugger.

And i genuinely laughed out loud. At a dog. On a skateboard. Humour in its most basic form.

Aye great report.

Loving the bulldog. Did he do a kick flip?

It was taken shortly before he attempted a reverse 360 to grind.

Narly man.

he gets about!

glad to have you back Mark


more reports please!

MarkD77 wrote:Howdy spamily!

I trust you are all well?

We are now well into the Devaney grand tour of the western United States. Currently sipping a cold beer on 104 degree heat at Lake Havasu.

Spent the previous few days in LA doing the whole tourist thing and loving it.

Nice report mate.

I trust you ponced about telling all the septics how shit at 'soccer' they are ?

Should have told us you were going. Mr C was doing the launchof his new night in LA when you were there. Could have sorted you all out.

Next time

I though Mark was going to South Africa?


and Al?


where are the vvwi boots on the ground for the world cup?

He has been to South Africa, come home then gone to the U.S for a holiday, and i believe he is then going back to South Africa.

Alan Whicker eat your heart out. Literally if possible.

I'm back! Well for a few hours.

Broadhead was spot on the money. The US was a holiday with the family, I head back to my temporary home of SA today (10000 miles in 3 days with a 9 hour time difference, I'm in a mess).

The US was great, but a damn site more expensive than the last time I was there.

Highlights were the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Lowlights were having the septics mock me about our 'soccer' team. They got it back in spades when they got knocked out by Ghana.

I will do a more in depth report with further pics when I get them all off the camera.

please do!

Good to have you back safe Mark

Good to be back. Even better to see how busy the board has been. Good work!

Nice to have you back Mark