Gay Paris

The best thing about going travelling has got to be the people you meet. Ask anyone thats done it, your memories are about people and not so much the places (that you may spend thousands of pounds to go and see... ooops!)

So when one of our friends that we met in Mexico, a resident of BA, decided that he was going to cross the pond and frequent the Tardis, Han & I were mega excited.

After a couple of weeks of hopping around the UK and some of Europe, (the best week of which was OBVIOUSLY speant at the Tardis with his faves), next stop for Lucas was Paris... with yours truely of course.

Weirdly, despite it being a mere couple of hours on the Eurostar away I've never been to Paris (if you ignore the couple of laps I use to do in the car with the fam everytime we got lost on the roads round it on the way to the sunny coast of France).

So finally I rocked up in Paris... feeling a little bereft as it's the first time in a long time I haven't had my trustee Montana by my side to guide the way through foreign places new. Topped off with a mobile that wouldn't work & no deets of where we were staying, you'd think I'd be bricking it. I've become a little bit too adjusted to having no idea whats going on as soon as I leave English soil, so slipping straight back into travelly ways I started to wander round the station, luckily bumping into Lucas pretty much straight away.

Let the sight seeing begin...

I actually think we walked a distance equivalent to England and back, but there is soooooo much to see!

Top sight, as cliche as it sounds is definitely the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was big, but I didnt realise HOW big!

 

 

So originally the plan was to do the steps challenge to the top. However, one look at just how big it was put me off, as much as I love a steps challenge, we wanted to get up there in time for sunset so didn't think it was the best decision. Instead, we paid the extra 4 euros or whatever it was to get the lift, and after about an hours queuing we were at the top, bang on time.

 

My pictures arent that great annoyingly, I don't know what I had done to my camera settings... some people were getting some proper good ones.... SOMEONE GET ME AN SLR!

We finally made it down FREEEEEZING. I think its safe to say that Paris is at its most spectacular at night...

Not that it isn't beautiful in the day time too... although I have to say the Moulin Rouge loses its 'mysterious' edge in the light of day! Looks more like something you'd see on the crazy golf pitch at Pompy...

So our day times were speant jostling the tourists round all of the attractions. The funniest has got to be the Mona Lisa... I know its famous... but really, trying to get a photo is a feat in itself. I managed to get a little snap shot, unfortunately I also managed to beautifully capture some mans head in the meantime... naaaat cool, but the best I could do.

And of course, because no trip with Lucas is complete without sampling every sweet food available... eating A LOT of pastries.

Anyway, fun and games for all in Gay Paris (said with only the best of French accents)... ideas for next stop please....
 

The Travelly Anniversary

So believe it or not its been a year since we departed for Mexico. I can't quite believe it, but I'm sad to say that it's true.

Anyway, obviously Hannah and I couldn't just stay at home in order to commemorate such an event... so we decided that it was the perfect to hop on the plane to Oslo, Norway, all for the bargain price of £35 return. Thank you Ryan Air.

Not only is this to try and dull the blow of London gloom during January when we would've been soaring towards hotter climes before. It's also part of our new years resolution. We have decided that throughout the year we will aim to do at least 6 city breaks.

As far as we have planned at the moment we're not doing too badly.

We have already ticked off Oslo, we've got Paris booked in for April, Amsterdam in June & Germany for Octoberfest. So 4 decisions made, 2 more to go and we're open to suggestions. I read a lovely article on Budapest in the stylist the other day so that's now looking quite appealing, as is Athens... opinions please....

Anyway, really I should be writing about the excitingness that was Norway.

The main reason for our little trip was to see our lovely viking ladies. Unfortunately one of the girlies was unable to make it, but Cecilie still managed to provide us with great hospitality. We tried copious quantities of Norwegian grub by the time I came back I didn't think I would ever eat again!

Not only did we give Cecilie's fave Norwegian dinner a go, and her gross sour milk, but we also gave mayo and toast a try. Last time I went to Norway I had a distinct memory of squeezy cheese, squeezy ham, squeezy bacon so I thought that this was the squeezy cheese with the yellow packaging... how wrong I was. Squeezy mayo on toast. oops!

You may think that it being called majones would be a bit of a giveaway, but apparently not.
Our vikings are some peeps that we met in Brazil and who then proceeded to stalk us round the world... all the way to Argentina and Laos. Sooo we thought only fair to return the favour. And off we trundled to snowy Oslo.

I was assured that there would not be any snow in the city when we arrived but HA she lies!!!

loads and loads of snow! YEY! Although no sledging for me even though I was very tempted to give it a whirl down here...

The sea being right next to this was enough, however, to put me off taking the plunge down the slope a little bit though. We did see some nut cases do it & watching them bail as they approached the sea was probably more fun that riding the sledge itself.

So we did lots of cultural things, checking out the opera house (above), seeing the building that got bombed last year, visiting the church & memorials, going for coffee by the harbour, the palace & of course visiting the nakey park.

Mature hey?

No this park was actually beautiful & obviously being an English grad I could see the obvious significance of fertility & the 'circle of life' in the statues. There were lots of other cool statues too...

 So culture well out of the way, it was time for a little trip down memory lane... BRING ON THE BUCKETS

 Our thank you present to the Viking for having us... and what more appropriate!?

This obviously made for a couple of fun nights out a la Norway style at some cosy pubs & an awesome retro 50s bar. Gotta love it. All that and we managed to go out, in heels, in the ice, without falling over. Impressive stuff.

Norway will be visiting England shortly, ready to commence the warfare themed party... let the battle commence.

Mission Accomplished.

WOW we've done it. I still can't quite get over the fact that Han and I actually managed 6 months away and we're still alive and still friends (BFF's). So cheers to the most amazing 6 months ever and thank you to Hannah (Montana) for being such a fab travel bud (don't worry I won't get too soppy, apart from the fact that it took me about half an hour to order a drink today because I didn't have Han there to tell me what to get and that I also received a phone call from her the other day incapable of deciding whether to go for a buy 2 get the third three combo on cosmetics... oh dear).

In order to prove that we actually didn't have any arguments while we were away I would like to share with you all the wondrous birthday card that I received from the bestie...

I want to be with you forever,

My heart is bouncing round and round,

I don't know what I've got...

I think I'm under the influence of liking you a lot!

I can't imagine sharing my life with anyone but you...

You my love,

Are my most favourite dream come true.

I will always love you.

Wow, that's love right there, and nothing to do with the fact that the only cards available in Asia are the most cringy things in the world. The card is now firmly in the travelling memories box, tucked away amongst the hundreds of leaflets, t-shirts and other general fancy dress memorabilia.

In the travellery box there's also a few more exciting little things like our parents 'Welcome Home' equipment.

Throughout the whole trip Han and I have been playing the Bertram's and the Croucher's off against each other demanding a competitive performance routine for our arrival at Heathrow, inspired by the much appreciated TMobile Welcome Home advert. And my how they did not disappoint. We came through into Arrivals (wearing every single item of fancy dress that we had collected throughout the trip; lays, meditation outfits, Peruvian woolly hats and full moon shorts to name a few items) to both families fully clad in Laura and Hannah branded t-shirts, welcome home signs, laptops blaring our own theme tune AND champagne. I love how every time I retell the story people say "Oh God wasn't that embarrassing" to which i reply HELL NO... we loved it! The fams delivered that's for sure!

So this was our first impression of arriving back in England, well that and the FREEZING cold which I am still having problems adjusting too. Which all in all shows that not much has changed. Its scarily easy to slot back into life at home despite all the amazing experiences that we've had.

I do keep having weird out of body experiences when I realise how much I must have adjusted to the foreign way of life... I now permanently attempt to hit the @ button above the 2 instead of the '. Yep, I just did it again then. Getting the tube has become a challenge, and I swear every person that I see coming into the Bat and Ball shouldn't be allowed to drink in there, but apparently have 'come of age' since I left. I still wear the clothes that I bought away because I can't cope with the depth of my wardrobe, what the fashion is anymore and/or remember what clothes I had before I left. All in all, things are weird.

So the best experience of my life complete, and probably the biggest achievement to date as well.

Two English girls complete the world challenge, alive, still friends, livers still functioning (just about). Bring on the next challenge. London life.... together obviously.

"India is full of contradictions"

Well seeing as I'm a little bit jet lagged and for some reason up at 6:30am, what better time to catch up on the last bits of the blog. India needs to be conquered today although I have to say it feels VERY strange to be sitting here in my dressig gown, sipping a cup of Tetley (with real milk) having just spent my first night alone in 6 months *sigh*.

Anyway, enough of the now and more of the what we've been up to in the last couple of weeks.

SO, India. Where to start? The country that we were warned repeatedly is the "country of contradictions" a statemenmt that we definitely found to be more than true for the whole time that we spent there. Most noticeably because of the huge divide between the rich and the poor and how closely the two groups sit next to each other. I think we probably managed to epitomise this quite nicely as it was my birthday on our last weekend in Delhi... which meant a little bit more flashpacking Marriott style again! How I love the Marriott points soooo much. Hillarious that one night we're staying for £3 a night and the next we're at a PLUSH hotel!

It gave the perfect opportunity for some last minute hardcore tanning time. India is a slight problem for tanning because obviously girlies have to be covered up all the time. It makes you pale and it makes you SWEAT. Quite how we managed to go look at all those temples in 45 degree heat with trousers on I have no idea, when sat by the pool wearing next to nothing I had a compulsive 5 minutes out 30 minutes in the pool rule. The heat in India is probably something to avoid - we were repeatedly told that the best time to go would be during the winter. However, we managed to brave it and see anything anyway... it wasn't THAT bad! I'm not really rocking the extreme tan that I was hoping for, but thanks to the last few days I definitely look like I've seen the sun a little bit!!

The birthday was a BIG event again! Hannah excelled herself. I wasn't expecting a thing... we are literally attatched at the hip at all times so I didn't think that she would have any chance at getting away with anything without me knowing. How wrong I was... I don't really think I should trust that girl anymore - she had been sneaking around behind my back for weeks! Anyway I had a lovely balloon and banner filled day of suprises... suprise breakfast, suprise cake, suprise present, suprise card (romantic rather than birthday, standard)  and we jetted off for flashpacker luxury and a ravey night out all for free... we even managed to wangle a body guard ha!

Anyway enough of the birthday fun.... we have done A LOT of stuff in India. Obviously, the biggy that everyone does in the Taj Mahal. Very impressive sight it has to be said, and we've seen a fair few million temples. Hannah and I cracked out the usual photo shoot and even some hardcore video footage. A particular favourite feature was the famed 'Diana seat' which we had a go on... sat on, lay on, etc.

Whilst the Taj is cool to have done, it was definitely a bit of a case of checking it off the list... its VERY touristy. The only way you can get a photo without millions of people all wearing matching tshirts as part of their 'tour' is to get there for bang on sunrise at 5. We actually managed it this time, (the benefit of it being quite challenging to find a drink in India) and we were very pleased that we did. By the time that we left at about 7ish the place was heaving.

Agra definitely gives you one of those contradictory experiences when you compare the beauty of the Taj to the town that surrounds it. Agra is such a tiny place to house a worldwide monument the scale of the Taj. The surrounding area is just a series of tiny little back alley streets, several of which you can't even get a car down and can only just about manage a rickashaw. Its VERY run down which suprised me for such a tourist hotspot. I was expecting it to be among the more wealthy areas that we would visit which was completely wrong! If anything the town as a whole was probably among the poorest - that and Varanasi. Delhi has its patches, as does every city, but obviously as the capital it also has a massive business hub and wealthy district which did not seem to appear in Agra or Varanasi.

If you want more of a spiritual experience whilst in India Varanasi is the place to go. It's a little town just on the Ganges, famed for being the location that the bodies of holy men and children are cremated and their ashes scattered in the river. We went on a boat ride at sunset and sunrise to see the ceremonies take place and it was fascinating. We stayed with a lovely family run guest house who took us out on their boat to join the millions of people that travel there everyday to witness the event. It was truely spectacular. I had seen snippets on the TV but I really didn't realise quite how many people would be there!!

Throughout the ceremony people send flowers with candles in the middle of them into the water for good luck. Hannah and I did this which was a lovely thing to do at the end of the trip, ready for the journey back to England.

The Final Stats

Very sadly it is the final day of our trip today, and with an imminent flight tomorrow the time has come to update the final figures of the stats. So here it goes... Don't judge us lol!

Countries visited- 13
Days away- 167
Hours abroad- 4015
Sober days- 48
Hours spent a buses- 282 or 12 days
Time spent apart- 26 1/2 hours
Ice cream consumed- 91 scoops
Boys kissed- 27
Names remembered- 15
New foods tried- off the scale
Buffets consumed - 19
Foreign swear words learnt- 8
Gardens visited- 7
China Towns visited- 5
Washing done- 13 times
Cultural landmarks visited- 43
Temple outings- 22
Bars/podiums danced on- 7
Items of costume/fancy dress acquired- 42
Tshirts purchased- 37
Stolen items- 12
Lost items- 11
Drunken journeys- 8
Shampoo explosions- 10
Postcards sent- 87
Items donated to charity- 26
Museums/galleries/zoo- 11
Hours spent underwater- 15
Drinking/card games learnt- 17
Dares completed- 24
Spice girls- 3
Raps and dances created- 5
Raps and handstands performed to earn our friendship- 10
Earrings lost- 27
Points tally total- 552 1/2

Some may involve using your imagination a little bit so have fun guessing what they're about!

Reunion with Bangkok

So I missed out blogging on Bangkok the first time round as I knew there would be a reunion with this place on the way back for the final flight out to Delhi. Not only was it a reunion with the place itself but also a reunion with Russel Crowe and actually with his friends too who, photographic evidence suggests, we actually met way back in Nha Trang but (because of the German) none of us remember.

The reunion with the city bought back many a fond memory of tuk tuk drivers calling 'ping pong show, puh puh' (something that you have to go and see in while your in Bangkok, google it if your brave enough and over the age of 18) and the blissful sound of the frog.

A friendly tone that has accompanied us throughout the journey since our initial purchase in Chang Mai. They are musical instruments that sound like frogs, you gently stroke the top with the supplied stick to make a wonderful sound. Arrrrgh. That may sound horrendously annoying to you, but it has become a comfort to Hannah and I as we use it to wake each other up and often get them out on long journeys to ease the boredom and to make friends (it doesn't irritate anyone, honest). We have even perfected harmonies. That teamed with Bieber (the Glee version) generally goes preeetty far to putting us up there as the coolest people ever. Believe it or not that was actually not on my I-pod (Russel). Public humiliation at its best right there.

So Bangkok bought an attempted reunion (ladies), a belated reunion (Russel Crowe), an unknown reunion (the rest of you lot we were with) and a cinematic reunion (Hangover 2). Nothing like watching Hangover 2 in the cinema in Bangkok where its set. The weirdest thing about the experience was possibly the dedication to the King at the beginning of the film. You all have to stand and watch a film about the life of the King. It's not the national anthem or anything, just some strange biopic. It was edging on being as funny as the film itself it has to be said, although I'm not sure that much can beat it. Certain members of our group actually had to leave the cinema as they could not contain their laughter, how mature. As far as the film goes, it's hilarious, and probably shows the randomness of Bangkok pretty well, although I can safely say that I don't know anyone thats managed to lose any fingers and I haven't seen a monkey that can smoke.

For us, our second trip to Bangkok was really just a manic shopping spree stocking up before the trip home and then a bit of an epic drinking session (again I know). We had done all the temples, government buildings and markets on the first trip, so it was time to go out from South East Asia with a bang, and that we did. In fact we were lucky to even leave South East Asia on time at all.

After a night of various drinking games... Never take on rugby boys at their own game, its a mistake for anyone needing to be at the airport by 6am. The games took on a new level of competitiveness and everyone in the bar must've thought that we were going crazy they were played so passionately. But thats the way it should be. We are forever disappointed by peoples lack luster attitude to drinking games, but these peeps excelled with enthusiasm which only encouraged Han and I still further. YEEEEHHHHAAAAAA, HOE DOWWWN, BIG TITTY COW GIRL and HAAAY BARRRN were being yelled at the tops of our voices whilst sporadically being intercepted by

1) Types of fruit
2) Country names
3) Carbonated drink brands

Each person chose an item from each of the above, for example Papaya, South Africa and Vimto or Grape, Lithuania, Orangina. The more obscure the better. The seasoned pro's were cracking out things such as United Arab Emirates or Lichtenstein. The aim was to remember what everyones choices were and then as someone loses the group game (Yeehaaa), start shouting them. If you repeat the word three times before anyone else has completed a country/fruit/carbonated drink brand set whoever you were shouting has to drink. Try shouting United Arab Emirates 3 times before someone else finishes shouting Lithuania.Its basically impossible.

This got ridiculous and as Han and I were the nubes, we seemed to be the target.

So we rocked up at the airport feeling more than a little bit worse for wear at 6am, to see on the board our flight number and a big red flashing light... check in closed.

Panic.

Double check the ticket.

It says 8:30.

Confusion.

Run to the check in counter.

Apparently our flight time had been changed. Well thanks for telling us STA! We'd had no info on this at all, so after a bit of begging we were raced through check in VIP styleee (a good job too, they didn't weigh our bags, they're so heavy at the moment its like we're lugging around a dead body or something).

So we were radioed through every stop off and met at every point to be raced through the next section. Best way really, none of that waiting around rubbish, although we did miss the treasured squirt of perfume in the Duty Free!

But as we finally boarded the plane a good 20 minutes late, we were the people that everyone hated. Well, I'm guessing it was 20 minutes late but I still have no idea what time the flight was actually scheduled to leave, so I guess it could've been longer. Ooops. What a great way to start off our time in India. Fabulous.

Angkor WHAT????

Angkor Wat or Angkor What?

Both seem to blur into one as the viewing of Angkor Wat (a massive Buddhist temple in Siem Reap) was severely impacted by Angkor What? (a local drinking establishment frequented by most backpackers in the area.)

VS

We went for sunset armed with our favourite photo taking, model posing German, and captured the moment perfectly. The black and white camera settings and poses dictated by our own director made for a wonderful photo shoot that would only continue into the coming days/weeks. Obviously, when Hannah and I find something funny, we just can't drop it and so the joke continues and escalates horribly. Somehow our running jokes have actually been going since January and we're STILL not bored of them. How I can't wait to annoy a whole new batch of people with them when I get home...

Anyway, we're not the first to notice the hilarity of watching people crack out their poses at various touristic monuments. The best and most common ones to note are the peace sign at a perfect 45 degree angle to the head, the lean against the tree and the longing gaze whilst hugging a wall. These are all catalogue poses to perfection. Obviously, we hold them in such high regard that it is 100% necessary to imitate them at every moment possible. Hannah's even managed to wack out a lying down pose outside Angkor Wat which has to be the best one that we've managed. Pictures will have to be uploaded at a later date as I'm still a bit scared to put the USB in the computers here!

But back to the point - we have some beautifully posed pictures of sunset but when you go to Siem Reap you are also meant to go for sunrise. But, there is a horrible obstacle in the way to test your temple commitment...

PUB STREET

If I could put a sound track on right now there would be one... da da daaaaa.

Our commitment to the temples was already faltering some what having traipsed around more than a few during our time in Asia and even lived at one. Unfortunately, as appealing as it sounded getting up at 4:30 am to go and look at another one from a different angle we failed miserably. We had even booked the tuktuk man and everything, but our alarms failed us as Temple Bar, Angkor What? and the German took hold (this is the same German that was responsible for obscene memory loss in Nha Trang, we should learn to ditch him  but he keeps following us around). 

We stumbled in from our podium dancing, cocktail drinking fun (just to win a tshirt that has actually come in very handy to help us cover up in India) about an hour before sunrise. Any sensible person would just stay awake but we decided to nap. A fatal move. I'm going to blame Apple for this one... the volume of the alarm on an Ipod Touch just doesn't cut it when you need waking from such a peaceful slumber. Normally we're pretty dedicated and can get up anyway. How wrong we were this time. 

I woke up at 6:30 to Hannah sat bolt up right in bed trying to 'find the exercise belt'. Having watched her empty the entire contents of her bag and pull out a leather belt I finally twigged... it was another sleep talking episode AND we had missed the sunrise AND Mr Tuk Tuk was probably waiting for us outside. Oh Dear. 

Eventually we roused ourselves to head temple bound. As far as they go, Angkor Wat is very impressive. Its huge, and full of some very exciting steps that may even rival those on the Inca Trail. In Toby (the Germans) absence we resumed our catalogue posing around the other 4 or 5 temples that followed that day. 

We went to the one that Tomb Raider was filmed in which was pretty cool although I was quite disappointed by Lara Crofts absence. Then off to another couple of smaller ones that Mr Tuk Tuk told us were quite boring ... he knows us so well! 

So our temple work was over by lunchtime, thankfully as it gets VERY hot post 1 o'clock which is the perfect time for a quick nap in preparation for the night ahead. 

And before you judge, the night ahead was not only to do with drinking. We also went and watched a cello performance. Beatocello. Can you believe it? Two classical performances in once travelling trip? Wow. I didn't think that would happen. Mr. Beatocello was very good at playing the cello, but the main reason for the performance was to raise awareness, to donate money (if you're old) and blood (if you're young) to the children's hospitals that he has set up and was running throughout Cambodia. They are 90% funded by public donation and are very impressive, check out the link below for more info. 

http://www.beat-richner.ch/

After some cello magic it was time to return to the one and only 

PUB STREET

Which once again was messy. We HAD to get hold of an Angkor What? t-shirt to match up with our Temple Bar tshirt. This meant ordering another couple of cocktails and dancing on some more podiums which clearly we had to oblige.Oh god I've done it again, it sounds like all we do is drink. There is culture involved on this trip I promise! 

So, the next morning  we were off to purchase our pressies for Sunrise Orphanage... I'll hit you up with another link.

http://www.scv.org.au/

Its a really nice project across Cambodia.  So armed with hoola hoops, bouncy balls, skipping ropes and some other weird toy things that everyone plays with in Cambodia and I don't really know how to describe we were off to pay them a visit. 

Being hollared at by Tuk Tuk men is an everyday part of walking around in any country in south-east Asia and I have to say that by Cambodia, our last country in the area we were getting a bit sick of it. Our usual tactic of dealing with them as they follow alongside you as you walk is to ask if they'll take us for free. It normally works as they laugh and drive off, but this time it worked on a whole new level. We asked to go for free, he laughed and then asked where we were going. When we replied, to the orphanage, we actually managed to get a free ride there; 'you help my country, I'll help you'. What a nice Tuk Tuk man.

Unfortunately, we turned up at the gates to find that they are actually shut on Saturdays. How orphanages can be shut I don't really understand, but we left the toys with the security man and received a lovely thank you email from the staff there a couple of days later. As much as we really wanted the chance to play with the kids, it was great to feel like we were doing something to help them.

After this the Cambodian hospitality reached new heights as Mr Tuk Tuk II took us for beers with his friends at a local hang out. Several rounds later and a lot more food eaten we were well acquainted with our little crew. We had played 'The Game' with them which basically involves going to various posh sales outlets and pretending to be interested in their handicrafts. In return for taking you there Mr Tuk Tuk II gets commission and usually some free petrol vouchers. We're pretty well practiced at pretending to be interested in such goods in order to knock down the price of a tuk tuk ride here and there, but this time we got the benefits too as Mr Tuk Tuk II shared his bevvy and meal tokens with us for a slap up portion of lok lak and some quality entertainment. How we love random outings with the locals. 

We got back bevvied up just in time to hit up 

PUB STREET

again! 

This time we got to have a little rave with some Cambodian kiddies in the street who were mega cute and VERY happy with the lolly pops and chips that we got them. Maybe not quite as pleased as we were with our 2nd Angkor What? tshirt and 3rd Temple bar tshirt that also got given to some random kids.

More horrendousness followed including reunions with good old Russel Crowe that we met in Byron. We do love a good random reunion, and a hung over mini bus journey, and so the crew for the final leg of South East Asia in Bangkok began its formation, more deets to follow.