MonkeyBrains
11-18-2006, 09:10 AM
Hey Everyone..
It's been about 2 months since the last group email so there's a bit to cover, you may want to settle in for a long one.. Last time you heard from us we were in Espana so I shall continue on from there..
We spent another 5 weeks in Toro with Matt working & me filling in my days reading & such.. Meg Robinson came over to visit for a week & the 2 of us headed on down to Granada to check out the Alhambra & the city in general.. Unfortunately all tickets into the actual palace were sold out so we only got to see the Gardens, still all very impressive though.. Also stopped in Madrid for a night on the way back & had a look around & a rather large night out on the town with some friendly local lads..
Matt, Biddy (housemate) & I did a few other trips around the area, one to Leon which was so close to the Portuguese border that we decided we had to pop over there for a beer.. Found ourselves in some tiny village where horse & cart still seemed to be the main mode of transport but the locals were friendly & the beer was cold.. Drove on a bit more to another larger town & ended up staying for dinner & got to see TV in English for the first time in weeks (prior to this I'd been watching synchronised swimming as it was all I could understand)..
I celebrated my birthday while we were in Toro, the less said about that the better.. I ended up in bed rather early & very sick.. Thanks to everyone for the calls, texts & presents, muchly appreciated.. The Saturday after we took off again on another trip to Bilbao & Munduka.. Drove through a huge storm, loads of lightening & rain that so heavy visibility was down to about a meter in front of the car.. Spent the morning wandering around Bilbao's Old Town & around the Guggenheim before heading to Munduka for the Pro Surf Tour.. A few minor detours & some extra highway later we hit the beach.. The swell wasn't great but we got to see some surfing from Mick Fanning before the comp was called off for the rest of the day due to poor conditions.. Then most of the Pros & I think every local in town took to the surf anyway, so we got a look at Taj Burrows & Kelly Slater doing there thing anyway..
There was an end of Vintage / Harvest celebration in Toro which also became a bit of a farewell to us.. Had drinks at Regis' (the winery production manager) house before heading into the town where there was live music, stalls & lots of bars set up in the square.. Sampled some of the local wines & cider (horrible) before hitting a night club & dancing the night away.. All good fun.. A little too much fun, we both wok up feeling not so super & had an 11 hour bus ride to Barcelona ahead of us..
Barcelona was short and sweet, we only had 3 days there but manged to pack a fair bit in.. Strolled down Las Rambles, I now want a Chinchilla, Tortoise, Baby Cayman, Iguana, Hedgehog, Squirrel & Chameleon all for sale as pets along here.. Did a open top Bus Tour of the City & took in all the major sights and just wandered about eating some very tasty food.. And the Gaudi Buildings are amazing!!
Another short & sweet stop in Rome was next.. Only had 2 full days here but managed once again to pack them full.. Found a recommended 2 day walking tour of Rome on the net so we followed that.. Saw the Vatican, The Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica (the line up wasn't too bad, in the Vatican museum in an hour), The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain & The Colosseum, etc etc.. By the end of it all our legs were so sore but we'd pretty much seen it all..
A quick stop in London to catch our flight to start the homeward journey followed.. Had a week here that flew by.. Caught up with some of the crew & welcomed Heins to London, spent a few days playing tour guide with him & seeing the inside of more than a few pubs..
We're now in Thailand, got here about 2 & a bit weeks ago & have been soaking up the sun.. Spent a few days getting over jet lag & acclimatising to the warmer weather in Bangkok where we met up with Mike, Vicki, Hannah & Jared (friends from home & London).. Stayed mainly in the Khao San Rd area checking things out.. Took in a Ping Pong show, even got to catch a couple in a basket, very lucky.. Tucked into a mixed bag of local delicacies including grubs, crickets, cockroaches & a couple of mean looking scorpions from a street vendor.. None particularly tasty but highly nutritious I'm told.. The deep fried small frogs on the other hand were very tasty indeed!! Tasted a bit like crispy chicken skin..
One of the joys of travel, the over night bus trip followed to get us to Kho Phagnan for the full moon party & some fun in the sun.. The 6 of us all stayed a bit out of the main area & had cosy bungalows 10 meters from the beach.. The Full Moon Party was fun. not quite what we were expecting, got fairly drunk off some lethal drinks.. The taxi ride home got rather interesting when a local Thai guy fell asleep & slipped out the back of the taxi.. The taxi's are basically utes / pick ups with tarp covers.. Poor guy was sitting at the back & the tail was open, he nodded off & next thing he was about 40ms back on the road in a crumpled heap.. Picked himself up with little more than a few cracked ribs, a bruised elbow & ego.. After some much needed rest we hired some scooters & checked out a bit more of the Island..
Kho Toa (Turtle Island, I didn't see any!!) came after.. More lazy days on beaches, snorkeling & diving (for Matt who got attacked by a Trigger Fish for invading his territory), scooter exploring on some rather rough & hairy roads, well more like dirt tracks.. We had a 20cm long rather fat purple lizard living in our bathroom, he was lovely..
26 hours of fun filled travel by ferry, bus & train took us way up north to Chang Mai (via Bangkok) where we are now.. Arrived on Sunday & go to check out the madness of the Sunday Markets, loads of stalls selling all manner of things & hoards of people, all got a bit much by the end, but the street vendors with tasty snacks made it bearable..
Next day we were booked into do a 3 day trek in the Pai area.. Stopped in a stayed with 4 different Hill Tribes, accommodations were 5* (well if you'd had enough Loa Loa to drink they seemed that way.. Stayed in traditional Bamboo Huts, rode Elephants through the Jungle (I got a gentle kick by a 5 month old elephant), went Bamboo rafting, visited waterfalls & helped one of the tribes fish by damming off a section of a stream.. Came up with fish, fresh water shrimps & crabs, even the tadpoles weren't safe.. The hills were killer, my legs still feel like jelly but the scenery was stunning & well worth the effort..
Have been to see Mauy Thai (Thai Kick Boxing) & had a traditional Thai Massage (well earned after the trek).. Doing a Thai cooking course this evening before hitting up the night markets in hops of finding some bargains..
Tomorrow we're heading towards the Loas border & maybe a day trip to Myanmar.. So that's about us.. Thank to everyone for the individual emails, I do appreciate them, even if I haven't replied yet.. I WILL GET THERE!! Hopefully this will make up for it a bit.. Hope everyone's well.. Cindie, Belinda & Leroy how are the pregnancies going??
J & M xx
PS. This was the other day, we're now in Laos & heading off on a 2 day slow boat cruise down the Mekong River..
It's been about 2 months since the last group email so there's a bit to cover, you may want to settle in for a long one.. Last time you heard from us we were in Espana so I shall continue on from there..
We spent another 5 weeks in Toro with Matt working & me filling in my days reading & such.. Meg Robinson came over to visit for a week & the 2 of us headed on down to Granada to check out the Alhambra & the city in general.. Unfortunately all tickets into the actual palace were sold out so we only got to see the Gardens, still all very impressive though.. Also stopped in Madrid for a night on the way back & had a look around & a rather large night out on the town with some friendly local lads..
Matt, Biddy (housemate) & I did a few other trips around the area, one to Leon which was so close to the Portuguese border that we decided we had to pop over there for a beer.. Found ourselves in some tiny village where horse & cart still seemed to be the main mode of transport but the locals were friendly & the beer was cold.. Drove on a bit more to another larger town & ended up staying for dinner & got to see TV in English for the first time in weeks (prior to this I'd been watching synchronised swimming as it was all I could understand)..
I celebrated my birthday while we were in Toro, the less said about that the better.. I ended up in bed rather early & very sick.. Thanks to everyone for the calls, texts & presents, muchly appreciated.. The Saturday after we took off again on another trip to Bilbao & Munduka.. Drove through a huge storm, loads of lightening & rain that so heavy visibility was down to about a meter in front of the car.. Spent the morning wandering around Bilbao's Old Town & around the Guggenheim before heading to Munduka for the Pro Surf Tour.. A few minor detours & some extra highway later we hit the beach.. The swell wasn't great but we got to see some surfing from Mick Fanning before the comp was called off for the rest of the day due to poor conditions.. Then most of the Pros & I think every local in town took to the surf anyway, so we got a look at Taj Burrows & Kelly Slater doing there thing anyway..
There was an end of Vintage / Harvest celebration in Toro which also became a bit of a farewell to us.. Had drinks at Regis' (the winery production manager) house before heading into the town where there was live music, stalls & lots of bars set up in the square.. Sampled some of the local wines & cider (horrible) before hitting a night club & dancing the night away.. All good fun.. A little too much fun, we both wok up feeling not so super & had an 11 hour bus ride to Barcelona ahead of us..
Barcelona was short and sweet, we only had 3 days there but manged to pack a fair bit in.. Strolled down Las Rambles, I now want a Chinchilla, Tortoise, Baby Cayman, Iguana, Hedgehog, Squirrel & Chameleon all for sale as pets along here.. Did a open top Bus Tour of the City & took in all the major sights and just wandered about eating some very tasty food.. And the Gaudi Buildings are amazing!!
Another short & sweet stop in Rome was next.. Only had 2 full days here but managed once again to pack them full.. Found a recommended 2 day walking tour of Rome on the net so we followed that.. Saw the Vatican, The Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica (the line up wasn't too bad, in the Vatican museum in an hour), The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain & The Colosseum, etc etc.. By the end of it all our legs were so sore but we'd pretty much seen it all..
A quick stop in London to catch our flight to start the homeward journey followed.. Had a week here that flew by.. Caught up with some of the crew & welcomed Heins to London, spent a few days playing tour guide with him & seeing the inside of more than a few pubs..
We're now in Thailand, got here about 2 & a bit weeks ago & have been soaking up the sun.. Spent a few days getting over jet lag & acclimatising to the warmer weather in Bangkok where we met up with Mike, Vicki, Hannah & Jared (friends from home & London).. Stayed mainly in the Khao San Rd area checking things out.. Took in a Ping Pong show, even got to catch a couple in a basket, very lucky.. Tucked into a mixed bag of local delicacies including grubs, crickets, cockroaches & a couple of mean looking scorpions from a street vendor.. None particularly tasty but highly nutritious I'm told.. The deep fried small frogs on the other hand were very tasty indeed!! Tasted a bit like crispy chicken skin..
One of the joys of travel, the over night bus trip followed to get us to Kho Phagnan for the full moon party & some fun in the sun.. The 6 of us all stayed a bit out of the main area & had cosy bungalows 10 meters from the beach.. The Full Moon Party was fun. not quite what we were expecting, got fairly drunk off some lethal drinks.. The taxi ride home got rather interesting when a local Thai guy fell asleep & slipped out the back of the taxi.. The taxi's are basically utes / pick ups with tarp covers.. Poor guy was sitting at the back & the tail was open, he nodded off & next thing he was about 40ms back on the road in a crumpled heap.. Picked himself up with little more than a few cracked ribs, a bruised elbow & ego.. After some much needed rest we hired some scooters & checked out a bit more of the Island..
Kho Toa (Turtle Island, I didn't see any!!) came after.. More lazy days on beaches, snorkeling & diving (for Matt who got attacked by a Trigger Fish for invading his territory), scooter exploring on some rather rough & hairy roads, well more like dirt tracks.. We had a 20cm long rather fat purple lizard living in our bathroom, he was lovely..
26 hours of fun filled travel by ferry, bus & train took us way up north to Chang Mai (via Bangkok) where we are now.. Arrived on Sunday & go to check out the madness of the Sunday Markets, loads of stalls selling all manner of things & hoards of people, all got a bit much by the end, but the street vendors with tasty snacks made it bearable..
Next day we were booked into do a 3 day trek in the Pai area.. Stopped in a stayed with 4 different Hill Tribes, accommodations were 5* (well if you'd had enough Loa Loa to drink they seemed that way.. Stayed in traditional Bamboo Huts, rode Elephants through the Jungle (I got a gentle kick by a 5 month old elephant), went Bamboo rafting, visited waterfalls & helped one of the tribes fish by damming off a section of a stream.. Came up with fish, fresh water shrimps & crabs, even the tadpoles weren't safe.. The hills were killer, my legs still feel like jelly but the scenery was stunning & well worth the effort..
Have been to see Mauy Thai (Thai Kick Boxing) & had a traditional Thai Massage (well earned after the trek).. Doing a Thai cooking course this evening before hitting up the night markets in hops of finding some bargains..
Tomorrow we're heading towards the Loas border & maybe a day trip to Myanmar.. So that's about us.. Thank to everyone for the individual emails, I do appreciate them, even if I haven't replied yet.. I WILL GET THERE!! Hopefully this will make up for it a bit.. Hope everyone's well.. Cindie, Belinda & Leroy how are the pregnancies going??
J & M xx
PS. This was the other day, we're now in Laos & heading off on a 2 day slow boat cruise down the Mekong River..