Venice...

Ah, romantic Venice! Basically we couldn’t get into town quick enough. Amy was so excited to see and experience this beautiful city. After stepping off the bus, the first sights are of a sweet little (ish) bridge, the Grande Canal, and many wonderfully restored building fronts.

We ate first (of course), lasagna and soup at a lovely little waterside restaurant. There were many many little stalls with typical Venetian items like masks, jewellery, umbrellas (for the sun not the rain) and an assortment of badges, magnets and little bits and bobs. We strolled for hours and enjoyed every minute of this fresh, clean and stunning part of the city.

The next day we did much of the same. Walked and explored the secret back streets of Venice (note – it is important to allow time for getting lost, it is inevitable) and eventually found ourselves in Santa Marco (St Marks Square). There were many orchestra’s playing, outdoor eating and the atmosphere was vibrant and unique. We stopped by the tourist information centre and bought tickets to the opera for Thursday night!
We caught the bus back to our hotel, we pushed the button, the bus stopped, but the back door didn’t open! Because the bus was so crowded we couldn’t make it to the front door either. After a 40minute walk back to our hotel at midnight, we quickly learned to exit buses from the front door!

The next day we slept in and then headed into Venice again for some food – pizza, and the keenly awaited football match between Barcelona and Manchester United! We found an Irish Pub, hunted for stools and watched the game – a bit disappointing but a great experience!
Again we caught the bus and this time it didn’t even stop at our hotel – it was already midnight and we were lost, tired and just a tad frustrated! We walked for about 40 mins and then asked for directions. We walked around in circles! At about 1am we signaled a car and praise the lord he gave us a ride home!

On Thursday we went to town and headed back to Santa Marco and spent a good bit of time there. Amy played with the pigeons (so awesome – they landed on her instantly!). We then got a bit dressed up at home and headed back in to attend the Opera. We caught the water taxi and enjoyed again Venice by night! The opera was nice – very talented vocals and the orchestra was brilliant. So romantic! AND we caught the bus home and it stopped right outside our hotel for a change!!!!!
Venice was a real treat – it was relaxing, cheap enough and stunning!

Spain...

After yet another overnight flight, we arrived in Madrid at 4am and had to pay for an extra night (so mean) - Amy cried (nothing unusual - sleep deprived). Consequently we slept for a few hours then headed into Town. Madrid is actually really quite tidy, fresh and beautiful. There are some amazing buildings and museums. We strolled the park, ate ice creams (this happens quite often - uh-oh), checked out some of the shops and had quite a delightful time really. We would definitely like to spend more time in Madrid one day - a Beautiful City.

We took a domestic flight to Barcelona the next day, although Amy was into her third day of severe stomach cramps. It was Saturday so we headed to the local A & E. 8 Hours, 3 blood tests, an x-ray and urine sample later they decided that she had some syndrome (can't pronounce it) where her stomach had twisted itself into a loop (probably from a childhood operation) which caused the immense pain she was having! Unfortunately it was incurable apart from pain relief pills which were not, at that time, working! We headed home and had a rough nights sleep!

The next day, pain and all, we walked to the train station to save ourselves money. Whether James felt a bit left out, or wanted some attention of his own, I don't know, but he decided to vomit on the way to the train station. What a pair we are! Now I'm not going to go into too much detail about what happened next - but lets just say we had to run between lavatories for the next few days.

Despite all this we managed to head into town, take an open top Double Decker tour bus around Barcelona and see some of the most magnificent architecture in the world. Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is phenomenal – in simple terms it’s an unfinished church building, but for interests sake, it was started to be built in 1882, and due to the huge amount of detail & money needed, it is expected to be finished in 2026! We ended the day by finding an Irish pub to watch the final day of the English Premier League – where Hull City successfully managed to stay in Englands top league (sadly we missed the last 10 minutes as Spanish TV switched to a game of Handball!). Overall Barcelona is an amazing city and an absolute must when visiting Europe!

Walk like an Egyptian...

Yes Egypt was an experience - but probably our worst so far. Right from the airport we were harassed for our money, and treated like rich tourists rather than people. Someone saying they represented Egyptian Tourism whisked us away into their office and tried persuading us to change our accommodation and get expensive taxis - didn't fall for that one. Our accommodation was the cheapest from all our travels so far, and the hostel we stayed at was a decent size (although it did need a new coat of paint and some maintenance). They organised our trips, but had partnerships with other tourists agents who tried over-charging us for activities, such as camel rides and meals. However, we did get to see the Pyramids and the Spinx, and they were pretty impressive. Security people allowed us to sit on the Pyramid, then charged us for the privilege! Amy got her camel ride (after a lot of bartering) and James ended up on a horse (more scary than the camel).

Neither was half as scary as the road traffic, which is worse than anywhere we've seen. High speeds & no mercy (just the way some of you wish you could drive!) We did much praying and holding hands during this time - obviously there were no seat belts to hold either. We did spend a pleasant night having a meal and cruise on the Nile, where we were able to share our grumbles and tips with other westerners. The food was ok, but the entertainment of singing, dancing and boob, err, I mean, belly dancing, was a new cultural experience! Amy was persuaded to get up and have a go - this video will be online at a future date!

Our final day we visited the historical city of Alexandria, and we saw some ancient ruins, and some underground tombs, and finally one of the worlds most famous museums. It turns out that the famous museum had been destroyed a few times and the only manuscript left from it is kept in another museum. But we paid for the privilege of going into this new one anyway, and I can confirm it was a library with people studying and reading books!

Jordan (not the supermodel)...

We'd never thought about visiting Jordan but because our flights took us via Amman (Jordan's Capital), we took this opportunity to spend 2 nights visiting one of the worlds most historic country's.

After an eventful taxi ride to the Cameo Hotel, the Hotel manager Wael (bless his heart) inadvertently ends up giving us a tour of the city including the citadel ruins, a huge Colosseum that used to seat 9000 people, and Jordans favourite traditional dish - Mansaf (Lamb, rice and yogurt - tasty). Wael you are awesome!

The next day we headed off early on a bus to Petra - one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world. This really was an incredible day as we explored a City caved from rock and stone. It was so ridiculously hot and dusty - Amy sweated heaps (typical), James didn't get sunburnt (miracle). The donkey ride to the top of the monastery was an absolute giggle and a highlight of the day. The poor donkeys nearly fell off the steep jagged steps - under the heavy load. Our hearts went out to the many locals who lived here, surviving from selling jewellery and other small tourist items.

We had lunch with this young girl, who tried selling us some stones. We really felt for her, and gave her our Chupa Chub Lollies. She took them, then pointed to her rotten teeth. It was sad, but we knew we couldn't fit her in our suitcase - but it did get us thinking about the different lives people lead.

We were pleasantly surprised by our time in Jordan, and we would definitely recommend it to people as a stopover, even though we had a dodgy experience with some Tourist police.

Hong Kong...

27 degrees on arrival - have been sweating for 3 weeks straight now. I'm looking forward to rain!
We rode a bus to our hostel situated in the middle of Kowloon. Stunning location - surrounded by markets and food! (What more could we want?!)

Decided that this would be the place to relax and recharge a bit - we even stayed in and watched a movie one night.

We did however take ourselves onto the main Hong Kong Island and traveled up the Peak Tram to see an incredible panoramic view of Hong Kong. We ate out most nights trying some local cuisine from some cute little stalls and enjoyed sitting on the water front taking in a unique light show that runs across the SkyScrapers set to music.

We also enjoyed being kids again playing at Asia's famous Ocean Park - a big theme park! Taking in some great performance by the dolphins, riding rollercoasters, and viewing some amazing animals (pandas, sharks, and more!) Hong Kong was a little more expensive than mainland China, but still good compared to NZ and UK. Good times!

Next stop, Amman (Jordan).

The Great Wall...
Arriving in China was great (he he). We expected the language barrier to prove difficult, particularly with transport and finding our discreet little Hostel, but we were so wrong! Surprisingly (and perhaps the Olympics helped) everything is almost always written in English as well. The subway was so incredibly easy compared to most and heaps of people spoke English.

Our Hostel was down a small dark alley with tiny sidestreets, foodstalls and culture oozing from the walls! We dropped our bags and headed into Tiannamen square - took heaps of photos, bought some artwork and walked the streets of China.

Day 2 we headed to the Great Wall - this was fascinating. Incredible scenery, and the wall was so steep in parts you had to hang on so you didn't tumble backwards.

Day 3 we went to the famous Silk Markets (just a name for the most incredible shopping around!) with hundreds of stalls ranging from shoes glorious shoes - bags - clothes - jewellery - toys and more! You have to be so tough (literally), they grab you and don't let you go! You really have to barter, stay strong on your price and be stubborn! (Amy's time to shine!)

A few handbags later we headed to the Olympic village, and actually went inside the Birdsnest Stadium. Really quite remarkable.

Overall China was very tourist friendly, cheap, and we do wish we could have had more time there!

In　Japan...

We've just had an awesome 7 days in Japan - such a lovely clean, hospitable, hi-tec place! After arriving at our backpackers early morning, we went onto spend the day in Shinjuku - the happening place in Tokyo! We went to the top of the Govenernment metropolitan building – about 45 flights of it – where we could see over the whole city. So many amazing sky scrapers! Another day we headed to Asakusa, which hosts one of Japan’s most famous Buddhist temples and a HUGE street market. The cost of living and traveling in Japan is quite high, so we didn’t do much shopping. For example we bought a breakfast combo each from McD’s which cost us NZ $20 and a deep fried Ice Cream was NZ$10 each too (yummy though).
One of our main reasons for visiting Japan was to visit some of Amy’s family friends – students who had lived with them as kids. We had an all you can eat meal with Taka. When someone new comes into the restaurant or shop – everyone shouts – WELCOME (in Japanese) – they’re not as conservative as we thought. We then took the world famous bullet train to Nagoya, and spent time with Shihoko and her family – who looked after us so well! (we need to spend some time doing some fitness).　We also went to the most amazing sports amusement arcade – we need one of these in Christchurch!

After returning to Tokyo we spent our final day in a lovely airport hotel (with outdoor Jacuzzi) and were also able to view some more amazing Buddhist architecture and witness some kind of festival – which included the offering of handbags over the alter! It had quite a focus on paying for everything – with markets and stall everywhere (got a feeling Jesus wouldn’t approve). Would have really struggled with the language barrier if Amy hadn’t put good use to her school Japanese lessons – although many had basic English vocab. If you can live in a small cramped apartment, and enjoy city living, then a well paid job could be a good option for you in Japan.

Indonesian Jungle Adventure...

Well aye...can't believe we made it!

After 17 hours in the air, lost (and much later found) luggage, an upgrade to business class, and a pretty dodgy car ride we found ourselves in Bukit Lewang - a quaint little village in Sumatra Indonesia. We were welcomed with nothing less than true hospitality and generosity.

One night in a our hotel room surrounded by lizards and cats with no tails (no they don't chop them off and eat them, just a genetic defect) and then off on our practise trek to the orangutang feeding platform. Sadly our luggage had still not caught up with us at this stage so we were camera-less. However we saw 3 beautiful orangutangs, a very poisonous centipede, and several other long tailed monkeys.

Our guide Wanda led us further into the jungle, to see how we coped before we left on our big trek. Safe to say, we weren't as good as we thought and decided to head up the river first.

And that's exactly what we did. The next day we departed heading up the river with Wanda, and not one, not two, but THREE porters to carry food and shelter. In total there was SIX of us in the jungle fellowship.
The first 3 days we spent walking up the river and slept at various campsites which the boys made out of branches and tarpaulins. Quite cosy really, but gee that ground was hard to sleep on!

We were treated to sensational food cooked by our very own chef - Bendi. This guy is the man - he is like the ultimate crocodile dundee, we would put our life in his hands anyday.

During our journey up the river we saw heaps of big ugly millipedes, frogs, fish, birds, a few more orangutangs and the boys caught us a 4metre python!

The last day we had to trek over to mountains to get back onto the main river. It is a monumental understatement to say that it was hard. This was gruelling. It was almost vertical, going up and down. It took every ounce of concentration to pull yourself up and steady yourself down.

After five and a half hours of this we finally made it to our final campsite where we were greeted by yet another TWO more porters. They had brought us river tubes to use the following day.

We played cards that night and had a great laugh before our final uncomfortable sleep.  The final day river tubing back to our hotel was brilliant. The rapids were enough to let out gentle screams of delight, and relaxing in between.

Just fantastic and an experience we'll never forget!!!

After a day of catching our breath back at our Guest House (this time our room had a toilet), and visiting the local markets, we headed back to the airport and flew back into the capital Jakarta.  We spent an afternoon walking around the city centre and for some reason we seemed to stand out.  People would stare, walk past us and touch our arms, try talk to us in English, kids chased us - and the bold ones asked for photos with us!  In fact, in about a 1 hour period we had photos with up to 20 different groups of people!  We were so amazed by this celebrity status, we even bought a photo of ourselves that a local photographer took: