2RapitenquesAroundTheWorld3

Wanaka and the proof of the glaciar

2008-12-18T05:12:00.001-08:00

Nota: From Queenstown we went to visit the fiords of Milford Sound. After it we continued travelling until Wanaka. We used this beautiful town as a base and we went to visit its wonderful surroundings. We did a couple of treks: Diamond lake valley and Rob Roy glaciar. This last one is the main character of the first proof of the tale. We also visited Puzzling world museum. We hope you enjoy our story.

Following the instrucions of Paddy, the two nymphs and Frodo continued their mission.
Their first goal was to find snow from a glaciar. A glaciar from the South Island of New Zealand where the snow was the purest and whitest of the whole country.
But, which one is this glaciar- they wondered.
Wizard Paddy: - " This country is full of surprises. You will find beautiful valleys, huge lakes, deep and dark forests, amazing mountains, big glaciars, fiords, rivers... Keep an eye! Make sure you don't lose your course!
The two nymphs were eagerly trying to memorise every word that the wizard was reciting.

Paddy: -" I'll give you a clue: the glaciar that you need to find is located close to the enchanted town of Wanaka and the purity of its snow shines in the valley. Tomorrow morning a boat will bring us to the fiords of Milford Sound and from there we will leave towards Wanaka. Now go to rest. Tomorrow will be a long day."
And so they did. The next morning, the 4 little characters left to Fiorland, Milford Sound.

The beauty of Milford Sound and its surroundings made that Frodo and the nymphs, for a few hours, forgot the tough task that they came to execute and they let themselves go through that marvelous landscape.

From there they continued towards Wanaka. This little enchanted town is surrounded by mountains and by a huge lake, the lake of Wanaka.

This region is the gateway to access to Mount Aspiring National park.

Paddy the wizard stared at them and said: " Around this region you will find the snow that you are looking for. I have to leave now. I have to fulfill another important job. I wish you all the best."

And as soon as he pronounced these words he rised his arm and he evaporated...

The precious wizard disappeared in a few seconds without leaving any track...
The two nymphs and Frodo started to walk unsure of where to go. Paddy's absence let them empty.... now... how will they know where to go? Who will protect them?
Hours and hours walking without any course. Suddenly, a happy and smily gnome came out from behind a tree...

Gnome:- " I heard that you are coming from a remote land to save your land from the dryness."
Frodo and the nymphs, happily amazed by the knowledge of the gnome exclaimed:
Yes!!! That's us!!! And we are looking for a glaciar where the snow is pure and white, the purest and whitest of the country!
Gnome: - "Ah!!! Don't worry! I can help you."
There and then the gnome drew a map to the glaciar in the backside of the silver fern.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you very much!!- exclaimed the 3 creatures very excited.
And so they did... they continued walking following the itinerary that the gnome drew for them.

They walked and walked until reaching the Diamond lake.

They continued through green fields that covered the elevated sorrounding mountains until reaching the peak.

But they couldn't find any glaciar... where is the snow here?- they ask each other. There is no glaciar here!
They realised straight away... the gnome played a dirty trick on them!!! That wasn't the right way! He cheated on them!
The nymphs fall down dejected....

They couldn't believe what was happening... Who is this evil gnome?- they were wondering.
Suddenly, a white and dense cloud catched them...

From the peak of that mountain they were shipped to the Puzzling World...

The departure of the nymphs from their land reached Margallo warlock and this one, very angry with the news, sent his assistant. This, the little gnome, was sent to hold up their mission. The astuteness of the gnome and the concern of the nymphs to find that snow made them easily fall into the trap.
But... what's that??- the nymphs exclaimed. Why am I becoming a giant and you a gnom? What's going on here? Where are we?

Frodo was loosing stability while he was trying to run to help the nymphs...

Frodo: -" Run little fairies!!! Let's get out of here! If we stay any longer we will lose the concious of the reality! This is a deed of Margallo the warlock!!
And running very fast they left that world... that world of hallucinations that consumed their mind temporarily. In fact, they weren't in the real world until a few hours later. When they opened their eyes, they were back in Wanaka.
They were again at the beginning of the proof...
Frodo: -" Do not become discouraged. This is part of the mission too. Tomorrow morning we will get up early and we will start again!".

Those words cheered the nymphs up. The next morning, they started to walk again... walking and walking... they walked for days around the enchanted town. One morning, walking around one of the forests of Rob Roy valley, Frodo saw some lights among the green trees ... What's that light? Can you see it?- Frodo exclaimed.
The nymphs got closer to it to check it out... They are white fairies!!!!!!!! - they both shouted very cheerful. They are our salvation!!

Nymphs: - " Good morning white fairies. WE don't want to scare you. We are white fairis too.. from very far away. We came to fulfill an important mission. We are looking for a glaciar around here where the snow is pure and white."

White fairies: -" You are actually very close to it. The glaciar that you are looking for is the Rob Roy glaciar. If you follow that path you will soon arrive to its valley. Follow us, we will show you the way!".

And like this Frodo , the nymphs and the two fairies arrived to this magnificent corner of the world where the reflection of the sun is unique.

Nymphs: - " We made it!!!!"
The happiness of finding that glaciar made them forget about the long days of walking...

They went quickly to get a handful of its snow and they kept it in their magic bag to avoid it melting
We have it now! - they happily shouted.

And with happy songs and smiles they left the glaciar. The farewell with the white fairies was short and sweet... as two angels, the little fairies flew to disappear into the wilderness .... never to be seen again.

It will continue...

Photos of New Zealand

2008-12-17T14:28:00.001-08:00

Hi guys!!

Here you have more photos from our trip around NZ:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/?saved=1

We will be downloading photos during this tale... we hope you enjoy it!

Take care

Vane and Eva

Queenstown and the dice's proof

2008-12-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Note: This story makes reference to our stay in Queenstown. We were a few days in this little and charming city located in the Otago region. We did a couple of treks and we went to the highest point where you can have amazing views of the Wakatipu lake. A wonderful landscape where the nature is the main character and the dices of the wizard Paddy will reveal the secret....

A foggy morning woke up in Queenstown.... the proff wasn't gonna be easy... the two nymphs were excited to meet Paddy...

Their appointment with the wise wizard was set in one of the highest mountains of the area.

The walk was long and plenty of steep slopes...

The nymphs were walking... and walking... they could just see the snow capped mountains in the horizon...

Frodo was going with them, making sure that they were ready for the situation that was waiting for them.

During the long and steep way up to reach the peak the two nymphs were listening at Frodo's advices. The wizard had a pair of dices that they will need to throw in order to discover the secret...but what exactly they had to do?

The intrigue was overcoming their minds...

...and.. eventually... the reached the final slope... and then the peak where the wizard was waiting for them.

The two nymphs, very happy and excited for that moment, couldn't wait to know the instruction to follow.

Queenstown's mountains were witnesses of that meeting...

Paddy and the nymphs were getting ready for the big moment...

Firstly, Paddy had to common the Gods of the Mother nature. To do so, the funny wizard started to perform a magic and very strange spell...

The nymphs, petrified, were looking at the strange acts of the wise wizard... what is he doing? Are you sure this is going to work?- they wondered.

And after the performance he shouted:

Paddy - " The moment has arrived!!! The powers of the Mother Earth has asked me to gather the souls of the nature!!! You, nymphs of the river need to help me. Miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (1- 2)

And they all gather in a circle and start to shout with all their strenght..Mia!! Mia!!!

Paddy made a thank gesture looking at the sky... the mother earth had listened them.

It was time now to throw the dices. This magic dices were own by the wizard.. he was carrying them everywhere he went... but how do they work?

In order to get the secret direction they had to get an even number... that would mean that the nymphs were ready for the next task.

The nymphs, very nervious about the pressure, throwed the dices....ummmmmmmmmmm ... Six!!! They got it!!! The doors of the forces of the nature were now open and the secret directions could then be revealed.

The wizard headed to the nymphs and said:

Paddy- " These are the directions that you would have to follow. Listen carefully. Your shrewdness will save your kingdom from the biggest dryness ever.Make sure you fully understand them. "

And he continue ....

- "You will have to gather a few elements from the Maori land to combine them in a sacred place.
The first thing is to catch some snow from a NZ's glaciar. Once you have that you will need to submerge this snow in the deep water of a magic lake... the lake Pukaki.
And the third and last proof is to call the Prince and the Princess of your land. They will have to travel to New Zealand and accord their honors to the Maori's Gods to thank them for saving their kingdom."

The nymphs looked at each other with excitement and confusion.

The task wasn't easy and they didn't have much time.

Will they achieve the difficult proofs?

It will continue....

Queenstown and Paddy the wizard

2008-12-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

Note: Paddys are how the Irish are known worldwide. It comes from its patron saint, Saint Patrick. Dublin was our house for a while and we made lots of good friends there. Some of them have been travelling with us... James, Frodo the hobbit and Brian, the Wizard Paddy. We wanted to symbolize the wizard Paddy as a leprechaun as he will be the one who wil give us the secret of the eternal water. We want to thank Brian for his visit and for all the nice moments that we shared.

And the tale continues....

Along the bank of the lake Wakatipu the city of Queenstown rests. Its mountains and green valleys make that its people live with full fresh air and serenity... this is a perfect hideout...

Frodo and the 2 nymphs continued their travel... now, they had to find the hideout of the powerful wizard Paddy. They knew Queenstown was the region that they could find him.. but where?

The two nymphs listened carefully to Frodo's words:

-" In this land surrounded by water lives Paddy the wizard. He is a Celtic spirit who lives in the gardens around the lake of Queenstown. He was choosen by the Maoris to be the guardian of the sacred waters of this land. For more than 2 million years he has been fighting against the powers of the evil and he has preserved New Zealand from the curses of the diabolic warlocks that wished to destroy it. Paddy will be the one who will help us to guess the path to follow and to break the curse of the dryness which affects your land."

The two nymphs looked around contemplating the amazing landscape and they shivered... they were actually very close to the proof that will bring them to discover the secret of the eternal water.... their target was to find Paddy.

Like if it was a miracle.... reflected in the water of the lake.. there he was...
Paddy!!!! his reflection was watching them! But how to find him?

The sunset was coming and the three little creatures, tired from the trip, decided to go to rest.

A new day in the city of Queenstown... the two nymphs of the river opened their eyes with the magic perfume of the white roses around.... a hard task was coming.. finding Paddy!

They heard that in the town there was a place with magic carriages, flying bicycles. They could take them and go to explore the surroundings of Wakatipu lake and therefore, find Paddy's hideout.

Frodo decided to go with them... he would act as a middle man between the nymphs and the wise wizard.
So, they all took the flying bycicles... and flyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

...flying above the area was an easier method to find the hideout...

They start to fly and fly with the magic carriage.... with a mere wink they were controlling its course. one wink... and the bike was going to the right... Twice if they wanted to go left... rubbing their noses if they wanted to land and rubbing their eairs to take off again...

Following those instructions they flew over all Queenstown...

It was a hard task... the wind was strong and if the two nymphs fell in the deep and blue water of the lake their wings could get wet and stop flying forever!
They were flying around the Remarkables (mountains around the lake Wakatipu)... they were flying and flying but wondering where Paddy's hideout could be.

... suddenly, one of the nymphs noticed a strange presence... a funny animal was calling them ...

Animal: - Shuuuuuuuu... shuuuuu.. nymphs of the river!! Here, here... come here, I have a message for you, from Paddy the wizard. He told me to bring you to him!

The two nymphs were looking at each other with a surprising look... what's this animal? What does he want? Is he telling us the truth?- they wondered.

Nymphs: - One second... who are you? Why should we trust you?

... he replied:

- Animal: I am a Kiwi. I am the mascot of New Zealand. I am small and not very common.I have wings but I can't fly. I don't like living in the trees. I am different to the rest of the birds. I am the messenger of the magic forces of the forests. That is where I came from and now I need to bring you there. You need to follow my instructions and you will find Paddy the wizard.

-Nymphs:...aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! Then you know where Paddy is!!

So excited about the good news they looked at Frodo...

Frodo asserted with his head... he knew that the little animal was trustable.

The two nymphs felt confident then and followed the Kiwi until Paddy's hideout.

What a surprise!!!!! Frodo the Hobbit and Paddy the wizard knew each other 152 years ago!! They were together in a war to save the Maori culture from evil colonizers centuries ago...

The two nymphs, astounded, looked at them... it was obvious that they were testing them... all the effort to find Paddy's hideout was just a warm up. Frodo and Paddy wanted to check if the nymphs had the strenght and tenacity to complete this task.

A wizard, a hobbit and two nymphs... a magic combo ... with lots of energy!

Paddy and Frodo hadn't seen each other for more than 100 years... lots of things happened since last time.. and they talked and talked...

The two nymphs were fascinated about the amazing stories that they were telling each other....

... the two little nymphs let their wings rest in the green mountains... the adventure had to continue soon.... next morning Paddy was meeting them again... he would tell them how to get the secret of the eternal water....

What did the nymphs have to do to protect their land from the dryness??

It will continue....

and here there are de Pictures!!!Have a look guys!!!Enjooooooooooooooooooooy!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/page10/

Vane and Eva

The land of New Zealand

2008-12-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

It was a cold and foggy morning when the nymphs and Frodo decided to leave to New Zealand. Their mission was to reach the Maori land and find the spell that will undo the curse that their land was suffering. An exciting and worrying smile was coming out from their little faces.

The path was long... hours and hours travelling where the looks of concern from the nymphs encouraged the hobbit to start explaining some stories about the new land...

Frodo: - " Do you know that Maoris are the indigenous people from NZ? Its native language is the Maoritang. It is believed that its antecesstors migrate by canoe from the Polynesia around the X centure BC. When the Maoris arrived to Aotearoa (New Zealand) they found a volcanic land capped with snow on its mountains. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand and it means the land of the long white cloud."

Nymphs: - " Really? Very interesting! And what does Maori mean?"

Frodo: - " Maori means the local people or the first innhabitants. The word Maori was used to differentiate the locals from the "pakeha". These last ones are the Europeans who settled in their land."

Nymphs: - " And, when did the Europeans arrive?"

Frodo: - " The first European explorer, Abel Tasman, arrived to New Zealand in 1642. Four member of his tripulation were killed when they encountered with Maori people. It wasn't until 1769 when the British explorer James Cook established a friendly relatioship with Maoris. From then on, the visit of European boats were quite often. In 1840 Maori chiefs and the British crown signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty was designed to ensure that Maori chiefs kept their the authority (rangatiranga) under the British soveregnity. However, both parties understood the treaty differently and this led into some confrontations soon after. The imposition to the European legal and economic system meant that many Maori lands were possessed by the Pakeha (Europeans)>"

Nymphs: - "But then... did the treaty last at all?"

Frodo: - "Yes, the treaty brought New Zealand into the British empire and gave the Maoris the same rights as the British citizens. Nowadays, New Zealand is an independent nation within the British Commonwealth. Altough the British monarch is constitutionally the head of state, she does not play any active role in New Zealand's government. Today, many of the treaties are being discussed and NZ's government is making an effort to reward the Maori tribes for some of the lands that were illegally confiscated."

Nymphs: - " Oh God! So unfair!! ... and... do they keep any presence of Maori culture nowadays?"

Frodo: - " Before the Europeans settled in New Zealand, all the Maori literature was orally passed from generation to generation. This literature contained many legends and "waitaia" (songs). The most famous tradition is the "Haka", the war dance. Maoris used to dance the Haka at the beginning of any war. This dance has been immortalized by the national rugby team, the All Blacks. They dance the Haka before all their matches."

Song

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai
Whakawhiti te ra
A upa ... ne! ka upa ... ne!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra!

Translation

I die! I die! I live! I live!
I die! I die! I live! I live!
This is the hairy man
Who fetched the sun
And caused it to shine again
One upward step! Another upward step!
An upward step, another.. the Sun shines!

Nymphs: - " Yeah!!!!! We have seen this dance before! And they also have a symbol of some leaf on their gear, don't they? What's that?

Frodo: - " That is the silver fern. This plant represents the people from NZ. Its leaves are dark green from one side and a silver color underneath. The silver part shines with high intensity under the moonlight showing the path to follow in the dense forests of NZ. This plant was used as a bed linen by the Maoris in past centuries due to its soft texture.

Nymphs: - "And, what's this thing that they greet with their noses?"

Frodo: - " This is the "Hongi", , it is a greeting that involves to press the nose of the other person a couple of times. It is equivalent to the two kisses that you do in Spain."

Nymphs: - "So funny!!! Let's try!!

Frodo: - " Another feature to emphasize in the Maori culture are the striking tattoos that they wear. Some Maoris have tatoos in their faces. In the past, those tatoos in the face (moko) were forbiden for women from the chin to the nose.
Today, many Maoris still wear their mokos to keep their culture and identity.

The voice of the little hobbit, melodic and slow, made the nymphs fall asleep gradually....

Frodo:- " Wake up!!!! We are arriving now!

The face of the nymphs, between sleep and excited, made Frodo decide that it was the moment to give the nymphs the amulet that will help them in their mission.

Frodo: - " Here you have an amulet that will help us in difficult times. This amulet resembles the shape of a flower from the silver fern. Its rounded shape expresses the idea of perpetual movement and its coil insinuates the return to the point of origin. The koru shows the path where life does both things: it changes and it stays the same.
This amulet will help us to find the spell to undo the current curse on your land."

The nymphs held the koru with all their strength and looking at the sky they made a wish.

Frodo: -" Keep this koru as a symbol of the creation of our friendship and as a guide to come back to your original point. You have to have it with you all the time during this mission. Its strength and energy will help us to beat all the coming difficulties."

And so the nymphs of the river and Frodo arrived to the mountanious city of Queenstown.

New Zealand and the Nymphs of the river

2008-12-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

Note: Kia ora (Hi in Maori) guys!!! This time we let our imagination fly and we will do something completely different in our blog. The fantastic forests, valleys, mountains and lakes of New Zealand have enchanted us and we have decided to write a few stories mixing reality and fantasy. Many of the characters will be us and friends that have joined us on our travels in New Zealand but with a special touch of fantasy. We have gathered together the magic of our Delta (Ebro Delta) and New Zealand, two lands with lots of personality.

The main characters of this tale are gnomes, nymphs, wizards, warlocks ... a tale that we hope you enjoy and you leave the door open to imagination and forget the reality for a while... we hope you travel with us in this world of fantasy.

The tale of a trip around New Zealand....

"In these fields there are deep sources of the river, so deep that you can hardly see the end. In those, cool water emerges during the summer and in the middle of them beautiful flowers grow... the nymphs! They have white flowers and a golden star in the centre."

J. Martorell ,1926 ( Historian from Tortosa)

New Zealand and the Nymphs of the river.

Once upon a time there was a society who lived from the humid and fertile lands of their area, just beside the Delta (where the river ends up in the sea).

In the peaceful Mediterranean sea... that was where the Delta and the Alfacs Bay lay.

Every morning, at dawn, the sun rose from the sea horizon lighting the Delta until the sun rested on the back of the Montsia mountain.

It was here, in Sant Carles de la Rapita, where the sea and the mountain mix, in a land of fisherman and farmers. It was a land where its people were able to fight no matter what to protect their land.

The town was quite.... it seemed a normal day... but there was something happening this day...

It was a summer day, while everyone was in the central square celebrating the annual festival. Traditional songs and dances were performed as every year... they couldn't expect what was coming....

Suddenly... an horrific noise paralised the festival... a sever thunder was heard from the top of the "Foradada" (peak of the mountain) and a misterious voice was talking...

... it was the Margallo warlock... a hidden character who lives in a deep cave in the Montsia mountains. That day he decided to leave his cave and with a sever anger he invoked a wicked curse:

Trikitriii...trakatra....Rapitencs and Rapitenques... you woke me up with your songs and dances...

trikitriiii...trakatra... from my deep sleep you made me jump....

traaa...traaa..tra... you will pay for this ...

...in a very short period of time your Delta will dry up!! You won't have water anymore!!!

... your fields will become infertile and your sea will have no more fish!

Trikitriii...trakatraaa....

... this curse will be fulfilled !!!

The Margallo wizard brought his black magic and the town became cloudy in a few seconds.

With those words, the wizard with evil blood froze the joy and happiness of the village and fear and sadness overwhelmed all the citizens.

Everybody started to shout:

- How will we feed our families? The water of the river is our life... if it dries... what will we do with our fields? How are we gonna survive now?

All the citizens were very worried and scared ....

The chief gathered them... after a few hours discussing the issue a group of people exclaimed:

" Here we are Rapitencs!! We need to stand up!!! We need to fight this curse... the future of our land depends on it! The union makes the strenght!! Let's be all together and let's save our Delta!."

Those words sounded in every corner of the area... and it echoed in the magic source of the river where the spirits of the nature live. They suddenly woke up..

The little nymphs got out from the subterranian fountain when they perceived the worry and concern of the village...

The White ladies of the nature are the "Genius Loci" of the Delta. They are in charge of the protection of the land. They will have to react now!!

The water from the source of the river fed the nymphs' environment and the eucalyptus gave them the strength to fly. They are creatures of eternal life who spray the Delta with their beautiful scent and look after its people.

The nymphs quickly went to look for the representatives of the town... the Prince and Princess of the Trabucador.

... the nymphs listened very careful to the sweet words of the beauty princess...the princess Salina:

Salina(Princess of the Trabucador)- " You, Nymphs of the river, have the white magic. The magic which protects our land. You need to save our town and undo the curse from the evil Margallo warlock. Our trust relies on you. We will be supporting you from here.

The power of the Three Stars will protect you from the evil forces!!

Lligallo, the prince of the Trabucador, blessed the little nymphs wishing them the best of luck.

Right after those words the little creatures run to prepare their trip... a trip to undo the curse from the evil Margallo warlock.

The white ladies invoked all the forces of the nature and they received a reply from an Irish hobbit. He will guide them on their dangerous adventure.

They needed to go to Ireland where Frodo (name of the little hobbit) was waiting for them. Frodo was a tiny but clever gnome who was the guardian of the secret for eternal rain in Ireland. He would help the nymphs to find their destiny.

The joyful Frodo lived in a lake of county Wicklow. He had a marvellous glass palace. The little nymphs went there to gather with the hobbit.

They listened very carefully to the words of Frodo:

- "The forces of the nature have asked me to be your guide in order to protect you and guide you during this tough task. Our lands are united spiritually. The force of the Irish water will preserve the water of the Delta from the curse."

Right after his words, the little hobbit touched the lake water with his magic hands and the path that they had to follow was suddenly reflected in the crystal lake water. The force of the Irish water showed the place where they needed to go to undo the curse. It showed the land of the kiwis and the Maoris... New Zealand was waiting for them.

Two islands in the Pacific ocean who comprised one unique country where Frodo and the nymphs had to reach to follow their mission.

And flying and flying those 3 magic creatures crossed the world until they landed in New Zealand. A new adventure was waiting for them there.

It will continue....

Our short stay at Nadi... (Fiji)

2008-11-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

Once more we are in Nadi.... well this time we hope to e more than half an hour in the city :-)

The idea was to stay in Nadi for a couple of days and visit some village nearby that we could learn a bit more about the Fijian culture .. but now not anymore in the islands.

Sugar cane

We wanted to go to Navala .. but you can only access to this village by 4 wheel car and it was quite expensive! Going by bus involved to stay overnight and we didn't have time so..... we didn't make it there but we will explain you something in case you want to go.

Navale is one of the only villages that keeps the traditional Fijian life style. They live in bures (traditional houses) and they work keeping all the traditions from its ancestors... quite nice and pintuesque!

So instead of Nadi we visited Viseisei... closer to NAdi.

First we stopped in the colourful Indian temple in Nadi... Namaste!!!

We also passed by the market and walked through the city centre...

After we arrived to Viseisei... this villages is located in the "First landing" area. This area was the first one discovered by the Europeans!

The visit to the village was guided by Mila, a middle age Fijian woman who explained lots of interesting things. Big part of the Fijians follow the Methodist religion. And we were wondering... which one is this one??

"Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide.[1] The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelical awakening in 18th century Great Britain. Methodism followed from the work of John Wesley, who was an Anglican clergyman. Although "Methodism" in Great Britain today is commonly taken as "Wesleyan Methodism", there were various Methodist denominations, until the final Deed of Union which, on 20th September 1932, brought together the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, to form the denomination formally known in today as the Methodist Church of Great Britain. Wesley sought to keep Methodism as a revival movement within the Church of England, and a significant number of Anglican clergy were known as Methodists.
The term "Methodism" was a pejorative term given to a small society of students at Oxford who met together for the purpose of mutual improvement. They were accustomed to receiving communion every week, fasting regularly, and abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury. They also frequently visited the sick and the poor, as well as prisoners.

So...................... one more to add to our list! Fiji can be small but there are lots of religions... Hinduism, Muslism, Budhist, Cristiand and Methodist! Even in the villages with less than 100 people there are 3 or 4 religions! and each of them has its temple or church.

It is amazing... in less than 100 people all this variety... but they are living together, they are neighbours and working colleagues... the religion do not affect to their relationships .. religion do not mean war here... quite impressive!

As the Dalai Lama said once... religion must be to grow human qualities as the tolerance, kindness and love.

Every religion, with its own philosophy and traditions, must reduce the suffering of the humban being. The main thing is not to judge and compare religions but identify which one is suitable for you. But with the same aim... the evolution of the Human Being.

We made this comment as we have been travelling now for 6 months and we have been seeing different types of religions and how different people live and understand them. We have been thinking and talking about it with other travellers and between us and religion is a big thing that it is important in some people's life.

.. we don't want to judge anyone... we have jewish, cristian, muslim, etc friends ...but today we consider ourselves agnostics to any kind of religion... we are open to learn about them and their philosophies but we don't keep any God to ourselves. But we have a path full of learning, development, full of happinees and sadness ... all for sharing and listening... with family and friends.

Coming back now to our stay in Nadi.... Mila came with us to show us the village and its traditions. After it we enjoyed a quick chat with some Fijian women of the same village... Came on.. Fiji time!!!!!!!!!!

Then we continued our tour around Nadi....

What's that??? A monkey??? Nooooooooooo

Superman??? Nooooooooooooo

A weird animal!!!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo it is a Rapitenca around the world with mud everywhere!! hahaha

Yeah.. we went to visit some mud pools.... the water was so warm!!!! We hope after all this mud we won't see our wrinkles!! :-)

Now we say goodbye to Fiji... Nadi... Mana...Waya... such a nice time!!!

We are very sad to say goodbye to Fiji time!! such a life style!!

See you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vane and Eva

Waya island (Fiji)

2008-11-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

After Mana and the brilliant time there we left to Waya.

The thing is that to reach Waya with the Bula pass that we got we had to stop in Beachcomber first. The boat didn't leave until the next morning so we had to stay there for a night.

Just to put you in the picture... Beachcomber is a very small island! but very very small!!!!!!!!! You can walk around in 5 min!!! not a joke! Have a look at the pictures....

It is knwon as the party island, there is just one resort in the island.

The resort has some bungalows for couples and a dorm with 150 beds!!! yeah... long live the bunks!!

Every evening there are Fijian shows and then some music on a sand dance floor...like a night club. It seems that every evening is the same so lots of young people decide to come here to have some fun.... well.. it is not cheap to stay in this resort.. and also the drinks are quite expensive.. and the music.... Oh my God!!! Brian Adams, comercial rap and comercial stuff.... so bad!!! The thing is that there was not many people there so it was more a relaxing night out than a party... and we went to bed very early!

Next morning... and very rested from the previous "party" we went to Waya.

Waya is part od the Yasawa group of islands... they are located up to the Mamamuca group. There are 4 small villages where the staff from the resorts in the island live. These resorts are located in different parts of the island and you can just go from one to the other by boat so no matter where you stay you feel as you were the only ones in the whole island!

We decided to stay at the Sunset Resort, just at the very beginning of the island. Right in front of it there was a small island... Waya lalai...you can cross there walking when the tide is low...

As soon as we checked in we went for a walk. As the tide was low we decided to cross to Waya lalai. Behind the little hill at the front of the island there was a school!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that was a nice surprise!!! The thing is that the kids were off due to an Indian holiday (Diwali) so we could just play with a group of children who were staying there... they showed us the school and some popular songs and games.

After this nice time we went for lunch.... the funny thing about this resort is that there are no clocks... so everything is going through "Fiji time"... for lunch and dinner time the staff blow a horn!! Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii all for lunch!!! hahahaha

We were just 6 people in the whole resort so the peace was assured!! Hammock time... some reading... and some swims when we were too hot.... tough life :-)

To be honest the place is sooooooooooooooo peaceful..... and the sea soooooooooo blue.... very nice!!!

After dinner we tried the popular kava!!!! Lots of people kept saying to us.. if you go to Fiji you need to try the typical drink there...kava!!!

Kava is a drink that you get from mixing water with the root of the plant (kava plant). They mix everything in a bowl and then they leave it for a few minutes... the final result is brown colour.. yeah.. as if you were drinking mud!! hahahaha

But when in Rome do what the Romans do.. so let's try the famous kava!!! came on!!! at once!!!

Drinking kava is a ritual.... you sit all together in a circle... then we prepare the mix... then a round of kava.... one glass each... (the traditional glass is obtained by cutting half a coconut)... and then we all sing to the music of the guitar.. you rest for a bit and then... start again!! another round!!! and like this until the kava is gone!!

To be honest the taste is not very pleasant.... it is like if you are drinking water with earth.... but it is the whole moment... Fiji.. the music.. the beach...

The effect of the kava is relaxing... you can't feel it that much.. or maybe you have to drink more than we did... but the experience is worth it!!! Just for the fact of being there .... in fiji.. in the beach... under the stars.. with the music.... cool!

Fijians have been using kava since hundreds of years ago as a relaxation medicine.... this plant is used to calm the anxiety and for the nerve problems. It is also used as a treatment against migrane. They prepare kava in ceremonies and festivals and also to welcome new visitors. So, everytime there's a good ocasion... they drink kava!!! Maybe to fight the stress in Fiji!! hahaha

After a few rounds of kava and songs we went to bed very relaxed!! It was a very clear night where you could see all the stars so we decided to go to sleep on the beach... everything was perfect until started to rain!!! and it didn't stop!!! so.. we had to come back to the dorm.

Next day it was cloudy and it was raining for a long time so we spent lots of our time in the resort making jewelery, giving Spanish lessons to the staff, playing games.... always listening to Sami's music in the background...

In the evening the weather improved so we could enjoy a volleyball game on the beach with the staff! Oh My God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fijian women are soooooooooooo strong!!!! We couldn't beat them!!

On our last day in the island we decided to rent a kayak and go to visit the village where the staff from our resort lived. Paddling through a very clear and blue water, plenty of coral and coloured fish we arrived to the village.

The vast majority of the Fijian villages are communal. This means that they do not have any private property but everything belongs to the village. All the citizens need to follow a set of rules and laws for living. All what they earn and work is for the village.

When you go to visit one of the villages as a tourist you are not allowed to visit it or walk around on your own. There is always a person who goes with you and guides you. You can't either enter wearing shorts or non sleeve top.

So when we got there we met a young guy that kindly showed us the village and introduced us to the citizens.

A very nice woman invited us to her house and lent us a sarong and a flowery shirt to cover ourselves.... You had to see us!!! It is a shame that we have no pictures of that moment to show you.. you would have laughed!!! so... all "well dressed" we went to church! yeah.. it was Sunday and they all wanted us to go to church with them.... and what could we say?? There we were!!! We couldn't understand a word as the were talking in Fijian but we got a mention in English!! hahahaha

Now we are going to Viti Levu.... we will be a couple of days in Nadi and then we will fly to New Zealand. We will keep you posted!!

And remember.... do not stress yourselves... take everything at Fiji time!!

From Nandi airport to Mana... Fiji Time!!!

2008-11-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Our visit to Viti Levu, main island in Fiji was very quick! The plane landed in Nadi, main strategic point to go to the several holiday islands located on the west side of the country. As soon as we landed we bought the "Bula pass", a 7 day boat ticket that allows you to get the ferry to go from island to island, and we got the next ferry to Mana island.

Buuuuuuuuuulaaaaaa Mana!!!! ( Hi Mana!!)

Mana is a small island in the Mamamuca group. As soon as you arrive to the island you can feel the hospitality of its people... they are the best when welcoming tourists !! they sing and play very noisily everytime that a ferry arrives... They run happily to the harbour with their guitars.... plenty of energy!!!

Bulaaaaaaaaaaa Bula!! Thank you for choosing our island!! These are the words that they consistantly use!

To the sound of the guitar we arrived to the Ratakuni backpackers resort... nothing really luxurious or special about the place but with the best local atmosphere ever! We liked it from the very best moment!

The day was sunny... was nearly sunset time....very nice evening after a very long trip from Sydney...nice change.. from cold Sydney to warm Fiji!!

A new experience... a new country with a new lifestyle... behind are the skyscrapers, fast food or the crowdy backpackers hostels... now is time for Fiji.. now is Fiji time!! This funny saying (Fiji time) refers to the peace and calm of the Fijian lifestyle.... they are so casual about time and things...they love not being stressed about anything... they are like this.. .they are Fijians! hahaha

They are very peculiar!!!

The next day after a good rest from the long trip and with improved weather and new scenery we decided to explore the island. We started walking a bit along the near beaches and we ended up going around all the island!!! But it was definitely worth it!

So there we were... we started walking. At the beginning we walked along a dirty and unkept area... and we were wondering... will all the island be the same?

but we didn't believe so... so we continued walking and walking...

Nobody was around.... mystic silence around the island... we looked like the main actresses from a film of cast aways!!!

And we continued walking... and walking for hours... and then we ended up going for a whole loop around the island... and at the end we found the surprise... Sunset beach!!

... do you know those moments in your life when work and stress take over you... and that you close your eyes and for a few seconds you wish you could disappear and find yourself in a deserted island....

... so there we were....if we have to decribe with a word we would choose SERENITY!!

It seemed as if human beings weren't there... or at least they were thousand and thousands of kilometers away....

A moment for ourselves... a moment where you think about you and your interior and you make that place yours... you own it for a few minutes.

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahhahahaa

Just complete silence to listen to yourself!!

We don't want you to be jealous but encourage you to think about those moments in your life when the routine gets over you.. the sadness, the anxiety, headaches... in one of those moments close your eyes and smile.... and we don't mean that you need to fly to the other side of the world to feel better but you just need to stop that life rythmn that gives you the worst headaches: deadlines, mortgages, money, work problems...remember that you are the most important person in your life!!! You need time for yourself and time to dream!!!

And after a few hours in this beach we came back to the resort...

In the evening we met a couple of guys who have been travelling on a boat for a couple of years now... they own a sailing boat and that night they anchored near the hostel that we were staying. So, we had a few beers together and after it... talking for hours...

... and later on.. karaeoke night!!! oh my god!!! the story returns... after Vietnam...no... i don't want to sing!! but "My Way" played and we had to do it!! :-)

And to close the Karaeoke night... Redemption song...

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? ooh!
Some say its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil de book.

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

...With Bob Marley and more than two Bitter Fiji (Fijian Beer) we went to bed...

Next day was cloudy.. we had a look at the activities board and we had jewlery making at 11am...so why not??

Later on we decided to visit the local school.... we just poped in at the break time...

But the break lasted just 15min...ohhhhhhhhhhhhh we would have loved to spend more time with the kids...

... so we continued with our jewelery making.. coconut, thread, seeds... we had everything to become rich once back at home!!! hahahaha Have a look at the local festivals.. you might see us selling some jewelery !!!

We really wanted to enjoy more time with the local kids so after school we went to look for them... and then we found them on the beach!!! there they were.. lots of them!! and we spent all the evening playing there ...

So funny!! they are very wild!! they jump from everywhere!! great craic!

A very nice evening with the kids... since Asia we didn't have these kinds of moments.... nice memories!

That night the staff at the resort organised a local dance to show all of us the different dances on the Pacific island...

Last day in the island.. the staff showed us how to prepare lovo. Lovo is a tradicional meal in Fiji with chicken and fish and vegetables... they bury the food with hot stones to cook it... ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and with a very nice soya sauce....

In the afternoon we went to look for crabs for the competition at night time....and just on our way back we met Moses... such a character!!! He is a Fijian fisherman very popular in the village. We went fishing with him and we visited some of the closest islands.

So... after the fishing we came back to the resort. Just in time for the crab race!!!

...2Rapitenques had crab number 6....we didn't win any of the prizes but it was great fun!! Crab races hahahaha who invented that?

And last day in Mana arrived... such a pity.. seriously!! we would have stayed a few days more!! but the Bula pass had an expiration date so we needed to change island now...
Mana has delighted us with the kindness of its people, its local kids, its music, its traditions... everything that we missed when we were in Australia....

Bula Mana!!!!!!!!!!

FIJI

2008-11-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Next stop..... Fiji !!!!!Ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Some of you might say.... Where is Fiji? Well... at least this is what we were asking to ourselves when we were planning this trip.... the name rings a bell.. but in a map... where is it???

Fiji islands are located in the South of the Pacific Ocean... in a map it would be between Hawai and New Zealand.

It is comprised by 322 islands in an ocean with plenty of coral reefs and crystal waters. Diving in this place is one of the major attractions.

100 out of the 322 islands are still uninhabited. The 2 main islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, where around 80% of the Fijian population lives.

Fiji islands were discovered in 1643 by Able Tasman, a dutch explorer. Captain Cook anchored here a bit later too but it wasn't until Captain William Bligh arrived that made them popular.

In 1874 it became a British colony and they didn't reach independence until 1970. Almost 100 years of British control!!! That is why it is not surprising that the Queen's face is still on all the Fijian notes and coins! Up until a few years ago they were even still using the English national anthem!

Fiji is a mix of cultures. It has influences from the Melanesia, Polinesia, Micronesia, India, China and Europe. The vast majority of the population nowadays are native Fijians with antecedents from Melanesia, Polinesia or India.

The British brought the Indians here in the 19th century to work on the sugar cane plantation and lots of them stayed.... nowadays the Indio- Fijians represent around 40% of the total population.

Fiji is a country quite dependable on tourism.... this is the main source of income. These exotic islands are one of the most popular holiday destinies for the Aussies and the Kiwis.
Apart from the tourism, the sugar cane plantations and the textil industries play an important role in the economy of the country.

Another thing that makes this country worldwide known is its rugby team!!! Rugby is the national sport in Fiji and its team has been in the world cup on several ocasions! Considering the population of the country this is a huge merit!

We are going to Fijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

We'll keep you posted from there!!

BULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (greeting in Fiji).

Sydney

2008-11-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

To finish our trip along the East coast of Australia we went to Sydney, one of the most popular cities around the world and that was base for the Olympic Games in 2000.

Regardless of not being the capital of Australia, Sydney is the biggest and most modern city of Australia. With a population of about 4 millions people, Sydney is the capital of the New South Wales.

The majority of the population is British or Irish but there's also Asian communities ..... Asian communities are everywhere!!! At least to every place that we visited!

Bontay Bay was the place were the first European ships arrived here in 1788. This British colony initially took into Sydney all the criminals coming from Great Britain. Leaving behind its penitentiary history, Sydney started to quickly spread thanks to the commercial relationships with other countries that helped to its social and economical development.

Located among montains and sea, Sydney offers a beautiful landscape.

Our first impression of Sydney was a very multicultural city where people from all parts of the world walk along its streets creating a cool multicultural society. Thinking about it a little bit we came to the conclusion that Australia is a country that, because of its historical circumstancies, lacks a deep culture nowadays. Aboriginal people, antecesstors of this "terra nulis" (land of nobody), are a minority and it is very difficult to see them unless it is something related with tourists and souvenirs.

Australia , a cultural tetris that has been built generation after generation shaping a very modern multicultural society but, from our point of view, lacks of idiosincracy.

Our arrival to Sydney was very cold!!!!!!!!!!!!! and rainy!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Once we looked for a hostel in the city centre we went for a walk around town...

We ended up having dinner in an Asiatic restaurant.. cheap and nice ... where we met a group of very funny Cubans who were living in the city... Soy cubano mamaaaaaaaaaa!!! y amigo de la Mala Rodriguez mamaaaaaaaa!! hahahahaha

They recommend us to go for a drink to "La Cita", a latin place with live latin music...

We had to celebrate our arrival to the city so to cope with the cold that they we went to look for warm latin music hahaha and we found it!! and we danced lots!! hahahaha

Lots of latin americans dancing... Argentinians, Uruguayans, Brasilians, Spanish, Mexicans... great fun! Live music all the way!!

Still singing some of the songs that the band was playing the previous night we woke up with a beautiful sun that gave us all the energy needed to walk the city from north to south!!!

We walked for hours... enjoying the sunny day and the walk around the harbour... a beautiful area full of restaurants, museums, pubs, nightclubs, cafes...

And then we arrived to a little hill where you can have views of Sydney.... you could say that you can have Sydney on your feet!! hahahaha

After a great rest we walked along the streets in the city centre... big avenues and skyscrappers... and we went up the Sydney Tower... there you have an amazing 360 degrees view of the city!! Awesome!!

After that we decided to go to Circular Quay and visit the top attractions in Sidney...the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

When you look at the Opera House from a distance it's amazing... you can see the architecture and the amazing roof... but when you see it close enough it is even more spectacular!!! And it is huge!!!!!!!!!!!! You look like an ant beside it!!

It is an extravagant building with lots of character!

The history of this huge building is full of contradictions, nationalism and mistery. It took more than 14 years to be built and now is the national symbol!!! It is doing its competence to the kangaroos and koalas of the country! hahahaha

At nightime the views of the Opera House are amazing too as it shines from all of its perspectives.

We also walked along The Rocks.. the old town where Captain Cook landed for the first time in Aussie land.

To finish our walk around the city we ended up in a central park where there was a Food festival going on that day.....

And lucky enough... that day it was about noodles and Asian food!! hahahahah Asia is following us!!!!!

After finishing our Pad Thai and the bottle of wine.... of course...Do you think we could have left Australia without trying one of the best things that the country produce??? We decided to go for a few drinks and see the night life.

We don't know how but we ended up drinking champagne with some Australian guys in a pub along the harbour... and then...

we went to a nightclub... yeah.... it was a club with electronic music where gangs have met to dance a certain kind of dance... a dance created in Brisbane and that now has been spread all over the counry....

Oh my God!! you try to dance like them for a couple of minutes and you can't breath!!! so tiring!! and difficult!! hahaha

It was a funny experience... as also at some stage some local policemen came with dogs to check all the place... yeah!!! Not sure if here it is usual but not back at home!!!!!! Shocking!!! this dance competition and police!! We better go to bed now :-)

Next day ... sunny again!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

We decided to go to visit other parts of the city ... there was market running on Saturdays in a local area... so there we went and then we head towards Bondi Beach...

It's amazing how the city changes when you leave the city centre... no more skyscrappers and then little houses and beaches.... quite nice!

...and the beach full of little black spots... we mean.. surfers!! hahahaha there's plenty of people here enjoying the sunny days... lots of surfers and friends having barbaqeues...

We spent all day there .. and after dinner and a couple of beers... we decided to go to bed...

And here we are... the last day in Sydney.. the last day in Australia...

A Sunday at the end of October we said goodbye to the country going to a festival in Sydney...Danks Festival!!!

Sun, music, art... joy in the street...

Live music, shops, food stalls, art.... even paellas!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha Great way to say bye to Australia!!

Australia, a country where we had a bit of everything.... things that we have loved but also other things that left us with a feeling of emptyness.

We also say bye to Coles... supermarket where we have been every single day!!!!!! Uff!!! Too much thinking!!!

We have decided to do a "RESET" ... in a long trip you can have everything.. you can have some difficult days... some breakdown... but now we have uploaded our energies again and we go to Fijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Bye Sydney...bye Australia

Next stop... Byron Bay

2008-11-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

After the great cruise around Whitsundays we continued our route towards the south .... next stop.... Byron Bay.

It took us a couple of days to get there... the thing is that the car that we rented started to make a strange noise... and yeah... we checked everything but we didn't have a clue what was wrong with it!! ....as we didn't see any smoke or liquid coming out everything seemed to be grand for us...hahahhaa
Eventually, we had to stop in Brisbane and then change the car for another one. I don't think even the guys there knew what was wrong with it but they just gave us another car and we were happy with it.

Brisbane is a business city. The city centre (Centre of Business District) is full of skyscrapers where all the offices are. When the office daily work finishes there's none around!! It looks like a phantom city! Completely different to day time!

Brisbane river cross the city and.. beside it.. of course, there is a fake beach!! This Aussies love artificial beaches! yeah... in this ones they don't have to worry about crocodiles, sharks or jellyfishes!! hahahaha

Brisbane has also lots of parks and pathwalks. One thing to stress about the Aussies is their concern about sport. Everywhere where we have been ( beaches, countryside or city) you can find lots of people doing some exercise! Running, cycling, skating, surfing... and all kind of people :old people, young, childs...

We went for a walk around the city and visit the parks around and the riverside...

The next morning, as soon as we woke up, we decided to go to Byron Bay. From Brisbane to Byron Bay there are about 3 hours driving. On the road you pass by the famous "Surfers Paradise". We decided to stop there to walk around and have something to eat. Ok... there are some waves to surf... but there are also thousands of skyscrapers apartments on the seashore... and restaurants, and shops, and pubs... It is like the Benidorm but in Australia!! Awful!!!

Aqui te pots trobar al Mitch Buchannon de Los Vigilantes de la playa!!!

After we headed off to Byron Bay. Some travellers recommended us the Arts Factory; a hostel with a special character where you can also camp. They run lots of daily activities such as yoga, reiki, cinema, live music, etc... so we decided to camp there. Unfortunately they were doing some refurbishment on the place so they didn't have that much going on....

First of all... picth the tend. Yeah,... now a new issue... one of the sticks is broken from last time! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

But some of our little friends helped us and we finally put it up... yeah little strange animals who come to say hello all the time!!

We stayed a week here.... so we had time to visit the town and its beaches. To be honest, we found that it was a quiet town... the beaches are very long and wide and the waves seem to be good for surfing. We found lots of people who stays here for months.. even for years!! They come here... they look for a job and learn to surf and they save money to keep travelling.

It's a town with a hippy atmosphere full of organic restaurants and markets. During the evenings there is also some live music going on and everyone meets there for a few drinks. Most of the people are young backpackers but you can also see some Aussie families who come to spend their holidays here.

For those who want to do some exercise (as the slope is sooooo steep) or just have some wonderful views of the ocean , they can go to the Cape Byron Lighthouse. This one is located on the top of a 100 m cliff and it is also the Eastest point in Australia.

It's an stunning place where you can breath peacefulness.

So.... we are in Australia... in the Surfers Maca... do you thing that we shouldn't try to learn surfing????? Came on!!! Let's go!!!!

We decided to join a Surfing school for a couple of days... it was great! It is great fun!!! Everytime that we standed up it was a record!!! Well, when the teacher push you is ok, but when you have to look for the wave yourself then the problems come!

But look, after two days look at us!!! Such a style!

Hhahahahaha yeah... of course they are not our pictues! We wish they were!!! If we were those we wouldn't be here!!! We have photos but they are in a protected CD and we can't download them... to be honest... not sure if we wanna show you!!! Such a disgrace!!!

The days that you are learning with the school is fine because they teach you to surf with a very wide board and you are able to stand up... but the third day we decided to rent a board and try.... yeah right!!! the board was half size the previous one!!! We couldn't even keep the balance when we were lying down!!!!! So, how do you stand up now?? Padle padle padle!!!! But honestly...even though it is good fun ... and dangerous too if the board falls on your head!! hahahhaa

And do you know what? We saw whales!!!!!! Yeah!! they were there... less than 100 m from us!!! They were splashing down with their tail as if they wanted to wave us! Amazing!!

As everything could not be about surfing , one of the days we decided to go for a day trip to Nimbin. Nimbin is a small hippy town located at 70 km from Byron. This place is famous because its Mardi Grass festival where every year attracts lots of musicians and artists. But do you wanna know the secret? The reason why people come here is to buy weed. Yeah!! they sell you weed everywhere and the cookies and chocolate with it!

It seems to be illegal here but they have high tolerance for it.

Nimbin is tiny!! just a couple of streets!! but it is located in the middle of valley and mountain and the landscape around it is very nice.

Now, after 7 days here and become professional surfer is time to change destiny... now we are going to Sydney!!!!!

We'll keep you posted from there !

If you wanna check more photos about our trip around Australia enter here :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/

Arlie Beach and Whitsundays

2008-11-03T20:37:00.001-08:00

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Our adventure continues towards Arlie Beach. This small village on the East coast of Australia has a beach but again... you can't swim in it!!! This Aussies have beautiful beaches but they also love artificial ones!! hahahha There was a great swimming pool beside the beach! Yeah... lots of beaches but you can't swim in half of them!!

Arlie beach is the point to stop if you wanna visit Whitsundays ... one of the most beautiful beaches in the world...

The best way to visit this beach and the islands around is on a cruise... also is the only way to reach the islands and the coral reef.

So... there we go... we checked a few agencies in order to compare prices.. we have to say that they were quite expensive! But if you are lucky there's always some last minute offers which are very good. We got one of those and we arrange a cruise for 2days and 2nights on a sailing ship.

We were lucky and the calmed waters and the sunny weather came with us so there was nothing to complain!

There was around 15 people on the boat... from all over the world: English, Thais, Germans, Australians... and of course... Irish!! They are everywhere :-)

Sailing with Pegasus (name of the boat) was great... sunsets and nice breeze...nice people... great atmosphere... what else do u need?

During two full days the deck was our home.... our space... there we ate, rested, sunbathing, drinking... we even slept there.... under the stars!

What we enjoyed the most was the feeling of freedom that you have on the boat, the beach of Whitehaven, the coral reef and the turtles!!!! Earth and sky, human being and nature... then boat and ocean....

The first night we anchored the sailing ship in a quiet bay... there we stayed and rest during the night. Next morning we went to Whitehaven beach... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god!!! The sand and the sea shine differently there... they seem to shine more!!! It is an awsome place to visit!!

We couldn't go on a cruise without rising our flag... of course!!! hahahaha Ausralia and La Rapita!!

We went for a long walk along the beach... it is so beautiful!! we had never seen some beach like this one before!!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

No words can explain it!!

... just resting on the white sand and enjoying the amazing ocean.

After a while we came back to the sailing ship and we went to a small beach to do some diving and snorkeling.
It was great!!! We even saw turtles!!!!!!!! This was a thing that we have been saying during our trip... yeah.. we have been diving and snorkeling in different parts of the world but we have never seen a turtles!!!!.... but there they were!! In Australia!! and we were swimming with them... in the deep blue sea! It was magic! They are so slow and sweet!

Seeing the turtles in their habitat was a surprise! It was a present for us! And as you can see... they are like humans... they are born, they grow up and they reproduce themselves! hahaha

The trip was coming to its end.... it was very nice... pure and wild nature on the sea.... whoever goes there is astonished for its beauty!!

We would also like to thank all the people whom we shared this cruise.... it was great fun!!! and also thanks to the tripulation!!!

So...the Spanish pirates send you a huge hug!!!!

Take care!!!

Mission Beach and Magnetic Island (Townsville)

2008-10-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

After leaving Port Douglas we went towards Townsville. Now no more buses on our trip... we changed the bus for the car... so let's go!!! Well,it is not that quick when you have a tent :-)

It is a 4 hours drive from Port Douglas to Townsville ...so we decided to stop at the some stage for a break... and we did it at Mission Beach. This beach of 14 km of lenght is made up of 4 beaches and, if the day is sunny, it is a perfect spot to relax and enjoy the nature.
We walked along the very long beach and we enjoy the sun that just came out (the last few days it has been very cloudy :-( ).

After the swim we went for something to eat. The town beside Mission beach is tiny but you find here anything that a tourist might need... restaurants, cafes, shops, supermarkets and hostels. It is an ideal place for families or those who are looking for the absolute relaxing holidays.

After lunch and with our bellies full we were ready to continue and we drove until Townsville. After looking for a place to stay that night we went for a walk around the city.

Townsville is a small city and with nothing special in it but, it is an strategic point to get to Magnetic Island (this island is just at 45min by ferry from the city).

Two third parts of Magnetic Island is considered National park and you can find there a big diversity of wildlife.

So.. next morning... we got up very early and we went to visit the island. We took the ferry (our car went there too ) and we went to explore the island!!

An island plenty of nature and places to discover... beaches, bays, cliffs, valleys, natural parks... have a look at the photos!

A perfect sunny day that we enjoyed on the beaches of Magnetic Island. We have to say that the water of some of bays were crystal clear! So nice!!

Now we head to Arlie beach.... we going on a cruise along Withsundays!!

We'll keep you informed!! Take care!

Vane and Eva

To check some of the pictures of Mission beach and Magnetic Island enter here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/?saved=1

Port Douglas and Cape Tripulation

2008-10-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

After getting everything ready and the car stuffed to the limits we started our trip along the East Coast of Australia!! We started our trip towards the north of Queensland. First stop- Port Douglas.

The drive is along the coast... just in front of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest coral reef in the world. This reef has 260 kilometres of lenght and it is said that here lives the biggest animal in the world!

The Great Barrier Reef was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1768 when he got stuck in it with his boat. James Cook, from the royal English navy, was the one who discovered Hawai for the first time too!! Such a guy! He deserves his picture here! hahahaha

The Great Barrier Reef is visited for thousand of people around the world every year due to the huge diversity of biological live and the easy access to snorkle or dive in its waters.
This area (with an extension of 34,870,000 ha) is protected by the Maritime Park of the Great Barrier Reef and it was declared Human Heritage by the UNESCO in 1981.

The experts reckon that you can find here around 1,500 different kind of fishes, 4,000 kind of mollusc and 400 of corals!!!
This reef is a very sensitive beauty and has been hardly affected by the global warming that the planet suffers nowadays...it seems that the corals are very sensitives to the water temperature changes.

We arrived to Port Douglas in the afternoon and we looked for a campsite...

and here we go... who does remember how to pitch a tent??hahahaha Yeah... it seems very easy but... it took us a while to put it up! The floor was very rocky so to hammer the picks there was impossible!!

But we sorted out.. more or less... a little bit twisted... but it is up!!! We just need to pray for no rain or wind or otherwise we will have to sleep in the car!! :-)

Important note
Guys.... 2 Rapitenques Around the world are suffering a very serious crisis Post Asia... in Australia everything is soooooooooo expensive!!strong>

Yeah.. we can complain but we don't have any other choice so we need to get use to this prices :-) Behiind are the meals for a Euro or the accommodation for 2 Euros... here.. .the Australian dolar has wings... as the Euro has at home and as soon as you cash it from the ATM is gone!!!

Even with the tragic crisis that we were suffering, we managed to look for a boat trip to go to the Great Barrier Reef and do some snorkeling :-) It was great! A suunny day, lots of different fishes of different colours, blue turquoise water, corals.... it was worth it!

Snorkeling is cool but look at how you look with the mask.. we look like Bert and Ernie! hahaha

We have never been around so many kind of fishes!! At lunch time we came back to the boat and we saw sharks!!! They weren't very big but I have to say that they were scary!! We don't have sharks at home!! Tuna and salmon are fine but sharks.....

The next day we decided to go to explore Daintree National Park on the way to Cape Tribulation.

Cape Tribulation has the biggest wet forest in Australia and the oldest one in the world. An ecosystem with microclimate with no rival around the world... and you want to see the animals here!!! Ants, birds, reptiles are huge!!!!! And lots of them that we have never seen before...:-)

To be honest the day was cloudy and rainy so we didn't get a chance to enjoy the beaches of Cape Tribulation. However, in some of them you can't swim coz there are crocodiles so... we didn't miss that much!! We were happy just to walk around.

...just check the pictures... some of them are not very good due to the weather ... but the place is very nice! All that nature beside the sea... jungle, river and ocean!

And with Cape Tribulation we just leave Port Douglas... now our trip continues... next stop.. Townsville. We'll explain you more from there!

Check some photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/?saved=1‏

See you soon!

Vane and Eva

Melbourne

2008-10-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

Before meeting up again with my twin traveller in Cairns I will explain you a bit about my days in Melbourne.....
After a boat trip, a night bus and three flights I, finally, arrived to Melbourne!!
The tiredness, the Asiatic nostalgia, the jetlag or the rain of the first day didn't stop my smile returning to this corner of the planet.

The capital of Victoria is a modern city and it is the centre of big events such as festivals, exhibitions, sport, music, etc. It also has thousands of galleries, cafes, pubs, restaurants...
The "Australian version of Barcelona" is a lively multicultural city. People from everywhere in the world walk through its streets creating a chic atmosphere.
St Kilda, Chapel Street or Fitzroy gather the best art, music, good and fashion of the city.

Melbourne is also well known for the sport events that take place here, such as the Gran Prix of Formula 1, Open Australia or the grand AFL final... this give the name of the "Australian sport capital".

Walking around Melbourne is never boring.... and you are evolved by the huge skyscrappers on the bank of the Yarra river.

You can also walk through Chinatown, get lost in some of its markets or go to the popular Federation square. This square is a meeting point for all the locals and it is never empty! There is always something going on!

During my visit in Melbourne I stayed in St Kilda. This area is located by the beach outside of the city centre. It has a long path walk beside the sea where everyone gather to do some exercise. I have to say that in this place you feel like getting your gear on and go for a run, a nice walk or play some game on the beach!

St Kilda is very famous for its restaurants, pubs and its bakeries!!! and to be honest the cakes here are yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

Locals use to come here during the weekends just to enjoy the beach or a nice lunch/drink. A nice place to live!

In Melbourne I met up with Dean. Dean is an Australian friend that Eva and I met in Vietnam... so funny to see him again!! We met to go to the soccer final of the Victorian League... Cheering up for the Melbourne Knights!! Came on!!

The region of Victoria has more interesting places to see apart from Melbourne. If you drive just for an hour or so you can get lost around the Yarra valley and visit the vineyards and do some wine testing!! Delicious!!

One of the most amazing trips of the area is to drive along the well known Great Ocean Road. From Torquay to Warrambool this road goes along the coast passing by beautiful spots and beaches...
Bell's beach (where the surf Rip Curl championship takes place), Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostols were the places that I liked the most.

Apollo bay

The 12 Apostols are a set of rocks in the middle of the ocean... an amazing sightseeing ... and I decided to go there on an helicopter... Beautiful!!!

Check more photos of Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/

Time to meet up with Eva again!!! In Cairns we will meet up and we will keep explaining you more adventures!! See you soon!!

Goodbye Asia.... Welcome Australia!!!

2008-10-17T00:21:00.000-07:00

After 5 months in Asia is time to change continent... time to board to Oz.

We sadly leave behind the tasty rice and noodles street stalls , the tuk tuks, the art of eating with sticks or with our hands, the constant bargaining, the toilets as a hole on the floor, the cows or elephants on the middle of the road or the funny crowd on the buses.... the popular "same same but different" came to its end... now it will be simply "different". We leave behing thousand of experiencies that we have lived in this very special part of the world during the last few months.

In Asia and its sunsets are etched our accomplice looks of pleasant happinnes... in this continent that has delighted us with endless smiles that now are turning into nostalgia. Nostalgia of an unforgetable time of our lives... and it is now, when we give way to another part of our trip, when we think about it more intensely and we feel its sweet essence.
From the mystic India to the amazing Thailand going through the dramatic landscape of Nepal, the peaceful Laos, the hidden charms of Vietnam or the huge rice fields of Cambodia.

Asia is mysterious .... it is vibrating.... it is unique.

We close a very special stage of our trip... but with lots of energy to start a new one!!! Thanks to all of you for being with us! We hope you have enjoyed with our little stories.

2 rapitenques are going to meet up again in Australia!!!!

The 5 Warriors of Ton Sai

2008-10-16T00:17:00.001-07:00

Along the paths of this little world you can find lots of warriors looking for adventures...

This entry on the blog goes for "The 5 Warriors of Ton Sai". The destiny wanted to gather us in this little peninsula... Railay... on the West coast of Thailand.

First of all, I will introduce you all the characters of this adventure. Each of them created a fiction character during those days.... There we go:

Diana, from Madrid, she is calm and natural, she climbed with shrewdness and serenity.... looking at her climbing was a beauty.... she never had enough! A nice travel companion with lots of nice thoughts and interest who liked to share with the others...

Diana was...."La gata Cantinflas"

We also have Hector.... a guy from Malaga with a great sense of humor. He knows what means to have a tough live and he shows that when he climbs. He is a teacher in and outside the class .... he gave good lessons to all of us!! ... Came on up!!! Throw the fear to the bin!! hahahhaha
Thanks to him we learned lots of things about climbing.... he is a clever and intrepid climber!

Hector..."The teacher"...

And then... we have Iñaqui!!!
We met him three months ago in Nepal...in Kathmandu.... World is so small!! After all these months we have met again.... climbing!!
Every drop of sweat shows his willpower... he is strong and stuborn... he climb everything that is in front of him!!

Iñaki..."The grandpa"...jajaja

Then we also have Gemma. For her Ton Sai was a very special place. She had a photo of Ton Sai in her room for years... in this photo there was a guy cliimbing in a beautiful beach... but now is her who is climbing!!! Her dreams became true!

" La gemmi...dos"

And the last one....EVa.... Rapitenca and worlwide traveller..... I haven't climbed in years!!!! Doing it again has been amazing!!! I have been a little bird during 3 days!! I have been flying with these 5 people in Ton Sai.. .where we have been climbing and laughing all day!!

Eva..." PaTaKa ToMaTa"...

When you start climbing and see the landscape in this place is amazing!!! I don't have enough words to describe the feelings that I had when I was there.... every step was a triumph... a new personal satisfaction!!!

But we were not just climbing... we were sharing nice dinners, sunsets and a few beers....
We also visited the area.... a very nice peninsula.... beaches, lakes, jungle....

One of the days we went kayaking along the coast.....great fun!!

With these words I wanna thank all the warriors... I hope the energy that you have keep shining in your soul.. as it did in Ton SAi!!

Koh Phangan : relax and peace (The Yang)

2008-10-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

After the moon extasis Vane went to Australia and Eva stayed in the island...
As soon as Vane left I already had a travel companion! Gemma, a girl from Tarragona, we both got on immediately!

We both wanted to explore the other part of the island... the one that has beautiful beaches withouth huge parties... they just have peace and relax.
We moved to the south west of the island... Haad Yao. We found a bungalow looking at the sea for half of the price that we had been paying until now! So cool!!! with a balcony looking at the ocean!! with hammocks... unbelivable place!
We rented a moped and we decided to explore the island. The first day was great! lots of beaches and we even learned the receipe of the Pad Thai!

We found swings, beaches, corals, shells, pad thai... and the sea... with a beautiful rainbow!!! Great day!!

During the evening... We spent hours chatting together ... to be honest, with Gemma is very easy to chat and laugh!

We also wanted to visit another part of the island.. that one that you can only access by boat...

We found a very nice local guay that after a while of bargaining and a couple of beers decided to be our guide for that day...

3 of us on the boat.. .tuna sandwich and let's go!!

WE visited waterfalls, the famouse Bottle beach and also other little corners of the ilsand which do not have names but they are beautiful!!

Magic... the night and the day.. .the Yang!!

and the adventure continues...

See you soon!! !

Here you have more photos of Koh Pahnang:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/?saved=1

Koh Phangan:The Full Moon Party (The Ying)

2008-10-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

As other travellers' souls we all look for the charming moon... and this is what ocurred in Koh Phanagan... we found there a duality ... on the one side we found a crazy party... and on the other side we found relax and nature... The Ying and the Yang, things that complement each other are opposites at the same time, as they are the Forces of the Universe. These did a good job and made our experience in this island unforgettable.

Lots of things happened in this island... we even separated from each other for the first time on our trip... but just for a while.. .just to follow our insticts... and it is to be said that after 5 months of intense travelling together a change is also good. Vane went to Australia and Eva after the Full Moon party stayed in Koh Phangan.

But before separating our ways for a couple of weeks we were partying for 4 days!!!

Koh Phangan is an island between islands( Koh Tao and Koh Samui)...it is well known due to the Full Moon Party ... and there we were!! of course!! Weren't we Carlos? hahahaha

Locals say that this party started when some friends decided to celebrate a birthday party along the Sunrise beach in a full moon night. It seems that it was such a great party that from then on (in the 70's) the party has occured every full moon ... now even there is a new moon party and half moon party!!! Here everyday there is a different party!!! You can dance every single day until the sunrise!!
DJs, mucic, dancing, fires, friendships, buckets.... they create the heaveanly hell!!! hahahha

WE shared this experience of our trip with lots of people... it was great! such a good fun!

So, that's a party at the end of the day, isn't it? Just let yourself go with the music and the great atmosphere, being happy and full of energy and , of course, laughing all night!!!!!!

We would like to thank all our friends on those nights ...
We will mention some of them....

Thanks to the guys from Barcelona.... especially to Carlos.... we are not from Catalonia or from Valencia... actually we are from La Rapita!!! hahahha

Until the sunrise!!

...show man

No comments!!

and the night continues....

...to Paco...from Granada...we reached the hell!!!!

Also thanks to the guys from Mallorca...Lourdes, Andreu and Tia.... such an adventure!! we came all injured!! but it was worth it!!

To Iban and Gemma.... she even has been my companion after Vane left to Australia... we are really getting on!! it is a pleasure to find people like her!

...to the guys from Terra Ferma...from Lerida

...thanks to everyone... especially to the people from Israel!!! you can't imagine how many people from Israel are on the Full Moon Party!!! and they look like us... so they thought we were from Israel too!!! so funny!

If you look at the other side of the party... we mean what it means for locals... it must be tough. They live from these parties... so they work on this party 365 days a year.. everyday they set up the pubs along the beach, clean the beach.. night work...drunks... ladyboys.... must be hard for them.. but at the end of the day is what they do for leaving... so we presume they have it more than assumed... taxi boats, shops, bucket market, waiters, fire performance.... getting everything ready to let you enjoy the party.

Full Moon Party 2008 ...Thailand.......koh Phnagan!!!....

The moon's daughters take their own way... but just for a few days.... meeting again will be magic!!

Zipi and Zape....one to Melbourne the other to Koh Phangan!!!

Koh Phi Phi - Thailand

2008-09-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

From Cambodia we took a bus (of course! it is the most used transport on our travels!!)to Bangkok. After spending a few days there and saying goodbye to our friend Caro (she was going home after travelling around Asia for 6 months) we made our way to Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Pi Pi was one of the most devastated places by the Tsunami in December 2004. You can still see that some areas of the island are still under reconstrucion. You can even see the signs for the route of evacuation. However, the island has fastly recovered its flow of tourism as the aquatic environment was not damaged.

Kho Pi Pi , located on the South West of Thailand, is comprised by two islands: Koh Phi Phi Don and Koh Phi Phi Leh. The first one is where the village (Ton Sai) is. It is where the vast majority of the travellers stay. It is a small island where there are no cars... there are just hundreds of tourists walking around and locals riding their bikes and shouting ....Pi Pi!!!!!!!!! Bycicles with horns haven't been invented here yet! :-)

Here you can find all that a tourist might need: pubs, restaurants, ATMs, hotels, shops, Spas, travel agencies, etc.. but the thing you find the most are tatoo or scuba diving centres!!! Amazing... out of every 3 shops one is a tatoo or a scuba diving centre! In Thailand you can choose to get a tatoo by the usual machine (as at home) or by bamboo. This last one is an old technique very popular here.It seems to be more superficial and therefore, less painful.

Koh Phi Phi beaches have clear water... turquoise colour... and white sand. The ones further from town are wilder and nicer. The ones that surround the town are full of restaurant and boats to take you to the islands around.

If you walk a bit to the west you find Long Beach... this is a quiter beach where the water is as blue as a swimming pool!! here is where you notice that you really are in Thailand!

Near Koh Phi Phi you can find Bamboo Island. This little island is fantastic for scuba diving or snorkeling and it has a natural park to visit. We spent hours there just walking around and enjoying the landscape.... yeah a small island but charming.. you can spend there hours just walking and breathing the peacefullness that this little place by the sea gives you.

We also went to visit the Monkey beach.... literally!!! It is a small beach where you can just reach by boat and where a tribe of monkeys live. They are so funny! They lie down on the sand, swim, and just rest in the shade... just like us!!! and when the tourists arrive... .let's go for them!!! they try to steal your bag,jump on you... they even scratch dreadlocks !!! hahahaha

The other island. Koh Phi Phi Leh is a natural park without any tourist development. This is where you can find the Viking cave and the Maya Bay.
The water in this area is soooo tourquoise!!! it seems as if you were swimming in a swimming pool!!! you can see the bottom without wearing a mask!

The beach of the Maya bay is where the film "The Beach" was done and it is amazing!!! In order to get there you need to go through a little cave in the water (the boat can't go over it) and then you have to walk through a little jungle.. and when you get there.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh The beach itself is very small but the crystal clear water and the two rocky outcrops that surround makes it special.

And after all the swimming... of course... we had time for a couple of beers!! Chang beer.. the local one:-)

Here you have more pictures of our time in Koh Phi Phi:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/?saved=1

See you soon!

Koh Tao- Thailand

2008-09-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

After saying goodbye to the West of Thailand we crossed the country to the East side... first we took a boat, then a bus and then a night boat until we arrived to Koh Tao, also known as the Turtle Island.

We arrived there very early in the morning.... at 4 am, so early that we had to sleep in the front steps of a travel agency hahahha
The taxi didn't pick us up until 7am in the morning...

... the taxi brought us to the South of the island, that's the area that we chosed for accommodation as it is nice and not so crowded.

Koh Tao is a small island if you compare with other ones in Thailand. However, it is perfect! Nice beaches, small coves to discover, forest, sea, great sunsets, big palms and lots and lots of scuba diving!!

Scuba diving is the reason why the most of the backpackers come here... accommodation and food in the island is quite cheap and getting the scuba diving licence (PADI or SSI) is quite reasonable. If you compare it with prices at home is actually quite cheap (however Vietnam is the cheapest place to do so in Asia).

Koh Tao is an island of 21 square metres of beaches full of young atmosphere. The most popular beach is called Sai Ree and it is full of pubs and restaurants along the seashore with hammocks and chillout music... the party starts around sunset time and lasts until the morning.

We were lucky and we found a bungalow very close to one of the quite beaches in the area of Saam Jao Beach... along hte Taa To bay.

On our first day at the island we decided to go for a walk... we were the only ones walking there! Everyone got a motorbike!! now we understand why!! Huge slopes!!

Sustainable tourism in a island with thousand of steep slopes is not human! hahahaha

Therefore, the first thing that we did the following day was to rent a moped... our pinky friend... hahaha she brought us for ride around all the island and helped us to discover amazing beaches and stones that looked like art work in the middle of the sea!

We went all over the island...the day wasn't very sunny but at least it didn't rain!! Ueeeeeeeeeeeeeee This started to look like Ireland :-)

We tried Pad Thai for dinner (typical Thai food) ... it was yummy!! and finally... after 4 months of travelling... our first massage!!!! Thai massage of course... those women streched us as ever!!

We were going home walking along the beach when suddenly we saw Ernesto!! hahahha A guy that we met in Siem Reap... that great night.... and he was there...funny! such a coincidence!

Then, of course, plans always change and you can now imagine how we ended up.. .with him and a group of friends from Madrid dancing all night and!!! of course the buckets helped :-)

Ernesto... give us the scarf back!!! You thief!! hahaha
The party that night didn't stop the fact that we had to go diving the next day. Ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Our last immerssion on the sea was in Vietnam... two months ago... e... but guys.. the weather was terribe and visibility was bad. We didn't see many sea life but the feeling of being at the bottom of the sea is anyway great!

After every immerssion you notice every immerssion is different and so it is every school .... so here you have an advice: if you wanna do scuba diving choose a small school, with family atmosphere... forget those "diving factories" that they only want to get money... so many people goes to dive at the same time! just one instructor for all... it is not the same!

But that's not all what we did in this little island.... we also did something that will remain in our memories and bodies forever... a symbol of friendship and balance... the Three Maries and an "E"... more than ink in our bodies is a feeling of love and personal development that we have been carrying on our backpacks during our trip and now... on our bodies!

An old technique was used... bamboo...

one did it on her foot...

the other one on her waist

Rasta Tattoo!!!He is a legend!! hahahah

Tattoo and Violadores del verso....an special combination that it could just happen in Koh Tao... now is your turn girls... always together.. .always growing up... always dreaming!!

Now we leave to Koh Phangan ... to the Full Moon Party...

Cheers!!
Vane and Eva from Kho Tao

Siem Reap: Pure energy!

2008-09-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

When you do a trip like that... at some stage you feel far from home.... but it is nice to see how you always find some people along the way that make you feel like at home.. like a family! Travellers from other countries, each of them with their different dreams.. but all with the same interests... it is brilliant!

When this special chemistry explotes... all is pure energy!! and this is what happened to us in Siem REap! We ended up with an Australian girl, some Argentinian guys, a catalan girl, a guy from Madrid, another from Colombia, some Scottish and some more that made us feel like at home!!! Such a good atmosphere , nice people and music... difficult to resist !!!

From Siem Reap we can say that it is a city fully adapted to traveller's needs... maybe too much if you think about other regions in the same country...
Siem Reap is a little paradise for tourists... restaurants, shops, massages, pubs.... a combination of everything that a tourist might need....

We stayed in a nice place, nice food, nice beer.... and some uncontrolled madness after our 10 days in the retreat... we went from one extreme to the other!!! From spending 11 hours a day meditating to dancing and drinking all night with the great music of Lechu and Luis ( thank you boludos!). These 2 Argentinian guys are going through their own Ithaca and they use the music as a thread.... a dream that it is similar to our own one:-).

So if you wanna follow another travelling adventure just check their link... a romantic and great reading that we'll keep you going
This is their link:

Musica sin fronteras

http://musicasinfronteras.wordpress.com/

We have a great memory of Siem REap and all the people that we met there... those who we have shared that moment of our trip with.... thank you all and good luck!!!

Carpe diem guys!!!

Check more photos of Angkor Wat and Siem Reap in the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/

Cheers!!

Battambang

2008-08-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Battambang province is mainly known by having a very fertile land. Everything growing here seems to have an excellent production. Rice is the main plantation; that is why this area is known as the "Rice bowl of Cambodia". The rice production of this area is enough to feed all the country!! Furthermore, rice here is of the highest quality. But besides rice you can also see corn, peas, oranges and sesame fields.

We decided to visit Battambang area by motorbike.

Our tour started in Phnom Sampeu. This is a temple in a hill called the Ship mountain… the locals say that it is called like that due to its shape… as a ship.

You have to go up a very steep slope to reach the peak. There you have a Buddhist temple and some grottos to visit. So hot as well!!! A slope and the hot weather…. We had to stop every now and then.. I think menopause is already affecting us!! Hahahaha
But it was worthy the effort! The best thing was the views from the top and the peacefulness there…surrounded by beautiful green fields… and an amazing silence.

After being there for a while enjoying the landscape and recovering from the heat we went with our guide to visit one of the grottos. He explained to us that these were used by the Khmer Rouge to kill the people. They used to bring people there and throw them from the top.. if they didn’t die due to the fall they ended up doing it there… as they were injured and very weak to get out of there. Hundreds of people were piled up there.
To be honest, when someone tells you that and you are there it gives you goose bumps…

He explained to us that he was 13 when the Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia. He was separated of his family and he was sent to work on the land. He was working for 12 hours a day and he just had one meal a day (a bowl with water and a few rice grains). They were hungry and tired. Two of his brothers died. One of them died by starvation and malnutrition and the other by a disease. Khmer Rouge got rid off any medicines from the country so the hospitals were not able to look after the people. They didn’t have the material or capacity to treat them.

A criminal regime that lasted for 4 years.

He consider himsleft very lucky for having been able to survive (a third part of the population died during these years).Now he looks ahead with hope but still a bit frustrated by the progression of the country. He told us that the recovering is being very slow and some people opted to live a life outside Cambodia.
He, deeply rooted to his land, has rebuilt his life in Battambang but he doesn’t doubt when he says that if Khmer Rouge or any other similar regime invades Cambodia again he would be the first one running away. He doesn’t want to go through such a cruel experience anymore.

To be honest when someone that has lived this kind of experience explains it to you is quite shocking. Yeah.. we read book and articles about this tragedy and we visited the museum and the killing fields.. but when someone who suffered it tells you it is different...

A very positive person with a look between sad and bohemian … he just wants to look ahead and do not think about the past.

The way down was easier… very relaxing and just contemplating the Buddha statues and stupas along the way.

After that we took the moped and we drove to the Phnom Banan temple. We have to say that the drive is the thing we enjoyed the most!! Infinite roads among huge rice fileds… just going through little villages and looking at locals and the way they work on the lands.

Cambodia has an amazing landscape!!!! Taking a motorbike and getting lost around anyplace is worthy!

Phnom Banan is a temple located 25Km away from Battambang city. To get there you have to walk up almost 400 steps!!!! On the top you can enjoy the views as well as visit the ruins of the temple.

We were starving after all these steps!!! so we decided to go for something to eat in a small village located just beside the bamboo train. It is called Bamboo train because its wagons are made of this material. It is a little train that goes through the fields and brings you to the villages around. The experience was good but you can’t imagine the bumping!! Our bums were sooooooooo sore!!!!

After that … and with sore bums we came back to the city…

Check here more photos of Battambang!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Vipassana Experience

2008-08-28T04:50:00.001-07:00

After these 10 very intense days we’ve got lots of things to tell you!!!!!!!!!
Hours and hours of meditation ….. We were using the breathing to concentrate ourselves, we were seated cross legged for hours and hours… getting fed up….eating lots of rice…

And sometimes we were also cheating in some of the hours that we were suppose to meditate…:-) but guys.. 11 hours a day meditating is not an easy task!!!
It has been a test of effort, perseverance, and discipline. We’ll tell you more about it… each of us our personal experience.. but now we will explain you a bit about the technique and the daily schedule. Maybe you want to try it some day!!! Hahahahaha Who knows???

During the 10 days that the course lasted we had to follow a disciplinary code. This code was actually quite hard and strict. It is supposed to take you away from the entire external world and your daily life and being able to concentrate yourself in the fully observation of your mind and body.

Well… we can say that we have been leaving as nuns!!!!

It seems crazy how we have been able to last for the 10 days… but as everything difficult then you get a reward.. and it worth the effort!!

The base of the practice is the Sila, the morality. Sila gives the bases for the development of the Samadhi, the concentration of the mind. The purification of the mind is achieved with the help of your Pañña, the wisdom of the upright vision.

Here are the rules that you have to follow when you are there:

1. Do not kill any human being ( yeah that sounds easy… but if you see how many bugs you have in your room is not hat easy!!!!)
2. Do not steal
3. Do not have any sexual behaviour
4. Do not lie
5. Do not take any intoxicants (so no alcohol or cigarettes!!)
6. Do not eat after noon.
7. Avoid any entertainment (no reading,, no music…)
8. Avoid any luxury beds.
9. And a vow of silence… this is the most difficult one!!!! And even more when you are in our situation… two friends that have been traveling for the last 3 months together… 24 hours a day together… and no talking now!!! No way!! it seems impossible!!

This was the daily schedule:

04:00 am Bell was riningin!!! Doooooooooooooonggggggggg!!!! 4 am!!! So early!
04:30 am 06:30 am Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
06:30 am 08:00 am Breakfast and break
08:00 am 09:00 am Group meditation in the main hall
09:00 am 11:00 am Meditation in the main hall or in your room, according to teacher instructions.
11:00 am 12:00 am Lunch
12:00 am 01:00 pm Break and personal meeting with the teacher if you needed so
01:00 pm 02:30 pm Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
02:30 pm 03:30 pm Group meditation in the main hall
03:30 pm 05:00 pm Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
05:00 pm 06:00 pm Tea and fruit and break
06:00 pm 07:00 pm Group meditation in the main hall
07:00 pm 08:15 pm Teacher discourse
08:15 pm 09:00 pm Group meditation in the main hall
09:00 pm 09:30 pm Questions
09:30 pm Time to bed!

So, what do you think???? If you add them all… there are 11 hours of meditation a day!!!! If you multiply that by 10 days… do you think that this is feasible??? For two jokers like us… being still for so long.. seated cross legged… with our eyes closed!!! Yeah… But we didn’t have another option!! We had to do it… there was no choice...

We had the temptation of packing our bags and run away so many times!!!! But we didn’t… a commitment is a commitment.. and we made it until the end.

Vipassana technique opened a door for us… now is our choice whether we want to continue with it … a path to the purification of the mind…

We didn’t get enlighted or purificated in 10 days… but at least we discovered a new way of autoconection with your mind and body…. A personal development!

The best thing of the experience was to do it here, in Cambodia… surrounded by lots of Cambodians … we were around 120 people.. so funny!

The food, the atmosphere, the friendships that we made, the personal development… a real experience!!! 

Saduuuuuuuuuu saduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu saduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Vipassana meditation- our first experience with Buddhist meditation!!

2008-08-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Family and friends.... the day has arrived!!!! One of the moments that we have been waiting for since the beginning of our trip.... we are going to do a meditation course. This will be in a temple near Battambang, Cambodia. The technique is the Vipassana Buddhist meditation... have a look:

Vipassana Technique

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art Of Living.
This non-sectarian technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation. Healing, not merely the curing of diseases, but the essential healing of human suffering, is its purpose.
Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.
The scientific laws that operate one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience, the nature of how one grows or regresses, how one produces suffering or frees oneself from suffering is understood. Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace.
Whatever it is... it is a very challenging experience!!!

If you are curious about it have a look at their website: http://www.dhamma.org/

Here you can see what we will be doing during the next 10 days!! 10 days in a reatreat , with no communication somehow with this world....

So, we let our blog to rest for some days.....

See you soon!!! We’ll explain everything... no worries!!

Battambang Vipassana Centre
Dhamma Latthika
Battambang, Cambodia

Offering courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka
in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

Sihanoukville’s beaches

2008-08-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Sihanoukville, known by Cambodians as Kompong Som, is the touristic centre of the Cambodian sea coast.
The city is located on the Kompung Sao bay and it is comprised of 3 islands: Rung, Sanloem and Koun.

The first thing that we noticed in Sihanounoukville is that it is a place with a huge tourist boom. A high amount of hotels, resorts, pubs, travel agencies have all been built in recent years and you can tell that the thing doesn’t finish here. Some virgin areas smell like bricks and cement.... that means money!! WE don’t really know where all this money is going to... if it is going to the sake of everyone or it is just making rich a few.... To be honest it is not the first time that we ask each other this question... some other places in Southeast Asia are the same...we just hope the government of these country is responsible enough and takes care of the well-being of its citizens. Money attracts those starving of power””, overambitious of wealth that drive their luxurious cars along the streets where the poorest are still suffering hunger.... it is quite sad to see such a contrast!

We arrived to Sihanoukville after 6 hours by bus from the Phnom Penh. The arrival was cool as it was pretty sunny.... so after looking for accommodation... guess what we did? we put our bikinis on and run to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great!! We missed that!!

Our hostel was beside Serendipity beach... a pretty touristic beach as you can find there lots of restaurants and bungalows along the seaside.

We can’t say that it is a beautiful, clean and quiet beach but you can find there anything that you need! You can rent some hammocks, have a beer for 50 cents, rent a motorbike, enjoy seafood barbeque, get a massage.... and thousand of things more! all that in a beach??:-)

We arrived to Sihanoukville on a Saturday... some local told us that that night there was a Full moon party on Serendipity beach. This kind of parties are quite popular in Thailand... we thought was going to be something similar.... so , after dinner, we decided to go to the party... However, the only thing that we found was a group of very young Cambodians guys dancing local songs along the seashore!!! It was a party... for sure... but not the party that we expected :-) They seemed to be having a brilliant time but we decided to go to bed this time :-)

The next day we rented a moped and we went to visit some of the beaches around the area.

We rented the moped... after a while we even knew how to drive it (it had the gears on the pedal) but.... it started raining sooo much!!!!!!!! ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh we were soaked to the bones but we still wanted to go to the beach.... so we decided to go around Victory beach. This one is a beach close to the harbor and, to be honest, there is nothing special around there.. more bungalows and pubs along the seashore. However, we stopped there for a while to see if the rain stopped.

We were lucky enough and the sun came out again!!! so we took our moped and we went lookiing for the wild beach... and we found it!!! Its name is Otres beach!

Otres beach is a very long beach.... at the very beginning you can see some bungalows and pubs on the seashore but , if you walk a bit more it is a very quite and wild beach with white sand and crystalline water. So we stayed there for a few hours enjoying the sun...

After a few hours we decided to come back to the beach in front of our hostel (Serendipity beach) where we enjoyed an amazing sunset. There it was where we met our new friend... Moshe!!!
Moshe is an amusing character!!! The first impression is that he might be a freaky .... however, after, you realise that it is a person worthy to listen.
Our new friend is 67 years old... long white hair and long white beard... he is an American- Polish retired psychiatric that have lived in Hawai for 18 years. Now he holds a hippy life style and spends his time traveling and telling stories that you would never be tired of listening! Such a laugh!!! He is now working to make a film of his life. He wants to call it “Moises and the 10 commandments”!! Imagine!!

Some of the days that we were in Sihanoukville was raining a lot so we didn’t get to do too much... just relaxing on and reading by the sea.

One of the days... as it was raining again we decided to go to town to see if we found something interesting to do... and we found a very comfy cinema for the rainy days :-) We went in and watched the film “City of Ghosts”... quite a coincidence that it is based on Cambodia.. so it is quite funny to watch a film and see the places and style of life that you are experiencing at the moment.

We just had then one day left so we decided to walk along the beaches and go for a nice seafood lunch... yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we are leaving to the north of Cambodia... we’ll keep you updated!!!

Check some more photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Phnom Penh - the capital of Cambodia

2008-08-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

After our trip through the Mekong Delta finally (it was a never-ending trip!) we arrived to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
The first thing was to look for accommodation as it was already dark …. We decided to stay in a hostel around the area called Boeng Kak, beside a lake with the same name. Lots of travelers stay around here or along the river side.

Phnom Penh is a city of contrasts…. The luxury beside the poverty … huge hotels and luxurious cars in some streets and shacks in others… the thing is that Cambodia is a country still recovering from cruel wars.

The French colonized the country in 1864 and Cambodia didn’t achieve independence until 1953. Peaceful times were short lived as the country was dragged to the Vietnam War on the 60s. This continued with the dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge army. The Khmer Rouge took control of the country from 1975-1979. These years are remembered for its barbarities;it is said that a 3rd of the population died during this period.
Khmer Rouge established a drastic regime which isolated Cambodia from any foreign influence. They closed the schools, hospitals, factories, banks, temples….. confiscating any property and moving the urban people to work on the land. They were forced to work from 12-14 hours a day without the necessary food or rest. This situation ended up with a high number of deaths due to executions, exhaustion, malnutrition, diseases and hunger.

Khmer Rouge wanted to turn Cambodia into a classless society forcing all the population to work on the land. All those considered intellectuals were executed. They only need to know how to write, read, speak another language or wear glasses to be killed. This regime broke families … any kind of family link was banned and the non fulfillment of this rule was brining people to death.
After almost 4 years of suffering, North Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia (1979) throwing out the Khmer Rouge. Its leader, Pol Pot, dissolved the organization in 1996 and died in 1998….so he never paid for what he did!!

Cambodia is still affected by this last catastrophe as it was only 30 years ago…

We visited the, nowadays, museum of Tuol Sleng. This museum was a school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a security jail called S-21. Here they imprisoned and tortured the people under arrest. Those were later executed in the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek"

To be honest it left a lasting impression to visit this museum and the killing fields where the genocide occurred. It’s overwhelming!!

After that we went to visit the local market and the surroundings. This is a local food market but you can also find souvenirs or clothes.

We also visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. This complex in the middle of the city has temples, a museum and the Royal palace. The complex is very nice…you can spend there hours just seeing the huge and beautiful temples!!!

There was a wood balcony in one of the temples where the Cambodians were playing some music with local instruments.. and … of course.. we had to try them!

Our visit in Phnom Penh ended up with a relaxing walk along the bank of the river and a nice dinner beside the lake.
We are going to the south of Cambodia now….

See some photos of Phnom Penh here!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

The Mekong Delta

2008-08-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

The Mekong Delta is the heart and soul of Southeast Asia.

The Mekong River is also called Cuu Long Giang or the river of the nine dragons (the river has 9 tributaries which flow into the sea). This river is 4.180 Km long and it is one of the longest ones in Asia.
From Saigon you can get different tours to visit the delta and also to see how the locals live there. You can also cross to Cambodia by boat through this river.

There are different people living on the Mekong… they are Vietnamese, Jemers, Chinese or Cham. Therefore, there are also different religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam and the sects of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao.

We decided to cross to Cambodia by boat and then take a 2 day trip.
We started our trip with rain (of course) …we took a bus that brought us to Chau Doc, first stop. From there we took a boat to visit the local factories. In one of them they produced rice paper… and it is edible!! It is quite funny as back at home we just use rice as “rice”. They wrap sweets and spring rolls with this rice paper… You should have seen the girls wrapping it!! So fast!

After the factories we went to the floating market. It was funny to see how there is a market on the sea! They live on the boats but they also have their work there.
To let you know what they sell they have a big stick on the boat where the item for sell is hanging … I’ll explain… for example… if there is a banana at the top of the stick it means that teh boat is selling bananas, very clever!!

All the boats have two big eyes painted at the front.. the locals told us that this is to protect themselves from the crocodiles!! Actually there are no crocodiles anymore here but the tradition of painting them have been kept until now.

After all that and a nice lunch we took the bus to a border city… a great day that showed us the life of the locals living in the river.

The second day started visiting a fish farm. They have a cage of fishes under their houses… very funny! Just beside this farm there was a fish food factory. Then they feed the fish there and later it is sold in the local market.

After the fish farm we stopped at Cai Be Hoa Phuoc village. This is a very different village to the others and its citizens are Muslims. They showed us their houses and even invite us in for a cup of tea  All the houses are built very high in order to face the flood tides and high levels of the water during the rainy season.

Then we changed to a bigger boat in order to cross to the neighbour country…Cambodia.
We have crossed countries by bus, by train and by plane but it is our first time to do it by boat!! From Vietnam to Cambodia… same same but different!!! As they say here.

More pictures of the Mekong Delta experience!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

From Dalat to Saigon

2008-08-11T00:21:00.000-07:00

The bus trip from Nha Trang to Dalat was very amusing! It was supposed to take 6 hours but instead, we ended up being for 10 hours!!! The bus engine was overheated and the bus didn’t want to work!!! Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
The best thing was when the bus driver asked all of us to get off the bus. So, there we were, in the middle of the road …. The bus driver starting the bus and going forward and all the passengers walking after the bus… it looked like a procession!! Very funny!! After all the smoke coming up from the engine we thought that we were going to sleep there that night.. but eventually the bus driver managed to fix it and we arrived to Dalat.

Dalat is a small city on the south of Vietnam and located near the mountains. The thing is that when we arrived there is was raining a lot. The rain didn’t stop in the whole evening and the next day. Therefore, we decided to continue our trip and take a bus to Saigon.

When we arrived to the bus station …. We bought the tickets to Saigon.. and what was our surprise when we noticed that the bus that was going to bring us to Saigon was the same one as brought us to Dalat!!!! Nightmare!!!! However, they must had fixed it as this time we didn’t have to walk after the bus 

Saigon (also called Ho Chi Min city) was Vietnam’s capital before Hanoi. This city played a very important role during the reunification of the north and south of the country.

Travelers told us that this city was very chaotic but… maybe because lots of locals are on summer vacation…. We found the city less stressful that many other places in Vietnam. Of course there are millions of mopeds… but we don’t want to imagine how many there are during peak season/ times!

In Saigon we have visited the Reunification Palace. Surprisingly, this palace it’s maintained exaclty as it was the day that Saigon surrendered (30 April 1975) to join along with northern Vietnam.

We have also visited markets, temples and the museum of the “War Remnants” ( remains from the war against the Americans). To be honest, this museum is a bit gloomy. There are remains from the victims of the war (such as clothes or tools) as well as photos of malformation that the war left. There are also a couple of malformed foetus within a bottle… a bit too much for us!

We have been walking around Saigon’s streets and enjoying its pleasant people.

We have also tried the sugar cane juice!! Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is very popular in Vietnam… they place the sugar canes in a special device to get the juices out. It tastes as lemonade but a bit sweeter… Delicious!

Our next destiny is the Mekong Delta and from there we will cross to Cambodia. The days in Vietnam are numbered!

To check some photos enter here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Nha Trang...learning scuba diving!!

2008-08-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

The best thing about having a plan is that you can always change it!! hahahaha
It was 7 am and we stopped in Nha Trang to change bus and to go to "our" destination, Dalat. Just beside the bus station there were a few scuba diving schools.. the city wasn't very appealing but getting the licence for scuba diving here is very cheap. WE got so excited about it and we changed the bus tickets to Dalat for 4 days later! hahahaha Let's go diving!!!!!!!!!!!

Nha Trang hasn't got too much to see. It is the typical city on the seaside with a long sidewald and millions of hotels, all of them awful huge buildings! Very tacky to be honest. It reminds us to the Spanish city of Benidorm.

Howerver, it has been very funny to spend some days in a place that all the Vietnamese come for their holidays. The way they spend their holidays is so different to ours!!!

- They get up at 4 am !!!!!!!!!!!!

- Then they all go to the beach!!!! at 5 am beaches are crowded!!! can you imagine? They swim, run, walk, play football, voley ball.... everything at 5 in the morning!!

- At 6am sharp there is speech through a PA system !!! Not sure what they say as it is in Vietnamese but it is very weird!!! just a woman talking on the PA system .. and everyday is the same one!!!

- After this they are all ready to go for breakfast... every single corner in the city is packed!! Noodles, rice, coffee ... and also some sandwiches filled of whatever... we don't know what it is but they give them energy for the whole day!!

But if you get up so early then you pay the consequences!!! during the rest of the day lots of Vietnamese people are like zoombies... sleeping everywhere!!! Siesta is not just popular in Spain but also in Vietnam :-)

- As they don't like the sun.. the beaches are quiet during the rest of the day until the sunset... beaches are crowded again for dinner time!!! they do picnics under the moonlight! It is very funny!

Well... apart from seeing their holiday's style we have also done a few things:

- we went for a shellfish dish to celebrate Vanessa's 30th birthday!! and the best is that we just paid 5 euros each!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee mussles, shells, squids, prawns... and of course... with a few beers! Delicious!

- We have been lying on the beach.. just relaxing and reading..

But the most important thing is that we have done scuba diving!!! The thing is that in Asia seems to be quite cheap to get the licence and then you can dive anywhere in the world.... we weren't sure about the different certifications...PADI and SSI, they both offer courses around the world. Eventually, we just decided to go for the SSI (Scuba School International) ... a three days course: first on the swimming pool practicing the breathing and then you go to the sea. The course includes four immerssions on the sea.

The expericnce allows you to discover the water world! plenty of little fishes and life! it is so relaxing!! you have to try it!!

Now seriously... after the diving... we are going to Dalat:-)

Here you have some pictures of Nha Trang:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/

Copy and pay the link. See you soon!

Hoi An- The Vietnamese Havana

2008-08-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

Due to its arquitecture, its old buildings with colonial style, its warm weather and its closeness to the sea, this little Vietnamese town remind us so much to the lovely Cuban city.

Hoi An is a small city located on the bank of the Thu Bon river. Its population works on international trade since the 17th century. When you walk through its market and its alleys you can easily see the trade activity in every corner (but always keeping a traditional way for it).

Its fishing port is plenty of small boats that they use for fishing but also to offer tours along the river to travellers. We met two Vietnamese sisters from a fishing family and they brought us for a boat ride along the river and they also explained us a bit of their life style. Fishing families live in some small houses on the bank of the river that the government built for them in order to help these kind of families. The boats are 24 hours on the water. Men are in charge of fishing during the night time while women do it during the day (women fish and also offer boat tours to tourists).

It is quite interesting how all the boats of the area have 2 eyes painted on the front. Locals consider that this will bring them good luck and they will have a good fishing season.

There are also some small round boats (called Hung Chai) made of bamboo that the locals use to catch the small fish.... it seems that there is still no law that bans it here.

The market is set beside the harbour and it opens at 5 in the morning. Fruits, vegetables (many different ones), fish, meat, souvenirs, jewellery.... ducks... they sell everything here!! And all of it goes with the characteristic call : "Hello!!!!" Madam!!! Buy something!! Very cheap!! Just have a look!! Having a look it's free!!

We also tried the local food here: rice or noodles with vegetables, chicken, prawns... all homemade .... yummy!!!!!!! And so cheap too!!! Eating something from the market is a funny experience and can fill you up for less than a Euro!! You can't miss it if you come here!

The streets of Hoi An are very romantic.... they are all plenty of Chinese lanterns, paintings... all handicrafts...

It is also very curious that there are plenty of cloth and shoe shops that they make you whatever you ask for in 24 hours. Let me explain that: you go to a shoe shop for instance... then you choose the shoe style that you want. It can be anything! you just have to choose from a catalog or you can even design it yourself if you can draw! Then you choose the colour and the fabric or leather and then you have them ready in 24 hours!! and very cheap too!! But the best thing is when they take your size... you step your foot in a piece of paper and they draw a line around it. Then they have the pattern!!Hilarious!!

This is not all about this charming city. Five kilometres from the city centre there is a huge white sand beach called Cua Dai. Great!!! After almost 3 months travelling we haven't got to go to the beach yet!!! So we rented a couple of bikes and we cycled there. Ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee some sun!!!

Something that we would like to highlight here is how the Vietnamese girls reacts with the sun. They basically hate the sun... as they believe that the beauty is on the white skin. So the whiter the better. Completely opposite to us!! So they go out with hats, gloves, masks to cover their faces, socks... everything to avoid any sunshine !!! Such is the concern that even some international cream brands have created a "Whitening cream" and they are sold as hot cakes!

After this little explanation about their reaction to the sun we'll explain you the funny situation on the beach. Where the sun is very hot , Vietnamese people are faraway on the palms shadow while all the travellers are enjoying the heat. However, after the sunset... Hide yourself!!!!! Entire Vietnamese families invade the beach!! Awsome!! There is no room for anyone else.. then they start their "beach day".

During the night Hoi An is very nice too. Just walking through its alleys illuminated by the Chinese lanterns it makes you feel special... very nice seriously!!! and very calm!!

Hoi An and The Havana... two places that once you visit, you can fall in love with..

Check some pictures of Hoi An here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

See you soon!!

New Photos!!!

2008-07-29T22:30:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys!

Here you have more pictures of our trip:

Check some pictures of Hue here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/

Enjoy!!!

Hue- central coast (Vietnam)

2008-07-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

Some sun at last!!! :-)

We left Laos to go to Vietnam again... now to the centre of the country. WE arrived to Hue.. summer time!!! Sunny and not rainy anymore! However, the arrival to the city was a bit bizarre. After 20 hours on the bus, the bus driver left us on the middle of the road 10 km away from Hue! Ok, the bus was going further to the south but at least they could have dropped us in the city or the bus station!
A little bit confused and asleep we stood on the middle of the road trying to catch the attention of some car. A vietnamese taxi-van stopped and gave us a lift to the city centre for little money.

Hue is a city known by its river (Perfume river) and the royal tombs. It is quite touristic so, it is not difficult to find hostels, restaurants and shops for travellers. Hue is like a central point in the country where all the travellers in Vietnam stop here for a couple of days as it is half way between Hanoi and Saigon.

We decided to visit Hue by motorbike. So funny!!!

We started the route going to a budhist temple (pagoda) near town. There we saw all the monks meditating and praying and singing to Budha. This pagoda is one of the few ones that are nowadays intact from the war against the Americans.

After that we went to an area where there were some old bunkers and there was an amazing view of the river. We could see local fishermen with the typical boats of the area.

Our trip by motorbike continued through the streets of Hue until we got to the royal tomb of Tu Duc. This tomb is set beside a little lake and surrounded by pine forest. Our guide told us that all the dragons created on wooden frameworks represent Heaven. It is quite common to find them in temples or building roofs.

We were quite hungry at that stage and we decided to go for something to eat in a local place. We ate some kind of spring rolls stuffed with meat and vegetables and rolled with rice paper. Delicious!! They are typical from Hue..but I can't spell the name :-)

With a full stomach we went to visit the “Citadel”. This is an old imperial city located on the north side of the river. This place was bombed by the americans years ago.

After getting lost a bit around the city we ended up in the local market. We just arrived when it was “siesta” time... lucky us! The time for a nap in the afternoon is a sacred tradition here!!! And also they sleep anywhere and in any position!! Hahaahaha Hilarioius!

The route finished with a very cool ride around the surroundings of Hue. Huge rice fields with little roads and people working on the lands. Great views.
In the middle of all the rice fields there is a small bridge called “Japanese bridge” where the locals use it shadow to practice their sacred siesta.

Our nice visit to Hue has finished but we will continue by bus (for a change) through the south of the country... next destiny... Hoi An.

See you soon.

Have a look at some pictures of Hue here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/

Luang Prabang

2008-07-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Luang Prabang is one of the most visited places in Laos due to its beautiful landscape and the calm of the villages. Also, the different group ethnics in the area keep their old traditions very alive.
As soon as you enter in Luang Prabang you can see the influence of the French colonialism. The architecture of its buildings , the shops, restaurants, hotels even cars reflect the colonial style.
Some of them are very luxorious!!

Also, you can do lots of different outdoors activities around the area!

We went to visit the Kuang Si waterfall. This waterfall is located 30Km away from Luang Prabang city. It is an amazing waterfall with turquoise waters! The waterfall forms small swimming pools where you can swim safely. We spent all the afternoon there! Great!! Jumping from one little waterfall to another until getting to the top one! Amazing!!

The heavy rainfall at the moment has put us off going to the centre of Laos.........so we are now going back to Vietnam. We will go to the centre and south of the county. We will write you from there. See you soon!!

Trekking in Luang Prabang province

2008-07-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

We were too optimistic this time and we chosed a4 days trek with different kind of sports and we stayed with local families. But of course we forgot that we are travelling through the monsoon!!!
The first day we did 5 hours by bike stopping in some villages. Yes, the difficulty wasn't the bike but the mud! There were huge puddles everywhere! Yes, you had to see us... very clean....:-)
On the way we visited some temple and a textile factory. We could see as well all the rice fields combined with the pinapple flieds.
In Laos they cultivate two kinds of rice: one is the same as our rice and the other one is called sticky rice. You use it as if it was bread just to go with your meal. Quite funny!

The first night we stopped in Ban Soven; a small village on the other side of the Mekong river. Here live three kind of tribes: Khmu, Laolum and Hmong. It is a very small village where the houses are made of bamboo and wood. Some of them didn't have electricity. People here do rural work. These kind of villages are so different compared to the capital or from Luang Prabang!

The next two days we were trekking along the jungle and walking through overflowded rivers. They were so high due to the rain of the last few days. Rain and mud everywhere!
We spent the last night in Ban Houeyfay, a Khmu village. The curiosity of its people for us made the evening very enjoyable! For dinner we tried the local wine. It is made of fermented sticky rice. Soooooo sweet! sooo good! We slept very well that night!

The last day we went kayaking towards Luang Prabang. At last a sunny day!!!

The river was soo quiet at the beginning but when we went through the rapids the kayak turned 360 degrees! Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check some pictures of Laos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Vientiane- Laos' capital

2008-07-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

After very long 24 hours on the bus we finally arrived to Vientiane, Laos' capital. Our firs impression was: Is that Asia????????? The thing is that Vientiane is a city extremely quiet in comparison with all the places that we have visited before in Asia. There is no traffic jams or crowds of people on the streets. But something very curios is that the very few cars running along the roads are 4 wheel driver ones and very very new!! Vientiane's three main streets are paralel to the Mekong river and offer a very nice and quiet walk through the city. We visited its temples (called wats), the museum of history and the Triomph arc (Patuxai). This arc and Vientiane's arquitecture show the French influence on the city. This fist stop in the capital of Laos has showed us the peace and tranquility of its people. Honestly, in Laos people is veryyyyyyyyyyyy quiet! The majority of Laos people is budhist. The vast majority of the boys choose to join the monastery for their studies. After 3 years there, they can choose if continuing there and become a monk or just leave the temple. We leave now Vientiane to go to the north of Laos, Luang Prabang. See you later!!

We'll be adding pictures soon :-)

Hanoi : the capital of Vietnam

2008-07-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Hanoi is a very modern city with a French colonial flavour. Its main lake "Hom Kiem" is surrounded by alleys plenty of shops and markets to walk around .. and also thousands of motorbikes to dodge! You can't imagine the amount of motorbikes that there are in Hanoi! There is a population of 2 million people and there are 1,600,000 motos!!! Unbelievable! Motorbikes everywhere!!

The magic of Hanoi is on its streets. There is lots of people on them at anytime. They get up very early in the morning to do some exercise and then they go for something to eat in those bars with mini tables and chairs located on the sidewalks. You can get all kind of vietnamese food here: rice, noodles, all kind of fish and meat, seafood, frog, tortoise...even dog!! Yes! in Vietnam they eat dog in certain days or special situations. Also it is said that eating dog's meat gives you luck!!

Another thing that surprised us was the coffe culture! Since we left home we haven't found a country with that and we loved it!! we suppose it is due to the French colonialism. Furthermore the coffee is with sweetened milk... yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

No matter how much people can tell you about Hanoi ... you don't realise of it until you are here yourself. Crossing the streets thinking that thousands of motorbikes will run you over or bargaining for everything is an adventure! you have to bargain even for a bottle of water! The shop assistant will try to sell you the item for about 5 times more of the price in some cases!!! Amazing!

The old city centre is called "Old Quarter" and it is where we stayed. WE have visited museums, temples, parks and the huge Ho Chi Min Mausuleum complex. Ho Chi Min fighted for the unification of Vietnam and the independence of the country from the French conolism. Hundreds of people queue to pay their respects. A funny thing here is that his embalmed body remains there even when he requested to be cremated!

One of the last nights in the capital we went to see a water puppet performance on the main theatre. This is a very old Vietnamese tradition created by the rice field workers.

We leave Hanoi now to cross to Laos. We will come back to Vietnam to visit the centre and south of the country.

See you soon!!

Sapa : mountains, rice fields and lots of mud!!!

2008-07-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

After a few days around the Halong Bay the interantional gang (Caro, Sandra, James and 2rapitenques) was ready for the next adventure. This time we went away from tourist tours and we organised a trip to the mountains by ourselves.
Sapa is a mountainous area on the northwest of Vietnam very close to the Chinese border. This place is plenty of huge rice fields where the locals from different ethnics group work. To get there we took a night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai. This was our first time in the Vietnamese trains and the only tickets available were semi-soft seats!! Semi soft?? We better say semi hard!! Ten hours by train trying to get a position to sleep (impossible task!)

The town of Sapa is plenty of things for the tourism: restaurants, hostels, hotels, internet cafes, shops, markets and travel agencies which offer different kind of activities to do around the area. We decided to go for a trekking to visit the little villages around the area and also stay in a home village house for one night to taste the local life.
The first day of trekking was a challenge. The weather wasn't very good and it was raining for a big while... and the path...oh God! it was a swimming pool of mud! All of us were slipping around! It looked like a competition to see who was the dirtiest one of all! After a while we were all so covered by mud that we started a mud war!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
You had to see how did we get to the village! Even our faces were brown cause of the mud! The people there suggested very kindly to go to visit a hot spring to enjoy a swim in such a nice environment (of course they wanted us to clean ourselves before entering to their houses :-)) . We have to say that the hot spring was cool and we then came back for dinner nice and clean!
The house where we stayed was made of bambu and wood and it was comprised of a lower porch and then a first floor with matresses on the floor and mosquito nets.

The dinner was very nice; rice with vegetables meat and fish. The only thing is that we were doubting if the dark meet was beef or dog! yes!! in vietnam dog meat is quite popular... we will never know.. but better not to know it! hahahahaha
The next day we visited another village and the surroundings. They showed us how they cook, the different kinds of bambu, the traditional machinery to grind the rice , etc. We also went to an amazing waterfall!! It was perfect for a very sunny and humid day!! We were there swimming for a while and then came back for lunch and get ready to go back to Sapa. Uff!!! After lunch and the heat!!! it was the hardest part of the trekking! An hour and a half path way up !!! You could only hear "uff" "ay" "why we didn't take a motorbike?".... but finally we arrived to the village where they had to give us a lift til Lao Cai to get the night train again and go back to Hanoi.
Once more it was a nice trip where we enjoyed the landscapes, food and the kindness of the local people.

To see some pictures of Sapa enter here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/

Take care!

Floating on the Halong Bay!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

After a couple of days in Hanoi we have been gathered the crew to start our adventure along the Halong Bay. The team is comprised by Caro “la boluda”, Sandra “la sevi”, James “the Irish”, and of course, us, 2rapitenques around the world. We decided to go for a trip of 3 days and 2 nights around the Halong Bay. The first night to be spent in a boat and the second one in the Cat Ba island.

Try to go to Halong Bay without a tourist pack is impossible!! It is all set up in such a way that it is better (and cheaper) to get a tourist pack with a group of people than trying to do it by yourself. Seriously! It is the only way to visit the place if you don’t want hassle. However, tourist packs mean mass tourism, and, it is not ideal but it is the only way to do it here. In fact, we have seen lots of cases of scams or being cheated by paying some services that eventually people didn’t get.
One thing that we have learned in this country is to be cautious with your money. So if you ever come here please do not pay anything in advance, pay once you come back from the trip. Even doing that, we ended up paying 10% of, apparently, “government taxes” that we discovered later that they didn’t exist. … c’est la vie!

The Halong Bay is made up of more than 3,000 islands emerging from the water. It is considered one of the worldwide heritages by Unesco.The islands are covered by wild vegetation and you can see how the islands have become eroded on their base due to the waves and wind. The legend says that the little islands were created by a dragon that lived in the island long time ago. The wild animal was cutting the island up into pieces when walking wildly towards the coast and he created this magic place.

Our trip started in Hanoi. After 3 hours by bus we arrived to Halong city. A boat was waiting for us to bring us towards the bay. Sailing among the little islands it is very cool and you can see wild beaches, floating fisherman houses and we even visited an amazing cave! After all that we ended up having a dip in the water to handle the heat and humidity of the day! Great fun jumping from the boat JBut that wasn’t the end of the day. After a tasty Vietnamese dinner (seafood, fish, meat, vegetable and lots of rice) our moment of glory arrived J Karaoke!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhhhh one was saying…”I won’t sing”.. the other..”Came on, just one song” … “no, you go first … all very shy for a few minutes… But after a bit we were all dancing and singing (or maybe shouting and jumping) with no shame! Other groups of people joined us and we started a Karaoke party until late nite! Such a good laugh!! As Caro “la boluda” well said…. We were floating in the Halong Bay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The following day we went to Cat Ba Island. This is the only inhabited island of the bay and was declared national park a few years ago. I don’t know who had the idea but we ended up trekking until the very top of the island … nice views but stifling heat!!! Something that we can say of Cat Ba is that it remind us to the Benidorm but in Vietnam…. Huge buildings, restaurants, shops, souvenirs and lots of massive places for leisure. Also, now are the summer school holidays and we could see all the local families there… on the beach , renting motorbikes, walking on the street …. It was funny to see the same as we do but with another scenery. We finished the trip with a small cruise through the East part of the Halong Bay.

We would like to pay tribute to the song “My way” of Frank Sinatra as it has been the song of the trip!! We got a bit carried away singing it in the karaoke!! Sure that not as Sinatra but such a laugh!! Such a song!! Such a moment!!! WE were all identified with the song!! J

Here we go:My way

And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,Ill state my case, of which Im certain.
Ive lived a life thats full.Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,I did it my way.
Regrets, Ive had a few;But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to doAnd saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course;Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,I did it my way.
Yes, there were times, Im sure you knewWhen I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;And did it my way.Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.And now, as tears subside,I find it all so amusing.
To think I did all that;And may I say - not in a shy way,No, oh no not me,I did it my way.
For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -And did it my way!

Check some pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

Day trip to Bhaktapur

2008-06-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

After so many days of public transport strike we decided that the best option to visit Bhaktapur was by bike. Well, the day that we decide to rent a bike the strike finishes!! Such a jinx!
What it meant to be a peaceful day by bike ended up being a urban nightmare! Thousands of cars, buses, bikes,tuk tuks, cows.... and of course without bycycle lane! It was a funny experience! The traffic wasn't that bad as it was the pollution. The combination of low quality fuel, old vehicles and the lack of control makes Kathmandu a very polluted place.
Once we arrived to Bhaktapur we had to pay a fee entry to the town. The whole town looks like a museum. The city centre is traffic free; this fact makes walking through its alleys very enjoyable.
We visited its temples and we could see lots of people who lives from traditional craftwork- wood carving, paintings, masks, wool ...)
In the evening we went (again!!) to our favourite local place for dinner. The cook is a nice woman who cooks delicious momos! Furthermore, it is sooo cheap!! Nepal is a very cheap country for European people. To give you an idea....
Dinner in a local place (veg rice with a cup of tea): 50 cents
Bus ticket (around 6 hrs journey): 1.5 Euros
Tailor made blouse- 3.5 Euros.

To see some pictures of Bhaktapur click here:

Day trip to Patan

2008-06-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Patan is a Newari town separated from Kathmandu by the Bagmati River. These days there is a public transport strike in the country so we are not able to use any bus or taxi to go around. Therefore, we decided to go to Patan by foot, at 5km from the capital. As all the Newari towns, it is plenty of little squares, courtyards, alleys and temples with a main central square known as Durbar Square.

The doors of the porches are made to Nepalese size. You can't imagine how short they are. We have to even duck to go through!

We were walking around for a few hours around the village and, of course, we tried its momos!!! These ones were stuffed with buffalo meat... and a plate of momos for 25 cents!! yummy!!

In the evening we met Cora for dinner, a german girl who is doing volunteering work in a hospital in Kathmandu. After a nice meal we went to bed... so tired!!

To see some photos of Patan check here:

More pictures click here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Kathmandu: capital of Nepal

2008-06-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu is a city in a valley surrounded by lots of places to visit. There is an area in the city centre known as Thamel. This is where all the hostels, restaurants, travel agencies and shops for the tourists are. Here is where we have looked for accommodation and from here we will stay visiting the different areas on the valley.
If you compare Kathmandu with other cities or towns that we have visited in Nepal, you can really see the difference. It is a lively city where you can do lots of things outdoors but it also has crazy traffic day and night!
People told us that it is a very chaotic city but guys, after being in New Delhi nothing seems to be stressful for us anymore!
One of the temples that we really liked was the Swayamhunath or familiarly known as “the monkey temple”. It is a huge stupa placed in the highest point of the city. The stupas were burial monuments that after the centuries have become the figures that symbolize the Buddhist philosophy.
Apart from the wonderful views of the city and the huge Buddhist statues we enjoyed this visit for the attitude of its monkeys! You have to see them! They were unwrapping the sweets that the tourists were giving to them and one of them jump over a girl and stole her ice cream from her hands! Hilarious!
Leaving the temple we met some Nepalese guys from the musician caste. They are called Gandharba, they pertain to the untouchable caste and it is the unique musician caste in Nepal. According to the Hindu mythology, they used to be the musicians of the Gods.
We went to their house for a cup of tea and we ended up all dancing and singing their traditional songs. It is nice to see how they feel the music as it is their way of living. It really was a cool afternoon.
If it wasn’t enough with the music there... We went out to see the night live in Kathmandu -) Oh!!!! You can choose among Reggae, rock, electric music... we ended up in a night club for some dancing! ... You can’t resist to a nice rum and coke for 1 Euro!! :-)

For more pictures from Kathmandu click here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/?saved=1

Natural park of Chitwan

2008-06-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

The natural park of Chitwan is one of the biggest attractions in Nepal. The 932 square Km park is situated between Pokhara and Kathmandu and it offers a high diversity of activities.

On our first day we rent some bikes to visit the breeding elephant centre. Elephant females have a pregnancy of 2 years and after giving birth, baby elephants stay with them during 3 years, until they are ready for the jungle safaris. It is funny to see baby elephants that have 6 months of age and they were nearly as tall as us! One of the little elephants went out (as one of the fences was open) and started to run toward us! Yeah.. baby elephant but we were running so fast! hahaha

Around the park there are little towns of different ethnic groups. We visited one of them, the Tharus, and then that night we went to a cultural show where there was a performance of their traditional dance and songs. A dance where the locals hit wooden sticks to the rhythm of the drums.
The next day we got up very early to spend the day in the jungle. We started with a canoeing trip through the Rapti River where, apparently, we had to see some crocodiles. However, due to the rainy season, the water is very high and it is very difficult to see them. We were lucky and we saw one’s head! Better than nothing…
Afterwards, we continued the adventure with a trekking through the jungle: dense vegetation, humid weather, thousands of insects and some tiger footprints!! Scary!
Before lunch we went for a refreshing bath with the elephants. The activity is called “bath with the elephants” and they literally shower you with the water that they split from their trunk! And then you have to add the balance that you need in order to keep yourself on top of the elephant!
The afternoon was enjoyable with an elephant ride through the jungle. Two hours ride where we saw rhinos, monkeys, deers…You are so high on the top of the elephant that you need to fight against the branches of the trees and get rid of the thousand of spiders that want to join you! Definitely, an activity not suitable for those who are extremely scared of spiders or suffer of vertigo!
The day ended up enjoying a beautiful sunset which was followed by an amazing full moon.

We spent our last day walking around the natural park where we could see the local working on the lands.

We leave now the wild world to go to the “civilized” world. Our next destination is the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.

To see pictures from Chitwan click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Bandipur- a national treasure

2008-06-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Bandipur is a medieval town considered a national treasure. Both, its location (between vallies and mountains) and its arquitecture (stone Newari houses with wooden carved windows and porches) make of this village a charming place. It is kindly surprising how such a nice town has scaped from the mass tourism and has chosen instead a sustainable tourism. There are no tourist shops or travel agencies, just a small information point and some guest houses that maintain the medieval asthetics of the area. This fact makes this place more magical.

Apart from its arquitectural beauty, this town is also surrounded by nature and some places to visit.
We have walked around town enjoying the shade of the millenial trees, we have visited the Sidha cave (the biggest in the Himalaya region) , we have gone up to Bandipur viewpoint and we have even played a football match with the children among the porches.

We are leaving Bandipur towards the natural park of Chitwan. See you soon!

Here you have pictures from Bandipur. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

Serachaur: the experience of living with Nepalese a family for 3 days

2008-06-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Our adventure started with an early morning in Kaji’s house for breakfast. Right after, three of us took a bus to Serachaur, a small village in the hills of Nepal, in order to spend 3 days with a Nepalese family.
We arrived to the village around midday and we were introduced to the family. In the house are living the mother, the father, 2 male sons and the wife of one of them (in Nepal, the women when they get married go to live to the husband’s family house).
The tipical Nepalese house is comprised of a simple main room (where they sleep all together) and a porch beside the kitchen.
Most of the houses have a shed where they have goats, buffalos, chickens, hens and, in this case, a very grumpy cock!!! We had to defend ourselves with a stick as he tried to bite us all the time!
According the land that the family own, there are women working on the fields or otherwise, they take care of the housework.

Men are mostly farmers but it is interesting to see that some of them are dressmaking, sewing cloths for their families or selling them. This fact explains that there are some sewing machines in lots of Nepalese houses.
During our staying in Sorachar we visited the school, we played with the local childs, we visited a rice mill and we are even sponsors of a local football team!.
Our visit to the school was a nice surprise to the children. They went mad when they saw us and all of them wanted to show us their classes , the library, etc.We ended up all singing and dancing their and our sons.
In the evening we went to play with them. It was very nice too as we played traditional games .
We also had the chance to see the slaughter of the “dangerous cock” that the family had in the house. It was the side dish of the rice during our last night!
We left with a nice memory from this village and its people and of course proud of being able to be sponsors of the football team!!! We will grant them with 2 footballs! You should have seen the children! Such an administration! They made a contract for us where we had to sign and they had different roles as accountant, headmaster, treasurer… Very funny!!
To see some pictures of this nice experience click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

Nepal has been proclaimed Federal Democratic Republic

2008-06-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

After our trip trough India, we crossed to Nepal by land on the 28/05/2008; just the day that the country was stated Federal Democratic Republic.
Being witnesses of this fact made us to be eager to learn about the political history of this small Asiatic country. As we could read in the national newspaper, “The Himalayan Times”, a new hope was born after nearly 240 years of monarchy. Long life to the Republic!
Due to the dissatisfaction with this monarchy, a new underground band was born in the hills of Nepal. They were known as the Maoists.
From this started a bloody war (where more than 12,000 people have been killed) between the terrorist band and the State of Nepal.
Due to the rural poverty, the nonconformity against the caste system, the problems with the land reform and the self-interested govern, Maoists founded the Communist Party of Nepal in 1995.
The last fact that gave more credibility to the Maoists was the assassination in 2001 of 10 members of the real family. Even though there are several theories about this massacre, the locals blame the brother of the king assassinated. After the death of the king, he took charge of the monarchy with no interest to improve the country and increasing the corruption of the current government.
On the last national elections, Maoists got the majority of the votes, but not the absolute majority. Therefore, they will have to deal with the other political parties in order to govern the country.
Eventually, all the political parties of Nepal gathered in a meeting to change the current situation. Out of 564 members, just 4 voted in favor of the monarchy, fact that proclaimed the country as Federal Democratic Republic.
Today negotiations between Maoists and the rest of the parties are still running in order to create the basis of a new govern.

On the streets the popular feelings are happiness and hope, asking for a government that assures peace, development, equality and freedom.
A national festivity were the people from Nepal are enjoying, all, old and young people, as even the schools are on holidays for a few days!!
The words of our friend Kaji (a 33 years old guy from Nepal who lives with his family in Pokhara) are the reflection of a national feeling:
“There have been rough years of poverty and disagreement politic where lots of people have died. We are happy with this change because we believe that it will open the doors towards a reform of the country and it will allow that our families enjoy an encouraging future”.

Pictures of Nepal

2008-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!
Here you have some pictures from Nepal.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26627275@N04/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1
Take care!

Trekking around the Himalaya mountains

2008-06-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

After a couple of days in Pokhara we went for trekking around the Himalaya mountains. Out of all the trekkins available, we decided to do a 6 day circuit where the highest point is the Poon Hill. From there you can see a beautiful sunrise and, if you are lucky and the day is cloudless, you can see the Anapurna 1, Anapurna 2 and Machapruchhe. Seeing three peaks of this hight is when you realise that you are here!!! on the Himalaya mountains !!! So cool!!
We have done this trekking with a guide, Kaji, a Nepali guy who was born on the mountains and has been working as a guide for 10 years now. He is a very kind and friendly person. He has explained us lots of things about the culture of Nepal. He is always smiling and eating Dhal Bat (boiled rice with vegetables and a lentil soup) every single day!!
It is very funny for us to see him in the mountain with his umbrella! but, in fact, most of the locals use them either for rain or sun.
To be able to go trekking we had to apply for a permit. Lots of people around the world come here to do these kind of trekkings and this is a way to control the environment of the area.
During the circuit you are passing through villages where there are tea houses where you can stay and eat. You can even find San Miguel beer here!! :-)
We have gone up thousands and thousands of stairs, we have gone down even more, we have crossed some bridges, we have seen waterfalls, we have been cornered by buffalos, we have been walking in the middle of a storm, we have been stuffing our faces with momos, we have been bitten by leeches, we have seen starry skies, we have felt the peace of these mountains and we have even enjoyed a bath in hot spring waters! Nature is magic!
We are going back to Pokhara now... the next adventure will be living with a family from Nepal... see you soon!

Pokhara (Nepal)

2008-06-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

After 35 hours of traveling by train, jeep and bus.... we have finally arrived to Nepal (to Pokhara to be more precise)! We have arrived the day that the coutry has been stated a Republic!
Pokhara is the second most significant city in the country after its capital (Kathmandu). It is a city beside a huge lake and surrounded by the Himalaya's mountains.
The lakeside is full of hostels, shops and restaurants focused to travellers.
In this season, mornings are sunny and hot but in the afternoon there are torrential rains for about 2 or 3 hours and then the evening stays cloudless. It is amazing how your are roasting and then it is suddenly hailing! ... everyone starts to run to take refuge.
The natural environment of the area allows to have lots of activities in the nature, from a walk or boat ride through the lake to a trekking through the Anapurna circuit.
We have decided to go for a 6 days trekking around the Himalaya's mountains. See you then!

Funny facts of India

2008-05-27T03:14:00.000-07:00

These are some interesting and funny facts from India... a country very different to us :

Cows have preference on the road... they are the queens of the street.
When old people want to cover their grey hair they dye it in a kind of orange color!
Enrique Iglesias is a super star here!
North of India is full of military army and trenchs. Shocking!
During our train trip we saw some transvestite people asking for money in a very cheeky way.
Farting and burping in public is so normal.
Toilets are a whole on the floor and sometimes if they had a bad shot you can find whatever!
Traffic is caothic. Blowing the horn is compulsory!!!!!!
If they know you are Spanish they always say: Madam..Madam..Hola Hola Cocacola!!!Mira Mira Caximira!!!...Bueno ,bonito,barato... hahahaha
Their very quiet attitude can be seen in the horizontal position of its people...they are always in "lie down" position.
When you order food in a restaurant be prepared to wait 30min for the drinks and 45min for the food.
In the markets, to prove that watches are waterproof they are inside of a bucket plenty of water!! hahahaha
It is quite usual to go into a shop and find the shop assistant having a nap :-)
We have discovered the "freaky Babas", those are some that wants to look like spirirual people but as the locals told us they are fake. they dress up and actually they are quite funny!
Indian smell is so peculiar.

Photos of Jaipur- Agra and Varanasi

2008-05-27T03:05:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Here you have a few photos from our travels around these 3 cities. We hope they encourage you to visit this special India!Here you are! http://www.flickr.com/photos/26627275@N04/page2/

Varanasi: the city of Shiva

2008-05-27T02:31:00.000-07:00

Arriving to Varanasi was a whole adventure. We took the train in India for the first time. What a nightmare! The train was announced to be delayed for 3 hours and then, after 2 hours, it was cancelled. At the train station we couldn't get any refund or information about when could it be the next train. They kept sending us from one place to another without any solution. Eventually, we ended up in the Agra main station where we met a group of other backpackers in the same situation. After a few hours in that station, we took a train that was going to Varanasi but wasn't our train!! When the ticket inspector saw us he sent us to the last coach. Impossible to explain! Hundreds of people in a coach for fifty as max. and of course, without air conditioner. We slept on the floor over our bags. For us it was a hard trip but if you think about it is their usual life.

Fortunately for us, we live this experience just when we travel like this but here you realise of the situation of this country.

When we finally arrived to Varanasi we were exhausted and it was terribly hot: so we went to the hostel straight away.

We have been in this city for three days and we have seen its rituals, monuments, markets , streets as well as we have seen the sunrise from the Ganges. Amazing!

Ganges is for them a very special river and the water has spiritual sense. Is in this river where lots of indian come to die and, as we explained, it is also used for daily task as washing clothes, washing themselves or even to get swiming lessons! :-)

The riverside is comprised of "ghats" (steps torward the river) and each of them is used for different activities. Our hostel was just in front of a burning ghat where they have the burial ceremonies. It is interesting to see it as it is very different to our own culture.

In general, our trip around India has been very interesting and intense. We have found a country with a diverse society and landscape. It is very contradictory to see here the high luxury and then the more extreme misery. Travelling around India is not easy, and more difficult when you are a woman. However, it is worthy as you see how they really live. About the people, we have seen that even in the circumstancies that they live, they are very positive and kind but often, the need makes them to harass tourists trying to sell or take benefit of whatever they can. India leaves us an unforgetable experience and lots of friends!

Our Ithaka continues around Nepal.

Jaipur and Agra

2008-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Jaipur is the Rajasthan capital and its old city centre is well-known by being painted in pink colour (pink is associated to hospitality). Was the maharaja Ram Singh who order to be painted to welcome the prince of Wales and the tradition has been mantained since then.
In this city, apart from seeing camels and elephants in the street for first time, we have also visited its palaces and temples.
In the city palace we saw and participate in a traditional dance peformance and a puppet show. We had our moment of glory , vey funny :-)
We also went to the monkey temple on the surroundings of the city. It looked like a terror movie! There were monkeys everywhere!! Some were fighting, some running, looking at you, getting rid of the fleas..
We arrived to Agra that night in order to see the sunrise in the Taj Mahal.
So nice!!! What woudn't we do for love???? Taj Mahal was ordered to be built by emperor Shah Jahon when his third wife died giving birth to their 14th child. Her death left him so devastated that the legend says that his hair turned grey overnight.
From here we leave to Varanasi...last destination of our trip in this authentic India.

Photos from Rishikesh

2008-05-20T08:05:00.001-07:00

Hello!!!!!!! Here we have some photos from Rishikesh! Enter here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26627275@N04/?saved=

Rishikesh: the yoga capital

2008-05-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

We have finally seen the India that we had left... the Hindu India!

Rishikesh is a city surrounded by mountains and where the Ganges crosses. Therefore, it is a stoop for pilgrimation.
The city is divided by the river where there are two bridges to cross. It is a whole adventure to cross any of the bridges! Crowds of people, motorcycles, cows.... there is even police to control the traffic! very funny!

It is very interesting to see the river ritual, how they go into the river and take water to make offerings to their temples. There are thousand of people gathered on the river banks. Men take their clothes off, however, women go in with their saris.
We thought that this ritual was more quite but it is kind of a party for them! Everybody in the river laughing, taking pictures of themselves, renting boats to go through their river that they call "Ganga".

Apart from having the Ganges, this city is also well known for being the yoga capital. You can find here a huge diversity of yoga courses as well as meditation and Ayuveric medicine.

We have tried "traditional yoga" and we have to say that practice it here it's special :-)
Our experience through the Hindu world will continue in Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi.
Namaste!

Namaste!

Photos of Srinagar

2008-05-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

To check our photos of Srinagar enter here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652485@N06/

Photos of Leh

2008-05-17T07:09:00.001-07:00

To check our photos of Leh enter here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26627275@N04/

Leh- The Budhist India

2008-05-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Are the religion and the localization of a region influent factors in the attitude of its society?? This is the impressio that it gave to us. The Ladakh region (where the most significant city is Leh) is mostly budhist. The attitude of its citizents is more quite and respectful. The towns are less noisy and cleaner. In this region we have found lots of differences in comparison with the previous one:

the landscape is arid and rocky
people have different features with a mix between indians and chineses
temples go from mosques to gompas ( budhist monastery)
more choices for the food.. .now you can choose among indian, tibetian and chinese food.

In general, Leh brought us new feelings that after three days we will leave behind to fly to the new destiny: Rishikesh.. The yoga capital.

Note: Please check the photos in the Catalan and Spanish version of this blog. You will find the link in the top right hand corner of this site.

Photos of the Trekking

2008-05-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

To see some pictures of the trekking enter in the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/

Srinagar

2008-05-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Our time in Srinagar has been very pleasant. We have stayed in a houseboat , very tipical accommodation for backpackers here. There we have met Nabi, a man from Kashmir (mountain and rice man as he describes himself) who took care of us and gave us very good advices about the region.
In Srinagar, we have visited its gardens, markets, monasteries and we have gone in a "shikara" through its lakes (indian gondola).
It is very interesting how they have vegetable gardens floating in the middle of the lake and they cultivate with the help of the shikara and they move according the season of the year!
While we were going on the shikara , other shikaras from merchants were coming closer trying to sell you whatever! From pashminas, jewellery, flowers, crisps or even toilet roll!! :-)
The family who owns the houseboat (Shahenshah) was living just beside it and has been very nice to us: they let us using internet, we met the grandfathers, we were having tea with them ... they made us feel as home! Thank you so much!
Now we are leaving Srinagar to continue our adventure through Leh.

Note: please check the pictures in the Spanish and Catalan version of the blog. You just need to click on the link in the top right hand corner of the site.

Photos New Delhi

2008-05-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Enter here to see some photos of 2rapitenquesaroundtheworld in New Delhi:http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/

Trekking to Hary Gund !

2008-05-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1- 8th May 2008
From Srinagar we took a car to Nagnag. What a beautiful place!
Nagnag is a town between mountains at around 2000m of high. Even when is spring now, we can see snow in the peak of its mountains. There is also some ruins from a hinduism temple. Local people told us that it was destroyed due to an earthquake in the area long time ago. We have just camped beside the temple!
After setting the tents we have done a training around the valley Kala Pani (beside the village).We have gone with Ryaz, a 24 years old boy native from Nagnag who was very nice to us.
When we arrived to the tents we met a group of childrens and we shared a few popular games. We have shown them "tita pon un coco" , typical game from our home town. Eventually, we eneded up being a group of around 20 childrens and us:-)
A day plenty of trekking , games and curry and rice for dinner, of course!!

Day 2- 9th May 2008
We woke up early to have breakfast and pack all the tents to start walking up to Budshill mountain. It has been a not very long (3 ours) but hard trekking. We have reached 3,500m of high today! The place where we have campled has amazing views !!
Unfourtunately it has been all the afternoon and evening raining so we have spent all the time in the tent singing and sharing stories and traditions of our regions:-)

Day 3- 10th May 2005
After breakfast we have started the trekking that has brought us until the peak of the Hary Gund mountain at 4,000 m of high.
It has been a hard trekking with lots of snow, big inclination and very sleepery path! We haven't been very lucky with the weather either as it has been very foggy and raining and snowing in some parts. This didn't allow us to see the nice views around. However, we had a wonderful time with our guide Ryaz. He is a very funny guy and we have been singin, dancing and even making a snowman :-)

Delhi- Srinagar: 25 hours on a bus sharing muslim culture- 6th May 2008

2008-05-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

Out of 30 passengers in the bus, we were the only ones not Muslims. At the beginning it was a bit of a shock but it ended up being an enjoyable experience. The Kashmir region was in conflict years ago due to the dispute between Pakistan and India for the territory. This fact explains the still presence of the army and trenches around the region. However, they are now only for vigilance.

18 hours of bus have become 25!! This allowed to the passengers to become interested by "the 2 strangers" and started to ask us all kind of questions: Where were we from, what religion did we practice, if we were married , our age.... still more surprise they were with our answers! They couldn't believe we were 29 years old and we weren't married! also, the fact that we were travelling on our own.

During the first hours we could feel the uncertainty. However, after a few hours we both adapt to each other creating funny situations. During the 5 or 6 stops, they used to make fun of us as we didn't know what to eat or how! The most difficult proof has been when we had to drink tea with salt for breakfast! Weird taste !! It was also burning!! but they were so proud of us that we tried :-)

The trip has been very long but a good experience as we had great views of big mountains , typical rural towns and the opportunity to meet another new friend: Sameer Malik. He is a muslim boy from Kashmir who is working in Delhi and has explained us a lot of things about the muslim culture and the Kashmir traditions. He is also a big fan of Enrique Iglesias who, for our surprise, is very famous in India!!

Thanks Sameer , we hope you read this!

Note: In such a different culture with a language unknown for us it is such an advantage to be able to communicate in English with the people!

Delhi- a caothic experience

2008-05-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

No matter how much you read, how much people tells you, the ideas that you can make in your mind....Delhi will still shock you.

40-45 degrees of temperature that made us to drink more than 7 bottles of water!
Visit to the most significant buildings and monuments of the city being testimony of the efficiency of the supervisors :-)
Random chat with a sikh follower and visit its temple
Cycle ride with a local cycle rickshaw around the Chandi Chowk market
We have seen a criket game played by a few locals in a fountain beside the Indian gate
We have taken the New Delhi metro- we were the only foreign people in the whole station!!!!
We took a taxi that didn't work by petrol but gas!
We have realised of the different castes existent in India.
We have been a target of tips, bargain during the whole day.
Impressed by Delhi's street lights

All these experiences along with a distinct smell and an orquestra of horns by the desperate drivers looking for a gap in a caothic city.

Visiting New Delhi in May (low season) has lead into an overly obsertation to us. We weren't just the only Spanish in the city but also one of the few tourist that were around the streets. Tomorrow we are taking a bus to the north of India (Kashmir) taking with us lots of patiente for the trip as it will take around 18 hours. We hope the weather is a bit cooler!!

See you soon.

Vane i Eva

First stop- Dublin

2008-05-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

We are already in Dublin! It has been nice to meet again all the friends that we made during our time here. This time in Dublin more than new experiences, has given us a few cups of tea and meals and also another farewell. Tomorrow we leave to India!! We take our flight in the afternoon and we arrive to New Delhi on Sunday morning local time. India will be the next country where we will write you again.

Slan!!!

First destination: La Rapita-stopover Dublin-New Delhi

2008-04-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

We are still at home while we are dropping these lines. However, it is very likely that we will be in our first destination when you read them. Everyone has told us different stories about India since we said we were going there.

Now, it is our turn to share with you some feelings, emotions, thoughts about this culture which we will take part very soon.

India is a country with religious tradition stressed by the Hinduism. Hinduism is known as Dharma (eternal religion) because it is said that it doesn’t have any beginning or end.

Considered as the second most populated country after China, it has significant cities as Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai or New Delhi (being this last one its capital).

The most important heritance of the Hinduism is the castes system. This classifies the people based on its purity and divides them by communities. This factor determines a person from his birth and it is transferred generation through generation being impossible to change castes or even to mix among them. There are four types of castes: Brahamanas (priests and teachers), Ksatriyas (warriors and governors), Vaishyas (craftmans and merchants) and Sudras (countrymen and workers). There is also a fifth caste considered as the “impure”. They are known as the untouchables or Dalits (as they call themselves).
Those last ones are part of the lowest social status and often are insulted and victims of atrocity. Thinking about India make us wander about social status which are very important to understand the culture of this country; a fascinating as well as odd and distinctive world.

We still have lots of stories to tell you!!! But we can not start yet as it will be the destiny who will mark our trip.
Therefore we want to say goodbye!! We are going on our trip! Vane and Eva have committed with you to share day by day a trip, a dream … an Ithaca.

“You are a product of your environment. For this reason you can’t see beyond your habits and the social conventions that you are impregnated of. If you want to see beyond it, free yourself of the usual way that you interpret things”.

Swami Prajnanpad

La Rapita and the World

2008-04-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

The official presentation of our Project 2rapitenquesaroundtheworld took place last 11th of April with the participation of the Major Mr Miquel Alonso and the Tourism stage Rosa Anglès. Sponsors, family and friends were also present.
The ceremony started with the reading of the poem “Trip to Ithaca” by Paquita Ferrer. This continued with a speech by the Major and the Tourism stage manager. After, it was our turn. We started showing the video where we explain our philosophy and objectives. Then, we talked about the project and what it represents to us and to the city. We also showed the clothes, sponsored by Kalamatru, which we will be wearing during our trip. The ceremony ended with an appetizer granted by Pizzeria Bonsai.We would like to thank everyone for the support received.
We hope our trip becomes also your trip.La Rapita is going around the world.

2Rapitenques Around The World in the " Veu de L´Ebre" (catalonian newspaper)

2008-04-23T06:25:00.000-07:00