Posts with tag 'pictures'

pre trek in chiang mai

Ok, I've gotten some pictures from the trip and will put them up here coz the galleries don't seem to want to work. Will have to sort that in Oz. Any way have a look and comment if you like. will post about hanoi when i get to a keyboard that works properly....

Brian

trekking pics day 1

pictures from trekking in chiang mai

me and the gang take a deserved break

rice fields

jonny and john before the last leg of the trek

panned out in a random hut

me and jonny boozing in the jungle

that german (really dutch)

me and mr. promise

trekking day 2 images

Day 2 of trekking

me and jonny sweating

view from a small tribal village

promise and jonny

me and jonny beside river

waterfall where we stayed for night

pic from behind the fall

trekking day 3 pictures

Pics from day 3 trekking and the night out after... although camera went dead before we left the BMP

waterfall on the morning

flower

me and jonny put on a show... a gun show

puppy that hung out at our hut

me, jonny and promise

nothing like giving an elephant a good ride

the fun begins!

the demise of promise

Hanoi

Hanoi is again like any city here. A bit more westernised than Vientiane though. The first thing you notice about Hanoi though is the traffic. Hundreds of mopeds on narrow streets zipping past you, with blatant disregard for the rules of the road. Red lights mean nothing in Hanoi and the green man means target practice for the mopeds. If you want to cross the road, you just walk out and let them swerve to avoid you! Its crazy. Apparently Ho Chi Min is worse, although I don't see how it could be.

When me and Jonny arrived at the airport in Hanoi we got ourselves a bargained down taxi driver. He was leading us to the car park when a security gaurd stopped us, mentioned something about the mafia and showed us to the taxi rank. It was 2 dollars more than the mafia dude but probably worth it.

We didn't do a whole lot in Hanoi. It was very humid and with the traffic, getting around was a burden. We did get a new camera though, for a very reasonable price, because my charger still wont work. Not happy.

Another thing worth mentioning about Vietnam is that the women are stunning. The one at reception in our guesthouse looked like Tia Carrera! They are definitely much better looking than the Thai's. The people here are much friendlier too and their English is excellent. Will be looking in the lonely planet though to see if I can pick up a few phrases. The one good thing here though is that we can read the letters. In Thailand and Laos letters look like a drunk man had a piss in the snow!

The Irish girls that had made up our group in Laos met us on the second day in Hanoi and we went to dinner where a mouse ran across one girls foot and then on to a jazz club, where a rat hopped up onto the stage. It really is a filthy city. There are bags of rubbish thrown on the street. Its still a nice city though, but again I think 2 nights is enough. There are tours around Hanoi but all the travelling lately is starting to take its toll.

We went to the same Irish bar both nights we were in Hanoi, for a very simple reason, lock-in. Most of the places aeem to shut at 11:30 but we walked up to this place and they opened the shutters to let us in for a few. Not too shabby. Apparently they do a great fuck off fry too but we didn't bother going for that.

At the moment we are in Hue on the way to Hoi An. It took us about 12 hours to get here and we have another 4 to go I think. Its a quiet town but big enough, although again, I doubt we'll wonder it. We have big bags with us while we wait for the next bus. We are in a place that has free internet, and free pool. Will keep us occupied for a bit.

Looking forward to Hoi An. There are 30km of white sandy beaches there. Should be good. ALthough the weather is meant to be really bad down there. Will have to see how it goes.

Talk soon

Brian

Just had to try one!!

Us and the Irish girls at a Jazz club

Jonny and Mary

Some pictures from Laos

Here are a few pictures we got off one of the dutch guys in Laos

The river as seen from a slow boat. River looks like something from Charlie and Cholcolate Factory

The cramped slow boat. Jonny in his Irish Jersey in the middle

When it rained on the slow boat, the covers came down

A hut beside the river

The lads on the fancy slow boat. The beer is Beer Lao... piss

Nobody told me and Will that the photo was being taken

A hot plate in luang parbang... second best meal of the trip

The hot plate was basically a bucket of fire in the middle of the table

First Day at the Beach

Before I get to the beach part, the picture is one we see saw in a bar here. I want to burn the picture, I hate that prick although I do think its very funny. Definitely in the "the world is broken Bono make it better" mould.

We went to the beach today, it was hot. I was kind of dissapointed though. It wasn't the pristine white sands I'd been promised. It was the same sand you get at home. The water was nice though. I was kind enough to share my cold with Jonny so he just panned out at the beach, which bored me to tears. I'd nobody to play with :'(

Was cool though, ate a crab although it was very hard work, there is a pic below. Not really all that much else to say, we're not doing much. I opted against a suit, Jonny got his.

Later

Brian

First night in Hoi An

Jonny sunning himself at the beach

My crab... Lets not stoop to make that joke

The beach

Last Pictures from Hoi An

These are the last few pics from Hoi An, one from last night, the rest for today. All we did today really was rent a couple of bikes and just cycled around a little bit with Cat who we met yesterday. Was good fun

Jonny, Cat and Me

Iker, Isa... I put up this sign looking for a friend. You think it'll work?

The Perfume river

Nha Trang

We arrived at 6 in the morning in Nha Trang 2 days ago, after an over night bus from Hoi An. The bus wasn't too bad this time though. Half the people on with were Vietnamese and they hopped off at early stage on the journey. So that left us with two seats each. When we got to Nha Trang, we went about trying to get somewhere to sleep. The general price we were being quoted was $10 but we eventually got the place down to 8. 2 girls from the bus had seen us do this and tried to get $8 too but they were hopeless. They asked if they could have the room for $8 where as we told them we're only paying $8. Getting the hang of this bartering lark though.

My "not in the mood to party" didnt last long. Went out on the first night. Jonny went home early and met a few random Irish punters in the sailing club on the beach, stayed out til about 3. That was good enough craic. We met a few Dutch guys earlier in the night and played a bit of Jenga. Great craic. Turned it into a drinking game, but I never lost... or won.... basically I never got to drink any of the cocktail we were using as the forefit. Probably turned out to be a good thing in the end.

Yesterday then we met 2 more Irish guys from Mayo and Tipp. Saw them again at the sailing club. The sailing club tries to charge in at night but I've bee there twice and never paid. I just walked along the beach and in through the back, where everyone is anyone. They're not very clever. Had a good night again went to a late night spot after the Sailing club. There was a nasty vibe outside though. A couple of fights broke out and I saw a western guy in a van with what looked like a load of sceurity guards. So we pretty much got out of there asap. Which was wierd though coz inside the place was fine. You get muppets everywhere I guess.

Nearly forgot....
I got robbed on the first night! Nobody came up to me, or approached me at least that made me think something dodgy. So I have no idea how, where or when this happened. All I know is that I looked in my wallet, I had money, I looked again later I had no money. They didn't take my cards or anything, just my cash. Considerate like that. I didn't lose all that much money though so I'm not too bothered by. Though I'd pop it in to the post though.

Later

Brian

The crowd from the first night... Jenga!!!!

The security guy got in on the fun too

Night 2.

For some unkown reason, even to him, Jonny kept sticking his tongue out!

Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

We left Ho Chi Min yesterday after 2 nights. Its a really nice city, but again very similar to Hanoi. We arrived after an over night bus and got somewhere to stay. It was about $12. Not too bad but probably could have gone cheaper. After arriving we did the usual thing and had a nap to recover from the bus. After we woke up we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was fairly cool and interesting but a bit scatty. There was no real flow to the display. I don't really like museums though and I struggle to keep attention in them. This museum was very small though, much smaller than I had expected. Was interesting though. Some of the pictures, especially of the after effects of Agent Orange were quite horrific and I did start to get angry about it.

After the museum we did the usual Sunday thing and found somewhere to watch the soccer. They show pretty much every game in Vietnam. I assume its the same in Thailand too. So we sat in a bar, had a couple of drinks, watched united lose, watch Liverpool get raped by a referee and headed to bed by around 12. All in all, a good night.

On the second day we did a half day tour to the tunnels. Our guide was an ex Veteran who fought for the Americans during the war. He spoke a lot on the bus and I was glued to his every word. After a while he started repeating himself but first time round it was hugely interesting. He talked to us about reunification camp after the war but he didn't get into much detail about that. I would have loved to have gotten him on his own so I could have found out more. The tunnels themselves were again interesting but its extremely touristy so its hard to get a proper feel for it. While there we went shooting too. I fired a pistol, an AK-47 and an M-16. It again was disappointing because the guns are kind of strapped to a wall. You don't really get a proper feel for it. Got no where near hitting a target, but then again the targets were about 200 yards away. Would have been doing well. Everyone can feel safe in the knowledge though that if I try to shoot you, I'll miss... by a long way :)

Yesterday then, we arrived back in Bangkok and finally met those pesky wicked leprechauns. It was so great to see them. We are staying near Khaosan Road now, and there is a much nicer feeling here than the last place we stayed. There is no bad smell and we are getting much less hassle. Maybe I've just gotten used to it though. We went out then last night but I'll put up a post with pictures of that soon.

I have pictures of Ho Chi Min too which I'll add to here too when I get the chance.

Until then...

Brian

Berastagi

So we left Berastagi today and flew to Batam. Berastagi is a great place. There are 2 volcanoes there but unfortunately the weather was terrible. When I say terrible, it was the same as every summers day in Ireland I experienced this year. Ian got to climb one of the volcanoes but unfortunately I've been struggling with a stomach bug so I only made it up a tiny it of the way before coming down.

The town itself is really nice. Everybody was so friendly and would smile and say hello, etc. The first day me and Ian arrived there we got shouted at, a lot, by the local girls. Apparently westerners have a good reputation.

A really strange thing about that town is that they have a monument to a cabbage! You'll see for yourself from the pictures. Speaking about pictures, I have a put up a couple I have taken the last few days. There are more from Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta but I don't have them with me. Remember, I'm only learning and absolutely no post processing was done. So some pics are over exposed, some under exposed.

The food in Berastagi was amazing too. We walk into places and ask for vegetarian snd they gave us a little bit of everything. We ate like kings for about 1.50 between us. So good. And really nice accommodation cost us about 7 euro between us. Amazing.

Anywho, time for some western food, off to Pizza Hut

Later

Brian

Berastagi at night

Ian with one of the kids from the guesthouse

Gallery

I have put up some pictures on the gallery. Its decent quality but we'll be changing it to make the pics bigger. All the pics are either from berastagi or Trikora Beach.

Enjoy

Brian

Pictures

This is just to put up some pics. Will add a post soon for Matt's birthday weekend and the horse racing

Birthday in Sydney

It was my birthday on Monday so we celebrated on Saturday. A crowd of us hopped on the boat and headed off to Taronga Zoo. It's a nice zoo but really it's no different than any other. The bird show there is well worth watching, and yes, I do mean birds of the flying nature. We spent most of the day there. After that it was off a Rugby League match with Fitz, Matt and Kieran. Boring does not go far enough to describe that sport. Thank God for cheerleaders.

After the match we met up with the rest and went for tapas followed by a night on the town. I have no pictures of that but I will ask around for a few. Sunday I managed to make it in as far as the Opera House to do the tour, which was actually really interesting. Other than all that though, there has been no real news in the last week!

Matt and Butch show off in front of the zoo

Michelle was getting cosy with the koala at the enterance of the zoo...

... but then things got a little weird as the koala took advantage of the situation

Joe and the koala though had a more civil time together

I'm not so sure that the giraffes appreciated the views from inside the zoo

To be honest, they seemed more intersted in the food

From the zoo, there was a class view of the whole harbour. Worth a trip out there for that alone nearly

Matt reckons he has aged about 5 years since living with me. It must be my maturity rubbing off on him

I thought this would come out a lot better than it did. I will have to improve next time

More angles to see the Opera House from means more pictures to be taken

The boat took us around the Opera House

The girls couldn't resist getting a picture

Night Photos From Bondi

More photos.... no stories to tell!

Swimming pool getting battered by waves. The mist is from the spray with a long exposure

Not sure who that guy is but I liked the graffitti on either side framing it

With a wide angle lens, this would be really cool.

There is a moving light on the horizon of possible a boat. Planes kept ruining my photos most of the night

The steps were being battered... until I went to take a photo. Couldn't stay there too long either because the tide was coming in fairly fast!

The fountain in Hyde park with St. Mary's Cathedral behind. We took this on a timer. Matt has his eyes glued to the camera but hid it well :)

Didn't get this one right at all. In fact, I'm not wild on most of these photos. Will try to get more practice taking photos at night.

Forever Delayed

Yes, I robbed the post title from the Manic Street Preachers. It's a good title. Anywho, here are some pictures from Perth back in October. I thought I had put them up but obviously not.

Really quick update on things here. BBQ last weekend for Joe's brithday. Was a really good day and night. That was followed by my first AFL game. The Swans won but Kennely dislocated his knee.

The weekend ahead is the Rugby Union semi-final which we are going to. Manly finally too and watching the Munster match.

I like this one. Playing with lines in a photo. It keeps me interested

Glacier Hiking

The posts are coming thick and fast now but its because I'm dossing on the net while Matt is sorting tax out. When he has that done, I'll just get him to show me :)

Yesterday was glacier hiking! We took the half day option which was probably enough time. The Franz Josef Glacier is massive. When we were a 40 min walk from it, it looked only a 10 min walk away. Was huge. Its an unusual glacier because it pushes down into a valley that has forests with trees and plants that you would associate with a climate that a glacier would not survive in.

It was good fun and really enjoyable to hike on it. Even if the boots and the ice spikes took a while to get used to. When we put back on our runners they felt so light and flimsy. At one point we were walking through a gap in the ice that was so narrow I could barely squeeze through. Matt tried to take a picture but he didn't have enough room to reach into his pocket to take out his camera!

The pictures below are probably better than a description....

Today its off to Wanaka and to Queenstown tomorrow. Bring on the good times!

Later

Brian

No Paraty!

So yesterday we left Paraty and due to 2 full buses we are now hanging aroung the bus station in Sao Paulo. Its and hour into the city and apparently there is nothing to do when you get there so I´m taking this time to put up some pictures.

The name of the place we stayed in Paraty was called Sereia do Mar which is one of endless spelling mistakes and typos I noticed in that last post. Too lazy to fix them so ignore them :) Anywho, Paraty is a great little town. We made an effort to go out one night there but we were back early. Went to a place in the Old Town called Dinho. It was a small place with a good crowd and live music. Would have been a good night I think if we were up for it but in our heads we had a long bus journey the next day, which was cut substancially short by the bus being full.

A piece of info for anybody going from Sao Paulo to Iguazu, its an expensive bus journey. Works out at about 90 euro I think but havent bothered to work out an exact price. You can fly but I think that is an extra US$150 again (from an overheard conversation).

Anyway, I have little enough to say right now and only really wanted to put up some more photos.

Enjoy...

Brian

Me and Matt missed the bus to the waterfalls and figured we´d be ok walking, judging by the map it looked ok. After 3 hours of a walk we saw no waterfalls. Not to worry, Iguazu is the next stop

One of the streets in the old part of Paraty. Town became a big port with the Portuguese after the found gold nearby.

Another street, with a tree this time!

There was buntin on some of the streets but I´m still not sure what for

Not just any church... an old church!

From what I know. ¨Oi¨ means ¨hi¨

For those who cant speak Portuguese, it says Coca-Cola

Flowers in our hostel