Round the World in 90 days!

This is our last blog entry (ooohhhhh)

Im sitting in the Qantas lounge waiting for our final flight which gets us back home! Hallelujah and Praise the Lord. Don't get me wrong - we have loved our travels and most of all we have missed home even more. So it will be great to see everyone, feed our dog, wash our clothes and all the rest of things that we take for granted in being at 'home'.

Hong Kong wasn't what we expected! The food was terrible - in fact is was worse than the chinese food that you pick up at the Robina Town Centre for $6 a plate. We were very dissappointed. But thankfully most of Hong Kong is very westernised so we just managed to eat at KFC, McDonalds and some other 'safe' food outlets. KFC was weird. They served rice and their chips looked like a crisp crossed with a potato wedge. Oh yeah and at the KFC we ate at they had annoying 'elevator or lift' music playing the background - sent me flippin mad!

We managed to get up to Victoria Peak and get a great view of Hong Kong, as well as checking out a fishing village and walking through Stanley Market. THe hotel where we stayed was nice but they placed us in a room right next to the service elevators - so we could hear the lifts going up and down all night. In fact right now I can still hear those blasted lifts.

Our last stop was Phuket, which we stayed in Panwa beach. It is a quiet and private beach on the western side of Phuket Island. Most of the action is in Patong which is on the East side. We were very happy here as all we wanted to do (and did) was lay on the beach, eat amazing Thai food and catch some sunrays and zzzz. We did manage to get into some retail therapy though. I was doing all the bartering then I let Jo loose on these poor handbag vendors in the markets - I tell ya they didn't know what hit them! She was a woman on a mission. After this Jo had the 'barter' bug and adrenaline kicked in so it was barter, barter, barter for everything.

On our last day we went for an Elephant trek through the hills on Phuket. Very cool. We were on Tungyip a 30 yr old female elephant - she was very gentle on us in walking around the jungle. After the ride we got off and fed our elephant some watermelon, pineapple, bananas and sugarcane. She didn't like the pineapple - but she couldn't get enough of the bananas. After feeding Tungyip we saw a young elephant training camp where the young elephants showed off their skills in playing soccer, playing harmonicas, dancing, painting, and many other such 'cute and adorable' little tricks and antics. One elephant was such a show off that when the dance music came on - she pushed the other elephants out of the way and stood right in everyones line of sight doing her dance. HAd us in stitches. We then fed them some bananas and it was back to our hotel.

Our last night we decided to head up to the top of the hill where we saw a little restaurant and had been telling us the whole time in Phuket that we needed to go eat there once. Anyway - we made the journey there and found that the restaurant didn't open at night but only during the day. Dissappointed we headed back to our hotel and on the way Jo fell over and grazed her knee and hand. We laughed it off that night as the way Jo fell was hilarious. But as we were leaving the hotel today Jo went to get a couple more photos of the beach and with camera in hand did another fall this time however rolling her ankle - so not so funny!

Well what a way to end our trip! Gotta go out with some 'memorable' moment.

Thank-you for joining with us on this once in a lifetime journey. We glad you shared our adverture with us, and hope you learnt something and had a laugh or two cause we certaintly did!

Look forward to talking to you soon

Matt & Jo

We managed to get out of Bangkok in one piece, as the traffic there is something to marvel. Our driver didn't say much, and really did a wonderful job in freaking us out with avoiding 3 or 4 collisions.

We arrived in Singapore and checking through customs the officer that checked our passports had to be a frustrated ninja as every stamp and movement of the paper and passports was done with great precision and 'ninja' abilities. Before I could blink twice he stamped my passport and thrusted the documents back into my hands. I was left nearly laughing but amazed to say the least. This guy takes his job very seriously - a little too seriosly!

Please excuse my 'Engrish' in this as we have tweaked our accent so that the asian's can understand us.

Singapore is much like the Gold Coast - very westernised and very expensive. Our hotel here was very central so we didn't feel the need to venture out to explore.

The next morning we boarded our cruise ship (Super Star Gemini) that took us to Ko Samui, Bangkok, Saigon, Danang & Hong Kong. Overall 10 nights and quite a nice cruise. It was a floating RSL club which took a bit getting used to. The oldies were very knowledgable and you had to be quick to beat them at getting to the food, shows, events and tours on time otherwise you missed out. By the end they were getting on my nerves as their flair for caution and grumbling about everything was grinding my patience. I mean we are all in line at the buffet and we have to wait for old Beatrice or Gertrude to figure out if she wanted Gouda or Cheddar cheese tonight. Its a flippin buffet take both and then make up your mind!

Anyways apart from the "jerries" the scenery was hot, humid, tropical and the smell of rice mixed with raw sewerage. In Ko Samui - we walked along the beach, I got a 2 hour massage for $8 whilst Jo swam. That was nice! Then Bangkok we stopped in at Pattaya beach for the afternoon and sat in a banana beach chair on the beach whilst a steady flow of thai 'retailers' walked past to sell you everything from dried squid to sunglasses, icecreams and fake jewellry. We then cruised for a couple of days to get to Ho Chi Mingh City (Saigon) where we cruised up the Saigon river and saw a traditional Vietnamese wedding. The next morning we decided to go it alone so we bartered with the taxi driver to get into town. Walked around the city for awhile and ate a Vietnamese pork roll. We then got on a Pedal cab ride which was hair raising and a great 'cultural experience' however they did rip us off and didn't take us to our ship. I was so mad after that. The next couple of days we cruised up to Danang and went to a UNESCO site - Hoi An which we saw an old Japanese bridge and Chinese temple, then rode in a small boat up the river to a pottery village where the kids kept blowing in potted whistles. Annoying - but cute! The last couple of days on the boat as we powered into Hong Kong Jo and I managed to get lots of sun and sleep. We weren't into the shows and being around people so we were happy to just be by ourselves and relaxing.

We are now in Hong Kong and it feels as though we are in a cloud as all around the city is covered in a 'fog'. We are so grateful for internet as on the ship it was non existent. We will be putting up some more photos soon - so check out Jo's myspace site when you get a chance.

HOpe you are doing well.

We spent our last few hours in London catching up with some friends – expected and unexpected. Matt caught up with one of his old friends from Uni, which the timing was great as he had just announced his engagement to his girlfriend of 9 years 3 days before we caught up with him.

London decided to be really warm and sunny on the day we were leaving, so heading out to the airport it was nice to see people walking around in shorts and t-shirts with smiles. They did look like aliens with their fluro white skin though!

Arriving at the airport we had just found out that our upgrade request to Business Class had been accepted so we were overly excited. However when we checked in, the lady at the counter said that our booking was mixed up. She got on the phone and then asked Matt if he knew Paul Vipiana (another old school mate). Paul then appeared and we caught up for a half an hour before we went through to the international lounge. Whilst we said our goodbyes to Paul he said, oh yeah the seats I put you on in Business Class are the best seats on the plane – enjoy!

Needless to say Jo was all excited so when we got on the plane she was pushing buttons on the flat bed seats and touching everything. The whole point of the Business Class is to lay down properly and get some good rest – with Jo that never happened. She was so preoccupied with playing she forgot about the ‘sleep’ part.

Arriving in Bangkok we stepped out into pure heat and humidity – yes!!! And then we got to our hotel – wow. Pure 5 star luxury. We had gotten used to staying in hovels and holes in the walls in UK and Europe so this was just a big change. King Size bed, air con, mini bar and everything brand new. Also free internet in our room – a big change from sitting on the 5th floor lift area carpet just so we can get wireless internet. Glorious Days are here again!

The next day we went out venturing through the shopping district of Bangkok. Everything is very cheap by our standards, but you still need to barter. However after buying 7 shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 2 shorts, 2 shoes, a tailor made suit (jacket, pants, shirt, 2 ties), swim wear, DJ headphones and 6 DVDs, I still think we got ripped off by what the locals could have paid. Food is so cheap here too. We went out for dinner and a movie and all up it cost us about $19. How long ago was it when you could go out for a 3 course dinner and a movie for 2 people for under $20 all up??

Today we are just chilling at our hotel, as the last couple of days shopping have been exhausting. So just a whole heap of laying on the sun beds and swimming in the pool. Also might go grab an hour massage for about $6. Tomorrow we are off to Singapore for an overnight stay then onto the cruise boat which takes us through the popular ports in South East Asia.

To view the photo's of this trip please visit Jo's Myspace at www.myspace.com/mee_too_you

Well, where to begin... the remainder of our UK trip wasn't as 'eventful' as the first half, the homesickness had began to etch it's way into our soul, as we drove through the drizzly english countryside pumped on antibiotics.

I am pleased to report that we are feeling alot better now that the tonsilitus has subsided and we have had a chance to wash our clothes and have a sleep-in.

Liverpool was an eye opener. We aren't Beatles fans however we went on a tour of the town and shown all the sites, we were like, "hmmm don't care'! That night we went off to dinner and had a pre-dinner drink at the Calvern Club which is where the Beatles performed. It was basically an old cellar turned into a live band nightclub. After dinner we decided to check out some of the live bands back at the Calvern club and to our astonsihment the average age of the attendees to this loud club - was 40 - 50 year olds. And the funny thing was they were all getting really drunk. So we stayed for a couple of songs and then back out into the 'nightclub strip' and were whisked into an 80s club. Very funny some of the Contiki guys were doing outrageous 'footloose' dances as a mockery - but it ended up getting the whole club fired up! I stood there laughing my head off at the antics some of the boys and their dances got themselves into! Matt sparked up a chat with one of the older guys in the club and worked out that it was his 50th Birthday and lived in Liverpool all his life and never crossed into Scotland to visit! Unbelievable!

Well we are glad we are back in London and we are looking forward to getting on the plane tomorrow to embark upon our Asia leg of our trip. We are totally pumped to get amongst the shopping and food!!!! aghghaahahghggg!

Please drop us a line - we enjoy it when we get to hear from those of you reading up on our adventures.

Leaving Oxford we got back on the bus and headed north for York. We arrived there in the afternoon at walked around the city. Being a Sunday we wanted to go to church and sat in the Evensong 4pm service at York Minster which is the 2nd in charge of the Church of England. We didn't know where to sit so we sat in these rather nice pews only to find out as the service started with the full bells and whistles that we sat right behind the choir. Some of the choir members were not amused and as they marched in glared at us! A very different service - the whole service was done in song. Not bad - and it was awesome to hear the acoustics of a really really really old catherdral.

THe evening after dinner we went on a Ghost tour and heard some of the grusome ghost tales of York. Whilst out walking around the city it absolutely poured down on us - so not much fun.

The next morning an early start for our journey up to Edinburgh. Edinburgh was a nice city. We had a whole day to check it out. A nice sunny day - such a welcome change! We went up to the Castle, where they were starting to assemble the grandstands for teh Military Tatoo (which doesn't start until end of July). We walked around the city and in the afternoon tried to find a laundromat to get some needed washing done - and the receptionist gave us the wrong directions so we ended up walking all around Edinburgh. Not fun. Actually I was quite mad at this. Then it decided to rain on us as we gave up to get back to our hotel for dinner. Again not happy Jan!

This morning another early start - we drove up into the highlands and our tour manager had the great idea for us to walk through gail force hail through St Andrews and to check out the 18th hole where Golf had been invented. I hate Golf and especially gail force rain that somehow finds its ways into your shoes and ear canals. No one was amuzed. Took me the rest of the day to cool down and dry out! We continued up the highland and dropped into the Glenlenit distillery and saw how whiskey is made and had a taste - mmmm nice.

We are now staying at a little town (pop 400) called Tomiturl. Jo had a really sore throat and I wanted to take her to see a doctor. So we went this afternoon to the local. We arrived about 5.40pm and was told to wait outside the closed doctor's office - till the Doctor came. The Doctor rocked up at 5.50pm on his bike. He had been exercising - so snot was all over his face. As he was getting off the bike his mobile rang. He quickly raced into his office and said, "I will be 5 minutes". He then got back on his bike and proceeded to stack it twice right in front of us! He then appeared in his landrover, got out of the car -raced into the office and came back out with a whole heap of medical equipment. He said' should only be 15 minutes lady has had a heart attack". Ok! In his fluster he lost his keys to the office. So not knowing or trusting us he knocks on the residence next door and asks the lady to babysit us till he gets back. We got chatting with the lady. 20 minutes pass and the Doc's wife rocks up - lets us inside and then gives us the typical waiting forms to fill in. 20 minutes later the doc comes back. He then tells us - oh my defribulator wasn't working to give the old lady heart a boost. He then worked out that her electric blanket was causing the problem. Then all went well from there! ok. He checks out Jo and says oh i'll give you some Penicillin. As he is chatting on his computer he brings up the wrong Penicillin and says oh better not give you that one - it will kill you.

What a day!

Heading off tomorrow to Glasgow and then ontol Liverpool the following day. Both Jo and I are really looking forward to getting on the place to get to Bangkok and some warm weather. We are both counting down the days till warmth!