The next day we went to Ben Thanh Market which was quite unlike any other market we have been too. You would walk past a stall and a women would grab your arm and pull you inside or else drape a pair of jeans over your arm and ask you what you would like and how much would you like to pay. There were lots of alleys with hundreds of stalls and we didn’t want to even let our eyes look at anything for more than a millisecond otherwise the owner would think we wanted to buy it. I decided I needed some shorts as we were going to be on the beach a few times and the bargaining for 2 pairs of shorts started at 600,000 dong and after 20 minutes of Marc bargaining and the owner with her head in her hands looking distraught and saying “Oh my God, cant do that price” we settled on 160,000! Before she took our money she then proceeded to try to sell us some trousers and t-shirts as well, they were excellent salespeople!

We got a taxi back as it was pouring with rain and met the new group for a briefing. We couldn’t face dinner withthe group as we had just finished with our last group and had had no time to ourselves, instead we went to Pho24 which is a chain of noodle soup restaurants which I love. Pho bo is a really common dish here, it is a beef noodle soup and we see signs advertising it all along the road. Marc was disappointed with the new group as there were more men than women and he was still missing the last group!

Day 1: Today was a warm up ride for the group and was only 20km. We got the bus out of Saigon as it would have been too hard to cycle there with all the motorbikes and got on our bikes out of town to head towards the Cu Chi tunnels. We stopped on the way to look at a rubber plantation and see how rice paper was made. Rice flour was mixed with water and heated in a large container over a stove which was fired by the rice husks. A ladle of this mixture was then taken out and placed on a muslin cloth which was stretched tight, it was then spread out like you would do a crepe, the lid put down for 10-20 seconds so it could steam and then it was taken off carefully and laid on a bamboo mat to dry in the sun. They were so thin and delicate, I am sure if I had tried it would have broken into pieces or folded up on itself! We carried on cycling to the tunnels and while some of the group struggled we found it easy, I think because we were used to cycling in the heat.

The tunnels were Vietcong sanctuaries, used by the guerrillas as living quarters and escape routes. We got to the entrance of the first tunnel and it was just a tiny hole in the ground. I managed to get in and put the cover back on top of the tunnel but when Marc tried to get in he was wedged tight! The Vietnamese are tiny compared to us and the tunnels definitely weren’t built for Westerners! One tunnel we went down had been widened for tourists but we had to crawl through it on our hands and knees. There were over 250km of tunnels built and they were only 80cm high and the width of the tunnel at ground level was 22cm by 30cm. I don’t know how the Vietcong used them for so long, they were very claustrophobic. The Vietcong were very clever in deterring the Americans whose base was only 5km away at one point. When they cooked they would release the smoke in a different place and release it early in the morning so it would look like fog. They also needed air holes but would put these in places like the bottom of a termite hill and put American clothes under it to make sure sniffer dogs couldn’t find it.

We stopped briefly and had a snack of boiled tapioca root which we then dipped in sugar and crushed peanuts, delicious!

We saw some more traps which the Vietcong used against the Americans, all very clever but really quite gruesome. The theory was to injure them badly but not kill them as it is more expensive to treat an injured person than a dead one. It was strange, as we were looking at the tunnels and traps the Vietcong used we could hear shooting in the background. A short while later we came to a firing range where you could shoot a gun of your choice for around $1 a bullet. Marc had a brief dilemma between the AK47 and the M16 before opting for the M16! I went down with him to take the obligatory photo but it was so loud, the earphones they had did nothing. Marc fired a few individual shots and then let off lots one after another on automatic, he loved it!

We went back to Saigon on the bus and got taken to have pho bo for lunch. For dinner we went to a cafe that does sandwiches and burgers and the staff gave us 10% off as it was the third time we had been there, I think it is probably a good thing we are leaving Saigon tomorrow!

Day 2: We had an early start and headed out of Saigon by bus to start our cycle towards Mui Ne on the coast. We cycled 60km today but the difference was there were lots of hills. On the last trip it was pretty much flat all the time so the hills were a bit of a shock! The other shock was that there was a strong headwind and Lam told us that it would be like this most of the trip as the wind was blowing from the north to the south! Still, we were at the front of the group and found the riding much easier, we must have got quite fit without realising it, the group also didn’t seem as fast as the last one.

We finished cycling at the top of a long hill and Marc and I celebrated by cycling holding hands the last 100m to the bus. I thought Marc was braking and slowing down so I braked with my free hand which controlled the front brake, next thing I know Marc is carrying on and I have fallen off my bike! I blame Marc but he begs to differ! The handlebar went into my thigh so I have a very impressive bruise. We saw quite a few people come off their bikes on the last trip so I figured that if I was going to fall off my bike this wasnt really too bad.

We drove the last section on the bus past what looked like cactus trees but were in fact dragonfruit. We have eaten lots of dragonfruit the last few weeks and it is the most attractive fruit inside and outside but totally tasteless!

We arrived at our hotel and were delighted to find that it was about 10m from the front door of our room to the beach. We got changed straight away and went for a swim in the South China Sea. It was so warm, I have never swum in water like that, very different to swimming in Donegal! We watched the sunset from the beach and saw local people on the beach pulling in a fishing net. One of the group, Bill, decided to help pull the net in and after 10 minutes shouted to the other boys to help. After what must have been half an hour they were still pulling at the net! Marc had swum out to investigate how far out the net was and ended up going on board a small boat. When the net was finally brought in it had some tiny fish in it but I was expecting there to be lots with all the effort it had taken to pull the net in.

We went out for dinner and I ended up playing pool with Marc while the bill was being sorted out, we were to learn that it always took a long time to sort out the bill for 16 people. Marc beat me twice, both times on the black ball so I wasn’t happy!

Day 3: I woke up aching and had to resort to anti-inflammatories, I think all the cycling has caught up with me! I think it was also the hills yesterday, my knees felt very stiff. We cycled 60km today and again the route was undulating, ie. lots of hills! As we were cycling I was looking at the clouds. Half the sky was dark grey and the other half white and they were opposite sides of a vertical line. I knew that our lunch stop must be soon so cycled quickly and managed to get to the stop just as it had started to rain. Marc wasn’t so lucky, he had had to stop because of a problem with his bike and came in 15 minutes later absolutely soaked! It was heavy monsoon rain and was windy as well so I was very glad I didn’t have to cycle in it.

We cycled some more after lunch and then got on the bus to go to Dalat. We passed tea and coffee plantations and lots of greenhouses growing vegetables. Dalat is a hill station which used to be known as Le PetitParis as it was popular with the French due to the climate. It is now the place where people from Vietnam go for their honeymoon and there us a belief that unless you go on honeymoon to Dalat you are not really married at all! Our guide Lam had been there for his honeymoon.

Day 4: We were looking forward to today as there was a 30km downhill section but first we had to go up hills. There was a 2km then a 3km and then a 4km hill before we reached the top. It then started to rain and we got soaked. Going downhill my sunglasses would get sprayed withwater so I couldn’t see and when I took them off water and mud went in my contact lenses. I got to the rest point really grumpy and just felt like some chocolate and nuts but there wasn’t any. The snacks on this trip are rubbish in comparison with the last one, there are only so many bananas I can eat and the only chocolate is something called a chocopie. They don’t really seem to have chocolate in Vietnam just chocopies which are like a really bad cheap tasting wagon wheel. So anyway I wasn’t happy but put a poncho on and carried on. At the next stop it seemed like it was raining even harder and I decided that I didn’t want to do the 30km downhill section as it just wouldn’t be any fun having water sprayed in my eyes for 30km and got on the bus. As some of the rest of the group set off I changed my mind and thought I would go and just take it slowly, I thought I don’t want to have climbed up all those hills for nothing!

I was so glad I had changed my mind, it was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. It was raining initially but I figured out if I tilted the bike to one side and I went the other the water didn’t go in my eyes. The road was also wet which meant going round corners carefully. Quite soon after setting off the rain stopped and as we got further down it started to get hot again and the road started to dry out a bit. I didn’t see anyone else in the group we were all so spread out. Marc was ahead of me as he has a natural advantage going downhill and I just cannot catch him even if I am pedalling and he isn’t! It was brilliant fun. The speed I was going at I felt totally out of control, it would have been frightening going down that fast in a car but at the same time I wanted to go even faster, it was such a adrenaline high! I made it to the bottom 35 minutes later soaked but happy. It was a beautiful ride downhill through Bidoup-NuiNational Park and the scenery was stunning. Marc was waiting for me with a huge grin on his face, he loved every minute of it! Bill had come off his bike and his bike went over the railings but luckily he only had a few grazes and a big crack in his cycling helmet. Our truck driver was behind him at the time and picked up his bike and he carried on cycling but the driver thought he was doing 60-70km/hr. We stopped for lunch and after lunch Marc wrung out my socks for me as my feet felt so heavy with so much water in my shoes and socks!

We had an undulating leg after lunch which suited me fine, I have started to enjoy going up hills, it is much more satisfying than cycling on the flat. One of the group didn’t see the truck indicating the rest break so ended up lost and cycled an extra 10km which all the group were happy about as he was extremely competitive so somebody else claimed the stage win!

The last leg was a flat leg and as we were cycling through a village a young boy hit me on the bottom with a stick as I passed him! It was an excellent days cycling, I really enjoyed it and we were in the front group most of the time.

We arrived in Nha Trang, a beachside town, and went out for dinner to a barbecue restaurant. It was fun as you had a barbecue on the table between 4 of you and were given plates of meat, fish and vegetables to cook yourself. Luckily I was beside Marc and opposite Graham and between them they did all the cooking!

I was exhausted and went back to the hotel to bed while Marc went out with Graham and Stuart and some others to a club opposite the hotel. I won’t write any details but I have never seen Marc in that kind of state before, I blame the Northern lads he was out with!

Day 5:  Today was a rest day and we took a boat trip around the islands.  When we set off it was miserable and raining but by the time we reached the islands further away it had cleared up.  Marc jumped off the top of the boat and swam and snorkelled around the reef while I stayed on the boat and had a massage.  We had lunch on the boat (seafood of course!) and then went back to Nha Trang.  Marc decided to go out for a massage with the driver and mechanic in a local place.  It was only $5 for an hour and he said it was wonderful, he had never had a massage before.  They also gave him a shave which was lovely as his beard had started to grow back but he said it was a bit strange as they also shaved the fine hairs around his forehead, I don’t know if they will grow back stubbly or not!

We skipped the group dinner as we had had enough of waiting ages for our meal and then waiting ages for the bill to be sorted out.  We went to a place that did both Italian and Vietnamese and had a gorgeous 3 course meal with drinks for $10.  Throughout the meal we had people coming up to us wanting us to buy books, cigarettes, necklaces etc.  We did buy some books in Cambodia and it weird as they seem to just photocopy the original so some pages have the edge missing and we saw a guidebook which even had somebody elses annotations in the margins!

Day 6: We had an early start again and cycled towards Dai Lanh. We cycled 78km today and so decided to take the first two legs slowly and take lots of photos. Sometimes it is easy just to fall in with everyone else and get competitive and race each leg but we felt we were missing out on all the beautiful scenery we were cycling past and we wanted to remember it all. We cycled past lots of paddy fields and through villages where the children were so excited to see us they were jumping up and down on the spot and shouted hello and tried to high five us as we passed. It was lovely to see all the children coming out of school, there were hundreds of them on bicycles looking so smart in their uniforms. We went through small fishing villages with their brightly coloured boats and watched men trying to get past the breaking waves on their boats. There was one type of boat that was just a concave contact lens shape about 2m across and controlled by an oar whilst standing up. It looked very hard to balance, not at all stable! We saw a train passing us and then one of the legs we cycled into a really strong headwind and sand was blowing across the road. Sometimes the headwind was so strong it almost felt like I was going backwards and even on a downhill section had to pedal otherwise I felt I would have stopped!

The last leg of the day Marc and I decided to race each other. He had the advantage going downhill and would cruise past me head down and elbows tucked in to make himself more aerodynamic, not even having to pedal whilst I was being blown around and had to pedal hard. Of course it was the other way round when we went uphill and I would overtake him and build up a lead until the next downhill! We cycled for 22km and I could see the town, Quy Nhon, we were heading for getting closer and knew Marc must be close behind so put in one last big effort and arrived in 2 minutes ahead of him!

The hotel was right on the beach but unfortunately we had arrived there just as it was getting dark and didn’t have a chance to swim in the sea. We made the mistake of having the group dinner in the hotel that night, poor food and bad service. Bill had the right idea leaving 15 minutes after the order was placed as he could see how the evening was headed!

Day 7: We only cycled 30km today as we had quite a long journey on the bus after we finished cycling to get to Hoi An. We decided to have a slow day taking photos and video. We knew we were coming up to a village so I cycled behind Marc and started taking video. It couldn’t have worked out any better, children started running towards him high fiving him and running after him, it was like the pied piper! We went past lots of paddy fields with water buffalo and egrets in them and saw lots of coconut trees. We stopped to pick rice as I had never seen how it grew, it was just like how wheat is and when you open up the husk at the top there is a grain of rice. Not surprisingly we were the last ones on the bus that day!

We headed towards Hoi An on the bus and drove through local markets. Our driver was excellent but extremely impatient, we saw women at the market with ducks that they hurriedly had to move so he didn’t run over their wings!

We stopped in the village of Son My (My Lai) which I had never heard of. It is the site where 504 villagers were massacred by the US Army in 1968. Most of the 504 were the old, women, children and babies and after they had been murdered the US Army they then destroyed the entire village. We walked around the remains of the village and looked at some horrific photos in the museum, it was a very sad place to be, from the photos and seeing the village itself it was very easy to imagine what had happened.

We carried on in the bus to Hoi An where we were staying for 2 nights. It is lovely to stay somewhere for more than one night as it means we don’t have to pack our bags again the next morning! We went out for dinner and then Marc went back to the hotel as he was exhausted while I went to the tailors. He really shouldn’t have let me go on my own, I bought far too much! It was so hard trying to decide what fabric to choose and what style you wanted, it is much easiest at home just picking something off a hanger!

Day 8: We had a rest day from the bikes today and went on a walking tour of Hoi An.   Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we found it beautiful. It was a lovely small town by the river with really friendly people. We walked around the Assembly Halls and saw the Japanese Covered Bridge, also known as the Pagoda Bridge which is one of Hoi An’s most famous landmarks and was built in the 16th century. We then went to the house of Tan Ky which dates from the late 18th century. It was interesting seeing the house but what was fascinating was that on one wall they had marked how high up the waters came every time Hoi An flooded. We couldn’t believe that just a month ago the water was as high as Marc’s waist even though the house was a few steps higher than the pavement outside. We also visited a traditional workshop where we saw locals making silk lanterns and wooden Buddhas.

We went to back to the tailors as I had my first fitting for the clothes I had ordered, it is amazing how quickly they can make them and how well made they were. I got them to make a few adjustments and agreed to come back for another fitting at 4pm and if I was happy with the clothes then they would finish them off and drop them at the hotel.

We went back to the hotel and had a snooze as we felt we hadn’t really had a break. We were getting up at 6 every morning, cycling and then arriving at the next hotel around 5-6pm having a shower then dinner then bed and doing the same thing again the following day, it is no wonder we were tired!

I went back to the tailor for my final fitting and then met Marc to do some shopping. Hoi An is meant to be the best place for shopping and we only had 2 hours before dinner to buy everything we wanted. We went to the market and bought some metal coffee cups which they use here to make the iced coffee that we love and also got me a new wedding ring. This is the third wedding ring of the trip, the first one broke and I lost the second one so Marc spent another dollar and bought me a new one! The funny thing is I have grown to like my $1 rings as much as my real one!

We bought t-shirts, caps, lacquerware and bamboo bowls. Marc is such a good bargainer, one woman told him he was like a tiger as tigers are so fierce. We then went to some local art galleries and bought some oil paintings and some paintings done on silk. It is the one thing we really enjoy buying when we are in a different country, it will bring back such happy memories when we get home and look at it hanging on our wall.

We had decided to go to a restaurant with 3 others in the group that offered a cooking class. We have enjoyed the food in Vietnam so thought it would be fun. We cooked (and then ate!) fish with lemongrass, ginger and garlic, squid with lemongrass and chilli, spring rolls and wantons with a sweet sour sauce. It was all delicious, we will definitely be trying it when we get home. The restaurant was by the river and when we got up to leave the level of the river had risen a lot since we arrived and we had to wade through water until we rounded the corner and went up a street that went uphill. Rachel had cut her foot swimming near the reef a few days ago and was wondering what to do as we were sure the water probably wasn’t that clean and it wouldn’t have been a good idea to put her foot in it. Marc very gallantly swept her off her feet into his arms and carried her to a dry point!

Day 9: Today we woke up a bit nervous as we were due to cycle 78km but the big thing was that today we were cycling up the Hai Van Pass which we had heard was awful! The first leg was 16km and we took it slowly so as not to tire ourselves out for the pass. We started the next leg at the bottom of the pass and it looked like it was miles away. Hai Van means Pass of the Ocean Clouds and it is the highest pass in Vietnam at 480m. The road looked long and twisted back on itself, we had never cycled up such a large hill so didn’t know what to expect. Lam had told us that it should take us under an hour to get to the top and to just keep going… The group all went at their own pace and we quickly separated out and had our own personal battle with the hill! It is just as well really, I couldn’t have talked to anybody even if I had wanted to! I kept telling myself that it was only going to be an hour and that an hour of tough exercising wasn’t that bad really. I made it to the top after 50 minutes and Marc arrived 5 minutes later. It was like when we get to the top of a mountain or pass when we are trekking, you feel such a wonderful sense of achievement. I think we had built it up in our heads so much how terrible it was going to be that when we actually did it we found it to be okay! Of course there was a great downhill the other side which we loved every minute of, overtaking trucks and buses as we went down.

We had lunch and then for the last leg of the day Sue asked me if I wanted to try her bike. Her and Gordon had brought their own bikes with them and she said to try it to see the difference. We had quite heavy mountain bikes but Sue’s was a light racing bike with slicker tyres and drop down handlebars. We swapped bikes and it felt great, it felt like with less effort I was going faster! When it came to changing gears I just couldn’t figure it out and get the hang of it so we swapped back. By this time Marc was out of sight in front of us but we had thought it would be nice to cycle the last leg together as it was to be the last of our cycling. I said to Sue that I wanted to catch up with Marc so she cycled fast (as she always did!) and I drafted behind her. We overtook lots of the group and still couldn’t see Marc. We passed John who had a GPS and clocked us going past him at 25 mph on the flat! Eventually we caught up with Marc and I slowed down while Sue carried on at that fast pace. I don’t think Marc appreciated the effort I had put in to catch him it was the most exhausting leg for me of the entire trip! We enjoyed cycling the last bit just the two of us, it was beautiful scenery, a long built up road with water stretching for miles either side. We went over lots of bridges which were so smooth to ride on compared to the roads and felt quite sad that the cycling was coming to an end.

We arrived in Hue and went out for dinner and said goodbye to our mechanic, bus driver and truck driver. They were all wonderful, always joking around with smiles on their faces.

Day 10: We went on a boat trip along the Perfume River and visited the Thien Mu Pagoda. The monastery is the oldest in Hue and the seven storey pagoda was built in 1844. We saw the Great Bell which was 2200kg and walked through a gateway which was patrolled by six carved and vividly painted guardians until we came to a laughing Buddha made in brass. We have seen lots of laughing Buddha’s all of them very rotund and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Marc! Thich Quang Duc, the first monk to commit suicide through self immolation came from this pagoda and the grey Austin in which he made the journey to Saigon is still kept in a garage here. He was protesting at the persecution of Buddhists and the photos of him appeared in newspapers across the world.

We got on our bikes and went to the Imperial City. It is built on the same principles as the Forbidden Palace in Beijing and is enclosed by thick outer walls 6 miles in length along with moats, canals and towers. It housed the emperor and all his family, courtiers, bodyguards and servants. It will be interesting to see the Forbidden Palace in Beijing and see how it compares! We also went to the Tomb of Tu Doc. It had a pretty lake in front of it and we wandered around the building and saw the place where all his concubines lived! We finished our cycling here and this was the last time we were on our bikes. It wasn’t hard cycling, more sightseeing with a leisurely cycle from place to place but we will miss not cycling.

We had lunch and then went to the supermarket to buy food for the sleeper train to Hanoi that we were getting at 4pm. The supermarket was the other side of the river and we decided that as it was a hot day and we were feeling lazy and pushed for time we would get a cyclo there. We hadn’t been on a cyclo yet and it was great fun. We needed two and Marc had a young fit looking boy ad I had an old man. I felt quite sorry for them cycling with us on the front especially over the bridge which was arched and therefore uphill! We bought a feast for dinner, Vietnamese style pot noodle, bread, cheese, fruit and cake.

We got on the train to Hanoi which was to take 12 hours and shared a cabin with Sue and Gordon. Sue must have seen me looking at the beds as she said “Oh well, we aren’t going to catch anything that isn’t treatable”, I thought this was quite a good way of looking at it but still slept in my sheet bag! We sat eating our pot noodles and pringle sandwiches and went to bed.

Day 11: We arrived in Hanoi at 5am and went to a hotel near the station which we were just staying in until 11am when we would move to another hotel. Again we shared a room with Sue and Gordon and made ourselves a cup of tea and went downstairs for breakfast at 7am. For the first time I managed beef noodle soup for breakfast, I think it was because I had already been up for a couple of hours so it didn’t seem so bad! We went back to bed and then moved hotels, showered and had lunch and went out for a city tour.

The first stop was the Hoa Lo Prison also known as the Hanoi Hilton and is where US POW’s were incarcerated during the Vietnamese War. John McCain was imprisioned here from 1967-1973. We saw a guillotine that was used and the sewers that men escaped through. From here we went to the One Pillar Pagoda which an emperor built after he dreamt that he saw a goddess sitting on a lotus and holding a young boy whom she handed to him. The Emperor then built a lotus shaped temple in the centre of a water lily pond and shorty after his queen gave birth to a son. The pagoda symbolises the pure lotus sprouting from the sea of sorrow.

We then walked to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square. Ho’s body was embalmed by the chief Soviet embalmer and Russian scientists still service Ho’s body regularly. Unfortunately it is closed in October and November so we didn’t get to see Ho, we will have to come back some day! In front of the mausoleum is Ba Dinh Square and it is where Ho read out the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence.

The final place we visited was the Temple of Literature, it was founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius. We went through to the Courtyard of the Stelae. Each  stelae was carried on the back of a tortoise, a symbol of longevity and strength, and was inscribed with the names of successful examination scholars from 1442 onwards.

Day 12: We got up early this morning and drove to Halong Bay which is about 4 hours away from Hanoi. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was beautiful. The bay consists of about 2000 limestone islands each topped with dense vegetation which rise spectacularly from the sea. Some of the islands also supported floating villages of fishermen. We got off the boat to visit a cave which was full of stalactites and stalagmites, some of them supposedly looked like Buddha or a lion or turtle but I wasn’t so sure! It was a lovely relaxing day, just taking in the stunning scenery and relaxing on the boat.

We arrived back in Hanoi in time for a late dinner and it was one of the best we had eaten in Vietnam, sesame pork and 5 spice chicken both of which were gorgeous.

Day 13: We had breakfast and then went downstairs to say goodbye to most of the group who were leaving to go back home that day.

We then went to the post office to send back things we didn’t need as we were flying to Bangkok with a budget airline and I had heard they were strict with their baggage allowance. We managed to reduce our luggage down to one rucksack each which I thought would be under the 15kg allowance and went to the post office with the rest. The post office offered a packing service for free so we got a girl there to box everything up. It was amazing how she did it, cutting and folding boxes to change the size and make everything fit tightly so it wouldn’t move around, taping it up, taking it to a machine which then put a plastic tie around it, then wrapped it in brown paper and taped it again! Marc was very impressed and of course had his photo taken with her and tried to explain that he worked for Royal Mail in the UK! We must have accumulated quite a lot since we left India as we sent 17kg by seamail and 6kg by airmail.

We had one last iced coffee overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake and then went to a water puppet show. I really didn’t know what to expect but the guidebook said it was an unmissable experience so we booked tickets. It was brilliant, the water puppets acted out about 12 different scenes each set to local music. The puppets were all brightly coloured and the stories were very funny, our favourites were one with a dancing phoenix that had a baby and another which was a story of a man trying to catch frogs. We were quite sorry when the show came to an end.

We went out for dinner with Sue and Gordon and Sue and I both had duck. We had seen so many ducks the last month, at markets, tied to the back of motorbikes and as street food that we thought we had to try one. It was delicious, a great last meal to have in Vietnam.

Day 14: Lam came to say goodbye to us that morning and we went to the airport with Sue and Gordon. It wasn’t a particularly easy airport to get round, it seemed like our flight time had changed and we had trouble finding the desk. Eventually we checked in and despite all our efforts were 5kg over the baggage limit and got charged for it! We then spent all our remaining dong and got on the plane to Bangkok.

We have had an amazing time in Vietnam. Our guide Lam was with us in Vietnam at the end of the first trip and then all of the second trip. He was such a great guy and loved his country so much, he really seemed to enjoy showing us around. We felt like we have seen so much of Vietnam from the Mekong Delta in the south all the way up to Hanoi in the north, they are very different places and we found the people in the south to be much warmer and friendlier and the people in the north much more conservative. We have continued to love the cycling even though we are both exhausted and it was a perfect way to see Vietnam, to see all the local villages where they didn’t see many tourists was great. We felt like it was just starting to gear up for tourism but the parts we saw were very unspoilt so we hope it stays that way as we would love to go back someday!

Day 1:  The trip started in Bangkok and we met some of the group at the hotel before going to the airport to collect the rest of the group.  We transferred from there to our hotel near Khao Yai National Park.  We tried to order lunch but 30 minutes after I had placed my order of a sandwich I was told it was not available, I then ordered chicken fried rice but that never turned up so in the end I resorted to my emergency Green and Black’s chocolate stash!  We met at 4pm to prepare our bikes and go on a 5km warm up ride.  We weren’t quite sure what it really meant to prepare our bikes but watched and got more worried by the minute as people asked for spanners and alum keys to change their peddles, their saddles, adjust their handlebars etc.  We felt that really we should be doing something more than just altering the height of the saddle!  We set off and the 5km was really good fun and didn’t take long at all and we thought that maybe we would enjoy this trip.  We got back to the hotel and I think Marc just wanted someone to tinker with his bike and so he got his handlebars adjusted!  We went for a swim and then had a gorgeous dinner.  We were briefed after dinner that the itinerary may have to be changed as there were problems at the Thai/Cambodian border and it may not be safe to cross but that we would know more in the next few days.

Day 2:  Today’s route was 90km to Gaeng Hin Poeng.  I had a discussion with some of the girls over breakfast whether to wear underwear or not as the guy in the bike shop had said you shouldn’t under padded cycling shorts, the views were mixed so I was none the clearer!  Someone also said that they had nappy rash cream and baby powder with them if anyone needed to borrow them and I did wonder what on earth that was needed for!  We set off and had a front and back support vehicle as well as a truck that we could put the bikes on at any time if we needed a rest.  It was incredibly well organized, the front van would put signposts with a red arrow in the ground to make sure we would go the right way and the back van collected the signposts once everyone had gone past them.  It was great as it meant that everyone could cycle at their own pace and not feel any pressure to keep up with the group.  We were told that we would have a break around every 17km and after the first leg Marc and I were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t actually too bad!  We arrived and were handed a cool towel immediately and rested in the shade.  The back of the van was opened up to reveal cold water, cans of drink, energy drinks, bananas, chocolate, jelly and nuts.  I started to think that this was going to be like the trekking and that even with all the exercise we wouldn’t lose any weight at all!  We carried on skirting round Khao Yai which translates as ‘the big mountain’ but luckily we were just going around it and the roads were pretty flat.  We stopped off at a small temple where one of our guides Wasan told us about Buddhism and how anybody could become a monk for as little as a week if they wanted to be.  He had been a monk for 4 months and apparently when you marry, the girl’s family approves of you more if you have been a monk for longer than 3 months.

We stopped for lunch and were served gorgeous fried rice but they had forgotten that Marc doesn’t eat egg so he swapped his lunch with Wasan and had an authentic Thai dish which was spiced accordingly rather than to Western tastes.  Marc normally would eat a whole chilli if it was on his plate and be okay but he said he has never tasted anything so hot before!  We relaxed and ate watermelon and pomelo and contemplated getting back on the bikes.  Then from seemingly nowhere an ice cream man arrived, we all had an ice cream and then set off on the bikes.  4 people had got on the support van as it was so hot and I started to wish I had too.  It must have been around 35’C and I was exhausted.  We cycled through a golf course, which was a strange experience riding over the greens, and then had a break.  Marc and I decided that for the next leg we would get on the support vehicle and take a break as we were finding the heat too much.  We had done 65km so I didn’t feel we had done badly at all for our first days cycling.  We chose to be on the back support vehicle and Marc pulled the signposts out for the driver as went along which he seemed very grateful for, I don’t think anyone had ever done it for him before!  As soon as we got on the air conditioned van we felt instantly better, I don’t think it was so much the cycling that was exhausting, it was the heat.  We watched a Thai music DVD in the van and looked at the stunning scenery.  We saw a beautiful rainbow up ahead against a very dark sky and could see a line in the road where the monsoon had started.  We had been on the van for about 10km and it seemed we had got on at the right time as I have never seen rain so heavy.  We saw the group up ahead had stopped and we thought we would get back on our bikes as it would be fun to cycle in the rain.  It turned out they had stopped as they were cold and wet and couldn’t see a thing in front of them as the rain was so bad.  Marc was already outside at this point and was soaked too so he helped to put everybody’s bikes on the truck and everyone got in the van where we drove the rest of the way to the hotel.

The hotel was by the river and we were given a strange blue coloured welcome drink which tasted like popcorn.  Marc played pool and we then had dinner.  After dinner someone had spotted a karaoke machine so Marc, Matt and some others went over and started singing.  Maybe it was the songs that they chose but it seemed like the Thai people sounded really good and our group sounded pretty awful!  Wasan was filling buckets with ice and some concoction of Thai whisky, M150 which is like red bull, and coke and put in a handful of straws so everyone could drink it.  We stayed up much later than if we were trekking (at least 10pm!) and I left whilst there were still a few of the group, including Marc of course, still singing away.  I put in my ear plugs and fell asleep exhausted.

Day 3:   We woke and were relieved to find that our bottoms weren’t as sore as we were expecting them to be, the padded cycling shorts and gel filled seat cover must be working!  We cycled along minor roads and went through wonderful landscapes including eucalyptus and rubber plantations.  We stopped and Wasan showed us how to extract rubber from the tree by cutting it and collecting it in a cup or coconut shell.  You can collect about 330ml of rubber a day from each tree this way.  We cycled over what Al and Wasan described as rolling hills but it wasn’t too bad and the downhill bits were great.  The monsoon then started again and after a couple of kilometers we pulled in to a restaurant at the side of the road to wait until it passed.  Al (our tour leader) cooked lunch for us which was then put into tiffin boxes.  We had seen tiffins boxes in India as everyone carries their lunch in them, they are stainless steel bowls which stack on top of each other and keep the food inside warm.  After an hour or so the monsoon had passed and we carried on.  We passed lots of children shouting hello to us and some boys where linings the side of a bridge cheering us along – it felt great!  We stopped for lunch (which showed that Al was a really good cook) at a temple that was being built and noticed that there were lots of chairs set out for a function.  We found out that in a few hours the place would be packed as a cremation was about to take place.  We carried on and finished cycling on a short section on a busier road into the town of Sa Keaw.

We arrived at our hotel at 3pm and I couldn’t believe it when I was told that we had done 70km, it had seemed like fun!  We relaxed in the pool and Barbara taught Marc some cycling terms so that he could impress the next group.  So we now know what cadence, drafting, mitts and baggies are!  We stayed in the pool for ages and Marc was scratching a very funny dog which was by the side of the pool, when Marc found a particular spot its back leg would lift up and jiggle and when he wagged his tail it went round in circles.  I went for a full body Swedish massage which was wonderful, and Marc and Neil went to KFC for a snack before dinner!  Neil is a very straightforward person so when they got back and I asked Marc what he had eaten and he said just one piece of chicken, Neil blurted out ‘and fries and a coke’!  Somehow they both managed to eat dinner and then we went for a walk to the supermarket where we bought some cereal, you would think we hadn’t seen civilization in days.  Thankfully there was no karaoke tonight but we were told that there would be tomorrow night!

Day 4:  We had our cereal for breakfast instead of some very odd looking sausages and then went to the local market.  Wasan showed us round the different sections and we tried some gorgeous coconut pancakes.  The fruit stalls were amazing and we saw wonderful looking dragon fruit and lots of longans which are like lychees.  There were also lots of chillis, pigs heads and trotters, baby turtles, eels and frogs.  We got back on our bikes and again the first leg was fine.  We carried on towards the Pang Sida National Park where there was a reservoir that we could swim in.  It seemed like the road to the reservoir was never ending, I kept think that it must be around the next corner but it never was.  We eventually arrived and 10 of the group went swimming whilst the rest of us lay down and dozed.  I definitely felt like I needed a chocolate fix as I was so tired and discovered Beng Beng bars which were like a lion bar.  It seems like at every break I need to refuel with chocolate, bananas and nuts to keep me going for the next leg!  The next leg was very hot and Marc was way ahead of me and I was cycling with Stuart.  One of the local kids saw us coming and quickly got on his bike and pedalled frantically to keep up with us.  He looked so happy, a huge smile on his face and then he came crashing down.  I think he was so busy looking at us he lost balance and fell over.  We stopped to check he was okay and he seemed to be so we carried on.  There were now 4 of us in a pack, Marc and I and Stuart and Rachel and we carried on to the lunch stop drafting behind each other.  It was a new experience for me, cycling close to the person in front in order to make it easier.  We would take it in turns to go from being at the back to the front so it wasn’t just hard for one person.  We arrived at lunch and I felt like a proper cyclist, it felt like being in the Tour de France, being in a pack and taking turns to go to the front!

We had done 51km when we stopped for lunch and as we ate lunch it just seemed to get hotter and hotter so I decided to get on the support vehicle after lunch along with 5 others.  I dozed in the bus and then decided to stay on it for the next leg as well as it hadn’t got any cooler.  Marc joined me and we drove along taking lots of photos.  Marc got on well with the driver, Lun, so he stopped whenever we wanted to take a photo.  I have never seen such bright vivid green colours than what we saw in the paddy fields.  We saw banana and papaya trees, waved at the locals and I sent Marc out to get a picture of a long eared cow.  The cows here have ears which look more like donkeys ears, huge and hanging round their face and I just had to get a photo!  We got on the bikes again for the last leg to Aranyaprathet which was 10km away and again cycled in a pack.  The hotel was pretty nice but we had to swap rooms as our air conditioning wasn’t working and then we went to dinner.  We got back and Wasan mixed up some special buckets and we went down to the karaoke room.  Once again Matt was Marc’s partner in crime and the duo seemed to think they were only days away from signing a recording contract!  We drank Mai Thai cocktails which were only one pound and really lovely and sang cheesy songs like Abba, Tom Jones and Ricky Martin, the singing was much better than the first time.  I went to bed while Marc stayed to the end and sang ‘my way’ with a Thai girl!

Day 5:  Today we crossed over the border to Cambodia on our bikes.  All along both sides of the road were men with large carts that they pulled behind them carrying goods across no-man’s-land and then back the opposite way.  We said goodbye to Wasan and the drivers as they were staying in Thailand and met our new guide Woody.  We drove along a very bad road, apparently the new road is due to be completed at the end of 2009 and stopped for lunch at 10.30am as it was the only suitable stopping place!  As we drove on there were paddy fields as far as the eye could see as it was so flat and there were people fishing and swimming in the water.  We also saw lots of houses on stilts as the water level rises so much during the rainy season.  We got off our bus and back on our bikes 20km from Siem Reap and cycled to our hotel there.  The roads in Thailand had been great but these were a lot worse, more dirt roads really and as our bikes didn’t have mudguards we ended up arriving at our hotel absolutely covered in mud.  I had a strip of mud running up my back and into my hair, mud on my face and arms and legs, just covered in it!  We got some very odd glances walking into the hotel.  It was also quite different cycling in a busy city as so far we have been on quiet roads, I was quite worried for Marc as he had never really cycled in traffic before but he managed fine.

We had a quick swim and then went to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sun set.  It is a temple on top of a natural hill 60m high that has good views over the plains of Angkor.  Bakheng was a temple dedicated to Siva and was home of the royal linga and composed of 5 towers built on a sandstone platform with 108 smaller towers scattered around the terraces.  It had extremely steep steps to climb up to the upper platform but was worth it for the view.  The sun set quickly and somehow Marc and I ended up being the last 2 to go down and had to walk quite a long way down the hill in the pitch black.  We stopped off briefly at Angkor Wat on the way back which was all lit up and was wonderfully reflected in the moat in front.  We went back to Siem Reap and went and had a burger for dinner as we hadn’t had one for weeks and then had a wander round the night market.  There were lots of checked cotton scarves, silk products, paintings, jewellery and bamboo and of course t-shirts.  Marc bought one for himself and one for Matt with ‘same same’ on the front and ‘but different’ on the back which he thought would be a good name for their karaoke duo!  It was a nice market in that very few people hassled you and there was no pressure to buy, quite unlike other markets we have been to, the Cambodian people just seemed very genuine.

Day 6:  Today we cycled outside the main Angkor complex to Banteay Srei which was 28km from Siem Reap.  The route took us past paddy field and through pretty villages.  At one of the village we drank juice from the palm tree and were then shown how they made palm sugar.  It was gorgeous, like tablet fudge, I definitely had a sugar high for a while afterwards!  We stopped on the way there to visit Pre Rup which was built in 961 and is a temple-mountain representing Mount Meru which is the centre of the Hindu universe on whose summit the gods reside.   We carried on to Banteay Srei and upon arriving were surrounded by what we called the $1 sellers, selling postcards, water bracelets and wooden flutes.  All of them had the same lines and tried to make us promise we would come back to them later when we had looked around the temple.  Banteay Srei was built in 967 and translates to ‘Citadel of Women’ due to the intricate carvings.  The temple is considered to be the highest achievement of art from the Angkor period.  The main walls, entry pavilions and libraries were made from laterite and the carving from pink sandstone.   All the buildings were covered in carvings of women, gods, demons, serpents’ tails and flowers.  It was roasting hot by this point and Matt and I couldn’t carry on so searched out some shade nearby to sit in and listened whilst Woody talked.  Marc came over and laughed at us as we looked like we were wilting and of course took a photo showing just how bad we looked!

We had lunch and drank coconut juice and then went to the Cambodian landmine museum which was really harrowing.  I really had no idea how many different types of landmine there are (including cigarette bombs and bouncing betty) and how many people they had killed of injured.  We had seen a lot of amputees in Siem Reap and read that there are still many injured each day as there millions of landmines still scattered across the Cambodian countryside.  It was a very interesting museum and made me want to read more on Cambodian history, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

We cycled on in the rain which thankfully had made it a bit cooler and went to Ta Prohm.  This is known as the jungle temple and was the temple used in the filming of Tombraider.  Unlike most of the other temples at Angkor it has only been minimally cleared of its undergrowth, fig trees and creepers.  It was consecrated in 1186 and is huge, within the complex walls lived more than 1200 citizens.  It was one of our favourite temples, kind of like walking into an Indiana Jones film and amazing to see the strangler figs prying their way into the temples structure.  We walked back to our bikes past water buffalo and egrets and had a very quick ride back to Siem Reap as it was getting dark.  It was still raining so we got absolutely filthy, covered in mud and soaking.  We were all cycling single file as there was quite a lot of traffic going into town and I was just following Rachel in front of me, when she swerved to avoid a pothole I followed.  We cycled the last part in the dark and again entered the hotel lobby to lots of stares from other tourists!  I thought I should rinse our clothes rather than putting them straight in the laundry bag but after 5 rinses gave up as the water was still coming out brown.  It was the same when I had a shower, I scrubbed myself clean but yet when I dried myself and looked at the towel it was brown, it seemed impossible to get clean!  We were surprised to learn that we had done 70km as we still felt like we had lots of energy.  We went out for dinner and somehow ended up having a burger again with some of the group, Marc was happy as after he and Matt had finished their burgers Matt suggested they ordered another one to share!  We shared a tuk tuk home with Stuart and Rachel, the driver took us via a back road and we ended up going down a street which was at least 30cm deep in water, I thought I was going to fall out the side and grabbed on to Marc and Marc grabbed on to Stuarts leg!

Day 7:  This morning we cycled to Angkor Thom which means ‘great city’.  We cycled across the causeway that traversed the moat and it was bordered on one side by 54 serene looking gods and on the other by 54 fierce faced demons (asuras).  We went through the South Gate and stopped at the Terrace of the Elephants.  This was a 300m long wall which had large life-like carvings of elephants in a hunting scene along its walls.

From here we went to the Bayon which is built right in the middle of Angkor Thom.  The Bayon had a large tower and 51 smaller towers each with carved heads facing north, south, east and west.  The faces are crowned with lotus flowers, symbols of enlightenment and there are more than 2000 large faces carved throughout the structure.  There were also walls of bas-reliefs showing battles with the Cham, fishing with nets, people nit picking hair and warrior elephants amongst other things.  In the naval battle scenes the water around the war canoes is depicted by the presence of fish, crocodiles, turtles and floating corpses.

We then cycled to Angkor Wat.  I have always wanted to see it and it didn’t disappoint.  It is the biggest religious monument ever built and is spectacular.  It is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and its five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag.  The central sanctuary of the temple represented Mount Meru and the five towers represent Meru’s five peaks.  The enclosing wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond.  The temple complex is enclosed by a square moat which is more than 5km long and 190 wide.  More than 1000sq m of bas-relief decorate the temple and the most famous are the hundreds of figures of apsaras who were Angkor’s equivalent of pin-up girls and represented the ultimate ideal of feminine beauty.  We saw hundreds of carvings of them in seductive poses all with different jewellery and clothes and of course Marc had his photo taken with them!  We were at Angkor at the right time, about 12 o’clock and it seemed like all the other tourists were having their lunch as there was hardly anyone there, it was great as it certainly didn’t feel like a busy tourist attraction.

We cycled back to the hotel (about 30km total today) and were nowhere near as dirty when we got back as we were in previous days.  Late afternoon we went to the Tonle Sap Lake to see the floating villages.  Tonle Sap means ‘Great Lake’ and is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.  It is connected to the Mekong via the Tonle Sap River and when the Mekong floods during the rainy season the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow and the floodwaters fill the lake, which doubles in size, covering the surrounding countryside.  We went on a boat and watched the sun set and visited one of the floating villages which had a fish farm and crocodile farm on it.  It was interesting to see these floating houses and there was even a floating church!

Day 8:  We didn’t cycle today or tomorrow as we went to Phnom Penh which was about 6 hours away by bus.  We stopped on the way at another part of the Tone Sap Lake where we ay in hammocks and relaxed and then carried on until we reached a silk farm.  It was interesting as we saw the silkworms eating leaves then getting larger, on branches forming their cocoon and then watched a woman boiling the cocoons in a pot and extracting the silk.  She got a thread of silk from about 3 or 4 cocoons in the pot and these were spun together to form a silk thread.  I thought she was joking when she said to our guide did anyone want to try a silkworm but she was serious.  She picked a cocoon out of the pot and tapped it until the silkworm inside fell out.  Marc and some of the group tried one and thought it tasted like a pickled walnut!  We then watched people weaving the silk threads into a scarf which took them 2 days of weaving to make a 2m x 0.5m scarf.

When we got back on the bus after a while we could hear a whimpering noise that was getting louder and louder.  When we asked our guide Woody what it was he said that there was a puppy in a box in the baggage compartment that he was bringing home to his family.  Of course we said that he could bring it on the bus as it was clearly distressed, he brought it on and it spent the rest of the journey curled up in Marc’s lap sleeping peacefully.  Marc named it Buzz after Buzz Lightyear in the film Toy Story.

Our next stop was the town of Skuon which is known for its local delicacy of fried spiders.  We got off the bus and instantly were surrounded by children selling fruit and saw the women with buckets of live tarantulas and bowls of fried tarantulas.  We watched our guide Woody eat one and then Marc thought he would have one too.  I think it is as well that he didn’t really think about it as if he had I am not sure that he would have actually done it.  He put it all in his mouth and bit off the body, there were legs hanging out of his mouth and after a few chews he popped the body in as well!  I couldn’t believe he had done it but he just grinned and said that it tasted like it had been cooked in garlic and salt and that it tasted like shrimp with the shell left on!  We have all of this on video, the link is at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjLquFltjs Nobody else in the group wanted to try one but a couple of people ate a leg each.  It cost $1 for 4 fried tarantulas!

We arrived in Phnom Penh and met a local guide who was to show us around the next couple of days.  After lunch we went to the Museum of Genocide.  This is the former Khmer Rouge prison known as S-21 or Tuol Sleng.  It used to be a high school but after the 17^th April 1975 became the Khmer Rouge main torture and interrogation centre.  More than 20,000 people were taken from S-21 to their executions at the Killing Fields and countless others died under torture and were thrown into mass graves in the school grounds.  Only seven prisoners survived because they were sculptors and painters and could produce busts and paintings of Pol Pot.  There were 4 buildings, one of which housed VIP’s like officers.  We walked through their cells, saw their beds and shackles and saw their blood on the walls and ceilings from when the Khmer Rouge realized they were about to be defeated and so shot everyone.  There was barbed wire covering the balconies so that no prisoner could jump off and commit suicide.  In one block of classrooms we saw thousands of photos of people who had been there and then executed.  It was awful to see this and I think what made it worse for me is that it had happened so recently.  The Khmer Rouge were in power for just under 4 years and during this time more than 1.1 million Cambodians were executed and thousands more died from famine and disease.  It is a horrendous figure as the population of the whole country was around 7 million.

Marc and I went for dinner and a drink at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia.  It has classic French colonial architecture and overlooks the Tonle Sap river and is where journalists, diplomats and photographers go.  We talked a lot about what we had seen that day and on the way home I bought a couple of books, one of a survivor’s story and the other on Cambodian history so I could understand a bit more about what had happened.

Day 9:  We had a 9am start today which was a real treat after all our early starts!  We visited the Royal Palace and saw the Throne Hall which is used for coronations and the Silver Pagoda which is often called the pagoda of the Emerald Buddha after the statue housed there.  The pagoda’s steps are Italian marble and inside the floor had more than 5000 silver blocks which together weigh nearly six tonnes.  It was rebuilt by Sihanouk in 1962 and has remained intact, having been granted special dispensation by the Khmer Rouge.  In the centre is a 17^th century emerald Buddha and in front of it is a 90kg golden Buddha studded with 9584 diamonds, both were very impressive!

We then went to the ‘Killing Fields’.  This was 15km out of town and was a mass grave and execution site for the former inmates of S-21.  There was a huge glass tower standing on the site filled with the skulls of men, women and children exhumed from 129 mass graves in the area.  As many as 300 people a day were killed here.  It was quite disturbing walking round as you could see bits of clothing which tended to be used as blindfolds and also bones and teeth on the ground.

We went for dinner at a restaurant called ‘Friends’ which is staffed by kids that have been taken off the streets and they are trained there by former students.  The food was wonderful.

Day 10:  We drove for 2 hours out of Phnom Penh to the town of Takeo where the road became quieter.  We got off the buses and got on our bikes surrounded by locals, I think wondering what on earth we were doing!  We set off towards the Vietnam border and the group had obviously missed not being on the bikes for 2 days and set off at a very fast pace.  For once I managed to stay with the pack but then Marc broke off at speed to draft behind a truck that had just passed us and the some of the group followed, I couldn’t catch up at all.  We stopped for our next break exhausted!  We carried on and then stopped for lunch at the bus driver’s house.   Marc amused everybody by putting on the driver’s military jacket and hat and striking a range of poses!  After lunch we cycled to the Cambodia / Vietnam border.  Matt was getting nervous as he had worked the date out wrongly for his visa and it wasn’t valid until tomorrow but luckily it was okay.  We said goodbye to our Cambodian guide Woody and met our Vietnam guide, Lam.  We had loaded our bikes onto the truck on the Cambodian side and were meant to pick up different ones in Vietnam.  Al was on the phone and eventually said there had been some mix up and that we would have to get on the bus to the hotel in Chau Doc rather than cycling as there weren’t enough bikes.  We arrived at the hotel and went out to see the local market and use the ATM.  The currency in Vietnam is the Dong and there are around 16,000 Dong to the dollar so we took out about $65 and we were millionaires!

Day 11:  We got on the bus and drove to Long Xuyen where we took a ferry across the river.  We stopped at a café and had an iced coffee, it was gorgeous.  In Vietnam an iced coffee consists of one small glass of espresso, one small glass of condensed milk and a large glass of ice.  You mix the coffee into the condensed milk and stir it well then pour it over the ice, absolutely delicious!  We were still wondering where the bikes were and again Al was on his mobile looking concerned.  He eventually admitted that customs at the border had thought they were bike smuggling and that the bikes had been impounded at the local police station!  We sat there waiting and then 16 motorbikes turned up and we were told to get on the back of one, we didn’t know where we were going but put on a helmet and did as we were told.  My driver seemed to think it was a race against the others and overtook them, he then stopped for petrol and sped off, overtaking everyone again.  I was squeezing him tight with my thighs to hold on as I remembered Marc telling me that was how you held on on a motorbike so I am sure the driver enjoyed the trip!  We arrived at the local police station and a couple of minutes later our truck with our bikes on it came through the gates.  I think it is one of the reasons why we keep booking with Exodus as even if something doesn’t work out according to plan, the guides always come up with a fun alternative.

We cycled a short distance and then went on another ferry where a local woman gave us some water chestnuts to eat.  We carried on again cycling at a very fast pace.  It was a relatively busy road with lots of people on motorbikes carrying different things, one had what looked like metal goalposts, another had around 30 chickens tied up by the legs and another had 5 people on one bike!  We then cycled down an alleyway and along a concrete path by the canal and stopped for lunch at our guide Lam’s family house.  We met his sisters and his mother and lots of others from the village and had a wonderful lunch which they had cooked. When we left and cycled through small villages the locals looked like they had never seen tourists before.  It is nice going to places that are a bit off the tourist track and we found the Mekong delta to be beautiful.

We arrived at Vinh Long and took another boat to our homestay on an island in the Mekong Delta.  It was much better than I was expecting and even had hot showers.  We had an amazing dinner and all the food was presented beautifully with carving of boats and people with oars.  We had elephant ear fish which we shredded up and along with noodles and mint leaves rolled in rice paper to make fresh spring rolls.  I love the food here but the only thing I don’t like is that they add fish sauce to their chilli sauce, it has such an off-putting smell, I just can’t bear it!  Throughout the evening an old man who we had nicknamed granddad had been wandering around and showed us books of business cards of people who had stayed there and photo albums.  At the end of the meal he appeared with a bottle of local rice wine (firewater!) for us all to drink.  Al told us that granddad used to be in the Viet Cong and then granddad then went and proudly put on his uniform.  All the boys had their photo taken with him in uniform and put on his hat!

We left the homestay by boat and went to have a look at the Cai Be floating market.  It wasn’t a tourist market at all, just for locals buying fruit and vegetables.  It was interesting to see, they advertise what produce they have on their boat by sticking a large bamboo pole up in the boat and hang an example of what they have to sell on it.  After that we stopped to see local cottage industries producing puffed rice, rice paper and sweets.  We bought some sweets as there were lovely, they were made with 50% coconut milk, 25% sugar and 25% malt and then added peanuts at the end.  It tasted like coconut flavoured chewy condensed milk, yummy!  We watched puffed rice being made which was interesting, they got rice and put it into a huge wok like pan with sand that was hot and then just heated it until it popped.  The sand is used to stop the rice burning and sticking.  The mixture was then sieved to separate the puffed rice from the sand.  A sugary syrup solution was then mixed into the puffed rice which was put into a rectangular tray and pressed down and cut into squares.  It tasted very similar to Kellogg’s rice crispie squares!  Marc and I left very full from all the free samples!

We got back on the bikes and it was a beautiful days riding.  The scenery was fantastic, we rode on paths by the Mekong riverbank and cycled through orchards of fruit, mainly longans.  We went over small bridges and crossed the rivers by ferry.  We then cycled along a road that looked like it was being prepared to put tarmac on so it was just sand.  As it rained the night before it was difficult to cycle in but great fun, there was no way of avoiding the potholes and puddles and we got absolutely filthy.  At the same time school had just finished and there were lots of schoolchildren in their uniforms cycling along that road too.  I don’t know how they managed it but the girls looked pristine in their flowing white uniforms, not a bit of dirt on them!  We stopped for another iced coffee and were introduced to a different fruit, a rambutan.  It is a apricot sized fruit that is red and is covered in spiky hairs and inside looks like a lychee and tastes very similar too.

We then got back on our bikes for what was our last leg.  It felt strange thinking that the trip was ending but we were glad that we had booked another one as we felt like we were just getting into the cycling.  We got to the bus and had a group photo and went to lunch.  It was quite an up market place and we got stared at when we went in as we were still in our cycling shorts and were so dirty!  I ordered the set menu with Iseult and we had dish after dish of food arrive to the table, all lovely.

We got the bus to Ho Chi Minh City which was formerly called Saigon.  Lam woke up anyone who was sleeping as we entered the city to show us all the traffic!  I have never seen anything like it, there were just motorbikes everywhere and at every red traffic light hundreds would be waiting then set off weaving in and out.  Apparently there are 3 million motorbikes in Saigon as they are so much cheaper than cars, they only cost about $400-500 now they are imported from China.

We had dinner and then went for a drink at a bar called Saigon Saigon which was on the 10^th floor of a hotel and so had great views of the city.  I had a Miss Saigon cocktail which was lovely.

Day 13:  The rest of the group got up early to go to the Cu Chi tunnels but Marc and I stayed behind as we were going to cycle there with the next group.  We had breakfast and then went back to bed and I woke up again at 2pm, clearly all the cycling had left me exhausted!  We went out to find a laundry as the hotel rates were extortionate and as we walked along I spotted a lovely silk dress which the owner of the shop persuaded me to try on.  It fitted really well and so we bought it even though I had no intention of going out and buying anything!  We then took a taxi to the backpacker area with our laundry bags and as we walked down the street a guy spotted us with our bags and took us down a series of alleys to a house where we left in our laundry, I assume it was his mothers house and we had no idea if it was even a launderette but we took a chance and left our clothes there.

Crossing the road in Saigon was an experience in itself.  I had read in the guidebook that a code of conduct applies; the individual abdicates responsibility for his personal safety and assumes an obligation on the part of everyone else.  So the idea is not to wait for a lull in traffic but to launch yourself straight into their flow keeping your eyes ahead so as to avoid walking into a passing bicycle (your sole duty), no looking left and right, no ducking and weaving – responsibility for your safety rests with the oncoming traffic.  In order to make it easier for the traffic not to hit you, you walk at a steady even pace with no deviation from the route as any slight change in trajectory or speed could spell disaster.  It was frightening at first as hundreds of motorbikes are speeding towards you, it goes against all your natural instincts to just walk out into the road but if you didn’t you would be waiting all day for a lull in the traffic to cross the road!

We had one last meal with the group and had drinks on the hotel terrace.  We said goodbye to them all the following morning.

It was a brilliant group, we just had a great time every day.  It was wonderful seeing 3 very different countries and having a mixture of cycling and sightseeing.  We are both now addicted to cycling, it is such a good way to see a country.  We enjoyed the cycling way more than we thought we would and are really looking forward to the next trip, Marc is keen to impress everyone with his knowledge of lids, mitts, baggies and cadence! 

Fort Kochi – When we were in McLeodganj we phoned the homestay we wanted to stay at, Fort House, and they confirmed that they had a room and could send someone to fetch us from the airport, they said to email them our details.  We searched on the internet for their email address and emailed them saying what time we would get there.  We arrived and were met by a driver who took us to Fort Inn.  It turned out that we had phoned one place and emailed another!  I don’t know what Fort House was like but Fort Inn was lovely and very clean and also cheaper so it was a good mistake to have made!  We had arrived quite late and in the middle of a power cut, every night between 7.30-8pm the power went off so Anusha from Fort Inn showed us to a restaurant just up the road and we had dinner by candlelight.  After we placed our order the chef picked up his motorbike helmet and left and we wondered what was going on.  He arrived back 10 minutes later with a bag of squid and prawns (which we had just ordered) that he had just bought from the stalls along the seafront.  It was an absolutely wonderful meal.

The next day we walked to the shore of Fort Kochi and watched fishermen working the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets.  They nets were big and they only let them stay in the water for about 5 minutes before bringing them up again, they never seemed to have that many fish in them, 10 at most, I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just leave the nets in the water longer.  We walked along the shore and saw all the fresh fish stalls, they looked amazing and it was so cheap to buy from there.  Lots of the restaurants that we had walked past had ‘you buy, we fry’ written on them which sounded like a fun idea.  We carried on and went to Santa Cruz Basilica.  It was strange seeing a church in India and this church was unlike any we had seen before, it definitely had an Indian influence!  Everywhere you looked there were plastic flowers as well as flashing fairy lights and brightly coloured paint walls.  The only part that wasn’t bright was a lovely carved wooden pulpit.

That evening we went to a Kathakali show.  It is a kind of dance performance and the eyes are very expressive.  We arrived an hour early so we could watch the performers put on their makeup.  Green makeup characterized the Good and we watched as he put on his makeup.  The paints are natural pigments and we were shown how these were made, and then once they have all their makeup on they apply a flower seed in their lower eyelid to get the red eyes that you see on stage.  A narrator got one of the performers to show how different emotions could be expressed using just the eyes which was really interesting and very funny, the guy doing it was brilliant.  Then we watched the play itself which was about a powerful demon king who was eventually defeated and heaven and earth saved.  It dragged on a bit, we did wonder when it was coming to an end, and came out starving.  We went to a nice hotel for dinner and had an expensive meal, by Indian standards anyway, and decided that it just wasn’t worth it.  When you have such wonderful fresh ingredients it really is best to just have them simply cooked at a local restaurant.

We spent the next day having a lazy day and booked our flights to Bangkok.  Marc bought some cotton shirts from FabIndia, which is a great chain of clothes shops, as he was just so hot.  We went back to Casa Linda for dinner and the chef was horrified at how much Marc had paid for his lobster at the hotel the night before and said that he could cook us 2 lobsters for half the price we had paid yesterday.  We had another great meal and said we would be back tomorrow and he could cook us 2 lobsters then!

We went to an area just south of Fort Kochi called Mattancherry and went to the palace there which was built by the Portuguese.  From there we went to Jewtown.  It was strange seeing names like Jew Town, Jew Road and Synagogue Lane on the street signs.  We went to the synagogue which was really light and airy, the floor was covered with 18^th century blue Cantonese ceramic tiles, hand painted and each one different and there were oil lamps everywhere.  We wandered back down Synagogue Lane and stopped at a ginger factory where we sampled lots of different teas and pickles and then went to lunch which was a place that specialized in biriyani, apparently something of a local institution so of sourse we had to try it.  We had got totally disorientated in all the little alleys and roads that didn’t seem to be on our map and so got a tuk tuk driver to take us there.  I really wasn’t convinced he had left us at the right place, but the name of the restaurant and hotel were correct so we went in.  It was very basic and everyone was eating with their hands and looked at us like they had never seen a white face in there before.  We were seated and had a choice of mutton or chicken biriyani.  We both chose mutton and under a minute later were served our biriyani along with some raw onions and date chutney.  It was delicious and the server even brought me a fork although Marc was quite happy to eat with his hands!  We were finished and out the door less than 20 minutes later and had obviously arrived at the right time as there was now a long queue out the door.  It was also a bargain price as the bill came to under a pound for 2 of us.

We went back to Fort Kochi and wandered around there and went to a tailor who packaged up some things we wanted to post back to England.  It was quite an experience, first he sent Marc to the shop over the road to get two cardboard boxes then fitted them together with our things inside and measured it.  He gave the measurements to another tailor who quickly sewed up a white sheet which he then gave back and which fitted perfectly over the boxes.  The original tailor then sewed up the top and got out a wax candle and coin and put lots of wax seals over the seams.  Hopefully it will get to England in a few months time as we have sent it by sea mail!

We went to Casa Linda again and Marc ordered 2 lobsters as they were small and I ordered some coconut prawns and rice.  Somewhere the communication must have broken down as we both ended up being served 2 lobsters each and also the coconut prawns and rice.  They must have thought we were complete pigs ordering all that food and especially when we finished all of it!

The next day we went on a houseboat tour of the backwaters.  The backwaters are lagoons fed by a network of rivers with only two permanent outlets to the sea.  It alternates during the year between fresh and saltwater depending when the monsoon occurs.  The trip was utterly idyllic.  We went along the canals which were filled with purple coloured water hyacinths and banks were all you could see were coconut palms.  We saw local taxi boats with people, bicycles and goats in them and watched men shimmy up coconut palms to get the coconuts at the top.  We saw egrets and cormorants and it was just so relaxing floating by.  We then stopped at a local village and watched women make coir ropes.  Coir is derived from the fibre between coconut shells and their outer husks and we watched as they gathered the fibre and spun it into a long length and then twist it and double it to make a really strong rope.  We carried on walking through the village and saw a peppercorn tree, wild pineapple, nutmeg tree, tamarind and cacao tree.  We got back on the boat and floated down the river for another hour past men working shovelling sand out of boats into waiting trucks and children running to wave at us.  We had only booked a half day tour as I had thought 8 hours on a boat might drag a bit but I was sorry we hadn’t booked for longer as it was such an idyllic experience, one of our highlights in India.

Munnar – We got a taxi to Munnar from Fort Kochi and arrived there at lunchtime.  Munnar is at 1600m and so is much cooler and was once one of the summer boltholes for the British Government of South India.  We drove up through plantations of rubber and of spice.  Pepper then cardamom and then climbing up further into the hills, tea.  Munnar is a major centre of Kerala’s tea industry and is surrounded by around 30 tea estates.  We decided to stay at a small lodge in the middle of a tea plantation rather than in the town itself.  When we arrived it rained the rest of the day but we loved it as is was so fresh and cool compared to how hot it had been in Kochi.  Another one of the reasons why we booked the lodge was because there were cookery demonstrations every night, we had a very flamboyant chef who showed us how to make chicken meethi, paneer in a curry sauce, a vegetable dish with coconut and our favourite, a fish moilee.  He has promised to email the recipes so hopefully we will be able to cook them as well when we get home.  It was interesting to see him use cashew nut paste in some dishes and three strainings of coconut milk in the moilee.  The coconut is grated and boiling water poured over it, the first straining is thick and then boiling water poured over it again to get a 2^nd straining and then repeated again for a 3^rd which is much thinner.  He added the 2^nd and 3^rd and let it boil quite vigorously then reduced the heat and added the 1^st straining near the end and didn’t let it boil otherwise he said it would split.

In the morning we went for a walk around the tea plantation and watched as women picked the young green tea leaves from the top of the bush.  They get paid R4 per kg and pick about 40kg per day so make around 2 pounds per day and it looks like such hard work.  The tea plantations are beautiful, well maintained and make great patterns when you view them from a distance.  We walked in to Munnar for lunch and were glad we hadn’t stayed there, it was noisy and chaotic.  We went to the market and I bought a pineapple as I have been caving fresh fruit.  We got a tuk tuk home and arranged for him to come back at 9 the following morning to take us to rent bikes.  We got back and I asked for a plate so I could cut my pineapple up and the staff insisted that I give it to the kitchen where they could do it for me.  We relaxed on our veranda the rest of the day reading, drinking tea and eating pineapple.  That afternoon it rained heavily and there was a massive thunderstorm, the lightening stuck on the road in front of us and the thunder was only about half a second later.  I have never heard thunder so loud it cracked like the sky was going to be split in two.

We met an English couple, Mike and Charlie, staying at the lodge who were on their honeymoon and they heard we were going to go cycling and asked if we would mind if they joined us.  Our tuk tuk turned up at 9am and all four of us squeezed in the back of the tuk tuk for the ride to town.  I had read in the guidebook about a ride that goes up a gentle slope through a beautiful valley to the Letchmi tea estate.  It was only 8km there so I thought it would be a nice gentle warm up for all the cycling we were going to do.  We rented bikes from the tourist information in Munnar and were really pleased when we saw them, they looked brand new and even had the cardboard wrapping and plastic around the crossbar.  When we cycled away it soon became apparent that these weren’t great bikes.  We couldn’t adjust the height of the saddles, my right peddle when it turned pulled my foot inwards, Marc thought his back tyre was a bit flat and Mike ended up riding Charlie’s bike which was a ladies bike and way too small for him.  It was beautiful riding through the tea plantation and we stopped for water and chocolate frequently.  It seemed to be much easier going back as there were lots of long downhill sections which we go fast on, I think the locals we passed thought we were crazy!  We had lunch in town and Marc and Mike thought they both needed a haircut.  We found a barber and Marc asked for a number one, I think he was quite shocked when the clippers went over his head the first time and he realized how short it was but he loves it now.  Mike meanwhile looked worried the entire time, he had quite a perfectionist for a hairdresser who was determined every last hair would be cut perfectly!  We got a tuk tuk back to the lodge and sat down to read just as the afternoon thunderstorm started again.

For a change it rained the next morning rather than waiting until 3pm as it had done on previous days so we read some more.  It was nice being able to relax, we felt like we were on holiday rather than on a long trip.  There was a heavy mist and at lunchtime the owner asked us if we wanted to take a car to Top Station as there shouldn’t be any mist there.  The four of us got in an Ambassador car to go to Top Station.  The car was so slow, on hills we actually came to a standstill at some points and thought we might start going backwards.  Mike and Charlie had used the same car to get to Munnar and it had taken them all day to get there as opposed to it taking us 3 ½ hours.  Top Station is on the Tamil Nadu border, 35km from Munnar and has some of the highest tea estates in India as well as views all the way to Madurai 250km away.  We arrived there after 1 ¼ painfully slow hours and couldn’t see anything as the mist was so thick!  Marc found a leech in the grass which kept him amused for a long time and then we went home stopping on the way to buy coconuts to drink.

We left to go back to Fort Kochi the following morning and stayed there one night.  We had one last dinner in India at Casa Linda (not lobsters!) and then flew to Bangkok via Sri Lanka early the next day.

We have really enjoyed our time in India but both of us have felt that we haven’t loved it.  There are so many other countries that we have visited and absolutely loved and there was just something missing here, it is hard to know exactly what.

Day 2 – Our group got the early morning train to Chandagarh which was about 4 hours and then we got picked up by one of our guides and got on a minibus to go to Mandi.  I have never been on a worse bus!  The bus was barely big enough for 11 of us and it was roasting hot as there was no air conditioning.  It had strange wooden laminate flooring, seats that weren’t really wide enough and not much legroom.  On top of everything it had a strange rattling noise coming from underneath.  We drove for a couple of hours and then stopped for lunch.  We were told that it was about another 4 hours to Mandi which Marc was pleased about as he kept asking would we arrive in time to watch the football.  We carried on and then it started pouring.  We eventually reached stationary traffic which stretched as far as the eye could see.  Marc of course got chatting to everybody at the side of the road and found out that the road was closed as due to the monsoon there had been a landslide up ahead blocking the road which they were now clearing.  After waiting a few hours we started crawling forward and then came to a standstill again where we waited for another hour.  A truck up ahead had broken down and so there was only room for single file traffic on the road, as the traffic coming towards us didn’t feel like letting our side through (it obviously just isn’t the thing to do in India!) we had to wait.

Finally we started moving again but after an hour the rattling under the bus was getting louder.  Our driver initially didn’t seem too concerned about this but the pulled into a garage to get it looked at.  It was about 10pm at this point and Marc had long missed the football and we were all tired and hungry.  Of course the garage didn’t have the part needed and had to send someone to the next village to get it.  The group had found a roadside place and had some rice, dhal and chapattis while I dozed in the bus.  I think by this point our guide was getting quite stressed as we really weren’t happy with the situation and he decided to order us some jeeps to drive us to Mandi.  We thought this would be a definite improvement on the bus but it turned out to be just as uncomfortable.  Marc and I were sitting in the front seat squashed together with me trying to squash closer to him as every time the driver changed gear he rammed the gear stick into my thigh!  We eventually got to our hotel in Mandi at 2.30am absolutely exhausted.

Day 3 – We had a late breakfast the next day and then got on the same minibus for the drive to Manali, apparently it had been fixed!  There was still a strange rattling underneath but it did manage to get us to Manali uneventfully.  We drove following the Beas River into the Kulu Valley, stunning scenery.  We got there in time for a late lunch and met up with our guide Dibs.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round Manali buying things for trek (lots of chocolate and biscuits!) and had a waterproof bag made up for us to put over our exodus bags for a bargain price of  R60, 75p.

Day 4 – We started our trek from the hotel and the first thing everybody said to Marc when they saw him that morning was “new boots?”  Unbelievable I know but Marc had actually worn out his last pair of trekking boots in South America and we had had to buy him new ones in the short time we were back in England.  As he still had a bad ankle he wasn’t able to break them in at all before we left but we thought this would be okay as we hadn’t had to break the last ones in as they were instantly comfortable and he had bought the same sort as he had had before.  We walked out of town past the Hadimba Temple and up through the cedar, pine and oak forests that flank the hillside of the Kulu Valley.  The trip notes had described the trail as unremittingly steep which it was but not actually that bad, I think we have got used to steep trails!  Marc thought that his right boot was rubbing a bit so we put a compeed blister plaster on him to prevent him getting a blister.  We had lunch and then a short trek to the campsite at Sanghchur.  Marc by this point was really complaining about how much he hated his new boots and when he took them off the compeed had worked its way up his sock and he had a massive blister on his heel.  Even I felt quite sorry for him, it must have been painful to walk with!  We had a great nights sleep with our cushion covers stuffed with down jackets as a pillow although it seemed like we were surrounded by dogs which barked continuously through the night.

Day 5 – We gained more height quickly and the Kulu area and Beas River seemed far away from us.  We could see the Rohtang pass leading to Leh which was covered in snow which is unusual this time of year.  There were helicopters going there which were dropping food parcels and airlifting people out that were stranded on the road.  The snow was also putting our itinerary in jeopardy as we were due to cross two high passes, the Kaliheni and Thamser, and Dibs was worried that they too would be covered in snow and we would have to turn back.  We carried on walking and could see the peaks of Indrasan and Deo Tibba and many other snow capped mountains of the Outer and Greater Himalaya.  It was funny looking at the snow line, I know it is described as a snow line but it really is a straight line with everything above it covered in snow.  We walked through forests and open pastures and had lunch with a stunning view.  We had the same lunch again, soup (was always a challenge to guess exactly what it was!) then chapattis with either jam, nutella, peanut butter or strange processed cheese in a tin.  The processed cheese was oddly nice, not something I would ever eat at home but nice all the same.  We didn’t realize it at the time but this was to be the set lunch for the next 10 days!

Marc was getting fed up as he couldn’t walk as quickly as he wanted as he was in so much pain with his blister and was beginning to weigh up what his options were, whether he could carry on trekking or not.  His classic line of the day was him asking me if our insurance with the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) would cover him to be helicoptered off the mountain with his blister!

We arrived at our campsite and had a gorgeous dinner and somehow over dinner we were talking about dogs barking at night and the conversation ended with Marc saying that at 9pm that night we should all make animal noises in our tent.  So we all went to bed as usual around 8-8.30pm and then at 9pm the noises started, of course initiated by Marc!  It was so funny, I have never heard anything like it, everybody making different noises, the guides must have thought we were mad!

Day 6 – Today’s walk was lovely, undulating through the forest until we reached the river.  We had to take off our boots here and go from rock to rock to cross the river, it was so refreshing to cool off your feet in the river as it has been very hot every day.  We had another river crossing and then a very steep ridge walk uphill where Marc was getting frustrated with himself as he was about 10 minutes behind the rest of the group because of his blister.  I kept telling him not to worry about it but I think he is so used to being at the front of the group he found it hard.  We sat down to lunch expecting the usual chapattis but as a surprise today the chef had made us pakoras as well.  It was amazing watching him cook them in front of us, a huge pan of hot oil and another of onions in batter which he just took a small handful of and dropped it into the oil.  We had one large bowl and thought that was it but then that was refilled again and again, they were gorgeous!  We got to the campsite at the base of the Kaliheni pass above the tree line and saw how much snow there was on the pass.  Dibs and another guide Anil went up that afternoon (both crazy fellrunners!) to see how bad it was.  They didn’t even make it to the top before they had to turn back as they were thigh high in snow so we knew we couldn’t carry on with our planned itinerary.

Day 7 – As we couldn’t carry on over the pass Dibs came up with an alternative plan to spend a couple more days trekking where we were and then to go to McLeodganj and do some trekking around there.  We contoured round from the campsite which was a nice easy start to the day and carried on scrambling down rocks and crossing gullies.  It turns out that Marc really likes scrambling, he seems to be naturally very good at it, and he even stopped complaining about his blister as because we were going down it wasn’t rubbing.  We sat having lunch looking at the steep uphill we had to climb after we had eaten but decided that we both much prefer going uphill than downhill.  We reached the top of the steep section and there was then an optional walk to a small summit to our left.  Marc decided to stay behind as he didn’t want to make his blister any worse but I went up and the views from the top were amazing.  There was snow covering the top which I ate as I have been craving an ice lolly, and a 360 degree view with the Himalayas in front of us.  I came back down to find Marc dozing in the sun, quite happy lying there.  We contoured round some more and then headed down to the campsite, Marc was at the front as it was downhill and apart from trying to lead us into the wrong campsite (he didn’t seem to notice the tents were blue and we had been sleeping in orange ones) we got into camp first to choose the best tent, well the one was that on less of a slope than the others.  We checked on his blister but the plaster had fallen off again and it had now got even bigger but I think he is dealing with it a lot better now!  After another great dinner we fell asleep but got woken constantly through the night by our donkeys eating the grass all around our tent, they were such noisy eaters!

Day 8 – We had a short walk steeply downhill today and got into campsite in time for lunch.  The last section reminded me of that game with the wire loop that you guide over a wire and if you touch it it buzzes, except in my case it was having to negotiate through large patches of nettles without being stung!  It was a boiling hot day and the campsite was directly in the sun apart from one large rock under a tree that was shaded so of course I headed there.  As we were free for the afternoon I decided to wash my hair in the stream for the first time since we started trekking and it was just such a nice feeling to have clean hair!  Meanwhile some of the group had noticed that we were camping next to fields of marijuana which were growing wild about 10 feet tall and had gone to have a look….

Day 9 – We only had a 1 hour walk down to the village from where we were going to get the bus to McLeodganj.  We wandered round the village for a bit whilst we waited for the donkeys to catch up with our bags and watched as they packed cases of apples onto a truck.  There were apple trees (and marijuana) everywhere and Anil picked us some apples off the trees which tasted wonderful.  The same awful minibus arrived to take us to Andretta, 6 hours away.  It wasn’t too bad a journey, the rattling was still there but so many interesting things to look at along the way, there is always something to see out the window.  The man who owned the local trekking company that Exodus used was called Kim and we stayed at his house in Andretta although he wasn’t there.  This meant that we could sleep in a bed, have a shower and we ate meat for dinner!  Such small pleasures.  Marc and I got lucky and ended up with a double bed and ensuite bathroom!  It was a house full of character with all the rooms upstairs like a maze, leading off each other.  Some of the group had beer and whiskey with dinner and Marc and I had just gone to sleep when we heard Dibs and Rob in our bedroom.  The first thing Rob said was ‘I can handle my drink, I’m not drunk, but I seem to be locked out of my room”.  We knew this wasn’t possible as there was nobody in his room to lock him out so eventually they left and went round to the other door of his room and kicked it hard whereby it opened.  Of course there was much teasing in the morning!

Day 10 – We had a short bus ride to Dharmashala and then carried on to the village of Naddi which was where all our guides had come from.   We stopped on the way at a garage and I found that they sold Skippy peanut butter, my absolute favourite.  I bought a large tub so that I could have it with my breakfast and lunchtime chapattis.  We then had a comical lunch at a restaurant where they initially said we could order anything we wanted but it would take 30 minutes and then when they got the order said it would take 2 hours.  It was decided that it was easiest if everyone would have either chicken or vegetable chow mein so we would be served more quickly and so we sent that order in.  Minutes later what everyone had originally ordered started coming out of the kitchen!  We started trekking again after lunch and immediately started up some very steep concrete steps that led out of the village.  It was the hottest day yet and draining walking up in that heat.  We then headed back down to the bridge where we had started.  It seemed that our local guide Sunder thought that we would arrive in camp too early if we went straight there so had taken us up to the top of a hill and back down again!  That night we stayed at another of Kim’s houses on Dharamkot Hill although we did camp this time as it was a smaller house.  We were still able to have a bucket shower and had meat again for dinner along with platefuls of chips – yummy!

Day 11 – After breakfast Marc and I watched the cook making all the chapattis for lunch, it is definitely something we want to try when we return home, they made it look so easy.  We had walked about 200m when Nat tripped and fell face first cutting her lip, hand and knee.  After a bit of first aid and her worrying she wouldn’t be able to kiss her boyfriend when she saw him we carried on.  We had about 1000m of altitude to gain before we got to the campsite up a nice rocky path through a forest.  We stopped for lunch at Triund (2827m) and the three dogs that had decided to join us at Dharamkot Hill were still with us, I think somebody in the group was secretly feeding them!  We arrived at the campsite after another couple of hours trekking and couldn’t see anything as there was a heavy mist surrounding us.  When the mist eventually cleared for a few minutes we saw the pass that we were going to go up tomorrow, it was the steepest rockiest slope you could imagine and there didn’t seem to be any visible path up it!  We relaxed the rest of the afternoon getting occasional glimpses of the pass and watched a cloud in the sky as the sun was shining brightly behind it and had created a perfect silver lining around the edge of the cloud.

Day 12 – It was nice waking up and not having to pack up all our stuff as we were staying at the same campsite that night.  I had a large breakfast to keep me going up the pass, 3 bowls of porridge, and made a peanut butter chapatti to have as a snack on the way!  We set off and got a steady pace going.  We occasionally lost the path but remembered that Dibs said to just follow the sheep droppings and that was the path.  Everybody went at their own pace and I stayed with Marc as he was finding it really hard going, he thought it was the hardest walk he had ever done.  It was just so steep and seemed to be never-ending.  After 5 hours and not too much complaining from Marc we made it to the top, it was such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.  We then said goodbye to one of the group, Richard, as he was carrying on over the pass for another week of trekking.  We had lunch at the top admiring the view and then headed back down which was nearly as bad although only took 3 hours.

We arrived into the campsite first and I have never seen Marc as exhausted as he was then.  The 3 dogs that had been following us the last few days also made it to the top and back and they too looked exhausted.  We had run out of water and the camp staff could only give us warm water to drink as it was still cooling.  I felt so sorry for Marc, he looked an absolute wreck, that I walked to the hut that was up the hill from the campsite about 10 minutes walk away to buy him some cold water.  We had a celebratory meal that night which was a chickpea curry with poori (lovely fried bread-like a flat doughnut without the sugar) followed by a coconut rice pudding and then fell into a deep deep sleep.

Day 13 – We all woke up aching slightly but knew we could look forward to a hot shower that night.  We walked back down to Triund where we saw 2 lammergeyers on top of a tree and carried on along a ridge and then down into the village of Bhagsu.  We were staying there as there were no hotels available in McLeodganj.  McLeodganj is a hill station established by the British but is now the home of the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans.  It turned out that the Dalai Lama was in town doing teachings so visitors had arrived from all over the world and there were no rooms available.  We walked into our hotel room and I took one look at it and turned and told Marc that there was no way I could stay there!  It was filthy, I would have had to have hovered above the bed because I wouldn’t have wanted to touch it.  The rest of the group seemed to accept the situation but we spoke to Dibs who said he could take us to McLeodganj and show us where some nicer hotels were and see if they had a room.  We went in after lunch and after trying 3 hotels found one with one room left, it still wasn’t great but definitely better than the room in Bhagsu!

Everybody felt like having a celebratory beer but we had arrived in town on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and it was a dry day in town, nobody was serving any alcohol!  We left all our laundry in to be done and went out for dinner.  There was some confusion over what was available from the menu so I thought I needed to order something different, anyway I ended up with 2 main courses!

Day 14 – We spent the morning wandering around McLeodganj and bumped into Sean and his girlfriend who are from Canada that we had met at Ajay’s homestay in Delhi.  It was very strange walking past them on the street and realizing that we knew them!  Marc then went to a barber’s shop and had his beard shaved off.  They did it so quickly with such a sharp blade and then he got all kinds of potions and a stone rubbed over it followed by a massage, all for the bargain price of R30 (40p)!  We went to an Italian place for lunch as we had curry every day for the last 2 weeks and had gorgeous homemade gnocchi!  We then went to Bhagsu and met up with the rest of the group, said goodbye to Dibs, and got on the same awful minibus to Pathankot.  I was sitting at the front of the minibus and thought it was getting hotter under my feet and then the gearstick started to crunch and didn’t go easily into gear and the bus pulled over to the side of the road.  We just thought here we go again and had visions of being stuck there for ages and missing our train to Delhi but luckily someone appeared with a new washer for the gearstick and we got on our way fewer than 20 minutes later!  Things just happen differently in India, it didn’t seem unusual to anyone that the bus had broken down again!  We got on the sleeper train to Delhi and Marc and I took the top bunks which turned out to be a good idea as we later saw a mouse running down the aisle.  We had our picnic of peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate brownies that we had brought and then slept all the way to Delhi.

Day 15 – We arrived at the hotel early in the morning and were waiting in the reception area to go in for breakfast when we met a couple, Barry and Helen, whom we knew from a trek we had been on in Argentina.  It was such a lovely surprise to see them, it was just a pity that we couldn’t spend more time with them as we had to leave for the airport after breakfast.  They had just arrived to go trekking in the Nanda Devi area and Dibs was going to be their guide!  We then said our goodbyes to the rest of the group and went to the airport to fly to Kochi in Kerala in the south of India.

We have had a wonderful time trekking although it wasn’t what we had planned on doing because of the snow – maybe we will have to come back some day and do the original trek!

I have read many reports about peoples arrivals to Delhi. I was expecting about half the population of Delhi (14 Million) to be waiting in the arrivals hall, and the other half  to be waiting outside, ready to tell me that the hotel I had booked was full, the taxi we had booked ran out of gas, etc…. Instead the arrivals hall had around 30 people waiting quietly and outside the terminal there were even less people. We were met by our driver with a board and here began our passage to India. The motorway was huge and spacious. As we neared the centre of Delhi, the traffic started to get heavier. The traffic was an eye opener. Every car seemed to have been intentionally beaten and crumpled to avoid the frustration one goes through when your new car is scraped by an auto rickshaw, bike rickshaw, a man with a cart, an Indian official with a cane or even the seriously high pavements. The traffic was dominated by the auto rickshaws. All green in colour. Motorbikes with boxes attached for 2 tourists or anywhere up to 8 locals. I have thus far only seen a maximum of 6, but there was definitely room in the glove box and the roof for at least 2 more skinny locals.

The journey to our guest house was about 40 minutes. It was such an eye opener. We witnessed both of the sides of Delhi. The expensive 5 star hotels and various country club style retreats, through to the groups of people who live on the streets. Cardboard boxes for beds, filthy water to drink and toilet facilities everywhere and anytime. I saw a lot of Indian street Pee’ers.

The taxi was air conditioned. We stepped from the car into what can only be described as humid jungle heat. I immediately broke sweat and the wife began to gently perspire… It was energy sapping heat. Not like the dry heat we have experienced in other hot countries. It was like you could breathe the heat.

We met Ajay. What an amazing host. Our room was ready and the air conditioning had been on for some time, ensuring that these two gentle British citizens would not expire from the heat. I bet you are all so pleased that I am writing the blog. Naomi manages to be so much more succinct. I will punish you with details of toilet visits, ball scratches and every other minor detail that tickles my fancy. (I am typing this on a train heading towards the pink city Jaipur). Oh yes, Ajay…. So we got in and decided to sleep a little before we braved New or Old Delhi.

First bit of good news, we had Indian Sky. This meant that we had more football games than they show in the UK. First up Man Utd vs Liverpool.. woohoooo. Loved the game and was very pleased to see Chelsea’s torturers from last season Manchester Utd beaten. It was a great start to my holiday.

After the game about 7pm, we got an auto rickshaw and negotiated the price to go to Khan Market. The driver, seeing that I was a Gora (Whitey) opened the bidding at 75 Rupees. (85 Rupees is a pound). I finally agreed to a 30 Rupee fare and we were on our way. It was hectic and noisy. Cars, bikes and autorickshaws coming from every direction. I could not see any structure to the driving or how they didn’t permanently collide with one another. At which point our driver decided to reverse mount a pristine looking white Hi Ace people carrier. Naomi and I were beginning to think that we were risking all in these small, metal death traps with three wheels and no wing mirrors. The mirrors seemed to be aimed squarely at the two of us. The driver seemed somewhat distracted by Naomi. I know how he feels, but I don’t watch her when I am driving!!!! So, we eventually got to Khan Market and I gave the driver 100 Rupees. He willingly handed me 50 Rupees and felt that the deal was done. Somewhere in the chaos the price had risen. I was just pleased to be alive and still have all my fingers. He even let me keep Naomi and my 50 Rupees change.

We wandered into Khan Market past a police barrier. A lady spoke to us with some stress in her voice. “There has just been an explosion….The market is closed. Please go back to your hotel, watch some TV and stay safe in your room”. I wasn’t sure how to take the news. Was it a scam, was she being unfriendly or was there actually some danger to us being there. The police had said nothing to us as we entered the market, but the sincerity and care with which she spoke to us, made me realize quickly that we had to head back to the guest house. We hailed another rickshaw and prepared ourselves for the journey back to the police station, close to where we had been recommended an excellent Indian restaurant. We both started to get used to this mode of travel. The drivers were excellent. They were able to traverse through the traffic with such ease and seemed to have some kind of discipline. Naomi informed me that they determine right of way by who has the stronger will. Might is right! Oh tits. Anyway, our drivers will was strong and we arrived at our destination.

Walking through the throngs of people, it was hard not to stare back at the hundreds of eyes that were burning holes through both Naomi and I. More so Naomi and particularly her boob region. It is interesting to think about how non westernized people think of western women, their exposure to Western women being limited to sexual stereotypes from music videos and ads. (I know Naomi would have had this bit finished in about 3 lines…I digress!!)

We got to Karims restaurant. I don’t think we saw one other woman in about 200 people. We ate tandoori chicken, dal, roti and tried a lassi and a delicious rice pudding. It all came to 500 Rupees with the tip included, about 6 pounds. We walked back to the hotel. A 5 minute walk, made 20 minutes by our numerous attempts to cross the road. If you have ever played Frogger, that’s exactly how I felt. I decided to use a local as a buffer between us and the traffic and just shadowed him across the road.
We got back to the guest house and found Ajay in quite a state. He had recommended Khan market to us. He seemed genuinely relieved to see us return. He explained that there had been 5 bombs in Delhi, one of them being at the market. We were pleased to be back with Ajay. The bombs had gone off within about a 5km radius of us, but we never heard a thing. Naomi is probably immune to hearing bombs and I was too engrossed in the last 15 minutes of the football to notice anything.  I just wish that these matters could be resolved by non violent actions. Perhaps I am a little naïve, but ever hopeful.

We just lay in bed and watched the news and prepared for the next day.

Sunday, Naomi and I woke up really late and were treated to an Indian breakfast. A potato style pancake with tasty savoury bits inside. Yoghurt and honey. We then took an auto rickshaw into Old Delhi and went to visit the Red Fort. It was such a hot day. Even the shade didn’t seem to help the constant flow of sweat and perspiration. I could finally shed my excess water I seemed to have retained. 12 stone here I come. My delicate flower that is my wife almost expired from the heat. She seemed to find the exhibits near the fans to be far more interesting than anything else that was going on.

We left the fort and headed out. Then the mayhem began. Many many people came up to us and wanted to sell us postcards, chess sets, guide books. No thank you seems to mean could you repeat what you said. It was hectic. Added to that were the eager Auto and normal Rickshaw drivers who were fighting for your fare. One guy offered me a 1 hour tour for 250 Rupees. Ajay and Ravi had all told us to haggle every price. We must have had at least 8-10 people circle us. My only worry is to lose contact with Naomi. I didn’t feel unsafe, just pestered. Then our Sikh superhero arrived. A tall Sikh man stood in front of me and very calmly asked what I wanted to do and how much I wanted to pay. It was such serenity in a sea of madness. I explained that we wanted a bicycle rickshaw to take us on a tour of Old Delhi and we were happy to pay a reasonable price for the service. He said 50 Rupees each and called a Hindu guy over to take us away on his bike.

Our guide was excellent. He rode us down Chandni Chowk. An old street lined with many houses of worship. A Hindu Temple, a church and also a Sikh Temple. He asked us if we wished to go and see the Sikh Temple. We had thus far been so impressed with Sikh friends and also other Sikh’s that we had met, and were very interested to find out a little more about this religion and visit one of their temples. We met a very learned man, who covered our heads and talked about the faith and the route to enlightenment. It was very refreshing to hear his opinions and learnings, without feeling like he was forcing us to believe anything. The Temple was fascinating and our chat was also illuminating. He highlighted that we should never be in awe of a learned man. Just appreciate and pass on the knowledge without ego.

Back out and onto the back of the bike. We were cycled through the spice market. Streets lined with merchants selling massive amounts of every spice. The strength of which could be felt at the back of our throats. We passed various streets which were dedicated to specific products. Streets of shoes, silver, sarees and food.

We stopped at a Jain Temple. The Jains being a very high caste in India, I was interested to see their house of worship. The local priest showed us around his Temple and explained a lot about the History of Jainism and particularly the building of his Temple and its various shrines to the many re-incarnations of their God.

We were taken the biggest Mosque in Old Delhi, but never went inside. Our driver then took us to a shop which sold a lot of things for tourists. We expressed an interest at his suggestion and he reassured us that we didn’t have to buy anything. I bought myself a Kurta Pyjama (White) and Naomi got a beautiful green Pashmina. We were aware that this is just the start of our eastern tour and that we couldn’t really carry a 2 stone sandalwood elephant for the next 4 months and just got the easy folding stuff. When we came out there was a snake charmer sitting at the side of the road. Naomi bricked it. The guy lifted the lid and hit the side of the wicker basket, at which point a cobra popped straight out with its head in the attack position. We were made no more relaxed by the owner telling us that he had removed the teeth of the snake and would we like to wear it like a scarf. I used Naomi’s fear as an excuse and jumped straight onto the rickshaw and almost started cycling myself away from the stereotypical Indian street entertainment. Quite exciting really.

We said goodbye to our driver who kindly let me know just how much of a tip he felt he was worth. We agreed. We gave him 300 Rupees for a wonderful 3 hour tour of the old city. He hailed us an auto rickshaw. In the meantime a seriously dirty baby had attached himself to my left testicle and was trying to extort money from my pockets. We had been told by many people not to give the beggars any money, as it would not help them in the long run, and it would attract the rest of the population to our willingness to part with our money. Then a young girl appeared. The routine was flawless. We had watched a young boy the day before cry and beg us for money. I mimicked his crying at which point he cracked up and smiled. The girl peered into the rickshaw as we waited by the hour for the lights to change. She pointed to the exact pockets where I had placed my money and suggested that I give it to her. She pointed to our bags and asked if we had food. I had a bottle of water and thought to give it to her. She took it and then started verbally abusing me and pointing into my face. I then noticed that she had taken the lid off the bottle and was holding it at the bottom of the bottle and was watching the lights. The cow was going to soak us as the lights changed. It would have been a welcome cooling, but I felt like spoiling her plans. Just before the lights changed I grabbed the bottle back from her. The driver was expecting a shower and seemed relieved that I had got the bottle back. Naomi and I laughed like drains all the way to the gas station, where we had to wait 15 minutes so the driver could replenish his gas tanks. India moves at a different pace to the world. You just have to fit in and take the ride with patience and joy.  The day’s activities had left me with a migraine, which was only helped by a bed and a dark room. Naomi broke the silence with a couple of pizzas arriving from Domino’s. Can you believe it. We fly all this way to have Domino’s pizza. It was just sheer comfort food. Was so much cheaper than it is in England and tasted the same.

Finally shook the migraine at 2am and managed to fall asleep.

The next day was spent organizing our excursion away from Delhi. Naomi spent the time researching and e-mailing various people to ensure that we would have a wonderful golden triangle visit without paying the extortionate prices that the Indian and English companies charge for a tour to Agra and Jaipur. My leader, tour guide, accountant, chairman and beloved wife had everything planned and paid for. I was brought along merely for entertainment and a little bit of communication, which she feels may be a strength (or weakness) in different settings.

We then went and spent a good few hours at Humayuns tomb. It was a stunning tomb. Quite breathtaking the way they had designed each element of the space. I was impressed and a local said that if I liked this, the Taj Mahal would blow me away. We then left and decided to go to Khan market for some non spicy food and to buy a few things. The rickshaw drivers were all waiting for our trade and gladly offered to take us anywhere for 10 times the price of a local. We eventually bartered a good deal, only 4 times the price and headed for some shopping and grub.

We managed to get a few hours sleep in our room, which Naomi nicknamed the refrigerator. I was able to keep the room at a cool 16 degrees. Ensuring that the mosquitoes and flies actually couldn’t flap their wings without freezing. We were exhausted.

Jaipur – We woke up at 4am to get the early morning train from New Delhi to Jaipur.  We had another harrowing journey in an auto to get to the train station, it seems like you can go through red lights at that time of the morning!  We arrived at the station and immediately got inundated with people wanting to help us.  It is hard to ignore people who are saying ‘hello, hello, hello’ but it is the only way to get by here otherwise you end up having a conversation with them which involves them giving you information you either already know or which is wrong and then expecting money for their help!  We went upstairs to the tourist office to get away from the chaos but it was closed as it was so early.  A guy coming out of an office looked at our e-ticket and said that it wasn’t valid as we needed to come 24hrs earlier and get it stamped by an official to validate it.  It is hard to know who to trust in this country but as he had come out of an office we followed him across the road to the government run tourist office.  Here he kicked a man who was fast asleep on the floor, Mr Sameer, and he told that we would have to buy new tickets as our seats had probably been sold to someone else as we hadn’t confirmed.  We explained that surely the whole point of an e-ticket means you don’t need to go to the station to confirm it.  We then asked if we could use his phone to make a phone call to Ajay to check this out.  Mr Sameer then started to backtrack saying that it might be ok and just to sit in our allocated seats and ignore anyone who tried to move us.  After this he then became surprisingly friendly and gave us cups of tea and said we could sit in his office until the train arrived!  It is such a strange country, one minute someone is trying to scam you and get money out of you and the next giving you a cup of tea!

We got on the train into our first class air conditioned carriage (I didn’t want to brave anything else, I had visions of jammed carriages with people hanging out the windows!) and of course there was no problem with our tickets.  First we got a bottle of water then a cup of tea and biscuits, then a newspaper, then cornflakes, then toast, fruit and more tea.  It was great, definitely a good way to travel!  I then fell asleep for the rest of the journey with my pashmina wrapped around me as the air conditioning was so strong!

We arrived in Jaipur and we had a driver waiting for us with our names on a sign to take us to our B&B.  For the sake of an extra pound it is so much easier to do it that way than be surrounded by people trying to ‘help’ you.  The B&B, Girisadan, we had found on tripadvisor and everyone who had written a review had given it 5/5.  It lived up to our expectations and was wonderful.  We got there and Captain Singh the owner asked us if we wanted a short nap as we must be tired and then he would give us lunch and arrange a tour of the city for us.  It was lovely being so well looked after.  Lunch was delicious, we were truly spoilt.

We then went with our driver in our air conditioned car (I am still not used to the heat!) and picked up a guide who took us into the Old City of Jaipur.  It is called the pink city as the wall running all the way around the city and all the buildings in it are pink sandstone.  First we went to Jantar Mantar, the Observatory.  Jantar Mantar translated means instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens and was full of stone and marble instruments each with their own particular function.  Astrologers are an important part of life here and are consulted for all important occasions and decision making.  The observatory was absolutely fascinating.  We saw an instrument called Small Samrat which is a sundial.  It was a large triangle with flanking quadrants marked off in hours and minutes, the arc on the left showed sunrise to midday and the one on the right midday to sundown.  We read the time from the shadow which was solar time so we had to adjust it to Indian Standard Time by adding 22 minutes and this gave us exactly the right time to the minute!  There was also a Large Samrat which is 10 times larger and so is accurate to 2 seconds instead of 20 seconds.  The sundial on this larger one is 27.4m high.  Another instrument was called Dhruva which had a chin rest on a slope and when you look along the slope at night it shows the position of the Pole Star.

From here we went to the City Palace.  Pretty much as soon as we arrived a monsoon started but we were actually quite glad to wander around in the pouring rain as it cooled us down although I don’t know how happy our guide was at walking everywhere in the rain!  We visited the textile and costume museum which had wonderful fabrics, costumes and wedding dresses and the armoury museum which Marc loved.  We arrived at a large courtyard which had four gates, green gate, lotus gate, rose gate ad peacock gate which were all decorated with rich, vivid colours.

As we drove through the old city we saw the Palace of the Winds which was built with pink sandstone around 1799 for the ladies of the harem.  It has 5 storeys and the façade has 953 small casements in a huge curve each with a balcony and crowning arch.  The windows enabled cool air to circulate and allowed the women who were secluded to watch the processions below without being seen.

We then saw how block painting was done which was fascinating to see.  The man demonstrating first did the outline with a block and then with other smaller blocks filled in the different colours, it was then put in water and the colours changed and became much brighter and then hung out to dry.  We bought a few items in the shop inside with Marc as usual doing the hard bargaining and getting the block print thrown in for free.  He really does seem to be quite good at bargaining, I just feel uncomfortable but know it has to be done as they try and offer a ridiculous price at first.

We went on to the Birla temple which was built by the Birla family.  It was absolutely huge and was made of white marble which in some places was almost transparent it is such good quality marble.  It was lovely to walk on the marble in bare feet as it was warm from the sun, it was so perfectly smooth.

We returned to Girisadan exhausted and had a fabulous home cooked dinner there, we are loving the curries here!

Our driver picked us up at 8.30 the next morning and we drove past the Water Palace which looked like it was floating on water.  We then arrived at the Amber Palace.  We decided not to ride on an elephant up the approach ramp but they did add to the atmosphere of the fort and helped us imagine how it might have been 400 years ago.  The palace was a labyrinth of passageways and rooms and courtyards with the mountains surrounding it.  There were chambers with beautiful latticed windows and octagonal rooms to each side and stunning views over the lake, we spent a long time there just wandering round and exploring, glad that we didn’t have a guide and could just do everything in our own time.

After a while we drove to Jaigarh Fort, this fort was never captured so it remains virtually intact.  We saw the world’s largest cannon on wheels which was 50 tonnes and has an 8m barrel with a range of 20km but was never actually used.  The uniformed guard at the entrance to the cannon took our tickets and then tried to show us round telling us everything that we had already in the guidebook, even though we ignored him throughout he still then asked us for money as he had guided us!  There was another interesting armoury there and it was quite funny as each cannon there had a board beside it with its name and a history of how it had done in battle.  It was a huge fort, we walked around it for ages and seemed to provide lots of amusement for all the Indian tourists there.  I am still finding it hard being stared at constantly!  I then made the mistake of sitting on a different bench to Marc as he was having a cigarette and one by one people came up to me asking if they could sit beside me or if their children could sit beside me and have their photo taken with me.  After 10 minutes of cracking up Marc took pity on me and decided I needed to be rescued!

We had lovely salad for lunch at Anoki café.  Anoki is an upmarket chain of shops selling clothing, table runners, bedding, cushion covers etc.  We decided to buy a cushion cover each so when we are on trek we can stuff our down jackets into them and have proper pillows!  From here we went to the Albert Hall which houses the Central Museum.  There were examples of pottery, metalwork, marble carvings and weapons amongst other things and these were all brought together and displayed to show local craftsmen the finest examples of their crafts so they could learn from it.  The building itself was just as impressive as what was housed in it.

We had another great home cooked meal at Girisadan and an American guest there showed us all the jewellery she had made in Jaipur for her business at home as it is so much cheaper here.  We got up at 5am the next morning for our train to Agra and the Singh’s were waiting for us with a breakfast of toasted sandwiches and hard boiled eggs all packed up for us to take on the train.  We had a great time there, they thought of everything, it is nice staying at homestays instead of large impersonal hotels as it feels like we are not tourists, it is more like staying with family.

Agra -  We braved 3^rd class on the train to Agra as that was all that was available but it was surprisingly fine although we didn’t get fed so it was good that we had our packed breakfast with us.  There was some confusion as the train pulled up to Agra as there are 3 stations in Agra and I wasn’t 100% sure which one I had asked to be collected from!  Eventually I decided that I needed to check and phone the homestay we were going to but as we don’t have a phone this involved me having to ask an Indian man who spoke English if he would mind if I used his phone.  He looked a bit bewildered when I asked but let me use his phone!  We were picked up by a driver and decided to book him for 2 days to take us round the sights as the homestay we were staying at was a few kms outside Agra itself.  We had heard that Agra wasn’t a very nice place and so decided not to stay in the centre.

That afternoon we went to the Taj Mahal.  It is strange as you go through the entrance into a large square you cant see it, it is only after you go through a massive red sandstone gateway that you see it in front of you.  We had read the story in the guidebook of how Shah Jahan, the fifth of the great Mughals, resolved to build his wife Mumtaz (who had died during childbirth) the most magnificent memorial on earth.  Apparently on her deathbed she asked him to show the word how much they loved one another.  It took 22 years to complete with a workforce of 20,000.

Walking through the gateway and seeing the Taj Mahal in front of you is such a magical experience.  Even though it has all the hype surrounding it and we have seen countless pictures, it just takes your breath away when you see it with your own eyes.  The white marble was in contrast to the sky and the dome itself is huge.  The dome is actually a double dome and is done this way to gain height.  Up close the marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones of all colours and shows such intricate workmanship.  Inside the Taj was surprisingly small, it looks so large from the outside but inside there really isn’t much room at all just a central chamber and four octagonal corner rooms.  The tomb of Mumtaz lies directly beneath the dome and lines up centrally with the main entrance.  Shah Jahan’s tomb is larger and to the side but wasn’t originally intended to be there, it was squeezed in by his son, so it flaws the otherwise perfectly symmetry.

We sat on a bench in the garden just mesmerized by the sight of it.  Marc then insisted I take some Princess Diana style photos of him fluttering his eyelashes with his ankles positioned to the side of him!  Not sure if he will put this on facebook along with the one of him posing with his arm and finger outstretched with the tip of his finger on top of the Taj Mahal!

We stopped off at a carpet shop on the way back to see a demonstration of how they are made which was really interesting just to see how labour intensive it was and how skilled the man showing how to make it was.  It was very tempting to buy one but we resisted the hard sell!

We then headed back to the homestay for dinner which Marc said was the best meal he had eaten in India which was surprising as it was all vegetarian food and you know how Marc likes his meat!

The next day we visited the Baby Taj in the morning which is like a miniature replica of the Taj Mahal.  We paid R200 as a tourist entrance fee and then noticed we had been given Indian tickets which only cost R5.  It didn’t seem to bother any of the officials that checked our tickets so I am sure they must all be in on the scam and splitting the difference between them!  We then went to a viewpoint across the river from the Taj Mahal to take some photos and had to say to one man at least 20 times that no, we didn’t want to take a photo with his camel in it!  We drove back across the river and went to the Red Fort.  It was much more interesting than the Red Fort in Delhi.  Shah Jahan was kept imprisoned here for the last 8 years of his life by his son, Aurangzeb who had seized power from him.  It rained heavily the entire time we were there and of course we got pestered at the gate to buy an umbrella, nobody seemed to understand that we liked walking in the rain!  It had lots of wonderful white marble buildings inside with a great view of the Taj Mahal from the windows.

We had a quick lunch and went to Fatehpur Sikri.  There is only one road there from Agra, it is about an hour away, and about 25 minutes outside Agra we stopped in stationary traffic.  Our driver got out to find out what was going on and came back and told us that the stationary trucks had been there since yesterday as two trucks had broken down beside each other on opposite sides of the road.  They were both filled with rocks that they were transporting so couldn’t be moved.  Luckily there was enough space between them for a small car to be able to go through so we overtook the entire traffic jam and got to Fatehpur Sikri.  We heard later that the road was blocked for 2 days.  Fatehpur Sikri is a perfectly preserved red sandstone capital spread along a ridge.  The mosque and palace buildings were deserted after only 14 years.  Akbar the third and greatest of the Mughals had many wives but no living heir.  He visited a holy man, at Sikri who told the emperor he would have 3 sons.  Soon after this prophecy came true.  Akbar was so impressed he decided to build an entirely new capital at Sikri in honour of the saint.  It is over 400 years old and looks no different now as to when it was built.  In the Royal Palace there were numerous courtyards and cloisters, thrones, an astrologer’s seat, pavilions, a ladies garden, stables and palaces – all very impressive!  Inside the mosque is the white marble tomb of the holy man where Hindu and Muslim women come and tie cotton threads and pray at the shrine hoping for children.

We had some time to kill before getting the train back to Delhi so decided to go to one of the marble shops which gave demonstrations of marble inlay.  It was fascinating.  Two men work as a team, one makes the indentations into the marble according to a pattern that is drawn on top and the other one has a wheel that slices precious stones very finely and then he uses it to shape the stone.  It is all done by sight, they are so skilled at what they do, the pieces fit perfectly flat in line with the marble.  After the demonstration we went into the showroom and were very tempted to buy a marble table or two, they were absolutely stunning but instead came out with just a few smaller items that would fit in our rucksacks!

We got the train back to Delhi that evening and got a government pre-paid autorickshaw back to Ajay at our homestay.  They are such a good idea, at train stations and the airport rather than being ripped off by a driver, a man in a kiosk works out how far you are traveling and you pay a fixed price to them and get a receipt which you give to the auto driver when he has taken you to your destination as his form of payment.  It meant we only paid R75 as opposed to R500 when we asked a taxi driver!  We arrived back at the homestay where Ajay welcomed us like old friends, we really don’t feel like moving hotels tomorrow but our next trek starts then so we have to go and meet the group!

The boat started its engines late in the night and we went to the island of Espagnola . It is the southernmost island of the Galapagos and following a successful programme to remove all the feral species, is the most pristine. In the morning we went to Gardner Bay which was a beautiful white sand beach. There were sea lions absolutely everywhere and they weren’t in the slightest bit fazed that we were there too. They very much reminded me of Marc. We have seen them on rocks and boats and the way they lie there looking so relaxed with one flipper hanging off and constantly shuffling another inch to get to that ultimate comfy position is just how Marc is when he is trying to get comfy on the settee!

Each colony of sea lions consists of a dominant male and from a few to 30 females with their young. The dominant male then spends much of his day swimming from one border of his territory to the other, defending it against the other males. As there are many males without colonies these surplus males congregate together in bachelor colonies.

We wandered along the beach for a bit and then put on all our snorkeling gear and got in the water. Marc and I have never snorkeled before and it took a few minutes to get used to, especially when sea lions would appear in front of you out of nowhere giving me quite a fright! It was wonderful swimming with the sea lions, they are as graceful in the water as they are clumsy on land. We swam around a rock about 200m off the beach and saw diamond stingrays, blue chin parrotfish, king angelfish and my favourite the yellow tailed surgeonfish. We saw huge shoals of them, they were a marvelous bright blue colour with a yellow tail and two darker blue stripes going down across its eyes.

In the afternoon we went to Punta Suarez on the western tip of the island. When we got off the boats it was hard to put your foot down without stepping on a crab or a marine iguana, they were everywhere! The crabs were mostly Sally Lightfoot crabs and were a reddish colour with bits of turquoise. We then saw our first blue footed booby. We have seen t-shirts in all the shops saying “I love boobies”, but so far Marc has resisted! We walked along the coastline and saw a yellow breasted heron, Nazca boobies, frigates, Galapagos doves, mockingbirds, yellow warblers, all kinds of finches, marine and land iguanas and waved albatrosses. We sat on the edge of the cliffs and watched the waves force their way up through a blowhole and create a huge 30ft spray which turned into a fine mist, it was beautiful. We then stood for ages mesmerized by the mating rituals of the albatross. It involved two of them circling their bills around each others bills making a clattering noise then one would stop and make a funny stuttering noise whilst the other shot his head and neck upright in the air honking. Then the bowing, bill clicking, bill circling, swaying and freezing, honking and whistling would start again! It was utterly fascinating to watch, apparently it goes on for a couple of hours. They weigh 5kg on average and have a wing span of up to 2.4m and is the largest bird in the islands. Espagnola has a flat surface for nesting and nearby sea cliffs from which to become airborne, they waddle up to the edge and simply drop off with wings outstretched!

From here the boat carried on to Floreana. I had to miss dinner that night as the boat was swaying so much I just couldn’t face it. I am definitely not suited to living on a boat! Marc on the other hand has adapted very well to living on a boat. He calls himself an old sea dog, swaying with the grace of a sea lion as he walks forward, using the movement of the boat to guide him to his next comfy seat. In the morning we went to Punta Cormorant, a beach near which there is a lake inhabited with flamingos. The flamingos were a really vivid bright shade of pink, quite unlike the pale coloured ones we had seen in Namibia. We then spent a while on another beach looking at the different types of crabs. The water here is the most beautiful turquoise colour I have ever seen, the beaches so white and the sand is so fine it is like flour, not grainy at all.

We then took a short 30 minute journey in the boat to Post Office Bay on the north side, where there was a sea lion, great blue heron and lots of crabs there to greet us. There is a custom for visitors here to place unstamped letters and postcards in the postbox and deliver free of charge any addressed to their own destinations. We looked through hundreds of postcards but didn’t find any addressed to people in St Albans or Belfast which was a pity, I think Marc is missing his postman job!

We put on our snorkeling gear again and spent the next hour and a half in the water. We saw some diamond stingrays, an octopus, pufferfish, steamer hogfish and best of all, sea turtles. It was magical, the rest of the group had gone further on so it was just Marc and me holding hands following a sea turtle round for at least 10 minutes. It knew we were there and seemed to slow down so we could swim with it and kept looking round at us. It was huge, about 1m long and 150kg and swam the same way I do, using its front legs whilst its back legs were just dead weights being dragged along behind not moving at all!

We got back on the boat and we made our way to Santa Cruz island with dolphins swimming just in front of the boat and diving in and out of the water. In the morning we went ashore at Puerto Ayora, the main town, and got on a bus to the highlands. We stopped off at a lava tube which is a natural underground tunnel. It was formed when lava flowed and a hard crust formed on the outside but when the lava stopped flowing a tunnel remained. It was about 4-5m wide and up to 15m high in some places. The one we saw was over 400m long. From here we went to see giant tortoises in the wild. We saw about 12 in total and could have stayed watching them for a long time. I was surprised how big they were and especially the size of their legs, they looked like an elephants legs, all dried out and wrinkly. The face was very cute, apparently when Steven Spielberg did ET he based how ET looked on the face of the giant tortoise and it really did look similar! It was interesting to just watch them plodding about and eating leaves. When anyone approached too quickly, they would hiss and draw back into their shells.

We then went to the Charles Darwin research centre where we saw Lonesome George and the breeding programme to boost the population of giant tortoises. The tortoises are repatriated to their home islands when they are about 4 years old (1.5kg). The population of them was depleted when whalers arrived in the 18^th and 19^th centuries and took them on board to have as meat and also to render their fat to use as oil. When goats were introduced to the island in the 1950’s and ate all the vegetation this further reduced the population. Lonesome George was found in 1972 and is the only surviving member of the Isla Pinta subspecies. He has lived with 2 females from Wolf volcano on Isabela island for the last 10-15 years who are the closest to his species in the hope of mating. We found out that one of the females has finally laid some eggs and that George is due to be a daddy by the end of the year!

The next morning we arrived in Santa Fe. We went on a trail and saw lots of wonderful tree cacti (opuntia cactus) some of which were 10m high. We also saw the Santa Fe land iguana which is found nowhere else in the world, lava lizards, pelicans and a hawk. After an hour or so we went back on board the boat and put on our snorkeling gear and snorkeled just off the boat. Marc did what he had always wanted to do and fell backwards off the edge of the panga (dingy), he looked quite the diver! We swam along a small island and again saw lots of wonderful fish, more yellow tailed surgeonfish, a lobster, lots of black striped salema, rainbow wrasse, giant damselfish and a reef cornetfish. The reef cornetfish was about 1.2m long and only about 5-10cm wide and darted about below us. We also saw orange cup coral and then the sea lions started playing with us. We stayed there for ages whilst they swam around us, popping up in front of our faces and then swimming off in the opposite direction, always getting so close but never colliding with us at any time.

We then had another huge lunch and a siesta and arrived at South Plaza island. Here we saw swallowtail gulls, a celp, a lava gull and marine and land iguanas. The marine iguana is the world’s only seagoing lizard and grazes on seaweed underwater. They spend hours basking in the sun to restore their internal temperature after diving in the water. They seemed to be everywhere draped over warm rocks, in rows facing the same way to maximize exposure to the sun and snort little puffs of spray into the air as they expel salt ingested during dives. They have scarlet and aqua tones highlighting their black skin., and looked scaly and wrinkly. The land iguana looks different from the marine iguanas as it is a yellow colour and has a spiny crest. They like to eat the pads and flowers of prickly pear cacti and when we where there we saw some fighting over a cactus that had been blown to the ground. It was hard to walk on the island without stepping on either an iguana, sea lion or lava lizard. The lava lizards are tiny compared to the iguanas, only about 10-15cm in length, and they are constantly scurrying across the rocks.

Although the island was tiny it was one of the most enjoyable islands, we took so many photos of the land iguanas it is just as well digital cameras were invented! The island was covered with sesuvium (carpet weed) which gave the ground a wonderful colour of green, and all kinds of shades of red and orange.

We travelled overnight to Rabida island which was a tiny island (5sq km) with dark red sand beaches, quite a contrast to the white floury beaches we had been on before. Here we saw pelicans nesting. The young had such a soft looking white downy covering and were very entertaining to watch. We saw one which had just woken up, first it stretched one wing out then the other and then it did a backwards lunge with one leg as if to stretch it out. It looked like it was doing some bizarre yoga pose! The pelicans catch their food by shallow plunge diving. We watched as they flew with their bill pointing downwards and then suddenly plunged into the water with a huge splash. When it surfaces it drains its distensible pouch of water and swallows the fish. The ones we watched seemed to be catching quite large fish as you could see the fish shape sticking out against the inside of the pouch! The pelicans fly so low across the water almost skimming the surface but never quite touching the waves.

We then went snorkeling and again saw many wonderful fish. It is always a struggle when we get back on board to try and remember what they all looked like and to then try and identify them all! This time we saw large banded blenny, creole fish, azure parrotfish, blue chin parrotfish, blue seastar and giant seastars, rainbow wrasse, white salema, a panemic horse conch and numerous others which we saw every time we went snorkeling. Marc dived down and picked up a blue seastar to show me. It was a bright blue on top and orange underneath and when he dropped it back down to the bottom it landed the wrong way up with the orange side on top. Instantly a small fish came along and pushed it with its lips and turned it the correct way up, it was amazing to watch. The two really special fish that we loved were the hieroglyphic hawkfish and the flag cabrilla. The hieroglyphic hawkfish was blue with darker blue bands and markings and was hiding amongst lava rocks, and the flag cabrilla was marked like an army camouflage, different shades of green in a patchy design.

After lunch we arrived in Santiago island also known as James island. We went to James Bay on the western side of the island which was a black sand beach. The rocks and lava pools there had hundreds of Sally Lightfoot crabs and of course there sea lions there. The sea lions are so inquisitive and playful, two of them were playing in the water at Marc’s feet. We went snorkeling and saw lots of fish as there was a large coral reef just off the shoreline. New fish we saw were panamic sergeant majors and bumphead parrotfish which was instantly recognizable by the bump on its head! We saw 7 sea turtles in total but spent most of our time in the water following one about. We watched it as it fed on a green moss like plant that grew on the coral, it didn’t look like it was worth it the small amounts it was nibbling as it was so huge, so it must have been tasty! It is such a joy to be swimming with sea turtles, they were less than a metre away and we swayed along with them in the currents. Seeing their shells and all the markings on it so close up and looking at them swimming is fascinating. When I booked this trip I mustn’t have read the trip notes too closely as I had no idea we would be snorkeling, I thought the snorkeling would be in our spare time and optional. Now that we have done it so many times I am glad that it was such a big part of our trip, it has been great to see such brightly coloured fish just doing their own thing whilst we watched and swam around them, and wonderful to swim with sea lions and sea turtles. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to miss the snorkeling and it does give a complete picture of the Galapagos seeing all the marine life as well as all the plants, animals and birds.

The next morning we arrived in Bartolome island. It had a beautiful golden sand beach with a huge rock at the end of the cove called Pinnacle rock. We went on shore and took a path which led up to the 114m summit of the island through a lava landscape. The path was a wooden walkway to protect the island and as we walked along we saw a hawk perched on the handrail. We took lots of photos and then edged closer, took more photos and went closer still. It just wasn’t afraid of us at all and we got to within a metre of it and started to walk around it as it wasn’t moving! Unfortunately then a strong gust of wind blew and that made it fly away but it was wonderful being that close to it. The views from the top were fantastic, we could see for miles around. It was a very volcanic looking landscape, lava tunnels and cones and beautiful turquoise sea and golden beaches. We then went snorkeling for the last time and saw huge shoals of fish, there must have been thousands of them. We saw a shoal of Galapagos grunt, giant seastars, chocolate chip seastars (which look just how they sound!) and a pacific boxfish. The pacific boxfish was a brilliant blue colour with white spots on top and a yellow colour on its head, it was lovely to see. There were Galapagos penguins fishing around there and we saw some from the panga when we went to the beach but unfortunately didn’t see any when we were snorkeling – except for Marc! Whilst everyone was getting ready on the beach and I was further along taking photos of a blue heron that was at the waters edge Marc had got ready in record time and swum out to where we had spotted them. He watched it swim, emerge from the water, preen itself and then go into its home which was through a lava archway. We went back to the same spot later but had no luck spotting it again.

After lunch we arrived at Seymour island where magnificent frigatebirds and blue footed boobies are the main attractions. We saw both great frigatebirds and magnificent frigatebirds and saw males, females and chicks. The frigatebird is a large black bird with long wings, long hooked beaks and deeply forked tails. They are light for their size and they can scissor their forked tails in and out to maintain balance in flight. We saw frigatebirds courting when the male inflates his bright red gular sac to around the size of a football to attract a female. We also saw them fishing. They swoop down and quickly flicks its head down and up, picking up a fish from near the surface. Only its beak touches the water as it has to avoid getting tis plumage wet otherwise it may become waterlogged and drown as it only has a small preen gland that is insufficient to oil and waterproof their feathers fully. They are also known as pirate birds as they steal food from other seabirds.

We stayed on the island for a while and were mesmerized by a new born blue footed booby, except its feet were white, apparently they don’t turn blue until they are a few years old. It was covered with soft looking white fluffy feathers. When we see boobies with their young they are always sitting inside a white ring we found out that this is a ring of guano produced by the booby squirting excrement in all directions while incubating the egg for 40 days. We saw some nests where there were two young and one always looked stronger than the other. The first born chick is larger and stronger than the second as a result of hatching a few days earlier and so if food is scarce the first born will get more food (as the parents feed the larger chick first) and will outcompete them, causing them to starve. This is called ‘opportunisitic sibling murder’! The guano ring often coincides with what is an imaginary line within which parent-chick relationships are normal. If the chick should get out of the ring, it will not be treated as offspring nor be allowed back. Sometimes the older sibling exploits this in a situation where food is scarce and forces the younger one out of the ring whereupon it would be rejected!

On the way back to the jetty we saw a baby sea lion which was only 2-3 days old and then in the panga saw a fur seal moving off the rocks and going into the water. Then it was back on the boat for our last night on board which I am quite happy about, I will miss the Galapagos but not living on a boat!

We woke up early next morning after a very rough night at sea to go to Lobos Island (wolf island) before breakfast. We had a short walk round and saw lots of sea lions with adorable looking pups and watched the mating dance of the blue footed booby. It involved two of them kind of hopping from foot to foot slowly and deliberately as if they were dancing and the male made a funny whistling noise. We got back on the boat for breakfast and then had to go to the airport to catch our flight to Quito.

It has been a wonderful week we have spent here, to be able to see all the animals and birds so close up had been really special. I think of the birds my favourites were the frigatebird with its huge inflated red pouch and the albatrosses mating. We have so many photos it will be hard to sort through them all and try and cut it down to reasonable sized collection! It also hasn’t been as full of tourists as I thought it would be, it seems that the boats are all sailing on fixed itineraries and cannot deviate from that so this ensures there are never too many boats at one island.

So now our South American adventure is over and we are flying back to London tomorrow, it seems like a long time ago since we were last there. Peru and Ecuador have been better than we ever imagined they would be and we have only happy memories. We will have to come back some day and explore the rest of South America!

 We went out for a late lunch at The Magic Bean which was a restaurant Brad had recommended and as another couple left the woman saw my guidebook ( my bible as Marc jokingly calls it! ) and asked how I finding it.  They stayed chatting for a while and said maybe they would see us around the area that night.  We both left our separate ways and Marc and I thought we really should have made a firm arrangement.  10 minutes later we bumped into them again and they said they were thinking the same think so we agreed to meet up that night for dinner.  We met Dawn and David for dinner that evening and chatted away like we had been friends for years.  It turned out it was Dawns birthday the following day so at midnight we sang happy birthday and and Marcs now rapidly increasing Spanish vocabulary stretched far enough to bag us a huge slice of free chocolate cake, which was truly wonderful.  It was a lovely evening and we were sorry couldnt´t spend any more time with them.  We recommended that they stay at the Runcu Inn when in Lima and parted with many plans to meet up in England and travel together to Amsterdam.

 We spent the next day relaxing and catching up with laundry and emails and met the group the following morning.

 We met our guide and were delighted when it was Fabian.  Brad and Hannah whom we met on the Huayhuash circuit had met each other on this trip last year and he was their guide and they said he was amazing.  The rest of the group arrived and we went on a tour with Fabian of Old Quito.  On the bus Fabian immediately got the whole group worried as he started to reel off all the bad things that could happen to us. We were not to eat salad, not to go out late at night and not to accept newspapers in the street as they could be laced with a drug that could pass through the skin on our hands. These were just a few things on a long list of dangers!  Also whenever we passed people on the street selling food he would look at them and then us and say “diarrhoea for 3 weeks!”

 Quito is a beautiful colonial city and we went to a viewpoint high above the city which gave us a fantastic view.  Quito is absolutely huge, 44km long and is the second highest capital in Latin America.  We went round San Francisco church which had so much gold in it and interesting paintings.  We weren´t allowed to take photos so Marc had to keep dodging the security guard and then with the flash off covertly took photos.  This seemed to be the beginnings of bonding with Fabian, who seemed to appreciate Marcs lack of rule following.  A girl wandering about decided to join our group as she obviously wanted a tour in English but Fabian wasn´t phased and then when nobody was looking asked her to take a group photo of all of us!  That way we were all accessories to the illegal photography.

 We stopped for lunch at a café and as usual Marc and I ordered pineapple juice.  Fabian immediately shouted no, no, what were we doing.  He told us we should order guanabana juice instead as it was the same price and you could buy 5 pineapples for $1 but only one guanabana for $1 so it was much better to get that.  We did as we were told and it was delicious!  Marc could tell by this point that he would really get on well with Fabian. He was constantly making jokes and had some superb one liners.

 After the tour we went to the office to sort out insurance details and then we also were kitted out for Cotopaxi.  We tried on lots of different boots to get the perfect fit and had to choose an ice axe which was comfortable for us.  As we had never used an ice axe before we really had no idea how to choose one and what made one type better than the other!  So we got boots, ice axe, harness, mittens and snow goggles and it suddenly felt more real that we were actually going to attempt to climb Cotopaxi.  Driving round Quito today we caught glimpses of Cotopaxi and it looked very daunting but we tried not to think too much about it as it was still two weeks away.

 The next day we started the Pinan Trek which was a 5 day trek around the mountains north of Quito.  It was very different to where we had been trekking in Peru, very green vegetation, no snow capped mountains but instead lots of flat topped mountains which were extinct volcanoes.  We walked to a small village called San Francisco which was about 4 hours away.  Along the way we saw lots of wonderful flowers and fruit, lemons, chirimoya, passion fruit, and figs.  We watched a local man making adobe bricks, stirring a pool of mud and straw to the right consistency and then putting it into moulds.  It cost $12 for 100 bricks and it was fascinating to watch him work and see them all lying out to dry.  Then it was back to living in a tent again!  As we were camping at 2900m it was actually quite warm, we were all expecting it to be a lot colder.

 The following day we trekked to Yanacocha Lake.  We passed through forests and ended up walking in a cloud most of the day!  We saw a gorgeous yellow coloured orchid hanging off a tree and a flower called an Indian paintbrush.  We stopped for a very picturesque rest break and Marc saw a pig tied up so went over to give it a scratch.  Fabian started shaking his head and saying he would never touch a pig, they were so dirty, and out came the line diarrhoea for a month!  We all cracked up and ensured that this would be a regular comment to make.  Later that night he showed us a book he had, called ‘if there is no doctor’ which gives medical advice.  It had a hilarious picture in it showing someone touching a pig and then 5 other people getting diarrhoea, he told Marc that is why he should not touch pigs!  There should be a photo on facebook of this page in the book.  We arrived at camp at 3930m and the lake looked very eerie with a low cloud hanging over it.  We had our evening briefing and arranged to have breakfast at 9am as it wasn’t a very long days walking.  We have never had this on a trek before, normally breakfast is at 6 or 7am, it seemed like a holiday!

 After a late breakfast Fabian had decided that as we were such a fast walking group we would do an extra short walk up a nearby mountain called Quilili.  Marc and I seemed to have lots of energy and were first to the top.  We weren’t affected by the altitude at all, I think we must have still had lots of extra red blood cells from other treks we had done.  We realised that we must actually be quite fit now as this is an exodus holiday graded challenging/tough and we are finding the walking very easy!  It is always satisfying reaching the summit even if it isn’t a very big mountain, it was quite a scramble to the top and the views were wonderful.  We came back down and then carried on to make a half circuit around the Yanaurco Volcano.  Marc and I were quite far ahead of the group and Fabian was with the rest of them.  We kept contouring around and thought the campsite would be just around the corner but it never was!  We were getting fed up as it was now 4.30pm and we were expecting a short days walking and Marc and I reached a point were we didn’t know where to go.  Marc had a hunch that the campsite was down a mountain to the right and I thought we should carry on round the volcano.  We agreed to both go a short way and then shout if we saw the campsite.  With hindsight it was kind of a stupid plan to split up!  I lost sight of Marc fairly quickly and thought we should have just waited for Fabian.  After about 20 minutes I decided that I should go and look for Marc as I am always the prepared one with the compass, whistle and survival blanket in my rucksack.  I had visions of him lost and wandering on stubbornly looking for the campsite and thought I needed to save him!  I walked for a while not seeing anyone and thought I should go to a high point to see if I could see him.  By now I was getting quite worried and as I looked around, down below I saw the campsite with Marc standing there waving at me.  I got down and Marc had a very smug grin on his face saying his hunch was right and that I should trust his hunches in the future!  The rest of the group arrived in camp about 30 minutes later with Fabian looking worried and he told Marc off for going so far ahead, but I think Marc was just happy that he was feeling so good after a long days walking!  It was another beautiful campsite at 4100m on the southern side of Yanaurco.

After another late breakfast we set off the next day to walk to the summit of Yanaurco, an extinct volcano.  It was a really interesting walk up as the vegetation kept changing, it was almost like an oasis.  The final part was a rocky ridge which was fun to climb and then we reached the summit (4535m), the clouds seemed to clear at the same time and we had a spectacular view for miles around.  There were lots of lobelia at the top, it is amazing that they can grow so high up.  On the way back down we stopped for lunch in some long grass, it was wonderful, we all lay back and it was so comfortable I fell asleep!  We reached our campsite at the Cucharo crater at 4000m and recognised the spot from where we had lunch on the first day so knew we were getting close to civilization and a hot shower!

We all got up the next morning looking forward to a bed, sitting in a chair with a back and of course a shower.  It was a long descent down through Polylepis forests and small villages and then we finally saw our bus!  Marc and I again were at the front and just managed to get on the bus before it started to pour, unfortunately the rest of the group got soaked!  We drove down to a small village where we sat in the square and had a celebratory drink.  We then got to the hosteria where we were staying which was so pretty.  There were flowers everywhere and beautiful artwork by the owner, it was very peaceful and relaxing.  As I lay on the bed reading the brochure about the hosteria I noticed there was a laundry service, table tennis and badminton.  So we quickly left in our laundry and then went to play table tennis.  The conditions were challenging!  The bats were down to the wood in some places and there was a small hole in the ball.  I won the first game and then we got a new ball and Marc won the next.  We decided to stop there whilst it was level as we are so competitive we would have both gloated if we had won!  We then went with Fabian to play badminton and again the conditions were challenging.  The net was the wrong height, the end kept coming off the shuttlecock, if you smashed it hard the shuttlecock got stuck in the strings of the racquet, the ground was uneven with weeds and the wind definitely was a factor!  We played for a long time (me beating Fabian of course!) and then went for dinner and drinks and had far too much red wine.

We stopped off the next morning at Otavalo market which was huge.  Fabian gave us a quick tour round the tourist market and the local market and then let us loose for 2 hours with instructions to meet back at the bus.  As you know Marc and I have been very restrained so far and haven’t bought anything.  As it is now coming to the end of our trip and we are returning to London in a couple of weeks we felt we could buy a few things.  We bought some Ecuadorian style trousers and tops and a lovely painting.  Marc as usual was great at the bartering and instead of paying $50 for the painting paid $30.  We then carried on driving south towards Riobamba.  It was an interesting journey and we passed through towns that just specialised in one thing, one had lots of shops selling just biscuits and another which was famous for making statues.  The best one was a town called Salcedo which had a huge monument at the start of town of an ice cream which was what it sold.  Of course we had to stop and buy an ice cream, it was delicious!

As we were driving along Fabian got very excited as a volcano in the distance was erupting.  We couldn’t really tell what was cloud and what was the eruption but as we got closer it became a lot clearer.  It was the volcano Tungurahua and it erupted 3 times in the space of about 20 minutes.  It was fascinating to watch and the black cloud from the erupting volcano kept getting bigger so we took quite a few photos a couple of minutes apart to show this.  Tungurahua is about 80km south of Quito and apparently it has been erupting since 1999 after being dormant for 80 years.  It was so exciting to watch a live volcano and realise just how powerful it is.

We stayed overnight in Riobamba and then got in the bus again to go to Alhausi from where we were going to get the Devil’s Nose train.  Somebody had been there at 5am to buy our tickets for us so we turned up at 10.30 to get the train at 11.  We waited on the platform jostling for position as we were trying to get seats on the roof and then at 12 Fabian heard that our train, no.95, had broken down and was at the bottom of the valley with all its passengers down there too.  All the time this was going on Fabian was speaking to the train officials and then he whispered to us that when he announced that we needed to go and get a refund on our tickets we were to follow him out of the station.  We duly followed when he said that in a very loud voice so that everyone on the platform could hear and we all sneaked round the back of the station to where another train, no.61, had just arrived.  He got Marc to peek round the corner to check when people were getting on and then told us to look inconspicuous and take off our jackets so we looked different and join the people getting on that train!  Fabian gave the ticket inspector a quick wave of the tickets and we all got on.  Our tickets clearly said for no.95 so Fabian fanned them out in such a way so it wasn’t visible and the train left with lots of people complaining on the platform!  It was a spectacular journey with stunning views, very steep and lots of switch backs.  Then Fabian told us that everyone on this train was going to have to get out at the bottom so that the stranded passengers from the 95 train could go back up.  This meant a wait of around 2 hours but again as soon as the train stopped Fabian told us to get off quickly and follow him.  We raced up the train tracks ahead of the now empty train and when we reached the no.95 train we blended in with the stranded passengers and then got back on the train we had just got off!  We couldn’t believe that Fabian had managed to pull this off and we then had to give $20 from the kitty to the train driver and other officials that were on board!  The train headed back and made a special stop for us to get off just before the station out of sight so nobody could see what we had done and so the train staff wouldn’t get in trouble!  Even though we didn’t get to sit on the roof it was still an amazing journey and Fabian had made it such a fun adventure for us!

We then headed back towards Riobamba where we stayed at a lodge on the lower slopes of Chimborazo.  It was owned and run by Marco Cruz who is a well known Ecuadorian mountaineer who has climbed all over the world and has summitted Chimborazo (6310m) more than 600 times.  He still leads groups to the top even though he is over 60 and was just such an interesting man.  The lodge was lovely, wood fires, log cabins and great food.  There was a dog there called Whymper who seemed to fight with the llamas every  evening but Fabian said he was a good dog as he slept all day which meant that he was up all night protecting them.

The next morning we drove up to a refuge on Chimborazo at 4800m past lots of grazing vicunas.  We then trekked to the highest hut in Ecuador, Refugio Edward Whymper at 5000m on Chimborazo’s eastern slopes.  We were are feeling surprisingly fine by this point and nobody was suffering from the effects of the altitude.  We carried on towards the Whymper needles which are at 5300m.  It became quite a scramble up scree and then we had to go up snow covered scree.  Fabian showed us how to create steps up the snow and eventually we made it to the needles. We still all felt fine, I think all the trekking over the last 2 weeks has helped us to acclimatise. 

After another lovely evening at Marco’s lodge we headed down to Cuenca via Ingapirca.  Ingapirca is the best Inca remains left in Ecuador and is a mixture of Inca and Canari ruins.  The Inca Huayna Capac took over the site from the conquered Canaris when his empire expanded north into Ecuador in the third quarter of the 15th century.  Ingapirca was strategically placed on the Royal Highway that ran from Cuzco to Quito and soldiers may have been stationed there.  It was typical Cuzco style architecture with tightly fitting stonework and trapezoidal doorways.

The road down to Cuenca, although not as bad as some roads we have been on recently, took ages.  When we were 80km away from Cuenca we thought it wasn’t too much longer but it turned out it took another 2 hours!  We arrived in Cuenca tired from sitting on a bus all day but immediately Marc and I went out to go back and sit on a bench in the square in front of the cathedral.  It was lovely to be back in Cuenca it felt very familiar to us.  We had dinner at the hotel and then went with the rest of the group for a walk by the river and then to Café Eucalpytus for a drink.  Marc as usual had his mojito!

In the morning we drove to Cajas National Park for 2 days walking.  It was hard leaving the hotel knowing that we had to camp that night!  We stopped on the way to buy some firewood and passed lots of trout farms.  We arrived at the visitor centre and went for a short walk.  The park has more than 200 lakes and lots of wonderful flowers.  We walked through a Polylepis forest which was stunning, it was so dense.  Polylepis are trees which grow only in the Andes in South America and have a multi-layered papery bark which was soft to touch.  It had started to rain by this point, and all the paths were very muddy and slippery, we were all filthy by the end of the day and as we were only there for 2 days did not even have a clean pair of trousers to put on!  As we arrived back at the centre our cook had made the most amazing cakes called quibolitos, which were individual cakes with raisins wrapped in some kind of large leaf that had all been steamed.  It was such an unexpected treat!

We had asked Fabian if there was any way we could sleep in the visitor centre as we really didnt want to camp and he arranged that for us after much negotiating.  We played cards (which Marc won), got the fire going, had dinner and then laid out mattresses on floor were we all slept together.  It was like a school sleepover and we all had a great nights sleep!  I just dont think something like that would happen in the uk!

The next day was similar walking, very muddy but at least we knew we would be able to have a hot shower that night.  It was a nice easy days walking and we saw lots of different types of orchids.  As we walked around a lake we saw a huge crumbling building which Fabian told us used to be a brewery in times when alcohol was illegal as it was in a place so remote nobody knew it was there.  We got closer and there were signs saying ´peligroso´ which in Spanish means dangerous.  Fabian asked us if we knew what it meant and then told us that in Ecuador that meant come on in and take a look!  So we had a wander round and Fabian took a small piece of metal that was lying on the ground.  He leads groups in the high season and in the low season works with wood and metal, making objects to sell, so his eye is always on the lookout for things that he could use in his work.

We got back to Cuenca and we felt so at home.  We went to say hello to Wilson who was the security guard at the hotel we had stayed at when we where there on our own and then went to the Eucalyptus Cafe for an early dinner.  There was a group meal arranged at 7.30pm but I had decided I couldnt wait that long and that I didnt fancy another 3 course meal with soup as a starter!  Marc shared my meal as it was tapas style dishes and then we went to the group meal where I turned everything down but Marc ate again!

The next day the group went on a tour of Cuenca whilst we had a late breakfast and did some shopping.  We went back to the park and sat looking for the young children we had met on our last visit.  We spotted Julia who was the girl who sold sweets and who we gave bottles of water to every day, and Sebastian who was the shoe shine boy.  They immediately recognised us and Marc again got Sebastian to shine his shoes.  People gave us such funny looks as I dont think anyone has ever had their trekking shoes polished before!  There is just a tiny bit of black on the toe and heel of Marc´s shoes and a bit along the sides but Sebastian took such care doing it.  We had brought them some biscuits and juice and Marc paid well over the odds for his shoe shine!  We took some photos of them and showed them themselves on the camera screen.  Julia did some rabbit ears above Sebastians head in one photo and found this hilarious, she was laughing hysterically lying on the park bench!  It is such a pity we didnt speak more Spanish as we would have loved to know more about them, it is unbelievable they work in the park every day when Julia is 7 and Sebastian is only 6.  They were just the most adorable children you would meet and our heart went out to them.

We flew back to Quito that afternoon and went out for a dinner of lots of pasta as we climbing Cotopaxi the following evening.

The next day we were all woke up very nervous at the thought of climbing Cotopaxi, but at least d-day had finally arrived!  We got the bus to Cotopaxi National Park but after 2 hours the bus started to emit black smoke and had to stop on the side of the road.  The drivers got out but decided it was serious and that they couldnt fix it, we didnt know what we were going to do.  Fabian then jumps out and says that he is going to organise some more transport, next thing we see is Fabian going past in the the back of a pick up truck waving at us!  He arrived back 30 minutes later with 3 pick up trucks to take us to the refuge, we dont know how but he always seems to manage to get us out of any situation!  We got in the front truck and then Fabian got in the drivers seat and the driver got in the back with us, when we asked him why he was driving he said that one of the conditons that he took these 3 trucks was that he would drive this one as he had seen this guy drive before and said he was a crazy driver!  Mind you when Fabian was in the park he reached a corner which said ´dangerous corner´and then said this is my favourite corner and took it at speed, but we always felt safe with him! 

We eventually arrived at the car park and then had a 45 minute walk up to the refuge.  We felt like such wimps as we had heavy backpacks on with our sleeping bags and everything we would need for the climb but there was a blizzard and we were walking on scree which was one step forward, two steps back and we all found the walk hard, I dont think we looked like serious trekkers at all!  We arrived at the Jose Rivas Hut at 4800m but had arrived too late to do glacier training so we had dinner at 7pm and then went to bed in our dormitory to sleep until midnight when we would be woken for breakfast and to start the climb.  We had a dormitory to ourselves and were all settled into our sleeping bags except John and Jill who were still packing some things, this went on for a while until Sarah said to the ´what are you two doing!´, just as they had finished Marc asked what was the noise he was hearing, glug, glug, glug.  Johns water had leaked everywhere, so much cleaning up ensued!  We eventually got to bed and all surprisingly slept well for 4 hours.  Marc broke the silence by announcing to the group that it was 12.10am and we should get up.  Mike insisted he wasnt getting out of his sleeping bag until we got our wake up call from the guides.  Marc said that that didnt sound like mountain climbing behaviour and encouraged the group to get moving!

We got up and some of the group had breakfast but I couldnt face it, I was feeling quite sick.  There was a blizzard outside and we wondered if we would go up at all but the guides seemed happy for us to go.  We set off in the blizzard and had a short walk on scree and then reached the glacier where we put on our harness and crampons and were roped together.  We had two people to one guide and our guide was a lovely guy called Mauricio.  We started off up the glacier and it was unbelievably steep but straightforward enough with crampons on.  I was still feeling sick and Mauricio was giving me hot drinks but nothing seemed to help with the nausea.  I dont know what it was, I dont think it was the altitude as we have spent the last 10 weeks at altitude and been fine.  After 2 hours I just thought although I could carry on longer there was no way I could carry on for another 4-5 hours to the summit so I decided to turn back.  Mauricio brought me back down and Marc joined another group to attempt to reach the summit.   I was so disappointed as I felt like I hadn’t been able to give Cotopaxi my best shot and also felt like I had let Marc down as he was feeling so strong.  About an hour after Mauricio and I had arrived back to the refuge Marc walked through the door, his group had turned back too.  We then heard via the radio that our 2 other groups had also turned back because the weather was just too bad to carry on.  That morning only 3 people made it to the top of Cotopaxi and many mountaineers much more experienced than us turned back too.  Marc still maintains that he could have made it to the top as he was feeling so good and feels quite gutted that he couldn’t give it a proper go. 

We didn’t know when the bus was arriving to pick us up so we hung around at the refuge with the blizzard still blowing outside.  After about 4 hours we heard the bus had arrived so we headed down to the car park.  When we got there it turned out the bus was actually stuck in loose scree at the side of the road!  It took 7 men much head scratching and they decided to try and pull it out sideways using a rope attached to a pick up truck.  None of us really understood how this was going to work and as the engine started Marc said that the rope was bound to snap and sure enough it did!  Luckily a Landrover then arrived and managed to pull the bus out very easily.  The driver wasnt as good as Fabian had been and it was an extremely bumpy journey out of Cotopaxi National Park! 

We all went out for dinner that night as it was our last meal together as a group.  The group has been wonderful, the best we have had.  I think because it was a slightly smaller group there were no splinter groups and nobody had any conflicts with each other at all.  It was just always a fun time with them, so many interesting characters.  Fabian was a superb guide, he has such an expressive face and the comments he always comes out with were just hilarious, Marc and I absolutely adored him. 

The next day Marc and I got up at 6am to say goodbye to the group (we really must have liked them!) and then went back to bed.  Two of the group, Jill and John, were still there as they had a later flight and we met up and got a teleferico up that overlooks Quito at 4200m.  It was packed as it is school holidays here and so children go free on it.  Luckily you could by an express ticket for $7 as opposed to $4 for a normal ticket so we did that and managed to avoid most of the queue!  It was a wonderful view from the top and we could see just how huge Quito was.  Whilst we were up there we spoke to a man who pointed out Rucu Pichincha (4698m) to us and said it was about a 3 hour walk to the top.  Marc and I immediately decided that we would go there tomorrow instead of going to the hot springs at Papallacta like we had planned.  It is so strange to hear Marc say that he would rather climb a volcano than go and relax in a hot spring! 

We went back down and our the taxi dirver that had taken us there, Hernan, was waiting for us at the bottom.  We asked if we could use his mobile phone and phoned Fabian as he had said we could come and look at his workshop.  We put Hernan on to Fabian to get directions and then went to his apartment and workshop.  It was so interesting to see his apartment, there were amazing metal objects everywhere that he had created and wonderful wooden boxes and furniture that his wife had made.  He gave Jill and I something each that he had made and it is just such a lovely memory to have of him, so personal, it will have pride of place on our mantlepiece when we finally get home!  We had a very emotional goodbye with him, I dont think we will ever have another guide quite like him, so warm and funny. 

We had lunch with Jill and John, said our goodbyes to them too and then we were on our own again.  It was such a perfect day we spent with them, we were glad they were on a later flight as normally we have to say goodbye to the whole group together.

The following day our hotel informed us that it was full that night so we had to move hotels.  We found Hernan outside and asked him if he was free to give us a lift, we quickly packed up and collected our 25kg of now clean laundry ($10!) and moved to a much nicer hotel which was the same price as what we had been paying.  We then asked Hernan to wait 10 minutes whilst we got our rucksacks packed to climb Pichincha.  He stopped off at a wonderful delicatessen so we could buy a sandwich and then took us to the teleferico.  In the taxi on the way he and Marc were chatting and he seemed surprised that we werent going up with a guide and also that it may be dangerous with thieves along the way.  He said that he would go and ask the police at the teleferico if it was ok for us to go.  When we arrived there was a huge queue for tickets, at least 150 people long and we waited in line whilst Hernan went off to talk to the police.  Hernan then came back and told us it was fine and that he was also getting us 2 tickets so we didnt need to queue!  He had asked somebody at the front of the line to buy 2 extra tickets for us.  We couldnt believe our luck and it must have saved us at least an hour, we gave him a generous tip and arranged to phone him when we needed a lift back to Quito. 

We got the teleferico up and it was such a clear day, we had a wonderful view of Cotopaxi to the south.  We started off towards Pichincha and it was a lovely sunny day.  We walked along a grassy ridge for about an hour until we were just below the rocky base of the summit.  We stopped for lunch beside some gorgeous flowers and then carried on walking, there was a clear enough path along the way until we reached the rocks and then we had to work out the best way to the top.  It was quite a scamble up but it was great fun and when we reached the top the sun was shining and we could see the crater, lots of other volcanoes and of course Quito far away down below.  We stayed on the top for about 30 minutes with the weather varying between being in a cloud and bright sunshine.  As we started to head down we heard a huge long rumble of thunder followed by lightning!  It then started to snow and the thunder kept getting louder and sounded directly above us.  We went down the sandy slope as quickly as possible and all I could think of was that the teleferico would be closed if there was thunder and lightning and that we would be left stranded at the top with no-one knowing we were missing!  The snow then changed to rain and then to hailstones and all the paths become very muddy and slippery.  I had all my waterproofs with me but Marc didn’t have his waterproof trousers and his trousers were absolutely soaked through!  Marc then slipped and fell awkwardly on his ankle and seemed to be in quite a lot pain but luckily could keep walking.  We eventually saw the teleferico in the distance and to my relief it was still going!  We got back to the visitor centre at the top and looked like drenched rats, everyone else there just looked at us like we were mad!  Of course Marc made sure everyone knew we had been to the summit (cumbre in Spanish) of Rucu Pichincha!  It was such an adventure and we had great fun, it was the first summit Marc had done without a guide or a group and he felt such a sense of achievement.  We phoned Hernan and he came to fetch us and take us back to our hotel.  We had dinner in the hotel which we never do as Marc was finding it difficult walking on his ankle and it was superb, a complete surprise!  Thankfully the next morning his ankle seemed to be a lot better so it doesnt look like it is anything serious….      Since I wrote this last sentence Marc´s ankle seemed to have swollen a lot and we decided as we were going to the Galapagos tomorrow we should really get it checked out so we went to a local hospital where Marc had it x-rayed.  The x-ray didnt show any break so we assume it is just a sprain and the doctor told him just to take an anti-inflamatory, so hopefully he will be ok walking around the Galapagos!

We have had a brilliant time in Ecuador, it seems like time has gone by so quickly.  It is everything we had hoped it would be, the only disappointment being not reaching the top of Cotopaxi, but it means we will have to come back someday to try again!  Everyone has been so friendly and gone out of their way for us, but Fabian was the one who really made us love Ecuador.  He knows the whole country so well and was always so enthusiastic and informative and just made our time here so much fun.

The final 2 days of The Huayhuash Circuit…returning to Huaraz                http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=YZF34WP3W44MZGDFQ16ZR

Pachamanca and Spear Fishing                                                                     http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=X31Z3VTXWXZMZGDFQ16ZR

Huayhuash Circuit Part 2                                                                             http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=46L4QZW2PZ3MZGDFQ16ZR

Touching the Void!!                                                                                   http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=Y6C22WSXQW6MZGDFQ16ZR

HuayHuash Circuit Part 1 (Days 1-5)                                                         http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=Y4ET3VRZWWYMZGDFQ16ZR

The First Few steps of the Huayhuash Circuit                                            http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=ZVCTXVPS354MZGDFQ16ZR

Nazca Lines… Ballestas Islands and Paracas National Reserve                     http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=ZVD26Y6RTY4MZGDFQ16ZR

Lima (City tour)                                                                                         http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=62LXXWV5V3VMZGDFQ16ZR    

Lake Titicaca and the Island of Amantani                                                  http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=Y4E324TRWVWMZGDFQ16ZR

Machu Picchu June 2008                                                                             http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=YXAUQYV6UX6MZGDFQ16ZR

Moonstone Trek and the Sun Temple                                                            http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=ZVG2Z2U6SX5MZGDFQ16ZR

Welcome to The Jungle!!                                                                                 http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=Y5DUY3TS44XMZGDFQ16ZR

The Shaks Big Adventure                                                                               http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=733065249&k=XZA45ZPYVW3MZGDFQ16ZR

The next day we went to visit Huacas del Sol and de la Luna ( temples of the sun and moon ) and Chan Chan, a large adobe city from the Chimú time.

At Huaca de la Luna we saw these strange looking creatures, it turns out they were Peruvian hairless dogs.  It is a breed of dog with its origins in pre inca times and there are depictions of these dogs on Moche ceramics from around 750AD.  Apparently the dogs have survived in rural areas where people thought they had a mystical value.  We had never seen such odd looking dogs, as they had no hair they almost looked like pigs and it was very weird to touch them!

Huaca del Sol and de la Luna are huge Moche pyramids made from adobe bricks.  The Huaca del Sol was partially destroyed and looted by the Spanish in the 17th century, while the Huaca de la Luna was left relatively untouched. It is thought that Huaca del Sol may have been more administrative, military, residential and a burial mound for the Moche elite, while the Huaca de la Luna was largely ceremonial and religious function, though it contains burials as well.  Huaca del Sol is closed to the public as about 2/3 of it have been destroyed.  The huaca de la luna was decorated in murals which were painted in black, bright red, sky blue, white, and yellow and the colours havent faded that much.  We saw a mural on 6 different levels which had on the top level a serpent which ran the length of the wall, next level down was a repeated motifs of felines holding decapitated heads of warriors, then repeated motifs of fishermen holding fish, then huge spider/crab motifs then dancers or officials holding hands then below them, victorious warriors following naked prisioners past scenes of combat.  I think we managed to get a photo fitting it all in but it was huge!  We stood there just in awe at the size of it and were amazed that it was just so old, the Moche civilization was in northern Peru from 100AD to 800AD.

From here we were taken with the rest of group to somewhere for lunch.  As soon as the bus pulled up and we saw that it was a tourist restaurant and had a band playing outside, I said to Marc that I just couldnt do this!  Marc explained to the tour guide that we werent really into the whole tourist thing and that we would prefer to go off ourselves and find somewhere local!  She seemed to understand and we found a local bakery where we had gorgeous empanada.

In the afternoon we went to Huaca Arco Iris which was named after the rainbow shapes that decorated it and then on to Chan Chan.  The group all thought it was odd that these structures had lasted so long as they were made of mud, surely they would be washed away.  The guide explaind that they havent had rain since 1998!

Chan Chan was constructed by the the kingdom of the Chimu, a late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. The mud city of Chan Chan was built between 850AD and 1470AD and was the religious and administrative capital of the Chimu kingdom until it was conquered by the Incas in the 15th century.  It is estimated that 30,000 people lived in the city of Chan Chan.  It was the largest adobe city in the world.  The city is composed of nine walled structures between 200m and 400m long which housed ceremonial rooms, burial chambers, temples, reservoirs and some residences.  The walls were made of adobe brick and then covered with a smooth surface onto which they carved designs.  The carvings depict fish, pelicans, and nets for catching various sea creatures.  Again the size of it just amazed us, to think that so many people had lived there so long ago.

From here we went to Huanchaco which is a fishing village whcih is famous for its narrow pointed fishing boats which are made of totora reeds and are depicted on Mochica and Chimú pottery.  They are similar to the ones we saw on Lake Titicaca except they are flat not hollow and ride the waves like surfboards.

We finished the tour early evening and asked the guide if she could recommend to us the best chifa place in Trujillo.  She told us where a good one was and we headed there.  It was very different to last time as we didnt have Cesar there with us to order all the food so we were looking blankly at the menu when the waiter came and spoke to us.  We got the general gist that he was asking us if we preferred sweet or salty things, I said sweet and Marc said salty and he took the menus away.  We ended up having the most wonderful meal with wanton soup, sweet and sour chicken, chicken in a salty sauce, rice, wantons and nabo.  The bill came to $8 and that included our drinks, we wandered out feeling very full!

The next day we got the bus to Chiclayo, a manageable 3hrs, so didnt go VIP!  We arrived and I had made Marc a list of hotels that he was to go and visit and find somewhere nice to stay.  He came back 30 mins later looking very pleased with himself and said he had found a nicer hotel than last time for less money and that it had a surprise.  The surprise was that there was a jacuzzi in the room!  It was bliss!  As we were wandering around Chiclayo we went past a massive supermarket that sold electronics and decided to go in.  Marc had been looking at dvd players in Trujillo and had now decided that he was going to buy one as they were so cheap.  He had also started to get quite a collection of dvds as there are so many shops on every street selling 5 dvds for under $4.  We bought the cheapest player and that night watched the new Indiana Jones movie, which although I didnt think it was that good was interesting as it is set in Peru and talked a lot about the Nazca lines which we had visited.

We much prefered Chiclayo to Trujillo, it is hard to pinpoint why, it just had a much nicer relaxed feel to it.  It is funny when we were in Lima and got a taxi anywhere the fare was always 5 sol no matter where we went, in Trujillo it was always 3 sol and now in Chiclayo it is 2 sol.  It can make you quite lazy when taxis are that cheap!

We went on a tour the following day to Sipán and Túcume.  First we went to visit the tomb of the Lord of Sipan which was only discovered in 1987 so there is still excavation work going on and more tombs being found.  He was an important Moche govenor and had been buried with all his treasures.  The mound also had 12 other tombs which included one of a priest and another of the Old Lord of Sipan.  There were replicas in the tomb of the Lord of Sipan which showed how he had been found.  He was buried with his wife, his 2 mistresses, a military commander, a guard, a lookout and a child.  The guard had his feet cut off so he couldnt run away!  All these people had been sacrificed when the Lord of Sipan had died. 

We then went to the museum where the Lord of Sipans remains were and all his treasures taht he was buried with.  Here we saw his 3 pairs of earrings which were made of gold and had turquiose stones on them, necklaces, breastplates, nose rings, helmets, bracelets and sceptres mostly in a combination of gold and silver.  There were also objects in copper, spondyllus shells and semi precious stones.  There was so much gold that he been buried with it was unbelievable!  Also found in all the tombs were coins, which were there so they could pay their way into the afterlife.  We then saw the skeltons of the Lord and the Old Lord.  The Old Lords was actually in better condition as apparently the Lord of Sipan had osteoporosis and his bones had crumbled!  It was a really interesting museum but unfortunately we werent allowed to take photos.  The guide we had that day was speaking to the group in both Spanish and then English and would seem to say a lot in Spanish and then utter one line to us so we had to keep asking her lots of questions just so she would give us more attention!

From here we went to Tucume which is a complex made up of  26 adobe pyramids, platform mounds, walled citadels and residential componds flanking a ceremonial centre and ancient cemeteries.  The Lambayeque people developed the site AD1000-1375 until the Chimú conquered the region.  The biggest pyramid is Huaca Larga which is the largest in South America and is 700m long, 280m thick and 30m high.  We walked to a viewpoint and were able to see a panoramic view of all of this, it was spectacular.

We went to Piura the next day which is right in the north of Peru from where we were going to cross into Ecuador as it was meant to have the safest and easiest border crossing.  We arrived in Piura at 2pm and made the decision that we would carry on to Ecuador.  There was a bus leaving at 9pm for the 8hr journey to Loja.  So we had 7hrs to kill in Piura.  Everything was shut as it was a Sunday, it was roating hot and we thought it was going to be a long 7hrs!  We then came across a modern mall which had an air-conditioned cinema in it.  We had a long lunch and then watched  the only film that was in English, all the others had been dubbed,  Superheros Movie.  It was absolutely awful the funniest part being when the kid behind dropped his entire tub of popcorn! 

The bus through to Ecuador was okay apart from the kid next to us, Santiago, vomiting within 20 mins of leaving!  Fortunately his grandmother and grandfather ( the bus driver ) were on hand to clean it up straight away, didnt smell a thing!  Just before midnight we left Peru, walked across the bridge at the border and entered Ecuador.  It was quite sad leaving Peru, we have been here 7 weeks and have loved every minute so Ecuador has a lot to live up to.

We arrived in Loja at 4.45am and Marc sorted us out with bus tickets to Cuenca leaving at 5am.  We were already exhausted at this point and the thought of spending another 5 hrs on a bus didnt exactly fill me with joy but we thought it was best to keep on going.  It was the worst bus journey I have ever been on!  I kept thinking the road would get better but it was windy and potholed the entire way.  You couldnt even sit still in your seat as you were being thrown about so much!  We arrived in Cuenca and Marc found a tourist office in the bus station which had details of all the hotels and prices so I didnt have to make him a list!  The woman there was so helpful and phoned and booked us a hotel.  I was so tired and felt sick from the journey, all I could think of was a comfy bed.  All thoughts of a budget and a cheaper hotel went out the window and we booked ourselves into a wonderful hotel – we thought we deserved it!