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October 15, 2005

Fin

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So this is it. That was that. My trip is over and I'm back in Europe after a year and half away. "Reassimilation" has been very easy: everyone seemed to remember me (including the cat) and nothing much has changed. In fact, after a few days revelling in the joys of not having to haul around a backpack, knowing where I would sleep each night, and rediscovering the clothes in my wardrobe, it was as though I had never been gone.

I've been sorting through about a billion photo CD ROMs I'd posted home, trying to put them in some kind of order. It's brought back memories from my trip, and I've been thinking about my favourite moments and those that, frankly, I'd rather forget. So in the manner of TV channels that have nothing new to broadcast and end up cobbling together cheesy old clips compilations, I bring you: Rowena's Best Of...

Best of... Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Best long-distance bus journey (surely an oxymoron?): Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires. It was certainly long at 33 hours, but the bus was comfortable, the company interesting, the rest-stops thankfully few (where's the attraction after all in hanging around some petrol station in the middle of nowhere at four in the morning?) and as for the free champagne... well, what more can I say?

Special mention: the magnificent Ghan (trains, buses... whatever, it's all the same when you're stuck on them for days on end) and the minibus trips through WA with Zoe, where we played boredom-induced games such as Twenty Questions with dried apricots and 'I Went to the Supermarket' with topical answers that reduced us to hysterical laughter. Blame it on the heat, I say.

And the wooden spoon goes to: Srinagar to New Delhi. Military convoys; people taken hostage en route; stops for lengthy prayers; 40 degree heat with no fans, let alone air con; and narrow winding roads through Himalayan ravines and precipices... do not a happy journey make.

Runner up: Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay. It doesn't bode well when the bus breaks down before you've even got going and the passengers have to get out and push.

Best airport: Singapore. I don't think it's exaggerating to say that I would quite happily live there, like the guy in "The Terminal." I reckon I could make a nice life for myself - pottering around the terminals checking my email on the free internet, relaxing on the comfy chairs, mooching around the orchid garden...

Wooden spoon: Tahiti. I spent two nights - two! - in that scuzzy airport, sleeping on a hard wooden bench, only to find that the actual departure lounge (which you can only get into once you've checked in and gone through immigration) is like an airport paradise, full of squashy leather settees and even a garden. Not impressed.

Best of... Grub

Best food: probably India, when it wasn't laced with disease. I loved all the vegetarian options and the regional variations. Just a pity I only had a week to enjoy it before it gave me giardia, a hideous gastro-intestinal illness that took months to recover from completely. But apart from that...

Special mention: gotta love the pastries, cakes and sucos in South America. So cheap, so tasty, so... uh, fattening. Would recommend dulce de leche with everything.

Wooden spoon: it pains me to say it because I loved Korea, but... pickled vegetables just don't hit the spot for me I'm afraid. Whatever I ordered seemed to arrive accompanied by little pots of minging cold preserved vegetables. Not stuff like carrots or potatoes, either. We're talking weird mushy things that were impossible to identify. Not even the pleasing names (bibambap, anyone?) were enough to redeem the sad, spicy little piles of goo.

Best of... Places to Kip

Best hostels: this is such a subjective topic as everyone has different ideas as to what constitutes a good place to stay. In addition, as Travis pointed out, you love or hate a hostel mainly because of whoever is staying there with you at the time. That said, this is my list, and to my mind, New Zealand had the best hostels (free food, hot tubs... mmm). In particular: The Villa in Picton, The Palace in Nelson and Fraureisenhaus in Christchurch.

Special mention: best places I stayed in, were of course non-hostels. However nice a hostel is, you can't get away from the fact that you're sharing a room and bathrooms with a whole bunch of other people. The fancy hotel in Sakhalin was pretty swish (apart from the kleptomaniacal cleaning staff), as was Steve and Jane's house in Sydney and Mark's place in Perth (with the comfiest bed in the world). Almost as cushy as Singapore airport. But not quite.

Wooden spoon: the possible brothel I unwittingly blundered into in Seoul and the cockroach-ridden hellhole in Pushkar. I wasn't keen on some of the cookie-cutter backpacker-oriented sleep factories you find in Australia, though these were easy to avoid.

Best of... The Rest

Best cities: Hanoi, Seoul, Hobart, Buenos Aires.

Wooden spoon: Alice Springs (hot, remote, dull), Christchurch (cold, miserable, boring), Sao Paulo (45 murders a day. Reason enough?). However, all these look like paradise destinations compared with the ultimate winner (well, loser), Korsakov. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I'd rather hammer pins under my fingernails than spend another afternoon in that dump.

Best adrenaline rush: skydiving. Jumping out of a plane at 45,000 ft was as amazing as I had always dreamed it would be.

Wooden spoon: bungy jumping. One of those glad-I've-done-it-but-only-because-it-means-I'll-never-have-to-again experiences. I'm just proud that I managed not to chicken out or wet my pants, though I did scream pathetically the entire time.

Best natural wonder: the Great Barrier Reef, closely followed by Iguazzu Falls, Milford Sound and Uluru.

Best man-made wonder: the Taj Mahal. I was prepared to be underwhelmed having seen it so many times in pictures, but I was honestly astounded by its beauty and tranquility. The peaceful gardens, intricate inlaid detail, and overall symmetry were just perfect. I left it with a sense of calm that stayed with me despite the scary monkeys and persistent hawkers enveloping us outside.

Best beach: on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Palm trees, white sand, clear turquoise water... in short, just how you imagine a South Pacific island when you're daydreaming in a cubicle at work. It was a fantastic place.

Runner up: Eighty Mile Beach in Western Australia, which was huge and empty, save for millions of sand dollars and a glorious sunset reflected in the wet sand so that the vivid colours were everywhere.

Special mention: Prigorodnoye beach on Sakhalin Island in Russia. I'm taking it on trust that this was actually a beach, since it was under a few metres of solid ice when I was there. It was a massive sheet of white as far as you could see, with tiny specks of people ice-fishing.

I could go on forever in this vein, but suffice it to say that there were many highs and lows, and truly, I wouldn't change any of them. Except maybe the giardia. Yeah, that wasn't so hot. But I had a great trip and was lucky to see a lot of fantastic sights, meet many terrific people, have some crazy nights out and bizarre experiences, none of which I can do justice to here.

I've enjoyed writing this blog - for one thing, it's saved me from feeling guilty about not keeping a proper journal - but it looks like we're about to part ways. To be sure, it hasn't always been riveting reading, but I think I'd be scraping the barrel with dispatches from my next destination... the cubicle. Or potentially... the dole queue.

It's been real. As the road train drivers don't really say at all: keep on truckin'!

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Posted by Rowena on October 15, 2005 06:31 PM
Category: Lists
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