Around The World With 30 Litres On My Back

I am here! I made it!

Hi guys, Im in Hong Kong! I arrived yesterday evening. I am staying with an old school friend, Tavneet, in a very nice part of town called Mid-Levels if anyone knows it.

Had a really cool time getting here on the Virgin party plane. Ma and Pa dropped me off at Heathrow and then I bought myself Life of Pi to read on the flight which lovely Dermot was supposed to lend me but I forgot to take it with me, but I found myself sitting in between a crazy Chinese student and a crazy Irish bloke who managed to get a conversation going between three rows of people and two aisles, I kid you not. That as well as the amazing range of movies made sure that I slept not a lot and am now suitably jet lagged!

Tav came to pick me up and then we headed to her place which is in a massive, massive apartment complex covered in fairy lights halfway up Victoria Peak. I was well impressed, I even had someone open my car door for me. A guy from Clapham called Tim came out here to live just 4 days ago, to work for Goldman Sachs, and he lives in the same place so we all went out for dinner in Soho, which was a little bit like Soho back home. We went to a Szechuan restaurant and we had their walnut chicken with Szechuan chillies. I started eating it and after a couple of mouthfuls felt my tongue go all tingly and then numb, a sensation I had not felt before (!) I started to panic a bit cos I thought I might be allergic to something and I couldnt even feel if my throat was clamming up or not because everything went numb. I could see the headlines: ‘Traveller dies from allergy to Szechuan chillies on first night in Hong Kong’,  at which point I downed my coke and went to check out my tongue in the bathroom mirror to see if it had quadrupled in size or not…. It was then that I saw the baby terrapins. They had a bowl of turtles in the bathroom, next to the toilet! Talk about entertainment… Anyways tongue calmed down, finished dinner and headed for D’Aguilar street which has lots of bars on it.

I woke up at 5am this morning and couldnt get back to sleep so I went for a walk and ended up climbing up Victoria Peak which was a hugely steep climb. The view was rubbish thanks to the smoggy air quality here so might try it again before I leave.

Anyways, am in a cafe waiting for Tav to come and see me for lunch, so will email again soon!

Farrah xxx

Hey all

Hope you’re all good and thanks for the emails!

Am now on Koh Samui in Thailand where people are friendly and the sun shines all day long!

I left Hong Kong last Friday having thoroughly explored the place by bus, tube and tram. I even started nosing around the outlying islands, one of which, Lamma Island was pretty cool for trekking about. In all, Hong Kong was pretty cool and it was great that I had someone to take me out (Cheers Lady T) as its a real nightlife place, otherwise as a backpacker on her own, I would have got really bored, it would be like going out in London alone 🙁 I probably only spotted 2 other travellers and they were a couple. And oh yeah people who were asking, Cantonese is the main language there but everyone speaks English anyway.

So on to Thailand. My flight was supposed to stop off at Phuket and Id been pondering over whether it was a good idea to get off there or not, but Thai Airways made that decision for me by cancelling all stops to Phuket outright. I got to Bangkok not having booked anywhere to stay but thought to hell with it and boarded a bus to the Sukhumvit Road. Most backpackers head for the Khao San Road (its where Leo heads to in “The Beach”) but all the lone female travellers I know reckon Suk Road is nicer and safer. The other backpackers who were also waiting for a bus all got on the one to Khao San so I stood there on my lonesome not really knowing what was going to happen next… Luckily, a guy who got on my bus from Australia was heading my way and he helped me find a place once we got there. I ended up in a hostel called Suk 11. Very cool. Its like a massive wooden hut and there are travellers there from all over. I got a bed in a dorm and I was really quite tired with the heat and lack of sleep from partying in Hong Kong so I decided to take my first day in Thailand easy and do nothing.

However, catching up on sleep was not to be. An Australian girl called Jayne walked into the dorm an hour later. She’d been out shopping and had come back to dump her stuff. We got talking and she offered to show me the sights! So we got on the Sky train (very clean and efficient) and then she took me on a river boat all the way up to where Khao San Road is. I have to say, my reaction was like bloody hell! Just that strip of neon lights, hair braiding stalls and people, my god, so many people, made the rest of Bangkok that Id seen seem sane (Think “The Beach” again!). Anyways we did some shopping, I bought Jayne a beer as a thank you and we had dinner – Pad Thai for 15 baht (20p!!!). There was a down side to my first day too though. The streets were lined with posters displaying photos and names of people still missing from the tsunami. There were also posters with names of the confirmed dead. All very sad.

We got a tuk tuk back to the hostel. CRAZY! They are like motobike taxis. They go really fast and weave in and out of traffic. And you feel all the bumps in the road on them too. But anyone going to Bangkok, do it anyway!!

The next day, Jayne left for England as she has a job for 2 months. Thailand was her stopover from Oz. I left the hostel too, bound for the south, to get ready for the monthly Full Moon party which was to take place on Monday on Koh Pha Ngan. You have to get a night train down to the coast and then a ferry across. I spent all day Saturday looking for a place to stay on the internet. No luck. But I was sure there would be somewhere, even if it was under a coconut tree on the beach. And I was also sure that I would not be alone in this endeavour. About 10, 000 people head down to the island for this party so there had to be somewhere!

The night train was cool. A Thai couple sat across from me kept asking me loads of questions and were fascinated to hear I was travelling alone. And a Thai man who I met in the station while waiting for the train kept grabbing my arms cos he was so fascinated by how different I looked to Thai women – at least thats the excuse he gave me, the perv! In fact, conversations with Thai’s I have met along the way have gone something like this;
Are you travelling alone? Yes.
Oh. Are you married? Yes (I think this is a safe answer)
Do you have children? No.
WHY NOT?????

I did manage to sleep and the couple woke me up just before we got to Surat Thani, which is where you have to go to catch the ferry across. About 4 coachloads of people arrived at the pier to get on the ferry. By this time I had decided to stay on Koh Samui, the island before Koh Pha Ngan as I thought the chances of finding accomodation would be higher. I looked around for other lone travellers but all I saw were Australians getting drunk for the first time (beer at 6am, yuk) and quiet Scandinavian boys….

The sail to Koh Samui took almost 3 hours. Koh Pha Ngan is a further 50 minute sail away. I got out at Samui and walked along the pier not having a clue what I was doing or where I was going. I spotted two guys I had seen in Surat Thani negotiating a fare with a taxi driver. They seemed nice enough and really without thinking went up to them and asked if they had somewhere to stay. They said yes. So I said, oh would it be OK if I jumped in your cab and tried to get a room where you are? (do or die, do or die). They had no objection so off we went. They were Australians from Perth, Frank and Andy. They even offered to let me sleep in their room if there was nowhere else but we got to the place (VERY NICE, bungalows right on the beach)and there was a room. It was a lot more than I wanted to pay but affordable. In fact, rooms on Koh Samui are double the price of their Bangkok equivalents. I didnt really have much choice but it was in a great location and the guys were nice too. We spent the rest of Sunday hanging out in town.

Monday we set sail for Koh Pha Ngan and the Full Moon Party. The party pretty much takes place along the length of Haad Rin beach (http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/). We had lunch and wandered around, watched the sunset and got ready… I had the most amazing time! There’s all kinds of music and I met loads of fab people like the blonde Arab from Morocco, the queen from Bangkok who pinched my behind everytime he saw me, and the Irish boy who I danced with on the sand to Groove Armada. I could go on but this email is getting too long already! I also kept getting mistaken for being Israeli! One guy called Leo just did not believe I wasnt and insisted on carrying on a conversation in Hebrew! (Note to Rachel: very cute but forgot to get you his number hehehe!). We stayed up dancing for the whole thing and at 5.30am we climbed up a hill at the end of the beach to watch the sun rise.

Round about 7.30am we decided it was time to go home. As we arrived at the pier in Samui, I noticed loads of Thai people gathered on the beach. Andy thought they were there to welcome us back from the party, but the reason was far more sinister. Thais who’d got the boat back with us were rushing to get off to talk to the crowd. It turns out a speedboat that left the party to come back to Samui at 5am had crashed, killing 8 people, 3 Thai and 5 Swedes (or Danes, not clear on that yet). They may have been people we met that night. It put a bit of a downer on an otherwise excellent night. Later that day I sat on the beach outside my bungalow and watched police boats search for the missing bodies.

Today, the boys left Samui for Krabi on the western side of Thailand, but I couldnt go to that side without wanting to visit Phuket and Phi Phi, so I have stayed put, alone again. Tomorrow Im going to the Marine Park, the setting for “The Beach” and then will think about heading back to Bangkok.

I love Thailand so far. Its so cheap and the people are great. They smile all the time 🙂 Oh yeah I have a number out here which is +66 5806 0349.

Phew that was long. Let me know how you all are.

Lots of love
Farrah xxx

Hello!

Hope that you’re all well, thanks for the emails, keep em coming!

Im now in northern Thailand having seen all the sights in Bangkok, including Patpong (thoroughly depressing) and a Thai Boxing match – wicked! I went with a girl from my hostel and we were the only women there!!I also saw Andy and Frank again which was cool. In fact I have met loads of Australians and have a heap of places to stay down under but haven’t really met any English people…

I made my way up to Chiang Mai on the night train which was full of farang. I didnt see any Thai faces which was a huge difference from my previous night train experience. Once at Chiang Mai however, I met the Thai couple who had travelled down to Surat Thani with me! Chiang Mai seems to have lots of boys wandering around aimlessly, talking about going to Laos, but never actually going… There’s heaps to do; I wandered into Laos via the Golden Triangle, went trekking in the mountains of Doi Ithanon (the pain has put me off my original goal of climbing Mount Kinabalu in Borneo…) and stayed with a hilltribe too in a bamboo hut. That was cool. They had no electricity and no showers; we had to wash in the river with the elephants (I can see your face now Mia, eeewwwwww!!). I went with a group of people and at night we sat around a huge camp fire swigging cognac (not me of course though, no!). It was so cold, I thought I was back home. I also went elephant riding (they are cool) and white water bamboo rafting (Andrew and David you would be so proud of me after our exploits on the River Wye). I also took a Thai cooking class, I so can cook a good Green Curry, mum and dad I’ll show you when I get back. I’ve been eating nothing but Thai food here, and heaps of fruit (Eliot, you’d love it). I was considering going to Burma but I really am running out of time, and Pai, where I am now is soooooo cool, I dont want to leave!!

Pai is a town about 4 hours bus ride north of Chiang Mai. Its just really chilled and you wont believe how laid back it is til you get here. I travelled up with 2 Americans from my hostel but have now hooked up with a crazy Argentinian (practising my Spanish!) who is also travelling alone and heads to Laos at the end of the week. Going to enjoy it here but not too much because I have an early flight out of Bangkok to Singapore on Friday, which is also my birthday – 27!!!!! – would be nice to hear from some of you then.

Thats it for now folks.
Farrah xxxx

Hello!

I made it out of Thailand alive after my very crazy last night in Bangkok and then after 2 hours sleep, flew to Singapore. I only had one day there and as it was my birthday, decided to have a drink at Raffles to celebrate. The guys there were lovely and when they found out it was my birthday they gave me free food and drink!! The waiters were fab. Some Australian guy came and invited himself to have a drink with me at one point and all the waiters were giving him evils, like, whats he doing with our girl, it was quite funny. So my quick afternoon Singapore Sling turned into another party and I ended up staying until gone 11…with a flight to catch the following morning with check-in at 7 or something.

Borneo has been pretty hard to get around as an independent traveller. Its fine if you come in a tour and have the money to spare (one tour I looked at quoted me 1500 ringgits, over 200 quid. I did it alone for 500 ringgits, under 100 quid!!) but not for me. I met a lot of backpackers, actually its been the easiest place so far to group together with other people and see things, go out, stay together. I think we all know we are in the same boat. For a start, buses never come or you have to wait forever for one. There are no direct routes to interesting places. I even – dare I tell you all – thumbed a ride – but needs are a must. Additionally, for females, there is the constant harassment by the local men. Generally, Sabahians are nice people, but the guys really wear you down. On every corner you hear “hello, you are beautiful girl”. GRRRRR! Some girls I met said they were hissed at quite regularly too. Borneo is tough-going. Did I say that already? But rewarding…

Everyone knows about Mount Kinabalu and almost everyone I met climbed it and although I set out with the plan to do it, the 9km trek uphill in Thailand left me mentally exhausted. I dont think Kinabalu is even that long? Had I not climbed mountains there with the risk of being eaten by giant red ants and long-limbed spiders every time I slipped, as well as running out of water in the heat I would have done it. But I’ve had enough of big steep things.

Anyways, my main goal in Borneo and in fact my world trip was to see orang-utans! There is an orangutan sanctuary here, Sepilok, the largest in the world but you are not allowed to touch them cos they catch our diseases and stuff. I did go visit and it was cool anyway. One monkey wandered onto the walkway and I got up close but the ranger told her off when she started to grab peoples hands and she ran off. I had heard about a tame orang-utan called Jackie who lived in the jungle and came down to the Poring Hot Springs for food every day (thanks Ruth!!), so I set off to find her… She was taken care of by the people at Poring and then released into the wild, but still comes back. I arrived at Poring not happy as I got thrown off a bus (it was going the wrong way even though I was told it was going my way) and had to hail down someone to take me the rest of the way or risk getting eaten by the birds as I waited for a local bus that would never come. I got there and headed straight for the jungle. I was so desperate to see Jackie I didnt think about getting someone to come with me or a guide or something, so I wandered in. It got darker and more humid as I went in. I stood still at one point and leaves fell down around me and I heard lots of noises. I didnt really think about what I would do if leeches fell on me or a snake jumped out in front of me, which is pretty stupid. So I made my way out again! As I came back to the world, I saw a man and told him I was looking for Jackie. Turns out he feeds her! He told me to hang around in the afternoon and she would come out of the jungle herself.

So later on I sat patiently at the foot of the hill leading to the jungle. A couple of girls came by and said they were looking for Jackie too! They had read about her in Lonely Planet, so maybe it was not such a secret after all. And then two Japanese guys wandered by saying they had simply asked locals where they could see monkeys. So just 5 of us sat down for about 2 hours in the sun eating melted chocolate waiting for the monkey. It sounds stupid doesnt it?  A group of Macaque monkeys came by and just as they were taking our attention away, we saw a fuzzy ginger thing bounding down the hill!! It was her. She came all the way down, let herself in under a fence and headed straight for the rangers quarters. We followed her and she saw us and just looked at us. Then a ranger came out and gave her some milk and some rice. It was soooo cool. We touched her. Her hair was coarse and her hands felt human. Im so glad hardly anyone knows about her. You have to fight the crowds at Sepilok to get a good photo. It was worth waiting for Jackie. We played with her for nearly 2 hours before we started realising that getting back to town was becoming a priority.

I also went to Turtle Island and watched baby turtles being hatched and then we helped them go back to the sea, they’re sooo cute. And visited the little islands surrounded by coral reef. Very pretty. Have wandered into a couple of other jungles..I’m just glad that I’ve been on my anti-malarials although they did make me ill for a bit, and all my jabs have been done. You see some funky little insects. Spiders have not been toooo bad. I escaped the leeches too hehehe!

My hostel was great, the people I met were great. I hung out with 2 Swedish girls when I got here and they moved on and then I met some Aussies and a French guy on a long-distance bus so we stayed together, that was cool. I just wish I had more time here, it’s great.

Australia next, cant believe Im going there! Thanks for the emails, will try to reply in the next century….

Farrah xxx

I made it to Australia, and I love it here!! Even the spiders and mosquitoes dont spoil it much.

I arrived in Sydney and it rained solidly for 2 whole days but despite that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far. Customs on arrival was tough, they asked me who I was going to stay with in OZ, why I was travelling alone and what I did at home. Sydney was cool. Larry and Heather, I did everything you said I should, right down to eating Royal Copenhagen ice cream! I went to Darling Harbour, visited the Rocks, climbed yp the Harbour Bridge pylon, took a ferry to Manly, walked around the Botanical Gardens and sat on Bondi Beach all day. I even got time to go to the Blue Mountains, which I hadnt planned to do, as its just “another national park”, but Im glad I did cos it was quite spectacular. I also went to visit some koalas (so furry!) and play with some kangaroos at a wildlife park, which was fun. I also visited a place called Croydon, which was a bit of a dump and there were lots of car lots… Hmmmn… The infamous Kings Cross was interesting. I wandered down there one night and all the  – ahem – ladies of the night were definitely on something. One woman’s trousers were even falling down at one point, but she was so off her face she didnt know it. I would have laughed out loud if there weren’t so many dodgy people around who looked like they’d thump me one if I did.

Next up was Byron Bay. Byron is a very dangerous place to be if you’re not planning on staying long. I would have ended up sitting under trees with hippies all day, seriously! And I did end up staying longer than I was supposed to, and used up all my time there that I was supposed to spend in Brisbane and Noosa. It has a great beach, lots of surfer types and it was a good place to meet people. I stayed at a place that had its own cinema, pool and a campsite. One night I did camp out with the toads, snakes and iguanas and had great fun letting down other people’s tent pegs in the middle of the night, hehehe.. For the most time I was in a dorm with 3 boys from Essex who were good fun too. I somehow also ended up in Nimbin. Anyone who knows about Nimbin, well I dont need to say much more…

After a day in Brisbane (absolutely nothing to do there unless you’re looking for a job, but nice on the South Bank), I headed to Rainbow Beach to go to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island. I teamed up with 10 other people, mostly English and Irish and we camped out there for 2 nights, braving the big spiders – I did actually run out screaming of a toilet at one point cos there were two huge huntsmans by the sink – and marsh flies – huge! It was cool. I shared driving the 4WD with another guy and we went to Indian Head, where you’re supposed to be able to see sharks and turtles (we didnt), Lake McKenzie, a really lovely big saltwater lake, Lake Wabby, which has huge sand dunes all around it where you can roll down into the water and Eli Creek, which is like a lazy river. We all had a really good time and Im hoping to meet up with some of the gang when I get to Cairns and fly down to Melbourne. Right now Im back in Sydney. I flew back to go to Mardi Gras and will fly up to Airlie Beach tomorrow to go sailing in the Whitsundays.

Does anyone mind if I dont come back?

F xxx

How much further away from home can I get?

Im now in New Zealand, in fact I have been for over 2 weeks now. I have already done a circuit of South Island and am well on my way to heading up to North Island this week.

I arrived here in Christchurch. Its a lot like England and all the street names are named after English places. The weather matches too, but I guess it is the end of summer/beginning of autumn… I met a guy called Kevin from East Sussex whilst watching TV in my hostel on my first night and we decided after a lot of umming and arring to hire/buy a car/take a bus together around New Zealand. We eventually decided to get a car and thought about buying one when we came across an ad from a guy also staying at our hostel who wanted to get a car, so we contacted him and Andy from Banbury became the third of our team. We settled on hiring a car and off we went. If I had been the woman at the travel desk dealing with us I would have hit us.

We headed straight for the west coast and picked up an American girl on the way who ran away after one day with us – I didnt think we were quite that bad. The scenery was just amazing – mountains, rivers, forests. We ended up at Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. The boys did some glacier walking but Im not keen on snow and ice so I just settled for the helicopter ride and saw Mount Cook, NZ’s highest peak. We did some walks off the beaten track and got bitten to bits by sandflies – absolutely nobody warned us about these little critters, they are worse than mosquitoes and the bites take ages to disappear. Whilst at Franz Josef, dare I say it, I also caught the 2nd Lord of The Rings film. I’ve always said I would never watch them, but I guess Ill just have to now..

You can drive for miles in New Zealand and not see anyone, which is pretty much what we did. But you will see a lot of roadkill. We did drive after dark once and we narrowly missed hitting possums, deer and kea birds.

After the snow and mountains we spent Easter in Wanaka and Queenstown. I met some guys I had stayed with in Australia there which was nice as it took me some time to feel settled in New Zealand. The complete change of weather and apparent hostility of some people we met made me want to get back on the first plane to Oz. I spent a lot of time in icy cold rivers, first to do some white water sledging, which is basically where you body surf on rapids (and swallow a lot of water and get stuck in whirlpools…) and then I did some jet boating and white water rafting. Unluckily I happened to be on the only raft that capsized that day but was rescued by a lovely American couple, and then my raft took a 55 degree dip downriver over some rocks and I ended up smacking my face, god knows where or how, but there was blood everywhere (Mum dont panic, Im OK). I still have my teeth!!!

Kevin met a laaady in Queenstown (and is probably still there with her), so Andy and I decided to go it alone and continue with our trip to Milford Sound. Some say that Milford Sound is the most amazing thing you will see in New Zealand if not ever. Its a fjord surrounded by massive mountains and waterfalls. Andy and I took a cruise and we saw dolphins and seals and we also caught it on a really nice sunny day (Its the 2nd rainiest place in the world apparently). It really was terrific. The drive to Milford from Queenstown is also amazing, going along big blue lakes and massive sheep-filled fields and through mountains.

We continued southwards and ended up going to Stewart Island which is billed as what New Zealand used to look like 30 years ago. Lovely. Andy and I tramped our way across the island, god knows how far we walked but we walked for 6 hours along beaches that could have been in Thailand. The weather wasnt too bad. You are also supposed to see the aurora australis, southern lights, from there but we didnt see anything 🙁 We met an old couple who invited us back to their place for dinner which was really nice of them and we had fish and chips.

Andy is in New Zealand a wee bit longer than me and wanted to explore the south a bit more, so we parted in Dunedin, a university town in the south east and I continued back up to Christchurch. Not much to see on the east coast. However, on my way to this internet cafe, who do I see but the man himself!! Seems there was not a lot to see after all. I have also finally managed to catch up with my uni girlfriend, Becky. Bex has been travelling since December and we were supposed to meet down under but I think we were both on Fraser Island at the same time with no phone reception, so we have made the effort to meet up here in Christchurch, which has been really cool. We went to Akaroa today, which is where you can go watch dolphins, if you want, or just sit in the sun and eat, which is what we did!

Tomorrow Im heading to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins and maybe do some whale watching, and then will take the three and a half hour ferry trip up to North Island and stay in Wellington and plan what to do next…

Hope you are all well!

Farrah xxx

Hi Everyone Had a lovely time in Fiji. Sun was shining, sea water was clear and I spent much time in hammocks on desert islands when I wasnt snorkelling or swimming in underwater caves. Just imagine a Bounty advert and that is what Fiji is like. People amazingly friendly. Wish my time in Fji could be longer.Lots of love
Farrah xxx 

Hello!

I am on the final leg of my trip. Cant believe that 4 months have gone by already but they have.

My trip to the States started off with me travelling together with a guy called Neil. I met Neil whilst watching football in Franz Josef in NZ. Yes, I was watching football. And then a few weeks later, I ended up flying to Fiji with a guy from my hostel in Auckland called Archie. Once we got to Fiji, Archie joined his group of friends and Neil was one of them. As it turned out we were both headed to LA on the same flight so we decided to meet at the airport and get together to road-trip California!

We spent a couple of days in Santa Monica getting excited about how cheap everything was and laughing at all the people trying to look cool on Venice Beach and eavesdropping stupid conversations. Our hostel was full of students and people trying their luck in Hollywood. Some were nice, hardworking people and some were just plain idiots who liked the sound of their own voices a bit too much. They dont call it La La Land for nothing you know.

Then we got our car! We headed straight up Pacific Highway 1, taking in Malibu (but could not find any nice houses to sneak into), Santa Barbara and the surfers at Pismo Beach. We watched big seals lying on the beach and visited Hearst Castle before we reached the Big Sur, which was pretty cool. The cliff road winds around the coast and you end up stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture of the views. We headed on to Santa Cruz which was just lovely (Mike & Cueszy, you lucky buggers). It just seems like a cool place to stay; nice beach, nice houses, surfers! Our trip took 2 days and we were pretty bushed by the time we got to San Francisco.

I have now been here over a week and have done loads of things like wandering around the different areas;  the Haight (for alternative music and clothes, stuff like that), Castro (gay boys), Fishermans Wharf (too many tourists), Chinatown and North Beach as well as Union Square (shops!). I rode the Golden Gate Bridge by bike which was really cool and then went to Sausalito for lunch, which was a downhill trip. I was told it would take me about 30 minutes to get there but it took me only 10 with no brakes, hehe. Alcatraz was a must and with good reason too. I spent some time chilling out in Golden Gate Park and went to the beach too. Then, yesterday I wandered over the Bay Bridge to Berkeley, a University town, and mingled with the students. I did think about sneaking into a lecture but then I thought no.

The Americans I have met have been fairly pleasant. There are actually quite a lot of Americans travelling around their own country. Some of them are puzzled when I tell them Im from England, they’re like, what you’re not Indian? And Im like, Hey, not all brown faces are Indian. And none of them have heard of Mauritius. Except two.

My hostel is really cool, the Green Tortoise, its run by the same guys who organise the bus tours, I know some of you have done them, so its like a 24-hour party (mum and dad please dont be shocked by how tired I look when you come to pick me up). I met a really cool bunch of guys here – 2 Aussies, Shane & Mike, a Mexican, Cueszy and Matt from Stevenage and we stuck together the whole time until they all started leaving, one by one. Cueszy and me leave tomorrow and then Neil will be on his own for one more day…

So, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Asia, Oz, Nz, Fiji and here. I wish I had longer but my credit card expires this weekend so I should really come back!! Hopefully the stop home wont last too long because there is so much more to see in the world than the inside of a tube train and the grumpy faces on the bus in the mornings. And with invites to see tigers in India in August and life in Brazil in November, it would be just plain rude to stay in London. Only question now is, who’s gonna come with me???

just flew back from there this morning and felt the need to share info as I went overthere without a clue about what it would really be like…

2 economies – one for tourists (CUC – Peso convertible – $) and one for the locals (CUP – Pesos Cubanos). Be careful not to get ripped off. CUC works out at almost same exchange rate as the US dollar to the Pound so a lot of things actually cost the same in cuba as they do in the UK – eg. Cups of coffee, meals, daily essentials. If you attempt to buy food from a Cuban Peso outlet, insist on take away otherwise they’ll seat you and charge you 40 pesos for a pizza (almost £2) instead of 5 pesos!

Always make sure you have brought enough cash. ATMs are difficult to come by and when you find one it will 80% of the time be out of service! Mon-sat you can walk into a bank with a visa card and they’ll withdraw money on that but forget it if you have a card for an American bank. American dollars are no go in Cuba and exchanging them will cost you 10% on top of the value.

Learn as much Spanish as you can if you dont know any cos this will help when haggling taxi fares and avoiding bumped up prices

Take things with you that we take for granted – plasters, paracetamol, hand soap, tissues etc. i was in a motorbike accident out there and ended up getting my wounds taken care of in a Cuban hospital for free but taking care of the dressings afterwards was a difficult experience as you cant just walk into a chemist there and expect them to have what you need. Also make sure you’ve had your jabs. I never thought an accident would happen to me and it could have been much worse!

Stay at a Casa Particulare – Cubans are so friendly and accommodating. Again, If I knew a bit more Spanish I would have enjoyed the experience more as we would have been able to have better conversations. And not everyone can speak English contrary to what people who just go to tourist resorts will tell you. Take little presents with you for them – bars of chocolate, sweets, pens, soap etc. Casas are also roughly half the price of a decent hotel per night.

Although Cubans are friendly people, some areas are prone to hustlers – Old town havana!!! – and you should just walk away and decline politely. Whenever I approached a local for help and advice they were only too happy to give it and one guy even walked me up a hill in the dark with his asthma inhaler in one hand to show me how to get to a cavern disco (dont ask!)

Um… what else… If you dont like what Fidel and Che Guevara stood for, dont go to Cuba. Similarly, Bush fans, keep away, you wont get any sympathy and being a patriotic lot, any anti-communist feelings will get you nowhere with the Cubans.

Mixed couples be prepared for lots of stares. I was mistaken for being Cuban everywhere I went and me and my white partner were looked at quizzically everywhere we went, if you cant prove you’re not Cuban you wont be rented a room in any casa or tourist hotel (this nearly happened to us!)

If you’re backpacking around the island, Viazul is the way to go. The Astro buses are for the Cubans and even though about 4 seats are reserved per bus for tourists, you will still be charged in CUC so better to go with Viazul although Astro does travel off the beaten track. There are also ‘colectivo’ taxis that will take you places for the same price as the bus and can be better as you dont have to stick to a fixed timetable then or you can get to places without having to wait for a connecting bus per se. You can usually arrange these at the Viazul bus station too.

Sure there’s lots more I could tell you but fighting jet lag right now…!

Well, here I am! In South America! Its 30 degrees in Santiago with blue skies but I am exhausted after my 24hr journey and I fell asleep in a church earlier!

Ben and I left Gatwick 1pm yesterday on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia. The flight was pretty empty and we got chatting to this crazy guy who worked on lighting stadiums (and got ordained as a priest even though he was Jewish..??) who was off to Nashville for a business meeting. He was telling us that his brother used to drum for Morrissey (and told us a few secrets about him) and that he hated flying so he just gets very drunk during flights. At one point he woke me up from a quick nap because he had bought me a glass of champagne to have with him. Which was very nice of him. Well, couldnt really turn him down… and that alone was a 9 hour flight so we landed in the US at 10pm (5pm local time).

As everyone knows, you shouldnt joke around with US immigration officials… so what does Farrah do? Starts asking the Official stupid questions. I wrote on my landing card that I was just in transit and he saw that and scribbled ´Chile´next to it. So I asked him how he knew. “I know everything about you” he says without smiling. “I have known everything about you since you got here”. So I just look at him. And he says “Why are you going to Chile?” “For some fun”. “Why?” “Because I think it will be exciting”. Then he takes my picture and I pull a stupid face. And then he fires a quick round of random questions at me, stamps my passport and off I go. Hmmmn. we had to wait til 3am (10pm there) to catch our connecting flight to Chile.

We just dossed about in departures really and then on the flight we probably only got about 4 or 5 hours sleep and confusingly Chile is further west than Georgia yet the time difference with the UK returns to just 3 hours behind instead of 5… anyway arrived at Arturo Merino airport and just pretended we knew where we were going and jumped in a mini van with 2 American backpackers to our hostel in Barrio Bellavista. They were returning from going around the south and recommended it but said it can get really windy but they had gone trekking across the Andes and into Argentina which all sounds exciting… Bellavista Hostel is apparenly one of the top 10 best places to stay in the world, hostel-wise so, Sue and anyone else venturing here you might want to look it up. Its in a really cool neighbourhood with loads of bars and restaurants around and there´s loads of facilities here (email being one 🙂 ) and a cool roof terrace and its just round the corner from Parque Metropolitano. Once Ben and I got round to getting washed up and we weren´t feeling so spaced (we are in a dorm with an English guy called Martin who disappeared to go wine-tasting) we caught the funicular up to the top of the hill (and I dont mind telling you that its 48 degree angle did worry me a bit) and you can see the whole of the city spawling out towards the Andes. We wandered around for a bit and then I sat in a chapel atop the hill and it was cool and pleasant so I had a quick nap, hehehe! And thats it so far for today. First impressions of Chileans are that they are lovely, they speak English really well (although we have been attempting to speak Spanish first) and Chilean children are all beautiful (but DO NOT make me broody). Oh and pesos are awkward to deal with in that 1000 pesos is equal to a quid which is fine but it all gets confusing when you start dealing in big bucks and you need to double check you are getting the right change and so on.. Farrah needs a good night sleep….

Heading for the coast in a coupla days and gonna meet up with our Canadian buddy Ray when he flies in also in a coupla days. All OK here. Hope everyones cool, thanks for all the tips and well wishes and stuff, love to you all!

F xx