Kualar Lumpar

It was strange being back in a city after 3 weeks of chilled out island hopping but KL was just what we needed. First day was dedicated to shopping with a relaxed evening meal in China Town. The second day, however we uped the pace by begining in China Town hunting down the morning bargins before hopping on a bus to the Batu Caves, which contain several very lovely hindu shrines as well as hundreds of monkeys swinging off the tops of them and munching on coco nuts. We had dinner in Little India where the streets were lined with brightly coloured stalls selling jewellery, head scarves and saris. We then got the monorail back to China Town and had a look at central market where we tried on lots of hareem pants and got a fish spa. The fish spa was a novel if somewhat painful (though mainly ticklish) experience where by you put your feet in a water tank filled with fish who eat all the dead skin of your feet. Its ment to have many health benefits like improving circulation and leaving skin healthy- either way, me and my friends all agreed it was the funnest pound we'd ever spent and did leave our feet super soft.

Yogakarta

So... I'm now in Indonesia on a large island called Java. After a horrible 4 days in Sumatra (the island above Java) which consisted of a 30hour bus journey filled with chain smoking locals who refused to let us open the windows, ankots with drivers who'd drop us in the middle off nowhere and charge us highly for the privilege, a massive language barrier and a very sick friend... quite frankly arriving in Java was god send.

At the moment we're in Yogakarta, a pedestrian friendly city (a real novelty here) which is considered the cultural capital. The city is famous for puppets and batik- our first day here we saw plenty evidence of this whilst strolling down the bustling market on Jl Malioboro where stall after stall was selling beautiful batik handbags and purses, puppets along with many other beautiful crafts. We also stopping by the batik art centre where we were given a demonstration of the batik process which involves lots of hot wax as well as a very steady hand. Before the hectic market however, my friend and I decided we couldn't delay an asian massage any longer so stopped into a massage parlour for a 90 minute full body massage with hot oil and free tea. The massage was amazing, at one point they held onto my feet for support and walked over me! I'd never felt so relaxed as after that massage and all it cost me was 6 pounds 50.

The next day was spent doing slightly more cultural things than massages and shopping, as we wnt to the sultans palace and water castle. The water castle was my favourite, carved with a mix of hindu and muslem symbols it was truley beautiful and on the way out we stoped in a puppet shop where the artist explained the puppet making process to us. In the evening we went to see the Ramayana Ballet show which incredible. It's a very traditional indonesian tale, the actors where dressed in incredible costumes, jewellery, face paint and masks. The dancing was unlike anything I've ever seen, the way they can make their body move is nothing like the dancers we have back home.

Today is our last day in my favourite city (in Asia) so far and we've just got back from Borobuddur, a huge buddist monument that attracts travellers from miles. It's a magnificent place with breath taking mountain views. There was a buddist ceremony whilst we visited so we caught some of the procession and got to see the big buddist shrine they'd built filled with insense, candles and golden statues.

Tioman

Tioman island was our first real taste of Malaysia and it was beautiful. As soon as we arrived we ran into the ocean and swam until sunset before a delicous curry and cocktails. This island is full of life and on my first day I saw two huge monitor lizards scurrying under beach huts and a pair of monkeys fighting by the lake. One day we walked from one side of the island to the other through the rain forest and past a waterfall- the massive trees made me feel so small. Another day I walked a good couple of hours to a beach in Tekek and swam to Ringis Island where me and some friends went snorkelling. It was stunning and what made it more special is that lurking by some rocks I saw a shark!! I also saw two sea snakes, little did I know that they were actually posionous, I only discovered that afterwards when I described them to the dive shop lady.

We'd heard alot about Monkey Beach so also decided to go there. I hadn't realised how hardcore the walk would be, it was through the jungle. In parts we scrambled over rocks or used ropes attached to rocks to haul ourselves up steep bits (there were alot). We were doing so well until we came across a giant monitor lizard blocking our path and making quite sure that we couldn't cross. He swished his tail about, hissed his forky tounge and stamped. I thought we'd be stuck forever, but eventually after pretending to leave, he moved. We could hear him in the bushes though and as we passed he hissed loudly so we RAN and my heart was pounding the whole rest of the walk to monkey beach, but at least I survived.

I love this island so much because it has such local charm. Most of the malaysians (including the young kids) ride little mopeds with side carts that take up the whole pathway. There were plenty of cafes serving village style noodles and rice dishes full of women in their beautiful long dresses and matching head scarves. The few bars here were so cute, they on the beach frount with a very laid back vibe and often fire shows. It'll be hard to top this place.

East Coast Australia

Finally I understand everyone's obsession with Australia! This vast, sparsely populated country has just about everything to offer. It took me awhile to get over the initial jet-lag when we arrived in sydney. We walked over the harbour bridge, checked out the opera house and wandered through the massive botanical gardens with bats constantly gliding over our heads, but I still didn't get Australia. I was still pineing over South America and missed the magic of Australia to begin with.

A couple of days later, after flying to Byron Bay however, everything changed. We stayed in a super-cool hostel with a pool, juice bar and loads of workshops. Our first night there was a beach party with a huge bonfire and a couple of guys playing the fiddle and guitar- it created such a great atmosphere. We met all sorts of people, mainly other backpackers and I can honestly say that this was the moment I realised my love for Australia. Our time in Byron was spent relaxing at the more secluded beach, rather than the main one and checking out the cute hippish town, one morning we even got in a yoga class.

We went to Brisbane to meet our friend there for a couple of days. It was lovely to stay with a family, the meals were fantastic! We didn't have much time to look around, but hung out by Brisbane's fake beach and wandered around the town. Cairns was our next stop, home to the Great Barrier Reef. I've wanted to go to the great barrier reef ever since I can rember so it was one of the first things that we did when we got here. Tea, coffe, muffins, a big lunch and afternoon tea were included, as being able to snorkel through the most incredibly beautiful reefs, spotting giant, colourful fishwasn't enough. I had an amazing time and spent the rest of my time in Cairns exploring the different beaches (minding the crocs- I heard they can slip through the stinger nets) and lazing by the lagoon. Our last couple of days in Cairns were amazing- we went to cape tribulation, a beautiful rainforest that runs all the way down to the great barrier reef. We went croc spotting on a trip down the daintree river and saw a snake hanging on a tree whilst we were there too and did afew walks through the different types of rainforest. On our last day we went to the Aborigional Cultural Park where we go to watch live shows in which they performed the creation story, traditional dances and played the digaredoo. I even got taught how to throw a boomerang and spear, needless to say, my skills were such that I'd make a terrible hunter.

Colonia

One of the coolest things about Buenos Aires is that it's just a quick hop across the water to Uruguay, just a couple of hours and you're in a completely new country. Colonia in Uraguay is such a cute little city with winding cobbled streets and a long stretch of river beaches. We spent a couple of days unwinding on the beaches before exploring the old town with it's old fort, gorgeous coffee shops and many art gallerys. The perfect place to relax after much travelling.

Mendoza

Mendoza is the wine region of Argentina and makes 70% of it's wines, so of course a wine tour here is a must. Maipu is an hour or so outside of Mendoza and is so cute lined with vinyards and organic farms. We began in a family run vinyard where the process is all carried out by hand, before the tasting we were taught to hold the glass to the light to check it's colour and then swirl the glass to release the smell and if it's a good wine tears should run down the side of the glass. We then took a tour of an olive farm where we got to try several different types of olive oil as well as olive oil body products. The second winery we visited was an industrial one so that we could compare the two different ways of producing wine. Finally we wound up at this beautiful organic farm where they produced olives, jams, chutney, honey and delicious fruit juice. We had a tour of the farm an got to hold their bunny rabbits and look at their sheep and horse. Then we were brought to a large barrel of almonds where we had to crack the shells and could eat a many as we liked before the tasting. In this farm w even had time to relax for a while in their hammocks.

Back in the city, we went to a night market for a browse. We ended up befriending some artesan hippys there and were invited to join them and their friends for a large meal, it was so delicious and to top of the night we went to a bar of artesan beers followed by clubbing.

The next morning we checked out an antiques market and then spend the rest of the day learning to make braclets with our new found friends.

Patagonia

After the craziness of a capital city it felt strange visiting the little towns in Patagonia, but despite there quietness they were beautiful. Our first stop was Puerto Madryn where on our first night we went to gorgeous and very much local seafood restaurant. On our full day there we hired a car and did a road trip around the peninsula where we saw armadilos, sea lions, elephant seals and the cutest little penguins!

We then caught the bus to Bariloche where we stayed in a lovely and very homely, wooden hostel. We were just outside town and really in the nature. We spent the first afternoon walking up a hill to a spectacular mirador with a beautiful view and log cabin selling yummy cakes and coffee, so we sat there with a drink and enjoyed the scenery. The next and best day was our day horse riding with gauchos through the mountains and forest. On arrival there was tea and coffee on the traditional ranch where we were dropped. After the easy going morning ride over the mountains, we sat down, back at the ranch, for wine and a feast of an asado. In the afternoon ride we got lots of chances to canter and when we got back, tortas fritas had been prepared for us along with more coffee. The rest of our time in Bariloche included driving around the
7 lakes and stopping in cute towns for food and drink. The 36km bike ride was the hardest thing we did but there was a cool artesans market that we stopped at.

The last stop in Patagonia was San Martin, the least touristy place I saw in this region. A town with friendly people, a lovely plaza and sweet little chocolate shops (most give out free samples), coffee shops and locally bars, all made from wood.

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is an amazing city- vibrant, fresh and clean but of course not with out it's problems (like any city). I spent more or less 10 days here, much of it strolling from coffee bar to coffee bar watching all the free tango shows that I could I had lots of red wine and steak (its the argentinian speciality) and one night even managed a massive asado in our hostel the night that my dad and stepmum arrived to visit me.

Our first day in Buenos Aires was a sunday and the best way to spend sunday here is to go to san telmo where there's one huge street with stall after stall of antique treasures as well as the odd touristy rubbish you see everywhere.

Another great weekend market was in recoleta (morbid as this sounds...) outside the cemetry. Lots of artesans and street performers, we watched some hippys tight rope walking, juggling and swinging from ribbons in trees. The actual cemetory itself is incredible too- the graves are like mansions with statues so beautiful and intricately carved.

My favourite memory of Buenos Aires though was going to cafe tortini, the oldest cafe in argentina, to watch a tango show with my parents, two great friends and red wine and steak- perfect!

Rosario

A cute and very clean city where we spent 5nights. We stayed with a couple of locals who we became great friends with. We arrived in the evening so all just chilled out with a big box of take-away empanadas, very typical argentinian food which I can best describe as a type of pasty, and played an obsessive amount of Jenga. Before they showed us around the city the next day, we cooked them up a traditional english breakfast, they were shocked how much food there was. Later we took a walk to the riverside then on to the flag monument where you could get a lift up to the top of the building to get a view of the entire city. It was really beautiful with lots of statues and an everlasting flame. That night was just a lazy pizza night.

The city's great for shopping so we began the day browsing those and finished up with a huge a asado on the rooftop at the house of our friend's mum. She said that they tend to have big family asado around once or twice a week, so it's obviously a big part of life in Argentina. My favourite day however was when me and Leggra went to have lunch on the riverside and then to Parque Independencia where there was a big lake with cute little bridges and collums. We hired a pedalo on the lake and saw a baby turtle swimming around and then a giant turtle diving down. We made everyone lasagna for dinner before heading out to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D -LOVED IT!

Our most cultural day was when we went for a coffee by the river frount, outside the modern art museam then wandered on inside for an hour or so. We had a picnic in the park, strolled through the city and around a market. On the Friday night we went out to a typical argentinian bar, with a gypsy-folk band who were incredible and got everyone crazy dancing.

Iguaze Falls

It took us 26hours to get from Rio to Foz De Iguazu and after that we had to cross the border into Argentina. The evening we arrived there was a massive all you can eat asado (bbq), very popular in Argentina. This particular one had a brazillian dance show with samba music, a drummer and two women samba dancing dressed in little more than a few big feathers. They got all of us up to dance too, taught us some samba steps and sent us sambering through the resturant.

The Iguaze Falls themselves were incredible. We began by walking through the green trail, which is a track through the jungle to get to the viewing points of the waterfall. There where 250 waterfalls to see- from the lower level you could get close enough to get soaked by the nearest waterfall and from the higher level there was great overall view. The definate highlight was getting a speed boat around the waterfalls where we got so close to them that at one point I thought that we were going to be suck under- so much fun, lots of screaming and cheering. There was a train ride to La Garganta Del Diablo (the devil's throat) where we saw the most powerful waterfalls forming a horse shoe shape.

Ilha Grande

You arrive to this paradise island by catamaran and as soon as you jump off, many people are waiting to offer you accommodation so for us it was stress free finding somewhere to stay. The island is stunning and so green, the village in which we stayed had sandy streets and was lined with restaurants and cute shops. The first two days of our stay, unfortunately it rained, but we didn't let that stop us booking a boat trip to various lagoons around the island where you can jump off the boat and snorkel.

Our third day on the island was gorgeous so we did a 2 and a half hour hike through the forest to Lopes Mendes said to be the most beautiful beach in Brazil. The sand was like talcum powder that crunched under foot as you walked.

Rio

As soon as we arrived in Rio we could feel the anticipation of carnival pulsing through the city like an electric current. After check-in and lunch we made our way to our first bloco. in the weeks leading up to carnival all the blocos rehearse in public and the one we went to was by the marina. The band
(mainly purcussion- bateria)was so fun to dance to, loads of people came, most in fancey dress.

The rest of the week before the offical carnival start, was spent relaxing on copacabana and ipanema beach. Our most cultural day was spent in the neighbourhood of santa teresa. We went to the ruins of an old house with a panaramic view of the city. Then we saw another house with a collection of artwork all inspired by Brazil
- it was beautiful. That night i went out with some girls from the hostel to Lapa, we alternated between a salsa and samba (live music) club. We met about 10 others from our hostel that night so we all danced in a big group.

Carmelitos
Friday, 2pm Santa Teresa
We danced for 4 hours behind a huge float with a band and amongst the bateria. Everyone's costumes were amazing, people sprayed the dancing crowd with water and foam and threw confetti over us all.

On the saturday we caught the tail end of a bloco in lapa before going to the Vasco X Fluminense football game in the worlds biggest football stadium- it holds 96000 people. I'm not a football fan but the atmosphere was incredible. There was a bateria so everyone was up on their feet singing and dancing throughout the whole match. Fans threw paper that glittered as it fell and when it got dark people let off fireworks. Our team lost, but after so much fun i really didn't mind.

Cordao do Boitata-Centro
Sunday, 7am
There were 1000s of people dancing on and around the palace. Men dressed as fairys were dancing on the statues, it was crazy.

On the way back to the hotel we partied at two more blocos.
Simpatica e quase amor
4pm, Ipanema
Banda da invalida
7pm, Lapa

Monday, 9am... another bloco at Santa Teresa and that evening was the sambadrome. The sambadrome was amazing- float after float, ostrich feathered costumed after ostrich feathered costume. Everything was so colourful amd sparkley, we were there from 7.30pm to 5am- what an incredible end to carnaval.

Arrial D'ajuda

Our last stop before Rio was this small, hippy beach town. They had the most generous portions of acai smoothie that we've so far found, the craziest looking hippies and the best capoira school. One evening we watched a capoira class through the window, as part of the fight the master would walk on his hands and do crazy flips. I don't know how but after the class, the master persuaded me and Leggra to join a class the following morning at
10am. The class was hard but we loved it and with the few basic moves we'd learnt we were able to fight
(though worryingly I did nearly kick Leggra in the head at one point.)

Olivença

This was a magical place for me! Me and Leggra were really treated like part of a family here. Our friend´s (from Itacare) friend owned a bar with his wife and every night me and Leggra were invited to eat dinner with them and the rest of the staff. Dinner ranged from Sushi to Seafood Spagetti to Chicken Strogonof which we all would eat on the beach or in the bar (which was on the beach). Every evening live music would play at the bar and people would come to dance foro, eat, drink and chat. I had a go a foro myself and love it- it´s a really fun style of dance and the music is beautiful.

On our second night in Olivença, it was the full moon. We all sat on the decking of the bar and together watched the moon rise up out of the sea- it was stunning and so wonderful to share the experience with our new friends. That night I learned to make caiparinha (the brazillian cocktail), stayed dancing till the early hours and walked along the beach to watch the sunrise before heading home for some well deserved sleep.

The next day we´d been invited to a bbq with some people we met in the bar, so we turned up and got given the most amazing meats, salad and even mango caipiroska (best I´ve ever tasted). It was really nice to hang out with some locals and they had really funky brazillian music playing as they cooked- we loved it.

I was so sad to leave Olivença and my new adopted brazillian family. There were absoloutly no gringos in the little villiage of Olivença, only hanging out with locals taught me so much about Brazil´s culture and I really think it helped improved my portuguesse alot.

Itacare

Arriving at our friend´s house in Itacare was like stepping into paradise- hammocks were strung up outside and mango, coconut and cashew trees all grew in the garden. As we entered the house we were given freshly made mango smoothie and then our friend made us coconut cous cous for lunch- amazing!

Whilst he went to work, we chilled on the beach and watched an incredible sunset. After wandering around town and popping into the restaurant where our friend worked at for a drink, me and Leggra got home via moto taxis and cooked dinner. At 11.30ish our friend finished work and off we three went on his bike to the town´s street party. The town was buzzing with energy- There was a car with massive speakers and booming music. The streets were packed with so many people it was hard to move and lined with cocktail and food stands. I tried a traditional Bahia food- Acaraje (fried bean, cut in half and then stuffed with shimps, salad and creamy sauces). A big stage by the beach had bands to which we danced to way into the night.

The next day, we all had lunch together and then took a hike into the beautiful forest (passing several showers by streams to cool off in) to the hidden beach. That night there was a rock band playing in a local bar (girls had free entry) so we went along. The next morning was a lazy one before catching the 3 o´clock bus to Olivença, where kindly our friend arranged for us to stay.

Morro de Sao Paulo

So the island hopping begins in this beautiful place with sandy streets and absoloutly no cars. Our first night here, there was a free beach party with cocktail and crepe stands lining the beach. The music was a kind of brazillian hip-hop to which all the locals shook their stuff like crazy.

Most of our days were lazy beach days, but occassionally we would walk up an down the beach selling jewellery we made. There is a really cool chill out area we went to one evening to watch the sunset, it has the best view and is covered in bean bags and hammocks. We went horse riding on our second to last day and I galloped for my first time- woop wooo! On this island its really easy to get to know people, one night our friend said that we could have a free drink each just for sitting in the outside bar- excellent!

We managed to arrange staying with a local so really felt like we were part of a family and even got in free to an open air club party. It was really nice to take it in turns cooking and all share meals, staying at a locals is such a different experience to in a hostel filled eith tourists. The last day me, Leggra and our spanish friend all went to the fourth beach (the most beautiful) and our friend tried to give us and some little kids a capoira class. Later we watched him at his actual caporira class- they begin by playing traditional music (everyone joins in) and then have a gruelling work out, before making a capoira circle and taking it in turns to fight. That night, our spanish friend came over and she cooked us all a spanish tortilla which we had with vino tinto before heading out to another beach party. The beach party was the perfect way to say goodbye to the island, we stayed up till sunrise which we watched sat on the second beach.

Salvador

Salvador is a beautifully vibrant city with music constantly playing. Groups of people will gather on the street playing drums to which two people perform capoeira- a type of martial arts dance. We stayed in a really cool hostel just outside the pelorinho (the cool place to be) and most days caught a bus to Barra the closest beach, soaked up the sun and drank from coco nuts .

We got some advice on jewellery making from an artesan who took us shopping for wire, beads and thread and taught us how to make different things. Our shopping trip lasted 8 hours and then we sat in our friends workshop for a few more hours getting creative. Back at the hostel we sold a few braclets and a necklace too.

Tuesday night is the big night in Salvador- the streets thrive with people and all over the pelorinho there are live samba bands which hundreds of people gether to watch and dance. Muito Bem! We also for some reason ended up spending some of the night outside our artesan friend´s shop playing chequers and eating fried fish.

El Pantanal

A 16 hour train ride and several buses later we arrived in Corumba and from there booked our trip to the Pantanal, Brazil´s grass lands. As we´d spent a while faffing around, we missed the bus and had to be driven by the boss instead, which actually ended up being a much more comfy mode of transport. When we got to the lodge we were showed to our hammocks where we were to sleep for the next 3 nights- they were so cosy.

That night 17 of us were loaded into the jungle truck, we sat on the roof and off we went for our night time safari. I held up my torch and saw all of the aligators glowing red eyes as we passed the rivers. We even saw a pair of tocans snuggling in a tree together. After a few minutes of driving the truck stopped and the guide signaled for us to climb down as it was time for the nights walk. We scrambled under some wire and suddenly were surrounded by aligators resting by the waters edge- humans apparently don´t bother them. The guide found an aligator (reasonably sized) and grabbed it before picking it up in order to show us different parts of its body including its stomach and jaws! So it wouldn´t attack when the guide placed the aligator back on the ground, he rubbed its tummy with a plant and bit by bit the aligator went into a trance and just fell asleep.

The next day we got into canoes and had a boat trip to this beautiful little town, went swimming in the river, did a bit of fishing (I caught a pirahna- YAY) and had lunch. Though it was fun lazing in the sun, there were problems with our transport back to the lodge so we didn´t get back for dinner until 10pm.

Day 3 day was by far the best!! Of course the 2hour jungle walk in the morning in the rain, didn´t leave me in the best mood as i got swarmed by visicous mossies and cut up by brambles, however after lunch it brightened up and we went horse riding for 2 and a half hours!

The next morning we had an unsuccsesful time trying to fish for pirahnas so chilled in the hammocks mostly and got henna tattoos from an artist working at the camp. Soon after lunch we reaturned to civilisation and are now staying in Campo Grande.

Sucre

Sucre is also known as La Cuidad Blanca due to its beautiful wash white buildings. It´s so much cleaner than the rest of Bolivia and seems alot richer too. Our hostel was right opposite el mercado central where we ate practically all of our meals (so yummy and cheap) - for breakfast we usually had a big fruit salad with yoghurt, nuts, cream and coconut and a strong black coffee. The market was such a big bustley place- people literally yell at you as you pass, almost pleading that you eat at their stall.

On New Years we met some locals who took us to Sucre´s mirador which is stunning. From there, there´s a walk up to the mountains passing seven catholic statues- we were sat in the mountains till sunset, watching the beautiful view and looking at one of the locals artesan work. To celebrate new year, we went to a local hangout where there was free champagne at midnight and then on to a street party.

We spent another day relaxing in the mirador with strawberry milkshake, chatting to yet another artesan when we met some people who said they would take us to a nearby town Yotala where there was a typical bar selling Chicha (a corn beer) and another mirador up in the mountains. After that we arranged to meet the next day and together drove to the seven waterfalls, only 30minutes from the city. We bought a packed lunch and sat on the rocks and swam in the waterfalls- we only climbed to the third waterfall, but all of the ones that we passed were gorgeous and wonderfully secluded.