27
December
2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We had a wonderful last few days in Phi Phi kayaking and hiking before heading back to Bangkok for our flight to Delhi. We arrived in Delhi late in the evening, met the Buchanans at the airport, and headed to our hotel – Absolute luxury compared to what we had been used to, but nothing compared to where we are now! The next day was a whirlwind tour of this incredible city. First stop was Humayan’s Tomb who was the second Moghul ruler of India. His wife constructed the tomb for him after his tragic death falling down the stairs! It was absolutely amazing and surrounded by a beautiful garden – Ben’s already agreed to build me one 
(Ben says: Actually, Jackie should build me one!) We spent the rest of the day seeing all the other historical sights of delhi, including a sikh temple where we all had to wear head scarfs.
The next morning we made a quick trip to the gym before heading to the airport for a flight to Udaipur, the city of lakes and venice of the east according to the locals. Unfortunately, the plane was delayed and ended up not being a direct flight so we missed our planned lake boat ride. Nevertheless, it was amazing when we did get there! We were staying in a palace on the Lake Pichola called Fateh Prakesh which was in the same complex as the big city palace, and the King’s residence.
The city palace was amazing, as were the views of the lake, as well as the lake palace which is right in the middle of the lake, and was used in the James Bond movie ‘Octopussy’. Upon arriving at the hotel, after a bit of confusion about our plans for the evening, it was finally established that we had all prepaid for the Christmas Eve Gala Dinner, which was held in a courtyard in the city palace, and the king was attending. Despite our initial reservations about a big dinner party, we all had a wonderful night. The decorations were outstanding, with flowers lining every path, and even the inside of our table umbrella. Also, they had a dance floor, but instead of performers and traditional indian music, we listened to pop and hip hop all night as we danced the evening away. TK even showed us his rendition of the Soulja Boy dance in the middle of the fountain!
Christmas day we all awoke to beautiful views over the lake, and headed out for our day of sightseeing. We started by visiting a public garden that used to be a private royal family garden. While looking around, Jackie was approached by an indian family for photos with all of them, and even some videoing before being introduced to all of them like she was a celebrity! It’s amazing how novel blonde hair is here! From there we headed out to some of the incredible temples in the area. The first was called Nagda, and was everyones favourite – it was no longer in use since it was desecrated in one of the many empire changes over the years. Since it is no longer a holy site, you can wander freely examining the amazingly intricate carvings on all of the walls and roofs! From Nagda, we went to another temple called Eklingji, which was in use and quite crowded but very interesting to see. After the temples, we headed back to the city and stopped for lunch at an indian restaurant in the grounds of the Royal Family’s car collection. Lunch was a delicious traditional meal of thali, where lots of small dishes come served in little bowls on a big plate.
After lunch the site seeing continued, with a tour of the grand city palace, where we learnt about the history of the Mewar Empire. In true Buchanan style though we ended the tour early to go and do some shopping in the nearby bazaar. My storm parents, John and Shirley, were also visiting Udaipur from Lake Tahoe, so at 4.30 we were back at the hotel to meet them and rush off for a spectacular boat ride around the lake, followed by a tour of the Crystal Museum. The museum shows off a huge collection of crystal furniture, plates, cups, cutlery and many other pieces that you wouldn’t dream of ordering in crystal. The collection was ordered by a Mewar King who died the night the order was delivered, so it all sat unopened for 100 years for fears of associated bad luck. The current King finally opened the boxes and put all of the crystal on display! Dinner that night was on the Sunset Terrace on top of our hotel over looking the lake which was stunning, and the food was delicious.
Yesterday morning it was on the road again. First a quick stop to see John and Shirley’s luxurious hotel, the Udai Villas, and then on to a village that was made to showcase traditional indian living. From there we headed to our next destination which, luckily, was only 45 minutes away. Our next destination was one of the highlights of the trip – an old fort/palace called Devi Garh that has been converted into a beautiful hotel. We’ll put up pictures of Devi Garh when we get a chance because it is hard to explain just how amazing it is! (In the mean time, have a look at their site) After arriving we quickly walked around the hotel, which included looking over the walls down at the village where children waved from the roof tops. It felt as if we were Royals looking over our people! The afternoon then consisted of relaxing by the pool and having a swim, as well as a family game of croquet on one of the lawns. It was great to fit some relaxation in to our busy schedule. This morning we’re heading off again for more sightseeing and then on to another city!
We’ll keep you all posted on our adventures when we can!
Have a look at the photos of Udaipur!
Love
Ben and Jackie
Posted: Travel
18
December
2007
After exploring the busy city of Bangkok and appreciating the gorgeous temples, we headed to the Gulf of Thailand to an island off the coast called Koh Phangan. Famous for a backpacker atmosphere and killer full moon parties on the beach, we had to check it out. Unfortunately the moon wasn’t full during our brief stint, but we had a wonderful time nonetheless. We arrived on the 12th and walked around Had Rin where we stayed and generally explored the little beach town, booked a diving trip and a safari day, and then hiked up the ’street,’ which really seemed like a slightly wider hiking trail, to the Chill House. It is a bar/hostel with an amazing view of Sunrise beach where you relax..and well…chill…in hammocks enjoying the natural beauty surrounding the place. That night we had dinner in town and experimented with the Thai whiskey, Sang Some, were introduced to our first bucket, and danced the night away at Cactus on the beach.
The next day we’d booked a safari trip and were up early for the jeep ride into the center of the island. Our first stop was 7-11 for some much needed food since nothing else in Had Rid opens before 9:30 (everyone stays out far too late consuming far too many buckets.) About 45 minutes later we arrived at the Elephant sanctuary where we fed these gorgeous giants bananas and I even got to hold a precious little lemur! They practically had to pry it out of my arms…check out the photos and you’ll see just how squeezable this little guy was! We hopped on the elephants for a trek up the mountain that overlooked the other side of the island down to the beach. It was beautiful and I finally got to ride an elephant..one experience I had my heart set on for our stop in Thailand. We left the elephant sanctuary and went to a Chinese temple in the hills. We’d been to many Thai temples so checking out a Chinese one was a nice change and it was interesting to compare the two. The Thai temples were more intricately detailed while the Chinese temple had the same majestic feel, but there wasn’t as much attention to detail. We climbed in the jeep and headed to the trail head of the jungle trek to our first waterfall. Ben, Alpha, Jared, and I all continued about 300 m past the waterfall with our guide to this amazing lookout point, and then headed down for a swim in the waterfall. After lunch, we went snorkeling and relaxed on the beach before heading back to the mountains for another hike to a waterfall. On the way back to Had Rin the weather turned and the rain came pouring down. We were in the back of this jeep and were completely soaked, but enjoyed every minute of it. After a full day of exploration we rewarded ourselves with a massage before dinner and a night of much needed rest.
Ben and I desperately wanted to dive so the next day he and I headed to Sail Rock with a local dive company. The rain continued to pour down but our dive sight was about an hour and half north of Phangan and luckily unaffected by the weather. The two dives were amazing and the visibility couldn’t have been better. We saw huge schools of fusiliers and at one point Ben and I were surrounded, literally encircled, by a giant school of trevally. It was incredible.
Our last day in Koh Phangnan I did a traditional Thai cooking class. I learned to make: Matsaman Curry, Chicken Pad Thai, Peppercorn Shrimp, and Ben’s favorite Sweet and Sour Pork. While I cooked, the others relaxed and when I was done they got to eat all of the dishes. I can’t wait to have a Thai dinner party at Willoughby when we get back. After I was finished we decided to have another amazing massage before watching the sunset at the Chill House for one last time.
The next morning we took the ferry over to Samui and Ben and I walked for hours along the beach before having a seriously spectacular dinner at Poppies (thanks Mom/Bonnie) – apparently the best restaurant on the island. With that said, Ben and I had to go back to our hotel (which was luckily next door) at the start of the meal because the waiter spilled our cocktails all over my white dress and Ben’s shorts. We laughed about it, changed quickly, and as a result got two free cocktails for the disruption .
The next morning we were up early for our flight to Phuket, and our ferry to Phi Phi. The seas were savagely fierce and I was sick the moment we left the pier. We headed outside to the front of the boat to combat my sickness and were left drenched by the boat slamming into the waves and burnt to a crisp…but at least I didn’t get completely sick! The two hour boat trip ended up being three dreadful hours but it was quite the experience getting off the boat completely soaked in Phi Phi. Koh Phi Phi is exquisite and we wondered around the vehicle-less town and were quite impressed and excited for the next couple of days. Ben and I decided the diving couldn’t be missed on this side of Thailand so we booked a trip immediately, then had a delicious dinner right on the beach at Ton Sai Bay, and walked around the street shops before coming back to our precious little bungalow at P.P. Casita.
We just got back from diving at Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Noi which are off the coast of Phi Phi about 35 minutes near Koh Phi Phi Leh, which is the island where Leo’s movie The Beach was filmed ! The visibility wasn’t very good because of the rocky sea yesterday but we saw a ton of sea life: two leopard sharks, a turtle (my first one!), a cuttlefish (not quite as large or playful as the one we saw that day in Bali), morays, tons of lion fish, sting rays, stone fish, and a dying freshwater catfish that literally chased after Ben and I.
Tomorrow we’ve planned a day snorkeling trip with James and Lee (friends of ours from Sydney who are here on their honeymoon), and Jared and Alpha, around Phi Phi Leh in a longtail boat. Can’t wait! Our last day we’ll spend relaxing, kayaking, and most importantly the hike up to the ‘viewpoint.’
Friday we head to Bangkok for our Saturday flight to Delhi to meet up with Ian, Siena, Keiren and TK for the ‘India leg’ of the trip. We’ve posted more photos so take a look.
Love to you all and let us know how things are at home…whichever part of the globe that may be…
xx Jackie and Ben..err should I say Barbie as all the Thai people like to call him…
Posted: Travel
11
December
2007
We’re finally off enjoying our long awaited round the world trip and are currently in Bangkok. We’ve been here 2 nights and are off tomorrow for Koh Phangan. We’ve been loving it 
We’re staying at a hostel near khao san rd, which is the main backpacker street, and is crazy. You can even buy ‘buckets’ of cocktails from little street vendors, as well as delicious pad thai and other dishes very cheap – a chicken pad thai is A$1! Khao san rd is full of backpacker energy which is great fun!
We arrived here sunday afternoon and spent the evening walking around the area to get acquainted with all the back streets, before having some beers and a pad thai, and even a bucket of long island iced tea. We then had an early night to get a good night’s rest for the days a head. Our plan for monday was to walk around all the old temples and the palace, but it turned out to be a public holiday for something to do with the king’s birthday. We changed our plans to suit this and spent the morning on a crazy tuk-tuk ride to the standing buddha (a giant buddha covered in gold) and the marble temple, as well as stopping at a tailor and crazy jewelry store. The shops were clear scams that paid the driver a commission, but we went along anyway since it meant we didn’t have to buy anything and ended up with a 2 hour tour for less than A$2! For the afternoon we then took a canal (khlung) taxi to go and check out siam square, MBK (a big shopping centre) and pratunam markets which weren’t particularly exciting 
The khlung taxi however was a great experience. It flew along, and you had to be careful not to get sprayed by the (very polluted) water!
Our friends from Sydney, Alpha and Jared, arrived in the afternoon, and we spent the evening with them around khao san rd having a few drinks, some good food, and letting them get oriented. Today, we headed off early to do a walk around the historic area of ko ratanokosin. We saw some pretty amazing temples, a giant gold reclining buddha (about 40m long), as well as the emerald buddha temple and the grand palace. The emerald buddha temple and the grand palace were amazing! They were huge, and ornately decorated with gold. It’s hard to explain the whole scale of it, although the photos will attempt it. We’ll try and put them up when we can! After all the temples we got a river boat back to banglamphu where we’re staying, and relaxed for a while before going to see the golden mount, another huge temple that you can climb and overlook all of bangkok.
We’re now relaxing a bit more, although tonight we’re heading over to patpong to see a ping pong show as you have to do while in thailand! Tomorrow morning we’re off to relax on the beach in koh phangan, which will be amazing!
We’ll write again when we can.
Love
Jackie and Ben
Posted: Travel
