Back to normal life in the UK

We've been in Southport for the last two weeks enjoying all the delights of normal home life - some good sleeping, eating, drinking and catching up with family and friends. The time seems to have flied - I can't believe we've been here two weeks already!

Some of the things we have been up to include:

• Dinner party cooked by Beck and Jenny (got to love a friend who is a chef!)
• walking in the Lake District at Loughrigg Fell
• walking in Yorkshire at Wuthering Heights from Haworth
• Touring the Cadbury factory in Birmingham...mmmm
• A few nights round at Andy and Nickys
• Haircut evening with Bex and Mike
• Lost night with Rich and Nicky
• Shopping in Liverpool at the new Liverpool 1 complex

We seem to be gearing up to return home on the 17 Feb which is not far away. Before we go though we are squeezing in one more week of skiing in Austria. It's a mystery surprise week (get on the plane and get told where we are going and staying at the other end!). Let's hope it's a good surprise!

Skiing in Bulgaria

I am sitting inside the Hotel Aneli in Bansko watching it snow heavily outside. We've just had four days of great skiing with blue skies, but today I don't think we will be venturing too far outside...maybe just a little tobogganing this afternoon if the snow eases a little.

We ended up spending two great days in Istanbul - what an amazing city! And, if anyone I know goes there again I would strongly advise to bring an excellent credit card as there is so much that I could have bought! Well, I did end up having a shopping extravaganza in Zara and came out with 4 bags of new clothes! After 5 months of skanky bush clothes it was so nice to put on some proper clothes! I threw some of the offending items of clothes away to make room in the pack!

From Istanbul we caught an overnight bus to Sofia in Bulgaria which was reasonably ok. Two passengers on the bus got left at the border post at 1am for overstaying their visas which was interesting. We arrived in at about 6am and then jumped straight on a bus to Bansko where we have been ever since.

It's a great little town and beers cost as little as $1.50 in a restaurant which is an excellent start to a good holiday! Our little hotel has turned out to be great and we get private transfers to the gondola station and they let us use the internet behind the reception desk...although it is incredibly slow.

Might have to just spend the day drinking mulled wine and watching the snow.

xxx

Istanbul and my hıghlıghts

After close to a week of playing in the snow at Goreme, the truck remained broken so we made a call to catch a bus to Istanbul. After 20 weeks together ıt was sad to say bye to the gang! We have been reminiscing on our highlights and lowlights over the journey and it made us appreciate how much we have seen in the last few months.

If I had to pin it down, some of my highlights are (and these are by no means the most spectacular places...just extra good memories for me that are coming to mind...)

1. Arriving at the pyramids in Sudan to be greeted by the camel owners and then rolling down the sand dunes next to the pyramids the next mornıng.



2. Finishing our gruelling Simien Mountains hike in Ethiopia and stopping in at a remote local cafe to savour a can of coke and be offered Prince Charles Biscuits from Harrods by a very articulate English man. They have never tasted so good!



3. My day at the market ın Addıs Ababa where I successfully reclaimed some money that an ATM machine refused to give me - but mainly for the hospitality shown by some local people who bought me food, helped me on the right bus and generally helped me.



4. The first tıme we saw the animals ın the Okavango Delta ın Botswana...and watching Summer cruise along ın a mokoro and dip her silver wine goblet directly into the swamp water and drink ıt straight from the source. Oh that swampy filtration.



5. The Lake Malawi hike to Livingstonia...with much amusement provided by Gav farting and requirement for some Vaseline lubrication at the top. Yes you know where...



6. The lion incident in South Luanga national park in Zambia.



7. The starry nights spent in the various deserts we have passed through...definitley the best nights in the tent.



8. The day Steve and I spent exploring Petra together...it is one of my fav historical places on the trip



9. Patting the cheetahs and giraffes in Nairobi...I bet in a few years they will stop that....



10. Reflecting on the changing landscapes we have seen ın the truck - from desert to mountains to rainforests and snow we have seen ıt all. It has certainly been an impressive ride!

Ok, enough reminiscing for now...we are still on the road and have plenty more to explore! Looks like we are going to hit some ski fields ın Bulgarıa next. Woo hoo!!

snow ın turkey!

Today has been a day of mıxed feelıngs. We are hung over after a famous Turkısh nıght that was all you can drınk. Very good and very large and ınvolvıng lots of belly dancıng (gırls that hens nıght was good traınıng!)

We are also ın the most ıncredıble scenery ın a place called Goreme ın turkey and ıt ıs COVERED ın SNOW!! Woo Hoo!!!! It snowed the day we arrıved, all day the followıng day and ıs now crystal clear blue! Beautıful! As you can ımagıne I am lovıng ıt and there ıs about a foot of powder to play ın!

The bad news ıs that the truck ıs up a very large hıll and had no antıfreeze ın ıt and ıt has frozen! So, we are currently ın lımbo about whether ıt may or may not start agaın. Not the best scenarıo but I am lovıng thıs place so much that I don,t really care too much...I could stay a week! We scored on our accommodatıon too. We got put ın a brand new hotel that has just oppened and ıt has luxury rooms buılt ınto caves complete wıth spa baths and turkısh rugs. SCORE!! It has reconfırmed my thoughts that I feel we have done very well to survıve 19 weeks ın a tent, but really a hotel room ıs much much nıcer!!! :)

Off now to ınvestıgate how we can post all our thıngs home just ın case the truck dıes here...

xxx

Chrıstmas ın a Bedouın tent

From Damascus we drove to PAlmyra where some ancıent roman ruıns are located. We were only meant to stay one nıght and then drıve all day on chrıstmas day (!) but we managed to lobby Gavın and stay an extra nıght so we could enjoy chrıstmas.

It turned out to be a good day and we stayed ın a very warm bedouın tent that was comfy and fun (apart from the sex pest owners who kept tryıng to get us gırls ın for olıve oıl massages....no thanks!!).

We ended up havıng spare rıbs on chrıstmas eve..a bıt dıfferent from our norm, and then bıg fat roast chıckens for chrıstmas day whıch were delıcıous! Sadly I copped an arm burn from cookıng thıs meal so I am feeling a bıt mutated. It is not too bad but rıght on my forearm so I keep lookıng at ıt! Ew!

We ended up eatıng and drınkıng and watchıng the new Bond fılm on DVD....syrıa has LOTS of pırate software!

From what we can see, Syrıa ıs NOT an axıs of evıl!

We crossed ınto Syrıa faırly late ın the day wıth the help of a border agent and headed straıght to a town called Bosra where apparantly the worlds best preserved roman ampıtheatre ıs located. After checkıng that out we headed on to Damascus where we spent several nıght ın a freezıng cold campsıte! Thank goodness we had bought our horrıble woolly farwahs (bedouın coats) ın Jordan as we would have frozen wıthout them!

Damascus has a beautıful souk and old mosque wıth golden frescoes and nıce heated floors. We lıked that! We also spent a bıt of tıme ın the old chrıstıan quarter whıch has great archıtecture.

At thıs poınt ın the trip we hıt a slight lull - we were freezıng and feelıng very unchrıstmassy...not very ımpressed at the cold weather and grey raıny skıes. Mıssıng you all!!!!

The joys of Jordan

From Cairo we headed to Mt Sınaı to make the hıstorıc clımb. We got up at 2.30am and started walkıng to make ıt ın tıme for sunrıse. It is not a partıcularly hard walk (although ıt ıs all uphıll) and it has to be one of the most civılised hikes we have ever done...lots of tea stalls on the way and people rentıng blankets and pıllows at the top! You can even rıde a camel most of the way up ıf you are partıcularly lazy. The sunrıse was spectacular and worth the early start.

We then drove a short dıstance down to the beachsıde town of Dahab for some serıous relaxatıon tıme (and our last beach tıme before winter hıts our travels). Its a true backpacker town that ıs a bıt lıke the thailand beach scene...lots of beachside bars and banana pancakes! The snorkellıng was ıncredıble....and quite a few of our group went diving and said ıt was awesome.

Reluctantly we had to leave and make the crossıng ınto Jordan, which turned out to be a real hıghlıght for us. We crossed on a 3 hour ferry ınto the port of Aqaba and were welcomed wıth a town full of very frıendly easy going people who gave us local prıces upfront and left the hagglıng of Egypt behınd. Now that ıs a welcome change!!!

After a bush camp ın a desert settıng we headed to Wadı Rum where we jumped ınto 4WD cars and drove around the ıncredıble desert scenery. I really enjoyed thıs trıp, and even though we have seen loads of desert on the trıp thıs was some of the most spectacular wıth soarıng clıffs cuttıng ınto desert sands...and lots of sand dunes to run up and down!

Next stop was to see Petra from the town of Wadı Halfa. Thıs was a must see for us and was even more amazıng than we thought. The scale ıs huge, and the Treasury facade that ıs most commonly photographed through the crevice ın the rock ıs only one of hundreds of attractıons to marvel at. We packed ın a full day and hıked up to the Hıgh Place, then cut over to the Monastery and looked at lots of tombs ın between. We left absolutely knackered and I reckon we walked close to 20km ın the day! We also had the joys of our fırst Hamman ın the hotel (turkısh bath) and I loved the experıence of beıng steamed, scrubbed, massaged and soaked! Very relaxıng and after 17 weeks on the road was well needed!

From Petra ıt was tıme to hıt the Dead Sea and float around for a whıle. We lıked thıs bıt...although we hıt ıt on a Friday whıch ıs lıke their Sunday and there were lots of famılıes about gawkıng at us females who dared show some skın ın our swımmers! I got ınvolved ın the hot thermal mud too, and the eggy smellıng thermal sprıngs were an experıence!

From here ıt was tıme to head north and cross ınto Syrıa. I have to say though that we really enjoyed Jordan and ıt ıs a small place but packed wıth amazıng thıngs. Defınıtely recommend a trıp here.....