Our Least Favourite Hotels

Okay, we did a list of favourite hotels so I guess it’s time to do a list of the hotels we liked the least on our around the world honeymoon. During our nine month honeymoon we stayed at over 70 different properties ranging from rough campsites to five star properties.  This list of our least favourite hotels is in no particular order:

Hotel Tulsi, Pokhara, Nepal
Two words: Bed Bugs

Royale Residency Hotel, Agra, India
There was nothing royal about this place. Our room on the 6^th floor was adjacent to a large construction or demolition sight, we couldn’t tell if they were building up or tearing down. It’s too hot to work during the day so most of the construction occurs at night so it’s very loud. The dust from the project carries through the hotels ventilation system, eventually causing something close to an asthma attack. One night, never again.

Park Hyatt Paris, Paris, France
The only five star hotel on this list and quite possibly the most expensive hotel of our entire trip. I’m a Hyatt fan with this being one of six Hyatts we stayed at during our trip. At the time we stayed the average room went for around $900 US a night. We found the staff very unfriendly and everything severely overpriced for the poor service you were receiving. This was our honeymoon, with only two nights in Paris we were so looking forward to this hotel, not once did we receive any help for anything. My wife accidently left a sweater in our hotel room. After we left we called the hotel and the sweater had mysteriously vanished. Sad to say but probably my least favourite hotel of our whole trip.

Sipahi Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey
Our sink in the thing that resembled a bathroom was literally falling off and unusable. The shower worked a little but the heater didn’t. Not a good place to stay in the cold.

El Tonsy Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
Okay, this place scared the crap out of me. The hotel itself occupied floors 16 – 18 of an otherwise empty building. The elevator was terrifying, often only opening its doors when you were halfway between floors, forcing you to crawl out and hope the thing didn’t start again. Worst of all, you could see outside when you looked up in the elevator. Yes, there was no roof. I was so glad it didn’t rain during our stay. Other bad things about this place was the constant smell of cat piss, terrible and overpriced food and a constant feeling that you were being watched.

Courtyard Marriott Miami Airport West, Miami, USA
We booked this hotel specifically because of the late night free airport shuttle. The hotel had us waiting over an hour on arrival at the airport. We called numerous times and were always given the runaround with terrible customer service.

Cedar Creek Resort, Gold Coast, Australia
Two more words: Bed Bugs

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Feel free to post any feedback.

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

South Asia – Done and Done

Sunset over the Betwa River in Orchha, India

We've just wrapped-up the 86^th day of our honeymoon with flights out of South Asia to Europe. So far we’ve traveled about 34000 kilometers (21000 miles) on our honeymoon. Much of the distance has been covered in the air but quite a bit in busses, trains, cars and countless tuk-tuks and rickshaws. We’ve spent the last 41 days in South Asia and have made some awesome memories and friends along the way.  Nepal, Maldives and India were all really good to us but we’re excited to move on to our next adventures.  The below is a brief summary of our last 6 weeks and a quick update on budget and health.

Nepal
We spent the majority of our time in Nepal and are definitely thankful for it. While in Nepal we trekked, rafted, jungle walked and relaxed; all the while trying to immerse ourselves in the culture and customs of the local Nepali people. Our second day in Kathmandu brought us to a Hindu temple where we witnessed cremation ceremonies on a river that flows to the Ganges, this was a bit of a culture shock but definitely very interesting and something that shouldn’t be missed.

Trekking in the Annapurna range of the Himalayas was one of the highlights of the trip so far and possibly one of the highlights of my life, at least so far. Unsurpassed beauty, decades old trails, welcoming villagers and amazing company are just some of the memories we’ll take from our trekking. Seeing how the local villagers lived in the mountain villages was really a source of inspiration. We passed so many kids on the trails who had to walk a long while to school each day, most with smiles on their faces. Spending some time in the Himalayas caused me to appreciate my own life and all of things we’re blessed with on a daily basis. This was the case for all of Nepal though. We really enjoyed our stay there and would definitely go back.

Maldives
There’s not much more I can say about the Maldives that I didn’t say in our Paradise articles one and two. We had an awesome time and want to go back sooner than later, preferably today if possible. Next time we’re going to shoot for an island farther away from the main islands as we want to fly on the floatplane. This was the “official” portion of our honeymoon and it was well worth it.

Wishing I was back here

India
You don’t just visit India, you smell, taste, touch, hear and feel the subcontinent. It really is an assault on your senses (some not all good) but a place not to be missed. We spent 16 days in India, managed to see a wild tiger, saw quite a bit of temples, palaces, forts and ate some very good food.

Our overall time in India was great but we did have some rather unpleasant experiences. From the few unpleasant experiences we’ve learned quite a bit for next time. We’ve learned that India train travel is probably not for us. We’ve learned that tourist police are not to be trusted as one stole some money from us, the only theft we’ve had on our entire trip. We’ve learned to stay away from the corn flakes in small hotels. We’ve learned to try and be a little more patient and understanding of individuals despite leering, rude comments, hygiene and just overall nastyness of some people. Of course unpleasant experiences are to be expected with any long –term travel and we try to take them in stride.

Our Tiger Crew at the Jehangir Palace in Orchha, India
From left to right, Pamela, Dave, Carol, Linda, Steph, Liz, Yaddu

The food here was great in India and we had many-many good and big meals. Had you told me that I was going to gain weight here in India I probably wouldn’t have believed you. We didn’t eat much western style food while in India but we sure pigged out on the local cuisine. I’m going to miss the daily curries and naan. We also didn’t get any type of food borne illnesses, no case of the Delhi Belly or anything resembling…I know that’s a bit too much information but hey.

Pamela having a big jump in front of the Taj

What’s Next
Europe and the Middle East is next on our agenda. We’ll be making some short stops in Athens and Paris before heading to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and the U.A.E.  In between all the sightseeing we’ve booked ourselves a week at a Dead Sea resort in Jordan for some rest and relaxation.  We have quite a bit on our agenda in the Middle East and will probably be exhausted by the time we board our plane for Los Angeles a few days before Christmas.

Budget and Health
We’re still pretty much on track with our budget. Booking the extra days at the Dead Sea resort put us a couple dollars above our daily average target but we think it will be worth it. Otherwise we did really well in the Maldives, considering it was the Maldives and didn’t spend too much on souvenirs in India.

As for health, we are both doing well considering we’ve been on the road for a while.  Unfortunately I (DW) have some small eye infection, supposedly caused by dust, which I have to use eye drops for the next two weeks and can’t wear my contact lenses. Nothing to be concerned about though.

Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy! Stay tuned…

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Our Nepal Trekking Adventure

Waking up to sun-drenched Himalayan Peaks

Magical. That is probably the best word I can use to describe our four day trekking adventure here in Nepal. I’d have to say the trekking has been my favorite part of the Honeymoon so far and I wouldn’t hesitate to return to Nepal for more. Hopefully next time we’ll go for longer and higher treks, preferably a peak or two. In the future I’m sure we’ll write more about our experience but I wanted to get the overview down.

Day One
We departed Pokhara on the 22^nd of September for a two-hour bus ride to the village of Naya Phul where we commenced our four day trek. Day one had us trekking up through the foothills for approximately six hours until we reached the village of Ghandruk. During the day we followed a stone and dirt trail with many-many steps.  Per our guide the trail system was built approximately 100 years ago and in our opinion has held up very well. This first day we also experienced some monsoonal rain for an hour or so which soaked us, thankfully we had our waterproof jackets and rain cover for our backpack. The whole day trekking on day one was spent in overcast or foggy skies which really limited our views of the mountains.

Pamela crossing a bridge along the trail in the rain.

Day Two
Day two arrived with the gift of clear skies and incredible views of the mountains called Annapurna South, Hiunchili and Machhapuchare (Fishtail). The site of these snow capped, sun drenched peaks brought us to a standstill. Never in my life have I been so awestruck and blown away by a natural view. I instantly knew what draws people back to these mountains year after year.

Early AM views of Annapura South from the village of Ghandruk

The clouds move in fast and by 7:00am the mountains were a memory. Following this we went to a Ghurka museum and had some breakfast before starting our trek. This day’s trek had us descending one side of a steep valley and ascending the other side where the trail flattened out. All in all we trekked about 5 hours on day two. We stopped for lunch in a village called Landruk, then trekked on to Tolka and stayed overnight in a lodge.

View of the terraced rice paddies which are very common along these parts of the trail.

Day Three
Another early wake-up call (5:45am) greeting us with more awe-inspiring views of the mountains. We took a bunch of pictures, ate some breakfast and were on our way. Day three’s trek was pretty easy with some climbing up to our lunch stop at the village of Pothana ( which also was the highest point on our trek at 2100 meters) and continuing on another hour to the Paradise View Lodge in the village of Dhampas. Our four hour trek on day three was pretty easy, the hardest part was the slippery rocks and the leeches. Both Pamela and I were visited by the little buggers on this day.

Pamela crossing a suspension bridge along the trail.

The night of day three we had a big party to thank our porters and sherpas who helped us along the trek. We all had a Nepali set meal of Dal Bhat, tipped our porters and sherpas then danced to some traditional Nepali music. I (DW) was thankful there were other “rhythm challenged” people around so I didn’t look that dumb trying to dance. Pamela on the other hand picked-up the dancing style right away. Some people are just born with it I think J It poured rain for hours and hours that night and we fell asleep listening to the rain and thunder.

She loved her baby goat

Day Four
Unfortunately we didn’t get those tremendous views the morning of day four as the skies were still grey from the thunderstorms. We trekked about two hours downhill that morning to the village of Phedi where we were met by a bus to take us back to Pokhara. Unfortunately this was the end of our short trek. Back in Pokhara we ate some good food, did some laundry and were off to our next adventure.

Every few minutes you'd come across sights like this.

Looking Back
Trekking in Nepal was much-much easier logistically than we initially thought. There are small villages full of hotels and restaurants along many of the trails which really make it easy to stop and rest , maps are easy to come by and the trails seem to be well signposted and even if you did get lost there are locals who can point you in the right direction.

The mountain trails are how the locals get around. They are to them as our  highways, streets and sidewalks are to us.

While walking along the tracks we passed many children going to school, many farm animals, adults going to work, and porters carrying everything from food to mattresses on their backs. Instead of highways, these mountain trail networks are how many Nepali people transport their goods and get from place to place. I will try to keep that in mind the next time I’m whining about being stuck in traffic.

Porters carrying gear up the trail.

All the photos (more like the best 25%) from our trek can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/TrekkingInNepal?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Chitwan National Park, Nepal – Part Two - Not your Everyday Walk in the Park

Dave, Pamela and Alex in the very small and leaky canoe on the way to our jungle walk.

I (DW) have taken a lot of walks in a lot of parks in my life but the first half of our Chitwan Jungle Walk was one of the most exhilarating I can remember. Now this tale might be a bit long so I apologize in advance and thank those of you who get through it…

Chitwan National Park is home to over 40 species of mammals including the bengal tiger, rhinoceros, sloth bear and occasional wild elephant. The place is also home to two different types of crocodile and many other reptiles including the king cobra.

With all of this in mind we decided to take a canoe ride down the river followed by a half day jungle walk. Three of us, Pamela, Alex (our friend from the tour) and I boarded a rickety hollowed out tree canoe at about 12pm for an hour long float down the river. Accompanying us for the ride was a local guide we hired named Ramsey and his assistant guide. While in the canoe we saw two different types of crocodile; the marsh mugger crocodile which grows up to 12 feet in length and the larger gharrial crocodile which can reach a length of 18 feet. It was a little unnerving seeing the larger gharrial croc as it looked to be about as wide as our canoe and definitely sturdier.

Very large croc in the river

About 30 minutes into the canoe ride we started to hear a very loud distressed elephant. The noises this elephant made were making my skin crawl. It turned out to be a young elephant which had been separated from its mother and anyone within 500 meters could hear the poor thing.  We saw the young wailing elephant starting to cross the river about 200 meters in front of us. At about the same time we saw the panic stricken elephant we came across a rhinoceros having a dip in the river. Ramsey, our guide, instructed the canoe driver to pull over so we can have a closer look at the rhino. Now we were only about 25 meters from the rhino but behind us was the panic stricken elephant. Needless to say I was a bit scared. In front was one big rhino and behind was one crazed elephant. We got some pics of the rhino, let the elephant disappear and we were off again. My heart starting to beat a normal rhythm again.

The rhino exiting the river a little too close for comfort.

The plan was to take the canoe to the trailhead so we can begin our walk through the jungle. Unfortunately we soon discovered the banks of the river had been so eroded during the monsoons that the trailhead was inaccessible. Floating another 500 meters or so on the rickety canoe got us to a point on the river where we could disembark, too bad there wasn’t a trail in sight.

Just after disembarking from the boat Ramsey started to tell us about all the people who’ve been injured, mamed, killed out in the jungle, this included the guides. Mind you he and the assistant guide did have a wooded stick. A wooden stick!! At this point I was wishing for a large bore rifle.  After the doom and gloom speech he started to tell us what to do if we got into trouble. For a rhino we needed to keep very quiet and stick close together, when/if charged we should look for a tree to climb. If we came across an angry sloth bear (Chitwan has the largest population in the world) then we needed to stick together and make a lot of noise, useless to climb a tree. I should probably also point out that we knew this was dangerous and were required by our tour company to sign a release of liability form indicating our guide strongly advised us not to take the walk and doing so was at our own risk. Apparently there’s been quite a few incidents and a very nasty one witnessed by our own guide.

Langur monkey up a tree.

So we’ve been warned and we’re on the way, scared $@%^less I might add.  Ugh and “by on the way” I mean we’re literally hacking our way blindly through dense vegetation as there was no trail to even follow. So let me sum up our situation; we’re not on a trail, we can’t see anything as the vegetation is so dense, we’re in a jungle with tigers, rhinos, bears and king cobras, our guide Ramsey hadn’t been there in months (I asked ), and nobody else knew where we were dropped off except a canoe driver who was all of 12 years old.

Sure, this looks like a trail.

About 10 minutes into the walk we heard our first loud noise very close to us, my heart nearly jumped out of my body and ran for the hills. The loud noise turned out to be a bunch of langur monkeys jumping around. My heart jumped back into my body and I had a good laugh, still feeling very exhilarated. About 45 minutes into the walk we found a very fresh Bengal tiger footprint. We also saw a tree where a tiger had scratched-up to mark its territory. Seeing this fresh evidence was great although it really hit me that we were walking around where a tiger could be just steps away.

Bengal Tiger footprint

Tiger claw marks on a tree. Better the tree than me.

Soon after the tiger footprint Ramsey found the actual trail and we were off on the right direction. It was very-very hot and humid and by this time all of us were sweating bullets. I also forgot to mention the leeches. Pamela had a leech go right through the seam of her trekking pants and our guide had a leech on his head. With the heat, leeches and sweat we walked for a couple more hours on the main trails.

Saying it was hot and humid is an understatement

The rest of the three hour walk was pretty uneventful. We saw some deer, monkeys and a lot of bugs - big bugs. The park service is putting in a large road for a jeep safari so there was some large equipment in a couple of places which I have to imagine would have scared most of the animals away.

Pamela and Ramsey

At the end of the walk we were met by a jeep which drove us over to the Elephant Breeding Center where we all got to play with a baby elephant. This was a nice way to end a very exhilarating day.  If asked to do it all over again I think I would. It was a good day (we lived) and definitely a chance to feel like you’re part of a real nature show on the Discovery Channel.

Pamela playing with the baby elephant. She was just four months old.

Alex saying hi to the baby.

Checking out the elephants at the Elephant Breeding Center.

The rest of our photos from Chitwan can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/ChitwanNationalParkNepal?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Two Months Down – Lessons and Highlights From Our Last 30 Days

Wow. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. We both can’t believe how fast our second month on the road came and went. Just to sum things up; it’s the 5^th of October and we’re currently in Kathmandu, Nepal. Tomorrow afternoon we are leaving for the Maldives via India and Sri Lanka. So far we’ve travelled nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles) over the last 60 days and in that time have saved (not taken) nearly 4000 pictures. Surprisingly we’ve had thousands of hits on our website since we started our trip and we’re sure thankful for everyone checking out the site and reading our stories via email.

Travel Lessons Learned this Month:
1. We found ATM fees way too high in Thailand and Nepal. Next time we’ll bring US dollars to both of these countries and use the currency exchange booths which actually gave a way better rate than an ATM in Nepal. Not to mention the 400 rupee charge from them and the several dollar charge from our bank. Not to mention working ATMs in Nepal were a bit hard to come by in certain areas.

2. When being given a room here in Nepal make sure you ask to see the room first before agreeing to the room and or price. We found a vast difference in room quality from room to room at certain hotels, even for rooms of the same type.

3. To help prevent bed bugs then we would recommend investing in some pre-treated/medicated sleeping sheets if coming to this part of the world.
4. We should have brought our own mosquito net with us. We stayed at a beautiful, albeit mosquito infested resort in Koh Chang, Thailand. The room was fantastic except it didn't include a mosquito net. It also didn't help that our cleaning person left the door wide-open while they were cleaning the room.

Highlights of the Past Month and Why:
Dave – I really enjoyed our mountain trekking. Waking up in the village of Ghandruk during our trek to see the mighty Annapurna Himalayan Range (pict including Annapurna South, Hiunchili and Machhapuchare (Fishtail). Viewing these majestic mountain peaks really puts into perspective how small we really are, awe-inspiring and breathtaking are just a couple phrases I could use to describe the feeling.

Pamela -  Also waking up in Ghandruk and seeing the mountains in full view. It was a beautiful site when the clouds cleared. You really only got to see the peaks in the morning and it was definitely worth the early AM wake-up call.

Lowlights of the Past Month and Why:
Dave – I really didn’t like Pamela having to deal with her bedbugs. This was probably the hardest thing for me this month.

Pamela – Bedbugs in Pokhara. No fun, especially for someone who’s very allergic to them. Thankfully we had a well prepared Doctor on our tour who helped out with some meds!

We definitely miss all our family and friends back home in Australia and America. Thank you to everyone supporting us back there!

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Chitwan National Park, Nepal – Part One

Chitwan, Nepal’s first national park, famous for its tigers and rhinos was granted protected status in 1973. Prior to 1973 the area was used as a winter hunting ground for Nepali Royals.  The area consisting of about 360 square miles was granted world heritage status in 1984. Chitwan lies very close to India at the very South of Nepal. With a lower elevation, Chitwan was very hot and humid compared to the rest of the places we visited in Nepal. Mosquitos are the size of small birds and up until the 1960’s malaria was rampant in the area.

We visited Chitwan from the 26^th to the 28^th of September, 2011. During our visit we stayed at the River View Jungle Resort on the banks of the Narayani River in the small town of Sauraha, Nepal.  The lodge was pretty nice with hot water showers, no large spiders in our room and a good restaurant onsite. The second night of our stay we watched a wonderful dance performance by the local Tharu people (which turned interactive at the end) followed by a nice buffet of local cuisine, all on the resort property.

Dave attempting to dance with the local Tharu villagers

The small town had a couple good restaurants and bars which allowed you to sit on the banks of the river and enjoy the view. As for the view it could be anything from a great sunset to elephants, camels, horses, cows, goats or whatever else happened to come by.

Enjoying the view

Local transportation

Nepali cargo vehicle

One of the highlights of our trip to Chitwan was a two hour Elephant back safari through the park. Four of us hopped onto each mahout driven elephant and ventured off into the park jungle. About 30 minutes into the ride we came upon a mother and baby rhinoceros. The rhinos didn’t seem to mind a group of elephants and their cargo taking pictures of them. I’d say the closest we got to the rhinos was about 4 meters. Once away from the rhinos we saw monkeys, deer and got a very up close introduction to the local Nepali trees. Our mahout loved to take the elephant through the dense jungle, I’m sure he gets a good laugh of the cargo squealing through the trees.

Pamela and the rhino

Other elephants checking out the rhinos

Us aboard the elephant

Another highlight for me (DW) was an early morning elephant ride along the riverbanks next to our resort (see pic at the top). Several or our tour mates had organized elephant bathing which involved getting absolutely drenched by either the elephant or the river. I neglected to take a trip into the river with the elephant and chose the land route.

Another day down at Chitwan

Our trip to Chitwan ended with a seven hour bus ride back to Kathmandu. Although we didn’t see a tiger we definitely had a great time in the park and wouldn’t hesitate to go back if in Nepal again.

We have some other adventures to write about in Chitwan so please stay tuned.

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

All our pics from Chitwan can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/ChitwanNationalParkNepal?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Rafting the Seti River in Nepal

As part of our Gecko’s Annapurna and Chitwan Tour of Nepal we spent two fun-filled late September days white water rafting on the Seti River. This included an overnight stay at a tented lodge alongside the Seti.

Our group of 14 met the rafting crew at the riverside town of Damauli. We packed up all our things into dry bags, had some brief safety and paddling instructions and then jumped into the rafts.  Of all of the safety and paddling instructions the only thing I really tried to remember was to keep my mouth closed as you didn’t want to ingest any of the water in that river. Each raft was being controlled/steered by an experienced guide at the back. He would yell out commands to us like Forward, Forward Fast, Back, Left Hard, Stop.  Whether we actually responded as he would have liked was another story all together.

The Crew Rafting down the Seti

Day one of our raft trip consisted of a very fast two and a half hours over 22 kilometers. During the dry season we were told this same trip would have taken approximately five hours. I’m not too sure the class of rapids we went through, I heard there was some class IV rapids but they seemed to be III at the highest. In any case we had a lot of fun, despite going through monsoonal rain for what felt like an hour.

Pamela and Sarah having some fun.

Overnight we stayed at a really cool tent lodge on the banks of the Seti river. We had three really nice meals at the lodge along with having the time to look for rocks, skip stones, drink some tea and relax. Overnight we were visited by very large spiders in our bathroom. The spiders, which were about the size of your outstretched hand, were supposedly harmless and very friendly. It’s my understanding these nocturnal spiders are related to the wolf spider. Our favorite part of the spider were the glowing eyes.

 Our bunkmate. This spider was easily the size of your entire hand.

Hangin-out in the front of our tent lodge.

 Day two of our raft trip consisted of an even faster 60 minutes of rafting (in very cold water) over approximately 8 kilometers. Towards the end of the trip the Seti river merged with the Thrisuli river which proved to be a bit colder and slightly rougher.  Our bus met us at the end of the trip and we changed our clothes and made the trip down the mountain to Chitwan.

Below are some of the pics from our rafting trip. All of our pics from the rafting trip can be found on this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/SetiRiverRaftingNepal?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Suzie, Nick and Hiren

Carly, Pamela and Suzie are Ready to Go

Duncan!!

The Rest of the Crew

Pauline and Sarah 

Not Sure What Happened Here

If you're in Nepal we would highly recommend a rafting trip, you won't regret it. Just try not to ingest any of the water, then you might regret it :-)

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave