5am Fri 27 June: Our Buenos Aires-London flight has just brushed the north-west tip of Spain, so our nine months' travelling has only two hours left.
I've blatantly stolen a 'bunch of fives' idea from another blog, so to run down a few highlights of nine months RTW, our top fives are below.
We're so fortunate to have had this trip and so many awesome things have happened that, looking back, they seem scarcely believable. If you're in the mood for a read, click on a previous blog link on the right.
If we met you while travelling, thanks for being part of our brilliant, enlightening trip. And if you're from England, let's hook up for a nice pint of Magners.
Now it's back to life in London, a fantastic, thrilling city, just one that's a bit more familiar than some of the places below.
Pics online at: http://picasaweb.google.com/agrantabroad/PublicFirstTravelling
http://picasaweb.google.com/agrantabroad/Alinatipics
You can comment by clicking the ‘COMMENTS’ tab below. Click on 'Anonymous' to publish comment. We hope you've enjoyed reading...now it's over the bunch of fives:
Ali & Nati
TOP FIVE NIGHTS OUT
1 Club Yellow & Club Air, Tokyo, Japan: Japan's two best clubs. One night. Unbelievable techno.
2 The Hitmen hard dance, Melbourne, Australia: Harder-than-hard-trance heaven. An endomorphin-producing conveyor belt of tunes.
3 Full Moon Party, Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand: Xmas Eve, dancing on the beach, a rip-up.
4 Pacha, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Hands-in-the-air funky house upstairs. Like it was in 2003.
5 Dive club balcony, Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia: Great house music, Tuesday night on a first-floor terrace under a sky full of stars.
TOP FIVE BEACHES
1 Tereia Beach, Maupiti, French Polynesia: Whispy white sand with a shimmering turquoise lagoon, coconut tree shade and a motu (reef island) you swim to offshore. A breathtaking place.
2 Motu Tuanui, Maupiti, French Polynesia: An arcing low-tide white sand-spit, reaching out from the motu towards mountainous Maupiti and allowing a mesmerising mid-lagoon swim.
3 Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia: Crunchy white sand shelving to the warm ocean, with the mainland in the distance and fluffy clouds above.
4 Koh Bitsi, Ko Tarutao, Thailand: Breezy white sand backed by forest, with two perfect driftwood swings and superb snorkelling offshore.
5 Whangamata, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand: A Kiwi classic; wide bay, crispy sand, rolling surf, islands offshore and grassy dunes.
TOP FIVE PLACES WE STAYED
1 5* boat, The Nile, Egypt: Wood panels, monument visits, belly-dancing classes.
2 1551 Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Mansion with 7-metre-high ceilings, exposed brick walls, amazing breakfasts.
3 Fat Yogi's, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia: After a hovel on Flores, this darkwood-cream hotel blend with pool and air-con was heaven.
4 K's House, Kawaguchiko, Mount Fuji, Japan: Our fave hostel: great people, tatami mats, awesome, modern facilities, friendly.
5 Mac Bay, Ao Ban Tai, Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand: No, Mac Bay's not in Scotland. Tidy hut actually on, not next to, lovely beach. Hammock, coconut trees, amazing sunsets and Christmas dinner.
TOP FIVE MEALS
1 Jimbaran beach restaurant, Bali, Indonesia: Almost a kilo of giant prawns between us, in garlic sauce. Oh my God.
2 Street restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand: Pot luck but 75p for staggering green chicken curry, soy veg and a big Chang beer. Amazing.
3 La Cabrera, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Juicy, two-and-a-half-inch-thick rump and 12 side dishes. Burp!
4 Chez Vilma, Lima, Peru: Nati's Masterchef Mum does it again: sopa de carne, lentejas con pollo a la brasa y torta de Alberto. I'm stuffed.
5 Lonely Planet tip restaurant, Cairo, Egypt: Dips and more gorgeous dips with unlimited, crisp bread, chicken and salad.
TOP FIVE TRAVELLING MOANS
1 Bev & Mick's Backpackers, Melbourne, Australia: Favela backpackers; dirtier than a rubbish truck, pounding music vibrating our floorboards until 4am. More suited to animals.
2 Royal Jordanian Airlines idiots: Cancelled not only our Cairo-Bangkok flight but, helpfully, every following flight. Have you tried explaining that in Arabic? A month later, they cancelled our Cathay Pacific flights.
3 Welcome to Thailand: Bangkok Airport; Screaming woman pulls our bags off bus after we object to paying for four seats when we take up two. Most Thais are great, some in tourism give the country a bad name.
4 Egyptian tourist rip-off: You know feluccas, the boats King Tut used to take down The Nile? No? Have a google. Well, we agreed a fee and hired one. We refused to pay double so our, ahem, captain, abandoned us on a building site on an island.
5 French Polynesia prices: £10 for burger & chips? £600-A-NIGHT in an over-water bungalow? Please! Staggering place...just take your credit card.
TOP FIVE COUNTRIES
1 French Polynesia: Motu sand-spits, transparent turquoise lagoons, mountains. Paradise does exist.
2 Egypt: The staggering Pyramids and Abu Simbel, Nile cruise, Dahab dive/snorkel heaven.
3 New Zealand: Lakes, giant valleys, glaciers, surf beaches, Monteith's lagers and the fabulous Felix.
4 Australia: It's amazing. Just go, there, ok.
5 Easter Island: Majestic moais, history mysteries and wild skies in the most remote place on earth. (Not actually a country of its own but amazing nonetheless).
TOP FIVE MOMENTS
1 The Pyramids at sunset, Egypt: (Just behind Bolivia's Uyini salt flats in my top sight ever) Ramadan meant the Pyramids closed early, meaning our camel strolled down the giant sand-dune with the famous six-pyramid view, past the Sphinx, all alone. Amazing.
2 Sharks, Bora Bora, French Polynesia: Freakish snorkel and dives down above 2.5m lemon sharks.
3 Ahu Akivi, Easter Island: After a day of rain, sunset rays burst through and a double rainbow suddenly, amazingly, broke out over seven moai statues. A truly incredible moment.
4 Boogie-boarding, Whangamata, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand: Nailing big surf waves on a stunning, breezy bay with islands offshore.
5 Rutherglen sunset cycle, Victoria, Australia: (This one's a moment for me, not Nati) Racing past olive green gums and sun-baked fields, with purple-edged clouds and sunset above.
Friday, July 4, 2008
The end of our world: Sirloin, rump, platters, ice cream, a clubbing odyssey, another crazy gym and subliminal shopping
8pm Thu 26 June: Buenos Aires, great as this city is, has one huge problem: just how, I mean how, how on earth, do you choose between the sirloin (lomo) and rump (chorizo)? The tenderest steak cut...or the tastiest?
Nati and I bravely faced this daunting dilemma, and, after munching inch-thick slabs for the last nine days of our nine-month trip, we can confidently announce the winner is...the...wait for it...rump! That's because, in BA, the tastiest is also the tenderest.
Our favourite was at La Cabrera (also visited by our pals Marcus and Colette on their honeymoon a month ago (congrats!)); a two-and-a-half-inch-thick chunk of beef with TWELVE side orders.
Marcus: if, as you claim, you really finished the whole thing plus sides, you're more of a man than me.
Tearing ourselves away from the steaks, we demolished a couple of ham, salami, pate, cheese and olive platters
As if that wasn't enough, the ice cream (fruitilla and dulce de leche for Nati; chocolate & almonds...oh my God...for me) makes Mr Whippy taste like Aldi Value.
And the wine, oh the wine, the red, red, beautiful wine...sorry, lost focus there...is soooo drinkable. Tough to squeeze in a Quilmes 1-litre beer or two.
With all this amazing food and drink, it's not that surprising BA, South America's most European city, has restaurants on EVERY corner. The rest of town is an addictive mix of giant Palermo and Recoleta mansions, towering apartment blocks, porteno locals, their egos, and gritty streets like those in Boca.
Nati and I actually met in hostel in BA's San Telmo district three years ago.
We called in for a drink this time but upgraded our accommodation to the gorgeous 1551 Palermo (http://www.1551palermo.com/), a snip at £20-a-night for a double in a gorgeous mansion, with 7-metre high ceilings and a resident sculptor, Reynaldo, on reception.
BA time runs three hours behind England, so we got up at 11, had lunch at 3, dinner at 11 and at 2.30am, went clubbing. Yes, as in ARRIVED at the club at 2.30am.
Our BA clubbing odyssey actually started badly.
Opera Bay, modelled on Sydney Opera House and undoubtedly one of the world's coolest clubs when I last visited, has been criminally demolished to make way for a hotel.
Bad went to worse when our cab pulled up at Mint, the best Friday option, to find it closed for four months.
Our luck improved at Crobar, an unheated (it's winter in BA) modern version of London's Cross (also criminally demolished last year) with some smashing electro house.
The next night, we hit BA's branch of Pacha, a white, Ibiza-esque superclub with an overcrowded, smokey main floor and cooler, pumping funky house room upstairs.
Toca's Miracle by Fragma might not be the coolest tune in a DJ's box but, boy, it still rocks 10 years on.
BA is great but not without it's problems. Graffiti defaces most buildings and piles of dog dirt make an unpleasant pavement obstacle course.
But the good outweighs the bad.
We hit the gym, a small room jammed with so many machines and equipment that people were lifting weights over each other; saw Evita's grave; watched Boca Juniors thump Tigre 6-2 in a meaningless but fun end-of-season game - and went shopping.
Now shopping is usually Nati's artform and, in fact, her raison d'etre...but, either she drugged me or the Sex and The City movie had a subliminal message targeting men - as I got addicted too. I even dreamt about shopping last night. What a loser!
So BA was an awesome way to end our round-the-world trip. If you get chance to go to BA, do it. Hi to everyone and thanks for the blog comments. You can comment by clicking the ‘COMMENTS’ tab below. Click on 'Anonymous' to publish comment.
Ali & Nati
Nati and I bravely faced this daunting dilemma, and, after munching inch-thick slabs for the last nine days of our nine-month trip, we can confidently announce the winner is...the...wait for it...rump! That's because, in BA, the tastiest is also the tenderest.
Our favourite was at La Cabrera (also visited by our pals Marcus and Colette on their honeymoon a month ago (congrats!)); a two-and-a-half-inch-thick chunk of beef with TWELVE side orders.
Marcus: if, as you claim, you really finished the whole thing plus sides, you're more of a man than me.
Tearing ourselves away from the steaks, we demolished a couple of ham, salami, pate, cheese and olive platters
As if that wasn't enough, the ice cream (fruitilla and dulce de leche for Nati; chocolate & almonds...oh my God...for me) makes Mr Whippy taste like Aldi Value.
And the wine, oh the wine, the red, red, beautiful wine...sorry, lost focus there...is soooo drinkable. Tough to squeeze in a Quilmes 1-litre beer or two.
With all this amazing food and drink, it's not that surprising BA, South America's most European city, has restaurants on EVERY corner. The rest of town is an addictive mix of giant Palermo and Recoleta mansions, towering apartment blocks, porteno locals, their egos, and gritty streets like those in Boca.
Nati and I actually met in hostel in BA's San Telmo district three years ago.
We called in for a drink this time but upgraded our accommodation to the gorgeous 1551 Palermo (http://www.1551palermo.com/), a snip at £20-a-night for a double in a gorgeous mansion, with 7-metre high ceilings and a resident sculptor, Reynaldo, on reception.
BA time runs three hours behind England, so we got up at 11, had lunch at 3, dinner at 11 and at 2.30am, went clubbing. Yes, as in ARRIVED at the club at 2.30am.
Our BA clubbing odyssey actually started badly.
Opera Bay, modelled on Sydney Opera House and undoubtedly one of the world's coolest clubs when I last visited, has been criminally demolished to make way for a hotel.
Bad went to worse when our cab pulled up at Mint, the best Friday option, to find it closed for four months.
Our luck improved at Crobar, an unheated (it's winter in BA) modern version of London's Cross (also criminally demolished last year) with some smashing electro house.
The next night, we hit BA's branch of Pacha, a white, Ibiza-esque superclub with an overcrowded, smokey main floor and cooler, pumping funky house room upstairs.
Toca's Miracle by Fragma might not be the coolest tune in a DJ's box but, boy, it still rocks 10 years on.
BA is great but not without it's problems. Graffiti defaces most buildings and piles of dog dirt make an unpleasant pavement obstacle course.
But the good outweighs the bad.
We hit the gym, a small room jammed with so many machines and equipment that people were lifting weights over each other; saw Evita's grave; watched Boca Juniors thump Tigre 6-2 in a meaningless but fun end-of-season game - and went shopping.
Now shopping is usually Nati's artform and, in fact, her raison d'etre...but, either she drugged me or the Sex and The City movie had a subliminal message targeting men - as I got addicted too. I even dreamt about shopping last night. What a loser!
So BA was an awesome way to end our round-the-world trip. If you get chance to go to BA, do it. Hi to everyone and thanks for the blog comments. You can comment by clicking the ‘COMMENTS’ tab below. Click on 'Anonymous' to publish comment.
Ali & Nati
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