Kharma Coma

“In India, anything is possible,” a tour guide we travelled with was fond of saying. Probably the occasion where this phrase seemed most apt was when we got to see the Dalai Lama in the flesh.

The day after arriving in Mcleodganj, the Himalayan hilltown that serves as the base of the Tibetan government in exile, we decided to visit the temple where the Dalai Lama teaches most regularly. While there, we were informed that his holiness would be visiting the temple for private prayers two days later. We couldn’t believe our luck – he spends only three or four days a month in Mcleodganj.

In search of the real Cambodia

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

 

During our time in Vietnam we heard a lot about what it was like to travel around Cambodia – most of it negative. Undeterred by these reports we decided to go and see for ourselves and arrived in Phnom Pehn after one of the more sedate coach journeys of our trip to date. So far, so good.

Phnom Pehn seemed pretty lifeless after the hustle and bustle of Saigon and Hanoi. Another difference we’d noticed on arrival in the Cambodian capital was how visible the country’s poverty was. Around one of the city’s many temples, amputees would sit on the steps begging, while young children would approach you asking for dollars.

Southern Comfort

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

As our taxi driver in Hanoi told us, the problem with Vietnam is it is “a very small country, but a very long country”. I was reminded of his words several times as we made our way slowly to Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when it was capital of South Vietnam before reunification in 1975.

Our journey to Saigon started appropriately enough on the Reunification Express, which chugs up and down the 2600km track between Hanoi and the southern city. After a fairly comfortable night in a sleeper berth we reached our first destination, the city of Hué, the capital of Vietnam until partition.

What’s the story morning glory

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

It’s not too hard to find Vietnamese food in London: just walk ten minutes up Kingsland Road from Shoreditch and you’ll find London’s Little Hanoi. But the food I tasted in Vietnam was nothing like the food I’d sampled in London’s Vietnamese restaurants.

While I’d always enjoyed the food in Vietnamese restaurants in the UK, my expectations of the real thing was very low. I expected that a typical Vietnamese dish would contain lots of rice, various different parts of an animal’s anatomy and few vegetables. When I got to Hanoi, I found out that the only thing I got right was the bit about the rice.

In contrast to my expectations, I discovered the Vietnamese use lots of fresh ingredients, especially vegetables. Our first experience of true Vietnamese cuisine was Pho Bo, a thin beef noodle soup, flavored very simply with lemon grass and basil. In the north, this is served with lime wedges and fresh chilli, which you can use to change the flavour. As you travel south the optional extras become more extensive, to include fresh basil, mint, greens and bean sprouts.

Hanoi Rocks

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

After nine months traveling around English speaking (apart from a brief Quebecquois interlude) countries, we were long overdue some culture shock. We reckoned Vietnam would provide this, and it did to some extent.

We’d been warned about how crazy the roads were, and yes, everyone seems to have a scooter and drives it everywhere (including tiny little alleyways). But it wasn’t the complete chaos you’d be led to believe. It is still possible to cross the road, which is a relief. You do, however, have to abandon the Green Cross Code and stride out slowly into the road and the traffic drives around you.

Coast to Coast

Australia’s East Coast is Australia for many visitors. The Pacific Highway from Sydney to Cairns is heaving with campervans during the busy summer months. In contrast, the West Coast feels empty, even its capital Perth is notable for its lack of bustle.

During our visit to Australia, we took a road-trip in a campervan along both coasts (though admittedly, we only saw a 1,000km stretch of the east coast). Aside from the differences in visitor numbers, the two coasts share a lot of similarities. Both have reefs, National Parks and lots of sandy beaches. Here’s a crude comparison of their main assets.

Beach fight

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

During our time in Melbourne, we noticed that the locals seemed to have a slight obsession with Sydney. It would be fair to argue that this was largely media driven; for example we saw a number of articles in backpacker magazines pitting the two cities against one another (most of these contests seemed to end in an unfriendly draw).

Melbourne’s local paper The Age would regularly have a pop at Sydney: about how the city had done very little with the site of the 2000 Olympics, and about how Melbourne, being Australia’s “sporting capital”, should have the honour of hosting a future soccer world cup final, not Sydney. With all this animosity, it’s no wonder they designated Canberra as the “compromise” Federal capital!

Sun-a-rise in the morning…

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

Early mornings and me don’t really go together. But exploring the Red Centre is all about early mornings as we found out on our Northern Territory Road trip.

At our hostel in Alice Springs, we had been advised by an Italian backpacker to make sure we reached Kings Canyon no later than 7am. She said that the four hour rim walk was well worth doing, but that it would be too hot to walk by the time the clock turned eleven.

We tried our best to heed her advice, but typically, we left it late and it was 8.30am by the time we set out on the rim walk. Thankfully, there was a bit of a breeze and some thin clouds so the conditions were quite pleasant for most of the morning. The walk itself was more than pleasant. After a steep climb onto the cliffs above the canyon, we were rewarded with some fine views, which got even better as the walk progressed.

Mereenie we roll along

Australia is a vast country and after spending five months here we were painfully aware how little of it we had seen. So it was time to say bye-bye to Melbourne and get back on the road.

Our first destination was about as different from Melbourne as you could get. Alice Springs is nowhere near the coast and its river dried up years ago. The feel of Alice is very different. With a population of just 29,000 it does feel like a small town, despite being a major centre for tourism and culture.

The cafe society is much less in evidence in Alice than in Melbourne, but the cultural scene is still strong thanks to the Aboriginal artists whose works are displayed in the town’s galleries. On the downside, social problems are very much in evidence, such as alcohol dependency within some sections of the local Aboriginal community.

Our first day in the Northern Territory was spent soaking up this culture, including viewing some excellent Aboriginal art and a visit to the Royal Flying Doctors’ museum. The following day was the start of the serious traveling – a 1,100km road trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) via Kings Canyon.

Life begins at the Op*

I’ve written before about how Australia’s Op Shops blow the pants off Britain’s charity shops. In the UK, you tend to find out-of-date travel guides, recipe books you already owned, yet have never used, and CD singles from long-forgotten 1990s boybands. The merchandise tends to be crammed into a couple of musty rooms and arranged in a haphazard way.

In Australian Op Shops, you get things you actually want. When furnishing our room, I picked up a half decent pair of speakers to use with my iPod at a shop in Brunswick run by the local Catholic Church. I also have my eye on an $3 ‘Esky’ cool box, one of the must-have accessories for an Australian backpacker. That said, I’m not sure what I’ll actually do with it, because we don’t have a car of our own at the moment and can’t go on picnics, but I’m sure I’d find a use for it.