Posts Tagged ‘Beach’
Route 50: The End of the Road
USA | Hillsboro to Washington DC
The following day we set off from Hillsboro into South Eastern Ohio, the poorest and least developed part of the state. It was very rural, and we were definitely in the Bible Belt – every small town had several churches, and there were plenty of anti-abortion slogans on billboards all over the place. The driving wasn’t helped by the fact that the rain was absolutely lashing down! It was quite tricky and we made fairly slow progress!
By early afternoon the rain had finally stopped, and we arrived in the university town of Athens, set like it’s namesake, on a series of hills. This wasn’t the first familiar sounding place we been too; during the previous few days we’d passed
through or near Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, Belgium, Versailles and Londonderry! It was a pleasant place, obviously full of students, and we decided to stop for some lunch. The retro diner on the high street fitted the bill, and we had some huge sandwiches before hitting the road. I wasn’t feeling too good, so Gem took over the driving as we continued east into rural West Virginia as far as Clarksburg, where we stopped for the night. Shortly after we arrived (at 4pm) I was in bed with a high fever and chills, where I stayed until the next day! Click here to read more…
Party Poopers
Peru | MáncoraWe arrived in Máncora having had the best night’s sleep on a bus ever. Good old Cruz del Sur! It felt a little bit like we’d ended up back in a South-East Asian beach town. Lots of wooden shacks and our old friend, the trusty tuk-tuk! Plus, it was boiling. Even at 9 in the morning! I was pleased!
We were staying at Loki, a hostel with a pool and a reputation for partying. There are a few Loki’s dotted around South America, mostly in Peru and Bolivia and all of them have the party reputation – which is why we’d avoided them previously. But we thought we should probably try one out and what better place than by the sea in a sleepy beach town?! We got a tuk tuk to the hostel and checked in. Our room wasn’t available until 1 so we spent the morning dipping in and out of the pool and snoozing on sun loungers. The Loki complex looked to have been a hotel in another life so there was a really good pool area, a restaurant/bar zone and a few hammocks dotted about for afternoon naps. Click here to read more…
Back on the English Beach
Chile | Caldera & Bahia Inglesa
We continued our journey along the Pacific coast, heading another seven hours north along the Pan-American Highway to the beach town of Caldera. Further south the coastline had been rugged yet relatively flat, but almost as soon as we left La Serena we were climbing into the mountains, and we soon had a spectacular view down to the coast behind us. Eventually we stopped climbing and continued along for hours across a high desert plateau, passing only the occasional mine and observatory – the area has more sunny days than almost anywhere in the world, and the clear skies make it ideal for a spot of stargazing. Click here to read more…
Serena by the Seaside
Chile | La SerenaWe arrived in La Serena following an uneventful, but pleasant enough bus journey, passing
through amazing scenery. A lot of the road was right on the coast so we were treated to some gorgeous views of the Pacific. I was particularly impressed with the provision of a blanket and pillow, and make the most of it for an hour or two! We went straight to our hostel in La Serena, El Punto, which is the 2nd German run place we’ve stayed in in Chile. There’s a lot of German influence in the country; loads of German cars, quite a few words, i.e. kuchen, which means cake and, happily for Dan, lots of German beer! Click here to read more…
Island Idleness
Malaysia | Perhentian Islands
From Penang we travelled East across the country to the Perhentian Islands, a group of small islands on the far north-eastern coast of Malaysia. This involved a very early 5am start, swiftly followed by some treacherous driving through the Malaysian countryside. Our driver (who looked no older than 17) seemed not to have learnt the art of taking corners and we were thrown about the minibus like rag dolls. It was so bad that on the 1st toilet stop all of the passengers begged him to slow down and drive more carefully. Despite protesting that we’d miss our boat he did actually slow down. I even managed to get a snooze in! Click here to read more…
Beach Bums
Thailand | Phuket and Ko LantaFrom Chiang Mai we flew down to Phuket with the intention of having a few relaxing days beachside. And that’s pretty much what happened!
Fortunately for us, Mums’ friends Lynn and Bob happened to be staying in Phuket for a fortnight’s holiday. They had a 2 bedroom apartment in a fabulous resort so we crashed their party for a couple of nights – thanks again for having us guys! Phuket has some stunning
beaches, and after our first night at the luxurious resort we headed over to the beach to spend the day sunning ourselves! Phuket is very hot and humid, 30+ every day, so we were very happy not to be bothering with any sight-seeing and instead just lounging on the beach, occasionally venturing into the sea when the heat became too much!
We stayed on the beach that evening for dinner, and got to watch another beautiful sunset. After a delicious meal and a few too many glasses of wine, we headed back to the resort courtesy of Mr Lucky, Lynn and Bob’s favourite taxi driver! Click here to read more…
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