Hello all

 

Me and Mark are currently in the lovely town of Hoi An which I think has very similar name in Han oi but this could be just my decent into madness. Its really nice here, lovely weather but unfortnately bugs like this type of weather too so there is a ... of them (though Mark informs me that big spiders want to eat things that bite you so its all good).

 

Hoi An is a like a world heritage think but really badly sign posted so you can't really find much but its main draw is clothes, made to measure clothes. There was always talk of Vietnam being the place to have clothes made and yes it is as they can pretty much make anything you want - yes at last i have combats which can show my entire crap tattoo to the world (and maybe give it some sun so it will fade away but it has taken a whole 8 weeks to tan my feet). I've gone a bit mad on the clothes but we are well within budget at the moment (if I could stop yearning for diet pepsi i'd have even more money) so I went mad with shoes as well - yes they made them here too.

 

As a "day trip" which is in fact 8am to 1pm we went to My Son, and I hereby christen My Son -  Vietnam's Amber Fort - thats right it costs a lot to get there but its pretty boring (nan rule) and we should have waited until Ankor Watt because looking at temple. I'll give My Son some slack seeing the US bombed the hell out of it but rebuiding it for tourists - well thats just a bit naughty, and Mark pointed out I could similar things at Hornchurch Airfield - I however don't know if the whether would be so tropical and whether or not there would be any snakes - unless there are some adders.

 

Sorry if there are any mistakes this entry the keyboard and mouse here are pretty rubbish. Also thanks to James for the coolest birthday card ever. About my birthday - it didn't seem like a birthday but we did go out on a crap river boat cruise of the perfume river which was full of ants and took us to sites well we couldn't afford to go in, Mark loved it but I like to see the bad in everything. However, we went out in the evening and I finally beat Mark at pool - yes I BEAT MARK AT POOL and drank a lot and we ate a lot too - so much we got a doggy bag. For anyone going to Hue - please look out for my message in the DMZ Cafe just inside the door on the ceiling - it will tell you where Upminster is :-)

 

Lots of love

 

Vicki

(writing depressing comments as always)

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Ok, so I am finally ready to bring you all nearly up to date.

 

The DMZ

 

As I said last time, we set off on the back of our scooters to begin visiting the sites along Highway 1. For those of you who may come to Vietnam and do likewise, I must say that in retrospect we wish we had actually visited the other sites around Highway 9 as, upon reaching Hue, we discovered that all the bus tours departing from here visit most of the places we saw on motorbike, but those on Highway 9 do not have such a direct service (and are instead added on to the tours which also go to Highway 1).

 

Anyway, we still enjoyed the day, and were well accompanied by our guide and a driver, with the former actually a South-Vietnamese veteran who, along with his friend who owned the cafe where we booked the tour, were sent to re-education camps for 5 years at the end of the war. The actual sites of the war themselves were not on the whole greatly interesting for us with our limited war knowledge, with the Americans destroying almost all of their bases from the air upon leaving the country and the VC tactics not conducive to making visitable sites. Instead, we were more interested in those established after the war, including the national cemetary containing the bodies of around 15,000 North Vietnamese soldiers killed in the war.

 

We also were taken to the Vin Moc tunnels (though we were a little irritated that we had to pay the entrance fee after being told all were included in our price), where much of a village moved in order to escape the constant bombardment. Despite quite obviously being enlarged for the larger tourists, they gave an interesting insight into tunnel-living, particularly as they included the relatively common (they were also in the prison we visited in Hanoi) scary doll-figures that bring the rooms "to life", including one set demonstrating how the maternity room (though it was more just an expanded part of the corridor) would have been used.

 

When we returned to the cafe, we decided that we would go straight on to Hue as it offered better entertainment than Dong Ha, even though we had only arrived on the overnight train from Hanoi that morning. After telling our plan, we were quickly bundled into the back of a minibus in our quite tired state, which meant that we did not have time to reclaim the entrance fee for the caves or the money Victoria lent her driver to buy petrol, though the irritation at being so smoothly passed on eventually passed during the very cramped drive to Hue.

 

Hue

 

Upon our arrival we set off, pursued by cyclo-rickshaws, in search of a place to rest after our busy 24 hours since we had left Hanoi. Though it was disappointing discovering our room's TV only had Vietnamese stations, Van Xuan guesthouse has probably been my favourite place we have stayed, primarily for the old, and incredibly friendly, Vietnamese couple who run it and can barely speak a single workd of English between them, with these two characteristics making even a simple request for laundry brilliantly entertaining.

 

Site-wise, Hue itself is pretty unmemorable and this fact perhaps helped lead to the latest extravaganza on our photobucket - our "Where's Vicki" section (as if I need to explain), which we will try to include as often as possible to make some photos more interesting where the sites aren't themselves (as was the case on our cyclo-tour around the city).

 

That said, we have found it pleasant, particularly with it having a couple of nice bars which provide free (as opposed to having to pay around 2 quid) pool on nice (as opposed to beer-stained) tables.

 

Well, now I've come so close to bringing you up-to-date, I'm going to go and retire in the **** hotel (four star, rather than some expletive that I have removed) we are currently staying for Victoria's birthday (which she will write about soon), and make you wait expectantly for further updates.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello all,

 

Mark and I are currently in Hue which isn't pronounced how you think it would be, its abit of a Bodo  - as it you don't get it and someone has to point out how wrong you are. Hue is in the middle of Vietnam - in fact its about 60 kms around from the dividing line between what was North and South Vietnam.

 

I can't say I learnt much about the Vietnam war - we touched on it but at GCSE you touch on a lot and then dump it from your brain after exams are over. Anyway being in Vietnam it seems apt that you should visit some of the war sites and we decided to go ahead and do this (this may have something to do with the fact I really hate pagodas and temples because they are boring and a bit like churches- as it all a variation on the same theme - plus we went to the Perfume Pagoda and it sucked and the woman who rowed out boat kept hitting me on purpose and then had the cheek to ask for money). We decided to take a tour from Dong Ha  I don't recommend this as you can get much longer and cheaper trips on a bus from Hue. However, if you want to go on a motorbike which is much more fun it is better to go from Dong Ha. We only went around the sites on Highway 1 which is basically just the Vinh Moch tunnels which are very very tights and not for the faint hearted (in fact I think the guy on the tour with us didn't enjoy the tour at all and wanted to leave at every available exit - not suprising seeing some of the tunnels are some 23 metres underground).

 

Now for a word about the food. I am now vegetarian because after out trip to the perfume pagoda and the joy of seeing roasted dogs and other animals on hooks i don't really want to eat meat anymore. They are also fond on trotters and pig's noses and it just puts you off - its also safer being vegetarian I guess. I'm sure it won't last the whole trip though as I want to eat a kangaroo - though not a whole one because I think that would be far too much.I also can't get round eating noodles for breakfast. Whilst on our boat trip to Halong Bay everything I was offered to eat had eyes  - like crabs and shrimps and I refuse to do things with eyes, so i'm not going for seafood either.

 

Also to anyone who might blindly follow LP and think its not cool to take the tourist open bus - I can safely say if you go soft sleeper on a train here you aren't going to meet any locals - probably because they can't afford it.

 

Until next time - all the best.

 

Vicki

 

Also I would like to say sorry about India - as most people acknowlege its probably the most stressful place to travel and it got to me and I let it out on here, whcih was wrong but least I never let it out on the actual people there. I would like to say, now I can compare countries that Indian people on the whole were very friendly to being to the point of being in your face too much and were always willing to help. However, they do need to sort out some kind of refuse collection and some good sewage system, the government of India also needs to drive into people that sending your kids to school is really really important and it also needs to make drivers drive more safely because its such a waste that so many people get killed on the roads. I however, maintain that bugs coming into your room is the responsibility of the hotel you are staying in goddamnit!

India sucks simple.... now Vietnam on the other hand.....

 

We have now been in Hanoi for a few days now and can I just say, this places is great. I hate to say this and sorry if I offend anyone but the people here are much friendly, sure some people are going to want to rip you off but in general it just seems more relaxed and friendly, maybe the people aren't so impatient as they are in Indian. However, the traffic isn't much better but they don't use the horn as much which is always a blessing.

 

We have just come back from a junk cruise trip around Halong Bay - which means the descendants of dragons - none of the caves or "mountains" actually look like dragons though - though may of the other rocks are described as various animals - you just have squint to see it. The boat was lovely and at last we have a duvet - you don't know how great this is and to have hot water is also great - I haven't had a hot shower since Jaipur (though in Goa it didn't matter much because it was so bloody hot outside). However, the food was all seafood and much of it had eyes and  I can't eat things with eyes - I find crabs and prawns that look at me just distressing, especially after I saved a crab (or nicked him from a fisherman) in Goa.

 

The kids here look so cute and they don't tug at your arms - alas I think covert pictures would be out of order so none to show, however we may manage a picture of a 20 odd year old female taxi driver.

 

We have to wait here a while because we are waiting for the lovely swiss to send us a new filter after the last one died under mark's huge mass/very muscluar arms  so I will be able to write more about Hanoi later, and then again from Dong Ha which is the next place we go. We are going to the DMZ to see V war stuff and everyother backpacker seems to be skipping this and going to see temples (bloody temples!) so we may get to see some real vietnam with no horrible loud backpackers who go around boasting about where they have been and so on - ahhhhhhh

 

Lots of love

 

Vicki

Well, I think Victoria has done enough ranting for the both of us, so I will instead try to provide an update from where I last left off.

 

We are now only a few hours away from leaving for Vietnam, and are both looking forward to seeing a new place which will hopefully be a little less frustrating.

 

Goa

 

Having been reprimanded for "stealing" Victoria's title (even though I did not claim credit, I don't think I adequately referenced my source for her liking), I will try to avoid any plagiarism.

 

Though nothing really noteworthy happened, I forgot to mention that after talking to one of the other guests at our luxurious hotel, I have since insisted on using the term "Rupes" (or Roops) purely for the annoyance it causes Victoria, who has even started using the term accidentally herself (I am such a great travelling companion).

 

Also, everyone should head over to our photobucket to check Victoria after hald a 550ml bottle of Kingfisher, which led to her seeing dancing coconuts on the back of a menu (actual picture - a kebab). I should point out however that because thos can be blamed on the 1 unit of alcohol consumed, it should in no way cast doubt on her tiger siting in Ranthambore.

 

Travelling wise, the 30 hour train ride was fine, and we met a nice couple from Southampton, with Indian trains actually quite pleasant. The 14 hour coach ride to Pune was not quite so enjoyable, particularly as our sleeper was quite cramped (though not as bad as the back of the Indian equivalent of a Micra) and dropped us in some unknown location in the city.

 

Pune

 

The city itself was OK as it was less noisy and dirty than others in India, though it suffered from having fewer sites of interest to visit.

 

Our attempts to visit one of these actually caused me to finally lose my patience with India and refusing to pay the exhorbitant price to enter - and it is only appropriate that such peaceful non-cooperation occur at a site dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Ok, I lied above, and I want to have a brief rant.

 

At virtually every place we have visited in India (except, incidentally, the Gandhi sites in Delhi amongst others), we are required to pay a fee at least 20 times the "Indian price". For a long period I was quite happy to pay extra to help preserve major sites (though 750Rs for the Taj Mahal really was taking it a little far), I have now started to agree with Victoria that it is just another example of quite shameless Indian profiteering, which leaves you with a bit of a feeling og being ripped off.

 

Even though I concede the actual entrance fees are relatively small (compared to UK prices - in the Gandhi case it was around 2 pounds), the fact of such grossly discriminatory prices finally became too much at a Gandhi memorial of all places - so I refused to pay and instead took pictures of the building in the grounds - really sticking it to the man (the owner of the museum that is, rather than Gandhi)

 

Otherwise, we just explored Pune, particularly the Old city, but looked forward to reaching Mumbai

 

Mumbai

 

Ok, first off our hotel has had its faults, including a ridiculous number of flying insects that shed their wings and get into your stuff, and also a mouse that came and ate some of my biscuits. However, it is the cheapest place we have stayed, and the staff, though not English-speaking, have been quite helpful (though irritating at times)

 

The city itself is by far the nicest in India, and is the least stressful to visit. Running out of internet time, so will limit these comments to just saying that it has been the most enjoyable part of India (though that may not be saying a lot).

 

So, we head to Vietnam where, for the first few days we should be on a cruise around Halong Bay, which we'll update you on as soon as possible.

 

Mark

 

(Also, leave nice comments saying how funny Victoria's titles will be for her first Vietnamese post)

Hello all

 

Sorry about lack of updates, I get this urge to go on forums rather than go on blogging and if i wrote eveything I wanted to, all the hippies would be on my back as would the Indian tourist board, but I will write now with some reflection on the past 6 weeks (yes I have been in India a bloody long time - in fact too long).

 

Firstly, we went to Delhi, it sucked, it smelt of tuna and I stepped in something which should really be living in the sewage system, it was bloody terrible city - worse than Lima - NEVER GO THERE - if do you are off your rocker.

 

We then went on a quick tour around the Rajasthan, the place where most people tend to go, I saw a tiger, we got 'forted out' I don't think I will ever be able to see another fort again and I habour a deep resentment towards Lonely Planet because we went to Amber Fort which must be the crappest fort in India - Dear LP - I would like my money back and this place just reinforced to me that I will never be able to eat tuna again (unless Boots only have tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches left)

 

As we are about to leave I can finally talk about the driving tour - you see Mark asked me not to - you might see why - our driver he did the following fun things

Well, after a monumental effort by Victoria and I, and many Rupees being spent (at least 10 Mountain Dews - for information on how to donate to our fund, send an email), we have managed to bring our photos up to date, and Victoria has even started giving them hilarious (and potentially libelous) titles. Go to our photobucket...

 

 

...and donate generously.

 

Mark

 

Also - I would provide an update now but the internet cafe is filled with kids playing Counterstrike and I am starting to lose my hearing from the screaming.

 

 

First, I should point out Victoria must get credit for the title, with Goa (or at least Benaulim, where we have been staying) more like the South of Spain than India. This has meant that, even with the numerous Brit and German tourists, it has been a welcome and relaxing break from the rest of India before we head into Pune (careful with your comments) and then Mumbai (though everyone here still calls it Bombay).

 

So, as you would expect, the beaches are nicer than Southend here, even with the large number of sellers populating them (though even they are outnumbered by the number of crabs and starfish that wash up each morning).

 

Otherwise, there is not much to report, other than us both spending a fortune in Rupees (UK equivalent - a CD each) on souveniers at a "flea market", even though it was obviously a place for tourists to be driven to (by comparison, the market in Jodhpur actually sold proper junk, like broken telephones). This made the day quite entertaining because of the ridiculous charges the sellers would attempt to make you pay, even when they promised that their goods, or "rubbish", was "as cheap as chips" (obviously David Dickinson-mania has spread far). So, when I asked the price of a rather fetching travelling hat (photo to appear on photobucket soon) I was told 450 Rs, though after negotiation I only paid 60 (by the way, Victoria tells me that when we were leaving another man was prepared to pay the quoted price - in India you fail to negotiate at your peril).

 

Should add that our room is not great, and the price does not include hot water for the shower (though because of our location this is not a massive problem, though for Victoria the quite large spiders are).

 

Oh, and a word of warning to all - though a Cotton-Polyester blend shirt is fantastic for washing and drying, I found to my cost that they do not offer great sun protection, leading to me getting mildly burnt even when I stayed out of the sun between 12-4.

 

So, will be soon be heading back into Proper India, where I hope to be able to make my next post (which will hopefully be a little more substantial than this).

 

Mark

 

(Also, Victoria and I would appreciate more comments from those visiting the site, and it would be even better if they were complimentary).

 

 

 

Because MSN Spaces requires you to download some software before uploading photos, we have also started a photobucket which may be reached at

 

 

Hopefully all the pictues will eventually be transferred here, though in the mean time this will be the site where they are uploaded.

 

Mark

So, having been away for 2 weeks, and already having fallen woefully behind in maintaining the blog, we have decided that the best approach will be to provide a summary of what we have done so far. Unfortunately, there may be considerable overlap with Victoria’s account as I don’t have the time, or inclination, to check what she has written before doing this, with my patience already well tested by the obstructions in posting photos.

 

Delhi

 

As most of you will have noticed from our posts, Delhi was not our favourite place and we were pleased to leave and start our driving tour. The in-your-face approach of those wanting to separate me from my Rupees was fiercer than anywhere we have been since (though I may instead be starting to get more used to it). Indeed, the more unpleasant things about staying in India seem to have an increased concentration in Delhi, which also includes the traffic and waste, including that from people on the pavement.

 

On our final day in Delhi, we visited the red fort, which was not particularly impressive with virtually every structure within it having an accompanying sign saying how the structure was ransacked by several different groups, removing most of its most attractive parts, giving the impression that the building would have been far nicer had we visited a couple of hundred years ago.

 

We also became more accustomed to being transported in rickshaws or tuk-tuks, which we were assured were far safer than our initial impressions suggested (honestly). Through this we met some interesting characters, whom often asked quite inappropriate, and embarrassing questions. On our final day, we even had the driver’s nephew accompany us, who spoke of his dream to come to the UK to work in IT. On his advice, Victoria bought the lovely Indian dress you will see in some of the photos to give the impression that we have been to India before, and thereby not be overcharged as much.

 

I should also mention that we were also provided with our first encounters with the different animals in India, which include a variety of monkeys, chipmunks and even an elephant being taken on a main road (which unfortunately I didn’t have time to take a photo of.

 

The tour begins…

 

Any feelings we may have had about overpaying for our driving tour (only about 20 pounds at most) were compounded on the first day when our driver (a phrase I never thought I would grow so familiar with using) was nearly an hour late, and turned up in a car with white seat covers which in some areas had turned brown. It also transpired that he speaks only broken English which, although better than my Hindi, was not what we had expected.

 

We reached Agra in the early evening, and went to eat at a roof-top café overlooking the Taj Mahal. This we had to reach by foot as there is a car exclusion zone enforced to protect the marble, with our walk back leading to us being asked to leave (though I think Victoria uses the phrase “kicked out”) an internet café after we refused to pay for our time when we were unable to print (which we had told them before was the sole reason for us using the internet)

 

In the morning we went to visit the Taj, which is massively expensive for India (costing around 10 pounds). Now, obviously it is a magnificent building, but it seems that the only reason to actually visit it (rather than look from a distance) is so you can pose in front of it and take pictures from a variety of angles, which we happily did, even though it was far colder than I thought India would be. Also, you need to be inside the complex to get “the shot” of the Taj Mahal, with the reflection coming off the fountain, which we had to queue for a considerable time to get (I think Victoria covers the story of the red-t-shirted girl who clearly illustrates the coldness of the morning).

 

After leaving the site, and spending some time in the surrounding area, we were greeted by our driver who seemed to suggest that we had spent too long visiting the area (though I can’t be sure – see above) before our drive to Ranthambore.

 

The Tiger (?) Park

 

Though, in contrast to our previous nights, the hotel was not particularly pleasant, the visit to Ranthambore was a highlight thus far purely for the entertainment provided on the tour of the safari park. The drive itself was a little like a very long cheap fairground roller-coaster, though with the further benefit of excellent scenery and various animals.  However, what made it all the more memorable was the combination of a smoking, spitting German (or Finnish – I can’t be sure) man sitting in front of an unsubtle American, who made his dissatisfaction with the spitting very obvious to the man in front, culminating in a threat to spit on the back of the guys head.

 

This more than made up for the fact that the closest I got to seeing a tiger was a footprint in the dust, although Victoria believes that she saw one (or at least part of one) in a bush which the truck stopped alongside. Unfortunately, we did not act quick enough to confirm this sighting, so whether she really saw the tiger that everyone else missed will remain a mystery

 

The Holy Lake

 

After a couple of nights we set off for Pushkar. However, our departure was considerably delayed because after dropping us off in Ranthambore, our driver then disappeared until an hour after we had wanted to leave. After spending much of our final evening in Ranthambore searching for him, we found him outside our hotel in his car (so he can pocket the accommodation expenses he is paid), and made the mistake of assuming he would be there the following morning. Our relationship soured further when, upon reaching Pushkar, he appeared to launch into a sulk when we refused to look at a hotel he took us to and insisted upon staying in the hotel we has booked.

 

The room which we so insisted upon staying in proved to be of a habitable standard, although this extended to an assortment of creatures (though none of which took an interest in us). It ultimately proved quite fortunate that, because of a mix-up in dates, we only spent one night in Pushkar rather than the planned two, letting us move on to nicer, though slightly more expensive, accommodation.

 

Pushkar itself was nice to walk around, though the lake itself was not great (though I hope such a comment is not too offensive to those more religion-driven), and I had my first encounter with genuine hippies, who seemed friendly enough though I did not actually speak to any.

 

Rest assured though Mum, I have no intentions of joining them.

 

Well, with internet time running out, I have cleared some of the backlog, though it will be a few more days until I am up to date, though I should also be in a position to provide more photos.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Time for another update – this time from “the Rajasthan” – me and mark are currently in Jodhpur, which is where those delightful riding trousers come from. Now time for a quick update of all the places we have been seen Ag-ripoff-a.

 

Ranthambore  – wonder tiger reserve which took 8 hours to get to, had no hot water, no HBO and you had to have the buffet dinner on rather dirty table clothes. On the plus side we did get to go on in a canter around the park which is a big jeep thing. Now I maintain I saw some kind of orange and black big cat and Mark can bitch all he likes about me being the only person to see it, but I just got new glasses so it must be true – or else I want the 60 quid back on the lenses. Of much fun was oh course the “banter” between an American guy and some finnish/german guy the later kept spitting Chinese style and it was hitting the “I will boast about being well traveled American” to the point he said “if you do that again I will spit on your head” this has been altered because of the nan rule. On leaving the American told the Germanic guy that smoking would cause him cancer, to which the reply was “I already have cancer” ahhhhhh I bet you feel bad about that Mr American guy.

 

Pushkar – errrr hotel from hell, only like a quid each but didn’t have a shower because we worried about being poisoned via carbon monoxide from dodgy looking boiler. Pushkar is nice for one day only cause there ain’t much there, it also have a high concentration of hippies. Question of the day is: Why do hippies smoke? Surely they should get stressed about all those poor beagles being forced to smoke that “Turkish American blend”?

 

Udaipur – this place has been in a Bond movie or so they say, but after seeing Die Another Day, I don’t want to watch Bond movies ever again so I don’t know about that one. We like Udaipur, we like Mewar Inn and we now like funny American sit-com Kevin Hill because of this, we also now like Aloo Gohbi (ask for this when you go down the curry house cause its lush) and I like Lassis (though no bhandi lassi yet - L - I think that’s the correct spelling). What we don’t like is the boat tour, the boat tour is pants and it’s a waste of money you would spend on a tall skinny latte in Starbucks (yes got another one in there James!), you can’t see the whole of island two either (btw I am talking about the pleasure island not the hotel one, I’m sure the hotel one is nice) because half of it looks pants, thus kept behind closes doors. Also, here I learnt that sun cream in the eyes is not good, in fact we had to go back to the hotel on day 2 early cause it was blinding me.

 

NB – spelling and grammar – pah, I know its good when I want it to be but you see I am under great time constraints, I mean I have to forumate!

 

Vicki

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Welcome Message

 

Mark introduced himself so I’m kinda thinking I should, which means this little gem is going public. I’m Vicki, I’m 22 but near enough 23, originally from Warwickshire (Kenilworth in fact) but moved to Essex 18 months ago, and my sole purpose for travelling is to cure my hideous internet forum addictions – its like cold turkey for the fingertips.

 

This is going to be my fourth backpacking trip, slightly longer than the rest, which have always been only a month or so, but has the potential to be the most interesting as this time I get to do more border crossings but has a greater illness potential (after suffering some not-so-nice food poisoning in Peru, I have a rough idea of what to expect!). Only time will tell what will be the highlights and lowlights but I’m pretty damn sure Neighbours Night in Melbourne is not going to be a disappointment, nor will the glimpse of any tigers go amiss (I never saw any tigers in China because they are all in jars along with baby pickled fawns and some best knock off DVDs you will find in the world).

 

I must stress to everyone who knows me well, the Nan Rule will somewhat scupper my normal freedom of expression, I’ll have to watch my language here and save the cuss words for the paper journal, unless its so bad I have to! No dropping it in here and there : (

 

I’m not entirely sure why Mark has chosen a picture of me where I haven’t combed my hair.  I think it will be a case of taking turns to write this wonderful blog (you’re blogging Fletcher - you’re a total loser – you’ll end up on a forum next) so do me a favour and only add comments on my entries, unless you want to mention to the world that Mark is very wordy, oh and it will make me look more popular (I’m looking at you James, Rich and Lizzy).

 

Take care and I look forward to writing about how stressful New Dehli is and maybe adding some interesting facts about it (ahhhh they could be my facts for the day!)

 

Vicki  x

 

Ps – I have a laxer attitude towards spelling and punctuation.

 

As this is the very first entry in our new blog, I’ve decided that I’ll write something by way of an introduction.

 

So, my name is Mark and, as you have probably already noticed, my years of studying have left me with an incredibly formal writing style that is not well suited to this format. However, I am new not only to blogging (unlike Victoria) but also to keeping any type of diary or journal, and hope, as time progresses, I will become more relaxed.

 

But, until then, I will adopt my essay-writing style and consequently will be using excessively long words and struggle to refer to myself in the first person.

 

Anyway, Victoria and I decided we would set up this joint space (which we sincerely hope Microsoft will not get upset about) to reduce the effort required whilst we are actually away, and to thereby ensure this site is kept as updated as possible.

 

Speaking of which, this site is intended to act primarily as a travel journal that our family and friends will be able to check (or, where they are totally computer illiterate, get someone to check on their behalf) at their leisure and keep up to date with our latest exploits. However, if you do not actually know either of us, you are more than welcome to find any useful information on the places we have visited, or instead simply kill some time at home or at work.

 

This method was chosen as I have myself received many group emails sent by people abroad that, I am ashamed to say, did not read, and thought provided a more interesting means of keeping in contact, especially as I should be able to upload pictures whilst we are away.

 

Because of the intended clientele of this site, which will include my Mum and Nan (though, I am afraid to say, it is unlikely they will be visiting the site themselves – see above for computer illiteracy) and my little sister, we will be trying to keep this site as clean as possible, and would appreciate it if all visitors could follow what will be termed hereafter as the “Nan Rule” – that no-one will post anything that they would not say in front of their own Nan.

 

And for those of you that freely swear in front of their Nan, please will you nonetheless spare a thought for my Nan’s feelings. And Victoria’s of course.

 

Well, now I have written this stupidly long and wordy introduction, which most people probably gave up reading half-way down, I would like to thank you for getting this far, and hope that we are able to update the site with enough pictures and more interesting entries than this to keep you all entertained for the 10 minutes you will be spending here every so often, hopefully over the next 8 months.

 

Regards,

 

Mark.