The latest Journal Entries from Kaori & James at Footstops.com en-us Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:08:38 -0700 Copyright 2008, Bryan Rite @ Footstops.com Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:08:38 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 240 http://www.footstops.com/thekings/ Ok this is the second time I'm writing this blog as just lost the first one, which typically was one of the best I think I've written! I'm getting a little frustrated to say the least, but am desperate to get this blog up to date an... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5148/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5148/ Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:42:42 -0700 From Hoi An we went back on ourselves on the bus for half an hour to get to Danang, where we flew to Ho Chi Minh City. The flight was great, Pacific Airlines - far better than Laos Airlines!! We checked into our hotel (Nam De), which was the ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5147/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5147/ Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:40:43 -0700 Now Hoi An was a fantastic place and I think it's fairly safe to say that we will be making a stop here again at some point in the future, but I'm afraid not for the culture . . . . probably more likely to be for the shopping or fai... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5146/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5146/ Sat, 31 May 2008 18:08:28 -0700 We only had one day and one night in Hue, but it was probably one of the best days we've had so far!! Our train was late and boy were we glad to get off it! It was disgusting in comparison to the Chinese and Thai sleeper trains and in our cab... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5144/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5144/ Fri, 30 May 2008 09:26:27 -0700 Four hours from the Port and we were in Hanoi, the chaotic capital of Vietnam. When we first arrived Grant gave us the usual orientation - laundry, internet, good restaurants, ATM's etc. We had lunch in a great French cafe and then dodged the... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5143/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5143/ Tue, 27 May 2008 08:59:54 -0700 We left Ninh Binh early and after four hours on our now beloved bus we arrived in Halong Bay. Here we were off the road and onto a fabulous 3 storey private boat - James and I even had our own private en-suite bedroom! This was far more amazing th... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5142/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5142/ Mon, 26 May 2008 08:03:58 -0700 After a fantastic breakfast in the village we made an early start and left at 7am on a road trip to Vietnam! Today it was not 7 but 11 hours on the bus - it's starting to feel like we live on four wheels, but it's worth it as you get to ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5141/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5141/ Sun, 25 May 2008 07:40:48 -0700 From Vientiane we had a 7 hour bus journey to our next port of call . . . Hin Boun Village. I can't tell you how good it was to stretch our legs after 7 hours on the cramped minibus!! We did stop a couple of times on the way, but you know whe... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5140/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/5140/ Sat, 24 May 2008 07:27:49 -0700 A strange title, but don't panic . . . we are both safe and James seems to be on the mend (writing on 2nd June). To get to Vientiane we flew with Air Laos! An airline that the Lonely Planet recommends you don't fly with!! I guess i... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4982/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4982/ Thu, 22 May 2008 05:11:57 -0700 On leaving Pakbeng we spent another full day on the boat. I don't think I mentioned before that the family who own the boat live on there and today cooked us a fabulous banquet of Laos food, which was all really tasty . . . kind of similar to... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4967/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4967/ Mon, 19 May 2008 01:54:01 -0700 So this morning we got up and had breakfast over looking the Mekong River and Laos (our next destination), then we were picked up by a couple of guys in pick up trucks and along with our bags we piled into the back like real intrepid travelle... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4965/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4965/ Sun, 18 May 2008 20:10:15 -0700 We took minivans on a particularly bumpy ride to the border town of Chiang Khong and stopped off twice en-route. The first was at a cashew factory (Nina, you would have loved it - all the cashews you could dream about and coated in everything you ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4865/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4865/ Sat, 17 May 2008 03:58:10 -0700 We arrived in Chiang Mai early on the train, which had a disco carriage with a ladyboy waitress (can't remember if I mentioned that on the last blog?) - it was all good fun anyway and helped pass the time! Once we'd checked into ou... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4864/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4864/ Fri, 16 May 2008 03:42:13 -0700 We took an overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok and this train was a different style to the Chinese ones. There's an aisle in the middle then beds either side, two high - so plenty of space and much cosier as there are curtains to&nbsp... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4812/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4812/ Sat, 10 May 2008 04:16:58 -0700 Well I felt better the day we headed to Ko Samui, so the bug must have been a 24 hour thing! (relief!). We got a bus and ferry to the Island and as soon as we arrived at our hotel (Sandy Resort on Bophut Beach), which was about 4pm we got ourselve... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4763/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4763/ Tue, 06 May 2008 04:24:12 -0700 This is going to be a very short blog, because actually we didn't really see NST, as this time I was ill - it had to happen at some point I suppose! Although why today of all days I don' know! We had to travel on buses for 8 hours, so it... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4761/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4761/ Mon, 05 May 2008 03:43:44 -0700 After our tour of KK, we got a bus to a place called Butterworth, which I think sounds like a made up place but kind of cute all the same - not the place as we weren't there long, the name. Oh dear this is a confusing start isn't it? Any... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4758/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4758/ Sat, 03 May 2008 03:32:01 -0700 From KL we had a 4 hour bus journey to Kuala Kansar - what a bus! There was probably only about 30 odd seats and they were huge, it was almost comparitive with the business class seats we had with BA!! Not bad at all, who'd have thought buses... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4716/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4716/ Thu, 01 May 2008 05:50:29 -0700 We took a two hour bus to get to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it's often referred to. Dropped our bags at a not so good hotel. The rooms were good enough (and lets face ot for 15 pounds a night you can't argue!) but it was bang in the middle o... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4712/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4712/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:54:21 -0700 So we left Singapore after a non eventful visit and James seemed to be feeling brighter. We got to a pretty nice hotel in Malaka and had some lunch before heading into town to have a look around. I thought Malaka would be alot busier than it was a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4706/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4706/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:30:13 -0700 We got to Singapore late afternoon, so after an enjoyable cab ride from the airport with a particularly friendly and chatty driver we chilled for a bit and then headed to the nearest food court for dinner (I know food court, sounds luxurious doesn... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4626/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4626/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:40:12 -0700 Whilst we were in Hong Kong we thought it would stupid not to go to Macau and it was only an hours ferry ride away on the Turbo Jet, which only cost about 20 pounds so even more reason to go! Macau, was a little like Hong Kong, but a little ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4600/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4600/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:21:13 -0700 Hi folks, So we arrived in Hong Kong on the 22nd after taking the train down from Guilin. Train journey was much the same as the others - we slept, read and chatted - all good! The first night we stayed in Kowloon with our group and t... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4599/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4599/ Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:10:38 -0700 We were pretty lucky with our train as it turned up in Guilin a few hours early! Sounds strange that they can be so wrong about the time of arrival, but apparently the tracks are constantly being improved and it depends on how many times you have ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4523/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4523/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:57:38 -0700 Hi all, thanks for the messages recently - Xian is the most we've had for a while which is good, so thanks to those of you that let us know you've been reading! So our second sleeper train was pretty much the same as the first, apa... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4399/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4399/ Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:52:44 -0700 The train station in Beijing was a story in itself. It was huge and packed - probably 99% Chinese and then us, who were apparently the show for the other waiting passengers! Why not, we had two hours to kill - let's entertain the locals! Firs... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4356/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4356/ Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:21:08 -0700 We left our hostel at 9am and had a three hour bus journey to get us to the Great Wall. We started our journey at the JinShanling part of the wall and the aim was to get to Simatai, 10km and about 36 watchtowers further along. We thought, ahh 10km... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4305/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4305/ Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:36:25 -0700 So we arrived in Beijing at about 6.30am on the 3rd April, after a two-leg flight from Adelaide and a 7 hour stop at Singapore airport, which sounds boring, unless you've been to Changi airport before yourselves that is!! It's awesome an... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4248/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4248/ Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:58:07 -0700 We flew from Darwin to Adelaide at 2am on the 25th March. The flight was about three hours or so and was ok. We just read and napped a little. The first four nights in Adelaide we stayed in a backpackers in the city called Cannon Street Backpacker... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4186/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4186/ Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:54:28 -0700 The journey from Kununurra was pretty interesting as we had our lunc and dinner stops at two places that we had originally intended on stopping for a night, but had been warned off by people we spoke to in Coral Bay - thank goodness we changed our... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4185/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4185/ Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:03:04 -0700 We left Broome at about 8pm and had a lovely overnight bus journey for 14 hours to get to our next destination - Kununurra, where we stopped for one night to break up the journey to Darwin. The hostel we stayed in was called the Kimberley Crocs Ba... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4116/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4116/ Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:19:29 -0700 So after Port Hedland we had three nights in Broome. We arrived here in an evening and as soon as we'd dropped our bags in our room (which was far nicer than Port Hedland and $110 cheaper too!) we walked down to the local pub for some dinner as w... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4098/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4098/ Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:57:59 -0700 Firstly, huge congratulations to Giz and Crissie!! When's the baby due? We're really happy for you both!! x  Ok when we left Coral Bay we were ultimately heading up to Broome, but it would have been a really long bus journey, so we decide... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4051/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4051/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:16:33 -0700 So we left Monkey Mia without Fred in tow. We both hope that he manages ok on the rest of his trip - I'm sure he will, he is 31 after all! After Shell beach we arrived at the Overlander, where the Greyhound bus was meeting us and as the bus ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4030/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4030/ Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:18:29 -0700 So we left Kalbarri and it wasn't without a Fred event!! He was meant to be coming on the same bus as us, but it got to 4.50pm when James and I and another guy had our bags on the bus and were seated ready to go and we realised that s... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4016/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/4016/ Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:55:01 -0700 Ok there was another Fred episode when we leaving Geraldton, as for one he didn't know what time the bus was, which wasn't really a surprise, but then he was talking to us and kept looking at us, saying 'I really recognise your faces, I've defini... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3947/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3947/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:05:04 -0700 Ok, so about lunchtime we left Cervantes and the same English lad (who we'll call Fred for the sake of the blog, as he became a prominent part of our trip over the next few days and we can't not mention him) that was on the tour with us last nigh... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3929/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3929/ Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:45:19 -0800 Hey guys, we've managed to get onto a computer but like everything else since we've been travelling up the West Coast, it's expensive so I'll update you on a few places as quickly as I can (hopefully some of you are still reading? We can see that ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3928/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3928/ Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:26:44 -0800 Wow, I'm writing frequently now aren't I!! Actually this may be the last for a while as we're leaving Perth in the morning to start travelling up the West Coast. We arrived in Perth on Friday the 22nd. Our flight from Adelaide didn't get us... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3823/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3823/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:07:08 -0800 Hi Guys! We heard about the Earthquake from Karl just after 1am this morning (UK time). Sounds like pretty big news. Just wanted to make sure you're all ok and none of you have been affected by it? That's all folks . . . oh and thanks ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3807/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3807/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:40:14 -0800 So on the morning of the 18th Feb we picked up our hire car from Hertz in Melbourne and were lucky enough to have got a free upgrade on the car, as they had none of the cheap-jack manual drive one's that we had ordered - shame!! We ended up with a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3791/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3791/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:24:41 -0800 So it's been a while again, sorry guys!! Internet has been hard to come by and in Sydney and Melbourne it's pretty expensive so we've waited until we got out into the sticks to write again . . . We left Coogee on the 14th and arrived in Mel... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3732/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3732/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:16:27 -0800 So we're in Sydney at the mo and have been since the 10th of Feb. The flight from Christchurch was only three hours, so a nice quick one. Although James wasn't happy about the turbulance!! We checked into our hotel in the city when we arrive... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3660/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3660/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:37:51 -0800 When we left Dunedin we didn't know where we were going to stay that night, which was kind of exciting! We stopped in a town called Oamaru first, which was an option but it was too early to stop really and we could make good ground if we carried o... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3617/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3617/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:56:26 -0800 It was a four hour drive to Dunedin from Queenstown and when we arrived we had a walk round the city, which was huge - it's got a massive population (well for NZ anyway!) as there's a big uni here. It wasn't the best place we've vistied though, apa... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3616/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3616/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:46:37 -0800 When we left the Wanaka campsite we stopped before we left the town at a place called Puzzle World, but as there had been a power cut we missed out on the illusion rooms and just paid to try the maze! I've always wanted to do a maze and we were b... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3615/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3615/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:40:58 -0800 The drive after leaving Greymouth was about as amazing as we thought it could get! We were inland now and climbing higher and higher into the mountains. We arrived in Franz Josef that afternoon and we drove straight to the Glacier (this... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3614/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3614/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:16:49 -0800 We didn't actually sleep that well on our first night in the camper as it was really cold! We thought we'd keep the windows open so it didn't get stuffy - wrong move! Despite not much sleep we were both still in good spirits and well ready f... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3613/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3613/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:57:21 -0800 Hi folks, sorry it's a been a while, but we've been on a magical mystery tour of the South Island . . .  When we left Kaikoura we had the worst bus journey, as I was sick in a bag and James bless him held the bag the rest of the... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3611/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3611/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:40:19 -0800 Ok, couldn't think of anything quirky for the blog name, so a little fact for you instead! The drive to Kaikoura was fantastic and our bus was a double decker so we were lucky to get the front seats. We were spoilt with views of mountains a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3490/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3490/ Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:54:20 -0800 So we got a ferry across from Wellington to Picton, in the South Island. This was a three hour crossing and for anyone that knows me well enough you'll know that I'm not so lively with sea legs!! However, I managed to make the journey without feel... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3489/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3489/ Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:40:53 -0800 Hey folks, not too much to report but just to let you know where we've been . . . After our second night in Taupo we got a bus down to Wellington (for those of you that don't know it's the Capital of NZ). We didn't arrive until late Saturda... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3488/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3488/ Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:33:03 -0800 We've been in Taupo for a night and the first afternoon, we sussed out the area spent more time in internet cafe's (and here we are again! So dedicated to our readers!!) and then found ourselves stuck in a shed!! This was actually a bar near the l... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3466/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3466/ Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:08:13 -0800 On Tuesday we arrived in Rotorua, better known as Sulphur City! The whole place smells of rotten eggs due to the sulphur in all the hot springs. We were told that you get used to the smell after a few minutes . . . . hmm not so sure! We were in ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3462/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3462/ Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:58:16 -0800 On the 21st we got another bus down to Waitomo Caves from Hamilton. We stayed at a place called Rap, Raft and Rock Backpackers which was on a farm - again it was kind of like being in a someone's house and our room overlooked a field with lots of ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3439/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3439/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:51:57 -0800 We took a bus a little further south Sunday morning to a tiny town called Raglan and stayed in a place called Karioi Lodge in Whale Bbay (about 20 minute drive out of Raglan itself). This was completely in the sticks and was set in what resembled ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3438/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3438/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:34:22 -0800 We stayed in a place called J's backpackers run by a lovely Kiwi lady called Fi. Iit had a great atmosphere and was just like being in someones house. It was just over the road from the famous Hamilton Gardens, which we spent the afternoon walking... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3437/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3437/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:11:45 -0800 So we left San Fran on the 10th Jan and arrived in New Zealand on the 12th - kind of weird! It was so lovely to get to a hot country after the weather was so poor in the States and to top it off the hotel we booked into for the first two nights wa... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3400/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3400/ Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:07:13 -0800 Ok we're back in the world of computing and just want to briefly update you all on what else we did in San Francisco after we last wrote a blog. We spent some more time at Fishermans Wharf and had a lovely meal at a seafood restaurant overlo... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3399/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3399/ Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:35:36 -0800 Well after LA we flew to Vegas and it was absolutely amazing to fly in and see the Strip by night!! This was definitely going to be a fantastic couple of days!! Or was it?? When we got to the airport we called the Grand Canyon tour company to chec... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3310/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3310/ Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:36:40 -0800 Well we're just about to leave LA and fly to Vegas, but just wanted to update everyone so that you know what we've been up to so far . . . . For those of you that don't know we had a bit of a nightmare in Harpenden the night before we were d... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3279/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3279/ Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:34:07 -0800 Well here we are . . . 2008! I've got a feeling it's going to be a good year . . . mainly to do with the fact that we leave the country in three days for a six month trip of a lifetime. I think we're ready? Well we had our vaccinations last ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3218/ http://www.footstops.com/thekings/blog/3218/ Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:28:09 -0800