Thursday 10 June 2010

Yamba in world's top ten places


Charlie Kemp, a no frills blogger from the Old Dart, has just returned home after 129 days on the road.

Charlie, who blogs at Nap Year Diaries, listed the the Top Ten Places he visited. They are (in chronological order): Delhi, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Panjim, Arambol (India), Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An (Vietnam), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Yamba (Australia).

Other highlights from Charlie's journeys include:
Best country - Vietnam
Best beach - Booti Booti, NSW
Best hotel - Hotel Siddartha, Agra, India
Best breakfast - bagels at Café Stir, Christchurch
Best lunch - 'Two-Steak Tuesday' at a forgotten pub on his first day in Sydney - a forgotten pub!?! I didn't think such an institution existed.
Best dinner - Tandoori Pomfret on the beach in Anjuna, Goa
Best beer - Tui (New Zealand)
Most attractive women - Vietnam
Most attractive men -New Zealand - Charlie didn't say if this was before or after the beer.
Best film - Invictus
Best book - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Here are a few of Charlie's other thoughts about his journey:
Turning the corner into Delhi's Main Bazaar an hour after landing on our first day in India to see a seething mass of humanity, motorcycles, dust and rotting vegetables, and wondering if this was such a good idea.

Trying to catch the sleeper train from Agra to Jaipur, squeezing into an approximately coffin-sized berth, realising we were on the wrong train, giving up on our actual train once it was more than five hours late, heading back into the city and finding a hotel room around midnight.

Cycling from Siem Reap (Cambodia) into the ancient city of Angkor and around its remarkable temples in sweltering heat on decrepit but loveable bicycles.


Tweedie knocking an old Vietnamese man off his motorcycle almost as soon as we landed in Hanoi, and moments later the smiles on the faces of everyone involved.

Hopping into a tiny fishing boat in Hoi An where a tiny old Vietnamese lady had agreed to take us up and down the river, only for her to hand me the paddle and roll an enormous reefer.

Going on an irrelevantly unsuccessful fishing trip with our new Australian friends Paul and Gillian on their friends Ross and Helen's boat on an otherwise empty lake near Yamba.

It would seem that Charlie had an A-1 holiday.

1 comment:

Gillian said...

Oooohhh Charles,

You forgot to mention what a poor fisherman you are !!!!!