Travel The Hangar Travel Thread

Dec 14, 2008
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Pic makes it look rubbish! Perhaps altitude head makes everything better in hindsight?
 

pepsi

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Feb 4, 2008
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Tell me more! Was Kochie there?
No he was not, but what an incredible experience it was. We arrived at the thermal pool the night before and a group of about 15 of us stayed in there for hours watching the stars.

I happened to wake up at 5.57am the next morning without an alarm and decided to head to the pool to watch the sunrise. There was only 1 other person in there, one of the drivers of the 4wds and we talked about life while watching the sunrise.

An experience that will stand out amongst my trip. Plus the entire landscape for the 3 day tour was just incredible.
 
Dec 14, 2008
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No he was not, but what an incredible experience it was. We arrived at the thermal pool the night before and a group of about 15 of us stayed in there for hours watching the stars.

I happened to wake up at 5.57am the next morning without an alarm and decided to head to the pool to watch the sunrise. There was only 1 other person in there, one of the drivers of the 4wds and we talked about life while watching the sunrise.

An experience that will stand out amongst my trip. Plus the entire landscape for the 3 day tour was just incredible.

Awesome !

It's right up there in my mind too , the entire three days, I mean... the Salar, when you are all spaced out on altitude and coca leaves..it looks to strange to be real, like the white loading screen in the matrix.

The driver had this traditionsl bolivan pipe music playing on repeat on the tape deck, even now when I recall that time I hear that music, maybe I got slight altitude brain damage or something, it burnt itself in there in the low oxygen altitude brain.

Did you ever see the top gear Bolivia special? when they drove up there and went all crazy in the head..I would have guessed it was an act, if not for feeling the same experience
 
Dec 14, 2008
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Actually pepsi i dont remember anywhere to stay/sleep near the pool there? must have been fecking freezing if you were in tents?

We stayed a bit further along by the red lake, in a little lama skin roofed adobe thing. geez it was cold in there that night at minus 30

then the night after in that rickety salt block 'hotel' that they closed not long after for being unstable
 

pepsi

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Feb 4, 2008
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Actually pepsi i dont remember anywhere to stay/sleep near the pool there? must have been fecking freezing if you were in tents?

We stayed a bit further along by the red lake, in a little lama skin roofed adobe thing. geez it was cold in there that night at minus 30

then the night after in that rickety salt block 'hotel' that they closed not long after for being unstable
Seemed to luck out a bit on the accommodation front. The first night we watched the sunset in amongst the salar, which must be one of the greatest sunset locations to watch I've been in. We stayed at a small lodging about half an hour outside of the salar, with the walls made of salt, as well as the floor in the dining area and bedrooms being salt filled. I must have had 4 blankets covering me.

The second night we stayed at a small lodgings just 100 metres up from the thermal pool, which turned out to be a blessing as I was able to be there at night and in the morning. The accommodation was basic and cold, but not unbearably so. Probably didn't notice the cold as I spent a couple of hours after the thermal pool drinking wine and playing cards with a Russian and an Israeli. I did have to get up in the middle of the night for a toilet stop, not so much fun as the toilet was a 20 metre walk outside in the cold.

Awesome !

It's right up there in my mind too , the entire three days, I mean... the Salar, when you are all spaced out on altitude and coca leaves..it looks to strange to be real, like the white loading screen in the matrix.

The driver had this traditionsl bolivan pipe music playing on repeat on the tape deck, even now when I recall that time I hear that music, maybe I got slight altitude brain damage or something, it burnt itself in there in the low oxygen altitude brain.

Did you ever see the top gear Bolivia special? when they drove up there and went all crazy in the head..I would have guessed it was an act, if not for feeling the same experience
They must all have the same soundtrack because it perfectly describes the music I listened to for the 3 days. It becomes hypnotic after a while. I must have gone to sleep last night with it still playing in my ears.

I had done no research on the 3 day tour and knew only of silly photos people had posted on my Facebook feed of the salar. So what I experienced was a complete surprise in the best sense. The salt under your feet, cactus island, flamengo lagoon, the green lagoon with the stunning backdrop of the mountain, the volcanoes, the llamas, the volcano created landscape that looked like you imagine Mars would be like and the never changing scenery past every hill or mountain. I can't recommend it enough for anyone heading to South America.
 
Dec 14, 2008
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Seemed to luck out a bit on the accommodation front. The first night we watched the sunset in amongst the salar, which must be one of the greatest sunset locations to watch I've been in. We stayed at a small lodging about half an hour outside of the salar, with the walls made of salt, as well as the floor in the dining area and bedrooms being salt filled. I must have had 4 blankets covering me.

The second night we stayed at a small lodgings just 100 metres up from the thermal pool, which turned out to be a blessing as I was able to be there at night and in the morning. The accommodation was basic and cold, but not unbearably so. Probably didn't notice the cold as I spent a couple of hours after the thermal pool drinking wine and playing cards with a Russian and an Israeli. I did have to get up in the middle of the night for a toilet stop, not so much fun as the toilet was a 20 metre walk outside in the cold.


They must all have the same soundtrack because it perfectly describes the music I listened to for the 3 days. It becomes hypnotic after a while. I must have gone to sleep last night with it still playing in my ears.

I had done no research on the 3 day tour and knew only of silly photos people had posted on my Facebook feed of the salar. So what I experienced was a complete surprise in the best sense. The salt under your feet, cactus island, flamengo lagoon, the green lagoon with the stunning backdrop of the mountain, the volcanoes, the llamas, the volcano created landscape that looked like you imagine Mars would be like and the never changing scenery past every hill or mountain. I can't recommend it enough for anyone heading to South America.

sounds like you did it in reverse order to us, we came from san pedro, left there at day break and drove up to the border by the big volcano, hit the thermals mid morning then reached the red lake for our first night, second day we roamed around and found cactus island and all that, stayed by the salar, great sunset over there from the salt place (i reckon it was the same place) then across the salar to uryni the last day via the old rusty train.

funny the bonds we made on that trip, because you know its cold and altidudey and remote, you really bond with your 4wd mates - i still speak with them now all these years later, an English guy, two dutch girls and a German. (sounds like the start to a dodgy joke, there was an aussie, and englishman, two dutch and a german walk into a salt flat, the bolivan asks....)

so true re: the mars call, i mean the first thing i rememeber once getting up there was stepping out of the car and just hearing nothing, not a sound but the wind whistling. and the sky above was so blue, not like down at sea level, i reckon up there with the thin air, 6000m up - surely it makes a difference to the colour of it? a shade closer to black maybe? i mean everything up there was so crisp and sharp.. again, that may have been altitude brain but keen to hear if you felt the same. My memoeries of everything were the colus being so vibrant. Even when you flick throigh thumnails of that trip, they all seem similar colour then these bright ones from up there all grouped together.

i vote a second vote for anyone in south america to do this trip.

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you got any good shots of the red lake or flamingo lake or cactus island? i was a bit of a mess aroudn that time, didnt get the camera out much.
 
Apr 1, 2008
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tesla1962, if you're in Hanoi for another night or three, there's a fantastic little Bia Hoi place on the corner of Bat Su and Hang Vai in the Old Quarter. Eateries on two corners, the bar/kitchen on another, full of locals and a few backpackers on little plastic chairs, with one amusing guy on the staff who speaks decent English. Anyhow, alongside the dirt cheap beer and food they sell this barbequed pork with a chilli/salt/lime dip which is maybe the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life. I cannot recommend it enough.
 
tesla1962, if you're in Hanoi for another night or three, there's a fantastic little Bia Hoi place on the corner of Bat Su and Hang Vai in the Old Quarter. Eateries on two corners, the bar/kitchen on another, full of locals and a few backpackers on little plastic chairs, with one amusing guy on the staff who speaks decent English. Anyhow, alongside the dirt cheap beer and food they sell this barbequed pork with a chilli/salt/lime dip which is maybe the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life. I cannot recommend it enough.
I will do exactly that tonight :) - already had the best pho and bahn mi I have ever eaten in the last week (on the street)
 
tesla1962, if you're in Hanoi for another night or three, there's a fantastic little Bia Hoi place on the corner of Bat Su and Hang Vai in the Old Quarter. Eateries on two corners, the bar/kitchen on another, full of locals and a few backpackers on little plastic chairs, with one amusing guy on the staff who speaks decent English. Anyhow, alongside the dirt cheap beer and food they sell this barbequed pork with a chilli/salt/lime dip which is maybe the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life. I cannot recommend it enough.
Thanks for the tip fodzilla
As soon as I arrived your mate was all over me informing me that he spoke English
I told him we were there for the BBQ pork with chill/salt/lime dip
He made us work our way through beef and ribs and 4 or 5 beers before the pork finally arrived with a bit of a fanfare
Then I had to rate the meals 1, 2 and 3 and have some more beer
Nice guy, pork was superb
And close to the lantern shops and I did want to see some good lantern shops
 
Thanks for the tip fodzilla
As soon as I arrived your mate was all over me informing me that he spoke English
I told him we were there for the BBQ pork with chill/salt/lime dip
He made us work our way through beef and ribs and 4 or 5 beers before the pork finally arrived with a bit of a fanfare
Then I had to rate the meals 1, 2 and 3 and have some more beer
Nice guy, pork was superb
And close to the lantern shops and I did want to see some good lantern shops
this came across my feed today: https://medium.com/parts-unknown/hanoi-326e00642e18#.rs7l1s8lz worth checking out?
 
Apr 1, 2008
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So, I leave for Japan in under two months (yay).

Staying in Tokyo and Osaka, planning on heading over to Kyoto and Hiroshima while we are staying in Osaka.

Also booked into Disneyland, Disney Sea, Univeral Studios and planning on spending a day at Akihabara.

Anyone else got some good suggestions? :)
Had ramen tonight and it reminded me, there's a neat tomato ramen place in Osaka. I had the chicken, essentially a cacciatore soup, but partner says the vegetarian one was ripper too: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Rest...anoji_Umeda-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki.html
 
Bit stoked ATM.

I'm not a massive traveller (as in I know a lot of people have a real motivation to travel, I don't), but it's just been confirmed that what is really the last country on my bucket list, Japan, I will be visiting for work in January.

Would mean that over the last five years I've done Europe, North America and Japan all on company coin - pretty happy with that. :)
 

Tippa43

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Bit stoked ATM.

I'm not a massive traveller (as in I know a lot of people have a real motivation to travel, I don't), but it's just been confirmed that what is really the last country on my bucket list, Japan, I will be visiting for work in January.

Would mean that over the last five years I've done Europe, North America and Japan all on company coin - pretty happy with that. :)
Fyi Japan has barely any ATM's and preferred cash, only ones i saw consistently were in 7 elevens or the Japanese version.
 
I look forward to the day I can travel on company coin.
Same. The best I've done is Sydney, Brisbane and heaven forbid Adelaide....
 
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