What's Hot, What's Not

As a insight into our travelling lives and as a great way for us to reminisce in the future, here is the definitive list of the likes and dislikes of our trip. Please feel free to check this list frequently as we will be adding and editing as we go along :o)

Best All-Round Cafe
Jack´s, Cuzco, Peru

Best Oasis
Hucachina, Peru

Best Filet El Bife
La Taverne Restaurant, Sucre, Bolivia

Best Alpaca (like a llama)
avec winter berries, Puno, Peru

Best Olives
everywher in South America as we have experienced to date

Best Dutch Bossche Bol (chocolate desert)
Joyride Cafe, Sucre, Bolivia

Best Desert
Atacama, Chile

Worst Experience of desert and other low humidity areas in south america
the constant need to blow one´s nose

What is with the "place your own order at the counter" culture in Australia? Not hot....

Questionable Fashionable - Commentary
Has the 80's regained the most popularity worldwide in Australia, or did it just NEVER leave? You tell us, how bad is the fashion craze for 80s in Europe /US right now?

Coldest Accomodation
New Zealand - use central heating, double-glazing, thick quilts etc! They do exist!

Best All Round Food Locations (ie never disappointed)
Hoi An, Vietnam
Singapore

Best Local Dish
Beef Pho Noodle, Hanoi, Vietnam
Crocodile Nuggets, Daintree, Queensland, Australia
Alpaca, Peru

Best Hailstone in a Thunderstorm
Vang Vieng, 8 May 2549

Best Club Sandwich
Lasi Cafe, Luang Prabang, Laos
Best Breakfast post longhaul bus journey (overnighter)
Darling Harbour Cafe, Sydney

Michelle's (and sometimes Sancha´s) Fan Club
1) Japanese Tourist requests picture of her at Si Phon Don Khone Waterfall
2) 6 Cambodian Boys discuss with her the value of drink cans, jostle for her two Werther's Originals and diss Brazilian footballers at the Fields Memorial outside of Phnom Penh
3) Same location; our guesthouse tuk-tuk driver takes snap of her with one of the boys with his camera phone
4) Sancha comes out of her shadow and is included in a request by monks to stand in for a photograph with them at the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh. Note: it is usually tourists who ask monks for photos rather than the other way around. We were most flattered.
5) Both asked to stand in for photo at Tu Doc Tomb by one of Hue's festival organisers
6) Michelle requested to stand in for photo with little boy by local vietnamese family.
7) Michelle asked to join Italiano on bike ride from Alaska to Argentina - Puno
8) Sancha breaks heart of restaurant touter, is described as "winter" princess - Cuzco
9) Michelle turns down flower offered by boy on church steps - Cuzco.

















Best "Belgian" Fries
Don Det, Si Phon Don, Laos - served up by odd Belgian guy
Best Bacardi & Coke
Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC), Phnom Penh
Least Tastey National Dish
Pork Laap, Vientiane, Laos
Worst Journey
Si Phon Don to Phnom Penh (the telling of deserves a blog all of its own)

Best Scams
(1) Need a taxi from Bangkok to et? 5 dollah....
(2) $5 for "speedy" visa and immigration processing from Laos into Cambodia
(3) Being charged as a "foreigner" to get into the local temple (wat)
(4) renting t-shirts even when a scarf will cover your shoulders- Royal Palace, PP
(5) stamps at Siem Reap airport - cost at the postoffice 1200 riels - at the airport: $1, double!
(6) +++ in Singapore
(7) bus ride from Arequipa to Nazca, paying 15 soles more than required...

Best Latte
(1) FCC Club, Phnom Penh (note Sancha has only had about 4 on entire trip to date!)
(2) Australia & New Zealand in general, therefore latte quantity has now regained momentum
(3) Back to Asia status, lucky to get a decent one however one can be found in Jack´s Cafe, Cuzco, Peru

Worst Latte
Baguette & Chocolat, Hanoi (pity, should have known better - the place is renowned for its pain au chocolats!)
Craziest Traffic
Drive on any side or direction you like, even into oncoming traffic, Phnom Penh & Hanoi
Best Sandwiches Full Stop!
Sticky Fingers, Vientiane, Laos

Best Coffees
(1) Scandinavian Bakery, Vientiane, Laos - this would beat most we have EVER sampled, anywhere! Went awfully well with carrot and chocolate cakes....
(2) Lasi Cafe, LP, Laos
(3) The Blue Pumpkin, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Best Coffee Location
Riverside Bungalows, Vang Vieng, Laos

Best Tea Location
On the "Defender" Tallship, sailing round the Whitsundays.

Best Fresh Springroll
Don Det Island, Si Phon Don, Laos
Best Breakfast
Bus Station Cafe, Pai, Thailand

Worst Food Offering in Laos
Baguettes: for breakfast; lunch; dinner; even with other bread, enough of the baguette! And there's more to cheese than La vache qui'rit!

Best Stir Fried Chicken
Bus Station Cafe, Pai, Thailand
Best Apple Martini
Hong Kong
Best Pillow
Bel Air Princess Hotel, Bangkok
Best Pizza
(1) Shek-O, Hong Kong (2) Ecstatic Pizza, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Most Uncomfortable Seat
(1) Slowboat to Luang Prabang (2) VIP Bus from Vientiane to Pakse

Worst Night's Sleep - Sancha
Si Phon Don, Laos. High humidity & 25+ at night; Just a mosquito net; tonnes of bug spray and DEET spray; mad noises in the night that seem like giant lizzards are in the bed with one.

Best Beer
Beerlao
Best AC Moments
(1) Khem Khong Guesthouse LP

Best Random Moment
(1) Munster beating Biarritz!
(2) Munster Thrashing Leinster
(3) Winning!!!!

Best Random Missed Moment
Finland winning Eurovision
Best Eurovision Song Reinvented
Dana's "All Kinds of Everything" done reggae style, Dope Bar, Pai, Thailand
Best Banal Classic Moment
Penelope Pitstop coordinated green clothes; green moped; green scenery; camera at the ready
Worst Hair Day
All to date bar 3 days in Pai (cooler clime)
Best Hair Day
In Phnom Penh cos of a drop in temp & 24 hours after hair straightening, Hue, Vietnam
Most days in Australia, cos of temp drop! Yay!
Best Band Impersonation
"Busted Reinvented" group of 19 yr olds boarding speedboat to Luang Prabang

Best Exclusives
Missing Mick Jagger in Luang Prabang local restaurant by 15 minutes, BUT we did spot his fancy silver Merc beforehand and pondered it's existence as we would any large flash car in these parts....


Sighting of rare Irrawaddy freshwater Dolphins at Si Phon Don, Laos