so here we are in Luang Prahbang..or however one spells it..a tiny little old town in the middle of a valley in the Laos mountains, about 7hrs from Vang Viang...where they have an 11.30pm curfew and the temperature plummets at night to single digits, something my body is clearly not ready for..im so beyond cold!
we took the long and winding road across some amazing scenery through the mountains the other day, lush green vegatation, relentless winding roads, and tiny little scraps of road for the bus to slowly drive across, hundred metre drops inches from the wheels..it was quite daunting i have to say!
we made it and were recommened a hostel, which turns out to be very expensive, but apparently this is the most expensive part of Laos and one of the most expensive parts of SE Asia and we get stranded here..of course!
we havent really done much, wandered the night market, ate some food, slept, read, checked online every ten minutes, trying to hatch a plan.
about the hostel..its cool..BUT theres NO GLASS ON THE WINDOWS IN THE ROOM..i woke at 5am yesterday shivering and 4am this morning....and we're paying $8 a night for the privilige!!
our original plan was to take a slow boat and bus to Chang Mai in northern thailand, a journey that would have taken about 3 days and then a train to bangkok, then another across country and then a ferry to one of the islands, but with all this talk of a military coup coming up in the next few days, it mightened be the wisiest idea, having said that, we have nothing to do, and its expensive and we're cold and we have only 3 WEEKS OF THE TRIP LEFT AND I DONT WANT TO BE STRANDED HERE! its beautiful, dont get me wrong, it really is, its this tiny quaint old town in the mountains, its sunny during the day, but i have xmas presents to buy and a sense of adventure that needs to be fufilled..
so we are in limbo..i feel awful for our lovely friend alistair (despite him making me drink the day we went tubing, causing me to get sick for a few days..ahem) whose stuck in limbo in thailand..he was suppossed to fly out last tuesday and might have to wait until tuesday coming and he's missed his friends wedding and he cant get back to work..that part i doubt he cares about ;)
so if ya'll want to keep me company..send me texts, or just emails that would be lovely! so looking forward to getting home at xmas...we're going to ring trailfinders today to see what we should do..change our flight or wait and see how things in thailand go...hopefully it will end peacefully either way
so until then, im off to put my toes in the toaster..hope to gain feeling in them before they fall of!
C
Friday, November 28, 2008
22hr bus journey and tubing in Laos..a balance of evil vs good
what a journey..never again..only do this journey if!
1) you like being bored in the middle of the night while everyone around you is asleep
2) you can sleep on buses on the bumpiest roads ever
3) you dont mind being on an overcrowded bus with people sleeping in the isles and lying their faces on your lap
4) you dont mind stopping every hour because the bus driver is hungry
5) you dont have the money
it was horrible..despite the sleeping tranquilizers and sleeping tablets, i say i got maybe about 3hrs sleep in all that journey, except for the time when i got those 20 precious mins where i drooled all over myself
we left our hotel at 5pm, waited an hour on a noisy Hanoi street, met some cool Canadian and Irish guys, had a chat, got a mini bus, CRAMMED with people and luggage to a bus terminal, got onto a bus full of vietnamese people who took all the good seats and had their seats pushed back..nici got us seats and she sat over the tire which meant no leg room, so i put my legs out on the aisle for her, but only had one ass cheek on the seat...it was horrible..all the westerns down the back all the vietnamese up the front and one guy wouldnt stop staring at me
GO AWAY YOU CREEPY OLD MAN!!
we stopped nearly 5times in total, finally getting to the border crossing around 4am and then had to wait on the bus until 6.45 to get our stamps to say we left vietnam..we then crosssed no mans land by foot to the Laos border crossing and it has no electricty or anyone who could speak english, took two hours in the wrong queues to get through and then we had another bus journey for 7hrs only stopping once! the air in the bus was so thin and smelly, i'd finished my book and we were slowly cooking from the inside..not for the faint hearted
we arrived at the capital Vietnane and stayed for one night, grabbing some food with our new friends and sampling Laos's finest beer, Beer Lao...next day after a small lunch we had what was suppossed to be a 3hr journey to Viang Vang or where ever i am, but the bus was an hour late and it took 4 1/2 hrs..arriving in the dark and rain..we crossed a bridge which was basically 4 planks of wood wide across a fast flowing river in the pitch dark to meet alistair to find a room for the night, but alas there was no room at the inn, so we had to double back in the rain and eventually found a lovely room..ahem
after dinner and beer i high tailed it to bed with a migraine ive been carrying since Hanoi and had a fairly good sleep..watched friends with breakfast..most cafes here play friends episodes all day and you sit in these little booths watching and eating very fun and comfy...
and then we went tubin! oh what fun it is to ride!
best fun in SE Asia I have to admit...amazing, beautiful landscape, great craic..you get a huge tube, you get into the river, adn float from bar to bar, swining of swings, ziplines into water, some of the drops 20ft high, so scary and fun at the same time..the bars which are basically bamboo rafts on the banks of the river, are so cheap for beer and buckets and music pumping out as you sunbathe and zipline across the waters, they throw bottles with rope attached to drag you into the bars! we had a great day jumping off swings and drinking beers and buckets..its alistairs fault..rum buckets = dangerous fun..the more you drink the braver you get and then there was the slide..holy fuck, its soo fast and you land at all different angles!
we finished up in time to do the last of the river flow to get back to the town without having to get a tuk tuk and had beers while floating down on our tubes! talk about a cushy life...i scrapped my fingers and ass across some rocks, then lost my sunglasses and nearly got swept away by the fast flowing waters and lost my flip flop in the process, some guy saved alistair and I who couldnt stop laughing! walking home with one shoe on, wet and drunk what a sight and then i rang con, drunk as a monkey, still cant remember what i said but im not single so cant be too bad ;)
went for some indian food, after eating nothing all day since breakfast and nici and i proceeded to puke for the rest of the night, alistair passed out on the bed, so i slept on the tiled floor and cryed for my mammy, i felt so sick..a lesson was learnt, or it was food poisioning again..need to check out how fidelma is today...
so injuries aside, aches and pains and an oncoming head cold, we have to say goodbye to alistair today after nearly just over a month of travelling together..so i best go do it!
C
1) you like being bored in the middle of the night while everyone around you is asleep
2) you can sleep on buses on the bumpiest roads ever
3) you dont mind being on an overcrowded bus with people sleeping in the isles and lying their faces on your lap
4) you dont mind stopping every hour because the bus driver is hungry
5) you dont have the money
it was horrible..despite the sleeping tranquilizers and sleeping tablets, i say i got maybe about 3hrs sleep in all that journey, except for the time when i got those 20 precious mins where i drooled all over myself
we left our hotel at 5pm, waited an hour on a noisy Hanoi street, met some cool Canadian and Irish guys, had a chat, got a mini bus, CRAMMED with people and luggage to a bus terminal, got onto a bus full of vietnamese people who took all the good seats and had their seats pushed back..nici got us seats and she sat over the tire which meant no leg room, so i put my legs out on the aisle for her, but only had one ass cheek on the seat...it was horrible..all the westerns down the back all the vietnamese up the front and one guy wouldnt stop staring at me
GO AWAY YOU CREEPY OLD MAN!!
we stopped nearly 5times in total, finally getting to the border crossing around 4am and then had to wait on the bus until 6.45 to get our stamps to say we left vietnam..we then crosssed no mans land by foot to the Laos border crossing and it has no electricty or anyone who could speak english, took two hours in the wrong queues to get through and then we had another bus journey for 7hrs only stopping once! the air in the bus was so thin and smelly, i'd finished my book and we were slowly cooking from the inside..not for the faint hearted
we arrived at the capital Vietnane and stayed for one night, grabbing some food with our new friends and sampling Laos's finest beer, Beer Lao...next day after a small lunch we had what was suppossed to be a 3hr journey to Viang Vang or where ever i am, but the bus was an hour late and it took 4 1/2 hrs..arriving in the dark and rain..we crossed a bridge which was basically 4 planks of wood wide across a fast flowing river in the pitch dark to meet alistair to find a room for the night, but alas there was no room at the inn, so we had to double back in the rain and eventually found a lovely room..ahem
after dinner and beer i high tailed it to bed with a migraine ive been carrying since Hanoi and had a fairly good sleep..watched friends with breakfast..most cafes here play friends episodes all day and you sit in these little booths watching and eating very fun and comfy...
and then we went tubin! oh what fun it is to ride!
best fun in SE Asia I have to admit...amazing, beautiful landscape, great craic..you get a huge tube, you get into the river, adn float from bar to bar, swining of swings, ziplines into water, some of the drops 20ft high, so scary and fun at the same time..the bars which are basically bamboo rafts on the banks of the river, are so cheap for beer and buckets and music pumping out as you sunbathe and zipline across the waters, they throw bottles with rope attached to drag you into the bars! we had a great day jumping off swings and drinking beers and buckets..its alistairs fault..rum buckets = dangerous fun..the more you drink the braver you get and then there was the slide..holy fuck, its soo fast and you land at all different angles!
we finished up in time to do the last of the river flow to get back to the town without having to get a tuk tuk and had beers while floating down on our tubes! talk about a cushy life...i scrapped my fingers and ass across some rocks, then lost my sunglasses and nearly got swept away by the fast flowing waters and lost my flip flop in the process, some guy saved alistair and I who couldnt stop laughing! walking home with one shoe on, wet and drunk what a sight and then i rang con, drunk as a monkey, still cant remember what i said but im not single so cant be too bad ;)
went for some indian food, after eating nothing all day since breakfast and nici and i proceeded to puke for the rest of the night, alistair passed out on the bed, so i slept on the tiled floor and cryed for my mammy, i felt so sick..a lesson was learnt, or it was food poisioning again..need to check out how fidelma is today...
so injuries aside, aches and pains and an oncoming head cold, we have to say goodbye to alistair today after nearly just over a month of travelling together..so i best go do it!
C
Halong Bay...and the road to Hell, i mean Laos
So we set of to what was to be our last Vietnam experience after nearly a month in this country which I have fallen to love, despite some bad tides with some places and people
We get on the mini bus organised by our hotel and well it's full of "older" people..all french speaking older people, nici and I...but we get lucky and meet a lovely English couple from Sussex, Jo the social worker and Rob the copper..we become firm friends and with them on board the trip is already looking better than we thought...for such a short time
The weather was misty and foggy, the boat, not quite what we expected, we sat on the top deck, admiring the wonderful scenery and drinking over priced beer..and then to lunch, which was possibly the best food we'd eat in two days but we werent to know that at the time..after lunch we are told, nici and I are told, we arent staying on the boat for the first night as the package said, rather the second..and we'd be staying on Cat Ba island, which was disappointing because we were having a lovely time with Rob and Jo...so we get to the island around 3pm and along with some of the older french guests are put onto a bus for a 40min drive to the town...
So on the bus are some younger people, so we cheer up a bit thinking we might meet some nice people, the first stop the french people get off at a nice 3* hotel, we round the corner the young people get of at a nice hotel, but nici and I are left alone on the bus and told to stay put...at this stage im laughing and said we'd probably end up camping or something!
turns out camping would have been cleaner! we are dumped in the middle of the boonies on the island, 20mins uphill, with NO STREET LIGHTS in a dodgy part of town to a no star hotel, or a mini hotel as it's known..and get this we are the ONLY GUESTS IN THE WHOLE FRICKIN THING!
Our room is a shambles...HUGE dead cochroach on the ground, dead moquistos everywhere, broken glass behind my bed, mold on the walls, the bathroom floor is flooded, the bed sheets are filthy and nici's mattress has random holes in it, where there's suppossed to be a TV is simply a dirty cable, opened used noodles in the drawers...it was a little piece of heaven..at this stage im not happy, taking photos of all the shit in the room, but nici's ready to explode..im keeping calm...
she complains to the tour guide and we get a room on the next floor that smells like wet dog...dinner is TWO DAY OLD rice, hard, crusty and burnt, the rest of the food was just horrible, we left the hotel detereminded to find a place selling cold beer, the hotel only had warm beer..the fridge didnt work
so we go, and meet a group from a hostel in Hanoi and drink the night away, wanting to stay out as long as possible..we go to walk back but its PITCH black, up a hillside in the mountain to our "hotel" so we ask a guy who has a moto to drive us back and give him 10,000 as a thank you..get back and the hotel staff have LOCKED US OUT! we spent 30mins on the steps outside banging on the glass on the windows on the doors etc and eventually some guy in his boxers answers the door and doesnt even apologise!
we sleep until noon the next day, not wanting to know what delights breakfast might be and then go and find the tour guide and complain, considering we paid the same amount as Rob and Jo who end up staying in the 3* hotel...turns out the tour was over booked by 6 people and there wasnt any room for us...
so we spend the afternoon after a left over from dinner lunch, on monkey island, kayaking around the limestone islands, singing theme tunes with Robbie and Jo...and then head back to the boat for our 2nd night..at this stage, we've been promised a VIP boat, with hot water, and turns out we get the same fecking boat as the day before and NO HOT WATER! might I add we are BEYOND cold, having gone for a swim and having to wait nearly 2hrs to get into dry clothes, not having any towels with us..
we make friends with some lovely irish folks and spend a few hours sharing stories, beneath our duvets for the night, the generator on the boat goes several times and we have no lights for a period of time..brillant...nici and I so tired and annoyed go to bed early..and are woken at 6.30 to get up for breakfast..which we get sometime after 8am...
the highlight of the trip was jumping of the boat into the south chinese sea and going for a swim..its a bright sunny day on the way back to the mainland and we are happy to see it..we just felt so singled out on this trip despite paying the same or more as some people
we get back to Hanoi after a 3 1/2 trip at this stage the tour guide is afraid of us..we make a polite complaint at the hotel and in return..we get a free breakfast this morning..yupdiidoo!
today we leave on the journey from hell in SE Asia also known as Hanoi to Laos 22hrs on a bus..which could be more like 4 days, if its anything like Alistairs trip
pray for my sanity now!
until we cross the border..i've been caroline duke, thanks for watching
C
We get on the mini bus organised by our hotel and well it's full of "older" people..all french speaking older people, nici and I...but we get lucky and meet a lovely English couple from Sussex, Jo the social worker and Rob the copper..we become firm friends and with them on board the trip is already looking better than we thought...for such a short time
The weather was misty and foggy, the boat, not quite what we expected, we sat on the top deck, admiring the wonderful scenery and drinking over priced beer..and then to lunch, which was possibly the best food we'd eat in two days but we werent to know that at the time..after lunch we are told, nici and I are told, we arent staying on the boat for the first night as the package said, rather the second..and we'd be staying on Cat Ba island, which was disappointing because we were having a lovely time with Rob and Jo...so we get to the island around 3pm and along with some of the older french guests are put onto a bus for a 40min drive to the town...
So on the bus are some younger people, so we cheer up a bit thinking we might meet some nice people, the first stop the french people get off at a nice 3* hotel, we round the corner the young people get of at a nice hotel, but nici and I are left alone on the bus and told to stay put...at this stage im laughing and said we'd probably end up camping or something!
turns out camping would have been cleaner! we are dumped in the middle of the boonies on the island, 20mins uphill, with NO STREET LIGHTS in a dodgy part of town to a no star hotel, or a mini hotel as it's known..and get this we are the ONLY GUESTS IN THE WHOLE FRICKIN THING!
Our room is a shambles...HUGE dead cochroach on the ground, dead moquistos everywhere, broken glass behind my bed, mold on the walls, the bathroom floor is flooded, the bed sheets are filthy and nici's mattress has random holes in it, where there's suppossed to be a TV is simply a dirty cable, opened used noodles in the drawers...it was a little piece of heaven..at this stage im not happy, taking photos of all the shit in the room, but nici's ready to explode..im keeping calm...
she complains to the tour guide and we get a room on the next floor that smells like wet dog...dinner is TWO DAY OLD rice, hard, crusty and burnt, the rest of the food was just horrible, we left the hotel detereminded to find a place selling cold beer, the hotel only had warm beer..the fridge didnt work
so we go, and meet a group from a hostel in Hanoi and drink the night away, wanting to stay out as long as possible..we go to walk back but its PITCH black, up a hillside in the mountain to our "hotel" so we ask a guy who has a moto to drive us back and give him 10,000 as a thank you..get back and the hotel staff have LOCKED US OUT! we spent 30mins on the steps outside banging on the glass on the windows on the doors etc and eventually some guy in his boxers answers the door and doesnt even apologise!
we sleep until noon the next day, not wanting to know what delights breakfast might be and then go and find the tour guide and complain, considering we paid the same amount as Rob and Jo who end up staying in the 3* hotel...turns out the tour was over booked by 6 people and there wasnt any room for us...
so we spend the afternoon after a left over from dinner lunch, on monkey island, kayaking around the limestone islands, singing theme tunes with Robbie and Jo...and then head back to the boat for our 2nd night..at this stage, we've been promised a VIP boat, with hot water, and turns out we get the same fecking boat as the day before and NO HOT WATER! might I add we are BEYOND cold, having gone for a swim and having to wait nearly 2hrs to get into dry clothes, not having any towels with us..
we make friends with some lovely irish folks and spend a few hours sharing stories, beneath our duvets for the night, the generator on the boat goes several times and we have no lights for a period of time..brillant...nici and I so tired and annoyed go to bed early..and are woken at 6.30 to get up for breakfast..which we get sometime after 8am...
the highlight of the trip was jumping of the boat into the south chinese sea and going for a swim..its a bright sunny day on the way back to the mainland and we are happy to see it..we just felt so singled out on this trip despite paying the same or more as some people
we get back to Hanoi after a 3 1/2 trip at this stage the tour guide is afraid of us..we make a polite complaint at the hotel and in return..we get a free breakfast this morning..yupdiidoo!
today we leave on the journey from hell in SE Asia also known as Hanoi to Laos 22hrs on a bus..which could be more like 4 days, if its anything like Alistairs trip
pray for my sanity now!
until we cross the border..i've been caroline duke, thanks for watching
C
Night train to Sapa and 36hrs in heaven
We left Hanoi on Friday evening after a long and painful day sitting around waiting to sleep except we were homeless and had to wait to get on our train..oh my what a skinny train it was and old, oh so old..we had these HUGE backpacks on our back walking through a TINY corrodor and well i couldnt even get on the fecking train with the weight and Alistair had to push me on and then I got stuck..haha.
We shared a 4 berth sleeping carriage, oh so clean and nice..not..with a rather round vietnamese man who snored the night through..it was quite a slow long journey through the country in the darkness, to Lao Cai which I know I spelt wrong..I await nici's spelling correction..and waking up at 6.30am to just fog outside was crazy..none of us slept very well and I was glad we'd organised our bus to the hotel before we left Hanoi instead of being left in the hands of bus touts
So after 9 1/2hrs on the train we jumped into a mini bus for the 40km drive up the mountains across the most amazing scenery of the trip..the photos dont do them justice..its hard to describe it, it was so beautiful, lush green fields, with little huts, and farming ploughing, water buffalos wandering the road, the haze from the sun being so far up in the mountains blocking out the mountains and just leaving shadows..it was breathtaking
we arrived at our 2* hotel which from a scenery point of view should have been a 5* took plenty of photos so be sure to check them out when they go up..we had a triple room, $5 each for the night, and it was fantastic..a very romantic place, the scenery from our balcony and the veranda was just unreal..we sat and had a breakfast of Pho Ga- chicken rice noodle soup and just sat in awe..could of spent the day there, but we had lots to see and only 36hrs to do it..
after that we wandered down to Sapa town which isnt HUGE but its not exactly small..a huge market with local tribes coming to buy fruit, vegetable, meats, chicken feet, cow tails, dogs heads, fish etc..nothing unusual really, and all the local tribes coming to see their scarves, hats, bags, blankets, pillow cases etc which were just amazing..
these people are soo unbelievably friendly and beautiful, they have lovely personalities and great english, some of them hassle you, 80% don't, but we bought quite a bit of presents, all very cheap of course
we decided to actually visit one of these villages, Cat Cat, 3km down in the valley. The sun was scorching in the sky, clear blue skies, with not a cloud in sight, and walking down a moutain valley, with green everywhere and little kids running around, cows wandering the roads..it was beyond anything I ever imagined..the walk down wasnt too long and after paying the pricely sum of 1euro, we entered the village and walked down this new pathway obviously put in for visitors like ourselves and walked down to a beautiful water fall at the end of the valley...it was amazing and reminded me of the scenery in NZ..except much warmer.
The hike back wasnt as bad as some we did in NZ, but with the sun belting down on us it felt alot harder than I remember, we took a few short cuts and went for some lunch..cant get enough of the vietnamese spring rolls!
more walking through the market, it was getting VERY VERY cold, so we went to a little cafe for some hot chocolate and sat in candle light near the fire and just chatted away before getting our free mulled wine..it was soo christmasy..we met with some of Alistairs of friends for dinner but nici and I crashed and burned not long after that, the toll of not much sleep and walking hitting us, so we literally ran the whole way back..it was so so cold..hats, scarves, caridigans...didnt make any difference
this morning we said goodbye to Alistair, again..for now, as he left on the bermunda triangle bus to Laos..nici and i ate a late breakfast and lunch, wandered the markets, we even kept our promise with some of the young tribe girls and bought more braclets from them and had little chats with them, their english is almost better than mine..so polite too..we now are in the hotel waiting for our bus back to the train station adn then the night train back to Hanoi.
Tomorrow we book our Halong Bay trip, bus to Laos and get our Laos visas..Lots to do and time is running out, just under 5 weeks left!
C
We shared a 4 berth sleeping carriage, oh so clean and nice..not..with a rather round vietnamese man who snored the night through..it was quite a slow long journey through the country in the darkness, to Lao Cai which I know I spelt wrong..I await nici's spelling correction..and waking up at 6.30am to just fog outside was crazy..none of us slept very well and I was glad we'd organised our bus to the hotel before we left Hanoi instead of being left in the hands of bus touts
So after 9 1/2hrs on the train we jumped into a mini bus for the 40km drive up the mountains across the most amazing scenery of the trip..the photos dont do them justice..its hard to describe it, it was so beautiful, lush green fields, with little huts, and farming ploughing, water buffalos wandering the road, the haze from the sun being so far up in the mountains blocking out the mountains and just leaving shadows..it was breathtaking
we arrived at our 2* hotel which from a scenery point of view should have been a 5* took plenty of photos so be sure to check them out when they go up..we had a triple room, $5 each for the night, and it was fantastic..a very romantic place, the scenery from our balcony and the veranda was just unreal..we sat and had a breakfast of Pho Ga- chicken rice noodle soup and just sat in awe..could of spent the day there, but we had lots to see and only 36hrs to do it..
after that we wandered down to Sapa town which isnt HUGE but its not exactly small..a huge market with local tribes coming to buy fruit, vegetable, meats, chicken feet, cow tails, dogs heads, fish etc..nothing unusual really, and all the local tribes coming to see their scarves, hats, bags, blankets, pillow cases etc which were just amazing..
these people are soo unbelievably friendly and beautiful, they have lovely personalities and great english, some of them hassle you, 80% don't, but we bought quite a bit of presents, all very cheap of course
we decided to actually visit one of these villages, Cat Cat, 3km down in the valley. The sun was scorching in the sky, clear blue skies, with not a cloud in sight, and walking down a moutain valley, with green everywhere and little kids running around, cows wandering the roads..it was beyond anything I ever imagined..the walk down wasnt too long and after paying the pricely sum of 1euro, we entered the village and walked down this new pathway obviously put in for visitors like ourselves and walked down to a beautiful water fall at the end of the valley...it was amazing and reminded me of the scenery in NZ..except much warmer.
The hike back wasnt as bad as some we did in NZ, but with the sun belting down on us it felt alot harder than I remember, we took a few short cuts and went for some lunch..cant get enough of the vietnamese spring rolls!
more walking through the market, it was getting VERY VERY cold, so we went to a little cafe for some hot chocolate and sat in candle light near the fire and just chatted away before getting our free mulled wine..it was soo christmasy..we met with some of Alistairs of friends for dinner but nici and I crashed and burned not long after that, the toll of not much sleep and walking hitting us, so we literally ran the whole way back..it was so so cold..hats, scarves, caridigans...didnt make any difference
this morning we said goodbye to Alistair, again..for now, as he left on the bermunda triangle bus to Laos..nici and i ate a late breakfast and lunch, wandered the markets, we even kept our promise with some of the young tribe girls and bought more braclets from them and had little chats with them, their english is almost better than mine..so polite too..we now are in the hotel waiting for our bus back to the train station adn then the night train back to Hanoi.
Tomorrow we book our Halong Bay trip, bus to Laos and get our Laos visas..Lots to do and time is running out, just under 5 weeks left!
C
Why Vietnam will never win a costumer service award
So..today, nici and I went to meet Alistair for brunch, no wait, before that..we did a wander around the city and got horribly lost, and we saw, a stall selling COOKED DOGS HEADS! I'm not joking, the little old women had it on display in their cart..teeth and all, and she served it to some old dude, who was sitting beside his dog eating it, and giving the dog some..hhmmm, something horribly wrong about that
So after having a wonderful chat with my very lovely boyfriend..im still getting used to using that word, but its a great feeling, anyway after a chat, nici and I met Alistair whose from Oz and has been travelling up the coast with us..so we have one beer, then another and another and well we end up getting kicked out of the hostel bar because there was knobs there making too much noise, so we all got kicked out, then we moved on to the irish pub where they played lots of pogues music including fairytale of NYC, oh and Mundys Galway girl, sure the whole pub went up on tables and dancing and singing around great craic..at EXACTLY 12am on the very second..the cops turn up..shows over, everyone go home kinda thing..so we go outside and are told about a "secret pub" nearby and after agreeing a price with a moto driver, go speeding down the streets of Hanoi to find it, flip flops dangling in the wind
we arrive to this cool underground pub place and sure its full of all the same people who'd been at all three bars..an hour and 20mins later the cops come again, parties over go home, and we fly into the night back to the hostel to sleep..instead i stay up until 4am talking to lovely people like IVAN!! and the lovely married Lindsey..
this morning with heavy heads and lack of sleep, we had to pack our bags and check out and meet Alistair for brunch, which was just ok..nothing to do with the beer of course..since we are leaving for the mountain village of Sapa in about 3hrs time we had some chores to do, and one was going to the post office
now crossing the roads in Vietnam is almost an Olympic sport, in fact it should be and if it was we'd totally get gold..you CANT hestitate, or SHOW FEAR, or SLOW DOWN! you just gotta step out into the road and hope the moto drivers avoid you..only problem is you WILL SLOWLY GO DEAF from this extreme sport..
to the point of this very blog..the post office..not only did two vietnamese push in front of me in the queue without ANY REGARD..the lady behind the desk was just a fecking mother of a dog- trying not to curse for my mothers sake..your welcome mammy, an early christmas present :)
so I ask how much to send something home, she walks away and ignores me for twenty mins..finally after SERVING EVERYONE INCLUDING NICI! she looks at me and takes my parcel, which is just a latern, its light and i just need a box, she SMASHES THE THING to a pulp and without any regard to the fact im sending a gift, she fecking shoves and pokes and mashes it into a box, and the whole time never talks, smiles or makes any eye contact with me..im in there about 30mins just to post one item..honestly she was soo angry and bitter about her job..and ignored me for so long and i always say thanks even when i get bad service i shouldnt i know but i do thats how my parents brought me up (brownie point :))
i honestly was shocked and appauled at her service and behaviour but alot of vietnam is like this..the markets and small shops not so much, they just constantly hassle you to buy something but alot of places they look at you with such..hatred? i dont know if thats it, but my god, icy receptions got nothing on some of them...hell might have well as freezed over...having said that i love vietnam, the food, alot of the people, so cheeky and friendly, the landscape, the little habits and customs they have, so much culture here..not as cheap as you think though
another thing..pavements. NO VIETNAMESE people walk..and if they do its on the road, because here motos' rule the country..pavements are meant for them as parking spaces, not for tourists walking around, the amount of close encounteneres we've had at being hit is crazy..and the constant BEEEEEP, BEEEP,. BEEEP, BEEEP, 24/7 its draining
so with that, we are heading with alistair on an overnight train to Sapa a native vietnamese village up in the mountains near the chinese border until Monday..taking in local villages and people and just some more culture, love Hanoi but glad to be getting out of the city..
we arrive back early monday morning to organise Visa's and a bus for Laos, which we hopefully take next thursday...22hrs overnight for $18 or a flight, taxi for $200...option A naturally..and then before that a few days on a boat in Halong Bay
the 5 week mark is upon us!! get your banners ready for our arrival home!
xx
C
So after having a wonderful chat with my very lovely boyfriend..im still getting used to using that word, but its a great feeling, anyway after a chat, nici and I met Alistair whose from Oz and has been travelling up the coast with us..so we have one beer, then another and another and well we end up getting kicked out of the hostel bar because there was knobs there making too much noise, so we all got kicked out, then we moved on to the irish pub where they played lots of pogues music including fairytale of NYC, oh and Mundys Galway girl, sure the whole pub went up on tables and dancing and singing around great craic..at EXACTLY 12am on the very second..the cops turn up..shows over, everyone go home kinda thing..so we go outside and are told about a "secret pub" nearby and after agreeing a price with a moto driver, go speeding down the streets of Hanoi to find it, flip flops dangling in the wind
we arrive to this cool underground pub place and sure its full of all the same people who'd been at all three bars..an hour and 20mins later the cops come again, parties over go home, and we fly into the night back to the hostel to sleep..instead i stay up until 4am talking to lovely people like IVAN!! and the lovely married Lindsey..
this morning with heavy heads and lack of sleep, we had to pack our bags and check out and meet Alistair for brunch, which was just ok..nothing to do with the beer of course..since we are leaving for the mountain village of Sapa in about 3hrs time we had some chores to do, and one was going to the post office
now crossing the roads in Vietnam is almost an Olympic sport, in fact it should be and if it was we'd totally get gold..you CANT hestitate, or SHOW FEAR, or SLOW DOWN! you just gotta step out into the road and hope the moto drivers avoid you..only problem is you WILL SLOWLY GO DEAF from this extreme sport..
to the point of this very blog..the post office..not only did two vietnamese push in front of me in the queue without ANY REGARD..the lady behind the desk was just a fecking mother of a dog- trying not to curse for my mothers sake..your welcome mammy, an early christmas present :)
so I ask how much to send something home, she walks away and ignores me for twenty mins..finally after SERVING EVERYONE INCLUDING NICI! she looks at me and takes my parcel, which is just a latern, its light and i just need a box, she SMASHES THE THING to a pulp and without any regard to the fact im sending a gift, she fecking shoves and pokes and mashes it into a box, and the whole time never talks, smiles or makes any eye contact with me..im in there about 30mins just to post one item..honestly she was soo angry and bitter about her job..and ignored me for so long and i always say thanks even when i get bad service i shouldnt i know but i do thats how my parents brought me up (brownie point :))
i honestly was shocked and appauled at her service and behaviour but alot of vietnam is like this..the markets and small shops not so much, they just constantly hassle you to buy something but alot of places they look at you with such..hatred? i dont know if thats it, but my god, icy receptions got nothing on some of them...hell might have well as freezed over...having said that i love vietnam, the food, alot of the people, so cheeky and friendly, the landscape, the little habits and customs they have, so much culture here..not as cheap as you think though
another thing..pavements. NO VIETNAMESE people walk..and if they do its on the road, because here motos' rule the country..pavements are meant for them as parking spaces, not for tourists walking around, the amount of close encounteneres we've had at being hit is crazy..and the constant BEEEEEP, BEEEP,. BEEEP, BEEEP, 24/7 its draining
so with that, we are heading with alistair on an overnight train to Sapa a native vietnamese village up in the mountains near the chinese border until Monday..taking in local villages and people and just some more culture, love Hanoi but glad to be getting out of the city..
we arrive back early monday morning to organise Visa's and a bus for Laos, which we hopefully take next thursday...22hrs overnight for $18 or a flight, taxi for $200...option A naturally..and then before that a few days on a boat in Halong Bay
the 5 week mark is upon us!! get your banners ready for our arrival home!
xx
C
Hoi An, Hue and the long road to Hanoi
I spent the second last day in Hoi An, with a sweltering sun in the sky, lying by our gorgeous pool, drinking water, reading Life of Pi, and listening to the National..bliss, swimming, reading, talking, sunbathing, its a hard life right? Well after not having breakfast I decided to have an early lunch, of a burger, because id been eating nothing but Vietnamese food which I adore, but I needed a change..bad idea..I spent the night lying on the bathroom floor, sweating and rolling around in pain, not to mention puking my stomach contents up..nice right? Food poisioning is a mudderfecker..see mam i didnt curse!
The next day was more of less the same..painful, puking and hurting, I managed to get about 2hrs sleep the night and morning after so I was pretty exhausted, we had a 3hr bus journey, a very very bumpy bus journey with no toilet on board to Hue..During the journey nici said the colour from my face went from grey to pink which i thought was a good sign..we arrived to a dark dismal and wet Hue, to a flooded car park of a big giant pink building where it turned out to be a hotel and only $4 a night..Norman Bates eat your heart out..but it was clean and had a toilet which i needed badly..damn you food poisioning..after a light dinner I was still feeling like death warmed up and actually went to bed at 7pm only to wake up in the morning with about 48-50 mosquito bites on my arms and back..first time I didnt wear the teeshirt Con gave me to bed and I got eaten alive..lesson learnt..
we took the OAP tour the next day around the city and the sights, seeing the various temples of kings come and gone, then the citadel, lunch and saw how conical hats and insense was made..it was a painfully long interesting tour i have to admit..but god it really was an OAP snooze fest..everyone walked soo slow and our guide kept yelling at us for walking away from the group..we finished it with a boat trip down the river..name to be inserted here...and then had to make a dash for our 13hr overnight sleeper bus to Hanoi which was much better than the first..im nearly finished life of Pi, hurrah!
arriving to Hanoi we had the usual hassle of moto vs taxi drivers fighting over us..the taxi won because of the size of our bags and we got fleeced by him, go figure..after a snooze in the hostel, we wandered around the old city where we're staying at the moment, and found an irish pub..played some pool..i even won..woo..and came back to happy hour at the hostel..and can i say it was nici's idea to get drunk not mine..and we did, and went to bed at 9pm..i am a cheap date..
im sure other stuff has happened since and in between but im still a bit brain dead..and have an eye infection..my body is giving up on me..my favourite thing about travelling? is observing everyday life of the people in the places we visit..the way they interact with their kids, the crazy brooms they use to sweep the road..the fact that in vietnam EVERYONE including fully grown adults and kids use those tiny plastic kiddie chairs and table and set them up on every slab of pavement and have a huge feast while the motos of the city zoom by beeping and everyday life passes and they sit there looking like they dont have a care in the world..thats vietnam..its a crazy place of so many contradictions..love it here..only bad thing is the constant hassle from touts wanting to give you a moto ride or a cyclo ride or to see you something..they chase you up the streets! sometimes its funny and most of the time after hearing "hey lady" 40 times in an hour you kinda go deaf...coming up to 5 weeks left..doing Halong Bay this week and then going up the moutains to visit the mountain people of Sapa..
until then...
C
The next day was more of less the same..painful, puking and hurting, I managed to get about 2hrs sleep the night and morning after so I was pretty exhausted, we had a 3hr bus journey, a very very bumpy bus journey with no toilet on board to Hue..During the journey nici said the colour from my face went from grey to pink which i thought was a good sign..we arrived to a dark dismal and wet Hue, to a flooded car park of a big giant pink building where it turned out to be a hotel and only $4 a night..Norman Bates eat your heart out..but it was clean and had a toilet which i needed badly..damn you food poisioning..after a light dinner I was still feeling like death warmed up and actually went to bed at 7pm only to wake up in the morning with about 48-50 mosquito bites on my arms and back..first time I didnt wear the teeshirt Con gave me to bed and I got eaten alive..lesson learnt..
we took the OAP tour the next day around the city and the sights, seeing the various temples of kings come and gone, then the citadel, lunch and saw how conical hats and insense was made..it was a painfully long interesting tour i have to admit..but god it really was an OAP snooze fest..everyone walked soo slow and our guide kept yelling at us for walking away from the group..we finished it with a boat trip down the river..name to be inserted here...and then had to make a dash for our 13hr overnight sleeper bus to Hanoi which was much better than the first..im nearly finished life of Pi, hurrah!
arriving to Hanoi we had the usual hassle of moto vs taxi drivers fighting over us..the taxi won because of the size of our bags and we got fleeced by him, go figure..after a snooze in the hostel, we wandered around the old city where we're staying at the moment, and found an irish pub..played some pool..i even won..woo..and came back to happy hour at the hostel..and can i say it was nici's idea to get drunk not mine..and we did, and went to bed at 9pm..i am a cheap date..
im sure other stuff has happened since and in between but im still a bit brain dead..and have an eye infection..my body is giving up on me..my favourite thing about travelling? is observing everyday life of the people in the places we visit..the way they interact with their kids, the crazy brooms they use to sweep the road..the fact that in vietnam EVERYONE including fully grown adults and kids use those tiny plastic kiddie chairs and table and set them up on every slab of pavement and have a huge feast while the motos of the city zoom by beeping and everyday life passes and they sit there looking like they dont have a care in the world..thats vietnam..its a crazy place of so many contradictions..love it here..only bad thing is the constant hassle from touts wanting to give you a moto ride or a cyclo ride or to see you something..they chase you up the streets! sometimes its funny and most of the time after hearing "hey lady" 40 times in an hour you kinda go deaf...coming up to 5 weeks left..doing Halong Bay this week and then going up the moutains to visit the mountain people of Sapa..
until then...
C
Nha Trang and Hoi An- monsoon season!
so after a beautiful 6hr journey through this incredible Vietnamese landscape, wow, what scenery check out my photos..we drove through mountains, past paddyfields, small country houses, little villages, past water buffalos gazing in fields, past clouds the size of small countries with sun rays blasting through them to sunset over the paddy fields and lakes...it was amazing..and EVENTUALLY my signal came back...
We arrived in Nha Trang to rain and darkness and the demands and shouts of many taxi drivers trying to take us to the "cheapest hotel in town"...hahaha not the case! we found our place in no time and for $3 a night each for a triple we couldnt go wrong..right in the city centre too...only problem no air con and sharing a bed, but we prevailed..and had a great dinner at a local restaurant..they charge you extra for stuff like wet face cloths and stuff which we didnt need and when i said i didnt want mine, well im sure they spit in my dinner.either way it was lovely!
didnt sleep much that night infact feck all..in the morning after breakfast and feeling very light headed and dizzy, I actually couldnt catch my breath with the pain in my chest which was worrying so i opted out of the walk in the rain and spent the next two hours in bed lying down facing the ceiling with my legs raised..low blood pressure is a pain..according to Nici I turned green, but I did get to talk to Con for a long time which was nice after nearly a week with no contact...I felt better later in the day and with only one meal in my belly i needed a steak..and it only cost about 2euro so who was I to complain..and to cheer myself up I got John Butler on my ipod...for those reading my blog ya'll know my old mp3 player with 30GB of music was stolen in Oz and I had yet to replace most of it, so JB3 was a must, as was the foals..and I also got the new Kings of Leon album and a National album..all for about 10euro...cant go wrong..
we parted ways with Alistair..thank god, that prick..hahaha inside joke..he parte ways after taking some of those tranquilzers the pharamcist gave me beause I couldnt sleep and left the hotel pratically stoned...apparently he nearly fell asleep waiting for the bus!
nici and i took the time to call fmily and upload photos and email friends...basically catching up with normal life, thank god the internet is cheap here..spent nearly 3hrs in that place doing all that..and im still not up to date..photos to follow!
the next day, we wandered around the town, ate a late breakfast, watched repeats of Ugly Betty-which is actually a really funny show..must watch it more and then the best part..spending the day in the only cheap bar open..an irish pub called the Shamrock..drinking cheap beer and playing irish music, the dubliners, Damo Dempsey etc on the stereo and for good measure, christmas songs and the pogues..and sure the next thing we know its 7pm and we'd been there 4hrs and we had a bus to catch
the overnight bus was HELL!! we made friends with a Canadian girl called Cori travelling alone up north and got settled in for the 12hr overnight journey which was hell..we had these "beds" that reclined, kinda like sleeping in a coffin..every time you turned you had to wake up to turn, the middle door of the bus which had bunk "pods" was left open at times, with the wind and monsoon rain belting in on us..vietnamese people having full blown conversations and arguing at 4am and talking on their phones playing christmas jingles..i went ad..i took two of those tranquilizers and had the weirdest chest pains and vision problems..didnt sleep a beeping wink..never go glad to step into the rain..because its monsoon season here its from one extreme to another..
we got hasseled at 6am trying to find our hotel that was "5" mins away..that means 30mins in the pissing rain, with HUGE backpacks, no rain jacket and no sleep in Vietnamese..I was never so happy to see a building in all my life...oh wait, we go in, are shown 3 rooms! because the first wasnt free, the second was like a paddling pool, full of water and the third was "just" right...moist, damp, smelly and moldy...it was heaven, it had a bed and an air fan that barely worked but i managed to get 5hrs exhausted sleep out of it..when i rose, showered and fresh as a vase of week old daises, i met with the others and we went for some yummy vietnamese lunch and a wander around the old town
since we arrived on tuesday, ive not seen a single, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Vodafone, Nokia, H&M, HMV etc..you get the idea..its like time stood still here..everything is old, old old, think vietname pre-war days with untouched, unspoilt, lush greenery..old town houses, painted yellow with crumbling walls and moss covered, cobbled streets with wooden windows, slanted old men with 3 teeth, no shows and a huge wrinkly grin..old ladies selling fresh herbs and fruit and lotions and potions in markets made of makeshift turf bags sitting in little puddles asking you to "come see, come see" its amazing this place..time has stood still and the old part of town is exactly that which is what one wants when they get to a place like vietnam
we got some dresses made...some good, some bad..we've shopped in the market for 3days now..everything is so cheap..great place to pick up presents and the like, the locals are eager to make a dollar and they'll chase you up streets if you walk out of their shop without buying anything and will give it to you for cheaper..its a bit nuts..we've spent the last few days doing that, drinking fresh local beer..has to be drunk on the day..30cent each..for a pint...heaven! eating food, watching the world go by and hanging out with our vietnam family, of an aussie and a canadian! how very continential.
Alistair has left for the flooded city of Hanoi..the moron ;) We're waiting for him to give us the all clear before we leave..but we are infact leaving for Hue on Saturday..just a few things to pick up in the markets and then to sit by the pool, read, eat, drink and be merry
6 weeks left saturday..time is flying...
C
photos hopefully tomorrow..keep an eye out..gems to come!
We arrived in Nha Trang to rain and darkness and the demands and shouts of many taxi drivers trying to take us to the "cheapest hotel in town"...hahaha not the case! we found our place in no time and for $3 a night each for a triple we couldnt go wrong..right in the city centre too...only problem no air con and sharing a bed, but we prevailed..and had a great dinner at a local restaurant..they charge you extra for stuff like wet face cloths and stuff which we didnt need and when i said i didnt want mine, well im sure they spit in my dinner.either way it was lovely!
didnt sleep much that night infact feck all..in the morning after breakfast and feeling very light headed and dizzy, I actually couldnt catch my breath with the pain in my chest which was worrying so i opted out of the walk in the rain and spent the next two hours in bed lying down facing the ceiling with my legs raised..low blood pressure is a pain..according to Nici I turned green, but I did get to talk to Con for a long time which was nice after nearly a week with no contact...I felt better later in the day and with only one meal in my belly i needed a steak..and it only cost about 2euro so who was I to complain..and to cheer myself up I got John Butler on my ipod...for those reading my blog ya'll know my old mp3 player with 30GB of music was stolen in Oz and I had yet to replace most of it, so JB3 was a must, as was the foals..and I also got the new Kings of Leon album and a National album..all for about 10euro...cant go wrong..
we parted ways with Alistair..thank god, that prick..hahaha inside joke..he parte ways after taking some of those tranquilzers the pharamcist gave me beause I couldnt sleep and left the hotel pratically stoned...apparently he nearly fell asleep waiting for the bus!
nici and i took the time to call fmily and upload photos and email friends...basically catching up with normal life, thank god the internet is cheap here..spent nearly 3hrs in that place doing all that..and im still not up to date..photos to follow!
the next day, we wandered around the town, ate a late breakfast, watched repeats of Ugly Betty-which is actually a really funny show..must watch it more and then the best part..spending the day in the only cheap bar open..an irish pub called the Shamrock..drinking cheap beer and playing irish music, the dubliners, Damo Dempsey etc on the stereo and for good measure, christmas songs and the pogues..and sure the next thing we know its 7pm and we'd been there 4hrs and we had a bus to catch
the overnight bus was HELL!! we made friends with a Canadian girl called Cori travelling alone up north and got settled in for the 12hr overnight journey which was hell..we had these "beds" that reclined, kinda like sleeping in a coffin..every time you turned you had to wake up to turn, the middle door of the bus which had bunk "pods" was left open at times, with the wind and monsoon rain belting in on us..vietnamese people having full blown conversations and arguing at 4am and talking on their phones playing christmas jingles..i went ad..i took two of those tranquilizers and had the weirdest chest pains and vision problems..didnt sleep a beeping wink..never go glad to step into the rain..because its monsoon season here its from one extreme to another..
we got hasseled at 6am trying to find our hotel that was "5" mins away..that means 30mins in the pissing rain, with HUGE backpacks, no rain jacket and no sleep in Vietnamese..I was never so happy to see a building in all my life...oh wait, we go in, are shown 3 rooms! because the first wasnt free, the second was like a paddling pool, full of water and the third was "just" right...moist, damp, smelly and moldy...it was heaven, it had a bed and an air fan that barely worked but i managed to get 5hrs exhausted sleep out of it..when i rose, showered and fresh as a vase of week old daises, i met with the others and we went for some yummy vietnamese lunch and a wander around the old town
since we arrived on tuesday, ive not seen a single, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Vodafone, Nokia, H&M, HMV etc..you get the idea..its like time stood still here..everything is old, old old, think vietname pre-war days with untouched, unspoilt, lush greenery..old town houses, painted yellow with crumbling walls and moss covered, cobbled streets with wooden windows, slanted old men with 3 teeth, no shows and a huge wrinkly grin..old ladies selling fresh herbs and fruit and lotions and potions in markets made of makeshift turf bags sitting in little puddles asking you to "come see, come see" its amazing this place..time has stood still and the old part of town is exactly that which is what one wants when they get to a place like vietnam
we got some dresses made...some good, some bad..we've shopped in the market for 3days now..everything is so cheap..great place to pick up presents and the like, the locals are eager to make a dollar and they'll chase you up streets if you walk out of their shop without buying anything and will give it to you for cheaper..its a bit nuts..we've spent the last few days doing that, drinking fresh local beer..has to be drunk on the day..30cent each..for a pint...heaven! eating food, watching the world go by and hanging out with our vietnam family, of an aussie and a canadian! how very continential.
Alistair has left for the flooded city of Hanoi..the moron ;) We're waiting for him to give us the all clear before we leave..but we are infact leaving for Hue on Saturday..just a few things to pick up in the markets and then to sit by the pool, read, eat, drink and be merry
6 weeks left saturday..time is flying...
C
photos hopefully tomorrow..keep an eye out..gems to come!
Mui Ne and moving up the coast!
Mui Ne turned out to be a nice spot to rest for 3days and just do nothing but swim in the warmest water yet of teh trip..the good old Chinese sea..sunbathe..i am now crispy..and read..the only bad thing is my hangover this morning which is all nici's fault of course..we got invited to a halloween party last night and not having a costume or any money i really wasnt in the humour to go, but nici and Alistair had bought costumes and made me go so alas i donned head to toe black, painted my face, made some ears..well nici did..and went as a cat..meoow! turned out to be a great party and i went on my very first moto ride!! i know want a motorbike..best feeling in the world zooming on the back of a bike..everyone at the party had awesome costumes and made such an effort..the dj spun dance music all night and while my ears were being attacked i still managed to drink enough beer to make myself dance and join in..
photos to follow...im slightly tender and have a 5hr bus ride up the coast to Na Trang which we've heard very very bad stories about so hopefully we wont have any problems and/or stay there very long..what i am hoping for is my phone to start working again..despite having signal and a vietnamese sim ive had no coverage for 4 days, which is really annoying..especially when I want to text someone like my dad and Con..yes I just admitted I want to text my boyfriend..get over it..
packing and eating breakfast this morning was dicey..shelagh and peter are in Mui Ne too, just up the road but when I went to ask for them at their hotel yesterday i was told by the front desk they'd already checked out..WHICH WASNT THE CASE and now i leave today adn i dont get to see them..damn you Mui Ne resort!
right to the hammock i go...
C
photos to follow...im slightly tender and have a 5hr bus ride up the coast to Na Trang which we've heard very very bad stories about so hopefully we wont have any problems and/or stay there very long..what i am hoping for is my phone to start working again..despite having signal and a vietnamese sim ive had no coverage for 4 days, which is really annoying..especially when I want to text someone like my dad and Con..yes I just admitted I want to text my boyfriend..get over it..
packing and eating breakfast this morning was dicey..shelagh and peter are in Mui Ne too, just up the road but when I went to ask for them at their hotel yesterday i was told by the front desk they'd already checked out..WHICH WASNT THE CASE and now i leave today adn i dont get to see them..damn you Mui Ne resort!
right to the hammock i go...
C
Phomn Pehn, leaving Cambodia and entering Vietnam- Ho Chi Minh
The morning of the killing fields we had an earlish start for a backpacker at 10am and after a light breakfast got our tuk tuk driver for the day, a steal for $15. He would drive us to the killing fields then to the genocide museum and wait and bring us to the guesthouse after
The fields were alot smaller than I expected and actually not far from civilisation as I imagined they would be which is kind of disturbing considering what went on their, so close to fields that would have been worked on by farmers and families living near by..You go with a sense of dread and when you get there, you just have to calmness wash over you..you want to cry but all you can do is numbly walk around and pay respect to those that were innocently murdered here and those whose bodies where simply dumped here from S21 prison..the huge momument with the skulls was unreal..you can quite get your head around it, the share scale of how many were killed..i suppose to some, the 8,000+ bodies unearthered here probably seem like so little compared to the scale of war no a days, but its still horrifying whether its 20 bodies or 8,000..what went on in Cambodia for so long is just wrong and the fact that it still happens in this day and age is just numbing to the soul
The tuk tuk ride back nici and I were lost in thought and really didnt say much, what could you say after such a morning, and we still had the museum to visit..we passed by so many small shanty villages, just on the side of this main road, the smell of rubbish and dirt was unreal..i had to hold my breath through patches of it..seeing families living in such poverty really just kills your soul even more, and the fact they still smiled at us driving by, two white girls being driven in a tuk tuk..we got stared at, had a few guys on motorbikes do double takes, but we didnt care...these people have been through so much, so i didnt care if they were curious about us or the way we looked..i was just glad they seemed to be smiling and living their lives as best they could
entering the S21 prison in Phomn Pehn, there was a horribly disfigured man outside begging, i've never seen anything like it..the poor soul, it was quite the shock to be honest and i walked straight by without giving him money, something i regret ever since..the prison was huge, note it was once a secondary school until the khmer Rouge used it as a place to interrogate prisoners and execute them simply because they had the power to do so..we saw the rooms they were tied up and tortured, the photos of how the bodies were found, the blood stained walls..we then walked into a room with the photos of the 8956 people killed here..old men, young men, young women, old women, little boys and girls, babies..i think thats when it really kicked in, seeing the photo of a young mother with her new born baby, the look of hopelessness on her face..thats when the tears started for me...but i managed to push them aside and do the rest of the tour, which was so much information and soo many horrific photos..i cant even begin to describe..the worst part? the rooms where they locked up so many people, all crammed into such a small space, some had windows and outside was the ruins of a city, and coconut trees and grass and you could just see the freedom, knowing they would never set foot outside their cell again..it was truly heartbreaking
after such a morning neither nici or i felt up to much and to be honest all i wanted to do was forget what i saw, but it will stay with me forever..but thats only a small price compared to what the cambodian nation suffered..i know i keep talking about it, but honestly you need to visit this place and then you'll truly apprectiate everything you have in life, because your problems about having a bad hair day, or not getting enough sleep, or having to work will just put things in perspective..
the next day was spent wandering the city, buying more christmas presents for family and friends and generally taking it easy, and our last day in phomn pehn was even more laid back, we did nothing and when we tried to go for a walk to book our bus tickets we got yelled at by the guesthouse tuk tuk driver..if we walk he makes no money...even though it was JUST around the corner he actually drove after us up the road and made us get it...bless him
Immigration to Vietnam was surprisngly easy except when i got yelled at by the guard but that wasnt my fault..I WAS MISINFORMED! oh the injustice...the second you drive over the border you start to see almost normal landscape in form of concrete shacks instead of bamboo shacks and less naked kids running around, in fact none, and more motos cept everyone wears a helmet..the second we got of the bus we got harrassed by fucking taxi drivers one guy followed us BY FOOT to our hostel...loser and then this women who wanted us to stay at her guesthouse followed us INTO our hostel...what a weird way to start vietnam!
the dorm was BASIC and not the cleaniest place.but with money supplies dwindling it was a welcome relief to get a room in district 1, the tourist city centre..nici and i ate and drank at the famous and our local Go2bar where we met a very creepy weird American guy called Bob, who thankfully we lost...next morning we made friends with a guy in the room called Chris and hungout with him for a bit..i wasnt feeling the best so after a quick run through the market, where the vendors actually GRAB you to come look at their goods, i went for a well needed cat nap..in the evening we met with SHELAGH AND PETER!
how good was it seeing them after nearly 18months apart?! fantastic! i've known them for nearly 6-7 years and i swear they are like family..love them to death, so nici, shelagh peter and I drank lots of Saigon beer, my beer of choice in Vietnam and had a good catch up and discussed the perils of South East Asia..we bumped into the hostel guys later in the night and made our way back before we got locked at 1am..everything seems to close early compared to home
the next morning after a brunch breakfast, we went to the war museum that is simply the most horrific and shocking thing i've ever seen..im not going to sit and pretend to understand what happened with the vietnam war..but what the americans did to the cilivians is unspeakable, i actually couldnt look at all the photos..they were stomach turning...i know war drives men to do crazy things but my god, it was simply too much to take it after cambodia...those photos will haunt me for the rest of my life..
the rest of the evening was pretty casual after two big nights and after 4hrs of tossing and turning i got to sleep at 2am, waking at 5am..damn you snory man and malaria tablets!
we spent the next morning at the Chu Chi tunnels which were amazing to visit, i recommened the half day tour that Sinh Cafe organise, very cheap, plus you visit this amazing workshop where handicapped people make crafts, nici and I bought these amazing paintings from egg shell, getting to see them made by hand makes them worth more than the $19 i paid for mine...we spent the rest of the day hiding from the rain buying more xmas presents, on the internet and then had dinner with the guys from the dorms and a few drinks.
the essex boys- chris, bradley, Jay are awesome..great introduction to Vietnam hanging out with them, even if their taste in music is SHITE compared to mine ;)
now in a beach resort called Mui Ne, have no communication with the outside world, damn you phone service, so chilling out on the beach when its raining with Nici and Alistair from Oz whose we also met in Ho Chi Minh and travelled up this far with us
my fingers are hurting and people probably stopped reading long ago, so im going to say good evening vietnam!
C
The fields were alot smaller than I expected and actually not far from civilisation as I imagined they would be which is kind of disturbing considering what went on their, so close to fields that would have been worked on by farmers and families living near by..You go with a sense of dread and when you get there, you just have to calmness wash over you..you want to cry but all you can do is numbly walk around and pay respect to those that were innocently murdered here and those whose bodies where simply dumped here from S21 prison..the huge momument with the skulls was unreal..you can quite get your head around it, the share scale of how many were killed..i suppose to some, the 8,000+ bodies unearthered here probably seem like so little compared to the scale of war no a days, but its still horrifying whether its 20 bodies or 8,000..what went on in Cambodia for so long is just wrong and the fact that it still happens in this day and age is just numbing to the soul
The tuk tuk ride back nici and I were lost in thought and really didnt say much, what could you say after such a morning, and we still had the museum to visit..we passed by so many small shanty villages, just on the side of this main road, the smell of rubbish and dirt was unreal..i had to hold my breath through patches of it..seeing families living in such poverty really just kills your soul even more, and the fact they still smiled at us driving by, two white girls being driven in a tuk tuk..we got stared at, had a few guys on motorbikes do double takes, but we didnt care...these people have been through so much, so i didnt care if they were curious about us or the way we looked..i was just glad they seemed to be smiling and living their lives as best they could
entering the S21 prison in Phomn Pehn, there was a horribly disfigured man outside begging, i've never seen anything like it..the poor soul, it was quite the shock to be honest and i walked straight by without giving him money, something i regret ever since..the prison was huge, note it was once a secondary school until the khmer Rouge used it as a place to interrogate prisoners and execute them simply because they had the power to do so..we saw the rooms they were tied up and tortured, the photos of how the bodies were found, the blood stained walls..we then walked into a room with the photos of the 8956 people killed here..old men, young men, young women, old women, little boys and girls, babies..i think thats when it really kicked in, seeing the photo of a young mother with her new born baby, the look of hopelessness on her face..thats when the tears started for me...but i managed to push them aside and do the rest of the tour, which was so much information and soo many horrific photos..i cant even begin to describe..the worst part? the rooms where they locked up so many people, all crammed into such a small space, some had windows and outside was the ruins of a city, and coconut trees and grass and you could just see the freedom, knowing they would never set foot outside their cell again..it was truly heartbreaking
after such a morning neither nici or i felt up to much and to be honest all i wanted to do was forget what i saw, but it will stay with me forever..but thats only a small price compared to what the cambodian nation suffered..i know i keep talking about it, but honestly you need to visit this place and then you'll truly apprectiate everything you have in life, because your problems about having a bad hair day, or not getting enough sleep, or having to work will just put things in perspective..
the next day was spent wandering the city, buying more christmas presents for family and friends and generally taking it easy, and our last day in phomn pehn was even more laid back, we did nothing and when we tried to go for a walk to book our bus tickets we got yelled at by the guesthouse tuk tuk driver..if we walk he makes no money...even though it was JUST around the corner he actually drove after us up the road and made us get it...bless him
Immigration to Vietnam was surprisngly easy except when i got yelled at by the guard but that wasnt my fault..I WAS MISINFORMED! oh the injustice...the second you drive over the border you start to see almost normal landscape in form of concrete shacks instead of bamboo shacks and less naked kids running around, in fact none, and more motos cept everyone wears a helmet..the second we got of the bus we got harrassed by fucking taxi drivers one guy followed us BY FOOT to our hostel...loser and then this women who wanted us to stay at her guesthouse followed us INTO our hostel...what a weird way to start vietnam!
the dorm was BASIC and not the cleaniest place.but with money supplies dwindling it was a welcome relief to get a room in district 1, the tourist city centre..nici and i ate and drank at the famous and our local Go2bar where we met a very creepy weird American guy called Bob, who thankfully we lost...next morning we made friends with a guy in the room called Chris and hungout with him for a bit..i wasnt feeling the best so after a quick run through the market, where the vendors actually GRAB you to come look at their goods, i went for a well needed cat nap..in the evening we met with SHELAGH AND PETER!
how good was it seeing them after nearly 18months apart?! fantastic! i've known them for nearly 6-7 years and i swear they are like family..love them to death, so nici, shelagh peter and I drank lots of Saigon beer, my beer of choice in Vietnam and had a good catch up and discussed the perils of South East Asia..we bumped into the hostel guys later in the night and made our way back before we got locked at 1am..everything seems to close early compared to home
the next morning after a brunch breakfast, we went to the war museum that is simply the most horrific and shocking thing i've ever seen..im not going to sit and pretend to understand what happened with the vietnam war..but what the americans did to the cilivians is unspeakable, i actually couldnt look at all the photos..they were stomach turning...i know war drives men to do crazy things but my god, it was simply too much to take it after cambodia...those photos will haunt me for the rest of my life..
the rest of the evening was pretty casual after two big nights and after 4hrs of tossing and turning i got to sleep at 2am, waking at 5am..damn you snory man and malaria tablets!
we spent the next morning at the Chu Chi tunnels which were amazing to visit, i recommened the half day tour that Sinh Cafe organise, very cheap, plus you visit this amazing workshop where handicapped people make crafts, nici and I bought these amazing paintings from egg shell, getting to see them made by hand makes them worth more than the $19 i paid for mine...we spent the rest of the day hiding from the rain buying more xmas presents, on the internet and then had dinner with the guys from the dorms and a few drinks.
the essex boys- chris, bradley, Jay are awesome..great introduction to Vietnam hanging out with them, even if their taste in music is SHITE compared to mine ;)
now in a beach resort called Mui Ne, have no communication with the outside world, damn you phone service, so chilling out on the beach when its raining with Nici and Alistair from Oz whose we also met in Ho Chi Minh and travelled up this far with us
my fingers are hurting and people probably stopped reading long ago, so im going to say good evening vietnam!
C
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
phomn pehn, nearly running over a cow and lighting storms
the massage never happened..it took me that long to pack, then si and nici were on the phone for 2hrs, then we watched the lamest movie ever, then we had more pizza and a beer with Mot and then it was another nightless sleep thanks to the malaria tablets..
we rose this morning fairly chirpy at about 6.15am and checked out and made our way to our transport for the day, an airconditioned mini van that cost $10 to travel the 195km distance between siem reap and phomn pehn...we had strawberry flan cake type thing and bottled water for breakfast and spent the next 5hrs listening to a horn..let me explain
firstly there are no rules in fight club, oh wait no what i meant was there are no road rules in cambodia, cept you drive on one side and pass out on the other basically to oncoming traffice...80% of the traffic we saw today were motos aka motorbikes carrying families, monks, grannies, babies you get the idea and EVERY SINGLE TIME we passed one out which as about 5-10 every minute the driver BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPS his horn until we over take...now imagine that for 5hrs solid with oncoming traffic from the other direction just about missing hitting you...we had a few near misses until the cow that decided to saunter across as we were overtaking..thank god for seatbelts...nearest to a car crash i was ever in..crazy stuff!
im reading a great book on cambodia and beg anyone deciding to travel to this beautifully troubled country with so much to offer but so little leadership and rules, to read this book as it explains EVERYTHING from an american woman who lived here in 1998-1999 as a newspaper editor, she writes from the heart and this book has brought me a new found appreciation of Cambodia and its people..i read for 5hrs today through misty eyes and tears...and have totally fallen in love with the people and their culture and hope.
Cambodia now- Life in the wake of war- Karen J Oates.
right that aside, we have another great guest house run by an aussie and a canadian..clean, huge air con rooms with the best showers in phomn pehn, dont believe me check out www.hostelworld.com and read reviews..i had a yummy brunch of banana pancakes and then we went to sort out visas for vietnam..yes we had them sorted already but we have way to much time to kill in cambodia and need to get moving on already with such little time left before we come home, so we sent our passports of in the hands of the LUCKY LUCKY visa people, one stop shop for all visa needs- probably wont see the thing again..so until then we are in phomn pehn..
spent the day at the royal palace..yawn, not worth the $12 and then the museum $3..again yawn..nothing worth seeing, we stopped for share a small mexican dish and a cold corona..yes!! on the way home and stayed for nearly 3hrs talking to our new friend Rodney from Brisbane whose going to come hang out with us in ireland when he gets there in the new year
since we're trying to keep money and not drink too much we are on the net and callling home more to kill the time in the evening..plus i have a million photos to upload...blog and diary up to date..hopefully you're not all bored yet
tomorrow the killing fields and the genocide museum!
C
we rose this morning fairly chirpy at about 6.15am and checked out and made our way to our transport for the day, an airconditioned mini van that cost $10 to travel the 195km distance between siem reap and phomn pehn...we had strawberry flan cake type thing and bottled water for breakfast and spent the next 5hrs listening to a horn..let me explain
firstly there are no rules in fight club, oh wait no what i meant was there are no road rules in cambodia, cept you drive on one side and pass out on the other basically to oncoming traffice...80% of the traffic we saw today were motos aka motorbikes carrying families, monks, grannies, babies you get the idea and EVERY SINGLE TIME we passed one out which as about 5-10 every minute the driver BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPS his horn until we over take...now imagine that for 5hrs solid with oncoming traffic from the other direction just about missing hitting you...we had a few near misses until the cow that decided to saunter across as we were overtaking..thank god for seatbelts...nearest to a car crash i was ever in..crazy stuff!
im reading a great book on cambodia and beg anyone deciding to travel to this beautifully troubled country with so much to offer but so little leadership and rules, to read this book as it explains EVERYTHING from an american woman who lived here in 1998-1999 as a newspaper editor, she writes from the heart and this book has brought me a new found appreciation of Cambodia and its people..i read for 5hrs today through misty eyes and tears...and have totally fallen in love with the people and their culture and hope.
Cambodia now- Life in the wake of war- Karen J Oates.
right that aside, we have another great guest house run by an aussie and a canadian..clean, huge air con rooms with the best showers in phomn pehn, dont believe me check out www.hostelworld.com and read reviews..i had a yummy brunch of banana pancakes and then we went to sort out visas for vietnam..yes we had them sorted already but we have way to much time to kill in cambodia and need to get moving on already with such little time left before we come home, so we sent our passports of in the hands of the LUCKY LUCKY visa people, one stop shop for all visa needs- probably wont see the thing again..so until then we are in phomn pehn..
spent the day at the royal palace..yawn, not worth the $12 and then the museum $3..again yawn..nothing worth seeing, we stopped for share a small mexican dish and a cold corona..yes!! on the way home and stayed for nearly 3hrs talking to our new friend Rodney from Brisbane whose going to come hang out with us in ireland when he gets there in the new year
since we're trying to keep money and not drink too much we are on the net and callling home more to kill the time in the evening..plus i have a million photos to upload...blog and diary up to date..hopefully you're not all bored yet
tomorrow the killing fields and the genocide museum!
C
siem reap and moving on to phomn pehn
you know what i heard this morning? my first christmas song of 2008!! and i was soo excited and it was fairy tail of new york! now i know you are all probably sick to death of christmas songs at home, and with the weather being so miserable it probably feels christmasy...but here its like sunny and 36degrees and not very christmasy at all...so nici and i spent the morning buying more christmas presents! yes, we shopped until i could no longer stand the words "hey lady, lady you wanna try" "hey lady, lady come buy i give you good deal"
we must of heard that about 50 times this morning no lie! still havent had good enough internet service to upload photos so going to hold of doing that for a while..in the meantime blog will have to do and i know theres people reading this thing, i get emails telling me all the time..seems people are just too shy to comment, but go ahead comment, join me on my soap box!
yesterday was yet another temple day, our third temple day..we drove 80km to get to this temple and then had this "police officer"guide us through the ruins and instead of walking around, we climbed, walked in through all these secret places climbing up and over rocks..it was hard sweaty work let me tell you and cost us the pricely sum of $2.00
afterwards we drank some cold water at a local stall in the village and were invited to visit an orphange, which had about 16 full time kids and then local school kids who attended as day pupils..we couldnt afford to give a huge donation but gave something and when im finally back up on my feet financially will donate..if you wanna donate let me know and i'll give you the details, these kids are orphaned because of the khmer rouge genocide and civil war...heartbreaking that there's still some much suffering because of the countries history..
we stopped later at another local stall and grabbed some food and had about 10 kids come and try and sell us things..all we wanted was food and water...no scarves, no books, no dangly bird things..again money was handed over to some of the scheming kids who put a free flower ring on my finger without me noticing and then demanded money..damn you, and more money to another orphange..
all templed out, we headed back to the guesthouse and gave Mot our tuk tuk driver a hefty tip..he was speechless and confused, but it felt good to help him with his education..we rested up, headed to the internet and then to a local pizza place for non asian food..pizza and wine...and my did we have sore heads this morning, well i certainly did..not enough water to keep me hydrated..not used to drinking much alcohol anymore so i'm going to be a cheap date when i get home..
tomorrow we have an air conditioned mini bus picking us up at the guesthouse for $10 for the 5hr drive to phomn pehn and we have a guesthouse sorted..going to spend a few days visiting the killing fields, the genocide museum...delightful stuff eh, but i think to visit a country like cambodia you have to take the good with the bad and to appreciate it and the people more to understand its history this story needs to be told and this is why we've decided to go, no doubt it will be heartbreaking but whats a little heartache reading their stories, these people lived through it and still suffer because of it...
right heading back to the hostel for our first massage in asia! hard life i know!
keep on rockin
C
we must of heard that about 50 times this morning no lie! still havent had good enough internet service to upload photos so going to hold of doing that for a while..in the meantime blog will have to do and i know theres people reading this thing, i get emails telling me all the time..seems people are just too shy to comment, but go ahead comment, join me on my soap box!
yesterday was yet another temple day, our third temple day..we drove 80km to get to this temple and then had this "police officer"guide us through the ruins and instead of walking around, we climbed, walked in through all these secret places climbing up and over rocks..it was hard sweaty work let me tell you and cost us the pricely sum of $2.00
afterwards we drank some cold water at a local stall in the village and were invited to visit an orphange, which had about 16 full time kids and then local school kids who attended as day pupils..we couldnt afford to give a huge donation but gave something and when im finally back up on my feet financially will donate..if you wanna donate let me know and i'll give you the details, these kids are orphaned because of the khmer rouge genocide and civil war...heartbreaking that there's still some much suffering because of the countries history..
we stopped later at another local stall and grabbed some food and had about 10 kids come and try and sell us things..all we wanted was food and water...no scarves, no books, no dangly bird things..again money was handed over to some of the scheming kids who put a free flower ring on my finger without me noticing and then demanded money..damn you, and more money to another orphange..
all templed out, we headed back to the guesthouse and gave Mot our tuk tuk driver a hefty tip..he was speechless and confused, but it felt good to help him with his education..we rested up, headed to the internet and then to a local pizza place for non asian food..pizza and wine...and my did we have sore heads this morning, well i certainly did..not enough water to keep me hydrated..not used to drinking much alcohol anymore so i'm going to be a cheap date when i get home..
tomorrow we have an air conditioned mini bus picking us up at the guesthouse for $10 for the 5hr drive to phomn pehn and we have a guesthouse sorted..going to spend a few days visiting the killing fields, the genocide museum...delightful stuff eh, but i think to visit a country like cambodia you have to take the good with the bad and to appreciate it and the people more to understand its history this story needs to be told and this is why we've decided to go, no doubt it will be heartbreaking but whats a little heartache reading their stories, these people lived through it and still suffer because of it...
right heading back to the hostel for our first massage in asia! hard life i know!
keep on rockin
C
cambodia the story so far and the flight i want to forget
so in the end we opted for the more expensive, easier and "safer" option and flew to Cambodia from Bangkok on thursday..seeing the plane for the first time i had to laugh, it was one of those 30 seater propeller planes that looked like a hairdryer with wings..you had to be there..
now im a great flyer and traveller, i got get travel sick, im not scared of flying but as soon as I saw this plane i had that giddy something is going to go wrong feeling in my stomach and for a very good reason..we somehow managed to take off, considering the size of the thing and when boarding the planes two americans commented that the runway in cambodia was made of gravel..a joke, but still not the kind of thing you want to be hearing boarding this plane
so the flight is about 55mins to Siem Reap in Cambodia and its all relatively ok until i look out the window at the flashing lights which turns out to be a lighting storm about 5miles away at a guess..the sky lit up like the 4th of July every couple of minutes, it was amazing to watch but then the turbulance started and my stomach dropped more than a handful of times..and then i started praying..it was raining the plane was rocking and if wasnt for the fact that the ground was soo far away i might have enjoyed this rollercoaster type ride but we were a long way from home..practically knocked my free beer back in one and closed my eyes and started humming..
finally the runway was in sight and i was sure it was over, but no, we had to skid on landing, yes we skidded, not a big deal some might say, but it was pouring down with rain and we rocked back and forth until the pilot finally got control over the plane..my legs were like jelly for the rest of the evening
and so it began..cambodia..if you dont know anything about the history of this beautiful country, i say do some research im not going to sit here and lecture you but the suffering of this country and its history is just so sad and tragic and makes me wonder what took so long for someone to stand up to the Khmer Rouge, a genocide that killed 1.3 million people in 4 years between 1974-1979..im currently reading a book on life after the war in cambodia and it makes for depressing bedtime reading but its a story that needs to be told and examples need to be learnt..I thought reading the book on the Rwanda genocide killings were bad...anyway, learn something new today, google cambodia and appreciate what you have a little more
we got through customes and immigration with ease and even got welcomed and hands shaken by one of the officers, the only people on the plane that did..upon arriving there was a huge sign welcoming nici ward and we met Mot, our tuk tuk driver from the guesthouse...more about him later
driving through the puddle ridden roads, we drove by what felt like Fiji landscape except for the stretch of expensive western hotels..everything here is a shack made of bamboo, trees, tin roofs, some building concrete...in the town centre stands a few concrete buildings and neon lights but so far not one mcdonalds, kfc (although i saw a sign for one opening soon) subway etc..only seen a sign for one irish bar thank god but overall its a very undeveloped and poor city in comparrison to western cities, and even Bangkok which is very modern and developing
our guesthouse has a great staff who are very polite and friendly..we have a menu to chose from a HUGE room with double beds each and air con an a tv...no hot water but you dont need it here its soo warm
the next morning after breakfast Mot took us to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom..photos to follow when i get a better connection, these places are unreal and i honestly cant put the images into words without them losing justice so be patient and i''ll get some up soon..i warn you i took lots of photos..every time you stop at a temple ruin you have about 5-10 cambodian people all smiley and friendly shout "hey lady, pretty lady you want to buy scarf", only one dollar" as soon as you open your mouth the price goes up to about 10..you buy from one, they all come running up and expect you to buy from them all, and unfortunately as cheap as it sounds cambodia is one of the more expensive places in SE Asia for backpackers, so im watching my money and only buying silly things like postcards and magnets!
after that Mot took us to a village about 16km from Siem Reap which is basically on a lake, all floating shops, schools, houses barbers etc..we stopped in one shop and bought some pencils for the kids..as soon as you step on the boat you are pretty much signing up for anything and are expected to buy something for the local school which is perfectly fine i have no problem doing that, just the way they go about it...devious but it works
all the village is on water and during the dry season they pick up their homes and move to the best source of water..during wet season the lake could be as deep as 16km and dry season as low as 5km..we couldnt see from one side to the other, i thought we were out in the ocean!
everyone here has a moto, a small 5cc motorbike or a bike and kids of all ages are crammed onto these things with no helmets or anything to hang on to its crazy alot of them are walkign around naked too with no shoes on and happy as can be..its a simple life but they dont know any different so i guess this is why they''re so happy.
after such an action packed morning we went for some lunch with Mot and then back to the guesthouse for a cat nap..its soo warm and sticky over here the heat just drains the life out of you..later in the evening we went to a buffet dinner and watched some local music and dancing which was interesting, involving baskets and coconuts! my camera battery died so nici has those photos
day two in siem reap was more temples and more and more i think we covered nearly 30km today in ou r tuk tuk and each day nici and i pay for Mot's lunch and will be giving him a nice tip on monday when we leave hes a great guide with great english currently studying to be a tour guide and is learning spanish and italian as theres only 2 tour guides in siem reap who speaks italian and a dozen that speak spanish..smart kid and so happy..we've heard conflicting stories about his upbringing but despite what we've been told we coudnt have had a better guide and local to show us around
got back today after 3pm and after a cold shower went for a cat nap and now..well theres not much to do but read, sleep and eat..this is costing a fortune but wanted to let you know we are alive and in one piece!!
keep on rockin
c
now im a great flyer and traveller, i got get travel sick, im not scared of flying but as soon as I saw this plane i had that giddy something is going to go wrong feeling in my stomach and for a very good reason..we somehow managed to take off, considering the size of the thing and when boarding the planes two americans commented that the runway in cambodia was made of gravel..a joke, but still not the kind of thing you want to be hearing boarding this plane
so the flight is about 55mins to Siem Reap in Cambodia and its all relatively ok until i look out the window at the flashing lights which turns out to be a lighting storm about 5miles away at a guess..the sky lit up like the 4th of July every couple of minutes, it was amazing to watch but then the turbulance started and my stomach dropped more than a handful of times..and then i started praying..it was raining the plane was rocking and if wasnt for the fact that the ground was soo far away i might have enjoyed this rollercoaster type ride but we were a long way from home..practically knocked my free beer back in one and closed my eyes and started humming..
finally the runway was in sight and i was sure it was over, but no, we had to skid on landing, yes we skidded, not a big deal some might say, but it was pouring down with rain and we rocked back and forth until the pilot finally got control over the plane..my legs were like jelly for the rest of the evening
and so it began..cambodia..if you dont know anything about the history of this beautiful country, i say do some research im not going to sit here and lecture you but the suffering of this country and its history is just so sad and tragic and makes me wonder what took so long for someone to stand up to the Khmer Rouge, a genocide that killed 1.3 million people in 4 years between 1974-1979..im currently reading a book on life after the war in cambodia and it makes for depressing bedtime reading but its a story that needs to be told and examples need to be learnt..I thought reading the book on the Rwanda genocide killings were bad...anyway, learn something new today, google cambodia and appreciate what you have a little more
we got through customes and immigration with ease and even got welcomed and hands shaken by one of the officers, the only people on the plane that did..upon arriving there was a huge sign welcoming nici ward and we met Mot, our tuk tuk driver from the guesthouse...more about him later
driving through the puddle ridden roads, we drove by what felt like Fiji landscape except for the stretch of expensive western hotels..everything here is a shack made of bamboo, trees, tin roofs, some building concrete...in the town centre stands a few concrete buildings and neon lights but so far not one mcdonalds, kfc (although i saw a sign for one opening soon) subway etc..only seen a sign for one irish bar thank god but overall its a very undeveloped and poor city in comparrison to western cities, and even Bangkok which is very modern and developing
our guesthouse has a great staff who are very polite and friendly..we have a menu to chose from a HUGE room with double beds each and air con an a tv...no hot water but you dont need it here its soo warm
the next morning after breakfast Mot took us to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom..photos to follow when i get a better connection, these places are unreal and i honestly cant put the images into words without them losing justice so be patient and i''ll get some up soon..i warn you i took lots of photos..every time you stop at a temple ruin you have about 5-10 cambodian people all smiley and friendly shout "hey lady, pretty lady you want to buy scarf", only one dollar" as soon as you open your mouth the price goes up to about 10..you buy from one, they all come running up and expect you to buy from them all, and unfortunately as cheap as it sounds cambodia is one of the more expensive places in SE Asia for backpackers, so im watching my money and only buying silly things like postcards and magnets!
after that Mot took us to a village about 16km from Siem Reap which is basically on a lake, all floating shops, schools, houses barbers etc..we stopped in one shop and bought some pencils for the kids..as soon as you step on the boat you are pretty much signing up for anything and are expected to buy something for the local school which is perfectly fine i have no problem doing that, just the way they go about it...devious but it works
all the village is on water and during the dry season they pick up their homes and move to the best source of water..during wet season the lake could be as deep as 16km and dry season as low as 5km..we couldnt see from one side to the other, i thought we were out in the ocean!
everyone here has a moto, a small 5cc motorbike or a bike and kids of all ages are crammed onto these things with no helmets or anything to hang on to its crazy alot of them are walkign around naked too with no shoes on and happy as can be..its a simple life but they dont know any different so i guess this is why they''re so happy.
after such an action packed morning we went for some lunch with Mot and then back to the guesthouse for a cat nap..its soo warm and sticky over here the heat just drains the life out of you..later in the evening we went to a buffet dinner and watched some local music and dancing which was interesting, involving baskets and coconuts! my camera battery died so nici has those photos
day two in siem reap was more temples and more and more i think we covered nearly 30km today in ou r tuk tuk and each day nici and i pay for Mot's lunch and will be giving him a nice tip on monday when we leave hes a great guide with great english currently studying to be a tour guide and is learning spanish and italian as theres only 2 tour guides in siem reap who speaks italian and a dozen that speak spanish..smart kid and so happy..we've heard conflicting stories about his upbringing but despite what we've been told we coudnt have had a better guide and local to show us around
got back today after 3pm and after a cold shower went for a cat nap and now..well theres not much to do but read, sleep and eat..this is costing a fortune but wanted to let you know we are alive and in one piece!!
keep on rockin
c
bangkok to cambodia the journey continues
soo ive been sitting online for nearly two hours again today..can i just say for the record itunes is a piece of shit? well there I've said it but i dont feel better..
Simon was kind enough to send me a link to his extensive list of music for me to put onto my ipod after my mp3 player was stolen in Oz and I stayed up until 3am downloading about 10 albums only for itunes not to work with my ipod nano, fuck me i nearly went insane..so now ive kinda figured out the problem and have those albums on it lets hope this is the start of better things to come for my music connection while away
so yesterday we got up at stupid o clock also known as 6am for all you employed people and got in our private minivan bus from the hostel on a days adventure, first stop was the floating market just outside Bangkok, what a sight. We took a water canal boat around the houses near the market and saw how the locals lived their lives on the waterfront, washing clothes and delph in canal..a little further up we were taken off the boat to the floating market where you could actually walk around it or go by canal boat, now when we booked this day trip we thought the canal boat was included but alas it wasnt so instead of paying to float when my legs were capable of walking we kept the money to buy gifts and spent the morning wandering around the markets which werent anything special, same tourist stuff everywhere you go in thailand but it was fun to watch the local women and men trade from their canal boats and to cook food and sell it from the boat.overall the whole experience isnt what it no doubt used to be and tourism has totally taken away from this tradition not to mention the way of life, but ca la vie i supposse if it supports the local families around the area what difference does it make what i think.
next stop was an excursion to an elephant village, we had the choice of a snake farm, and im not afraid of snakes at all, in fact i had one around my neck in London Zoo when I was 4 but come on, not everyday you can go on an elephant ride now is it! What an experience, they are such gentle, and beautiful creatures, so elegant not to mention tall, our elephant was 15year ellie years which is about 3 human years and she took very good care of us..the poor thing was eaten alive by mozzies as were we, but she didnt even seem to notice, we even got to go through a mud water pool with her which was fun..
after such a wonderful exeperience it was time for lunch, which again was part of the trip..one of my favourite parts of the day was the air conditioned mini bus, it must have easily been 35degrees yesteday and sticky as hell no breeze just baking hot sun. We talked to our fellow tourists who were made up of a nice bunch, a yank, an aussie, another yank, nici and I and a chinese mother and daughter..after a healthy thai lunch? we went to a WWII POW museum and then to the now infamous death railway bridge, where hundreds of thousands POW built the bridge under the control of the Japanese forces during the war..it was quite a sight walking across the bridge and a little eerie
We finished the day with a visit to a tiger temple..history is, there was a temple and a monk guy and well all these animals got sick, were abandoned, lost their parents to poaching etc and the locals brought the animals to the monk for care and they basically grew up with human care and contact and he tamed a shit load of tigers who were on chains but very relaxed and friendly with humans as you can see in the photos and well thats a bout it, didnt get to see the temple you go for the tigers, boars, deer goats etc..very very weird experience, as you walk around to get your photos taken a thai girl holds your hand all the time..it was weird as i said
nici is suffering from a cold so had an early night and i drove myelf insane using itunes..today was a late start, and a day of chores including getting our vietnamese visas, eating lunch, going to the post office, sorting out flights and hostels and finally laundry which at 8pm is still not done and i doubt it will be tonight
we fly to cambodia tomorrow and cant go to vietnam until the 8th of november so lord knows where and what we'll do but flights are booked and bags need packing and i have an ipod to kick the shit out of!!
keep on rockin
C
Simon was kind enough to send me a link to his extensive list of music for me to put onto my ipod after my mp3 player was stolen in Oz and I stayed up until 3am downloading about 10 albums only for itunes not to work with my ipod nano, fuck me i nearly went insane..so now ive kinda figured out the problem and have those albums on it lets hope this is the start of better things to come for my music connection while away
so yesterday we got up at stupid o clock also known as 6am for all you employed people and got in our private minivan bus from the hostel on a days adventure, first stop was the floating market just outside Bangkok, what a sight. We took a water canal boat around the houses near the market and saw how the locals lived their lives on the waterfront, washing clothes and delph in canal..a little further up we were taken off the boat to the floating market where you could actually walk around it or go by canal boat, now when we booked this day trip we thought the canal boat was included but alas it wasnt so instead of paying to float when my legs were capable of walking we kept the money to buy gifts and spent the morning wandering around the markets which werent anything special, same tourist stuff everywhere you go in thailand but it was fun to watch the local women and men trade from their canal boats and to cook food and sell it from the boat.overall the whole experience isnt what it no doubt used to be and tourism has totally taken away from this tradition not to mention the way of life, but ca la vie i supposse if it supports the local families around the area what difference does it make what i think.
next stop was an excursion to an elephant village, we had the choice of a snake farm, and im not afraid of snakes at all, in fact i had one around my neck in London Zoo when I was 4 but come on, not everyday you can go on an elephant ride now is it! What an experience, they are such gentle, and beautiful creatures, so elegant not to mention tall, our elephant was 15year ellie years which is about 3 human years and she took very good care of us..the poor thing was eaten alive by mozzies as were we, but she didnt even seem to notice, we even got to go through a mud water pool with her which was fun..
after such a wonderful exeperience it was time for lunch, which again was part of the trip..one of my favourite parts of the day was the air conditioned mini bus, it must have easily been 35degrees yesteday and sticky as hell no breeze just baking hot sun. We talked to our fellow tourists who were made up of a nice bunch, a yank, an aussie, another yank, nici and I and a chinese mother and daughter..after a healthy thai lunch? we went to a WWII POW museum and then to the now infamous death railway bridge, where hundreds of thousands POW built the bridge under the control of the Japanese forces during the war..it was quite a sight walking across the bridge and a little eerie
We finished the day with a visit to a tiger temple..history is, there was a temple and a monk guy and well all these animals got sick, were abandoned, lost their parents to poaching etc and the locals brought the animals to the monk for care and they basically grew up with human care and contact and he tamed a shit load of tigers who were on chains but very relaxed and friendly with humans as you can see in the photos and well thats a bout it, didnt get to see the temple you go for the tigers, boars, deer goats etc..very very weird experience, as you walk around to get your photos taken a thai girl holds your hand all the time..it was weird as i said
nici is suffering from a cold so had an early night and i drove myelf insane using itunes..today was a late start, and a day of chores including getting our vietnamese visas, eating lunch, going to the post office, sorting out flights and hostels and finally laundry which at 8pm is still not done and i doubt it will be tonight
we fly to cambodia tomorrow and cant go to vietnam until the 8th of november so lord knows where and what we'll do but flights are booked and bags need packing and i have an ipod to kick the shit out of!!
keep on rockin
C
bangkok and feeling a tad homesick..i said a tad!
After spending all day yesterday pretty much in an internet cafe, some of you are probably wondering what I am doing online again
Let me explain, we have free internet, that works, in a hostel, with a good connection, and with facilities to upload photos, and its free, did i mention its free..oh and theres a tropical storm raging outside the hostel!
we left KL guest house at 7.15am this morning and made the trek to the airport which was pretty painless i have to admit as things go, cept maybe walking up hill with a 18kg bag on my back and two " hand luggage" bags too..inside the monorail was like inside a frickin freezer ask nici..i had goose bumps!
at the airport the wench, i mean the lady behind the check in desk charged us 90RM about 10cent for our bags due to luggage restrictions, meh and we had a weird chicken pastry for breakfast..i read the paper on the plane and felt very grown up catching up on the depressing events in the worlds economy..never a better time to be unemployed eh!?
now i must admit i was quite anxious about the plane, mainly because i had a dream the other day, i was flying on a red plane that crashed and the turbulence this morning on the flight really didnt help things, oh and the plane was red!..i was extremely happy when we reached Bangkok in one piece, minus the hearing in one of my ears, that popped and is now going to explode due to fluid build up..UNPOP damn you!
Bangkok, as soon as we left the arrivals area all I could smell was food, but there wasnt a food stall in sight, and then the offer of taxis and other services, IF WE WANT SOMETHING WE'LL ASK! if i say no thanks one more time i might throw up..the bus into the city centre was interesting to say the least..
the city is nice, not like the horror stories ive heard but we havent done too much exploring yet..its very rusty and old in parts and theres alot of brown and rusting colours and i dont mean that in a bad way, im just being observant..its like someone turned sprinkers on alot of the buildings and forgot to turn them off in time, everything is tinged brown and red, having said that theres alot of new stores and the "Grafton Street"and Oxford Streets of Bangkok, so im sure a bigger picture will unfold
we've only come this far to get visas for vietnam and will probably head to cambodia next and then vietnam, then laos and back to thailand before we venture home in december
we ate some good CHEAP food in s restaurant today, and wandered around the night markets...bargains galore! shoppers paradise!
tomorrow is nicis birthday! ripe old age of 21 again, and we are going to the markets again and maybe to a temple or two
maybe its the rain, or after been chatting to Mikey, John and Ciaran online or hearing from people back home, but im actually feeling a tad homesick?! ive only felt home sick once in NZ and then today, i suddenly wanted to be at home..i'll wake up tomorrow and be thinking, ha yeah right! but for now i am home sick..oh and i miss Con, go figure
ca la vie, could be worse, it could be raining like back home, oh wait it is!
keep on rockin
C
PS: Lindsey and Mikey E...hurry up and come to Asia and then ireland! Do as auntie caroline says!
Let me explain, we have free internet, that works, in a hostel, with a good connection, and with facilities to upload photos, and its free, did i mention its free..oh and theres a tropical storm raging outside the hostel!
we left KL guest house at 7.15am this morning and made the trek to the airport which was pretty painless i have to admit as things go, cept maybe walking up hill with a 18kg bag on my back and two " hand luggage" bags too..inside the monorail was like inside a frickin freezer ask nici..i had goose bumps!
at the airport the wench, i mean the lady behind the check in desk charged us 90RM about 10cent for our bags due to luggage restrictions, meh and we had a weird chicken pastry for breakfast..i read the paper on the plane and felt very grown up catching up on the depressing events in the worlds economy..never a better time to be unemployed eh!?
now i must admit i was quite anxious about the plane, mainly because i had a dream the other day, i was flying on a red plane that crashed and the turbulence this morning on the flight really didnt help things, oh and the plane was red!..i was extremely happy when we reached Bangkok in one piece, minus the hearing in one of my ears, that popped and is now going to explode due to fluid build up..UNPOP damn you!
Bangkok, as soon as we left the arrivals area all I could smell was food, but there wasnt a food stall in sight, and then the offer of taxis and other services, IF WE WANT SOMETHING WE'LL ASK! if i say no thanks one more time i might throw up..the bus into the city centre was interesting to say the least..
the city is nice, not like the horror stories ive heard but we havent done too much exploring yet..its very rusty and old in parts and theres alot of brown and rusting colours and i dont mean that in a bad way, im just being observant..its like someone turned sprinkers on alot of the buildings and forgot to turn them off in time, everything is tinged brown and red, having said that theres alot of new stores and the "Grafton Street"and Oxford Streets of Bangkok, so im sure a bigger picture will unfold
we've only come this far to get visas for vietnam and will probably head to cambodia next and then vietnam, then laos and back to thailand before we venture home in december
we ate some good CHEAP food in s restaurant today, and wandered around the night markets...bargains galore! shoppers paradise!
tomorrow is nicis birthday! ripe old age of 21 again, and we are going to the markets again and maybe to a temple or two
maybe its the rain, or after been chatting to Mikey, John and Ciaran online or hearing from people back home, but im actually feeling a tad homesick?! ive only felt home sick once in NZ and then today, i suddenly wanted to be at home..i'll wake up tomorrow and be thinking, ha yeah right! but for now i am home sick..oh and i miss Con, go figure
ca la vie, could be worse, it could be raining like back home, oh wait it is!
keep on rockin
C
PS: Lindsey and Mikey E...hurry up and come to Asia and then ireland! Do as auntie caroline says!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Singapore and Kula Lumpur
We set of last Sunday for the first stop in our last few months of travelling to SE Asia. Saying goodbye to Lindsey and Mikey was painful, our little family disbanding and saying goodbye to Con was hell...I have so much to look forward next year with him and with Linds and Mikey coming to Ireland but after travelling as a group for nearly 5 weeks together it was a horrible feeling Sunday morning, that stomach ache, knowing what was to come..but we made it through that part and on to our first stop, Singapore!
Now after a nearly 8hr journey including a 40min stop over in Darwin, totally unexpected we made it to Singapore in one piece. Flying in over Mayalasia was amazing, I swear I've never seen anything like it, all the land looks like its sinking and/or is under water AND the "trees/land" looked like green lego boards and I've never seen so many ships/oil tankers etc \, there were HUNDREDS! First song we hear arriving in Singapore...Samantha "I cant sell any tickets for my gigs" Mumba..ek!
The heat that greats you outside the airport at 8pm is about 27degrees and humid and sticky..we got a cab to Scottys place and had a lovely air conditioned apartment as home for the next few days..nici had an early night and scotty and I headed down by the water front for some good old fish n chips and a pint to relive our london days.
For those that dont know the fantastic Scotty shame on you..I met scotty about 2years ago or more now in London when he slept in our Chalk Farm flat for 2months when he arrived over from NZ. He kindly put us up in town and even arranged for us to travel to KL, for a few days..anyway I'll get to that later!
The next morning was electronic shopping where nici and I purchased Ipods- I got the new nano..woo..and a new camera..finally..after that we went to a Hawker Centre which is like an Asian fast food court and had some chicken and rice and a really horrible barley drink..ek!
Bellies full of food, we wandered around the city, where we saw the incredible Merlion, check out the photos..i walked into a fecking lampost while taking photos..nice new bruise on my thigh..later in the evening scotty treated us to our first Singaporean dinner where I had sweet and peppered prawns the guys had some sort of icky dessert..we were too tired from walking around all day let me tell you we walked EVERYWHERE and its soo hot and humid it just zaps your energy so we called it a night
Scotty had to work the next morning which gave nici and I plenty of time to go online and email friends, sort out our new electronic devices and gave us time to watch Juno, love that soundtrack..I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire etc etc
In the afternoon we headed to the postoffice where Nici had to send some stuff home and we stopped to the Banana Leaf Restaurant in Little India for great food which was served on a banana leaf..we honestly didnt do too much on day two for several reasons..scotty was up at 6am for work, the humidity was unbearable, and we'd planned to go out in the evening, but Scotty had alot of work to do and was willing to show us the city at night and work from 2am to 5am before we left for KL..which was very noble of him, but nici and I decided it was best for him to do his work and for us to get an early night before leaving early the next morning, so us ladies watched the new X Files movie, which was..meh!
An early start, we headed to a bus terminal for our "1st class" bus service as Scotty had told us about, he said we get lazy boy chairs, movies on demand, etc and we thought he was taking the piss, saying yeah cant wait to get into the Sauna in the bus and I hope it has a butler service or I'm not travelling with them...well turn me over and spank me pink!
It WAS 1st CLASS SERVICE ALL THE WAY BABY!! this bus upstair only fit 16 people as their really WAS LAZY boys, with eletronic controlled seats with built in massage functions, movies on demand in our own personal LCD screen, Video games, music shows, leg and foot rests that you can adjust electronically, there was a bus hostess as there would be an air hostess, downstairs had a conference room and a KARAOKE!!!!! room, i shit you not! we had the most awesome 5hr journey ever and I nearly didnt want to get of the thing..
stepping of the bus I thought I was standing in front of the engine exhaust as the heat was incredible, when the bus pulled away and the temperature didnt drop i realised I was going to suffer for 2 1/2 months! fuck me, the heat was incredible and it wasnt even sunny..we got conned by a taxi driver to the guest house, but with the amount of luggage and when you convert it back to euro, its worth like 10cent so we arrived and well, it was special! the room is clean, the beds comfortable. The balcony overlooks an alley way where I've seen rats and mice the size of trees outside the back of a restaurant, safe knowing we wouldnt be eating there!
We ventured out of the hostel in search of the Personas Towers, I probably spelt that wrong and on route found TGI Fridays, we were starved and needed food, what were we to do! The towers are daunting and huge and kinda scary and creepy looking, yet I couldnt stop looking at them, the sheer size of them alone is a wonder..we got our token tourist shots and wandered around the shopping centre underneath, mainly to escape the unbearable heat! after a day of wandering the city, we rested back at the guest house and decided to keep our night out for the next day
another early start, we went to the KL Communications towers and went to the viewing floor to have a look out over the city, KL is a city of extremes, rich and poor, dirty and clean..being white and being in Asia is almost like being a rock star, everyone especially the men dont look at you as much as glare at you..its unnerving at the beginning but you kind of get used to it after a while..i supposse its like having a pink elephant in the room, cept we arent pink elephants, although I might have put on a little wait..please dont comment on that!
we got a little lost but made out way to the Market in China town I do believe and to escape the rain and heat we had a BK Lunch, shut up already dad! the markets were amazing and we got some great buys, everything here bar alcohol is soo cheap, its crazy and this isnt even the cheapest part of Asia yet!
we went to a Mosque after to broaden our horizons where we were made wear robes and scarfs to respect the culture etc which was fine with us, plus it was raining so extra cover..wasnt much to see at the Mosque because we werent allowed into the building but the building itself was beautiful..the rain wouldnt go away so we went back to the guest house and chilled out with the air con on full..dinner later in the evening was at a Vietnamese Coffee shop where we all had Thai food, lots of drag queens around this area, Scotty wanted to take us to a bar at the top of a hotel he'd been to before, we jumped into a taxi and went as instructed and got into the lift at the hotel only to realise we were in the wrong hotel, and this place was a 5* hotel it was amazing, the hotel we needed had been a 3min walk from where we got into the taxi, so it ended up being the most expensive drink ever but was worth it..we sat outside on the roof, beside the pool, overlooking the Personas towers at night, with great cocktails..afterwards we headed to another bar where the first song we heard the band playing was "total eclipse of the heart" needless to say that fact and the fact it was ladies night and we got free JD's and coke and Jager shots meant we stayed there all night..wandered back to the guest house singing bonnie tyler at the top of our lungs
which leads us to now! Scotty has left for Vietnam, he's off visiting his beautiful girlfriend and that leaves Nici and I to fend for ourselves! we are planning the next part of our trip which sees us probably flying tomorrow from KL to Bangkok to get visas for Vietnam, and after thats sorted we are probably going to Cambodia first and then onwards to Vietnam, then Laos and back to Thailand for the last few weeks!
So much to organise and so much to do..and here I am chatting to you guys!
keep on rockin
C
Now after a nearly 8hr journey including a 40min stop over in Darwin, totally unexpected we made it to Singapore in one piece. Flying in over Mayalasia was amazing, I swear I've never seen anything like it, all the land looks like its sinking and/or is under water AND the "trees/land" looked like green lego boards and I've never seen so many ships/oil tankers etc \, there were HUNDREDS! First song we hear arriving in Singapore...Samantha "I cant sell any tickets for my gigs" Mumba..ek!
The heat that greats you outside the airport at 8pm is about 27degrees and humid and sticky..we got a cab to Scottys place and had a lovely air conditioned apartment as home for the next few days..nici had an early night and scotty and I headed down by the water front for some good old fish n chips and a pint to relive our london days.
For those that dont know the fantastic Scotty shame on you..I met scotty about 2years ago or more now in London when he slept in our Chalk Farm flat for 2months when he arrived over from NZ. He kindly put us up in town and even arranged for us to travel to KL, for a few days..anyway I'll get to that later!
The next morning was electronic shopping where nici and I purchased Ipods- I got the new nano..woo..and a new camera..finally..after that we went to a Hawker Centre which is like an Asian fast food court and had some chicken and rice and a really horrible barley drink..ek!
Bellies full of food, we wandered around the city, where we saw the incredible Merlion, check out the photos..i walked into a fecking lampost while taking photos..nice new bruise on my thigh..later in the evening scotty treated us to our first Singaporean dinner where I had sweet and peppered prawns the guys had some sort of icky dessert..we were too tired from walking around all day let me tell you we walked EVERYWHERE and its soo hot and humid it just zaps your energy so we called it a night
Scotty had to work the next morning which gave nici and I plenty of time to go online and email friends, sort out our new electronic devices and gave us time to watch Juno, love that soundtrack..I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire etc etc
In the afternoon we headed to the postoffice where Nici had to send some stuff home and we stopped to the Banana Leaf Restaurant in Little India for great food which was served on a banana leaf..we honestly didnt do too much on day two for several reasons..scotty was up at 6am for work, the humidity was unbearable, and we'd planned to go out in the evening, but Scotty had alot of work to do and was willing to show us the city at night and work from 2am to 5am before we left for KL..which was very noble of him, but nici and I decided it was best for him to do his work and for us to get an early night before leaving early the next morning, so us ladies watched the new X Files movie, which was..meh!
An early start, we headed to a bus terminal for our "1st class" bus service as Scotty had told us about, he said we get lazy boy chairs, movies on demand, etc and we thought he was taking the piss, saying yeah cant wait to get into the Sauna in the bus and I hope it has a butler service or I'm not travelling with them...well turn me over and spank me pink!
It WAS 1st CLASS SERVICE ALL THE WAY BABY!! this bus upstair only fit 16 people as their really WAS LAZY boys, with eletronic controlled seats with built in massage functions, movies on demand in our own personal LCD screen, Video games, music shows, leg and foot rests that you can adjust electronically, there was a bus hostess as there would be an air hostess, downstairs had a conference room and a KARAOKE!!!!! room, i shit you not! we had the most awesome 5hr journey ever and I nearly didnt want to get of the thing..
stepping of the bus I thought I was standing in front of the engine exhaust as the heat was incredible, when the bus pulled away and the temperature didnt drop i realised I was going to suffer for 2 1/2 months! fuck me, the heat was incredible and it wasnt even sunny..we got conned by a taxi driver to the guest house, but with the amount of luggage and when you convert it back to euro, its worth like 10cent so we arrived and well, it was special! the room is clean, the beds comfortable. The balcony overlooks an alley way where I've seen rats and mice the size of trees outside the back of a restaurant, safe knowing we wouldnt be eating there!
We ventured out of the hostel in search of the Personas Towers, I probably spelt that wrong and on route found TGI Fridays, we were starved and needed food, what were we to do! The towers are daunting and huge and kinda scary and creepy looking, yet I couldnt stop looking at them, the sheer size of them alone is a wonder..we got our token tourist shots and wandered around the shopping centre underneath, mainly to escape the unbearable heat! after a day of wandering the city, we rested back at the guest house and decided to keep our night out for the next day
another early start, we went to the KL Communications towers and went to the viewing floor to have a look out over the city, KL is a city of extremes, rich and poor, dirty and clean..being white and being in Asia is almost like being a rock star, everyone especially the men dont look at you as much as glare at you..its unnerving at the beginning but you kind of get used to it after a while..i supposse its like having a pink elephant in the room, cept we arent pink elephants, although I might have put on a little wait..please dont comment on that!
we got a little lost but made out way to the Market in China town I do believe and to escape the rain and heat we had a BK Lunch, shut up already dad! the markets were amazing and we got some great buys, everything here bar alcohol is soo cheap, its crazy and this isnt even the cheapest part of Asia yet!
we went to a Mosque after to broaden our horizons where we were made wear robes and scarfs to respect the culture etc which was fine with us, plus it was raining so extra cover..wasnt much to see at the Mosque because we werent allowed into the building but the building itself was beautiful..the rain wouldnt go away so we went back to the guest house and chilled out with the air con on full..dinner later in the evening was at a Vietnamese Coffee shop where we all had Thai food, lots of drag queens around this area, Scotty wanted to take us to a bar at the top of a hotel he'd been to before, we jumped into a taxi and went as instructed and got into the lift at the hotel only to realise we were in the wrong hotel, and this place was a 5* hotel it was amazing, the hotel we needed had been a 3min walk from where we got into the taxi, so it ended up being the most expensive drink ever but was worth it..we sat outside on the roof, beside the pool, overlooking the Personas towers at night, with great cocktails..afterwards we headed to another bar where the first song we heard the band playing was "total eclipse of the heart" needless to say that fact and the fact it was ladies night and we got free JD's and coke and Jager shots meant we stayed there all night..wandered back to the guest house singing bonnie tyler at the top of our lungs
which leads us to now! Scotty has left for Vietnam, he's off visiting his beautiful girlfriend and that leaves Nici and I to fend for ourselves! we are planning the next part of our trip which sees us probably flying tomorrow from KL to Bangkok to get visas for Vietnam, and after thats sorted we are probably going to Cambodia first and then onwards to Vietnam, then Laos and back to Thailand for the last few weeks!
So much to organise and so much to do..and here I am chatting to you guys!
keep on rockin
C
Thursday, October 2, 2008
no camera, no phone, no mp3 player- all that happened in between
i must have some luck I tell you..really...my phone broke a few weeks ago..now when i say MY phone, I mean the phone my dad lent me on this trip which basically works in any country..but alas one day it just decided not to charge anymore...neither of the batteries, so i am currently with a sim and no phone.
now my camera, my sweet, canon which i called bobo, had a little accident on frazer island on the last day, it dropped in the sand, in its case mind you, for ten seconds and sand got into the lens, long story short, no matter what we tried, Con even took the whole thing apart and put it back together it wouldnt work, so I brought it to a camera shop the other day and it just turned back on much to my surprise and the shop assistant, i might have squealed, anyway its still broken...the lens is back inside the camera and it cant focus on anything..so i am camera-less
cutest thing though, upset and depressed about my mp3 player we decided to watch a movie last night in our room, mikey, con, nici, lindsey and I..i wanted to make popcorn but Con wouldnt let me, said it would stink out the room..went back to the room, waited for Mikey and Lindsey to get there for the movie and the guys surprised me with popcorn from the cinema fresh for the movie..aww!!
and now..my mp3 player, with ALL my music, that took me weeks to collect prior to the trip..sigh....I left it behind in Cape Tribulation I even remember seeing it yesterday morning and must have left it on the bed, but when I rang the hostel, no one handed it in which means, someone stole it from our room after we checked out or the cleaner fleeced it...now here's something you dont know about my mp3 player...the day before on route to Cape Tribulation, the screen smashed, music still played but it needed a new LCD screen...i mean I really dont have any luck when it comes to electronical devices!
anyone that knows me knows the mp3 player and camera are in fact my left hand and my right hand so to say im devasted is only a fraction of how im feeling and yes im off to Singapore on Sunday, home to cheap electronics, but well I have a honking credit card bill needing paying and two half months left in Asia...sigh
right...enough of my moaning rant, if anyone would like to contribute to the "caroline needs new electronic devices for her trip" or CNNEDFHT for short, please reply to this blog!
right Australia, thats what I'm suppossed to be writing about...let's see last thing I talked about was Whitsundays?! jesus alot has happened since then..let me break it down like this!
Townsville- We had nearly a 6hr bus journey here after Whitsundays..and the bus was late..first time in 7 weeks so it wasnt too annoying..anyho..we checked into our hostel...they made a wrong booking for Con and I and gave us a double bed in a dorm, idiots! So hungry and needing a pint after being kooked up on a bus all day, we headed up and down the main street..which was deserted and found an overpriced Chinese restaurant..$14 dollar for a pot of chinese tea anyone?! after forcing the food into our hungry bellies, we headed to an irish bar, ive been to VERY few, and usually avoid them when abroad but the choice was limited, we had a few jugs of beer, played some strange canadian drinking games and made our way from here to another bar and another before heading to a nightclub called Bullys across from the hostel which smelt awful and was full of scum, one drink and one dance later we were all out of the club homeward bound, cept for Lindsey who was too busy falling OUT the door :)
Magnetic Island- Wow..what a place..slightly hungover and tired, we got a taxi to the ferry terminal and then a ferry to the island, what a sight, I felt like I was back in a more populated and foresty version of fiji...we headed to the IGA supermarket and stocked up on enough food to feed a small army of 5 plus Mikey :)
We then had to get a bus to our hostel up in the mountains, it was beautiful..little huts in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowwhere and there was soo much space..shortly after we arrived and explored we went to the beach for bit..jesus the water was so warm, 22 degrees but very muddy and dark?! I think its a volcanic island, anyway and that night we cooked up a steak storm and had a early night, obviously catching up from the night before...the next day after doing laundry, and a late morning we went off in search of the perfect beach for the day, and found a totall secluded one up over a mountain, which was quite the trek in 33degree heat..alas is was a nudist beach, but only one lone nude man far far far away from us and that was it...BEST SWIM OF AUSTRALIA on this beach, it was perfect...we ate a picnic of sandy sandwichs and fruit and headed back to the hostel for some more home made cooking and free jugs of beer where we were joined by some drunken locals..the view of the stars on this island was amazing, i almost cried...oh and not a SINGLE magnet on the island..weird eh?
Cairns- Next day, Nici, Con and I headed back to the mainland from Magnetic and caught a bus to Cairns which was never ending..lots of drunk people at the back smoking up a storm..poor nici! Lindsey and Mikey decided to hitch hike, left two hours AFTER us and arrived at teh same time! we checked into our hostel, the YHA, and got ready to head out for dinner..but I ended up staying in as Con turned a worringly shade of GREY and couldnt walk on his foot which he hurt a few weeks ago..the fact that he let me carry him home says it all!
Next day we explored the city which is kinda like a spanish/bryon bay/galway type of place..fairly laid back, full of drunken tourists, overpriced etc...chilled by the lagoon..had a mad session with Sheena, Mikey, Lindsey, Con and Nici, which involved us getting kicked out of a hostel bar, not ours, by the worlds biggest c*nT, sorry about the bad language dad, but this guy, the so called manager, was coked of his head and drunk and started attacking Con and Mikey and saying stuff about Mikeys mother..now ANYONE that knows Mikey, knows hes one of the coolest, must friendlist and fun people and would NEVER say anything to start a fight, well obviously this guy didnt like him, and started at mikey and saying all kinds of horrible stuff about his mother, Con stepped in and asked the guy to back off and then the pr*ck of a bar manager got in his face..and well I snapped, went outside put space between the w*nker bar manager adn the guys and calm as anything asked what happened, hs kept cursing at us and told us to leave and i said fine, got the boys outside and as I was going he started cursing and getting aggressive, i told him not to curse at me and which point he poked me in the chest and told me to get the fuck out...at this stage, i knew this guy was off his face and could/would do anything so I got the girls and headed out...lindsey was still inside because we had just bought drinks and he pushed her...he's soo lucky we werent inside to see this happening, the guys would have lost their cool at that action..but alas we all got out alive, a little shaken, it was still early in the night so we didnt want this asshole to spoil our night and we continued on out on our night and had a great time in the end..stay away from that place at all costs! Lindsey went to the cops and complained and they said this guy had the right to kick us out for no reason other than he had the power as manager! She made an offical complaint about the guy and the hostel bar and we found out many others had too!
next day was spent organising our stuff for Cape Tribulation, oh and Con brought me on a date to the cinema...its the simple things in life that I love, like popcorn..yum!
Cape Tribulation- Car packed with random clothing articles and food in our bellies, we set on the road for cape tribulation! which is NOT an island Lindsey ;)
anywho we had about a 2hr drive there with some stop offs at national parks and the likes, oh and an icecream factory where Con and Mikey ate chili chocolate icecream..morons!
we checked into our hostel which was really cool, set in the tropical rainforest..we stayed in huts and all around you could only hear the sounds of the rainforest, birds, crikets etc and you couldnt see the sky, these trees are hundreds of thousands of years old and go so far up you cant see the tops or the sky!
we cruised around the area in our rented car, listening to John Butler Trio and the like and booked some activities for the next few days..after dinner that night, we went on a jungle night walk, with a guy called Possum...the longest three hours of my life..it was pitch dark all around but we had torches, turn them off and you cant see your hand in front of you! saw way to many spiders for my likening, including huntsman and lots of them, but the worst part of the night, was when we were all looking up a tree at a mouse climbing it and I suddenly saw the BIGGEST, HAIREST spider of my life..it was FUCKING huge danging down from a web from the tree..directly OVER MY HEAD...well I screamed and ran back as far as I could and started crying..yes I cried, but Im deadly afraid of spiders..oh lord the shock of it all..i shook like a mouse..and it was Con's first time to see me cry...such a girly moment, luckily he understood how shaken I was and managed to get me back to the cabin in one piece..
later that night when we were alseep I heard rattling noises in the room right beside our bed..no glasses or contacts and no electricty at night time I couldnt see a thing and had to wake Con, turned out to be a mouse or rat the size of a cat..he got rid of that and a spider in the toilet at the same time..thank god I was still in bed or i would have had a heart attack..
we had a VERY early start of 6am to go sea kayakiing, what a wake up call, the water was freezing, so Con and I went together, Lindsey and Nici and Mikey solo..we had to kayak against the waves at 6.30am in freezing water, watching the sun rise..made it around some bends and turns onto a beach for a breakfast and break running around, hitting down coconuts and resting in a hammock, the kayak back was killer and by the end i was VERY glad to be back on dry land!
after that we rested back at teh hostel and went on a crocodile cruise, where we saw some of the biggest ones ive seen in my life...HUGE in this creek near the hostel...later that night we found out from adam out tour guide for the kayak, that a crocodile was in the water as we were coming onto the beach, Mikey got out of the canoe to bring it onto the beach adn there was a crocodile very near by watching him the whole time..scary stuff!
the last few hours in Cape Trib were spent, eating, reading and sleeping I slept, ALOT...
we drove back via another icecream place and Palm Cove for lunch before heading back to Cairns we we are now until Sunday
I've had the best time in Oz, such an amazing place, with amazing people..made friends for life with Nici Z, Tim, Mikey, Lindsey, met my new boyfriend Con, had lifetime experiences with my best friend, and saw some spectulare views and sunsets and sunrises...the Australian people and all the people I've met here have been fantastic...got to catch up with Joanne and Kommie and Rob..and generally felt at home..will defo be back to Oz...
only bad side was the cost..fuck its' the most expensive place ive ever been but worth every penny!
right longest blog ever..i have things to do and people to see!
Singapore on Sunday!
keep on rockin
C
Favourite things in Oz (no order)
1) Sydney & Blue Mountains- Jo and Kommie and meeting Dylan
2) Bryon Bay- Con, Lindsey, Surfing, Chilling
3) Whitsunday & meeting Mikey
4) Frazer (despite getting sick)
5) Magnetic Island
6) Cape Tribulation
7) 1770- just for the hostel
8) Coffs Harbour- fireplace and hot chocolate!
9) Australia Zoo
10) Noosa- relaxing
now my camera, my sweet, canon which i called bobo, had a little accident on frazer island on the last day, it dropped in the sand, in its case mind you, for ten seconds and sand got into the lens, long story short, no matter what we tried, Con even took the whole thing apart and put it back together it wouldnt work, so I brought it to a camera shop the other day and it just turned back on much to my surprise and the shop assistant, i might have squealed, anyway its still broken...the lens is back inside the camera and it cant focus on anything..so i am camera-less
cutest thing though, upset and depressed about my mp3 player we decided to watch a movie last night in our room, mikey, con, nici, lindsey and I..i wanted to make popcorn but Con wouldnt let me, said it would stink out the room..went back to the room, waited for Mikey and Lindsey to get there for the movie and the guys surprised me with popcorn from the cinema fresh for the movie..aww!!
and now..my mp3 player, with ALL my music, that took me weeks to collect prior to the trip..sigh....I left it behind in Cape Tribulation I even remember seeing it yesterday morning and must have left it on the bed, but when I rang the hostel, no one handed it in which means, someone stole it from our room after we checked out or the cleaner fleeced it...now here's something you dont know about my mp3 player...the day before on route to Cape Tribulation, the screen smashed, music still played but it needed a new LCD screen...i mean I really dont have any luck when it comes to electronical devices!
anyone that knows me knows the mp3 player and camera are in fact my left hand and my right hand so to say im devasted is only a fraction of how im feeling and yes im off to Singapore on Sunday, home to cheap electronics, but well I have a honking credit card bill needing paying and two half months left in Asia...sigh
right...enough of my moaning rant, if anyone would like to contribute to the "caroline needs new electronic devices for her trip" or CNNEDFHT for short, please reply to this blog!
right Australia, thats what I'm suppossed to be writing about...let's see last thing I talked about was Whitsundays?! jesus alot has happened since then..let me break it down like this!
Townsville- We had nearly a 6hr bus journey here after Whitsundays..and the bus was late..first time in 7 weeks so it wasnt too annoying..anyho..we checked into our hostel...they made a wrong booking for Con and I and gave us a double bed in a dorm, idiots! So hungry and needing a pint after being kooked up on a bus all day, we headed up and down the main street..which was deserted and found an overpriced Chinese restaurant..$14 dollar for a pot of chinese tea anyone?! after forcing the food into our hungry bellies, we headed to an irish bar, ive been to VERY few, and usually avoid them when abroad but the choice was limited, we had a few jugs of beer, played some strange canadian drinking games and made our way from here to another bar and another before heading to a nightclub called Bullys across from the hostel which smelt awful and was full of scum, one drink and one dance later we were all out of the club homeward bound, cept for Lindsey who was too busy falling OUT the door :)
Magnetic Island- Wow..what a place..slightly hungover and tired, we got a taxi to the ferry terminal and then a ferry to the island, what a sight, I felt like I was back in a more populated and foresty version of fiji...we headed to the IGA supermarket and stocked up on enough food to feed a small army of 5 plus Mikey :)
We then had to get a bus to our hostel up in the mountains, it was beautiful..little huts in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowwhere and there was soo much space..shortly after we arrived and explored we went to the beach for bit..jesus the water was so warm, 22 degrees but very muddy and dark?! I think its a volcanic island, anyway and that night we cooked up a steak storm and had a early night, obviously catching up from the night before...the next day after doing laundry, and a late morning we went off in search of the perfect beach for the day, and found a totall secluded one up over a mountain, which was quite the trek in 33degree heat..alas is was a nudist beach, but only one lone nude man far far far away from us and that was it...BEST SWIM OF AUSTRALIA on this beach, it was perfect...we ate a picnic of sandy sandwichs and fruit and headed back to the hostel for some more home made cooking and free jugs of beer where we were joined by some drunken locals..the view of the stars on this island was amazing, i almost cried...oh and not a SINGLE magnet on the island..weird eh?
Cairns- Next day, Nici, Con and I headed back to the mainland from Magnetic and caught a bus to Cairns which was never ending..lots of drunk people at the back smoking up a storm..poor nici! Lindsey and Mikey decided to hitch hike, left two hours AFTER us and arrived at teh same time! we checked into our hostel, the YHA, and got ready to head out for dinner..but I ended up staying in as Con turned a worringly shade of GREY and couldnt walk on his foot which he hurt a few weeks ago..the fact that he let me carry him home says it all!
Next day we explored the city which is kinda like a spanish/bryon bay/galway type of place..fairly laid back, full of drunken tourists, overpriced etc...chilled by the lagoon..had a mad session with Sheena, Mikey, Lindsey, Con and Nici, which involved us getting kicked out of a hostel bar, not ours, by the worlds biggest c*nT, sorry about the bad language dad, but this guy, the so called manager, was coked of his head and drunk and started attacking Con and Mikey and saying stuff about Mikeys mother..now ANYONE that knows Mikey, knows hes one of the coolest, must friendlist and fun people and would NEVER say anything to start a fight, well obviously this guy didnt like him, and started at mikey and saying all kinds of horrible stuff about his mother, Con stepped in and asked the guy to back off and then the pr*ck of a bar manager got in his face..and well I snapped, went outside put space between the w*nker bar manager adn the guys and calm as anything asked what happened, hs kept cursing at us and told us to leave and i said fine, got the boys outside and as I was going he started cursing and getting aggressive, i told him not to curse at me and which point he poked me in the chest and told me to get the fuck out...at this stage, i knew this guy was off his face and could/would do anything so I got the girls and headed out...lindsey was still inside because we had just bought drinks and he pushed her...he's soo lucky we werent inside to see this happening, the guys would have lost their cool at that action..but alas we all got out alive, a little shaken, it was still early in the night so we didnt want this asshole to spoil our night and we continued on out on our night and had a great time in the end..stay away from that place at all costs! Lindsey went to the cops and complained and they said this guy had the right to kick us out for no reason other than he had the power as manager! She made an offical complaint about the guy and the hostel bar and we found out many others had too!
next day was spent organising our stuff for Cape Tribulation, oh and Con brought me on a date to the cinema...its the simple things in life that I love, like popcorn..yum!
Cape Tribulation- Car packed with random clothing articles and food in our bellies, we set on the road for cape tribulation! which is NOT an island Lindsey ;)
anywho we had about a 2hr drive there with some stop offs at national parks and the likes, oh and an icecream factory where Con and Mikey ate chili chocolate icecream..morons!
we checked into our hostel which was really cool, set in the tropical rainforest..we stayed in huts and all around you could only hear the sounds of the rainforest, birds, crikets etc and you couldnt see the sky, these trees are hundreds of thousands of years old and go so far up you cant see the tops or the sky!
we cruised around the area in our rented car, listening to John Butler Trio and the like and booked some activities for the next few days..after dinner that night, we went on a jungle night walk, with a guy called Possum...the longest three hours of my life..it was pitch dark all around but we had torches, turn them off and you cant see your hand in front of you! saw way to many spiders for my likening, including huntsman and lots of them, but the worst part of the night, was when we were all looking up a tree at a mouse climbing it and I suddenly saw the BIGGEST, HAIREST spider of my life..it was FUCKING huge danging down from a web from the tree..directly OVER MY HEAD...well I screamed and ran back as far as I could and started crying..yes I cried, but Im deadly afraid of spiders..oh lord the shock of it all..i shook like a mouse..and it was Con's first time to see me cry...such a girly moment, luckily he understood how shaken I was and managed to get me back to the cabin in one piece..
later that night when we were alseep I heard rattling noises in the room right beside our bed..no glasses or contacts and no electricty at night time I couldnt see a thing and had to wake Con, turned out to be a mouse or rat the size of a cat..he got rid of that and a spider in the toilet at the same time..thank god I was still in bed or i would have had a heart attack..
we had a VERY early start of 6am to go sea kayakiing, what a wake up call, the water was freezing, so Con and I went together, Lindsey and Nici and Mikey solo..we had to kayak against the waves at 6.30am in freezing water, watching the sun rise..made it around some bends and turns onto a beach for a breakfast and break running around, hitting down coconuts and resting in a hammock, the kayak back was killer and by the end i was VERY glad to be back on dry land!
after that we rested back at teh hostel and went on a crocodile cruise, where we saw some of the biggest ones ive seen in my life...HUGE in this creek near the hostel...later that night we found out from adam out tour guide for the kayak, that a crocodile was in the water as we were coming onto the beach, Mikey got out of the canoe to bring it onto the beach adn there was a crocodile very near by watching him the whole time..scary stuff!
the last few hours in Cape Trib were spent, eating, reading and sleeping I slept, ALOT...
we drove back via another icecream place and Palm Cove for lunch before heading back to Cairns we we are now until Sunday
I've had the best time in Oz, such an amazing place, with amazing people..made friends for life with Nici Z, Tim, Mikey, Lindsey, met my new boyfriend Con, had lifetime experiences with my best friend, and saw some spectulare views and sunsets and sunrises...the Australian people and all the people I've met here have been fantastic...got to catch up with Joanne and Kommie and Rob..and generally felt at home..will defo be back to Oz...
only bad side was the cost..fuck its' the most expensive place ive ever been but worth every penny!
right longest blog ever..i have things to do and people to see!
Singapore on Sunday!
keep on rockin
C
Favourite things in Oz (no order)
1) Sydney & Blue Mountains- Jo and Kommie and meeting Dylan
2) Bryon Bay- Con, Lindsey, Surfing, Chilling
3) Whitsunday & meeting Mikey
4) Frazer (despite getting sick)
5) Magnetic Island
6) Cape Tribulation
7) 1770- just for the hostel
8) Coffs Harbour- fireplace and hot chocolate!
9) Australia Zoo
10) Noosa- relaxing
Sunday, September 21, 2008
1770 and WhitSunday!
How time flies when you are having the time of your life! Two weeks today I leave Australia for Asia and while I'm super exicted to see Scotty and visit all the other places on our trip..Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos etc I'm having such a great time here I dont want to leave, despite the fact its eating my money up like nothing else!
day im feeling ok, still not 100%, leaving Rainbow beach in about 45mins, Con is joining us today for a few weeks, heading to 1770 where we are staying in a gorgeous hostel/hotel called Southern Cross and then sailing on Whitsundays this weekend
1770..was amazing..well Southern Cross where we stayed was anyway..it was like being in the middle of an Australian Jungle staying in shacks..Con and I got a double and it was worthy of a 4 star resort..nice!
We didnt do too much, well Linds and Nici went surfing but still on the mend from being sick I didnt want to wear myself our before Whitsundays, so I went to the beach with Con, played some ping pong, some pool, went for walks and fed the dog my BBQ dinner!
We went out thursday night to the local pub and had drink vouchers which as starving backpackers we gladly accepted and had a great time, watching Con showing all the locals how to play real music and Lindsay even got up and played some shaking things or another!
We had an overnight bus to Airlie Beach which as always was uncomfortable and when we finally got here, I had to shave in public toilets because we had no hostel to check into, it was 6.30am and we were sailing that day! Finally met Mikey, Linds friend from home, who turned out to be a 19year nutter who we now love and have adopted on the trip...wandered around the town which is beautiful, kinda reminds me of Byron Bay and after a beer run made it to check in for the boat..what a beast it was compared to the others..we had a great boat called the altanis Clipper and after setting sail and getting talks from the crew who were beyond cool and friendly, we sat on deck, drinking beer and talking and spotting dolphins and whales in the waters beside us..as you do!
dinner was a home comfort of fish and mash pototoes..really good!...and beer of course..after dinner we sat again on deck and drank our merry hearts to the nights content...funniest part of the night was Lindsay on the floor rolling around trying to get signal!
Warmest room ever..what a horrible sleep...but fear not because the meds were working their magic and I was feeling better and better as the time went on..we spent the next morning on Whitehaven beach, splashing and swimming in the surf, lying on the sillicon sand, and then went for a walk to the look out point before we headed back to the boat for a lunch of salads, pastas and all that jazz!
afternoon we sun bathed, read, and listened to music, had a few more beers in the sweltering heat..think it was about maybe..27degrees? maybe hotter and then in the afternoon nici, lindsay, mikey and I went snorkelling, this place, Hooks point? or something wasnt as good as Fiji, but us well travelled women knew better..getting back on the boat, I could hardly wait to get off the thing again via the water slide..splash! did that a couple of times before i needed to get the salt water outta my hair..we lounged around some more on deck, played some checkers and ate muchines, and then it was dinner time, spag bol and garlic bread and salads..the crew are a lively bunch and happily played drinking games until the wee hours, but with limited beer left and not wanting to listen to the shite music they were playing on the top deck, lindsay, nici, Con and I stayed below deck blaring our music out of the speaker and generally haveing a laugh..stayed up late watching the stars before calling it a night
this morning went snorkelling again after breakfast, which was amazing today, infact better than fiji..brought an underwater camera but will have to upload them later..running outta steam here..now we are back on dry land after a morning of soaking up the sun..i need a shower and food before our big night out with the crew and the people off the ship..so ahoy my maties!
keep on rockin
C
day im feeling ok, still not 100%, leaving Rainbow beach in about 45mins, Con is joining us today for a few weeks, heading to 1770 where we are staying in a gorgeous hostel/hotel called Southern Cross and then sailing on Whitsundays this weekend
1770..was amazing..well Southern Cross where we stayed was anyway..it was like being in the middle of an Australian Jungle staying in shacks..Con and I got a double and it was worthy of a 4 star resort..nice!
We didnt do too much, well Linds and Nici went surfing but still on the mend from being sick I didnt want to wear myself our before Whitsundays, so I went to the beach with Con, played some ping pong, some pool, went for walks and fed the dog my BBQ dinner!
We went out thursday night to the local pub and had drink vouchers which as starving backpackers we gladly accepted and had a great time, watching Con showing all the locals how to play real music and Lindsay even got up and played some shaking things or another!
We had an overnight bus to Airlie Beach which as always was uncomfortable and when we finally got here, I had to shave in public toilets because we had no hostel to check into, it was 6.30am and we were sailing that day! Finally met Mikey, Linds friend from home, who turned out to be a 19year nutter who we now love and have adopted on the trip...wandered around the town which is beautiful, kinda reminds me of Byron Bay and after a beer run made it to check in for the boat..what a beast it was compared to the others..we had a great boat called the altanis Clipper and after setting sail and getting talks from the crew who were beyond cool and friendly, we sat on deck, drinking beer and talking and spotting dolphins and whales in the waters beside us..as you do!
dinner was a home comfort of fish and mash pototoes..really good!...and beer of course..after dinner we sat again on deck and drank our merry hearts to the nights content...funniest part of the night was Lindsay on the floor rolling around trying to get signal!
Warmest room ever..what a horrible sleep...but fear not because the meds were working their magic and I was feeling better and better as the time went on..we spent the next morning on Whitehaven beach, splashing and swimming in the surf, lying on the sillicon sand, and then went for a walk to the look out point before we headed back to the boat for a lunch of salads, pastas and all that jazz!
afternoon we sun bathed, read, and listened to music, had a few more beers in the sweltering heat..think it was about maybe..27degrees? maybe hotter and then in the afternoon nici, lindsay, mikey and I went snorkelling, this place, Hooks point? or something wasnt as good as Fiji, but us well travelled women knew better..getting back on the boat, I could hardly wait to get off the thing again via the water slide..splash! did that a couple of times before i needed to get the salt water outta my hair..we lounged around some more on deck, played some checkers and ate muchines, and then it was dinner time, spag bol and garlic bread and salads..the crew are a lively bunch and happily played drinking games until the wee hours, but with limited beer left and not wanting to listen to the shite music they were playing on the top deck, lindsay, nici, Con and I stayed below deck blaring our music out of the speaker and generally haveing a laugh..stayed up late watching the stars before calling it a night
this morning went snorkelling again after breakfast, which was amazing today, infact better than fiji..brought an underwater camera but will have to upload them later..running outta steam here..now we are back on dry land after a morning of soaking up the sun..i need a shower and food before our big night out with the crew and the people off the ship..so ahoy my maties!
keep on rockin
C
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Noosa Heads, Rainbow Beach, Frazer Island and heading to 1770
so let me start my blog by stating i am offically sick :(
however all my limbs are intact, i can still walk and talk and a positive attitude will make it go away :)
i had to go to the doc's this morning, i dont feel sick except from my shoulders up..have a nasty glandular infection that the doc thinks could be early stages of glandular fever, but cant get blood tests at teh moment because im on the move but b/c my other glands arent swollen or causing any problems he thinks i might be ok and the antibotics im on will keep everything as it should be..fingers crossed.
anyway now thats all sorted for now..Noosa was great, didnt do too much, slept alot, being sick explains why i was tired, played alots of pingpong..ate food, walked into the town, went to the beach etc..
we left Noosa and travelled by Greyhound, our home on wheels to Rainbow Beach, we got a great dorm with some great people, Nici Z, Tim, Becky and Lizzy and of course Nici W, Lindsay and I were there..thats a given..
after packing our small backpacks for Frazer, we had our "chat" with the people from Frazer about the trip..my lord can that guy Merv talk, ha I've got nothing on him..after that we went to the shops to get some munchies as they werent provided..and then there was the beer list...
10 in our group, included all the above people, Arnold a 34year old Frenchie, and a crazy German couple, she needs to work on her voice projections! Either that or the woman had her period, she went from hot to cold in seconds, and frankly scared me a little and she was TINY!!
After a $5.00 BBQ at the hostel and a shower we all had an early night and woke around 6am to finish packing, dressing and getting our pancake breakfast..we had to check out and start loading up the van with all the stuff provided..water coolers, tents, sleeping bags, table, gas cooker, fruit, bread, wraps, oils, tea etc..you get the idea..out of the 10 of us we had 5 drivers, nici w and I were not driving because well we cant..yet...
we had another 2 1/2 hr debriefing while packing up the jeep, then we had to do a jeep inspection, a debrief on the island and what to do if faced by a pack of Dingoes..they are native to this island and roam freely..not tame, wild animals, not petting or feeding..no baby eating etc..
after what seemed like 10+ hrs we were finally on the road on route for our barge that brought us to the island, which for those who dont know, its the worlds largest sand island..and unfortunately due to giant killer jelly fish and riptides you cant swim in the ocean :(
after a 10min barge crossing we made it onto dry,sandy land and proceeded what was to be about a 2hr drive up the beach on route to Lake McKenzie..we found the spot, stopped and had a picnic lunch of strange meat, vegetable sandwichs, followed by a piece of fruit each..how very school lunch box...peeing in one of the only toilets we saw for two days, we trasped our way through dense forest to lake McKenzie..beautiful land, with white sandy beaches and forest surrounding it...Nici Z made a beeline for the water running and throwing herself in..inspired I did the same and thankfully I did because the water was fucking FREEZING! remember its spring in Australia at teh moment, and yes its super duper warm like 25-26 degrees at the moment but the waters havent quite warmed up
other joined in and we played with Wilson, our beach ball in the water..until a tide took it out far into the lake, I swam after it, but theres this HUGE MASSIVE black patch of water that stretches across the lake and quite frankly it scared the shite outta me..i kept thinking a giant squid was going to jump to the surface and eat me, but obviously this didnt happen and arnold saved the day..woo!
we packed up and sped our way to our campsite for the night, we have to travel between high and low tides and had less than an hour to get to the campsite before we were swept out to sea..it was quite the adventure.. (insert Immigration Song- by Led Zeppellin here)
finding a spot, we all helped out in taking down the equipment, set up tents, gas cookers etc and proceeded to start cooking our steak dinner in next to no light, the only light was from the car and the full moon..meaning cooking steak wasnt as ABC as it normally is..we followed with dessert of Lemingtons from Nici Z and Tim and drank merrily an ate "cookies" and had a great time talking shite, listening to music and being tourists...
we finished the first day with a walk down to the ship wreck on the island which I can tell you now is VERY spooky after a few beers etc...and with a full moon it certainly looked the part...not much sleep was had that night, mainly because that was the start of me getting sick
we woke and had breakfast of eggs and toast, packed up and made our way to the very end of the island to Champagne Lakes, which we couldnt find, it was a swelter of a day and after giving up looking, we decided to drive back to Eli Creek and go for a swim there...and we made it in record time DESPITE, suffering from a punctured tire...my first ever..THANKS NICI Z for the experience :)
Eli Creek was this cool creek as you;d expect that if you have some sort of floatation device you can float from the start of the creek to the ocean..but I'd heard stories about people floating down the water, mouths open and spiders dropping into them..so I wore Tims hat and put a towel over my head..safety first!
we raced against time again to buy ice, find a toilet and get to camp before the tide came in, and in record time had dinner of asian stirfry and cake for desert..happy birthday becky! we sat around telling ghost stories and playing drinking games minus the drinks...due to needing to pee alot and having to pee in the bush, with dingoes wandering around not to mention spiders
unfortunately at this time my glands were getting worse and i headed to bed..a few mins after which a spider came running across the tarp we'd been sitting on, glad I went to bed early
next morning after a toast and cereal breakfast we ignored the low/high tide warning adn drove to find Lake Wably..or whatever its called...it was a scorcher of a day and we needed to jump into some cold water..and wadda know..the 1.8km walk turned into 2.4km walk over SAND DUNES and a forest, I've never seen soo much sand in my life..ok, you know in Waynes world II when they were on the sand dunes with the naked indian during the dream sequence? well think of those sand dunes, but minus the naked indian..the heat was unbearable cant imagine what it would have been like during Oz summer time
we eventually found the lake, on route sand got into my camera and its broken, less than 4 months old, let's not talk about it im very pissed of...it was another beautiful lake and holy fuck it was freezing cold and deep..after a refreshing swim and finding our way back..eventually we got back in the jeep and made our way to the barge, on the way we stopped to watch some dolphins casually swimming nearby...got back had to clean the jeep out, then check back into the hostel, do laundry etc..but because i was sick, Linds and Nici kindly took care of all that bless them, everyone was very good taking care of me...great new friends were made...
today im feeling ok, still not 100%, leaving Rainbow beach in about 45mins, Con is joining us today for a few weeks, heading to 1770 where we are staying in a gorgeous hostel/hotel called Southern Cross and then sailing on Whitsundays this weekend...
until then, keep on rokin'
C
however all my limbs are intact, i can still walk and talk and a positive attitude will make it go away :)
i had to go to the doc's this morning, i dont feel sick except from my shoulders up..have a nasty glandular infection that the doc thinks could be early stages of glandular fever, but cant get blood tests at teh moment because im on the move but b/c my other glands arent swollen or causing any problems he thinks i might be ok and the antibotics im on will keep everything as it should be..fingers crossed.
anyway now thats all sorted for now..Noosa was great, didnt do too much, slept alot, being sick explains why i was tired, played alots of pingpong..ate food, walked into the town, went to the beach etc..
we left Noosa and travelled by Greyhound, our home on wheels to Rainbow Beach, we got a great dorm with some great people, Nici Z, Tim, Becky and Lizzy and of course Nici W, Lindsay and I were there..thats a given..
after packing our small backpacks for Frazer, we had our "chat" with the people from Frazer about the trip..my lord can that guy Merv talk, ha I've got nothing on him..after that we went to the shops to get some munchies as they werent provided..and then there was the beer list...
10 in our group, included all the above people, Arnold a 34year old Frenchie, and a crazy German couple, she needs to work on her voice projections! Either that or the woman had her period, she went from hot to cold in seconds, and frankly scared me a little and she was TINY!!
After a $5.00 BBQ at the hostel and a shower we all had an early night and woke around 6am to finish packing, dressing and getting our pancake breakfast..we had to check out and start loading up the van with all the stuff provided..water coolers, tents, sleeping bags, table, gas cooker, fruit, bread, wraps, oils, tea etc..you get the idea..out of the 10 of us we had 5 drivers, nici w and I were not driving because well we cant..yet...
we had another 2 1/2 hr debriefing while packing up the jeep, then we had to do a jeep inspection, a debrief on the island and what to do if faced by a pack of Dingoes..they are native to this island and roam freely..not tame, wild animals, not petting or feeding..no baby eating etc..
after what seemed like 10+ hrs we were finally on the road on route for our barge that brought us to the island, which for those who dont know, its the worlds largest sand island..and unfortunately due to giant killer jelly fish and riptides you cant swim in the ocean :(
after a 10min barge crossing we made it onto dry,sandy land and proceeded what was to be about a 2hr drive up the beach on route to Lake McKenzie..we found the spot, stopped and had a picnic lunch of strange meat, vegetable sandwichs, followed by a piece of fruit each..how very school lunch box...peeing in one of the only toilets we saw for two days, we trasped our way through dense forest to lake McKenzie..beautiful land, with white sandy beaches and forest surrounding it...Nici Z made a beeline for the water running and throwing herself in..inspired I did the same and thankfully I did because the water was fucking FREEZING! remember its spring in Australia at teh moment, and yes its super duper warm like 25-26 degrees at the moment but the waters havent quite warmed up
other joined in and we played with Wilson, our beach ball in the water..until a tide took it out far into the lake, I swam after it, but theres this HUGE MASSIVE black patch of water that stretches across the lake and quite frankly it scared the shite outta me..i kept thinking a giant squid was going to jump to the surface and eat me, but obviously this didnt happen and arnold saved the day..woo!
we packed up and sped our way to our campsite for the night, we have to travel between high and low tides and had less than an hour to get to the campsite before we were swept out to sea..it was quite the adventure.. (insert Immigration Song- by Led Zeppellin here)
finding a spot, we all helped out in taking down the equipment, set up tents, gas cookers etc and proceeded to start cooking our steak dinner in next to no light, the only light was from the car and the full moon..meaning cooking steak wasnt as ABC as it normally is..we followed with dessert of Lemingtons from Nici Z and Tim and drank merrily an ate "cookies" and had a great time talking shite, listening to music and being tourists...
we finished the first day with a walk down to the ship wreck on the island which I can tell you now is VERY spooky after a few beers etc...and with a full moon it certainly looked the part...not much sleep was had that night, mainly because that was the start of me getting sick
we woke and had breakfast of eggs and toast, packed up and made our way to the very end of the island to Champagne Lakes, which we couldnt find, it was a swelter of a day and after giving up looking, we decided to drive back to Eli Creek and go for a swim there...and we made it in record time DESPITE, suffering from a punctured tire...my first ever..THANKS NICI Z for the experience :)
Eli Creek was this cool creek as you;d expect that if you have some sort of floatation device you can float from the start of the creek to the ocean..but I'd heard stories about people floating down the water, mouths open and spiders dropping into them..so I wore Tims hat and put a towel over my head..safety first!
we raced against time again to buy ice, find a toilet and get to camp before the tide came in, and in record time had dinner of asian stirfry and cake for desert..happy birthday becky! we sat around telling ghost stories and playing drinking games minus the drinks...due to needing to pee alot and having to pee in the bush, with dingoes wandering around not to mention spiders
unfortunately at this time my glands were getting worse and i headed to bed..a few mins after which a spider came running across the tarp we'd been sitting on, glad I went to bed early
next morning after a toast and cereal breakfast we ignored the low/high tide warning adn drove to find Lake Wably..or whatever its called...it was a scorcher of a day and we needed to jump into some cold water..and wadda know..the 1.8km walk turned into 2.4km walk over SAND DUNES and a forest, I've never seen soo much sand in my life..ok, you know in Waynes world II when they were on the sand dunes with the naked indian during the dream sequence? well think of those sand dunes, but minus the naked indian..the heat was unbearable cant imagine what it would have been like during Oz summer time
we eventually found the lake, on route sand got into my camera and its broken, less than 4 months old, let's not talk about it im very pissed of...it was another beautiful lake and holy fuck it was freezing cold and deep..after a refreshing swim and finding our way back..eventually we got back in the jeep and made our way to the barge, on the way we stopped to watch some dolphins casually swimming nearby...got back had to clean the jeep out, then check back into the hostel, do laundry etc..but because i was sick, Linds and Nici kindly took care of all that bless them, everyone was very good taking care of me...great new friends were made...
today im feeling ok, still not 100%, leaving Rainbow beach in about 45mins, Con is joining us today for a few weeks, heading to 1770 where we are staying in a gorgeous hostel/hotel called Southern Cross and then sailing on Whitsundays this weekend...
until then, keep on rokin'
C
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Nimbin, losing my mind, surfers paradise, brisbane and Noosa
Saturday came Nimbin day, a day I was looking forward too and dreading at the same time..Nici, Lindsey, Con and I jumped upon the original hippie tour bus that was Jim's Nimbin Tour and what a "trip" it was...holy lord...it was like going back in time...Jethro Tull, Pink Flyod...not to mention the hippies, the druggies, the bright colours, the cookies with the smarites...I've already said too much, but lord anyone whose been there will know what I'm talking about..Tim Tams, Nachos, Pizza and Con saved me..I feel alseep the second we got back for 2hrs solid and woke up the Con playing the drums with my head...
Sunday was more recovery from Nimbin lounging around Byron, soaking up the good weather and eating, and the rest of the week panned out like that...Lindsey, Nic and I had dressed up and gotten ready for Ladies night, but Cheeky Monkey was being refurbished..the blind cheek of them..pun intended
it was with sad and heavy hearts we left on Thursday driving up through torrential rain to "Surfers Paradise" which was NOT what I expected..think Costa De Sol or the Algarve...not very Aussie at all...high rise building, beaches, McDonalds and Hungry Jacks aka Burger King, lots of drunk tourists, I wanted to be back in Byron :(
We solidered on and got caught in torrential downpours buying dinner...it was followed by an early night and the next day the weather still wasnt great so it was laundry and wandering around the shops with no money..shoplifting is NOT A FUN GAME KIDS no matter how bored you get!!
Saturday we had an action packed day thanks to Cliff? at the hostel who signed us up for the Hostel pub crawl that evening- more to come on that later- and we went to Wet n Wild..no queues at this time of the year and we'd done about 15 of the 17 rides in 2hrs, after lunch we got lazy, lay in the sun and made our way back to the hostel, via a pub garden while Cliff went for a swim..an afternoon siesta made us all very sleepy but because we'd already paid for our night out we had to drag our asses outta bed and i consumed what was a questionable "salamai" sandwich for dinner and some of nici's noodles..ii miss REAL food..
the night started with goon punch, which we didnt pay for...hehehe...and then onto a bus full of drunken boys..ratio 80% guys to girls, we were given glow sticks and cowboy hats and thats when i got scared..WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD THEY PLAY!??!?
The bus brought us to our first bar, called well i cant recall, we got free entry and a free drink and lindsey made friends with a guy from Toronto, nici and I befriend two young scraps all the way rfom CASTLEBAR MAYO!!
Next we were dragged for a group photo in the middle of the street full of drunken tourists, hen and stag nights...i needed to wash my hands after all those hi-fives...and after that to a club that reminded me of bozos..shit music and sticky carpets! oh and strobe lights, arent those out of fashion?
we consumed free pizza and vokdas and bought a couple more, before moving on to the 3rd bar of the night, mind you it was only about 11.45 at this stage, we started out at 8.30...the 3rd place shooters, was free as was the other places and again another free drink...thing were ok here, until some guy thought it was funny to grope you while you walked past to go to the bathroom..ASSHOLE!
nici, linsdey and I decided to call it a night around 1.15am and got into a cab and away from this hell...i must be getting old, but i wasnt in the mood to get groped and annoyed by drunk people...
the next day we ate some well needed breakfast and headed to the beach to meet our new Mayo friends, Kevin and brian...BUNDY BURGER!
us ladies high tailed it back to the hostel for some grub and I had an early night..what the hell is wrong with me? I blame Con, even though he's not here..nici and I left the next day for Brisbane and had to say goodbye to Linds for now ;)
Brisbane is a cool city..all the music is happening at weekends and later in the month so i was quiet disappointed..but we had a very early start the next day so after wandering the city and eating SUPER cheap mexican food for dinner had another early night..nici watched Bones with me for the first time ;)
We went to Oz zoo, the one owned by Steve Irwin, his presence there is still huge and you hear and see him everywhere which is a nice tribute to a man that built it up to what we see today..there's not alot of animals..mostly Australian, but they have elephants, camels and tigers...raawwrr and we got to see a croc show
today we spent the day, posting stuff home, running/waddling for a bus, nearly missed it, THANKS VERY MUCH BRISBANE TRAIN SERVICES...GRRR...and arrived in the stunningly beautiful and super posh Noosa Heads, where we are staying for a few days..lindsey gets here tomorrow and Con and Bobo are on the road Tuesday to catch up..hope to get some surfing tomorrow as it didnt happen today
and now ya'll are up to date on my travels..just need to sort out photos..im getting there!
keep on rokin'
C
Sunday was more recovery from Nimbin lounging around Byron, soaking up the good weather and eating, and the rest of the week panned out like that...Lindsey, Nic and I had dressed up and gotten ready for Ladies night, but Cheeky Monkey was being refurbished..the blind cheek of them..pun intended
it was with sad and heavy hearts we left on Thursday driving up through torrential rain to "Surfers Paradise" which was NOT what I expected..think Costa De Sol or the Algarve...not very Aussie at all...high rise building, beaches, McDonalds and Hungry Jacks aka Burger King, lots of drunk tourists, I wanted to be back in Byron :(
We solidered on and got caught in torrential downpours buying dinner...it was followed by an early night and the next day the weather still wasnt great so it was laundry and wandering around the shops with no money..shoplifting is NOT A FUN GAME KIDS no matter how bored you get!!
Saturday we had an action packed day thanks to Cliff? at the hostel who signed us up for the Hostel pub crawl that evening- more to come on that later- and we went to Wet n Wild..no queues at this time of the year and we'd done about 15 of the 17 rides in 2hrs, after lunch we got lazy, lay in the sun and made our way back to the hostel, via a pub garden while Cliff went for a swim..an afternoon siesta made us all very sleepy but because we'd already paid for our night out we had to drag our asses outta bed and i consumed what was a questionable "salamai" sandwich for dinner and some of nici's noodles..ii miss REAL food..
the night started with goon punch, which we didnt pay for...hehehe...and then onto a bus full of drunken boys..ratio 80% guys to girls, we were given glow sticks and cowboy hats and thats when i got scared..WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD THEY PLAY!??!?
The bus brought us to our first bar, called well i cant recall, we got free entry and a free drink and lindsey made friends with a guy from Toronto, nici and I befriend two young scraps all the way rfom CASTLEBAR MAYO!!
Next we were dragged for a group photo in the middle of the street full of drunken tourists, hen and stag nights...i needed to wash my hands after all those hi-fives...and after that to a club that reminded me of bozos..shit music and sticky carpets! oh and strobe lights, arent those out of fashion?
we consumed free pizza and vokdas and bought a couple more, before moving on to the 3rd bar of the night, mind you it was only about 11.45 at this stage, we started out at 8.30...the 3rd place shooters, was free as was the other places and again another free drink...thing were ok here, until some guy thought it was funny to grope you while you walked past to go to the bathroom..ASSHOLE!
nici, linsdey and I decided to call it a night around 1.15am and got into a cab and away from this hell...i must be getting old, but i wasnt in the mood to get groped and annoyed by drunk people...
the next day we ate some well needed breakfast and headed to the beach to meet our new Mayo friends, Kevin and brian...BUNDY BURGER!
us ladies high tailed it back to the hostel for some grub and I had an early night..what the hell is wrong with me? I blame Con, even though he's not here..nici and I left the next day for Brisbane and had to say goodbye to Linds for now ;)
Brisbane is a cool city..all the music is happening at weekends and later in the month so i was quiet disappointed..but we had a very early start the next day so after wandering the city and eating SUPER cheap mexican food for dinner had another early night..nici watched Bones with me for the first time ;)
We went to Oz zoo, the one owned by Steve Irwin, his presence there is still huge and you hear and see him everywhere which is a nice tribute to a man that built it up to what we see today..there's not alot of animals..mostly Australian, but they have elephants, camels and tigers...raawwrr and we got to see a croc show
today we spent the day, posting stuff home, running/waddling for a bus, nearly missed it, THANKS VERY MUCH BRISBANE TRAIN SERVICES...GRRR...and arrived in the stunningly beautiful and super posh Noosa Heads, where we are staying for a few days..lindsey gets here tomorrow and Con and Bobo are on the road Tuesday to catch up..hope to get some surfing tomorrow as it didnt happen today
and now ya'll are up to date on my travels..just need to sort out photos..im getting there!
keep on rokin'
C
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