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
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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
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