The World Tour

Crazy Italians...

2007-09-07T10:05:00.001-07:00

So I had another relaxing day poolside and there is not much to report. I did however join the water aerobics class again and I must say the most enthusiastic Italian older gentleman also took part in the daily exercise. He was in good shape, grey hair and a great euro tan...

This man was serious about his workout. He really seemed to give it his all, breathing hard, jumping extra high adding that extra oomph that all aerobics teachers love to see. It was most amusing when we all faced each other in a circle and had our hands on our hips and basically had to gyrate our hips. Now this man, serious faced of course was staring intently at each of the ladies in the class... he made sure to make eye contact with every one. Now I thought it was a funny coincidence that his 'workout face' seemed a little more bedroom like given the movement we were doing... however, the next exercise proved telling. We were to put our arms in front of us and simply lift them up in the air and always extended, down into the water. Now as I said before this guy gave it a little extra each time so he added jumping back and forth... so here is this man now grinning with a cheeky expression, every so often raising his eyebrows with pride, breathing hard, eye contact with the ladies, jumping back and forth with his arms going up and pulling down to his hips... he had a grin that simply said "hey ladies, this is what I am like in the sack!" It was by far the high light of my day... granted all I do is sit by the pool....but it was still worth a thousand laughs!

A crazy cat lady indeed

2007-09-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

After a very long train journey from Genoa to Verona, then to a bus to get to the airport I was fortunate enough to have 5 hours in the Verona Airport. Let's change the fortunate to unfortunate. I had to leave so much time because trains in Italy are never dependable, mine was one hour late... but I was actually hoping for more!

The airport was small, loud and everything pretty much closed at 11 pm with my flight being at 1 am. None the less, after a very cramped flight (slept the entire way- even through the Zanzibar landing, fuel recharge and take-off) I made it to Kenya! What a wonderful arrival! Upon leaving the airport to find the African Safari representatives, they found me! He knew exactly who I was... I still wonder how?! It was quite refreshing because I had the nastiest flight attendant in the world... how can you be nasty to someone who slept the entire time? Like I was supposed to know I have to unbuckle my seat belt during re-fuel time... it's still a mystery to me, why on earth would you have to? If it is that dangerous deboard us!

Wow. Kenya gets a huge rating thus far on my travels. Perhaps a number two at this point but could soon jump ahead. I am staying at a 5 star hotel, remember this is a 3rd world country though... so think 3 1/2 stars by harsh US standards. The grounds are incredible and the place looks like a bigger version of my dads old hotel. I swear, when sitting pool side one would think they are the same. There are huge palm trees all over, thieving monkeys that come poolside and the friendliest staff. It is situated on Shanzu beach and I have been fortunate enough to receive a sea and pool (the pool is beautiful) view!

I should mention on the drive over to the hotel I saw a lot of the locals. They seem to be craftsmen in wooden furniture, it again reminds me so much of Costa Rica. There are women that actually balance sacks on their heads, dressed in beautiful traditional clothing and a lot of pineapple and sugar cane vendors.

The food is so-so at the place, but it is getting better. They have had amazing fish at every meal, fresh as could be... so I just stick to that. Against advisement I have been eating raw vegetables... but I have been fine. The bread pudding with custard sauce (I allowed myself one tasting) was top notch, not that I am an expert, but I love the stuff!

On day one I took a walk on the beach. I have been warned about the "beach boys", they basically try and sell you excursions and as my friend Chris suggested they want to get in your panties as well. I met a nice beach boy, a rasta man as he called himself and he invited himself on my walk. I actually didn't mind the company as he was extremely informative on the different creepy crawlies in the sea and about Kenya's liberation (it was in 1962 or 1963- he changed the date, I wonder how credible he is?!). We saw many sea urchins,which he has never tried... crazy! A sea worm which is the ugliest thing I have ever seen and some other common crustaceans.

Day 2- mostly poolside and a late wake up. My air con was broken and a nice maintenance man named James fixed it for me. He offered to take me to Lamu and to traditional villages... but I fear I have brought on a stalker... staying away from him and the beach boy. I promised Zia Silvana no falling in love with the pool boy and I think they both fall into this category!

Day 3- I managed to wake up in time for coffee, so I didn't have to pay an insane 2 euros for an espresso! I quickly went poolside and relaxed for a minute when I realized water aerobics was starting! I joined right in- it was a good laugh. I felt like Dirty Dancing... you know with all the goofy activities at the resort... now where is my Patrick Swazey, nah I want the one from Havana Nights ;)

The amazing thing about Kenya is the weather- or at least for this time of year. The sun is insanely hot, but the temperature is not scorching. Above all the constant breeze is spectacular! It has made sitting by the pool even easier... is that possible?! Also, the clouds drift by very quickly, one minute it looks like complete over cast and the next a clear blue sky!

As this is a resort, there are mostly couples here. I have spent the whole time by my lonesome and I am loving it! It is the first time this entire trip that I have spent more than 1 day alone- that is 10 months of constant attachment. I love it! I will say that I take an hour or more to get ready for dinner, and I dress to the nines! It has been really fun, putting myself together perfume and all, and enjoying my own company! I think people are a little curious about me as I have gotten some stares from different couples... but it makes the below even funnier...

As I was sitting outside the restaurant after dinner, enjoying the breeze a cat (there are tons of stray cats) sat next to me... then another came, and another. I was not only alone, now I am the crazy cat lady. Brent and P you get 'spinster' out of your heads this instant!

I have one more day here till I head out on safari... can't Wait to tell you all about it! Oh and I am taking malaria pills... Chris also scared the daylights out of me with his malaria warnings. But I am on daily ones which are not as strong as the weekly ones I was on before... so no crazy dreams so far!

A big skip...

2007-09-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

I am skipping July and August so you can have up to date status! Promise to get to them eventually as they have been some of the best...jam packed with my family! Poland, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Italy to come... for now onto Africa!

Another painful day and enjoyable evening...

2007-08-30T10:11:00.001-07:00

I suppose I went out a lot in Beijing making up for early nights in Shanghai.

Amy and I awoke, once again I felt like crap. We went to the Pizza place directly in front of Poacher's for some solids. Yummy- it was actually really good!

I ventured out of the main part of the city to Amy's house to hang out in air con and to watch a girly movie. We had a lazy day filled with more unknown Chinese food and laying around. She came back to my place so I could get ready. We had a date that evening with Nick Anson, a friend of Ben's that I met in NY, and his friend Caroline that was visiting from England.

Nick got the scoop from a co-worker on what was to be a really great restaurant. We all expected a really great Chinese place, but upon arrival we realized it was Russian establishment with a show!!! The place was smoke filled and had large rowdy parties awaiting the acts! We did not know what to expect as we looked around and saw the motel like paintings hanging on the walls with tasseled shades that hung low over every table. I once again found myself in a completely surreal situation; I never expected this in China!

As we ate our steaks, some dancers came out. We had a salsa number, a samba, some belly dancing, some god knows what and more god knows what... but rest assured each time a set of dancers came out they were wearing less and less clothes- I think the last had on thongs with a little tube top of sorts. Thanks Nick, no really thanks. It was wonderfully hysterical and only slightly awkward!

The four of us jumped in a cab and Nick directed us to a part of town with really nice bars that surround a lake. This is by far the nicest place in China. At the entrance of this lake/ bar area were hundreds of sober Chinese people line dancing. It was the oddest image I have ever seen. They were terrible, but seemed to be having fun despite none of them smiling.

The bars were all upscale and very posh. A lot had singers or cover bands playing and many had seating by the lake. We went to a couple but ended up staying in one bar most of the time playing a crazy dice game that obviously involved drinking. I did not do very well and could never explain the game to you, I quite frankly don't even think I understood it very well!

Nick and I wanted to go clubbing but both Amy and Caroline were tired so we called it a night. It was great catching up with Nick and I saw a part of Beijing I otherwise wouldn't have.

The next day the four of us met up again and went to the silk market. I love this place!!!!! It is a multi level in door market that sells everything your heart could desire. It is the mecca of knock offs. The only way to shop here is to negotiate the price. I had been warned to cut the price by 75%. Amy and I had the best system down... we got prices below what we had originally asked for at first request. We were killing them... or so it seemed, clearly if they sold it to us they were still making a profit... but I bought to pair of eye glass frames for 200 quay- the woman originally asked for 860. Woohoo! I wish they did this in the US. The key was to act totally disinterested like you don't even want anything.

The funniest part of the experience though is how these vendors try and get your attention and the entire interaction. Some of their phrases are unbelievable! As Amy and I were walking down one hallway, stall after stall of overcrowded merchandise and swarms of vendors... each one would try and grab you and scream out to you. My favorite line was "Hey sexy lady, sexy lady" I had an entire hallway screaming that to me.. sexy lady sexy lady... My face turned bright red as I tried to dodge each and every one of them. Another quotable line is when we would low ball a price and the lady would scream " we are friend, don't make me angry!" The place is quite an experience. Nick seemed like the man with three ladies on his side, but after a couple of hours Caroline was tired so they went home.

It was my last day in Beijing, Amy and I grabbed some coffee and a bite to eat and called it a day. Actually, it was my last day in China. I was ready to leave!

This needed an entry of its own...

2007-08-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Go back to yesterday... after my nap, before meeting up with Leon and Amy I was getting ready. Now this entails explaining the bathrooms. There is a bathroom for men and one for women. They had two stalls in the women's, one with a western toilet and the other a hole in the ground. The one sink was outside of the stalls, right near the door to the hallway that remained open, with a big mirror in front and terrible lighting, but the best in the place. There was a separate room down the hall for showering, but that's not important.
I was standing in front of the mirror, as I explained, basically in the entry for the bathroom. I was wearing a dress, had my make-up on and was doing my hair... when along came a spider! Well, not a creepy crawly spider more like a creep!
This old middle eastern looking, short, fat man stopped at the entry (not even half a meter from me). He had the cheekiest grin on his face that was anything but cute, as he stared at me through the mirror.
I finally turned and looked at him and politely said hello without being too friendly... it was more of a warning that I was aware of his staring at me. He asked me some ridiculous questions about where I was from and who I was there with (according to him I had a man waiting for me), but that didn't seem to faze him. I had my arms up because I was doing my hair and as I was pulling my hair tighter to my scalp, this man pokes my bare underarm as he, trying to use a cute voice, says: "You are naked under there!"
AAAHHHHH!!!!
What?! What?! I just looked at him, straight faced, but LORD did I want to laugh!!I kindly told him to never touch me again, I even said please. He tried to say the same line again, but I just looked at him and shook my head... he didn't get more than a syllable out. He looked down, sad and said have a good night and walked off... that was the last I saw of him. FREAK!
Why do these things happen to me?!

A great wall indeed

2007-08-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Leon and I set off very early for our ride to the Great Wall. Feeling like death, I slept the entire way there. As fun as it was, it was a big mistake going out the night before. We stopped to eat before climbing and got ripped off beyond belief. NEVER EVER eat at the Great Wall.

The Great Wall is one of my favorite tourist sites to date. I completely felt like I was in a time machine, being brought back to the 7th and 8th century when it was constructed. I walked a good deal of it, but I found it more enjoyable to sit on it and stare out into the mountains. The Wall is over 6700 kilometers long and truly seems never ending as it winds up and through the forest covered mountains. It is a complete wonder how they built it. Apparently the man power consisted of soldiers, prisoners and locals.

I found a nice spot on the wall, where I could lean back against it and face the length of it as it swirled up hill. Leon kept on walking, but I just sat there for over an hour picturing old warriors standing guard, protecting their land from nomadic tribes...it really brings you to another place. I was happy we spent the extra money to go to that area. I recommend anyone going to do the same, there were not many people and it aided in absorbing it's greatness and created a wonderful experience.

Having only a few hours sleep we were even more tired on the way back. I once again fell asleep, this time resting my head on Leon's lap and I had him rub my head the entire (couple of hours long) ride back. Thanks Leon!

After a long nap I met up with Leon and Amy again. We had dinner at the same Thai place and Amy and I decided to hit the strip afterward. After a few misses, I led her to Blu bar and we got there while it was still pretty empty. We followed the only cute guys in the place to the backroom... but they seemed only interested in playing pool. We sat on the couches pretty bored to be honest but glad to be rid of Leon... we wanted a girls night out! Somehow we struck up conversation with this Chinese girl that was visiting from another city. She was one of the sweetest people I have met, but Amy and I got the feeling she might like us in a different way than we liked her. Anyhow, we all danced the night away and I seemed to bounce from one nice guy to the next! I met many great guys that night as the place grew packed.

As we were talking to two eastern european guys, I turn around and there is Leon! It was a little creepy, but lets just say startling. Apparently he decided to come out after all. Amy and I continued to meet guys and dance, but decided to leave soon after the sighting. While Leon was a nice guy, he was just too much at times, this being one of them- you should see his reaction when he doesn't like the juice served to him, completely over dramatic and ridiculous, but it was one of the funniest and most embarrassing moments.

Amy and I made it to the street and noticed the 'strip' was packed with people. As we got closer to them we realized they were all young teenagers. We were quite confused about why they were still out and why they could drink, but more annoyed that we had to deal with them. It was time for home and Amy was going to be my overnight guest, but we stopped for water first at a street vendor. This warrants its own paragraph!

We stopped at this young guys cart- it looked like one of those ice cream freezers, but filled with drinks. He had some older men around him, sitting on the stoop by him. I think they got a kick out of all the young kids hanging about. As I was handing him the money, I noticed he was staring at my breasts. Now I have to chime in here and say that this was nothing new. In China people not only stared at my chest but some pointed and laughed and others would make exclamations, with big smiles and thumbs up. So this water vendor, picture a skinny inexperienced 18 year old.... is staring at my chest with the biggest grin on his face. His older buddies are definitely talking about them and making the kid giggle further and hesitates handing me the water. Now I was a little tipsy, perhaps I would have seen this coming if I weren't... but as his buddies are coaxing him or seem like it at least, he hands the waters to Amy, all the meanwhile still looking at my chest or turning back to his buddies... when suddenly, he grabs my boobs! I am not talking about a cheap quick feel... but a full on grab, squeeze and super glue clutch! Amy bursts out laughing, my jaw drops as laughter pours out and I grab the money I had given him and whatever gesture I made, made it clear that I would not be paying for the waters. In the end I think he got the better deal... I have never seen anyone so happy before- it clearly was a huge triumph for him.

It was enough excitement for the evening, Amy and I went to bed... I may have been staying in a dump, but the two beds were really coming in handy!

Forgetful city...

2007-08-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

I finally got a flight to Beijing and made it there with no problems. I had just finished reading a book, Mr. Nice, that I traded in at some hippy cafe in Lijiang. The book is an autobiography about one of the biggest hash smugglers in the world. It was an easy read and quite humorous, but I found him to be a little self indulgent and didn't quite believe the fact that he didn't blame the CIA agent who caught him in the end and busted his 'loads' numerous times- In the end I highly recommend this book. The reason why I tell you I read this book is because I became slightly paranoid about drug smuggling! Silly I know... but we all saw that Claire Danes movie where she got locked up in a Thai prison.
The Chinese girl that I met in the room, however nice she was, for some crazy reason I concocted the thought that she may have put something in my luggage as she had complete access to it (I don't use locks, is someone wants to steel something they can cut a back pack open). She had suggested a hostel for me to stay at in Beijing and for this reason, I did not.
I instead listened to Harry and Yuin- Poacher's Inn was to be my new home. Yuin warned me that it was not the nicest place, basic amenities with a shared bathroom, but right in the heart of the night life scene... seemed like a great option to me!
Poacher's in was in an interesting area. It did not seem like much in the day time- there was a new shopping center, not huge but a few stories tall. There were some really cool boutique's in there and had I not been on a budget, I could have done some damage! The stores along the street were all small locally owned convenient (or random)stores, some restaurants and tiny bars. There was a bigger building too and what I discovered the next night is that it had a lot of bars upstairs... it was random and hard to describe. It was a massive block of a building with barely any windows... there were two separate sets of tiny small staircases that lead to the bars each on it's own floor. Looking at the building you would never guess there were bars in it.
I found Poacher's Inn down an alley way. Across from it was a Pizzeria that looked quite nice. Poacher's Inn on the other hand, not so much. There were some Nigerian guys checking in, so I had to wait my turn. I of course had not booked ahead of time or checked on availability, but I had no problems as of yet. While I was waiting one of the Nigerians struck up a conversation. His name was Bobby and he lived in Beijing dealing with exporting clothing and was there checking in his co-workers, or so he said. I checked in and had to go to the third floor with my 26 kilo suitcase and no lift. Bobby to the rescue! Bobby was so very kind to not only bring up my bag to the third floor, walk me to my room, but also came into my room and suggested I stay at his two bedroom home instead. Bobby also made sure to give me his number in case I changed my mind.
The room was smelly, dirty, had no TV and was some of the worst accommodation I had yet. I walked around that evening but returned to bed pretty early. That evening in mid sleep the phone rang- yes it was Bobby. Apparently he took note to my room number too... I politely declined to meet him out.
I woke up early the next morning and had my free breakfast-no coffee, what's the point?! I walked to a very cute coffee place and sat at a table near not only westerners, but the only two other people in the place. I needed some new friends. One I recognized,we had said a few words to each other in the hostel- his name is Leon (from England). He had just met a girl that moved to Beijing days earlier and new no one- she is Amy and is from Columbus, Ohio. I somehow managed to start a conversation with them (that means eaves drop till you can contribute or laugh with them at something in their conversation, chime in with a witty line and after the banter ask them a question about sight seeing- works every time).
I was invited/ tagged along to the Forbidden city with them. I thought it was completely overrated. I was not impressed in the slightest. I far prefer the temples and Buddhas that were with the three pagoda's in Dali. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was not that. Granted we did not do a tour, but I would have liked to have understood more about the life there. We saw a clock exhibit, they were some of the tackiest pieces I have ever seen. I also expected there to be more gardens on the grounds, but there weren't. Leon agreed, it was a disappointment- totally forgettable!
We decided to walk to around the area and find a place to eat. We heard there were local neighborhoods that had little whole in the wall eateries and we wanted to find the most famous of those neighborhoods. We walked for miles, passing up, in what my opinion, were really great local choices. We were exhausted, dehydrated (we all know how I feel about that) and starving so we went to the next place we saw. We somehow ordered, some dishes were good and some were not.
Amy went home as Leon and I returned to good old Poacher's. We both napped and met up for dinner. Before going to dinner we decided to coordinate a trip to the great wall for the following morning. We actually ended up going to the hostel that the Chinese girl in Beijing suggested. Man was I stupid! The place was really nice and had a lot of fun activities to do and programs coordinated. For ease we decided to get a private car and driver to take us to the less visited area of the Great Wall. It was to pick us up at 8am.
For dinner we went to a Thai place, shared a bottle of wine and had a fantastic meal. It was one of the best I had in weeks! We decided to venture out to a bar even though we had morning plans. We went to that strange building and found the Club Blu. We had another bottle of wine,danced a bit and called it a drunken night. For fear of not waking up, Leon stayed in my room... stop, I had two beds and you better believe we slept separately!

That's what the rice bombs were for!

2007-08-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

That night I lay in bed reading and wondering what the next day would offer. I was actually suppose to leave for Beijing, but I had trouble confirming a ticket on the interned so I felt like I was stuck there for one more day. Before I dozed off I received a few texts from Wade explaining that the following morning was the Dragon Boat Festival- Oh.... that's why all the people were buying rice bombs in bulk! The festival as I was told, takes place about an hour and a half away from Shanghai.

I miraculously woke up early the next day with high hopes for the festival. I ran downstairs to the front desk to enquire about it. The employees seemed anything but enthusiastic about it and more curious about my enthusiasm to go. I also had them give me Harry and Yuin's room number to see if they wanted to go.

It was 9 am and I was knocking on a dorm room- I would have hated me! But it was no surprise that Yuin was also enthusiastic to go and Harry once again opted to sleep. Yuin and I once again pressed the front desk employees for help. We seemed to get the town name and the train station needed to get there. With Chinese characters on paper in hand, we hailed down a taxi and we were off! (please note how early this adventure started).

We got to the train station, it was old looking and packed with people. I think this further convinced us that we were on to something by going to the festival... surely all these people were going as well. We found the one and only English speaking counter as it was so labeled. We went up and asked for two tickets to Hangzhou. He said that it was leaving at 3pm. What?! We would completely miss the festival! We took a step back to talk about it, and before we knew the man was gone- he abandoned our only hopes of getting there. How could this be, that on a day of a yearly festival, there would only be one train in the afternoon?

We left the train station feeling totally defeated, but with serious doubt that this could be true. The more we thought about it, the stronger the feeling was that this couldn't be. Then we had a stroke of brilliance...

We found a close by Holiday Inn and decided to ask the concierge. The concierge was non existent so the front desk would have to do. After much charade action we finally conveyed to them where we wanted to go. Actually, they did not understand the festival aspect of it, but instead recognized Zhangzou. We were in awe that no one knew what we were talking about. Me an American and Yuin a Brit had heard of the Dragon boat festival and all it's fame... why were we having trouble finding it in China?!

The front desk people explained that we went to the wrong train station- thanks Captain's.. useless help! We had them write down the characters and we once again had high enthusiasm and excitement that we would make it to the Dragon Boat festival! Off we were on another 45 minute taxi ride to the new train station.

We arrived at the train station and this seemed more like it. It was a beautiful terminal made of glass and steel beems. It was comparable to all the newer airports. We got on line and managed to get two tickets on the Noon train. It was strange though that our ticket there cost less than our tickets back. We didn't give it much thought though because we felt accomplished and the ticket vendor seemded to understand our needs.

We had about 45 minutes till the train and decided to get something to eat. Seems like an easy task... but then again, we were in China! We followed the pictures of the knife and fork which literally took us all around the station. We made pointless turns, walked buy numerous stores and closed staircases until we made a u-turn and pretty much ended up in the same place we started and finally found the stairs leading up to the dining area. I was next in line for what seemed like the only option of food: a tray of rice, mystery meat and some other food neatly placed in it's boundaries on the plate. It looked like and was served like airplane food. Being next on line (or in line for you non NYers) seemed to not matter as I was completely ignored. Mind you I had made eye contact with the server and I had money in hand. Time and time again the person behind me was served until I finally had enough and grabbed a tray practically out of the hands of the person behind me. Success, but after all why had I wanted the meal to begin with?!

We boarded the train still excited and having a few laughs at our relentless attempts to get to this festival. As Wade had written in a text, it would be a once in a life time experience as the festival would be filled with crew like boats and thousands of on lookers cheering them on- A true Chinese experience of culture and history. We were unsure of how we would recognize where to get off, but figured many others would get off at the same place.

Let me interrupt by saying that we had also questioned the idea that the Dragon Boat festival was on this day as all of the people we had asked for help either looked at us clueless or seemed puzzled at our desire to go. We did however meet a couple with a child who had also enquired, but decided not to go and confirmed that this indeed was the day of the festival.

The train stopped at what seemed like our exit and an English speaking Chinese confirmed that it was. I had the feeling that we might should follow him in the case that we needed translation or help, but in fact this was the town where the Dragon Boat festival takes place, so why on earth would we need further assistance?! Even if we wanted it, we would not have been able to receive it- he seemed to speed off and disappear into in air. As we exited the station we found ourselves in what seemed like a whole other world. There were dirt roads, chickens and only one sign that we could understand... TOURIST INFO. Well if there were to be one sign useful that would surely be it. The only problem is that the sign led us to the parking lot.

We found ourselves standing in the middle of a half full parking lot-no more, no less. Clearly that would not be our lead to the festival, so we sought out new help. This story may seem to drag on and at this point let me tell you, it was! It seemed like we would never get there. At this point both Yuin and I were skeptical of not only our where abouts but how we would ever return to the safety of our hostel. We walked down the chaotic street and found nothing more than all Chinese signs and stores with nothing looking like any sort of tourist center. We walked the other way and found much of the same. We found a newspaper stand which had a woman in front with a map and some sort of ID around her neck- surely she would be able to help us, hopefully more so than the police office we had just tried ot ask.

She did not speak English and once again the assumption was made that Yuin spoke Chinese. As all of our frustrations grew, a crowd grew around us as well. Numerous people were begging for money, trying to sell us something or send us to the Lake. This city or town, wherever we were seemed to have a Lake. I was pretty sure the yearly festival takes place on a River- but ultimately I really didn't know much about it. Even though she nor the others could understand what we were looking for, she kept on insisting the lake was where we should go. I nervously tried to draw a Dragon, and thought to myself that I definitely should have paid more attention in Mr. Mayhew's drawing class because my sketch looked like anything but a dragon! Yuin and I tried to act the motions of rowing a boat and roaring like a dragon, but no, all looked on completely puzzled and I am sure wondered what the heck we foreigners were doing.

We walked off, with even smaller hopes of getting there. At this point we had grown rather angry. Once again we asked ourselves how they did not understand that we wanted to go to the famous festival that happens every year in the same place and attracts oodles of tourists. What else would we be doing there?! We found a store front that looked new, like something was about to open...perhaps a tourist center?! We walked in and asked if anyone spoke English and to our delight there was a woman willing to help.

You would think this would be the end to our crazy search for such a famous festival. No. I think we were in their for a half an hour and she too was convinced we wanted to go to the Lake. We would have believed them if they had understood what we were talking about- but no one seemed to have even heard of the Dragon Boat Festival. Finally the older Gentleman in the place explained that the festival was over. Could we really have missed it?! The girl then kept on insisting that she thought we needed to go down the block and get a map. Rather than just telling us she did not want to help us anymore she insistently suggested we get a map. Knowing what she was doing, it's called giving face, I was more persistent in asking more questions. We finally thought we explained we just wanted to go to the festival even if we had missed it- surely the ending ceremonies or post activities would still be worth this endless journey.

She shrugged her shoulders and implied no more. Yuin had a stroke of brilliance... to look at our train tickets. Why had the return been more expensive than getting there? We whipped out the tickets and realized the first tickets said Hangzhou(with something attached here) and the return simply said Hangzhou. We were in the wrong place. Doh! The girl looked at our tickets and shook her head explaining that we were not only in the wrong place, but very far as well. Yuin and I decided to take a taxi there no matter the cost. We were lost in China and desperate to feel safe again.

In the taxi we laughed at our misfortune and wild adventure. Once again, though exhausted, we had some hope of making it there. We now felt like we understood why no one knew what were talking about, we were in the wrong place. Why else would they not have immediately understood where we were trying to go?! We had no idea what to expect in terms of price and length of the taxi ride. To our surprise it was only 20 minutes away in the main part of the city. It was just the city center station.

Now we were really angry. All of the prior feelings of these people not understanding where we wanted to go set back in and stronger! We were angry at the train station ticket seller for sending us to the wrong station, upset with the front desk employees at each of the hotels for sending us all over the place, and angry with ourselves for not having the foresight to ask the hostel to write down DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL in Chinese characters. But who knew it would prove to be this difficult?! Surely not us.

We found a hotel in the back side of the new station and to our delight the front desk had a mural in back of it of an ancient dragon boat festival. Easy...point and say we want to go there. We did just that and once again received looks of complete cluelessness. Here we go again. I can go on to explain the many actions we did, the words we pleaded for them to understand and the pictures we tried to draw, but once again it was of no use- they had no idea what we were talking about. We had another brilliant idea; we could use the internet. We used their overcharged services and tried to hunt down this festival; we were still determined to go. Unfortunately all we found that it indeed was the day of the festival and it indeed was in this city. I am not sure if that made us feel better or worse. I have never hated people more in my life than I did at that moment.

We went to the lake. With stupid hope and secret dreams we expected to find the festival at the lake. Instead, we found a lake. At this point we had traveled FIVE hours to get to a lake. We were staving, dehydrated and exhausted. My famous quote when traveling: "Crankiness is the first sign of dehydration!". You can imagine our moods. After we walked the long length of the lake and up the very pretty streets, which we were in no shape to appreciate yet, we tried to find a local spot to eat. We finally settled on Starbucks as our blood sugar level had dropped and no proper decisions could be made. A little rest, food and caffeine did the trick; we were not quite fully restored, but we were in much better shape to explore our where abouts.

After finding some brochures on the lake, it seemed like it offered plenty for us to do and worth the trip in the end. The surrounding area was the prettiest part of China I have seen. It was lined with designer shops and clean facilities, clearly a place for the rich tourists to relax and travel with class. We wandered around the lake and it really was a beautiful view. It had mountain backdrops with single pagoda's and temples popping out of the tree lined tops. We once again walked the length of the Lake trying to enjoy it to the fullest. This place also had the trolley for lazy tourists to adore the scenery. We talked about wishing they had peddle boats to rent as it would be nice to get a little exercise and fully enjoy all that the lake had to offer. No sooner than speaking these words, we found just that at the far end of the massive lake. We rented one for a half hour, put our life vests on, and off we went.

Another laugh.. they weren't peddle boats but motorized imitations. I could crawl faster than this thing went! For further laughs there was a roped off section as to where we were permitted to go on this thing- which was basically a small circle. We noticed that all the other boats contained couples enjoying the small area we were allowed in. What a bore and a waist! We laughed so hard. I think the laughter was not only about the boat but our sheer bad luck to the entire day... all of the events came flooding back in mind as we once again found ourselves in a ridiculous setting. We returned the boat within 15 minutes and the staff was completely in awe that we returned early, why on earth would we do that?!

At this point it was time to get back to the train station, the new one that is. Given our past luck we decided to leave enough time for more mishaps and it was a good thing we did... there is not a funny story here just that it took forever to get a taxi with having to cross many streets and chase after them. We found no humor in this, but finally found success. The taxi took us to the train station with relative ease but having to stop at one particular and telling traffic light. As we were stopped there I happened to look down the street and there it was... red balloons compiled together to make and arch, a river and massive crowds. It was the dragon boat festival one measly block from the new train station.

I apologize for how awful this sounds, but I hated all Chinese and China at this point. All we could do was laugh; that is all we could handle at this point. We made it back to Captain's and decided to end the night on a positive note. Completely exhausted and filled with many other feeling, we returned to our Canadian friend for a good meal and more laughs than you could possibly ever imagine!

I can't believe that we never made it to the Dragon Boat Festival and more over that we had been one block away from it. It was with out a doubt a once in a lifetime experience! Wade, you don't even know the truth in your words!

A Candian in China

2007-08-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yuin and I went for dinner that night. We walked through the sort of Times Square or Broadway of Shanghai-it is a big street (no cars down a certain portion of it to allow pedestrian ease) filled with bright lights and lots of shopping. Oddly they had little train trolleys, you know the little ones in little kid theme parks?! They had them to shuttle tourists down this block which isn't very long. Chinese are lazy!

We wandered down a few dark streets and ended up seeing a restaurant with this Chinese guy (early 20's) in front of it. We asked for a menu in English and to our delight he was a native English speaker! He was from Toronto, it was his grandfathers restaurant and he moved there to work with him. How could we not eat here?

We had one of the best meals I have had in China. They guy, who's name I unfortunately have forgotten, was most helpful and gave us the best customer service! I think he was just as excited to see us as we were to him! The meal included jelly fish, suckling pig, Chinese vegetables and other yummy stuff. The nice guy even sent over desert to us. It was a coconut and bean custard that was out of this world delicious!

We tried to tell him to go to all the hostels and advertise or have the front desk people talk up the restaurant as an authentic Shanghais place with native English speakers... but he explained it would drive the local customers away! This place has been opened for over 20 years and is a Shanghai institution. I am so glad we stumbled upon it!

Venice in China

2007-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

As Harry decided to sleep the day away, Yuin and I went to what is described as the "Venice of China". Much to our surprise it was just that. We took a taxi ride about an hour out of the city to a town called Zhouzhuang.

We once again found ourselves a little confused about what to go see. We were at the entrance where tickets had to be purchased for entry. They had different levels of tickets which included different attractions and once again the attraction names were not accompanied by explanations. We went for the one that seemed to include the sights we would be interested in.

This town is basically like Venice. It's streets are water and small houses are on each side of the water with little paths along side. There was a plethora of little stores which all a seemed to be selling rice bombs (big bags worth to each native customer). Have I explained rice bombs? (I named them that). They are balls of extremely sticky rice mixed with either peanuts or meat, wrapped in leaves and steamed. Apparently they are the traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Anyhow there were a lot of cute stores selling homemade taffy, cookies, rice bombs and of course many touristy junk stores. The town itself was in its original form and from ancient China. Unfortunately a lot of the towns people were kicked out to allow tourism... but Yuin and I got lost and ended up away from all of the touristy stores and such. We were amongst old homes with pretty gardens in closed by gates or wall barriers all along the off shoots of the Yangtze river (which were the streets of water). It was really nice to wander around this part of the town which seemed to be extremely authentic and untouched. It was calm, pretty and a simple way of like.

The way we found this area was trying to follow the map we were given with the postings of the sights we had paid for. I feel redundant in saying this... but here is another great example of how the Chinese just get tourism WRONG. One sight was called something like: "Tour of Rice and Patty fields"... sounds cool, right?! It turned out to be a room which had people made of straw (yes think scare crows) to represent the field workers. They also had these same straw people sitting around a table in a replica kitchen depicting people eating rice. Yuin and I took many photos to accompany our many laughs and wonderment of what the hell they were thinking doing this crazy instillation.

We also went to the Jade and ancient pottery museum. No. They had some old clay pots with zero to none explanation and the Jade pieces were just little charms on string.

The other sights are not even worth mentioning. The charm of Zhouzhuang is just walking around. We avoided the over priced gondolas and just walked around as we built up an appetite. We tried to buy some Rice Bombs as there seemed to plenty around. For some strange reason no one would sell us any... we would soon find out why.

We got a taxi home and it was truly an enjoyable day. What was just as enjoyable as our walk through the less touristy area was the fact that we made it there and back. Yuin and I both don't speak Chinese and it felt amazing to venture out of the city and actually end up successfully where we wanted to go.

A funny mention about Yuin. As you may have guessed he is of Asian decent. He however is British to the fullest. He knows not a lick of Chinese, but by looks you would think he does... even the Chinese think so. Aggravating for Yuin, everyone tried to speak Chinese to him. It seemed to be most frustrating when we would try to get directions... seeing Yuin's repeatedly annoyed reactions were priceless.

The Circus!

2007-08-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

The expensive day was salvaged! We made it to the circus and it was pure delight. Now please don't picture lions, clowns and cotton candy, there was nothing of the sort. The Shanghai circus is magic and mind mending acrobatics.

It really was one of the most impressive shows I have ever been to. These performers can bend their bodies better than any hippy doing yoga... I can't even begin to describe it. Now let's not think about how they were probably trained from childhood and sold into it from infancy and even suffered most of they day during the intense physical training aspect of it all... but we'll just think about how successful their training was!

We were like children during the performance, oohing and aahing through out the entire show. They stood on top of each other as they bent in all directions being held up by what seemed like one persons finger. This is a must see in China. I have to say that the finally was a bit of a let down. They had a big sphere center stage as motorcycles entered it. They did various stunts in it which was most impressive, but the finale was all 9 cyclists in there. It was cool that they had that many riding around in their, but we found much of the other stunts more impressive.

This event is really hard to describe, I look forward to showing you the pictures, but I just remembered no cameras were allowed. Oh well, I'll have to hold on to this mental picture. Sorry.

Yes, yes! Another Aquarium...

2007-08-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

I first want to say Yuin is a perfect travel mate as he was just as enthusiastic and easy going as I was. He was a lot of fun to travel with and was always up for an adventure and stayed positive when things weren't always positive. I think China was a bit much for Harry as this was his last day of travel with us- he opted to stay in the hostel the next couple of days.

The three of us set out fairly early in the morning to get a full day of sights in! Our first stop was getting to the other side of the river. Now that may not seem like such a sight... but some genius (or not so) created this crazy tunnel to get you over to Pu Dong. I will describe the tunnel in a second, but first we had to buy the tickets to get on.

Complete confusion, it's China of course it was. Apparently you can get tickets which include different sights, but there was no explanation of the sights nor an English speaker to help sort it out. The risk was either missing out on something cool or paying for crap. The sights listed were: the tunnel (yes), the aquarium (yes), a sex exhibit (sounds intriguing) and a sea exhibit (maybe unnecessary with the aquarium). What the heck, we went for it all with smiles on our faces.

The tunnel:
Well, it is a sort of cable car but on tracks. You and your party get put in a single bubble of a train and off you go. The attraction apparently, is the light show created. Different lights and laser beams make patterns and designs along the walls of the tunnel (think old school Willy Wonka). You are completely surrounded by cool visuals. The only problem is that the music doesn't go with the lights, the train doesn't go fast enough and the visuals were not that cool. This was almost a really great experience- if done correctly it would have been, but it fell short. This had nothing on the light shows at Twilo (though some other factors helped that). This experience was really funny though as we once again found ourselves laughing at China's tourism. It seemed like this was created back in the early 80's. With our current technology this could have been great.... such a good idea, but such poor execution!

We wandered out and confusion set in as the signage for the next attractions were non existent. We somehow managed to find the Sea Exhibit. The Sea Exhibit was turtle tanks and some other completely forgettable inclusions. What did we just pay for?!

With the sea exhibit being what it was, I knew the sex exhibit would be a funny one. We managed to find it and oh my, just utter ridiculousness. Firstly, they had some explanations that were divided into 9 segments and stencilled on the walls. As I was trying to read them, I had to stop mid way on each because some bowl or sculpture was placed in front of the script, blocking all of the words! The exhibit was basically different sculptures, some modern some ancient of penis's, vagina's and people having sex. I have photo's... it was really funny, pointless and worth every penny! My personal favorite was a wooden sculpture of a cartoonish looking man with an over sized 3 foot long, 1 foot thick erection. He was chained up, all but the penis and it was titled something like: "This part of the body can't be chained down" or something crazy like that. The same artist also had a big wooden high-healed shoe with an equally large penis in it... not really sure where the artist was going with it... but it's art and not to be questioned!

We next made it to the aquarium!!!! I had high hopes as there were a lot of tourists running about. I am not sure how to begin, so I will just dive right in by saying one of the first rooms we see was filled with some fish tanks and average looking gold fish. The sign next to the tanks accurately read "Chinese Suckers". Yup, that was us. Do yourselves a favor, if you ever go to Shanghai skip everything in this entry! The aquarium may not have been worth it,but it was worth many laughs! The aquarium tank itself was tiny and waste high. It had a duck chillin in it. A duck in an aquarium, come on!!! There was another tank as you walk by the escalators... it had a plastic crocodile in it. It was PLASTIC!!!! There is no point in going on about this aquarium, while it is still better than the one in DC, all you could do is laugh at it.

Once again we had high hopes for our next tourist endeavour: The Pearl tower and lunch at the revolving restaurant in it. We bought the most expensive tickets, allowing us to go to all look out points and included lunch. Lunch, a disgusting buffet. We all know how I feel about them, so no need to continue on about the nastiness that is mass produced for tourists that don't know better and that sits out hours on end waiting to be consumed. We also went during the day, I have to say if you are going to do this, go at night and at least see the Bund, brightly lit in the nights sky. The other look out points were a disappointment as well, it was a foggy day and not much is visible. En route from one floor to another we passed through the space exhibit. Since when does China have enough space exploration experience to justify a space exhibit? The exhibit was a few life sized ET figures (no joke, ET was there), a space ride which was closed, a life sized man in a moon suit and a roller coaster. I skipped the roller coaster because I hate them, but Harry and Yuin went on it. It lasted all of 1 minute- enough said.

It was a bust of a day to say the very least. We spent a FORTUNE on the day alone and not one thing seemed worth it. However it was one of my most fun and memorable days on the trip and I have to say that Harry and Yuin were great sports about the whole thing too!

To try and salvage our day we decided to splurge on one more attraction. We got the info from our hotel and we were off to an unknown neighborhood, with just some Chinese characters in hand to give to the taxi driver that would bring us to the Shanghai circus!!!

A bit of Europe in China

2007-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I made it to Shanghai with a first strange experience, but this being China... nothing is really all that strange. I found the taxi line outside the airport (no more crazy tourist help ladies for me!) and properly lined up. I got in my taxi and showed him the address to my hostel that Wade and lonely planet suggested. We drove off and before exiting the airport he belled someone, spoke some nonsense and we veered off to pick up a lady friend of his. I was convinced I was either being robbed or we would need to stop at an hourly rate place for them as I wait in the car. Thankfully neither of the two happened... but they did try to rip me off. Curiously she accompanied us on our ride to Captain's hostel- whatever, you just have to go with the flow in China.

Captain's was a hotel and a hostel in one. The entry was beautiful, filled with white marble, white cotton covered furniture and English speaking employees! The hostel itself was not very cheap, but after all I was in Shanghai now. I got to my room which had beds for 9. The room was a freshly painted white, with wooden built in bunk beds and cut out circular openings in the wall to create a cute nautical theme. Most importantly it had air con and clean linens! I met a really nice woman from Beijing who was in Shanghai for the film festival. I appreciated meeting her as she gave me some insight into that world and some great tips for Beijing.

Captain's is conveniently located around the corner from the Bund. The Bund is the promenade along the river on the PuXi side that faces the new structures of Shanghai or the PuDong area. Here you can see the Pearl tower and other modern buildings. Along the bund, are older buildings which look like they have been transported from Europe. At this stage of my trip, it was a welcomed change! They have been described as Gothic, Romanesque, Classicism, Baroque and Renaissance styles- I don't know enough about architecture to say so, but I'll steel the description and say it was beautiful! I walked along the water front in the afternoon before returning to Captain's.

Deciding I needed to make some friends, I grabbed some brochures and sat in the lobby area. I met a nice guy named Harry, who then introduced me to his traveling mate, Yuin. They were well informed on the to do's of the city and graciously invited me aboard their days in Shanghai. These were to be my new traveling buddies...

We went to the French quarter for dinner. It is a very clean and posh part of town which is filled with western eateries, bars, art galleries and all of the shopping one could want. After we walked around the beautifully lit part of town, we stopped for dinner at a delicious Thai place. After dinner we stopped for an ice cream at Haagen-Daaz which I must mention is not just a place to get a scoop. Here in China, Haagen Daaz is a waitress served parlor. You can sit outside and order the most decadent of ice-cream delights. I just opted for a cone of Dulce de Leche. I love not being lactose intolerant (what is the US doing to it's dairy that wont allow me to enjoy it?!).

We ventured back, in a cab, to the Bund. We overpaid for a night cruise along the river. As it was late, we thankfully caught the last tour. We were not sure what was in store for us. Rather than getting on a boat right there, they took us (as they instructed us by yelling at us in Chinese) to a bus, which drove some 20 minutes to a dark dock in the middle of no where. I had a strange feeling we would return there with no way back to the bund.

The cruise was very nice. We got a chance to see the skyline again, all lit up in it's glory. While I think the cruise is not all that necessary, it is a nice experience and you do get to see both sides of the river which greatly contrast each other. Unfortunately a few boats tours go at the same time and we were stuck to the side of a boat which killed our view a bit. Once again a perfect example of China almost getting things right but doing something to hinders ones experience... why couldn't our boat just go behind this boat?! As we paid for a longer tour, it took us beyond the tips of the skylines to a very dark and residential area, which then turned into an industrial area. I suppose it was somewhat interesting, but completely unnecessary as it grew colder with the nights air!

As guessed, the boat brought us back to our strange and deserted starting point. There was no direction as to what to do and definitely no bus in sight. There were however a good twenty cabs ready and willing to overcharge our return ride. We opted to walk and easily found our way back. Strangely though on one bridge that we had to cross, there were food vendors. They were all selling the same thing- a huge sheet cake of what looked like fruit cake. It was really odd and seemed completely out of place.

This busy day called for an early night. I was exhausted and excited for an even busier next day with Harry and Yuin.

One more notable mention...

2007-08-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

At the entrance to the old town of Lijiang are a lot of beggars, vendors and pick pocketers. You know the kind, it really is a global industry within itself. You have people selling useless items, people performing lame acts or stunts and the people with the basic bump and take maneuver.

One particular act was truly depressing. A little girl had a short and small tripod like apparatus on the floor. The top of it was a spinning chin rest where she would do just that... she rested her chin on it, did a head stand of sorts (clearly resting on her chin rather than top of her head) and bent her body fully backwards. I am not sure if I am describing this well enough for you all to understand, but it was quite a crazy site. Resting on her chin, she was completely arched over backward and with her feet, she touched the ground and gave herself a spin as she balanced on her chin.

We also bought something from one of the extremely persistent vendors. They were a pair of flip sunglasses. The first set of lenses were yellow, the kind that block out all of the 'bad' light, and the top lenses were regular sunglasses. Wade tried them on as a joke, especially being that he had bought and wore his new old-school calculator watch (for the intense negotiating shopping trips). All I can say is that Wade looked like the coolest dork I have ever seen! The man would not leave us alone after that. We ended up buying to pairs of them, but before we had the chance to sport them about town, the man accosted us and tried to sell us two more pairs. Why on earth would we need more or even 1 set to begin with?! I thought Wade was going to flip, they were practically yelling at each other. We managed to dodge the guy and laughed at the poor tourist he next bombarded. It was a funny afternoon, full of giggles as we walked around in our new shades!

A tearful departure...

2007-08-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

Not really,no tears. But it was sad leaving Wade. I NEVER would have had the amazing experiences in China if it weren't for Wade. Not only was he a lot of fun, at times bitchy, and a great planner (except when hungover, then he's useless) but his Chinese linguistic skills paved the way for a much easier and rich time in China.

I was off to Kunming, yes again, to get my stuff and prepare for Shangai. I booked myself into the same hotel and knew better when they tried to rip me off and have me pay more. I successfully got my rate from before! I was only staying one night as I was anxious to see Shangai!

I was especially ready to leave when I randomly bumped into Chris, Lorraine (but I did have a delightful lunch with her thai side kick translater) and the Swiss guy all within a few hours... once again this place was too small for my taste and I was off!

How could I forget?

2007-08-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Way back when I was writing about our hike to the bulong villages I somehow forgot to mention that at 4am or so on the second day I woke up to the house shaking. Everything was shaking. I was in a daze and wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not, so I went back to sleep. Minutes later, I woke again to the same movement and again I quickly fell back asleep. The next morning I asked everyone about it and no one had felt it. I was convinced I was dreaming or maybe some large pigs paraded under the house. When Wade and I returned to Jinghong we learned on the news that there was a major earthquake. It was 80km (that's under 50 miles... less than an hour away!)from where we were, 180 thousand people had to be evacuated, at least 3 people died with another 300 being injured. My heart goes out to all those affected.

It was my first earthquake and every one but me slept though it!

Yikes!

2007-08-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Liajiang was described as such a place like Dali. We had high expectations. Wade found what was supposed to be a charming Guest house for us in original form, the guide book giving it rave reviews. It was my time of the month and all of you that know me well, know that I am usually bed ridden for the first day. Here we had to navigate our way in the unmarked streets of the old town. Mind you all the streets looked the same and they were filled with the annoyingly chaotic Chinese tourists, mega phones and all. We found our accommodations and man was it a dump! It wasn't the worst place I have I stayed, but by no means was it comfortable. It was a similar set up to the last place. Rooms surrounded a very pretty courtyard. Our room had two twin beds and that's about it. The beds were awful. The place had communal bathrooms. The girls bathroom was a dump, filled with dump! Again, waist high barriers between holes in the ground to do your business. There were no flushes, just buckets of water to pour down. I didn't have a chance to see the showers, I would rather not shower than use them!

We walked about town, dodging the hundreds of people that lined the streets. It was a crazy place, beautiful but completely overrun. The stores were all tourist crap and the prices were outrageous! This place was a cross between colonial Williamsburg, Bleeker street and Dali. At the entrance of the old town stood a replica of a windmill... no wait... a wheel in water. What are those called? Anyway Chinese tourists stood in front of it and took many non smiling pictures. People were dressed up in silly clothing. It was basically the Hon Chinese trying to make a market out of minority culture.

We went to a music concert that night. It was traditional music with some of the oldest characters I have seen. It was a very special performance that I truly enjoyed.

We walked around town and found the craziest store or restaurant. It was called FAT SISTERS YAK MEAT. Did they really think this was going to drive people in? What a great photo though! We also found the bars. It was on a street that had a stream flowing down the middle, bars lined it on each side, one after the other. We found this street by the immense amount of noise coming from it. Apparently it is a Chinese tradition to battle each other in chant. From one bar to the next, groups of Chinese battled each other by singing a chant at each other from across the way. Westerners looked on with disbelief and this continued for hours!

We only planned on staying in this tourist trap for one day, but I woke up the next day sick! I had the loose poops! There was no way I was staying in that sorry excuse for a hotel. We quickly found a four star place and moved in for another two days! I had to treat myself as I was in bad shape. Poor Wade was stuck in Lijiang. While I was bed ridden, not being able to eat crackers or even drink water (I couldn't keep anything in my system) Wade went to the mountains for the day! He had an adventure of his own, hitch hiking as he didn't bring enough money with him to get back. his pictures were amazing though; I totally missed out... thanks Lauren, she must have been the one to get me sick! I was now on antibiotics for another 10 days.

I did get to try bamboo worms though. They were fried and tasted much like crickets, a perfect beer snack.

There is not much else to say on Lijiang other than to miss it.

A delight in China

2007-08-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Does it exist: A small relaxed town in China, chaos free and no herds of Chinese tourism? YES, it's called Dali! Still in the Yunnan province a delightful town filled with beautiful architecture, a huge lake and grand mountains surrounding the town. We planned to stay for 1 night, but ended up staying for a few days. Like most small towns though it proved to be very small and we pretty much fled on day 4 with out saying goodbye to our new and old friends.

Wade had another college friend (who was so nice but I can't remember his name and its totally bugging me)here who graciously exposed us to the life and culture in Dali. I call it a town, but it really is a city. We stayed in Guest House number 6; which has some crazy, easily forgotten Chinese name. It was beautiful, the rooms surrounded a little courtyard. Our room had antique and some antique replica furniture. Chinese are definitely not good decorators, but this place was done with a lot of class. We had a TV and a bathtub!!! The city's architecture was created to resemble ancient China. The buildings were no more that two stories and made of stone. The streets were all cobble stone and cars were only allowed in the surrounding streets, not in the center. Restaurants and stores lined the streets. Even though this city was created for tourism, it has not yet caught on to crazy Chinese tourism. There are a lot of (a handful) westerners that have set up shop in Dali. It barely felt like China because of the calm and relaxed atmosphere.

Wade and I went to the three pagoda's that are outside of town. We got there a little late, but it was nice because it was virtually empty. The Pagoda's were really old- sorry for the lame details but I can't remember the specifics about them... I guess that's what I get for taking so long to update my blog! In addition to the Pagoda's were hundreds of Buddha's in different brightly painted buildings. We walked the entire thing and climbed many steps. When we got to the top, we saw the most beautiful rainbow. The view was spectacular. The lake and mountain back drop was visible as well as the three pagoda's and the rainbow. We had it all to ourselves as we didn't realize it at the time, but the tourist sight had closed. We were exhausted by the end and were ready to leave. We walked down and saw an employee by the entrance. He didn't say anything to us as we walked towards the exit sign which led us to a 10 minute walk. As I explained we were very tired! When we got to the exit it was locked! Thanks guy, thanks for not letting us know! When we walked back to him he pointed to the entrance and that we could exit that way... arg! A perfect example of how unhelpful the Chinese could be!!!

We had dinner one night at an Indian place, owned by Carl, a really nice Irish guy (his mom Lorraine was visiting- one of the coolest women I have met). Actually before dinner we bumped into a girl named Lauren, I had met her in Hong Kong and almost went traveling with her. She came with us. She mentioned that she had been sick the last few days and was starting to feel better, this will be mentioned again! The food was great and it was even better eating something other than oily Chinese food!

A whole crew of us went out afterwards. There is a bar right next door to the Indian place called Vodka Bar. They have infused vodkas. They have no idea how to infuse vodka. They were disgusting. They had such flavors as jelly bean, skittles, pineapple, toffee (my fave), hot pepper, weed and beef and onion. They basically put such ingredients, crushed, in a bottle of extremely cheap vodka. It just didn't work... but it was fun! They had a roulette wheel with the different shots assigned to numbers... so a spin gives you a mystery shot! Gross,I didn't play. The two bartenders were hysterical Kiki and Jennie. Kiki made the worst drinks and Jennie loved to yell at her (in a loving Chinese sort of way). At one point Kiki was fixing a drink for someone and Jennie yelled "Kiki NO MOH ICE" as she hit her. Kiki replied with "Oh... I am ah too drunk and ah stoned". This place was crazy.

Let me interrupt here and explain a little more about Dali. You see, the above statements are very uncommon for the Chinese, especially women. Woman are not really free enough to act in such a way. Also the very strict laws in China do not permit such activity (smoking weed) with very harsh consequences. But here in Dali, a mystery to us, the police seem to turn a blind eye to such activities. For this, a strong Chinese hippie culture (dreds and all) has cultivated in Dali.

We all went dancing afterwards. Poor Wade was attacked by smelly Chinese girls looking for a little western love. Firstly, let me say they are worse dancers than Italians and secondly, they throw their hair all over the place (in your face) and would just hang on Wade like dead weight. It was one of the funniest things I have seen. Our crew was fun: two french guys (one was Stefan and I can't remember the other), A Swiss guy, an English guy, Carl the Irishman, two girls from Israel, Kiki and Jennie and the three of us Americans. I had a lot of fun dancing with the Swiss guy, but I then turned my attention to Stefan as Wade decided he was cuter. It was a late night and caused the following day to be a very lazy one and it was wasted in bed. Dali was definitely missing our wonderful pool from Jinghong!

The next day we went to the Monday market with Lauren. It was an interesting bus ride away. The market was a local market, not really meant for tourists. It was fantastic. I bought some batik linens and a crazy pair of knit slippers. I thought the slippers were interesting and I wanted to try them on. Before I knew it I had about 10 old ladies around me staring at me as if I were an alien. I think I bought half the items because of the intense pressure they put on you to buy things. There were a lot of women selling produce in their traditional clothing... it was really interesting to see. As we veered off a bit we saw the craziest thing. Some people I guess intending to sell them had tight wooden cages packed, I mean packed, with live chickens! As avian bird flu was back I was not so keen on this sight... but I had to get photos... it was completely unhygienic, inhumane and absolutely insane.

On the ride back we got off at another town which was supposed to be really interesting to see. It was a local minority village. We got there and ended up in some tourist trap where we were ripped off. I don't even know what we saw, but it was not worth it by any means. We had lunch in a local square, some street noodle soup. They sat in an inch of oil and were completely bland. As their was nothing to see in this town, we left.

We went to a restaurant for a drink. The owner turned out to be this crazy guy named Billy. He was Chinese but had lived in NY. We ordered ridiculously expensive and silly drinks, decorated with umbrella's and goofy stirrers. Billy was a crazy character, quite the jokester in a very unwitty, corny sort of way. But he's the kind of guy that you can't help but love, but after one hour of him, you've had all you can handle!

That night as we were having dinner at the Indian place again, the monkey king (Andrew) and Jeremy came running in. As big as China is, we bumped into each other again! We all went next door to the vodka bar for a few hours- the same people showed up, but Wade and I wandered home at a reasonable hour.

Realizing how small this place was Wade and I left the next day for Lijiang.

Kunming

2007-07-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

Wade and I flew to Kunming in hopes of some bigger city fun. He has a friend living there with other expat friends. We met up with them for drinks. It was crazy though, his friend Chris was on a date... two of her relatives came along as did we. Apparently this is how Chinese girls date.

We were sitting outside of a western cafe with some beers when this guy parks his bike right near us. Wow... hot- smokin' hot! He was wearing some pinkish lensed sunglasses- kind of cheesy but fit his face perfectly. His shirt was a collared button down- white with some non girly small flower print- that hugged his body. His shorts were unlike anything I have seen- terry cloth and loose fitting. He clearly thought a lot of himself and was a pretty silly character but who cares... he rocked the look, which by the way was a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Sorry... went on a little tangent there... It turned out he was a friend of Chris'; he was a welcome addition, lets just put it that way.

It was a fun night, but not along one. We didn't stay out too late. A worthy mention is how the girls were eating piled of sunflower seeds. Seeing the empty shells on the table was kind of gross... but I am so curious to this common trend of sunflower eating in China at social events.

We were in the University section of Kunming which is very different than the area I had stayed in the previous week. It was much more westernised than anyplace I had seen in China yet. After our time in remote villages, it was a welcomed change!

The next day I had gone on a little solo adventure. I was in an area I was not familiar with and when it was time to go back to my hotel I tried to flag down a cab. I got one and handed him the only business card to the hotel that I had. He took it, looked at it, looked at me and waved his hand. As I was about to get in, he drove off with the card still in his hand! I was stranded in God knows where China!!!! Petrified I got another taxi and gave the name of the hotel just to have him look at me blankly and drive off. I had no idea what to do. I finally got a cab to stop and he still had no idea where I wanted to go... but I wouldn't let him drive off. I screamed loud enough for an entire block to hear me, asking if anyone spoke English. No one answered.

I finally, cab door still in hand, saw someone that looked European of some sort. I called him over and he explained to the cab driver where I needed to go. The cab driver was new and didn't know my hotel. I thought I was once again going to be out of luck... but I remembered the previous nights location and had the guy ask if he knew where that was. I was pretty sure I could get from the bar to the hotel. The taxi took me there after many thank yous and sighs of relief to the guy that helped me!

The taxi dropped me off a few blocks from the bar and I somehow made my way back. Thankfully the previous night, Wade had walked me from the hotel to the bar and pointed out different things on the way.... as I tried to find my way back all of those pieced together the pathway to home. I was relieved when I made it back. It was crystal clear though... no more solo adventures in China. I thought I was going to be lost forever!!! As I reached the lobby I grabbed a stack of the business cards, I would never be found with just one again!

We stayed in Kunming a few days- but we packed a smaller bag, left our bulk there and set off to Dali.

A relaxing bike ride... or not

2007-07-12T01:52:00.000-07:00

Despite my sprained ankle I was determined to utilize my time to the fullest in China. Wade and I rented bikes and set off to another minority village a few k's away. It was a very hot day with the sun shining and steaming our shoulders- mainly Wade's already burnt shoulders!

After getting minorly lost for a bit, with absolutely no help from the Chinese that we asked for directions... we finally made it to the right area. The town was on dirt roads and was surrounded by hills with jungle like plantation on it. Side note- the Yunnan province is Malaria-ville. I took my chances... I hadn't taken my Malaria pills since Brazil... the dreams were just to crazy along with all of the other annoying side effects.

The people in the village were beautiful- as the Bulong did, the looked more Thai to my eye than Chinese. They were all really nice and were very curious about us. The ride was a little intense for me and Wade seemed to want to speed ahead and continue up a mountain. I couldn't figure out why I was having such an exhaustive time in comparison to him (granted he is in better shape than I, but I do enjoy bike riding and have never really had problems before)... about half way through our day I realized I mixed up the gears and had been doing them in reverse the entire time- oops! No wonder going up hill was the most painful experience. Even after I figured this out... I just couldn't get the gears straight and I completely exhausted myself.

We stopped to get some water and made friends with some of the locals. One of them gave us some plums that were delicious! They were really sweet and wouldn't take our money. I tried to give some to the little girl that was with them and her mom made her give it back to me. She gave it right back and all I could think of is the little brats in the US that would whine to their parents about keeping it and how hesitant they would be about giving it back (or maybe I am thinking about myself as a kid!). the village was quite obviously poor, but their generosity was refreshing and amazed me.

We rode through some rice fields, on narrow dirt paths and some heavier grassy felds- which was a big mistake. I have to say though, sorry Wade, it was all worth it for the spectacular views we got. The rice fields were such a pretty bright green and made me feel like I was in a totally different world. As we decided to ride back to Jinghong, Wade's bike decided it had enough. The grass had gotten stuck in Wade's back wheel and caused many problems. We stopped, as it also began to rain, underneath a little gazebo type structure where some local teenage boys were relaxing. Wade had to literally disassemble the back wheel and parts, just to put it all back together in hopes of fixing it. Wade was quite frustrated especially by the fact that these boys were just watching him and quite obviously talking about us in a not so nice way... even though i couldn't understand them, there was not doubt they were making fun of us! Annoyed with their lack of help, rude behaviour and the bike not coming together, Wade grew increasingly upset- quite funny, I totally understood why they were making fun of us!

Wade finally fixed it- the rain stopped and we rode off. We made it a few hundred meters and stopped after parts flew off Wade's bike! It was a mess! We tried to find a ride back to jinghong, only to encounter the most non helpful locals! Hey, it was there siesta so why should they help even though they had a pick up truck?! They pointed us in a very vague direction to what should bring us to a garage where they could drive us back. We never found it and the direction turned out to take us much further and added a lot of riding to our trip back home.

Wade had to ride a broken bike back to Jinghong in very hot and humid weather... but we finally made it back! The bike man tried to tell Wade that it was his fault and that maybe he "didn't use the gears correctly" (hmmm, that would be me) and wanted to charge him for the bike. I have never seen Wade more stern before as he said "I know how to ride a bike, give me my deposit back." The guy actually did not argue, rate for Chinese when money is concerned!

This adventure confirmed the fact that we were done with Jinghong and it was time to move on...

This is why...

2007-06-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

I cannot see my blog...

This is a situation that Blogger and Google have no control over. The
Chinese government has decided to control its citizens view of the
Internet. It's their country, their people, and their ISPs. Google
isn't part of the process.

F'ing China!!!!

3 to 2

2007-06-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

We left the very next morning for our three day trek. I was a little scared to say the very least as the trek is labeled 'tough'... I haven't exercised in nearly 6 months! But I thought if Stella, the Chinese girl with us, could do it, so could I!

We had to take a couple of buses en route to our starting point. It was interesting to see some of the culture on the bus. There was a lot of smoking and food sharing. Stella was quite generous and past a lot of her snacks around... me and Wade on the other hand, were hording ours for the trek! She past out Mongolian cheese. It was packaged and wrapped in little bite sized pieces. I now know I do not like Mongolian cheese- it is a little sweet and dry. I think this is the only cheese I don't like, though I didn't try Yak cheese and I have heard that it is a must skip in the cheese world.

This trek was over huge mountains covered in jungle. Wait till you guys see the pictures. We walked 18k's the first day. We past through some minority villages which was cool, a lot of hemp fields and lots of lots of tea plants.

Some stand outs:

1) The bathrooms. Oh my God and Oh my God again. We used some public bathrooms that they have in the most obscure places. I walked in- no stalls just hip high barriers between the holes in the ground and they are all filled with poop. I failed. I cannot poop over someone elses poop that is just sitting there, stinking up the bathroom and covered in flies. Nope it scared it right back up in side me!

There was also the cleanest bathroom I had seen- it was in one of the villages (more to come) we stayed in. It was a wooden shack on a hill. The shack was on stilts so there was nothing beneath it. This allowed lots of big pigs to go underneath it waiting for the steamy deposits. Yep, I pooped while staring at pigs fight for my droppings! BUT again, it was the cleanest- but will I ever be able to eat pork again? I did that night in the very same village!

Then there was the no toilet available situation... I took my very first poop while squatting in the forest. Stella stood guard and complimented me on my speed. She was also impressed with my ability to use chopsticks... strange girl.

I think that is enough poop talk... back to the standouts.

2) We saw the most beautiful sunset that evening. It lit the sky up pink. To walk 18 k's and then see that over a mountain top was breathtaking.

3) We went to a temple in the middle of no where. It wasn't that spectacular but it was quite peaceful. It was decorated very oddly inside... with cut out paper animal streamers on the walls and there were a lot of fake flowers and fake gold. Not very pretty if you ask me, but interesting just the same!

4) The food. We stayed with two different families that made us delicious food. My favorite was the eggs and tomatoes... can't wait to make it. They also served Pour tea which I really enjoyed.

I fell an incredible amount on day 1. It wasn't when we were hiking uphill for an hour and a half straight... it was when we were going down hill. I was the source of entertainment for Andrew especially, but the others too. I was on my bum more than my feet... this caused a problem later!

Day 1 we stayed with our tour guides family. He is of the Bulong minority (PS this is all in the Yunnan province). The architecture is very simple. They live in wooden houses on stilts. Underneath the house are pigs, maybe a donkey or two and perhaps a car if the family has some money. The house is one room. Everyone sleeps in the same room on a very thin matt (as did we, but I can't lie I took an ambian the second day). There is also a stone floored area where they burn a fire for both heat and cooking, but there is no ventilation above it, so the place gets very smokey. I can't believe that the kids live like this, they must have the worst lungs. My chest hurt from staying there. But it was cool to see them cook in cast iron pots and pans. Unfortunately our water supply came from there for the following days- after being boiled... as our tour guide called it, we had bbq'ed water.

The houses also have a deck area where there is a sink to do the washing and that's about it. There is no shower and I am still not clear on where they shower- although I did see a woman showering on her deck she was covered by a short piece of wood on two sides. She got out and we all saw her saggy boobies. (why do I feel like an 8 year old is writing this entry?!).

The Bulong people look more Thai to me than Chinese- it was interesting. They also speak there own language... but it all makes no sense to me.

The second night we stayed in a different Bulong village which we found to be more interesting. Apparently they are known for their singing and we had the privilege of going to a neighbors house to hear her sing. She was in traditional clothing, as most women are and was accompanied by her two friends. One made beats by pouring beans from one metal bowl to the next- mind you she looked totally disinterested and was off beat and the other played something else... I can't remember. But the singing was unlike anything I have ever heard. Mom... you would have hated it. It was quite high pitched and nasaly... but beautiful in its own right. Her voice was very controlled and it was clear that it took great skill. She sang about welcoming us foreigners into her home and how happy she was to share her culture with us... or that we are dumb Americans... how are we really to know?! She asked us to sing and thank God Andrew was there as he was the only polite one out of us to sing.

That night we also went to a teenage girls house. We had asked our guide about how the teenagers date and he explained that at first a group of the teenage guys will visit different girls homes together for an hour or so at night time. Eventually one guy might be invited to visit alone... mind you with her whole family there. So we awkwardly sat in on one of these visits. It was uncomfortable for all and we called it a night! At our house that night the cat so thoughtfully paraded around with a mouse in its mouth... I have a great photo of it... but mind you I was sleeping on the floor in this place.

Earlier that night we went to talk with an old man, with our guide being the translator of course. Jeremy was interested in getting one of their traditional tattoos which they hit the ink into your skin with bamboo. Our guide looked at him as if he were crazy the many times he asked about it and told him it was unsanitary... if a Chinese tells you it's unsanitary you best believe them! But he still wanted one... I will say his persistence led us to talking with this man about them which was cool. He got his first when he was 8 and kids still get them today. P.S. they told Jeremy everyone who could do them died (after we saw some fresh ones). Jeremy wanted one because he felt like they were losing the culture and he wanted to keep it alive- I shit you not, he said that. I am so glad they lied to him!

Oh yeah..these houses have no bathrooms, there are a couple per town... so you have to walk quite a ways to use the restroom / hole in the ground. The funny thing is that each of these houses have satellite dishes for their TV's. But they just got electricity about 10 years ago and phone lines about 5 years ago. Still, no bathrooms.

Even earlier on the second night we got to learn about the tea process, how it was dried and almost steamed or heated. They have tea trees that are over 100 years old and it is quite pricey. Stella was explaining that the tea is matted into a disk or cake shape and often saved or used as stock (as in money not soup) that is how valuable it can be.

The second day was an easy trek- only 16 K and a lot of flat terrain. Though the last hour was all uphill and the worst part is that there was fresh cow patties all over- so as you are gasping for air you are inhaling cow stink.

I woke up the third day with a terribly swollen ankle. I sprained it the first day on one of my many falls... but I took a bunch of ibuprofen the second day so I could continue... but I knew I couldn't finish out the trek. I was disappointed, but when we met up with the gang back in Jinghong, it didn't sound like we missed anything other than each of them having Leeches on them and Stella having been bit by one... thank you ankle! Wade was a doll and went back with me, we spent the afternoon at our beloved pool.

Jinhong and on

2007-06-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

We met a couple of Americans, Jeremy and Andrew. We went out drinking with them that night. As we were trying to find club yes, we asked some drunk Chinese where it was. They were really friendly, as I have found all Chinese people to be, and invited us to go with them to a club. We were definitely not dressed for the place but we figured it would be an adventure.

They got us all a table and a case of Budweiser, warm, Brazilians would gasp at the temperature that they drink their beer at. They were really nice to treat us to drinks. We had a great time with them drinking and dancing and posing for many pictures!

****Must interrupt! In the park, not only was everyone staring at me, but some Chinese guys asked to take their picture with Wade and I. We felt like one of the attractions! We were definitely the only westerners there and boy did we stand out!

back to the night out... they were playing this game with these girls. It was about 10 of us and we played paper, rock, scissors... elimination so the last (loser) had to go up on the platform and dance. It was pretty entertaining! A lot of the girls giggled over Wade, if they only knew they didn't stand a chance (gay); he made me pretend I was his girlfriend... it was pretty funny especially as he tried to flirt with some of the guys. They were all clueless. Chinese men are actually very affectionate with each other, they hugged a lot!

We got some street meat after the bar... mmmm... they had chicken hearts! The potato skewers are also a note worthy mention!

The next day was painful- headache galore! Wade and I found a pool to go to- one that we almost got kicked out of. We went to a really nice hotel and just walked to their pool and set up shop. Someone came over and asked us if we stayed there. Wade pretended not to speak Chinese and played dumb. The guard had him write our room number in a book- Wade glanced at the other entries and thought he wrote an actual one down. It turns out they didn't have that room number as the employee pointed out after making a phone call. Wade then proceeded to change the number, again pretending not to speak Chinese. As the employee picked up the phone again, Wade came back to me and frantically had me pick up my stuff to flee the scene!

We made it downstairs and decided to just ask the front desk if we could use their pool. It was that easy- we could for 15 yuan each. We felt pretty stupid especially when Wade had to explain the scenario and the big lie we told to the manager bringing us up there. Thankfully she had a great sense of humor about it. We could not stop laughing. The employee was so confused!

That night we met up with Andrew and Jeremy for dinner. We met a Chinese woman, from the north at the Mekong Cafe. She asked us if she could trek with us as we were planning on doing. It was great to have her as she connected us with a great tour guide, offered a lot of insight on the tea industry and drove our cost down for our three day trek!

National Park Reserve

2007-06-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

I met up with Wade and checked out of his hotel. We (he, as I make no plans and just go along with whatever) decided to spend the night at the National Park reserves, just outside of Jinghong. We took a taxi about an hour out of the city and made it to the entrance at about 4 ish.

The taxi ride was crazy. The driver was this fat kid with a pony tail and had a side kick him who looked about 12. The seats had plastic wrap over them- thankfully Wade had the foresight to buy us towels when we stopped for gas. The humidity and plastic were not a great mix. He drove incredibly slowly and played ballads on the radio. Wade and I did however sing along to "I can show you the world" from the Alladin soundtrak.

At the entrance, we paid for our tickets and were told that our accommodations were a 4k walk- which we already knew about. They provided a security guard of sorts to walk us. At first we thought this odd, but the trail did have some off shoots and some wild elephant warning signs so it was a good thing they did. The walk was not that hard, though at times going up hill I defo was out of breath. The guard was in full on polyester uniform and dress shoes- I don't think a bead of sweat came out of him. The trail was on a platform made from weaved bamboo, it was really cool.

There were two options for accommodations. One was at the base of the park on a pond, we later saw that they were really nice. We instead opted to stay in the jungle in a tree house. We finally got to the path that lead us to our tree house. I was expecting a wooden shack in a tree where we had to climb a ladder to get into it, but instead it was an elevated concrete path that led us to the door of our concrete shack with a sheet metal roof. It was a bit of a let down, but the tree house was on a fake tree trunk that was a good 150 feet off the ground. I think we were the only people staying up there and we got to walk the trail with out any tours around which was really nice and peaceful.

The restaurant was closed when we got there as we were told it would be. There were however like 10 employees there smoking a bong and playing a game. We still don't really understand there purpose there.

Wade and I decided to take a walk as it was growing dark. We stayed on the concrete path and when we reached the end we walked a bit further until it looked a bit sketchy and decided to turn back. When we got back the guard that took us there explained to Wade not to go off the track as the wild elephants are dangerous. I love how they saw us leave the track and didn't come after us then, only upon our return did they warn us!

The nights sky was bright as could be. It almost seemed like daylight. It was the brightest full moon I have ever seen- though most of the sky was not visible as the jungle's canopy blocked most of it. You could also hear the craziest insect. I have never heard one like this or one this loud. It sounded mechanical and completely man made.

The bungalow was rundown. We had a light that dimmed and brightened as it pleased and no seat on the toilet- but it was a western toilet! That night it pissed rain! It was a huge storm that woke me up as it hit our tin roof! I saw some very strong lightning from the window. The next morning we were also woken up by obnoxious mega phones. Chinese tourism is the worst! here we were in a nature reserve and the herds of Chinese tourists was immense! It wasn't the quantity of them that spoiled the serenity but the noise generated by them! The tour guides (all saying different things but no more that 20 ft. apart from each other) all had mega phones and their words echoed in the park and clashed with each other. The Chinese tourists paid them no mind and would yell, not talk at each other.

We didn't close our curtains that night... so we also woke up to Chinese people peering in at the whitey's as we woke up and got ready. I felt like an animal in a zoo.

We ventured out, had some fruit and rice bombs for brekky and found the cable car. Well the cable car just took us to the base of the park. The ride was very pretty- being over the canopy was cool. Though the Chinese have no regard for nature or their environment. There was an upsetting amount of litter. We also saw a snake on a tree top which was very cool! We were hoping to see some of the wild elephants (about 40 live in the park) unfortunately we didn't see any. Once again the Chinese tourists were so loud! They were screaming, singing and making goofy noises as we rode the cable car. I am sure they scared the elephants away!

From the base we visited the butterfly sanctuary. There were some really beautifully colored butterflies and two were having sex... very educational. We also went to the bird area. There was a ridiculous bird act. The trainers put roller skates on one, had one shoot hoops and other silly acts. We grabbed a bite to eat while watching a dance performance. Teenagers danced in minority clothing (not sure which minority). But the dancing was not very good- they completely lacked enthusiasm. They also danced to Chinese music which is completely insulting to the minority they were supposed to represent (hmmm, kind of like me insulting them by not remembering which minority culture). After that we went to an elephant show which was equally ridiculous.

There were however some incredible monkey's roaming freely. I am not sure what kind they were, but I have never seen any swing so swiftly and at great distances. A ranger was holding hands with one. We stayed quite a while watching them, but as I would get close to the monkey that the ranger had- he would start to make the craziest noises, he didn't like me.

We trekked around a bit more but it was not as nice. It was much better when we had the park to ourselves.

The parks bathroom was one of the most disgusting I have seen yet. Not only were there no stalls, just barriers between the holes, but there was massive amounts of poop in each and one had bloody toilet paper by it. I couldn't go there.

We took a bus back to Jinghong and checked into a really cheap but nice guest house.

Correction...

2007-06-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

I realized in a previous Thai blog entry I wrote that the ferry from Phi Phi to Phuket was uneventful. I mislead you. I simply forgot about it. The ride was awful. There were huge waves again that crashed over the front of the boat. The 'captain' who not only looked ill trained but drunk as well, would turn and sit up from his cabin to look through the window at all of our reactions when the boat took air and water came over- I have never seen anyone laugh so hard at people's discomfort.

Randoms...

2007-06-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of large apartment buildings in the Chinese cities that I have been to. People have a pole that extends outwards from the top of their windows- they hang clothing out there to dry. It is crazy to see.

Chinese people don't really smile in pictures. I noticed this in Hong Kong all of the tourists looked very serious in all of the pictures. On the flip side, Japanese tourists have a huge smile, they all lean into each other and make a peace sign- every time without fail!

There is no toilet paper anywhere! It is bad enough that they don't have western toilets, just a hole in the ground... but they don't even provide toilet paper. It is a must that you carry your own. Some nicer restaurants will have some or will have some at the bar for you to take a few squares, but for the most part you have to have your own. You also can't deposit the used toilet paper into the toilet or hole... you have to put it in the waste bin- even if you did #2! I getting used to squatting though... this made me think of my brother though (read on before you think anything weird)... he likes to read on the toilet... you can't do that here. I believe in accepting people's culture and adapting to their ways of life when visiting... but I have to say, western toilets just make so much more sense! I know the argument of it being healthier to squat than to sit... but I think when going to the bathroom you can think of comfort first!

Up, up and away

2007-06-07T22:13:00.001-07:00

I headed to Kunming for the night before heading to Jinghong to meet Wade. Being that I was travelling from another country (Hong Kong) to China, I had to go through customs. The agent asked many questions- much like New Zealand. The difference is how nice the customs agent was. She actually apologized before asking them. She was really calm in asking me the questions and didn't make me feel nervous or like I was doing something wrong.

I exited the airport and there were a whole slew of people trying to get you to use their services. I needed to get a flight ticket for the next day and needed to convert some cash. A woman with an 'official' tourist badge offered to help. After speaking with her she explained that she worked for the government and was there to help. I decided to take her up on the offer, no one else spoke English- but I was sure she was going to rip me off. She definitely made some dough off of me... but it was a really smooth transition into a country where I don't speak the language.. it was well worth the $50 US she probably made off of me.

I walked about town a bit. I was not staying in the major part of the city, not the downtown area. I stayed in a hostel that was attached to a nice hotel. The hostel room was one of the nicest I have seen. It was spotless with wooden bunkbeds- you could actually sit up in them! Each one had a lamp and a little shelf. I was startled however when I saw the mattress... though I was warned about mattresses in China. It was about 3 inches thick and very stiff. I will say this though, to my surprise it was quite comfortable!

Kunming is extremely safe, but barely anyone speaks English- at least in the area that I was in. There were a lot of sporting good stores where I was, which is what I needed- I had to pick up some hiking boots and shorts for the hike Wade and I planned on doing. It was the strangest experience. It looked like I entered a store- but within the store were different areas that looked like it's own store. Nike, Adidas, Puma, Columbia and others all had their own sections- but you pay at a main counter and you pay before you get the goods. It was very difficult shopping and trying to communicate with the sales help. I had to play charades and it is then that I realized Chinese people really don't have much common sense. I know this is a gross generalization- but its true. When I tried a pair of shoes on that were too small I pointed to the shoe and did a no gesture with my hands and then placed a hand on each end of the shoe and extended my hand at the top, to show I needed it bigger. She didn't get it. It took about 5 minutes for her to finally understand. There are other examples of their inability to think quickly - but I think my point is made.

I decided to get a massage. Are you tired of reading about them? Well.. I am not tired of getting them! My accommodations had a 'spa' (please read that loosely this is dirty China we are talking about) that advertised foot massages. A man brought me to a room and spoke maybe 2 words of English. We soaked my feet and then he convinced me, in Chinese and one word of English, to get a pedicure as well. Actually he called it a manicure... but given the circumstances I understood what he meant- see? Common sense!

Anyhow, the manicure for my feet consisted of him trimming my nails with a long metal tool. It looked like something a dentist would use. He scrubbed my feet and that is about all the pedicure was... what a waste of 20 yuan (3 dollars- roughly). From there he then convinced me to get a full body massage and from that it turned into an oil massage. This was my first male masseuse outside of the states- it really didn't change anything. I have to say sometimes the haggling and forceful sales pitches are too annoying to deal with, as in this case... Massages are supposed to be stress releasing... so I just went with it.

It was the most spastic massage I have ever received. He actually jumped up on the table I was laying on and squatted. From there is hands moved about 100 miles an hour. He huffed and puffed though and seemed to complain... ummm... it was his idea I get the full body! It was a great massage though- very entertaining; he burped really loudly in the middle of it. At the end he also turned into a tip grubber. All in all my 35 yuan foot massage turned into an entertaining experience totaling 120 yuan... which is about 13.35 USD... well worth it. I love how cheap China is. My hostel room was 30 yuan... less than 4 USD!

I grabbed dinner that night at a local noodle joint... they were too oily though. My totally dinner: a huge bowl of noodles and a pot of tea cost less that 1 USD... wow.

Finally on my own

2007-06-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

I woke up ready to explore by myself. I was thrilled to have had the time with BJ and Charlie but I was ready for some 'me' time- especially after the bore of a night I had.

I decided to go to the largest aquarium in the WORLD! We all know how much I love them! What I didn't realize was that Ocean Park, as it was called, was not only an aquarium but a theme park. The place is massive- it is on two mountains connected by a gondola or a free shuttle bus.

I was only interested in the aquarium. I started out in the shark tanks. It was pretty standard nothing stood out to me yet. They did have zebra shark which were really cool looking. I also saw a sting ray and a shark sleeping next to each other, touching. I never thought that the two species would do that. I wonder if that happens in the wild too. I learned that there are over 344 species of sharks- wow, who knew?!

A couple of other things that stood out... the Jelly fish exhibit. By far the coolest I have ever seen in any aquarium. It was most impressive. They had some really big guys, which reminded me of the ones I saw in Brazil as well as having deadly box jelly fish that kept us out of the water in the northeast of Oz. The jelly fish area was pitch black with a lot of mirrors and changing glowing lights to show the jelly fish... it almost seemed like a fun house... sometimes I walked into the mirror!

They also had the biggest sting ray I have ever seen. It was massive probably like 5 feet wide (okay maybe 4). Remember the toy light bright? Well they had a food chain map that was basically made out of light bright pegs, it was hard to read but looked cool.

The Aquarium was huge. I now realize that the largest aquarium claim refers to the actual aquarium where the fish are housed- not the entire offering as a whole... because Baltimore is still way better. BUT... the aquarium tank was enormous and seemed like so much fun for the fish. The coral was amazingly bright and I would have thought it fake if I hadn't seen similar stuff in Thailand.

I was pretty much ready to go when a huge storm hit! They closed the gondola as the lightning storm was right above us... I got soaking wet trying to find shelter. I was getting annoyed, but didn't let myself and you just have to go with it. I made it to their crappy Chinese restaurant and got some soup and waited out the storm. I left when it was drizzling. The gondola was still shut down but I had to make it back to my bus which I thought was at the other end of the park. I therefore had to take like 6 escalators to the exit of the top portion to catch the bus to the main entrance. I made it practically to the top exit when I saw a tent with a sign for an ice skating show. This place is wacky- an aquarium, ice skating show, hot air balloon rides, carnival games and rides. I guess it is perfect to bring the family to- but all I really wanted was the aquarium and what a hassle it was to get around! The place is to big!

It was raining a bit harder so I figured might as well check out the skaters. I took a seat in the back, one of the last left and was stuck in front of this guy that was sucking his teeth... ahhhh. It drove me crazy! I have to say the Chinese really do spit, pick their nose, burp and suck their teeth whenever and wherever. The skaters were all westerners and this was cheesy as could be expected. It was a great laugh! It was silent, just to music, but had a demented magical story line. The magic was actually really cool and fooled me.. I just still don't get the disappearing act- how do they do it?! I was ooing an ahhing to a lot of the tricks... just fascinating to me! One other cool act was an acrobat with two long strips of fabric he did all kinds of twirls an lifts with them, showing off his very fit body! He also sailed across the audience holding onto the fabric and came back and pretended to run over them as he swung... it must take unbelievable strength to do what he did and it was so graceful! I enjoyed the show much more than expected.

I exited the top of the park and realized that another bus was going to take me back to Hong Kong Island from there... it was an easy commute back. I even found a travel agency and booked a ticket for Kunming for the next day. I decided to get the most of my time and see China. My brothers co-worker happens to be in China, so we decided to do some travelling together!

So long BJ and Charlie

2007-06-07T02:39:00.001-07:00

It was their last days in town. I was so thankful to have met them. We had a great run together... two very productive days of sight seeing and lots of laughs. We did still have one last adventure.

We met up with Charlie's friend from Hong Kong. We wanted to go for Dim Sum as both BJ and Charlie never have before. We once again met in Tsi Sha Tsui and were deciding where to go. I had my lonely planet with me that suggested a few fun places to experience real Dim Sum... but they were a bit of a commute (I later realized in the direction we all needed to go in). His friend suggested we just find a place around there... and as a local (but against both mine and BJ's better judgement) we figured he must know better. We followed him and found a place but it wasn't a cart place. He just ordered for us, the food was average and well, it wasn't much of an experience. I felt more badly for BJ and Charlie because that was there last opportunity to go. I've had it in China town... pretty authentic if you ask me. What pissed me off though is that we explained ot his friend what we wanted and he understood. After we ate he explained that real dim sum was carted around and it was more of an experience... arg!

Charlie went to play rugby with his friend- BJ and I went back to Lantau island. We took the number 6 bus, one of Eileen's recommendations. It was cheap and fun! The buses are double decker. We got the front top seat and off we went on a curvy mountain road! They drive like mad here, so it really was a cheap thrill. We got off at Stanley market and as Jenn Czark warned, it was pretty dull.

The boys left which left me puzzled about my next move. I wasn't sure if I should stick around for another week and a half as some really good friends, Lamarca and Julia W-B were going ot be in town, or to move on and see all that China had to offer. Before I made my decision, which was not easy as I really wanted to see them and could easily have spent months in Hong Kong, I met a new guy named Jeff. He too was American. He was older, 34 and really nice. We made plans to go out that evening.

We went back to that same area of bars and he complained the entire time about how expensive this area was and how it wasn't his scene. He turned out to be an obnoxious CHEAP backpacker... so snobby it hurt to talk to him! We went to dance and well, yikes! I could tell he was into me... but err, nope! Thankfully he was staying on a different floor than I... so I jetted out of the elevator when my floor came.

Actually, before we left the area I found a bar playing a Yankee game live! There was also a man there who was a met fan from NY. We talked a lot of crap to each other... but as Mike Matro has been keeping me updated, nothing to brag about on our part this season. A crazy coincidence though, the man grew up on 189th and St. Nick.... though he didn't really want to talk about that... he wasn't shocked by the random encounter... oh, I grew up one block west from there. I thought that was funny- we were in China and used to lie a block away from each other. Jeff was terribly bored... so we left. How could he not like baseball, it's the all American sport?!

Oh PS... this blog entry in not an open forum for Red Sox talk or Yankee hate messages... all will be deleted... you got that lil Leger and all of the Leger / Jelloe family for that matter?!

An early start

2007-06-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

BJ, Charlie and I headed out at 9:30 am after a strong night out. We once again went to Tsi Shu Tsui- at that point it was like second nature getting there... I felt like a local commuter. Charlie had plans with a friend which left BJ and I to explore until we were to meet up again.

BJ and I walked for what seemed like forever! We saw a bazaar like mall which was filled with stands. It was massive, but pretty grimy, hot and completely unappealing to shop in! We also found a very unimpressive Chinese garden. There were no flowers and pretty lame greenery. There was also a maze made out of shrubs that was less than impressive- perhaps it is geared towards kids.

We met up with Charlie and visited a Mosque. It was nice- but I wasn't wowed.

I would also like to mention that like Thailand it is next to impossible to walk down the street. Vendors hassle you to go into their stores and it gets quite tedious ignoring them all the time. Their favorite phrases are "hello, my friend" and "Ozzie, Ozzie"... I think that is all the English they know. Most of these vendors aren't Chinese though- I think that they are Indian or from Burma.

We headed back to the island and had a very busy afternoon! We took the MTR to Lantau island (which by the way has an incredible outlet mall... but I didn't buy anything). We took a very long gondola ride (think skiing not Venice) to the top of a mountain to visit the Big Buddha statue. After walking up tons of stairs.. we made it. It is absolutely massive and very impressive.

From there we went to the other side of town- finally, to Victoria's peak. It took us about 2 hours to get there from Lantau. We had to take a trolley up the mountain to reach the peak- no walking up for me this time! There was a massive line for the trolley. Unfortunately The peak has totally sold out and it completely commercialized. There is a Madam Trousseau's at the top and the trolley lets you out in a shopping mall.

Side note... about 99% of the time, when you exit an MTR station you are in a shopping mall.

The peak was a bit of a let down. I was more impressed with the Kowloon view and light show. We made it in time to see the light show from the peak, but there was no music so it was less than spectacular. After a 45 minute wait and ride, we made it back down- starving. We found a cheap noodle joint my our hostel and dined on some grub. We were all absolutely knackered from the day. We had been out over 12 hours in the hot and humid day... only one solution... massages.

We found a massage place. It was in a little building that seemed like it could be in the LES of NY. We went through the tiny stairway and up the stairs. The place was tiny, but really cute and well decorated in a industrial/ shabby chic way, if thats possible. The lady had to call some of the girls to come and put on a DVD for us to watch in the mean time. I got an incredible and cheap massage! It was on of the strongest I have ever had though!

Bed.

The real start to Hong Kong

2007-06-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

I woke up feeling much better and received a call from a friend, Eileen- from my previous job at Wathne. She is head of production and was in town dealing with handbags. I met up with her in Kowloon and this was actually my first venture on the MTR, subway system. I have to say it again... it is so easy and clean! I love their public transport! I am not sure I would have been brave enough to try it alone on my first day out if it hadn't been for these plans... I am so glad I had a little kick in the ass/ motivation to try it. I felt so silly for being nervous about getting around HKG.

Eileen was staying at the intercontinental. I haven't seen accommodations that nice since I was in the states! I was very tempted to take a bath in her huge tub, or a nap in her comfy bed... but a lunch invitation to a very prestigious Japanese restaurant was more appealing! We had a great laugh over a few cocktails (oops, antibiotics) and a delicious meal. Sadly Eileen had to head back to the states right after lunch... but she did have a look at my map and gave me all the must sees and hot spots of Hong Kong. This really kicked things off for me.

I left Eileen and wandered around Kowloon. The view was amazing- that great HKG skyline! I tried to find a travel agency to book a tour but it was very difficult. I realized that Hong Kong and China are two very separate entities and coordinating anything but a flight ticket from Hong Kong to somewhere in China is impossible.

It was super hot and a humid day. I was exhausted and feeling hungover in the early evening. I headed back to the hostel and met someone new. A fellow American- but from the other side of the world... Texas. His name was BJ...super nice kid. We made plans for the evening. As we were about to go we met someone new, Charlie... a bloke from London. The three of us decided to go back to Tsi Sha Tsui, Kowloon to watch the light show, which I believe I have already written about. It was very cool though because there was live classical music playing and seemed to be synchronized to the music. It reminded me of 4th of July on my moms roof!

We walked around a bit and decided to try and go into to the Peninsula Hotel. They have a bar on the top floor with once again a spectacular view. Now here was the catch: I was wearing a dress but was in flip flops, Charlie was wearing a button down shirt but with boardies and BJ was in a Polo shirt but in shorts and flip flops. We figured we were probably under dressed but figured if we walked in like we belonged they would let us in... or we could pretend our parents were staying there... apparently everyone thinks I look very young (that may be pushing it though!).

As we approached the hotel we noted the boutiques it also housed- LV, Hermes and others of the like. It didn't look good.. but two cocky Americans were set out to pay for an overpriced drink just to see the same view we had just been admiring from the promenade. Three business men were also heading up to the bar. My strategy was to make friends with them in hopes that the staff would think we were with them. Well, upon arrival to the bar... the hostess didn't look happy to see us and the three guys sold us out! They got in and as I am sure you have guessed, we did not.

The boys however did get to use the facilities as the men's room was specially designed. When you wee, you face the floor to ceiling windows and get to see the panoramic view of the sky line. I just waited by the elevators feeling defeated.

We took the ferry back to HKG island, which was all of 25 cents (USD). It was very slow and we soon realized why it was so cheap! We went to Central area and basically got lost trying to find a restaurant. We just wanted a hole in the wall cheap place and ended up stumbling on the hot part of town (I forget the street name)and ended up going to a very touristy and pricey place- though it was very good.

We hit up the very western bars afterward and had a late night! We first started at a pub and ordered a vat of beer. It was a large tube filled with beer, an insulated ice strip and a tap... it was great! Of course we had some catching up to do as it was late... so we drank it in about 20 minutes...

We next wandered to a couple of more bars until we went to our final one. My luck it was free vodka drinks for girls... of course I shared with the boys! We met some cool Ozzies and hung out and danced with them. The boys were in heaven because there were a lot of cute local girls in there showering them with attention. We all danced a lot, took a lot of photos and once again the boys were loving the attention... until... we turned around and saw a fuggly older guy dancing with a beautiful young local. This seemed a little fishy. Charlie went to the bartender who confirmed that all of these ladies were prostitutes. Once again I was surrounded by hookers and dancing with them at that! We had such a laugh! It was pretty late at this point- the three of us were standing at the bar when Charlie dared me to ask the girls how much for a night.

Well at 2 am, after some drinks who turns a dare like that down?! So here is how it went down:

Gi: "Hey my friends over there want to have a good time tonight."
Hooker 1: smiled and spoke in broken English
"Oh you have good time, dance a lot."
Gi: "A lot of fun but my friends want to have a good time with YOU tonight."
Hooker 1: "Good time with me?"
Hooker 2: "Two boys or one?"
Gi: "They both do."
Hooker 2: "1500 each."

And it was that easy. They had no intention of going with these girls, nor did they. It was simply a dare that I can't even believe I went through with!

Once again and adventurous night.

finally felt better...

2007-06-04T00:55:00.000-07:00

After spending two days in my room I finally ventured out. I met this kid from England in the computer room and he invited me to go to Victoria's peak with him. I was really in no shape to go, but I needed to get out. We left, me in my pajamas and flip flops looking horrid and he,in all black.

I was so out of it I don't remember much of this day. I do remember that he really had no idea how to get there. We ended up wandering around and walking up a huge hill. Victoria's peak is a look out at the top of a small tree covered mountain that looks over the sky line.

HKG- I will admit it, has a much better skyline than NYC. The building architecture is way cooler than anything we have, aside from the Chrystler building. Not only do they have great building, but at 8pm every evening they have a light show... the main big buildings flash lights, change colors and waste a lot of electricity, but it looks really cool! Behind these buildings are green mountains. I didn't realize HKG had so much natural beauty around it.

Victoria's peak is therefore a really great place to see the skyline. I forget this kids name, though he was really nice, really wanted to go to the tram and make it to the top. As I said before he got us lost on the most humid day I have experienced. I was still sick, sweating up a storm. I wasn't sure if it was going to make me feel better or much worse. But my friend Chris was right- a little sweat never hurts!

We walked for quite sometime up this mountain until we finally gave up! We clearly went the wrong way and the day turned very foggy so the view would not have been that great. I felt bad for this kid as it was his last day, but what are you going to do?! By the way he was totally a lord of the rings/ sci-fi type of character... it was an interesting day!

Somethings I noticed along the way though... HKG has some of the best fashion I have ever seen, I would love to drop some serious cash there! It is an extremely safe city. The subway system is AMAZING!!! It is super clean, super fast and clearly labeled... you can't get lost. Internet cafes are very hard to find! There is a 7-11 and at least to watch stores on every block. People walk very slowly; while it annoyed me at first I realized because of the humidity it is impossible to walk any faster! I also realized I would love to move to Hong Kong... I absolutely love it.

I HATE blogger...

2007-06-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

Blogger has not been working the last week that I have tried to update. Even now I can't look at my blog or your comments... but atleast I can write, I suppose... it's just not as much fun this way! But I'll write on... so you can read on...

My landing...

2007-05-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

I was in the HKG airport sick as a dog... weak, dizzy and completely out of it. I had to find a place to stay. Dreading trying to figure that all out, I saw a couple reading a lonely planet guide. I went up to them and pathetically asked if I could follow them to a hostel. They were sweet as could be and let me tag along. I think they saw my desperation as their taking pity on me completely saved me!

We took a double decker bus to Hong Kong Island to a hostel in Causeway bay. We got a little lost trying to find it, but along the way it was really interesting to see some of HKG. One strange sight was a block filled with women and girls sitting along side of it in groups and eating barefoot. I have seen this since and just don't understand it. They are not homeless and they don't seem to have a purpose other than taking a break and eating, but it also seems like they have every intention of staying there for a few hours.

We got to the hostel which is in a tall building. I got a single room with aircon and a private bathroom. I tried to get a shared bathroom room, it's easier to meet people when you share a common area, but they had none available. It worked out for the best as my sickness got worse. I couldn't sleep that night because of the pain I was in.

I went to the doctor the next day, thankfully it was a clean private clinic just a block away. The doctor was very nice and spoke excellent English. He looked at me and was sure that I had gotten a skin infection which also caused the throat infection and other symptoms. He said it was very serious and could have spread all over, but he assured me it wasn't a gross disease- just a local Thai infection. He was very stern that I take my three different medications, two being very strong anti-biotics. Once again a weeks worth of meds. I was talking to a girl in the hostel a few days later, she had lived in Thailand for a few months and said that a bunch of her friends got the same thing.

ohhhhh... side note, rewind. When I first got to Phuket I had to go to the doctor again for my foot injury from the rusty nail in NZ! The doctor had to cut my skin and clean the wound out... it hurt so much!!! It's better now.

Okay back to HKG... I started on the meds and within 5 hours my throat was almost totally better. I rarely go to doctors for being sick, but thank God I went when I did! I still spent the next couple of days attached to my bed. What a way to start a new country!

It did give me time to watch TV. I get about 5 channels. Two sometimes have English programs, one shows China news in English on the occasion... most of the time I watched Chinese music videos. They are really funny and really bad! There was one with two male heart throb type guys singing... but they were holding umbrellas... it was a slow song- I really wish I knew what it was about... totally puzzled! My favorite channel, though I feel really creepy watching it, is the security cameras! For some odd reason we get the split screen views of the four cameras! We can watch people come in and out of the building, wait for the elevator and see them in either elevator. It is extremely entertaining... there are some posers out there making sure they have their game on before leaving the building! I have been super cautious to barely move in the elevators now... I hate to think people laugh at me when I ride them! Some new friends have admitted to watching the channel too, it's a hostel favorite!

Last of Thailand...

2007-05-27T05:04:00.000-07:00

John had left and the siblings and I stayed. We had some lazy days pool side and hard nights out. I started to notice my glands swelling and I was getting a sore throat.

I was getting excited though because John from Indy's was arriving in Thailand soon... I had a ticket to HKG for May 20th but I was going ot change it and fly over to see him after doing Chiang Mai. I was all sorts of confused about when to leave and such.

Danielle and Kris left and I was happy to have a night in to just relax by myself. I goofed on the date though. Days must have slipped by me without realizing it. The day after they left, I started to feel sick and it was May 19th... uh oh, May 30th I had a flight out of Bangkok. It was a Saturday and I tried to change my ticket but I couldn't get in touch with Cathay Pacific. I quickly bought a same day ticket to Bangkok- not knowing what else to do! I figured I could look into changing my ticket at the airport.

As the day progressed I started to feel more and more sick! When I got to the airport I realized that Cathay Pacific didn't have a booth at Phuket, so I couldn't sort out my ticket there. I arrived in Bangkok in the evening and felt like pure crap. I managed to find a cheap hotel with shuttle service 5 miles from the airport. I just needed a bed and wanted to be close for my early morning flight that seemed inevitable- I had to end my Thailand trip earlier than I wanted to. I didn't get to see John :(

I went to bed and woke up with a fever and being more sick than I have been in forever. Every time I swallowed, my throat felt so tight and it sent shooting pains to my ears... it hurt to breathe and sneezing was the worst. My chin was swollen beyond belief and this is where I will mention what I think the shower water did to me...

I had two pimples about a half a centimeter from my lip. A few days earlier I had woken up and they attached with some white puss. Gross.. I know! I looked awful and must have scared some that morning! It then happened to my lower chin too. On this morning the white changed to green and it crusted over. At this point I thought I had caught something. I was sick and scared. Two things made me feel better but brought me to tears... talking to my mom, who I desperately wanted to be with and I have never missed more in my life! and I managed to call Kat and Nick and heard the Boston crew in the background!

So with the me being a sick monstrosity I was in no condition to sort out new travel plans and I made myself get excited for China.... China! I slept the whole flight from take off to landing and found myself in the Hong Kong airport that looked a lot like the Bangkok airport... a new adventure...

Elephant trek

2007-05-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

The one thing I really wanted to do in Thailand was to do an elephant trek in the jungle. I had heard you can do them in Chiang May which is in the North and I was planning on going. We however happened to see a lot of brochures that highlighted elephant trekking in Phuket.

We booked a half day excursion and were stoked about doing something cool on Phuket... or so we thought.

We arrived at the tour place and I could tell it was a tourist trap of crap! I think it cost them about $200 to put this place together- there was nothing to it and what was there was not even run down, because it would have had to have been nice at one point ot be run down... it was just a dump! The tour was suppose to cover a lot of ground and include a lot of fun activities, I soon realized it was all to be done in this little center... what a rip-off!

We first rode elephants. Now the picture showed people doing it in the rain forest... we did it next to the rain forest but not in it. It looked like it was in the process of being cleared land for development... it was bumpy with some ditches and such; it was not the back drop or conditions I was expecting! We even went through some garbage at one point. I got to ride the elephant but I felt like I was at the zoo. That's what this place was like, a petting zoo.

Next was the monkey show. They had a monkey take coconuts (that they tied up to the tree) out of the tree. I think it was supposed to be educational on how the monkeys get the coconuts free, but it was not an impressive show. We didn't even get to hold the monkey.

The elephant show came next which was even more stupid. I can't even remember what they had the elephant do. At the end though they had Danielle get up and lay down on her stomach.... they had the elephant stomp (lightly) on her back... I once again didn't see the entertainment in this. Kris then had to lay down and they shoved bananas on the sly up his pants.. so the elephant went to get the bananas up his shorts, through the bottom to make it look suggestive and a horrible thought of bestiality... I thought it was corny and predictable trick.

Two things made this very expensive tour worth it...

1) A rice field tour. Well, it really was a man made tiny replica of a rice field on their premises... but the explanation of how rice is rice was given and I was blown away by the presentation. It was really cool to see the plant in different stages and how they get the rice and have to separate it from the shell like stuff. I am sorry I don't have more information on this. I didn't have my notebook with me and have since forgotten all of the cool facts on rice. I think I need to google it.. you should do the same, it was really cool!

2) Rubber Tapping. We actually got off the premises for this and drove to a random spot off some road to a dirt road. We had to walk in the forest, just a few feet to the specific tree. This is one way you can make rubber... you take a spacial tool that reminds me of a cuticle cutter (the ones that you just run over the cuticle and it comes off, kind of like a half circle shaped shaver). With this tool you run it over the bark of the tree in a downward slope. The bark comes off and almost instantaneously white sap comes out. The sap dribbles down the tree and is collected in a cup for three hours. You can only do one slit at a time per tree and it is done in the wee hours of the morning due to temperature, light and general conditions.

Once the sap is collected it is put in water and mixed with some other liquid that I didn't understand what it was (Thai tour guide with very broken english). I can't remember how long it stays in the liquid, sorry folks. The sap was sticky to begin with and after this process has now hardened and is put in a roller. It gets squished out like a lasagna maker and then put in water again. It then gets squished out of a finer and textured roller. The last step is hanging it to dry on a clothes line for two weeks. It turns brown and becomes rubber!

Those were definitely the highlights of the tour and I wish we could have ended on a high note. Nope... we were off to a canoe trip in a... well I am not sure what you would call a body of water like this. I guess it was a narrow river, very calm though. We got there and all loaded onto a long boat that took us down the river. There was nothing spectacular to look at and the river had these contraptions along it that caught muscles. We went about 5 minutes in the boat when we had to get into our canoes. John and I got into our canoe and we were told to paddle back to where we came from. It took us all of ten minutes and we were completely dumb founded by this activity. I still don't understand the point of it.

Oh and the brochure also said we were going to go on a 4x4 safari ride... that was the transport from the petting zoo to the tapping tree and then to the canoe. Rip off?!

The last stop they also managed to fit in time to bring us to two gift centers. One was a pearl store (I did see some magnificent pearls) and the other was a gem store. Wow... they had tons of precious and semi precious stones of all shapes and sizes. I admit it, I loved this stop and totally regret not buying the most beautiful aquamarine... the prices were cheap, really cheap and the goods were certified. Oh well...

Rock City

2007-05-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

oh yeah... we found the bar of a lifetime! Rock City is a Hard Rock Cafe, theme like bar... but Jersey... it's all Jersey. We went there on two occasions and had stupid fun. Rock City has live music- cover bands (think monster ballads CD) that were Thai dudes. It was amazing. The lyrics were hysterical, much like the lounge singers, their pronunciations were a little off. But theirs were a little more subtle being that they just seemed to scream everything.

I have to say that I love this place... it was really goofy and a great time... but it was the only bar that we could find that had normal guys. There were no prostitutes here so it was nice to be able to socialize with the male gender again!

The bar also had shot girls. One girl dressed like a bandida serving tequila or sambuca shots. They also had the slutty nurse walking around with surringes of alcohol... it just added to the cheese factor and was a perfect addition.

Random...

2007-05-27T04:01:00.000-07:00

Patong is way more westernized then the other islands. It was hard to find Thai restaraunts... you had to go down tiny alleyways with dirty places to eat. Other than that it was western food.

7-11 had no meat pies as we were out of Oz and Kiwi land. Their snacks were crazy processed meat on sticks that soaked in oil and some in water... I didn't try them. I did try the steamed buns that they had and the dumplings... I much preffered the street meat out there!

You can buy fresh fruit on a stick- think Washington Heights- on street corners... it was awesome!

While massages are wonderful in Thailand, mani's and pedi's are terrible. They just file and paint, nothing more. They do the worst job. Even though they are cheap, you are better off doing your own nails.

Toilets... gross. Some are just holes in the grond. I don't understand why they would have them and not regular toilets. Now I agree that there are wonderful customs and cultural differences that we all have... but lets face it the toilet is far superior to the hole in the ground. This is an occation where I really think they should conform to the western invention. Also, do to plumbing you can't throw anything in the toilets. This includes your poopy toilet paper! The plumbing is pretty bad... you often don't have hot water in hotel rooms and ours smelled like rotten eggs. Can you imagine showering in that?! PS I think it caused some other issues for me which I will bring up in a future entry.

A new roommate

2007-05-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

Nick sadly had to go and so Danielle moved into my room. I was thankful to have met the Canadians because it was cool to have fun people to hang out with. We stayed for about a week and relaxed poolside a lot (we snuck into a nice resorts pool area everyday!).

We also treated ourselves to some really nice dinners. One night we went for fresh lobster and squid... at that restaraunt (as most do), they had live music. It was a sister and brother pair, in their 40's- the dude was on key board and lead vocals and the sister was back up singer and random marracca's or tambourine, as per the song needed. They were the epitomy of lounge singers. It was horrificly entertaining. One would stop mid song to welcome new customers or to say good night as the music played on... they were terrible but amazing at the same time. I made the mistake of making eyecontact and bopping along to one of the 80's love songs they were singing... there was no excaping them after that. They called me "new york" and would have me request songs, they dedicated New York, New York to me and they basically wouldn't leave me alone. They were super nice though and you couldn't help but love them.

Side note: I was not lactose intollerant in Thailand either.

Phuket

2007-05-27T03:23:00.000-07:00

We took a boat to Phuket and thankfully it was short, not an overnighter and not that bad.

Kris has traveled to Phuket a few times so he kind of led the way for us. We decided to stay in Patong (which I knew nothing about)- it is the main beach from my understanding.

Nick had to fly home the next day, so we had one night out with him- and we had to make it a great send off for him! We walked the strip of bars; there are a plethora of bars on this strip. They close the street to traffic at night and the sidewalks are lined with bars. The bars are open in the front and you can just wander from bar to bar. Off this block are a few side streets with more bars that line them, as well as having bars in the middle strip of the block. Basically it is three strips of bars per little alleyway. They are called Soi's.

About this area... there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people. You get harassed every two steps to purchase cigarettes, pictures with monkey's (I got one taken- I just wanted to hold the cute thing!) or Iguana's, ridiculous hats, stupid souvenirs or sex. Yep... prostitutes galore! I have never seen so many prostitutes in all of my life... it was crazy!

We got approached to go to a ping pong show... of course we went! This was no Forrest Gump champion ping pong player... this was an older Thai woman popping them out of a certain hole. She also shoved a peeled banana in and shot it out. I'll never forget the sound that made, and I don't care to explain it! Other impressive acts - she blew out candles, played a horn and wrote a note... all with her you know what. Some people we met couldn't believe we went to the show (which was a one drink minimum per set- we only stayed one set), but I can't believe anyone wouldn't go to this show! Now I am not saying I agree with this career choice, but I must say I am super impressed with her skills and wonder how she trained or how long it took her to learn these party tricks! Talk about a conversation starter... The funnything though was that she was not this cute little thing, she was ugly and not on the young side!

Another thing about these bars... they have thai bar maid's and you can play them in connect 4. You can't win... they are unbelievable at the game.

We started the night there and then went to Tiger bar. It is a bigger club and we found a corner and worked up a good sweat dancing. Numa Numa came on and Nick and I went nuts. I got all cheery because it made me think of Brent, P and Karen... I wished you guys had been there!

After Tiger bar we went to Dragon Bar. It was not full at all, but it did have a stage and cat walk with some dancers... no nudity though, they were just dancing in these ridiculously skimpy threads they called outfits. As I said before, Kris was really leading the way. This was his favorite hang out and it showed because we got amazing treatment! There was Mama San... who is really a he, but I'll show respect and say she. She is in charge of the dancers and their actions and wages after their dancing. She sent a few up to us, to get our drinks when we needed more and to dance with us. She had two of them take Danielle and I by hand, down to the stage to dance! She then sent them all down to us... we were dancing with hookers on stage!!!! The night was beyond surreal!

We went back up to the balcony area and danced up there, with the prosties of course. We were battling moves and I was trying to take some notes! kidding... I do have to mention that they were in awe over my breasts. They kept at looking and pointing at them and giggling... then the pointing became touching... I guess they hadn't seen anything like them before. I feel like my story can go off into a very crazy direction here... but nope, not only are prostitutes not for me, but girls aren't either. And this is why I have to say I wasn't that keen on Patong. While I had a blast there, particularly this first night... it was sleazy, and I wanted to dance with hot guys, not female hookers or the men that hang around them!

There are also lady boys, as they call them, all over the place. The alleyway to our hotel was the lady boy hooker spot... it was pretty funny!

This was one of the cazier experiences on this trip... but what a memorable lsat night to Nick's big trip... he went home to Canada after this one.

My ARMY buddies

2007-05-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

I have to say my favorite thing about hanging out with JOhn and Kris was hearing there perspective and experiences. They had both been sent to Afganistan and had some crazy storied to tell. It was interesting even hearing about the day to daylife and goofy aspects of the Army... like what a rashion was like, or how they sent mail... One particular night Kris was speaking about road side bombs or something as common knowledge like that and John turns to him and said 'loose lips sink ships'... I am sure they had a lot more they couldn't share!

What was even more interesting was talking with Danielle and seeing her reaction as they told stories. I asked her a lot of questions in relation to her feelings about her brother leaving and what that must have been like for her.

Thai boxing

2007-05-23T00:51:00.000-07:00

Phi Phi has an interesting nightlife. The music stops at 2 am, but people still stay out and drink. I personally prefer dancing the night away, but oh well. We found this one bar that had thai boxing. It seemed pretty staged but it was still fun to kick back a few, while watching people kick back to win! It was very easy to get into it and Cheer them on! After the thai boxers go up, they allow patrons to compete against each other. It was crazy to see some girls go at it. They were drunk, had no fighting technique, nor intentions to really fight- but by the end, man they would slug each other!

It reminded me of this re-occurring dream I have when I am stressed out and feel like I am not in control of my life. The dream is me getting into a fight, throwing a punch with all of my might and it hitting the target like jello... with no force whats so ever. The fights there fore made me feel a little uneasy, while I am confident in my strength, there was no way I was going up there!

We had one crazy night, actually it was the first night. Carl, who I should have mentioned a long time ago, I just don't like- showed his true colors. Firstly, I don't respect him because he is a beach bum drunk unwilling to grow up. Secondly, I don't like him because of his attitude he feels like he is king of Thailand because he has spent 8 seasons there and feels like everyone should kiss his *ss. Carl also gets on these long tangents when he is drunk and often is offensive. That is the background on Carl. On this particular night Carl became enraged with Nick for absolutely no reason and punched him! We were all hanging out on our balcony when it happened and Carl's Thai (supposed gangster) friend got all riled up too and pulled out a knife! Thankfully the Canadians were with us. John and Kris are in the ARMY and proved there skills. They took control of the situation and diffused the matter at hand. It was time consuming, as well as energy draining... but Carl finally left! I wanted nothing to do with him after that!

Another highlight of Phi Phi, besides the daily hour long massages I got, was a 3 hour cooking course we took. It was great fun and extremely informative! It was a perfect way to spenda rainy afternoon. The instructor was an irish man that has been living in thailand for quite sometime. At first I was disappointed he wasn't thai, but then I realized understanding the instructor was far more important and helpful in my learning more! He taught us about the herbs they use, how to cut them per specific dishes and the reasons why they are cut in that fashion; he taught us three dishes and he explained about the culture in terms of diet and cuisine. I cannot wait to have a Thai dinner party!

This pretty much sums up my time in Phi Phi... I was off to Phuket next with Nick and the Canadians!

Our arrival

2007-05-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Phi Phi. We checked into our hotel and I was less than pleased. I really shouldn't complain as it was less than $15 a night each, but my budget can afford more than that and I would have liked a non-leaking room, hot water and a window... but we did have a balcony!

I had my best meal yet in Phi Phi. If any of you go there you should go to a restaurant (shack) called Papaya- I think that's the name (it's next to Tiger bar our nightly spot). The servings were massive, fresh and super spicy.

Once again the weather was touch and go- on and off rain (torrential down pours). We all planned on staying in Phi Phi for a few days and wanted to do some fun stuff and not just sit around! One thing that absolutely struck us as we were coming in from the ferry from Krabi (that's the name of the place we were stranded for a few hours and found the local eatery), was that the panoramic views were out of this world and unlike anything I have seen. Once again picture small islands with rain forests inhabiting all but the beach fronts. What makes these different from Doubtful Sound is the proximity of these are no where near as close. These Islands are very far apart but it emphasises the vastness of the water! It is incredible to be in a boat and to see so much ocean around you! These Islands, Phi Phi and the smaller ones around it, literally shoot up from no where. They don't peak in the middle...they have a sort of flat top shape... picture Will Smiths hair in early Fresh Prince days if his hair were a rich green, lush rain forest on Christina Ricci's forehead (just as big) as the ocean's water! By far the most beautiful part of Thailand.

We did a sunset cruise- the Canadians, Nick, Carolina and I. We did a lot of snorkeling and had amazing schools of fish swimming with us. I have never swam amongst thousands of fish before, and I definitely was a little freaked out! There wasn't as much coral as there was off of Ko Tau, and I think I enjoyed seeing the coral more than the fish- though a great experience just the same!

We got to Kayak into a lagoon, which was beautifully relaxing (especially since Kris was doing the paddling!). We also passed by Monkey beach, but there were no Monkeys so we didn't stop in order to spend more time in other locations. The last stop we made was to a beach front. Actually a scene from the movie 'The Beach' was filmed there. To get to this beach we had to either swim from the boat to this little cave and walk on a rope through it, then a bit of a jungle walk to the other side where the beach was or stay on the boat and they would take you there. Seems like a no brainer, however even the thai tour guides said the swim would be a rough one, the weather was changing with the clouds coming in wich brought about rough water conditions.

Everyone psyched me up to do the swim / cave adventure. I am not one to pass up once in a life time opportunities on this trip. John agreed to stay close as my fear definitely shined through my less than tough facade! Since my near death experience in Jaco, circa 1991, I am not a big fan of waves and rough water!

I set my self free in the water and began to swim, not too bad at first. As we came closer to the cave the waves were incredibly strong. Keep in mind there were huge coral rocks around as the water became more shallow. The waves basically pushed us into the rocks with great force and then sucked us back out. It was not a fun experience to say the very least. At one point I grabbed onto Johns back for dear life and was sucked back out by a wave. Even the fittest of guys were having difficulty making it to the roped cave. The tour guide was yelling at us to stay to the left, but the water had other intentions for us. I banged up my knee and had a few scrapes on my hand as the rocks were merciless!

I somehow made it to the cave after swallowing much water and swearing to myself that I would skip further water activities. The cave took all about one minute to walk through- it was more of an arch way than a cave. The walk hurt our bare feet as we were walking on crushed coral and people were banged up! Kris had gashes and scrapes all over, one kid had his swimmers torn and we were all out of breath. We made it to the heavenly beach and I have to say... if I had just taken the boat there I really would not have missed out on anything. This is one of those times when I could have sat the activity out and it would have been better! But you never know these things and I would rather be disappointed in doing something than disappointed in missing out on another.

The beach was an alcove an alcove of the island. White sand beach, crystal clear water, the jungle around us and other than the other people on the tour, we had it all to ourselves. We only spent about a half hour here though. The weather cut our time short and gave us no sunset. It was still worth it!

I almost died

2007-05-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

We booked the night boat going from Ko Tau to Phi Phi. It was a boat to bus to boat ride. The first boat was to leave at pm and we were to get into Phi Phi at noon the next day... all for about 30 bucks.

We were told to get there at 7:30 for a good spot. We did ... but before I get to the accomodations...

The boat. Oh my god. It was a big old wooden fishing boat. The weather was turning on us. It had been drizzling all day, but it seemed like a storm was headed our way. Please note earlier blog entries- you will recall the rain comes down with great force. The ramp to get on the boat was a 1 foot wide piece of wood with no grips. We got there first and were handed tickets with numbers on it. We went upstairs, where we could not stand tall- we had to remain bent over. There were 3 inch thin mattresses along side both sides of the boat, all the way down. The numbers handed to us were the sleeping assignments. Please keep in my mind it was like two gigantically long beds and we were to sleep next to each other. I have never seen anything like this. We did however get the corner which was slightly more room and there were fans above us. There were windows all the way down too.

We grabbed some dinner and made it back to the boat about 15 minutes till departure. When we got back the boat was packed. So much so, they put mats down on the wooden floor in the luggage floor and had people sleep there too. Thank goodness we came early! As we were getting ready to go the waves were picking up as the weather was getting worse. I thought the Whitsundays were bad, that was nothing. For most of our journey the boat was not only rocking up and down but from side to side as well. Every time there was a big wave, the boat would come crashing down and you could hear the wood make creaking noises- it sounded like it was going to split in two. Before we even made it off the dock, the current was so bad, they couldn't get the boat away from the dock. We kept on crashing into it over and over again with a bunch of Thai guys yelling as loud as they could. When we finally made it out of the dock we hit another boat before we made it out to see.

There were a group of three across from us. There was this one guy John, with a tattoo sleeve, massive silver earrings with big holes, more tattoos and just a tough looking big guy... he was holding on for dear life with the biggest look of fear in his eyes. The two with him, Danielle and Kris (brother sister travelers from Toronto) gave me props for downing a Smirnoff ice in one sip. I was scared to say the very least.

Nick stayed downstairs he was loving this. Carolina and I slept holding hands and my other hand was bolted to my life vest. I kid you not, I slept with my hand clenched to the vest! I woke up at some point during the night to the sound of the rain down pouring next to me. There was a leak and the area of the bed next to me was drenched. Nick was supposed to be sleeping there but he was talking to some girl, still downstairs. People had closed there windows to not let the rain in and it got quite hot. I managed to fall back asleep and once again woke up. This time I grabbed my heart when I woke up in a panic. My heart hurt. I thought I was having a heart attack. It was awful I was in terrible pain and the boat was still rocking but now terribly hot as well. They had turned the fans off for some crazy reason! As if the conditions needed to get any worse?! Kris saw me gasp as I woke up and thought I was crazy! Apparently John had nightmares of being in an earth quake. I think every one's fears were manifesting in a different way.... but it was crystal clear none of us felt safe on this boat.

The weather conditions were really bad and I have never seen a boat rock as much as this one... huge amounts of water splashed over the front of the boat as smashed down on waves... it was crazy.

We thankfully made it to the port in one piece- though with a lack of sleep and an overwhelming amount of pain! There were a bunch of Thai people trying to sort out who booked through what company and where we were to go next. We got split up from Carl as he booked elsewhere. He got his tuk tuk to a mini van right away which brought him to the next port to get the ferry to Phi Phi.

We on the other hand were ushered with our bags through the streets of wherever we were on a 15 minute walk. We waited there for our tuk tuks which then brought us to another place to wait a pointless half an hour till our bus took us on many stops till we finally for to another travel agency type place- who then told us we missed the ferry by an hour (which Carl made it there an hour early). It was 11 and we had to be back there at 2:30. Thankfully Carolina has done this before and was able to lead Nick and I, and the three Canadians to town.

We stumbled upon a corner restaurant with the cutest kids working it. All six of us got an entree and a soft drink for about 450 baht. That is less than 15 US dollars. It was worth the experience just to go to this place. It was a restaurant that had no walls on the two exterior sides. There were carts on different ends of the corners to cook the food. It was half street food half restaurant. I don't think they get many non Asians as diners at this place.

It started to rain (why not make matters worse?!) on the walk back to the agency thing. We stopped for coffee to kill time and to wait for the rain to die down. The coffee was more expensive than the meal we had just eaten! We couldn't out wait the rain, we just accepted our crappy situation and were slowly beginning to laugh about this crazy journey! We did play my favorite game... the at least game. Whenever in a crappy condition, play the at least game... like at least I am not dead in an alley way with vultures pecking away at me or at least I am not stuck in a room with no windows with both Mickey Mouse and Goofy for 24 hours with no sleep allowed... it puts everything into perspective.

We got back and quickly got into more tuk tuk's and off we were to the ferry. The ferry was a bit nicer of a boat... but it is always complete chaos trying to find seats. People take up more seats than they need and the employees do not help. I managed to get some sleep on the boat before finally making it to Phi Phi with practically 24 hours of travel time on our belts!

We befriended the Canadians and we all decided to stay in the same hotel...

Snorkeling in Ko Tau

2007-05-17T02:09:00.000-07:00

As I said we had a big night out for Martina and Shane as they were leaving us. Nick and I got about an hour and a half of sleep and Carolina got none. We had booked a snorkeling trip that we were determined to make. Unfortunately Stina didn't make it out of bed. Everyone thought we were crazy for booking this trip as it has been raining like crazy. Everyone said that the visibilty underwater would be crap. I knew I wouldn't see any fish on land, so might as well try to snorkle!

We lucked out more than I could have dreamed up good weather. It was the most amazing day! We went to abotu 4 or 5 different spots off the boat to snorkle. The first stop broke all boundaries for my comfort zone! I snorkeled with SHARK! It is true I saw a few of them swim by me, they were about 3 1/2 feet long. Now before you get all scared or proud of me, they were reef sharks. Reef sharks are sharks, but they are pretty much harmless. It was explained to me that they can't really kill you but they can take a bight out of you... this is why I feel like I totally surprised myself by doing this.

The next stop was by a reef where the entire oceans floor was covered in beautiful coral. The vastness was icnredible. The sunny day that we had allowed great visibilty and dare I say it... I was more impressed with this coral than the coral at the Great Barrier Reef. This coral was orange and twiggy looking, the way I have always expected it to look. I cant explain how much there was... it was crazy!

At the next stop there were bigger rocks and a really cool looking coral reef. The coral was different colors and really cool shapes. There were crazy looking things in the water that I couldn't tell you what they were... but it was spectacular. We even saw these giant blue clams, they were wavy looking and really cool.

The last place we stopped was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was an island and we had to pay an entrance fee. It is so hard to explain what it looked like, but I can tell you the water was turquoise, there was a beutiful lagoon, the sand was crushed pieces of coral- very white but hurt a bit to walk on it. We went up to a look out point through the forest, climbed rocks- for the most spectacular view. It was two tiny islands connected by a thin and short sretch of sand. P.S. did you know that sand is 75% fish poop?!

This was a great day, I am so glad we decided to book this excursion despite the weather and everyone's critism... it was amazing!

Snickers

2007-05-16T03:19:00.000-07:00

After my journey home from Ko Samui, I got back to a sleeping room. Apparently Shane and Martina stayed out till 9 am.

It was another rainy and lazy day in our beautiful hotel room. Finally at about 6ish... Nick arrived!!!! I was soooo happy, and relieved that he made it! Snickers and I went to get some yummy thai grub. We had a few Capirinias and had one of our legendary and epic conversations. It was really great to see him again and just talk about life.

I had to call it an early one though I was pooped! We arranged to go to Ko Tau the next day... Snickers, Martina, Stina, Shane, Carolina, Carl and myself.

Our day of departure was yet again a rainy day. We arrived in a full on storm. We stayed in a cute hotel, we had two person wooden bungalows.... nothing extraordinary but they were good enough. They were just across the road from the beach.

On day two of being there Nick, the girls and I rented scooters, Vespa like bikes. It was a funny start. Two people could go per bike and it was tricky finding out who would drive, who would ride with who and who would ride alone. Martina tried and failed, she couldn't get the balance of the bike. I paid attention to the Thai kid with his broken English explanation on how to drive the thing. As he was explaining it again to Stina and Carolina, I decided to just jump on one... and off I was. It's a good thing they don't ask for licences as we all know I don't have one. It turned out Stina was able to drive one as well, Carolina jumped on back of hers and Martina rode with Nick... should I be flattered that they had the confidence in me to drive alone or insulted because they were too scared to ride with me?!

We went on a 45 minute ride to a place I will probably never be able to find again. WE had no direction, we were just going by whim and where the unblocked roads would take us. It rains so much here that a lot of the roads are flooded and please bare in mind these are tiny islands with very few roads! We made it to a path in a rain forest and decided to park the bikes and ride it. It was a steep walk down, narrow and scary! But after about 15 minutes we made it to the beach and it was worth it! No one was there, we had a small sanded beach surrounded by rain forest with wooden bungalows on stilts in them. It was an amazing piece of land that we had all to ourselves! The walk back up was a tough one, man am I out of shape!!!

Ko Tau is my favorite island thus far in Thailand. It was pretty small but well developed at the same time. There is not as much western influence as you find on Ko Pagnan and Phi Phi, but that's what I like about it. The beaches are not as nice as the ones on Phi Phi though. What I love about Ko Tau is the vibe. It reminds me of old school Costa Rica, back in the early 90's. They have bars on the beach that lay out mats and pillows, with tables and candles right on the sand. It is so nice to chill out on the beach; it is a lot more mellow than the other islands, yet it still has a great night life if you want it. Most of the restaurants have flat screen TV's and play movies during the day and at night, so its a nice alternative to going out or perfect for a rainy day.

Martina and Shane left after a couple of days. We of course had a big night out the night before and dined on Pancakes after the bar. All over Thailand you find street vendors making Crepe like pancakes with the most delicious fillings. I have had two so far... a nutella/peanut butter / banana and the one that I had this night, egg and cheese. The man that makes them at this particular stand is extremely impressive, he flips them and is super quick with his spatula. I bet he would be in heaven at Spatula City. This night however he was extremely drunk and barely managed to make the pancakes.

Carolina bumped into a thai, guy friend of hers at the bar. He opted for fried chicken from a street vendor and a bag of rice. I have never laughed so hard in my life a the sight of him feeding Stina and Carolina. He even gave me some of his rice by balling it up in his hands and trying to feed me... it was odd. But let me tell you, that chicken was amazing! The other vendor food that is a culinary delight is street meat. They (you find this all over the place)grill satay skewers of chicken, beef and some other stuff. They cost about 10 baht each, which is about 30 cents.

Ko Pagnan and full moon party

2007-05-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ko Pagnan is basically a party island. So please bare in mind while reading my entries they might be a little ridiculous. Also, have the confidence in me that I actually do and see amazing things during the day, however it had been pissing rain while in Ko Pagnan so there really wasn't much to do during the day. Let's stop and talk about the rain. I came to Thailand in monsoon season. Its true, it really is. It has rained almost every day, I think all but one day saw rain. Some days it rains all day long, and not just a sprinkle, a down pour. Other days its off and on. I am still having an incredible time though!

We went out again to the Drop in bar and rumor had it a friend of ours named Benji, from Bondi was in town. We couldn't find him the night before but within a matter of two minutes and amongst the hundreds of people dancing on the beach, we were dancing next to Benji! It was rally great to see him again. He greeted me with the biggest hug out there and a smile from ear to ear... I was equally as happy to see him. It was another hard night out as the build up for the full moon party is just as strong as the actual night!

Full moon day... hungover in bed with pissing rain outside. it did make it easy to stay inside though! There was a break in the rain and Martina and I ventured out to get some type of a costume for the night. We went to some 99cent store type places and found some cute accessories. We decided to be party favors. We put colored tinsel around our denim skirt hems and our ankles. We found xmas tree ornaments of gifts that we made earring out of. As we got ready for the night we put a full face on and some big hair!

At this point we weren't sure when Nick (Snickers) from Bondi was coming. We had a feeling he wouldn't make it for the night but we were crossing our fingers. We were also hoping to meet up with the geordies, Steve and Ian (not the Ian I went to world bar with, but there friend which was only in Bondi for a couple of days and we don't remember meeting each other). I had sent them an email with our hotel info and a meeting time and hoped they were able to meet us.

We started drinking at a friends bungalow in the same resort. It was raining ridiculously hard at this point. You could hear the people on the beach and the music, but we wanted to wait for either the rain to stop, the drinks to kick in, or to find Steve and Ian. It was myself, Martina, Stina, Carolina, Shayne, Carl and some people we had just met in another bungalow. The rain started to calm itself and I went to meet Steve and Ian... yay! A few minutes later I found them!!!! Once again it was big hugs and smiles to see each other.

the full moon party was ridiculous. There were thousands of people dancing on the beach and battling sound systems from the bars. We started at drop inn and then wandered down the beach a bit. We were dancing at one bar down the beach and Steve went to get a drink. I saw him begin to walk over, and I didn't see him again for the rest of the night. We finally decided to leave him and call it a lost cause. As we were walking back to Drop Inn, Ian and I seemed to have lost everyone. We looked around, sped up and gone. We lost everyone. The two of us had a blast the rest of the evening though. We danced a lot and drank a lot... gotta love those buckets! WE were really goofy and at one point he looked at me dancing and commented how I was even wackier than him... that made me laugh.

Ian and I had the best time walking around and stopping at the random bar on the beach for some dancing. It was mostly house and drum and bass sort of stuff... which is very dramatic and fun for a night like this. There were tons of Malaysians that would pass out on the beach. I swear we saw like five different sets of some. I had Ian lay down with them and we got some very entertaining photos.

We couldn't find anyone and we were getting tired. It was about 330... we were lame. This party goes till the next day at noon! While trying to find friends, we stumbled on a thai teenager passed out on his scooter. I climbed on for an obvious photo up and some how he wakes up, turns back at me and with a very drunken grin, he grabs my boob! I think Ian and I couldn't stop laughing for the longest time at that one!

I didn't have my room key, only Shayne had one. Ian and Steve were staying on Ko Samui, the island with the great airport. We found Steve finally who wanted to head back as well and they dragged me along. I was leaving the party island to go to another for the night... reverse commute!! Silliness. They had speed boats that they shuttle people back and forth specially for the full moon party.

I thought I was going to die on this boat. It had three motors and went incredibly fast. In fact apparently at the last full moon party one flipped over and had some casualties. Thankfully it only lasted a half hour. Getting off was equally as nerve racking. We had to walk on the front nose of the boat and jump off... it was really high! I crawled and then had some thai guys assist me off. Ian and I were watching Steve as it was his turn to get off the boat and Ian turned to me and was positive that Steve was going to fall. I turned my video on in the camera and got a perfect shot of Steve taking a plummet and landing on his bum in the water! Classic!

We had to take a tuk tuk back to their bungalow. We were the last ones on... I sat in the back with my legs hanging off and Steve and Ian were standing at the back holding on for dear life. It was not the safest of conditions and these tuk tuks go fast... but Thailand is not the safest of places! It was a fun ride back... they looked like the lost boys hanging off the bridge. We made it back it one piece.

We had another beer and hung out on their porch. We danced a bunch until Steve looked at us and said... why are the three of us assholes dancing on my balcony when there are thousands of people dancing on the beach we just came from! I have never laughed so hard as I did that night. I am so glad I went on an adventure to Ko Samui with the boys. It was not only great to see Steve again... but it was the most fun I have had in a long time. Truthfully, I thought it was more fun than the full moon party itself. The sun came up yet again... bed time!

I had to make it back to Ko Pagnan and realized I didn't have that much money with me. I got my ferry ticket and had about 150 baht left. The ferry, as I knew it, left me in walking distance to my resort. As I was starving and had and hour and a half to spare, I decided to get some food in me! In doing so, I think I had the best pad thai of my life. It is really cool here, in some places they put the noodles in an egg omelet (very thin) and rip it open on top... a sort of bowl. This left me with about 30 baht which would be enough with good negotiating from ferry to hotel.

The ferry was a much nicer one than I had taken from the airport. When we got to the pier I did not recognize a thing. I was going to try and walk but a cab driver told me no and to get in. I showed him the little money I had and he said not to worry... after all Thailand is all about negotiating. Well, its a good thing I got in. This ferry went to a different pier and we were a 45 minutes drive from my hotel! The cab driver did not charge me a baht and was nice as could be! Such and adventure...

Bangkok to Ko Pagnan

2007-05-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

I left early that morning for the airport... so excited! I was headed to an island to meet up with my friend Martina that I met in Bondi. Ko Pagnan hosts the full moon party every month and we were just a day away or so.

I had a great sushi meal at a cafeteria style place in the Bangkok airport. Best airport food I have had. I was off to a much better start! I was on a Bangkok air flight. All I have to say is that I love them! It was a short flight, but a very enjoyable one.

The flight got me into Ko Samui where I then had to fine my way to the ferry that would then take me to Ko Pagnan. I can't lie, I was a little nervous to be on the go by myself knowing I had to try and figure out this connection. We flew into the tiniest runway and deboarded the plane (ha, Nick I got it). They had transport waiting for us to take us to the terminal. The transport were like the little trolley / tram things you take at a kids park. Like a little open air train car. It was hilarious. WE got to the terminal. This is by far my favorite airport ever.

Standing before me were 3 bungalow / huts with no walls. It was a bamboo and wooden airport; international airport at that. The conveyor belt was a little loop that the guys through the bags onto. I have to say they were very quick and efficient! As I was walking out a woman asked me if I needed a taxi and I told her I had to go to Ko Pagnan, and poof two minutes later I had a ticket in hand and a taxi reserved. I did however have an our and a half to kill.

Conveniently they had a bar and a restaurant. I opted for the bar and grabbed a couple of beers. As I was sipping I noticed the passport check area for departures. Two old ladies sat behind a tiny stand in another wooden bungalow. I love this place. I also have to mention the waiting are was outside with chairs made out of tree trunks and a nice grassy area.

I knew I was about to be in paradise.

The taxi came half hour later and I was still mid beer when they came to get me. The woman said no problem, bring it. Paradise.

The ferry was an easy ride d it grew dark. I arrived in Ko Pagnan with only an address of where I needed to go- not a clue in my brain of my whereabouts though. I met a really nice New Yorker named Tony who helped me with my monstrosity of a bag and got me a taxi.

The taxi was a pick up truck of sorts but not as nice. We all crammed in the back with out stuff, holding on for dear life and off we were. I made it to a warm welcome from Martina and her friend Shayne. The room was really nice! It was wooden, with aircon, TV and a balcony. We paid 500 baht each a night. That is about 15 dollars.

A lot of their newly acquired friends came around (Stina and Carl from Norway, Carolina and Ida from Norway and Raj from the States) and we all went out that night. We partied at a bar called the Drop inn bar right on the beach. They introduced me to buckets of alcohol, which remind me of scorpion bowls- but you pick your booze and mixer. It's basically your drink of choice 5 times over in a bucket with lots of straws. From there we went to a pool party at Coral hotel. There were hundreds of us partying pool side, and many in the pool which I thought was disgusting and would step foot in! A few guys chatted me up and lots of dancing took place.

We saw the sunrise and it was time for bed! It was a strong kick off to Thailand.

My hotel

2007-05-05T03:56:00.000-07:00

Well now where did I leave off? Oh yes... I found my hotel.

Down the dark and dirty alley way of Bangkok housed my unpronounceable hotel. The reception desk was outdoor and had a young Thai man working it. When I tried to check it took about 15 minutes for him to find my reservation which I booked through STA travel in NZ, to realize they miss booked me for the following evening. They also booked my flight for the following day, so this was a doozy of a mistake! The guy said they had no rooms and to come tomorrow.

Once again, abandoned. What was I to do??! Well I would love to say I was acting but truth was after all of that travelling, with being tired, scared and alone I was almost brought to tears. My eyes grew red and the fear set in a little stronger. I was panicked, but I was in no mood to sort this out and it was no hour of day for me to do so. A white American girl at 2 am with bags in hand should not be wandering the streets for a hotel! I asked the guy what was I to do and he looked puzzled that I even required help or that I was in a helpless state.

Fast forward to about 3 minutes after the swelling of the eyes, they had a room for me I just had to pay again and wait 10 minutes for them to clean it. I am still concerned with why it only took 10 minutes to clean, but I will get to that later. They had an outdoor area where a few were drinking a beer and I knew that was exactly what I needed.

The out door area was pretty dirty with just some table and chairs. When I looked up, I saw the charm in the place. It had paper lanterns hanging and white wooden fences that ran long the outdoor hallways that were about waist high. It hit me, this is where they filmed the movie the beach- the murder scene. Indeed it was, confirmed later. What a great place to spend the night alone after an intro like that!

The room was tiny, peeling paint and stained sheets. The bathroom, like most all in Thailand, you can sh*t, shower and shave all at the same time.

One night in this place... that's all.

Thailand - getting there

2007-04-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

I had a flight to Auckland from Christchurch. Me being the master sleeper, slept the entire way so there is nothing to report on that flight.

I had a few hours to kill in the Auckland airport but it being so early in the morning, I have no recollection of what I did. My Auckland flight was a 12 hour ride to Hong Kong. I got stuck in a middle seat, the plain was packed! I got suck next to this old couple that I really didn't care for. I had a messenger bag with me, with my make-up and some books (don't know why I bother, I haven't picked up a book since Argentina!). I stored it under my seat and it barely fit. Let me tell you, I haven't had less room on a plain, ever. I was on Cathay Pacific- not a big fan at all. The old lady was really annoying and bragged about the fact that all she ever brings on the plain is her passport and that's it. I was uncomfortable, yes, but did she have to rub it in?! I fell a sleep soon after and managed to wake up for both meals. They did serve us Ice cream though... yummy. I love not being lactarded anymore!

The Hong Kong airport is massive; I was very sleepy though and once again I can't really remember my hour spent there. I got my next flight about 1.5 hours to Bangkok. Once again I was on Cathay Pacific, but it wasn't as crowded. Obviously I slept from take off through landing. I impress myself with my wonderful ability to sleep anywhere at anytime!

I got into Bangkok at midnight. My bags came with great ease and as I was leaving the airport, as suggested to me I got a hired car rather than a metered taxi. I now know I was ripped off by like 500 baht! That's roughly 15 bucks... but that's a lot out here!

The cab driver barely spoke English and I doubted is knowledge on the where abouts of my hotel. But I was in the taxi and couldn't do anything at that point. We had to stop for gas... arg! I hate that. If you are a taxi get gas before you take a fare!!!! The gas station was an experience though. There were teenage boys working there. The gas thingy is in the trunk of the car, strange, but so was my bag. I got out of the car to make sure they weren't robbing me... I pretended to stretch, but truthfully, I need a little stretching. As I got back in the taxi the young boys did a NY accent and said 'Oh my God'; they were screaming it. I laughed and then they screamed that they loved me. It was a cute moment.

We drove on, and on, and on. The 45 minute ride turned into a 1.5 hour ride. At 2 am the cab driver finally asked some people for directions. he stopped the car when we got to this blocked off road and told me to get out. I was very confused. The street was packed with a lot of Thai people that must have hit the town that night. he off loaded my luggage and was about to leave. My hotel was no where in sight. I asked him where I needed to go and he gave me the vaguest point. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I was being abandoned in Bangkok! He was of no help to me; that was very apparent! i asked the police man and he pointed in another direction but kept on looking at the paper puzzled. Another local looked on and gave me another direction. I just started walking down the street and hoped for the best mind you I was fighting tears!

I finally saw another tourist and asked them, but they were on the piss and once again of no use. They too gave me another direction. I walked and happened to look up... and there it was a small sign with my hotel name, leading to an alley way.

Day 10- my last

2007-04-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

That night it rained. It was so strange to sleep in a van with water pouring on the tin roof!

We drove to Christchurch as I had a flight the next day. We checked back into the same hostel and chilled out, watched some movies. We were all pretty poopy. It was an anti climactic day, but I was nackered from the previous day. We had a rally nice dinner out, at a cheap japanese place.

I was sad to leave the girls... but Martina was waiting for me in Thailand and Snickers is on his way... so I had to go.

A wrap up... NZ has been amazing. It truly is the most beautiful country I have ever seen. I wish I had a bit longer there... but I really did most of it. The month flew by. I highly recomend for everyone to go... no one should not experience the beauty of NZ. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but Matt put it really well. When you watch lord of the rings you expect a lot of the background to be computer generated as well... but when you go to NZ, you realize its not. NZ is that beautiful... watch the movie again, or even a few scenes from it- I had the priviledge of being there.

Day 9- Camper Van

2007-04-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

A very grumpy morning in Kaikora. It was much earlier than we were used to be up, but the excitement of seeing whales hurled us out of bed and into the front seat to get going. We found a little cafe and got sandwiches to go for brekky. I don't know why I feel like sharing this, but I will anyway. Mine was disgusting; it was such an odd combination. The package said Ham sandwich and had some veggies on it. I was trying to be healthy and picked that one as apposed to the ham and butter sandwich on white bread. The sandwich had ham, tomato, lettuce, pickled onions, a hard boiled egg, and sometime type of spread , all on whole wheat bread. Not very appetizing for 7am!

We got on the boat and bumped into yet another hometown friend of Celia and Lottie's, Sarah and EJ. I swear they know everyone. It was a catamaran that went 30 kts and we flew over to a region of the pacific ocean that had a deep canyon of 1600 meters deep. It was strange to know there was that much water under us! The water was a little bumpy, I am have realized I don't do great boats; I definitely felt a little woozy!

On our way to the Whales, we got to see another informative slide show- I'm a dork I know, but I really like them! Did you know that in 1880 a giant squid was found on the NZ shore- the biggest recorded I believe at 19 meters long. They have donut shaped brains and when they eat they must break it down into tiny particles because the food then passes through the brain. If the pieces are too large it can cause them brain damage.

Also, Sperm whale are named Sperm Whale because of an early incorrect assumption. When the Sperm Whales were first studied their 2.5 tons of a white substance stored in their brain was found. It was thought that it was sperm. There are a lot of jokes there but this is a PG blog, so I will let you come up with your own. They live till about 70 years old.

This tour clearly cannot guarantee a sighting as the whales are in their natural habitat and can't be paid or fed to do shows. We crossed our fingers and actually the night before- I so felt like my mom here... I made the girls visualize seeing a whale and to spiritually ask them to let us see them.

A quick interruption, I don't know how I could have forgotten this. On our way to the Whale watch, Celia was driving in parking lot looking for another spot. We decide to park next to another Escape camper van we saw, stupidly we like to stick together. The van was painted an even better design then ours. It had a cool angel on it. As we were driving I noticed one of the Angels eyes was open and not the other. I remember thinking it was kind of strange that only one was open, but it was a soothing angel and it didn't make me feel uncomfortable. When we got out Celia looked at the van and and was freaked out. Both eyes on the Angel were closed. She too had noticed as we were driving, that one was open. With out me even saying anything, Celia pointed this 'unsolved mystery' out. I know I am not crazy, Celia saw it too. I thought maybe it was the speed of the van or it was painted in a way that it depends what angle you look at it... but nope we tried everything. We drove by it again; we ran by it; we stared at it... both eyes remained closed. We spoke to the owners and no one had ever mentioned anything like this to them, but they did say it was a strange van. Lottie thought we were crazy, Celia doesn't believe in this sort of thing- but knows she saw it and was freaked out, I think I have an angel watching over me.

So back to the Whale Watch. I was desperate to see one. I have to say it would be a major disappointment not to see one. I am happy to report we saw more than they usually do... we saw 4!!!! Wow. They are massive and look cute in the water. They are dark grey and just lay there. Pretty uneventful but so cool at the same time! WE got to see four of them dip under as they go down for food, this is when they flip their tales up- I got some great shots! I can't explain what it is like to see whale. I never ever imagined I would have a chance to. It was very impressive.

As we were going back to shore we stumbled into 200 dolphin swimming and playing together... no exaggeration... 200! Everywhere you turned their were dolphin! They are so graceful and fun to watch. They really seem to enjoy life. They were Dusky Dolphin and mate up to 8 times a day with several different partners.

EJ and Sarah mentioned they were on a tour in the afternoon to swim with dolphin. How could I not after seeing that?! When we got to shore I called up and got on the tour!

When it was time to go on the tour they were thinking of cancelling it. They couldn't find the dolphin. Like the Whale watch this tour was in the Pacific Ocean, with wild dolphin- there was no sea world training here... it is wild dolphin in their natural habitat. We were confused after seeing so many, how could they not find them?! i guess the 200 had split up and all gone in different directions. As luck would have it though they took us out and warned us we might not see any but would get a refund if we didn't. We decided to go- easy decision we sure as heck wouldn't see any on sure, so might as well try.

We got all suited up in the most horrid wet suits- head to toe. We looked like scuba Steve, only in black. I think I looked like a blubbery seal... the NZ winter weight was not doing me justice in that get up! There were about 50 of us and we were split into 3 boats. Luck was on my side again and I was placed ina boat with Saran and EJ. WE also got the best boat driver and tour guide. Their enthusiasm was unmatchable and definitely got us in the spirit and gave us the momentum to attract the dolphins. They explained that we were the entertainment for the dolphins- not the other way round. That we had to be playful and make noises to keep them around.

We found some and quickly got in the water being careful of not scaring them away. I made my dolphin like noises and tried to swim in one... and poof... I had 6 dolphin around me. I swam in circles as they did and them under me, around me, on top of me... it was so cool!!!! I have to admit though they look an awful lot like sharks when they are flipped upside down and are coming at you, staring at you in the eye. But in the end their sweet and playful temperament shines through and it is just the most adrenaline pumping feeling to be out there with them.

It was a cold and rainy day, but we got to swim with them! That batch didn't stay long, but we got them! We tried another two times when some were spotted, but they were more interested in mating than swimming with us. Can you blame them?! After about an hour and half (an hour longer than the tour usually does) of swimming w got another successful batch. I had to swim under me pretty quickly and then as we were about to go back in the boat I had another four circle around me. Once again an experience I never imagined could be part of my life!

I was so thankful to have had to successful goes- especially that it was the first and the last go that I swam with them. It was perfect- a great way to start and end the trip! Apparently we were very lucky. One boat only got one go in the water and barely swam with them and the third boat got nothing! I am a lucky girl... so thankful for all that I have seen.

That night we went to that same bar for a few drinks. Lottie left early but Celia and stayed to listen to a local band. They were these old dudes that played rock / blues. It reminded me of the Mondo days. I really enjoyed listening to them. I also met a South African bloke that was on the Kiwi bus. A few days prior to meeting him he was on the bus and it had an accident. I explained how curvy and narrow the roads are so this isn't a shock that this could happen- but how terrifying! The bus driver dropped his phone, while driving and hte dope bent down to get it. I wonder if it was just a reflex or what not, but how stupid! He fell out of his chair and missed the bend in the road. The bus went down the cliff. Thankfully there were strong shrubbery to catch them. But all the seats broke as they crashed down and some windows were smashed. Thankfully only minor injuries, but they had to do evacuate the bus before it plummeted. They broke through he windows and climbed out. How scary!

One more thing... I saw four whales and swam with dolphin all in one day!

Day 8 - I think Camper Van

2007-04-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

We got a very late start the next day- as cuddling in the TV room seemed like a much needed activity. We had a long drive ahead of us- about 8.5 hours to Kaikora.

The drive was though rain forest mountains. I think it was one of the most beautiful drives yet. We had to drive through a National park- it was curvy road inside the rain forest. There were a million shades of green, so bright and full of life.

WE hit the coast line and decided to veer off for a little walk on the beach. We reached the water and it was magnificent. There was a friendly fisherman completing the picturesque moment. The sand was black from the volcanoes and the water was sea foam green... I now understand where the name of the color comes from! It was a misty day and the mountains in the background were peaking out through the fog. Unfortunately we couldn't stay for more than a few minutes as we had a long drive ahead and it was getting dark. We did stay long enough for me to put my feel in the cold waters of Ross beach.

We drove on- through the single lane highway. There were tons of one way bridges we had to pass over. This was true for most of our rides, but these had train tracks on them too! We not only had to worry about a car coming from the opposite direction but now had to fear a train as well! Doing this at night was no easy task- but we honked the horn before we went over each time and hoped that that was enough!

We made it to Kaikora and found the dodgiest camp site. It was awful, but its all there was. We had an early start the next day, alarm set for 6 am!

Frans Joseph day 2

2007-04-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

We woke up, checked out late again and head to town (around the corner for the one block strip). The most disgusting breakfast was eaten as we were deciding our next plan of attack. The previous night at the bar we spoke with one of the glacial tour guides; he said everything was booked up for the next 4 days. I was pretty bummed about this because we didn't have any time to spare and I felt like I had to do more than just see the glacier. But what was there to do?

We bumped into the bar tender from the night before (not a shocker with a town of that size). He said to check out the half day tours- which seemed more feasible to my out of shape body!

After three attempts we got in an afternoon 5 hours hike in Frans Joseph glacier. We had to move our whale watch to a day later... but shockingly everything worked out so well! As Lottie and I were booking it, Celia didn't want in on this one, Celia bumped into Harry, Sophie and Matt- they are friends of theirs from home that we hung out with in Auckland. Matt decided to jump on the hike with us and an hour later we were off!

The hike was out of this world. Please understand, I was walking, in / on / through and on top of a glacier!!!! It was pure ice! We had cool spikes on our boots and goofy rain jackets on. It was out of this world. The glacier didn't seem that big from the front ground, but as we hiked and from what I saw on that plane ride, I knew it was! Every morning the tour guides go and chip steps into the ice to make the trek. The steps were very steep and so high for my short legs that at times I had to just kneel and boost myself up! The sky was cloudy so unfortunately I didn't get that sunny glow that I saw in Argentina, but at least it wasn't raining! This was one of the most exciting and different excursions I have ever done... for sure one of the coolest experiences in my life. We walked through ice caves and licked the ice! The air was crisp and clean. I walked on a glacier,; never thought I could say that in my life!

We got back to town and Celia booked us into the same hostel that the other guys were in. It is the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. We got our own room with a bathroom, free vege soup at 6pm and a cozy TV room! The soup was exactly what we needed after that hike!

The crew hit the town that night for another silly evening at Monsoon- "when it rains, they pour".

Frans Joseph

2007-04-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

The girls picked me up from the boat and we realized what a small world we live in... I was on the cruise with their old biology teacher; her husband and I had the swim together. Craziness.

We left Manapouri for a nine hour journey to Frans Joseph. The drive was extraordinary once again. We stopped halfway in Queenstown- I love that place! Unfortunately in was getting dark and we missed a lot of the beautiful country side as we drove on. Thankfully I did that drive with mom, so I didn't miss out! We stopped in Fox and ate at the same place mom and I did. This time, I got pizza. Yes kids, more cheese. The girls got sick from it and I seemed to do just fine. I can eat cheese- I just don't understand, but I am not going to fight it!

We arrived at Franz Joseph and about 1o pm. WE pulled into the park we wanted to stay in, but the front desk was closed. it had a sign to go to the bar for check in- woohoo!!! A bar! It was pumpin' and most likely filled with Kiwi bus kids- the jump on jump off tour bus. Well, they had no more sights left, so we were forced to get a room... oh the luxury! I was so thankful that we had to get a room- a private shower, a comfortable bed!

Lottie and I hit the bar for a couple of drinks that night. It was such a strange place. A lot of the locals go there and try to prey on the tourists- I find it revolting but quite humorous. WE didn't stay long... a comfortable big bed was calling.

We had no plans for the morning but we had booked a Whale watch in Kaikoura for the following day- so we new we needed to be productive and drive off that night.

Day 6 and 7- Doubtful Sound

2007-04-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

No camper van for me this evening! The girls drove me to Manapouri to catch my overnight cruise to Doubtful Sound. This is the one thing that I really wanted to do here. Since mom and I did Milford Sound I was anxious to see the more secluded and bigger version of it. I couldn't imagine something being more beautiful that Milford, so I had to see it with my own eyes. I was not sure what to expect though as I was doing it alone. On one hand I was really excited to have sometime alone, on the other it is always more fun to do things with people you know... but I was confident that I would meet people and again I was thankful to have some time alone! As I waited for the boat more passengers came. I was a good 35 years younger then all of them! Time alone... I needed it anyway.

We were waiting on a dock and I noticed that the mountains around us were okay, but nothing spectacular. I was really confused over the fuss everyone makes over Doubtful. I stayed positive and hoped that nearby would be what I expected! We loaded a small boat and I grew more confused...

It turns out we had to take a boat 1.5 hours, to a 1 hour bus ride which would get us to our cruise. The bus ride was spectacular as I am sure you expected! We drove on the curviest road as of yet literally in the rain forest. We made it to the cruise boat, really cute 70 or so passenger boat.

I paid for a quad- again minding my budget! They brought us to the bottom level of the boat and to my dismay it was like that crazy hostel- we had 4 person cubby holes! Thankfully I got a bottom bunk and my cubby hole mates were great! Well one we didn't really speak to, but the other two were a couple from England Nicci and Ricky. They were very inclusive and made me feel like I had instant friends! Even if the accommodations were not as nice as I expected, it was a lot better than sleeping in a van!

The boat served us the best banana and chocolate muffins and coffee as we set sail. Finally my expectations were met. Doubtful Sound is incredible. Now I wouldn't say they are more beautiful than Milford, if anything the other way round- but what makes this so special is how secluded it is. No other boats were in site and the mountains seemed to be closer together making it feel more intimate. The mountains in Milford however were taller, steeper and not as wide as these. Again, even though they are so similar, it is apples to oranges- or more like tangarines to clementines... so similar you could mistake them at first glance, but something that you can't really put your finger on makes them uniquely special.

Within the boat ride we saw dolphin- wow. I can't get tired of seeing them. They are so playful and cute. We learned that the mountains have tree avalanches. The trees are covered in rain forest, but because the mountains are huge rock formations, there isn't much soil. Because of this, the trees form a intermingling of their roots, they hold one other standing (think of a knot in your hair). With big storms sometimes they get loose and a tree might fall causing many more to fall. Literally a wide portion of the trees will fall causing everything below it to fall as well, exposing the rock. Over time moss starts to grow, then bush, smaller trees and finally mother earth repairs herself and the rain forest is in tact.

The water was black here. It was really cool. You couldn't see one inch lower that the surface of the water. You couldn't see through it at all. We went Kayaking. Mind you it is still very cold here. We lucked out though and got a mostly sunny day. They say that is the nicest they get in Doubtful- so I was very lucky! As I paddled I got some water on me and it was freezing- but it was to prepare me for my next activity! We kayaked for about an hour and it was great to get up close to the mountains to really understand their height and to see them is much greater detail.

My next activity was swimming! I wish my step dad Bill was with me, I thought of him instantly... he would have loved this! I knew I wanted to do it... but I also knew it was cold. I really did it for him because I know he would have been the first one in; I had to experience it for him. As I said before the water is black. I couldn't think about what might be under me! I jumped in the 10 degree Celsius water and gasped for breath. It took the breath out of me for a good 30 seconds, that's how cold it was! I actually stayed in. I made myself get used to it and was in there for about 10 minutes, longer than anyone else. Only about 10 people went in, but all of the passengers were watching from the different floors and were cheering us on. Other people tried to stay in with me, but they called me crazy and quickly went back out... I was floating on my back loving it. Bill... it reminded me of the Colorado River swim we had... you would have loved this! I have to say though when I got out I had pins and needle sensation all over my body. That didn't stop for a few minutes. I have never felt it like that before!

The boat had soup and rolls waiting for us. I had a quick hot shower and headed up for soup. This was such a nice break from the van!

That night we watched a slide show learning about the animals in the area as well as the plants. Did you know that NZ didn't have any animals on it before the Europeans came? I think I might have mentioned that before. Because of this, the for fathers- as she called them decided to bring some in. They first set some rabbits free.

Rabbits will be rabbits and reproduced at such a rapid rate they had to get rid of some. Because of this, they brought in Stoats. The Stoat realized it was a lot of hard work to catch the quick rabbits and decided to target NZ's native flightless birds in stead. These birds- the Kiwi and Penguins are fligthless because they had never been prey before. They didn't know to fear other creatures or to flee for their lives. The Stoat had an easy time attacking them. Now the Stoat were a problem so the Possum was introduced to NZ. The Possam are such pigs they eat tons of vegetation every night- literally and are killing NZ's beautiful greenery. Now all people and tourists are encouraged to run over them.

I have never seen so much road kill in all of my life. Literally every Kilometer has about 3 or 4 dead possum. It is really disgusting to see freshly hit ones. We finally got our first hit to Franz Joseph... but that is a fast forward. I have to say though it was really cool but almost gagged while it happened, you could feel the entire right side of the van lift a little.

Another cool bird NZ has is the Wood Parrot. It is green in color and it's feather look like the old rounded shingles you see in BK and LI. I think I can speak for my entire family in saying that the Scorsone / Sour's will be wood parrots in our next lives... actually, throw in the Muchnik boys, they would too... These birds eat berries... they eat so much that they actually have food that sticks out of it's mouth. It literally stuffs it's face silly. The berries ferment before it is digested so the birds pretty much get drunk. They are often seen falling out of trees and missing their landing on a tree branch. Eating so much it turns to wine... what a life!

I also met another great couple from Virginia / NC, Chelsea and Adam. They just got married out of Uni and decided to travel for while. I might see them again in Thailand. WE had a great laugh over the piano that was on the boat. There was an announcement made after dinner that it was there to be played and such. No one had, but as we were waiting to delaod the boat I noticed the sheat music they had on it- the soundtrack to Forrest Gump... too funny.

That morning we went to a portion of Doubtful Sound that was a dead end... so it was like an alcove in the Mountains. It was reflective water, so the mountains were just as spectacular mirrored itneh water as they were above. They turned off all of the moters and generators on the boat for dead silence. All of the birds were heard. We relaxed there for about 15 minutes in silence, just listening to nature and admiring the stunning water and vista. I wish I could start every morning like that. Every problem seems to go away, I was at peace.

Day 5- Camper Van

2007-04-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

We had another night in Queenstown, though we were very tired and it was rainy. We walked around a bit and found a local crafts fair. There was some really nice jewelry and knit items. Too bad I am on a backpacker's budget... there was a lot I wanted. I did treat myself to a yellow bracelet which I know I will get a lot of use out of in Thailand.

That night we went out to dinner- the same Thai place mom and I went to. It felt nice to be in a warm restaurant with real linens! After dinner we went to the movies and saw 300. It was a lot of fun- I love a war movie or a movie with men in loin cloths!

Day 4- Camper Van

2007-04-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

We drove from Te Anau to Queenstown. Not a very long drive, only about 3 hours. On the side of the road in a town called Garston, stood the most adorable church. It was white with red window shutters and stood between autumnal trees. There were mountains in the backdrop and fields around it. I had the girls stop so I could take a picture. We actually saw it on the way down and I couldn't stop talking about it. Something about it grabbed me and I had to capture it.

We set up shop at a campsite in Queenstown and chilled out for the day. This by far the nicest campsite we have stayed at- only the showers are $1 for 8 minutes! We met some other young campers, but their camper was so nice! It was definitely a camper... Winnebago style! It put shame to our van, but they invited us for a drink and we got the night started there.

We ended up going out to World Bar. It is a sister bar to the World Bar in Sydney- though that one is much better! We had some teapots and danced the night away. I called Matt, the nice guy mom and I met... but somehow we didn't end up meeting. it was great to go out as we hadn't had a fun night out in a while.

It was really interesting to stay at that camp site for one reason: you could see where mom and I had that crazy buffet that night. We were basically sleeping at the base of that mountain... I didn't realize how high up mom and I were. It was really cool to see it at night because the only thing visible were the lights on the restaurant.... so it seemed to be hanging in mid air.

Day 3- Camper Van

2007-04-25T23:17:00.000-07:00

We made brekky and sat along lake wanaka with coffee and PB&J sandwiches. I cannot explain how beautiful and peaceful it was. That is until Celia decided to feed the ducks which then attacked us.

We spent some time at lake Hawea. What makes these lakes so incredible is their vastness- they are huge and are surrounded by mountains. Whether the mountains are covered in rain forest, or pine trees, or they might be rocky and at times tan colored as explained before, they are always massive and completely entrap the water. When the sun hits the water, everything seems to glow. NZ has more water than I ever imagined and yet I never get tired of seeing the lakes.

There was a sadness that we felt. It was funny that Celia commented on it and it was exactly what I was feeling. We saw such amazing natural parts of the earth, but knowing we might never see any of them again was somewhat sad. Don't get me wrong I feel very fortunate to have at least seen them with my bare eyes... but to be so moved by them and more than likely I wont have the opportunity to experience them again is a hard feeling. How do process all that you have seen in such a small amount of time and keep on going to see more?! You can never have too much time in a new place, eh, unless it stinks.

As we drove we saw more fall foliage. The leafs are really changing in color. Today we saw more reds, orange and golds. It reminded me of NMH and the drive up to Boston. Along the drive were steep mountains, right up next to the highway- which by the way is a two lane highway, being very curvy roads! There were falling rock signs, but unlike the states, their was no netting to catch the falling rocks. It was just a 'beware you can die' signs.

Along the highway was a little scenic turn off. It was a look out called Hardana Valley. It was a hill that looked out onto Frankton. We walked up the steep hill- the first bit of excersize any of us has seen in months! Sadly we were out of breath. Once we made it up, it was another spiritual moment for me. The pictures will have to show all that I saw. Everywhere you look in NZ you can't go wrong and the longer I am here the more breathtaking it seems to get, even if I look at the same thing.

We also passed lake Hayes and Wakatipu- which is massive! As I said before I can't get tired of spending time at lakes. One is more beautiful than the next.

We stopped in Queenstown for lunch. I love Queenstown- by far my favorite citry in NZ and maybe the only one I like. We went to the famous Fergburger. A little burger joint that every backpacker loves- they are massive burgers for not much money! It has nothing on Corner Bistro, but they were good! I had the Southern Swine- a burger with bacon and avocado!

We made it to our final destination for the evening- Te Anau. It seemed pretty cool with bars and restaurants, but we were pooped and called it an early night! Before heading to the camp site we went to see about tours to Darling Harbor. Well, there were none available for 3 days- and that was the whole point of leaving the cool Queenstown to and going to Te Anau... but I booked the overnight cruise for three days later and we decided to spend the night and head back to Queenstwon in the morning. We could have saved ourselves the three hour leg if we had just enquired abou the tour in Queenstown like we originally planned on doing- doh!

That night was PB sandwiches and more star gazing- the milky way was still visible!!!

Day 2 - Camper van

2007-04-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

This was a much more action packed day. We set out driving at about 11- we really can't wake up earlier than 10 (which happens to be check out time at the parks and we always manage to check out late). We started our day at Plums Cafe. It was the most adorable spot for breakfast. I had a delicious- fresh out of the oven Berry muffin... yummy! That with a soy cappuccino- a great way to start the day. We also met a few people that gave us tips and must sees for our journey!

We drove to Lake Tekapo. There is a church on the hill top, along side the water with windows at the rear of the church; they had the most spectacular view of the mountains. The church was grey stone, standing alone. It was really sweet, serene and one of a kind. I would have loved to spend some time alone in it, with no other tourists or friends and just been able to admire the view and enjoy my surroundings... but oh well- I enjoyed my time in it just the same.

We drove into town and I went straight into the air safari office (one of the suggestions by a Plums patron). They didn't have any tours that actually land on a glacier- and I heard that that was spectacular. I next went to the helicopter office and they do offer that excursion- just not on that day... no such luck! We didn't have another day there so I booked the air safari.

Celia and Lottie opted against the plain ride for lack of funds but were darlings to wait for me to do it- there was no way I was missing an aerial view of Mt. Cook, Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers, NZ alps and some lakes. As we were waiting to get on the 12 (about that) passenger plain, they asked if anyone wanted to sit up front. Who's hand shot up faster than any of those oldies could even process the question?! Yep, I once again scored the front seat!

We first went over the lake and flew toward the mountains. It was interesting to see the mountain terrain change. It went from sandy / desert looking, to rocky mountains, to snow capped, to straight up ice- glacial mountains. We went so close to the mountains that I was in complete bliss. You could see the cracks and crevices in the ice. You could see avalanches of snow coming down. We were so high that we were above the clouds and could only see the peaks of the mountains. As we were cruising around one of the glaciers, we hit turbulence...

I thought I was going to die. I didn't know what to do as we would plummet what felt like a few feet but was more likely alot more than that! I thought we were going to come crashing down on the ice. All the pilot said was 'sorry for the bumps'... negative on the comfort I was seeking! I just focused on taking pictures and forgetting a reality that could take place... I now have the most amazing photos! it really was all worth it.. what I saw is not visible from the ground and is probably not seen by 99% of the people in the entire world. Wow- but I must say I was glad to have done this tour and not one that actually lands on the glacier!

I was shaking for a few hours after this trip both for my life and what I had seen. We set out driving again, passing Lake Pukaki and Twizel. Twizel is a nothing town with 1 gas station and maybe a store- it was very strange. Along the way we drove through tan colored mountains and we were surrounded by more fields and farms. What was cool about this leg of the trip were the trees. We saw a lot of beautiful, rich green pine trees- but even more impressive were the trees that changed in color. I am not sure what type of tree they were, but much like New England foliage- NZ has such trees. They were the most beautiful gold color leafs. At one point they also looked like they were growing in the ground, like their trunks were in the ground and the top half were visible.

We made it to lake Wanaka and stayed at the Wanaka Holiday park. It was a cold night, so we got some red wine to help get us toasty. The town was cute, it had a main strip (one block long) with stores along side of it. I cooked dinner at the camp park, in the communal kitchen. We were wearing our ski suits, as I said it was cold! We got the funniest looks in the kitchen and no other camper would talk to us. We found it hilarious. Wait till you see the photos.

We drank our wine outside the van, in our fold up chairs, wearing our ski outfits and played old maid. Funny times!

A big mention to the sky that night... not as impressive as the sky in Fraser Island, however it was still unbelievable. We lucked out and got a clear night which displayed the majestic stars. We were able to see the milky way and tons of stars!

An amazing second day!

P.S.

2007-04-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

Passion pop is a really cheap sparkling wine... I re-read my entry and well, it was strange, sounded like I might be hinting at something else... but nope. We just had a little bubbly and slept.

Day 1- camper van

2007-04-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Day 1 we set out on the road with Lottie driving... we passed a lot of rolling hills and greenery. it reminded me a lot of Virginia with the vast farmland. I have never seen so many sheep in my life. They really are cute, but it is just crazy seeing thousands of them in a field.
Another oddity for me is Deer breeding. I am used to seeing deer in the wild, not hundreds of them together in a gated field. We also saw a lot of cows.... they don't look like US cows, size and shape wise they do... but color wise they are different. They have all black ones, all white ones, all brown ones... and black ones with a white stripe down the middle. They almost look fake because I am not used to seeing them like that.
We also passed the Pukaia gorge... it was the most beautiful color blue, flowing water amidst bright green plants and big rocks.
On $84 worth of gas we made it to Geraldine were we called it a night in a camp sight. We shared a bottle of passion pop and some giggles and called it an early night. We slept width wise in the van which was not a good idea. We couldn't stretch our legs out... first night sleep was one of the worst I have ever had in my life.

Christchurch

2007-04-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

We had to head to Christchurch to pick up our camper van!!!! We flew there from Auckland.

Our hostel was interesting to say the very least. We were housed in a 38 person dorm and had a cubby whole with three beds in it. The room was split in cubicles. It was so odd.

We found the most adorable cafe- it was called Swiss cafe. The nicest man owned and operated the one man show. The food was heavenly; the best scrambled eggs I have ever had. You could taste the butter and milk he used in it! In NZ they also serve American Bacon and not the Aussie ham version they try to pass off as bacon- it's just different!

I also have to mention that we got delivery one night. I ordered a paste with some sort of tomato based sauce. An hour later the food finally arrived to starving bellies! They got my order wrong and sent over a cream sauce to this lactarded girl! I was too hungry to care, after a minor hissy fit of course, and I ate it. This brings me to the question: am I big liar?! I had no reaction, much like after eating the ice cream in Argentina, and the eggs at the Swiss Cafe... nothing. Am I really lactose intolerant? I am still too scared to test it... but maybe it is just in the US?! That is reason enough to move! bring on the cheese... got to love the fat man's candy!

We also had a great meal at an Indian restaurant. It was some of the best I have had- cooked in 1500 year old clay pots- or something like that. Yes Ben, i am not sure I believe it either!

Before picking up our camper van we realized we would have no heat for the next few weeks for bed time... and we were heading further south! Yikes! We went to the second hand shop and picked up some of the tackiest ski suits you ever would see! I went for a one piece- black with a red stripe. I look like a big poof ball in it. I of course had to get a matching knit hat that decoratively has a Bourbon brand patch on it! Celia went for a purple number with flowers on it and a Firestone racing jacket. Lottie, being our driver, went for purple cankle giving bottoms and a BMW dark purple pull over. Pictures to come, I promise! No heat, but warmth!!!!

We picked up our van. It is spray painted all hippy camper van like. I must say we got the best of the lot. Our has some cool flowers on it. The other choices were either a tacky Maori art one or a Bob Marley one- and there was no way I was driving in that thing, I had to draw the line somewhere!

Bay of Islands

2007-04-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

What fun!

We loaded onto the bus very early in the morning... the Kiwi experience. We stopped at a little brekky spot for a half an hour- not long when 50 people need to order, get food and load back on the bus. We were towards the back of the bus so many people loaded in and cued up ahead of us. It is kind of Cafeteria style and you can also order at the register. Everyone was just staring up at the board.... so my NY efficiency impatience?! ) set in. We knew what we wanted so I walked up to the register and ordered our toasties. The woman seemed more than happy to get the orders started! Well, I don't think I impressed the rest of our bus as we got some majorly dirty looks. We were not off to a good start.

We got to our hostel, pipi patch. We had booked an excursion for the day- the EXCITOR- think the beast in NY but only better! We had to put on these ridiculous rain suits... but we were so cold, we were more than happy to! We loaded onto the boat and sat in the front- we had to wear seat belts. They promised for a jolty ride over the waves. Apparently some people have broken their hip on this thing. There was no way I was not sitting int he front though!

The boat ride was in the ocean and it was a rainy day... it was hailing actually, so the waves were massive! It was so much fun, we caught so much air! The girls and I had our arms raised high the entire time, but the rest of the passengers were a little poopy. The scenery was just incredible. Mountains all around us, and arctic chill colored water. At one point they stopped the boat... this to me was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

About 15 dolphin were swimming next to us. I can't remember what type they were, but they are the largest and most playful in the Dolphin family. They were jumping up and doing flips. One must have jumped 10 feet out of the water and twirled in the air. It was unbelievable. Here they were in the wild, putting on a show for us- Sea World has nothing on this act!

The boat went incredible fast at 40 knots. We had a casualty- my glasses. Unfortunately it was not my sunnies- but my seeing glasses. This free trip just cost me upwards of 500 bucks! I have to say though, after seeing the dolphins.. I didn't care in the slightest.

After the boat ride we couldn't feel our toes! It was so cold!!! The girls and I had a nice dip in the hostels hot tub! It seriously took about 10 minutes to even feel the tingling sensation in my toes... it took them that long to even start defrosting!

That night we went to the bbq that the hostel put on. We walked in and people were already seated together, we were still feeling out casted from the mornings experience. We 'got in' with what seemed like a cool crowd... and they were. We spent the next two days with the most fun group: Steve and Jaime (he was in Harry Potter) from England; Jason from England- does the worst Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, but nothing funnier; Amy and Milly from England (yes, again) and Dave from Scotland.

We all went out that night- danced a lot and won a bunch of prizes that we never used. I won a 2 for 1 paragliding trip (couldn't take because of the weather)for doing 5 push ups in front of everyone! The night was incredible... smiles, laughs and lots of dancing all around. It was cool getting to know them- Steve was teaching me a lot about English rock music; we hit it off really well. Celia, Steve and I outlasted everyone and ended up at a club (mind you this town is tiny) called the Lighthouse. It was definitely a local hang out... it reminded me of Dusk till Dawn.. I kept on expecting something weird to happen.

The next day the girls and I were signed up for horse back riding. The rest of the gang took a day trip to the very top of the island to the Sand Dunes. They went surfing down them- they all seemed less then trilled when they got back. The weather was not on their side and neither were their hangovers!

The girls and I went to brekky before our pick up. Can we guess what happened? yep, we missed our pick up. Yet another mis-hap! We had to pay $10 each to reschedule for the afternoon. It actually worked out to our advantage- we got a private ride and much better weather! I expected More out of the ride. It wasn't the prettiest environment- or I just expected more. However what I enjoyed most was the serenity and just being able to not talk for a while and enjoy nature silently... I was able to absorb my surroundings much better that way.

In the afternoon we hit the hot tub again. Milly and Amy joined upon their return as well. As I was getting out of the little luxury tub, I cut my foot on a rusty nail! Fast forward to a few days later- I got a nasty infection, had to go to the doctor and I am now on 9 days of antibiotics. The free trip just cost me another hundred bucks.

Night two of Bay of Islands was just as fun as the first- even more so. We snuck goone into our room and held a pre-party. This is where Jason debut his Arny impression. I have never laughed so hard in my life. This time the whole gang made it out to the Lighthouse. We were pretty much the only ones dancing, but we were lively enough for the entire place! Great fun...

We headed back to Queens town the next day- after the best nap of my life.

Quick mention- a shout out if I may- to the cute cafe next to the hostel. We ate most of our meals there... they had the best fish and fried banana burger ever... their chickpea burger was top notch as well!

Bay of Islands rocked. Though cost me a fortune!

Auckland

2007-04-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

A little insight to the city. I hate it. It has nothing to offer- no culture, no beauty, nothing. I have not hated a city more. A few days before I got to the girls, they were walking home from a bar and some huge dudes came at them out of a van. They picked a fight with the guys and were about to go for little Celia when sweet Michael stepped in. They punched him and he hit the ground with his head massively hitting it hard- to the point that the entire street stopped in awe. The guys fled off and nothing could really be done. Thankfully Mike was only unconscious for a couple of minutes, but it must have been very scary. I am sure this could have happened anywhere- just a wrong place at the wrong time scenario... but this made me hate Auckland even more.

I was glad to have won the trip because it got us out of there. The night before we left, we had a big night out. We met some guys in our room, Mike (a different one), Duncan and Will... we all went out together. We went to Globe bar, not worth anymore words than that. We did however stop at the White Lady before going to bed... yummy! It is an old street trolley converted into a walk up burger joint. I had a toastie... good stuff!

We overslept in the morning and missed our bus to the Bay of Islands. It was a mis-communication with the boys and what time they were waking up. I have never been more disappointed with myself and in the foulest of moods. I ran down stairs like a mad lady, PJ's and all- trying to catch the bus and stall it. It was still there but as I booked it upstairs to get the girls, I realized I didn't have my key to even get into the hallway. The three of us had to re-check into the hostel and frowns were going all around! The girls went back to sleep, but I couldn't.

I calmed myself down and remembered that everything happens for a reason. After this trip- numerous examples- I whole heartily believe this. I went to the travel agent and realized it was no big deal that we missed the bus. I rescheduled everything for the next day. I however was determined to salvage the day and the image that I had for Auckland. I really wanted to find some charm and appreciate any aspect of it. I asked numerous people that live there- what we could do to achieve that. And there was not one idea thrown out. They all could not offer anything to do to appreciate Auckland. I once again gave up on Auckland.

Instead we decided to cook a big dinner. Sweet Michael and I were the head chef's. We made a big roast dinner. Lamb with roasted potatoes and red onion, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, parsnips, garlic bread, Yorkshire puddings (like Pillsbury dough pop can biscuits- kind of, but best similarity I can come up with). It was an incredible meal! After the last nights disaster, we called it an early night in the TV room.

We made it to the bus the next morning!

base backpackers

2007-04-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Mom left and I was now with the ladies. They had made friends in the hostel, so I once again had a nice network. That evening we went to the hostel's bar for quiz night. We were on a team with an abosulute sweetheart named Michael, Al and his girlfriend, Russ the other American (very competitive), and some other girls. By the way quiz nights at bars are very big in these areas...never heard of one before Oz!

It was a fun night... we won! We won a $100 beer tab... and for 10 team mates that was a pitcher (or jug) of beer each. Harry (girl) also won the raffle mid-quiz, which was a $50 bar tab. She graciously shared. At the end of the quiz- wait quick interruption, one of the questions was what do all the continents names have in common? We guessed they all end in a vowel. Well, the answer was they all end and start with the same Vowel. ie. EuropE, AustraliA... but goth Russ and I argues that was hugely incorrect. North americA and South americA don't! Everyone in the bar argues that it was just the America's... but really, talk about ignorance... there aren't 6 continents.. there are 7! We got the question thrown out!

Back to the games end, after winning both beer tabs... there was now a drinking game contest- heads or tails. It is very simple: the person running the game flips a coin each round. The players have to guess either heads or tails by touching another team player on their heads or butt. I guessed tails each time... and WON!!! I entered at the last minute and had no idea what I was playing for- I thought it was another beer tab which I would have been very happy with. Nope, it was for a free trip to the Bay of Islands!!!!

The next day the girls and I signed up to go on a three day, two night Bay of Islands trip. We were to go the following day.

Rotarua

2007-04-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

Please say it with rolling R's as everyone here does. Mom and I went here next after one more night in Auckland. Once again we were booked on a tour with fat American couples and Japanese families... random, just random. We were waiting for our bus on our sketchy street of Auckland (more to come about that), when a cracked out Maori couple were just feet away, sitting on a bench. They started yelling at tourists- a lot to handle at 8 in the morning!

We made it on to our bus with again another chatty bus driver that talks the entire time. Please note I have become a pro at tuning them out. I put my alice band headband (cotton headband) over my eyes with my bright purple pillow perfectly placed around my neck... I slouch down and pass out! I think mom read like 6 books during all of our bus journey's... me, I sleep! I think I needed to catch up on all the lost sleep from Oz!

Well, I did not get to sleep too much. This was yet again a jam packed day. I think mom and I were a little over stimulated at this point with all that we had seen... but we were enjoying each other's company... and how often do we get to travel NZ?!

One of our first stops was the glow worm caves. We had no idea what to expect or what they even were. An educational sign was displayed outside the center. We read all about the worms and the larva- how they turn into flies... yuck! What the heck were we going to see?! We thought this might be another mis-adventure of ours... but to our surprise it was really cool! The caves looked like cement drippings... big droops that formed arch ways and gloppy solid columns. They were all natural occurrences from water that had once flowed through there- it was limestone that now formed these caves. We still were confused by the glow worms... where were they? What were they? We walked with the guide to the end where it got very dark and we were to load onto a huge row boat. He explained that these worms hang from the ceiling and have no poop shoots... the food gets broken down and forms at the end of the worms... and that my friends is what glows! We looked up and saw a few... but once we were loaded in the boat we saw thousands! I wish my poop glowed...

We also saw geysers this day. Smelly, blow holes from the earth and stinky colored pools of water. If you have never seen one, head to Yellowstone Park, I think they are more impressive there. The Geo-thermal park was very cool though and we had the best Maori woman guide. She was very graceful in her mannerisms and once again mom and I impressed a tour guide with our enthusiastic questions. She showed us the carving school they have there. In Maori tradition, still practiced today, it is the men that do the carvings which serves both as art and tells a story. At first this struck me as sexist, but it is their culture and the explanation- which other than the women can't drag the tree out of the forest to make them- I can't really remember. We also saw the weaving school- yes, yes, for the women.

I can't remember where- I think it was the trout farm... I wont even bother it was so lame... where we saw a life sized statue of a once present bird in NZ. Again, I can't remember it's name but it is in the Emu family- not the friendliest of birds! It stands at over 6 feet tall! The things were massive. They are now extinct, as they served as the Maori's protein meals when they first settled in NZ. I believe it was said that NZ had no mammals inhabiting it when humans first reached here. They also have nothing poisonous (or so we were told, apparently there is one spider which is deadly)... but other than that, no snakes or scary animals! They do however have tons of sheep... 5:1 ratio on sheep to New Zealanders! After driving through most of NZ, I would have guessed 10:1!

We stayed in the nicest hotel in Rotarua. We were signed up for a traditional Maori feast and cultural play... we knew we were in for a doozy! It happened that it was in the conference room of our hotel and the food turned out to be a buffet (grrr). We were seated with a Japanese couple with their adorable 2 year old daughter that was scared of the performance (don't blame her!). An Australian family was also seated with us. It was the nanna (young in her 50's I would say), her husband, the woman's daughter (in her 30's), and the granddaughter at age 12. At first they seemed lovely and the nanna seemed to have a lot of class. But as the night progressed the dynamic between all of them became apparent and the conversation just geared toward the inappropriate side at times. I will move on to the Maori hokey show...

Obviously they were in traditional clothing with face paint and all... a lot of chanting songs and arm waving dances. I don't mean to poke fun at their culture, but they make funny faces to put it simply. To scare off other tribes, they widen their eyes and stick their tongues out and make it move like a sleazy construction worker or gypsy cab driver. This was done to scare off the other tribes. It just looks ridiculous. Mom and I had to hold back laughter as we really did not want to offend their culture. We had a few cocktails with this dinner it was needed!

All I will say about the family is the little girl made insinuating jokes that the Maori men took a liking to me and then simulated their tongue action. She is 12. Mom and I left right after the performance.

The food... the meat was cooked underground from the earths steam... the smelly blow hole stuff. I am sure you can imagine how not good it tasted! It was bland and stunk like egg.

The next day mom and I were to do another tour. The man got there and it turned out we were the only ones on the tour... it was us and the tour guide, in his van with his 3 year old son. What?! We didn't mind, the kid was cute, but it once again was odd. The man for starters had crazy eyes... where do we look?! He was actually very interesting and insightful on the Maori culture, but a little instense. In the present day they are much like the US's Native Americans minus the Casino's. The culture is dying with the older generations as younger one's assimilate into the more prominent lifestyle. It was apparent this saddened him, understandably. But he and others are doing a lot to help their people and spread more education about the Maori culture. He did however talk far too much, poor mom got stuck talking to him for a couple of hours as I took a snooze.

Mom and I saw some more geyser's, some beautiful gorge's, and a lot more... I just can't remember. We did so much it all blends together. This was Easter day and a really amazing way to spend it. We headed back to Auckland for an evening arrival. We met up with my friend's Celia and Lottie that I had met in Bondi beach. We had a lovely dinner and headed to the hostel where I would spend the following two nights. We introduced mom to her first glass of goone, out of a mug! She couldn't even finish it. but we did get her very giggly- especially trying to pronounce Aluminium (the English spelling and way of saying Aluminum).

It was my last night in a hotel and my last night with mom. We did so much, but it went by so quickly, that I can't believe it came and went. It was harder saying good bye to mom this time round then it was when I first left NY. It was an unbelievable 10 days together.

I miss you mom... thanks for the memories... glad you treated yourself for once!!! Wish you could be here still... miss you tons! You are the best.

St Leger

2007-04-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

I saw a street called St Leger... made me think of one of my favorite families, the Legers!!! Love you guys...

More Queenstown and Milford Sound

2007-04-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

We had two more nights in Queenstown. The day we got back from Fox we decided to have a nice dinner together- a couple (yes they were above 70, we should have known) suggested we take the gondola up the mountain to the scenic restaurant for a sunset dinner. It sounded amazing! yummy dinner, on top of a mountain and a sunset, in NZ... I mean really, sounds like a once in a lifetime experience!
we got on line for the gondola and realized we were the only people below 70 and that it was a buffet dinner... errrr, I hate buffet's... food that is produced for the thousands that sits out for far too long to dry out from already being overly bland because it was made with no love. Once again, I hate buffets... but what instinct do we listen to?! The once in a lifetime or the surrounding factors?
We took a walk to the neighboring cemetery (hmmm, see above discription of our company!). It was actually really interesting. Some of the graves were from the 1800's and were a mix of religions.
Mom and I decided to go for it... we took the gondola up there... and keep in mind it was a first gondola trip for mom! All I will say is that they had the most incredible steamed salmon I have ever had. It was moist and fresh and a big surprise... though the rest of the food... bad, just bad.
There is a notable mention for the dessert tray though. New Zealand's famous Kiwi Pavlova. It is marshmallowee yumminess...
Oh and as for the sunset... ummmm... all the mountains cover it, it's the sunrise that would be spectacular... fooling tourists happens to be a worldly occurrence. They got us... BUT... we had a lot of fun... it was worth it for all of the laughs and silliness mom and I shared!

We went to Milford Sound the next day... wow! It is a #2 on my list if I have to categorize (that will be a blog to come) all of the natural sights I have seen during my travels. We took a boat ride through them. Apparently it rains 80% of the time and we lucked out with the most beautiful day. The sun was shining and reflecting off the water- it made the trees on the mountains a spectacular vibrant green color. We were surrounded by the steepest mountains I have ever seen.. and they were so close in proximity. It reminded me a lot of Whitsunday's in Aussie (if It hadn't rained the whole time I was there)... but even more impressive. As I said before it is the scale to which NZ is comprised of... small Islands jam packed with massive mountains and tons of water... too hard to explain... a must see for all.

That night mom and I were back in Queenstown... we went to an opal store and saw a 40 thousand dollar opal... wow.

Another funny moment for us... we went for Chinese for dinner and there was this German in his early twenties eating with some girls. And his accent was hilarious... two funny quotes... "I prefer this one; I take it" (all Arnie like) and a new classic... "I am the Arnold Schwartzenager type of guy. Not in body, but in speak." Mom and I burst out laughing... we just couldn't help it!

Queenstown and more

2007-04-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

As I said mom and I signed up for a jam packed 8 days... but I think it was even more than we expected! Firstly I have to comment on the tours we were put into... a bunch of old fogies (mostly fat Americans) and Japanese families. We were not the right fit at all!
We stayed in a place called Earnslaw Lodge... it seemed nice at first with lake views (unlike anything you have ever seen... beyond beautiful)... it turned out to be almost like a B and B... for the exact reason why I hate them... nosy, pushy owners... we couldn't get away from them!
I have to interrupt my entry to write about the flight in. I forgot to mention how breathtaking it was. We flew into mountains... and when I say flew into.. I couldn't be more literal... it seemed like I could reach out of the plain and touch them. I have never experienced a flight like that before.
I love Queenstown... it is really cute and looks like a Vail, Colorado type of ski town. The only thing that kills it is the chain fast food joints... though as much as we complained about seeing them... every time mom and I got a whiff of KFC we couldn't help but crave it!

The next day we went to Fox glacier. It was a bit of a let down, I can't lie. It was nothing compared to the Glaciers in Argentina. We did a two hour walk there... what was so amazing about it though, was that the glacier was in between massive mountains. We also had a great tour guide that really appreciated all the questions mom and I asked. We got to try some of the glacier too... yummy ice! The glacier was tall and we got pretty close to it, but it wasn't as pretty as Argentina because they are covered in dirt. Now I know it is natural earth... but dirt is dirt and just doesn't look pretty!

What did look pretty was the drive up to Fox. It was a full days drive... with the most annoying bus driver ever.. he just wouldn't keep quite! In all of the brochures and tourist info we read, it said to get bug spray for all of the brush flies. I bought some in one of the rest stops we made and the driver made fun of me! I spent a pocket breaking $13 on it (remember I am a backpacker now) and didn't appreciate him patronizing me! Well... it didn't stop there... he teased me in front of the entire bus multiple times... even the next day! I will admit, it turns out we didn't need it after all and I sent it home with mom, but boy did he get under my skin! I think mom had many laughs off of it though... so did I.
Well, this bus driver went on and on about the lunch spot at a Salmon farm... we walked into see three pools of muddy looking water where they farmed them. Mom and I were not impressed but were very hungry! That tubby driver doesn't know good food like I don't know anything about bug spray!
Along the drive we saw a stream that was filmed in Lord of the Rings... do we believe the tubby man? I have a feeling every stream tourists pass or every mountain they claim it to fame... but what the heck, I believe it... it was that beautiful! This guy named Matt that mom and I befriended a few days later made a great point... when you see Lord of the Rings you think a lot of the scenery is digitally enhanced, but going to the south island of NZ make you realize it wasn't... it IS that beautiful... I have seen other parts of nature in other parts of the world like it... but not the vastness and compactness of it all that the South Island has. It makes it so much more impressive.
We also saw a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the rain forest as we got closer to Fox. Mom and I saw the most amazing spider web... sounds wacky, I know- but it was. It most have just rained as the spider web was all dewy. It had water drops all along the web. The way the sun light now hit the web, showed little rainbows in the drops of water. The web was completely iridescent... I have never seen anything like it. It made mom and I late for the bus... once again, as we were always the last ones on.

We had a great dinner together. I had the most delicious lamb ribs ever... they were tiny and tender. It was such a treat from what I have gotten used to eating!

The next day we were headed back to Queenstown. We stopped at Hawea lake- wow! It was a reflective lake. Wait till you all see the pictures. I think it is one of my favorite things I have seen in NZ so far. They call it a mirror lake... there are snow capped mountains behind it and they perfectly reflect in the lake. I have to go back it was incredible. We also hit the halfway point of being in between the equator and the South Pole. I thought that was pretty cool.

Auckland, New Zealand

2007-04-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Auckland was my next stop... to go meet up with mom! Mom decided to come visit me along my travels and this is where she found me... though a few bumps in the road before then!
Mom, being the best mom ever... booked us into a four star hotel. She was supposed to get there before me... but it turns out her flight got delayed and she missed her connecting flight in LA. It sounds like she met some interesting people though- a diamond dealer, an Auckland native, and a hopeless romantic going to meet his love.
Mom finally got to the hotel as I was taking a much needed nap, after all it was the day after V-fest! American Airlines, my least favorite airline (you will recall that tid bit from a previous post) lost her luggage... with my AVEDA products... after backpacking for so long even face wash seems like a great luxury!
We had wonderful dinner together at Thai Chili... very yummy, and it was great to catch up. We were both pooped and hit the bed pretty early.
The next day we realized Auckland was a dump!!! Seriously nothing redeeming about this city as you will later read. It is dirty, big buildings (stop thinking NY)... there are no charming neighborhoods or eateries and the shopping just stinks! The restaurants are either fast food or expensive places, even if the food is mediocre. There is no in between... it's really interesting, Australia was somewhat like that too.
Mom and I went to the travel agent and we booked our lives away for the next 8 days... we had to be out of the hotel, packed, in a cab to the airport by the hours end... we were determined not to spend a minute more than we had to in Auckland!
We were off to Queenstown...

My last day in Sydney :(

2007-04-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

It was a hard concept to grasp that I would be leaving Sydney. On some level I was ready to go and explore more of the world... but it was very difficult to do so. I had met so many great people there and Indy's really became my home- there was a lot of comfort there... though if you saw the place you would definitely wonder how... but it was the people- no doubt.
Anyhow... I really shouldn't have a sad face up in the title of this blog. I had an amazing last day. We went to V Fest... a music festival put on my Virgin.
My boys Jay, Snickers, Mike, Marty, Chris and Will came as well as my girl Kat. It was an unbelievable day... full of sunshine, massive crowds, Jager bombs (too many) and great music. I am quite impressed with how many acts we got to see. There were three stages, we only made it to two... but we saw all the bands we originally planned to and some more!
The day started in the V tent... listening to some beats and warming up with some beer. We were all together and loving being in the moment. It was a red tent with cool lights and blow up chairs. There were well dressed hipster-esque locals and little tweens bopping about. It was an interesting mix- but none the less a great DJ was on.
I should say the day first started at the Jager tent... two bombs each to start... then the tent.
Before the first band that we wanted to see came on, another bomb, then it was time for Phoenix- a french band... check them out really great!
Next was a surprise act... have never heard of them... Nouvelle Vague... AWESOME! I think they might be one of my fave acts of the day... two lead female singers... and one played the Kazoo... how can you not love that?!
We next saw NY Dolls... a lot of fun... there were some die hard fans and it was really cool to see them get into it... it made it all the better.
Gnarls Barkley- very commercial... but WOW... amazing performer... the violinists were amazing and made me think of Karen... a huge crowd was around for him... and the energy was amazing and built up for the next act on this stage...
Before that we hit up a few songs from Jarvis Cocker... but this was inline at the Jager tent again. It was cool to hear some of his act.
Groove Armada... soooooo much fun... probably the most energetic time for us of the day... sadly this is where most of us split up.. but it was so hard for all of us to stick together... and I am impressed we did so for that long! Snickers, Kat, Will and I ended up spending the rest of the evening together. But I must say this act kicked ass!
Again on line at the Jager tent... we caught some of Beck...
Next was about a half hour of the Pet Shop Boys... So much fun! Incredible performance... I really must say.
And the highlight of the night... The Pixies... all I can say is awesome.
At the end of the night it was chaos getting out. We were cold... on a sugar low from all of the red bull and lack of eating (oops, we forgot to eat ALL DAY)... we felt like we were coming down from drugs... it was awful... we ended up having to walk in the cold rain to find food then a cab. It did suit my mood at that point though... I had one of the best days of my life in Sydney... where I had some of the most incredible 8 weeks of my life... and it was coming to and end in a few hours...
I will never forget my time in Sydney...

Melbourne...

2007-04-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

I went to Melbourne for the weekend, before taking off for NZ. It was actually the wekeend before my last. I had to see Craig before I left and needed to visit what could quite possibly be my second favorite city in the world- Melbourne.
We hit the same great bars as we did my first trip there... but it is always an interesting experience in that crazy house hold. Drama all around...
Craig had some girl leaving very nasty text messages to him... but I must say she is the fastest texter I have ever seen in my life. For being crazy, it was very impressive. Craig definitely attracts drama in his life and on some level, or every level, loves it. I love that after offending the girl and telling her not to text him ever again, he too complimented her on her fast texting skills... priceless.
There is more to Craig's drama with another girl... but you get the point.
Craig is not the only one with drama in that house hold... remember his roommate Ciaran?! Well for fear of my own life I don't want to get into it too much... his ex girlfriend is crazy! We were all hanging out and had multiple run ins with her... she is stalking him! it boarder lined- not funny! Crazy emails and texts were sent by her to both Ciaran and Craig... she showed up at brunch randomly and then later at home. She offended his new girlfriend Kamaka.. who is sweet as could be.
It was certianly an entertaining weekend at both Craig and Ciaran's expense... I love being sane.
We did manage to have a lovely dinner, Bec's, Tom, Ciaran and Kamaka, Craig and I. I also had a nice afternoon beer at this great bar... I think it was called Cookie. If you are ever in Melbourne check it out... it is a perfect afternoon, mid-shopping stop... Dave, Craig and I had some beers there... they have a massive selection.
All too much fun.

Neighborhoods

2007-04-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

As I previously said, my job allowed me more time in Sydney- which meant more time to explore! I am proud to say that I went to almost every neighborhood of Sydney. Here are some reviews:

Surry hills- love it. Kind of like Williamsburg but not quite as much going on. They have an amazing restaurant there called Longrain (I think)... They have cute bars and really yummy local eateries.

Paddington- Mainly Oxford Street which has the only good shopping (almost)in Sydney. All really nice boutiques line the street as do posh couples spending a Saturday afternoon together. Definitely worth checking out. Reminds me of West broadway in Soho.

Newtown- the other good shopping area. It also has really great Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.

Manly- You have to take a ferry from Circular Quay to get there... but sooooo worth it. It has a really nice beach and great restaurants (is that all I talk about?!)... I spent a great day there with Martina, Phil and Alaska. We had a blast at the 99 cent store, yes they are not only in NY! We tried on the goofiest sunglasses and almost got kicked out!

Bondi Junction or as I nick named it "The Junk"... it truly was the Junk... just an area with a big shopping mall... it doesn't need to exist. Though I did get a great waxing there and a much needed shopping day on my own. Lizzy had one of those days as well and brought me and Sophie back these massive cupcakes... mmmmm.

Kings Cross- I think I already touched on the Cross. Got to love the red light district. I had a fun night with Big Steve and Snickers... we went A-wall from this club we all went to... we didn't like it. We ended up at Sports Bar and hung out with the strangest characters... the Gaff is also located in the Cross... a massive bar we went to a lot with a lot of dark corners!

Darling Harbor- Clearly along the harbor... this houses one of my favorite places, the Aquarium... even though the Sydney Aquarium is not in my top 3... I went again and liked it more! I think I was a little harsh the first time (still not in my top 3 though! )... Matty, Brad, Lizzy, Sophie and I had a nice afternoon there. Still no giant octopus though. Darling Harbor also has a lot of nicer bars that we went to in my earlier days in Sydney.... quite expensive though so we stopped that after a few weeks!

Sydney Center... very corporate and infested with shopping malls and mass produced fashion... other than me working there we can get rid of this too.

Coogee. A nice beach area, very touristy and more family oriented.

Bondi Beach... my home. Where you can walk around barefoot, have bbq's on the beach, dine outside or take pictures with the local kukoo that lives on the cliffs at the beach. I love Bondi.

My job

2007-04-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if I ever mentioned how I got my job and what exactly I was doing.
Well, one of my biggest supporters of this trip is Ben, Amber's husband. He lived in Sydney for a bit and gave me some contacts here to help me get settled in- Ali and Ian.
When I first arrived in Sydney I gave them a bell and met with them for lunch. They showed me their business, which is an outside marketing company. Through that they had access to PVC billboards and decided to make handbags out of them. There are a few other companies out there that do this... but none have really taken the market. I saw the bags and liked the concept... but off I was to go travel up the coast.
In Byron Bay, my first day there and not knowing anyone... I found myself with a lot of thinking time. There was something about the bags and that project that intrigued me and made me come up with a lot of ideas. With out having asked for it, I sent Ian and Ali a very long email, as they later teased me about, detailing what I thought needed to be done and lots of other ideas. I had no idea what type of response I would get... "Mind your own business"; "What the hell do you know about design?!"; "Thanks but no thanks"... to my surprise it was much different.
I ended up working for them for 6 weeks.. designing and developing 6 bags for them to launch with. It was a really interesting project and allowed me to experience a lot of Sydney.
I never expected to have an opportunity like this during my travels... before I left NY I said that I would be open to anything that came my way... and I think this is a perfect example of achieving this goal I set for myself.
They have just asked me go to China to oversee production of the bags... yet another twist in this adventure of mine!

Harbor Cruise

2007-04-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

I was set to leave on Sunday but had a big weekend planned before my departure. A crew of us went on a harbor cruise- dinner and open bar. I expected a similar experience to Amber's bachelorette party... but was suprised at the much lower, budget version we went on this time.
It was myself, Mike, Marty, Will, Kat, Kezza (Kerrie), Claire and the new girl from Canada who's name has totally escaped me. A great group.
The dinner was buffet and we all know how much I hate them... but it did the trick and on to the open bar. Well, it was free beer or wine... and the wine was Goone, disguised!!!! They tried to pass off the boxed delight into pitchers... but I saw the metallic bags in the trash! Luckily my smile got me free Smirnoff Ice all night from the porter and one of the bartenders... woohoo!
The cruise was really pretty... passing the bridge and the Sydney opera house definitely made it worth it. It was a nice way to end my time in Sydney. We also saw Luna Park in the backround all lit up. For those of you that don't know, Luna Park was created by the same guy that made Coney Island. There is one in Sydney, one in Melbourne and of course the famous one in Coney Island, BK, NY.

The Swiss Grand

2007-04-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

I had enough of the hostel and needed a break as did Lizzy and Sophie... we booked oursleves into the Swiss Grand for one night... had room service and ate it in our bras.... lounged around and gave ourselves special hair treatments... a much needed and cleansing day... we just needed a night to get rid of the little buggers that creeped and crawled about the hostel! Will never forget this wash away of a day!

St Paddy's Day

2007-04-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

I also had the good fortune to be in Sydney for the great Irish day! Everyone at Indy's was psyched for the day long beer fest... We started the morning in the backyard getting the plan together. While doing so, we had a new arrival- Kat from Scotland. She, Amy, Kezza and I went for a very filling brekky at my fave spot to make sure we had enough grub in our bellies for the beer to come. For my last two weeks at Indy's these were my 'girls'... having many adventures together... also all member of room #5.

Richard, the temperamental owner was cleaning out the fridge and decided to throw a rotting cucumber at me... hitting me at my biggest target... slimy and gross to say the very least... but he gave me a beer for it... and after all cucumbers are green and it got me a beer... so in a very strange way it was fitting to the day!

Claire and Ricky are a darling English couple living in Bondi just doors down from Indy's... their balcony faces our garden. They are Indy's vets, actually having gotten out and getting a flat... once again, very good friends that I miss dearly. We went to their house... the Kiwi sisters, Maxine from Canada, Kezza, Amy, Snickers, Matty (I miss that boy!) and Jaime... had some beers and left overs and headed over to Beach Road hotel. Lots of Buck Hunter was played (I kicked ass!) and the longest game of pool between Kat and I... where we almost got into a fight with an oldy local because he felt like we should just give up...

We met up with Daz, Danny, The Irish lads- Stephen and Bob, and the sweetest irish girls who's names have completely escaped me... we were a good crew and all headed into King's Cross... the Gaff. Kezza, Daz, Danny, Stephen, Bob and I left shortly after getting there and headed to a club to hear some beats. It was a very late night that seemed to roll away...

The club was okay. The music was great... but the place was pretty small and they didn't have any lights to accompany the music, which I happen to like... it was no Twilo... but it did make me think of my dear Kara and Greg who are living in San Diego... miss you guys!!!

When we left... there was a massive fight outside. Apparently the fight had travelled down some blocks with the ambulance following the massive crowd that accompanied the fight...we saw someone head get smashed into the sidewalk... second time in my life I have seen that... and hopefully the last! We booked it out of there into the first cabs that we saw! Kings Cross is the kind of red light district of Sydney... not dangerous by any NY standard... but seedy, filled with sex shops and strip joints. It is notorious for being more rowdy.

Never had a bad St. Paddy's day yet... and it was the 10th anniversary of a very monumental day for me...

Mardi Gras

2007-04-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of being in Sydney for the big Mardi Gras celebration! There was a huge parade on Oxford Street... traditionally a gay run celebration, is now enjoyed by the entire city. Huge floats and costumes danced the streets. I was at a roof top party, which I brought Lizzie and Sophie to... the guys from my work brought me. We had a nice areal view and got to avoid the chaotic streets... though it did look like great fun!

After the party I went out with Harry, who I worked with- a native to Sydney, his girlfriend and their friends. It was the first time I was hanging out with real Sydney folk, going to real Sydney bars- I have to admit it felt nice to feel normal and not like a backpacker- though I did miss my friends that day! We went to Good bar... awesome spot and an after hours place... no clue where... but the bars were what I am used to- very similar to the spots in Melbourne that I love and places from home- the burg. I met one of the guys that kind of runs the place... and his model girlfriend... we hung out a bit... and I embarrassingly saw them at my brekky spot the next day... and yup, I was still wearing my dress... oops!

Obvo the day made me think of P and Brent... and the mermaid parade... wish you could have all been there!

Some random info...

2007-04-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

Schooners... a half pint. That is how most beer is sold. I guess so you can drink it before it's gets warm. Most brits and irish found them to be very annoying.

Vegimite... the most disgusting spread for bread i have ever tride- aside from Marmite or something like that... it is thick and dark in color and just gross... it is like the brit and Aussie Peanute butter... but it just can't compare!

At Subway (dear Jared's, Jenny Craig) they don't have chips (crisps). You can't get a 6" meal with them... only a cookie... now how is Jared supposed to maintain his weight with that?!

Foster's beer- it's gross, a different formula than the States and no one drinks it here.

Toilets... firstly when askign where the restroom is, one jsut asks where the toilet is. Or when one gets up they simply say they have to go to the toilet. Straight to the point- I like it! The toilet has a half flush and a full flush- Australia has been in a droubt and I understand it has something to do with that. I tested it it out... it's a farce... I think it is like NY's recycling program! A great idea though...

Your welcome... is no worries.

Pharmacy (or pharmascist) is Chemist... I like it... but I think that is giving them a little too much credit... they aren't making the morning after pill, or mixing up the lice shampoo... they are grabbing it off the shelf!

Raisin is a Sultana. And yes Raisin Bran cereal is Sultana Bran... I just don't get it.

Pepper as in red bell or green pepper... is CAPSICUM... huh?! That was Nick's (Snicker's) fave... he giggled everytime he got to say it!

Rocket. Every sandwhich had Rocket it in it. I avoided it for a couple of weeks till I found out it was field greens... whatever!

Indy's / Surfside backpackers

2007-04-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

I feel like I need to devote a blog to my living accommodations in Sydney. I know that I have touched on it a bit, and some of it may be redundant.. but deal with it and read on. As it was quite entertaining for me living there for 2 months, I think you should find it quite amusing to read!

As I mentioned before, I stayed in a hostel- a backpackers haven or hell to some, but I will touch on that in a bit. Many groups came and went, always hard to say goodbye. I have to say that has been the best and worst part of staying there. I met so many dynamic people that really taught me a lot about myself and influenced my life, that saying good bye was almost tragic. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is just a fact that I probably wont see about 90% of them ever again. Thanks to email, facebook and myspace I hopefully will at least be able to stay in touch.

I first stayed in room 3, me being the only girls for a few days till Lottie and Celia moved in. It housed 12 and was hot as hell!(temperature, but the guys too!) Sometimes more slept in the room, sometimes less... I am sure you can figure out why- privacy was a rarity! We often slept in the TV room... found downstairs. It had a large screen TV, a plethora of comfy bean bags- which we shared and cuddled as we slept in the only room with air con! A lot of our hungover days were spent there too... after the beach that is! We also held many movie nights here. About 20 of us would cram in and watch a flick... I think I got banned on picking them though... Welcome to the Dollhouse didn't fly, Donnie Darko was borderline and Election was mixed response as well... movie nights were our nights off from going out. My roommates from room # 5 (the all girls room I moved into which housed 8) used to tease me when I would actually sleep in my room... it was a shock if I did.

I think I will interrupt and talk about our Brekky spot. About 12 of us (this of course is all before I started working, though things didn't change that much), would go out for brekky everyday at the same spot. It was just up the road... we usually wore last nights dress, no shoes, a fresh face and sunny's! They made the best fruit frappe's (like a fresh fruit slushy!). This brekky spot carried on through my entire stay, from the newbies to the vets! Lizzie and I developed a little crush on our server... we never got anywhere with him though... oh wait, I did get a sentence out of him the last time she and I went together! I never saw him again though...

Back to Indy's... Indy had a buzz gate we had to get through.. then a little outdoor hallway and into the main area. The hallway was filled with smokers and drinkers post 10pm as our 'garden' closes at night. We hung out there every night till the sun came up or till we went to the beach for a skinny dip in the shark infested ocean, sunrise singalong on the beach or bed.

Speaking of sunrises... the one that stands out to me was really amazing. It was spent with a special friend... blanket brought to the beach- summer was ending at this point. After some time on the beach we walked up to a bench and watched the sun rise. The most beautiful orange and yellows flashed through the clouds and made them glow. It was one of those moments that was shear happiness and you could only be thankful to be in that spot at that moment with that person... comically we went to McDonald's afterwards with all of the degenerates for some brekky... it was one of the funniest moments ever, still a little tipsy, giggling the morning away.

As I said before we had sing-a-longs on the beach with Bob as our song chair. Bob was and is a great character. A very genuine man, full of positive energy and wisdom- as well as being Irish! He would play the tunes in the garden playing DJ... always playing good songs and dancing the afternoons away. He had a theme song for those he liked... mine was 'those boots were made for walking'... as I wore my cowboy boots a lot... and late night (or early mornings) it was New York New York. We spoke of having dance offs, but never did... as competitive anything was thrown out the door... but it was a good laugh! The garden as I speak was a concrete area... with two pic nic tables, stairs leading to a bottom area with a ping pong table. We had a 'boy band' in the garden. Little Phil, Matty, Dave and the random straggler with their guitars would serenade us all and try and woo the ladies... My best mate Jay envied their voices... hahahaha...but he had charm of his own! We all listened and sang along as we drank the backpackers delight- Goone.

On to Goone... to put it bluntly- it's box-o-wine! It is an amazing creation. It is big, but gets you drunk in about 3 cups full. It cost about $13 AUD for 5 liters of the stuff. The metallic bag inside, when empty can blow up into the most comfortable pillow! The box when cut creatively, makes the ever so impressive goone hat or even armour! All juvenile, yes... but we shared many laughs!

The bathrooms at Indy's were gross! I often showered in the guys room... sexy shower time! hahahaha... Much like boarding school we would shower at the same time and gossip or sing. The site of Steve and Marc in the shower together was classic.

The kitchen was a nightmare. It had two sets of burners, no oven and enormous cockroaches. the sinks were always filled with dirty dishes and I think I mentioned before that the lack of dishes led us to drinkign out of bowls! it just made the place even better... Our food was kept in huge restaraunt style fridges, though if it were not locked up it surely would be gone in the morning... It was kind of an unspoken free for all.

As I said before the hostel was too much to handle for some. It was a constant party... even on down time it was always fun. We had big dinners, usually catered by me, or bbq's at the beach. The greatest thing was knowing that you always had people around you- especially when knowing all your friends and family were thousands of miles away. We all became family very quickly and became quite astute at realizing when someone needed a little cheering up. I learned a great deal about myself here... learning patterns that I fall into in regards to friendships or seeing how other people react to situations and how I would differently or the ability to analyze other people- their demeanor and how I see myself or how I strive to be... the list can go on, on how introspective this time was for me and how extroverted it allowed me to be! It definitely was a confidence booster and eye opener for me... for another, not so much. A Hawaiian girl left after one night... she couldn't deal with the on goings of the place and left in tears... dear sweet kukoo... I hope she found her peace.

A couple of corrections....

2007-03-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

It was pointed out to me that I made a big mistake in explaining cricket. Apparently birds are flying around saying I don't know anything of the sport and much more... well, I will stand corrected in that it is not 150 bowls or 10 outs till the team is done. If you do the math it is 300 bowls... generally speaking. There are a few ways to get a free bowl and such... but for ease sake that is the case. A pitcher also can't be replaced till he has bowled his 6 ( I think, I may be wrong in this)- which is kind of, very loosely like an inning.

Also- my good friend Jenna (please refer to Fraser Island for reference)reminded me as to why british men know so much about hair straighteners. It is not because they are in tune with their girlfriends likes and dislikes but because they use them! I am in Melbourne this weekend, visiting Craig (more about my weekend here later), and yes- he uses one too. THere have been many nights at the hostel that I have spent straightening Phil's hair, or even Jay before a night out. My hat goes off to the blokes who care that much about their looks... I can relate!

Meat pie's and Hungry Jack

2007-03-18T22:58:00.000-07:00

Meat pies are supposedly famous as Vanessa was just telling me she read an article about them in NY. Well let me tell you, famous they are- found all over and consumed by the thousand every hour I am sure. I had the honor of eating one at the cricket game and from 7-11 (only 24 hour spot in Bondi)... and they are disgusting and yet positively addictive. The filling tastes like dog food! I oddly want one right now... though I do prefer the juicy big sausage roll from the 7-11. A question my friend Daz brought up... why is the 7-11 named the 7-11 if they are open 24 hours a day???

Speaking of names... Hungry Jack's looks mysteriously like Burger King... whopper and all... oh wait! It is Burger King... Rumor has it it as Burger King was going global, some nut case bought up the rights to the name here- copy wrote it and everything. He has since done nothing with the name and has no intention of doing anything with it. Apparently BK has sued him multiple times, never winning, and has also offered him loads of money for the rights- he has declined the cash every time, yet makes no money off of the name anyway. Finally in a court hearing a judge ordered the man to either do something with the name or BK gets the use of it. "Now, I am not one to gossip... so you ain't heard that from me!"

Cricket...

2007-03-18T22:47:00.001-07:00

This goes back to my first week here and some time in Melbourne. CRAIG, my dearest friend that I previously spoke about and miss dearly. Why? Because he is barrels of fun and makes me feel good about myself... not because he compliments me on my beauty, but because he always has some sort of drama in his life... kidding, he really is the male version of me, which is why we get along so well. Never a dull moment with the kid...

Let's get back to Cricket. We all know I am a huge baseball fan, and not just a fan to impress the good looking male Yankee fans out there... but because I actually enjoy the game! Unfortunately the rest of the world just isn't in tune with the greatest sport on earth. Because of this, I am now a cricket fan. I needed my fix of sports... and this defo can be a temporary and worthy substitute. I watched some games on TV with Craig, who first introduced me to the game and have since been understanding all of the many rules that go along with it.

The major differences are that:
1) The players don't wear mitts- they catch that rock hard ball with their bare hands! Very impressive...
2) You can use a 'pitcher' (bowler) more than once in a game... you switch them often.
3) We alternate teams in innings, they have one team bat or bowl continuously till 10 outs are reached or 150 bowls, whichever comes first.
4) Loads more rules... but I don't think I will brag with all of this learned knowledge.

Back to my story... ahh, wait... big Steve also spent great length explaining the game to me as well as these sweet brit boys who's names I have completely forgotten. Baseball has a season... set number of games and the ultimate tournament at the end of the season, obvo being the World Series. Cricket has different leagues where player play for different teams, there are different tournaments, different types of games... that was and is the very confusing part to me.

I had the honor of going to a game! It was not just a regular game, but it was the championship game between England and Australia. Being that I have met so many nice brits... I was cheering for England! After about three rain delays... we won!!! It was a very exciting game, though England won pretty easily.

Some cool things about the games... much like our football games, the fans REALLY get into the game. Many dress up in crazy costumes, they talk a lot of crap to opposing fans and a lot of props... They blow up beach balls and throw them around. The object is to never have it fall on the ground or onto the field. If it falls onto the field it is popped by officials and everyone boo's. They also do the Mexican wave... oh you read it right. For some unknown reason, they call the wave, the Mexican Wave... no one could explain why.

I have to say I saw the most impressive wave ever. It was at the end of one of the rain delays as they were preparing the field. The wave must have gone around the stadium at least 25 times. At one area of the stadium, the rich people (season ticket holders) sit. They are considered old and posh (not the American use of the word Posh... but rich and snobby). They lacked participation and got booed many times. They finally joined in a bit, but it was a poor effort on their part. The rest of the stadium was one their feet, with arms raised high. It really put a smile on my face, the crowd was so into it!

A side note about the Mexican wave.. it is actually against the law here... yep, that's right they outlawed it... why? Once again... no idea! People are very discreet when starting one, or else they will get kicked out. Speaking of people getting kicked out, we saw many! As I said before people really get into the game- it's really funny when people get kicked out... the fans either cheer or start singing at them and taunting them.

Back to the posh area... there are two clear areas next to each other where they sit. It was explained to me that women used to sit in one area and the men in the other. This is not so anymore, but I though that was an interesting tid bit to add.

I also had my first meat pie at the game... but I will leave that for my next entry.

Flashpacker

2007-03-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

I have been labeled the flashpacker... not what you are thinking!!!! It's the fact that I am always dressed nicely, shop a bit and go out to nice-ish dinners (meaning I don't eat ramen noodles). I think the label is hysterical... and probably spot on. This flashpacker never pretended to be a real backpacker- I think we all knew that! The backpackers are smarter than they seem... they are on to me!

When I first got to Indy's I was in room three. It is a dorm room that houses 12 people (hmmm... some nights we had more, 15 being the record). My first few nights in the dorm I was the only girl!!! When I started working I switched to the girls dorm, which sleeps 8 of us... it's a bit quieter. Everyone knows though, my real room is the TV room. It has air-con and comfy bean bags. I most usually fall asleep in there and then move up to my room when the cleaner starts banging around at 6 am. It's a nice routine.

The hostel is pretty gross I have to say. I think you would all be shocked that I live in such conditions. We drink out of bowls because there are never any mugs (they don't even have cups). There are the same flying cockroaches we have in BK, all over the backyard (it's just concrete back open area). The showers often clog and usually the toilet paper has run out. The bathroom is steamy, humid and hot... all meaning the same thing... but it really is that bad. I often shower in the boys room. When Marc and Steve were around we would all shower at the same time and sing songs.. it was pretty funny.

Things I have learned from being at Indy's:

1) English girls are obsessed with hair straighteners
2) English guys understand that and actually know all bout the best brand and such because of it
3) The English and Irish REALLY do need their tea and are very particular about how it is made
4) Nackered- means tired, beat
5) Australian men for the most part are arrogant and lazy... oh, lets throw sleazy in their too!
6) the English and Irish put butter on everything
7) The above also love Bolognese sauce... I think that is their only Italian dish known
8) Can't think of anything else... but I know there is loads more!

John, the manager, got a lil fish bowl and three fish... he named one after me! hmmm... maybe it's time to leave?!

Work...

2007-03-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

That's right.. I got a job. That is the reason for my lengthy stay in Sydney. I am working for 6 weeks (3 weeks left) for a friends start up marketing company. They are working on several projects however one of them happens to be handbags. They want to start a handbag company from old PVC billboards... fashionable recycled handbags... they are going to launch with 5 bags and a wallet... I am project manager. Basically I am design and development for them. It has been amazing to be productive and work on something that I am so interested in.

travelling alone is ideal- however, after a while you feel a little self indulgent... you don't have to worry about anyone but yourself and have no real responsibilities. I was starting to feel like I was a bit of a waste in humanity... like I was contributing nothing to society... now I know designing handbags is not a contribution in many people eyes... but it is to me! It feels great to be doing something so creative and something that I might want to do when I return to NYC.

I think that is why I like to do big dinners too... I needed to care for people other than myself...

Sydney

2007-03-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have been here for almost a month.. .or maybe a little more. It is unreal how time has gone by! I have been staying at a hostel the entire time. I tried to get an apartment, but my half ass attempt didn't work. The hostel is in Bondi Beach... a cool little beach suburb of Sydney. We walk around town barefoot... and do much more.

The hostel is called Indy's surfside. People come and go a lot but I had made an amazing group of friends. It's hard to back track now and go through everyone... but staying there for so long made me really understand the hostel lifestyle. In the hostel you have the people that live and work there (Nick or as I call him Snickers, John the manager and headband Dave), you have the people that stay no longer than two weeks (Martina, Alaska, Lottie, Celia, Ian, Steve, Rachel, Vicki, Chelsea, Peaches, Mike, Martin), you have the people that stay a little longer (Marc, Phil, Big Steve), the people who seem like the resident hostel-er (I think I now fall in that category, Jay, Bob, Hans, Lee) ... The people I named above for the most part were my crew of the first week... some left after a week and some stayed on for another... You become so close to people so quickly... we all had a great time... and it is super difficult saying goodbye. Lotti and Celia had left... they were the last of the girls to leave... and I was just left with my boys... but the night Marc brought them to the bus depot... they had him turn around for a return to the hostel for an extra week! You get sucked into this place... everyone always seems to stay a little longer. Through Lottie and Celia I met friends of theirs from home- Lizzie and Sophie...

As people leave... you realize from the hostel employees that everyone is replaceable. The newbies come in and off they go all together for wild nights of partying again. It's a hard concept for me to be okay with. I have had a blast at the hostel and made new great friends.. but the first set could never be replaced in my eyes. We were the most open group- chilled out, inclusive, non judgemental, friendly... and out to have a great time. Since they have left... I have met some more great people... Lizzie, Sophie, Phil, Matty and more... Lizzie and Sophie are about to leave soon... which make me really sad.. they are the last of my 'girls' that are here... but I still have Jay... who is the male version of me... and again, you meet new people and just get used to the fact that people come and go. Some people I know I will see again and others I hope to... but it's hard to think that you become so close with someone so quickly and realistically you will never see them again. But others I know that is not true.... and the nature of travelling... you bump into people in other places! Marc (who I absolutely adore... funniest and sweetest kid alive!) and Phil are in Melbourne so I will see them when I go away fo rhte weekend... Steve will be in China when I am there... Lottie and Celia in NZ... MAritna, Sophie and Lizzie in Thailand... so sometimes it does work out!

It really is great though, to meet so many people. It is never boring in the hostel. We go out far too much... but we also have chilled out nights in the TV room... 20 something of us sharing bean bags and watching movies. I also have become the 'mom' (besides being the oldest)of my group and make big dinners for all of us... that creates some type of normalcy in the surreal lifestyle we live.

Bondi has a few bars that we go to on our local nights... Bungabar, a bungalow like beach bar up the road from us... B.B's - probably the coolest bar in Bondi, but that really doesn't say much and the hotel.. we always end up there late night, they have Buck hunter!!!

Tuesday nights is World Bar night in Kings Cross... they have tea pots that they fill up with shots... yummy stuff. My favorite night in Sydney by far was spent at World Bar. It was indy night and the crew went there. For some reason everyone went home early except for myself, Ian and Steve. We danced the night away... that is the night I became... 'one of the boys'... too much fun!

On some nights we end up going for a swim in the ocean... as we live one block from the beach.

It's hard to explain the life and tell all the stories... but it has been incredible! The nights are very late and loud... it's hard to have a night in there which makes it very difficult to work as well...

Final thoughts on Melbourne

2007-03-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well I really do want to say that Melbourne rocks. It has a perfect balance of city life and a chilled mentality... yo uknow how some cities are a bit bland... like it could be a city any place in the world.. no real identity or flavor? Melbourne is the opposite of that. It's a New York, a Chicago (never been, but I gather)... Sydney on the other hand is an LA or a Boston.

Craig really showed me a great time. He is a great friend... we are probably too much a like... but that proves to be a great time... he laughs at all of my jokes ... but fails to realize I am prettier than he... a dream world he lives in. I am super thankful that I got to see Melbourne through him though... we really do like the same scene... it's funny when I talk to people about Melbourne... they either love it or hate it... when they love it they went to all the bars I did, same shopping areas and neighborhoods... when they hate it, they missed out on all of that. Again, if you don't know where to go in Melbourne- you wont just stumble upon it... I never would have had as good a time if I didn't get to experience Melbourne from a 'locals' percpective.

Can't wait to go again for the weekend...

C.P.E.

2007-03-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

Craig Philip Evans- the prettiest boy in his class, the man who saves the world one child at a time, the ever so stylish friend of mine who just entered his first semester in one of the most prestigious law schools out there... so basically he was very busy during my days in Melbourne... which meant I spent more time with his ever so sweet house mate Ciaran...an Irish dude (who happens to have a great body and great to look at) I shared many memories with. This entry will be all about our adventures together...

Ciaran and I spent a day at the beach... We drove past St. Kilda (very cool hipster neighborhood) and went about 30 minutes further to Black Rock (or pebble, something like that) beach. Serina Williams was said to have been there the week before so we figured it must be nice. It was a very relaxing and chilled out time... not too many people were there at that point. The sun was shining, we had a nice cool breeze and the water was refreshing. Ciaran was a doll and got us some lunch... sandwiches and strawberries on the beach! It was nice having someone go and get lunch for me... again very sweet. We must have spent 6 hours on the beach. We shared great conversation, listened to his Ipod and went for a dip in the ocean. All in all it was a perfect day.

Ciaran and I also went to the market one day. It has all these different stands with fresh fruit, a butcher, juice bars, fresh donuts (sadly they were all out... we all know how much I love donuts!), fresh fish and then they have a clothing area with the most useless touristy crap outside of canal street. However... that did bring for great entertainment as Ciaran and I had a go at the hat stand... trying on the goofiest hats we could find. Not too sure if the man who owned the stand was as amused... but for a Sunday afternoon... it was a great way to spend it.

We next met the 'gang' (Becs and her boyfriend Tom, his brother, Craig, and Dave). Ciaran's sailing instructor was there too... a very strange character. We went to play lawn bowling a very similar game to Baci ball. Made me think of the mighty bacigalupes! I was by far the worst- but it was great fun. Craig wasn't much better and I looked cuter playing... infact the crazy sailor said I had nice cleavage, the very first thing he said to me. I don't think he said anything complimentary towards Craig.

So as you can see Melbourne was great fun... more to tell in my next entry. For now Hope you enjoyed meeting Ciaran...

A lot of catching up to do...

2007-03-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Oops. That is all I have to say about that... oh wait, one more thing... thank you to those of you that I have not lost on my little hiatus from writing. I value your loyalty and hope you find these next entries to have been worth the wait.

Melbourne...

Melbourne I must say is my favorite city in Australia. I think it might be number 2 on my list for coolest cities, clearly NY being #1... defo for the bar seen at the very least. I arrived on a Friday, which also happened to be Australia day... it could not have been more perfect, filled with fireworks and all.

I went to Melbourne to visit a very dear friend of mine, Craig- but he is truly a cool dude and is worthy of a blog entry all to his own (or maybe I write this because he loves himself so much that I would never here the end of it if I didn't give him enough 'face' time in my entries and I really don't feel like hearing him go on and on about it).

It was cool to be in a house again... he lives in Port Melbourne with 2 other housemates and a guest, Dave that never seemed to leave. It was quite the mix matching of people which made for some great laughs. We had a barbecue during the day and then went out to my new favorite bar in the whole world... St. Jerome. We went to a few that night... all really cool... but St. J was rockin. I twas very small inside and they had an outside yet is was covered... but the walls were the neighboring buildings with graffiti on them...

The really cool thing about Melbourne is that if you don't know where the cool bars are you would never find them. They are all down small and dark ally ways... once again reminds me of old school NY. If you combined NY and San Diego, you would get Melbourne... it's the best of both worlds. The shopping is really great too... there are a lot of really cool boutiques. There are sections of Melbourne that are very Williamsburg, LES- esque. I think that is why I liked it so much.

My first few days in Melbourne I really spent bumming around the house in my PJ's. It felt great to have a clean shower, comfy bed and privacy! More than anything it felt great to do nothing... I had been on the go for quite some time and it took a toll on me! Craig's housemate, Becca- her boyfriend thought I was nuts... They made fun of me for staying in my PJ's for the first 4 days... but I had to do it! I watched lots of TV and melted into the couch. I stayed in Melbourne for about 10 days.... and it got pretty eventful!

After getting my lazy time in... it was time to trek on and see the sights! I had a great day shopping- and this was no backpackers shopping trip! I seemed to have been possessed by a wealthy, uber stylish, needing far too many expensive but amazingly unique hair clips, chick ... who was that girl?! I need to keep her suppressed or I will be back home in a week!

I did some touristy day excursions... the great ocean road drive and Philip Island (please do not add an 'S' to the end, Ozzie's get very touchy on that one). I am mixing the two day excursions up so we will morf them into one, after all you have no no way of knowing my lies... did I really do any of this at all?! (I kid... unbelievably, I have done it all). We went to what seemed to be a petting zoo, however rather than goats and sheep there were kangaroos, wallaby's, koalas (not allowed to be within a foot of them... they are ferocious little devils!). I even got to feed an emu... most excited- I saw a kangaroo with an erection... I never thought I could ever make that claim! Surprisingly I was hte only one to take a photo of it... who wouldn't want a photo of a Kangaroo with an erection?! I know you are wondering what it looks like... it is actually curvy, almost cork screw like... but very thin.... like your pinkie finger. That's all I really want to say about that.

On Phillip Island I went to the Penguin Parade. At night time hundreds of penguins go from the water to their little caves of a home to feed their youngsters. It was really one of the coolest experiences! I sat with an 85 year old lady and we had a ball... she was SO MURIEL CONKY!!!! Along the way to the Penguins, we went to some of the most beautiful beaches and cliffs I have ever seen. The sun was shining... and everything seemed to glow!

Among the beaches, HJF get ready to get jealous because I know you love this movie as much as I, we went to the one where they filmed Point Break... so cool... just too cool.

On one of the tours I bumped into the girls I met in Cairns... they were on the very same tour. That is what I love about travelling- you bump into friends you met elsewhere... it's really cool in that respect.

Cairns

2007-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

I took a day time bus to Cairns. It was a 10 hour journey I think. I hadn't gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep. I was more than exhausted! I actually bumped into Babs from Byron Bay before I got on the bus... it was great to catch up with her even if it was only for a few minutes! My plan was to stay awake on the bus so I could get to bed early that night and off to a two day Cape tribulation excursion the following day... well here is what went wrong:

1) An obnoxious Canadian from Keith, Paddy and Ed's room sat next to me. Not happy about that... but thankfully it was only for a little over a couple of hours.

2) I fell a sleep. And Slept, and slept and slept!

3) I got to Cairns- to my hostel, checked in and had dinner with a sweet 18 year old girl from SF. Met a stereotypical Italian dude (confirmed the fact I need to stay away from them), had some wine, wrote in for my wake up call and went to bed.

4) Slept through my wake up call!!!! I missed my excursion. This was the first real mess up of my trip. How could I do that?! So silly... I had to re-arrange things but I think it worked out for the best.

So that day I took the shuttle into town and met a really nice English bloke named Howard. We went to the Lagoon together and sun baked all day. We went for a nice lunch and guess what I tried?!

I got a KANGAROO salad... it was yummy! It actually tasted pretty much like beef. It is a little gamier and lean... but really good! Howard got a CROCODILE burger and let me try some... it was really juicy and tasted like chicken... but yummier! That was defo a highlight of the day! We drank that night and it was surely a late one... but...

I made friends with the wake up call guy and he actually was a doll and began bringing me coffee to my bed in the morning. He even brought it in a little early for me everyday so I could enjoy it in bed. Talk about great service! I went to Cape Tribulation but just for the day. We went to a rain forest... blah blah, see one see them all. BUT it lead us to Mossomon Gorge. It was a pool of water that flowed quite heavy with lots of rocks. It was literally in the middle of the rain forest, very very cool! I went swimming in it and asked a woman to take my picture twice... her rudeness enquired how many pics I wanted of myself! As Steph Tanner would say "How Rude!" I didn't let that get me down and had the tour guide take a few for me, until he rubbed my thigh... then I stayed far far away! What a creepo!

We also went on a boat ride in a lagoon, swamp thing where we saw wild crocodile and thousands of bats! It was really cool!!! We then went to a national park and saw lots of Koala's in there natural habitat. It was remarkable... they are lazy little creatures... but don't get too close, they will attack! Next was a swimming pool where I met these Irish guys that were really laid back and nice. It was refreshing because this was the first time I was in a tour that I really didn't get along with anyone. It was nice to be around friendly people again... one of them even looked like Leonardo DeCaprio... not so bad to chill with!

I called it an early night that night because I had an excursion the next day. Oh wait! That is a huge lie. I went out with the 18 year old girl, Angela, and her brother, JJ. We went to the cheesiest bar filled with young obnoxious drunks. I encountered an American girl who just talked complete rubbish and gave us all a bad name! She thought they spoke English in Wales and that it was just a different accent than English. There was a wet t-shirt contest... and NO I did not enter. I am too old for such stupidities. BUT I was Angela's coach, made her shirt and was front and center being a stage mom! hahahaha. Every guy cheered for her... and they went dead silent for her competitor who happened to have a gaggle of girls with her who could cheer louder than- errr people who cheer really loud. So Angela lost in the end. It actually disgusted me though... the MC guy was trying to get the girls to make out and stuff. This was the first encounter of cheap entertainment. Aussie is a party place, but it doesn't go that far- it really turned me off from Cairns.

I was supposed to go Kayaking at the great barrier reef but it was cancelled due to not enough people signing up. Instead I went on one of the most incredible experiences of my life... are we tired of me saying that?

I went on a big, fast boat thing to the great barrier reef. I tried to Scuba dive, but nope- it's not for me! I couldn't get through the underwater drills... I just don't like water in general. I was proud that I tried it, but it defo is not for me! The snorkeling was incredible; the coral was unbelievable! We saw so many fish!!!! I just can't describe it... once again you will have to see my photos! They were selling helicopter rides and the guy to a liking to me and gave me a 25% discount and promised me the front seat- word, I was in! He also lent me his sunglasses that were all high tech lenses so you could see the true color of the water and below. It made all the difference. The water here looked like Arctic Chill Gatorade- unbelievable! That color mixed with an emerald green and turquoise waters left me speechless. When we got back to the boat the half submarine half boat was leaving and the captain who named me the prettiest on the boat (did you hear that Craig?!) let me jump in for free! We saw loads of fish again, but most impressive were the barracudas!!! They were like three feet long and a sparkling silver color- too cool!!!
That was really it for Cairns... I headed to Melbourne by plain in the AM... will get to that tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed the catch up!

Airley Beach one last time

2007-02-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

Okay... it has been a while since I have both written or actually experienced this day... so I will keep it brief.

Boat landed... hmmm, I think I mean docked at about noon. I went to try and change hostels to Magnums- when I walked into the front desk my Irish boys were there... I may have had an unlucky time sailing... but I was back on land which seems to do me well! Unfortunately the hostel was full so I had to return to my bed bug den.

The lagoon was the plan, was gonna meet the boys there... but as I was getting ready, the rain came again. Doh! I walked over to the Internet cafe to write to all of you guys... when who do I see yet again, Keith. Aussie is interesting you really do bump into the same people everywhere... but this was starting to feel like fatal attraction and it was me that seemed like the stalker! hahaha. All was good though, thankfully they didn't think that! We chilled all day with some beers and into dinner. We had a really nice Thai meal. These guys just had me laughing the whole time. Paddy, he was a pro football (soccer) player in Ireland was beet red from all the spice... he looked like fire was coming out of his nose- it was really funny. Ed had me laughing the whole time because I couldn't understand barely anything he said... he has one thick accent!

We went to some bars afterward. We were actually headed to Beaches, one of the bars on the strip where my boat was meeting for a final drink together. The one person I DID NOT want to see was sitting at the table... damn snobby, shrimp eating hippie! Rob was sitting with my boat friends... I b lined it so fast to the bar... avoid, avoid, avoid! Unfortunately he saw me and came over to talk with me and the guys... I did my best to not be too rude but to give him the not so subtle hint to break out. Our paths crossed a few different times that night- now that felt a little fatal attraction-esque, but I just ignored it and focused on having fun with the craziest Irish boys. We had many drinks that night and even more laughs. Keith and I really hit it off and the two other guys just kept us laughing. Paddy and I had a funny face photo session and Ed would come in with some wacky nonsense because I couldn't understand anything he said.. but I love the kid just the same... one of the palest people you will ever meet!

It was a late night, got rained on again... but this time I didn't mind so much. That was the very quick version of nothing other than a great night with great company! I don't think my boat people were that happy with me though... but two of the girls knew the story so hopefully they let everyone else know too!

Not so smooth sailing...

2007-01-28T01:09:00.000-08:00

My three day sailing adventure went nothing like planned but an adventure it was!

The Whitsundays are supposed to be one of the most remarkable sights of Australia... beautiful forest deep islands with white sand beach fronts. I booked myself on a 14 passenger wooden sailing yacht. It really was a charming boat with impressive sails, but any boat would really impress this city girl, what do I know about boats?

The previous day as read in the blog before was hot and sunny! First day of sailing... errr not so much. It began cloudy and progressively got worse. About a half hour into sailing (well the motor was on because there were no winds) it started to sprinkle. The crew hadn't even finished giving the tour of the cabin before the rain started to come down. They broke out rain coats for us so we could still sit on deck and admire the lovely DARK view. While I was waiting for my tour, as they only took four people below at a time, I asked for a cup. Captain Ron, more about him later, and the other guests laughed at me as I began to drink wine... I mean really what else was there to do?! We were on a boat in the rain. Thankfully a couple from London, Olly and Sophie joined me in afternoon cocktails as well.

I got my tour of the boat. It was explained to us that we could only flush a little toilet paper at a time and had to hold down the flush for at least 20 seconds. We were showed our sleeping arrangements. I had to share the main room, where we also have our meals (the table conveniently turns into a bed for two as the bench across the small room did as well) with 5 other people. My bed was a cot attached to the wall that was above the table. Rain and a hanging cot, does this sound like me?! Yeah, I had a big gulp of wine after this one! I have to say though I felt most badly for the guy sleeping in the cot across from me, he was well over 6 feet and I barely fit on the cot!

With the tarps up you couldn't see a darn thing off the boat- they were quite low and you couldn't even stand with out having to hunch over. All I could think of was Gilligans Island and I couldn't even share the joke with anyone because the other 13 passengers were all Brits and had no clue of the show. All I could do was laugh and I think everyone got a real kick out of me because I would break out in random giggle fits. The situation just had to be laughed at! Olly would join in too... the two of us would just look at each other and laugh about our misfortune and very long and bumpy next few days! We were in one of the most beautiful places in the world and all we could see was tarp and dampness! The rain got worse as the night progressed, we are talking major down pours!

We played some drinking games that night and had some good laughs. We called it a pretty early night with hopes of a beautiful next day.

The next day... well, no rain in the AM but still pretty cloudy! We set sail after a 7 am wake up. Oy... a full day at sea. At least the tarps were able to come down- that was a huge bonus. As the sky was grey and everything around us was pretty dull, it was evident that in sunshine our surroundings would have been spectacular. It looked like a pirate movie- so many uninhabited islands around us- or like Jurassic Park, like dinosaurs would pop out of the forests! I actually got some great photos of the grey sky- this defo taught me to appreciate and see the beauty in a grey, dark sky! The ride was super bumpy, I mean it was rough out there- 20-23 knots (I have no clue what that means, but htat is what Captain Ron said)! I had to take three sea sickness pill, which made us all super groggy. I passed out three times that day! We were able to get some snorkeling in though. We didn't see much, the visibility was awful and the fish must have been hiding.

That afternoon the sky wasn't so bad, still clouds everywhere, just not so dark. We went to Whitehaven beach. It is regarded as the most beautiful beach in Aussie, if not one of the most in the world- not to my eyes! It had brown crap all over it and it was all damp. The white glowing sand was quite dull and off-white in the lighting that we had! It was a let down to say the least. You can't even swim in the water because of the stingers, some people wore stinger suits but I passed.

As I was laying there soaking up the UV rays (I was desperate to keep my tan and we were left there for a couple of hours) when what do I see- my Irish lads! A giddy girl I was indeed. My day was some what salvaged. Please understand hundreds (okay maybe not quite that much but a lot) of boats leave for this three day trip all the time and the chances of both of ours bringing us to this spot at pretty much the same time is remarkable. Let's call it meant to be! They had a crazy night. Their boat was a catamaran and sounded loads more fun. They were not in the best of spirits about the experience, though they had the same attitude I had... all you could do was laugh. We shared horror stories of the rain and I have to say there's beat mine. They're cruise is actually camping too. They didn't sleep on the boat; they were brought to an island with tents and they had to camp there. Being Irish and to totally generalize, they were pissed (that means wasted) that night. They went to bed an awoke sometime during the night to a tent full of water, shivering in the torrential down pour! Not only was it great to see them for purely a nice view but it was great to hear a story worse than mine! At least I had a somewhat dry sleeping area (there was a leak by my feat) and it was very clammy hot in that cabin!

We set sail again. More rain, more bumpy water and a lot of sickness. I managed to keep everything down but a few had to lean over the boat! All I could think of was Vee and how much she would have hated this boat ride! We had a delicious dinner that evening I will give the crew that much! It was a steak dinner with lots of sides. They even made me special mash for my lactardedness! The other peeps on the boat were pretty cool. A little more tame than some of the people I have been hanging out with, but really nice! There were two guys from London, Ali and Josh. They were hysterical- they reminded me a bit of my brother. There were two girls from London, Liz and Laura and a cousin pair also from London but of Indian decent- Rishi and Heena. I think we were all delirious by all the pills and waves- it made for an interesting and delirious evening! We were all very excited because we got to use the cool glow in the dark star map the crew had becasue we could see 4 stars- unfortunately it wasn't enough to determine which they were. Damn clouds!

That night I awoke at what I thought was close to sun up. I was sweltering hot. I cannot sleep in clammy, stuffy, 35 degree (that's Celsius) heat on a cot in a cabin with 5 other people! I decided to go up to the deck where the crew was sleeping. There was a nice breeze up there, the tarps were up and I could see a few stars from the side of the boat. I decided I should sleep up there for the last few hours and maybe watch the sun rise! It actually put me in great spirits... how cool, right?! Well Captain Ron is a pro at sleeping on deck. He was completely wrapped in a tarp as well just in case it rained. He was in a cocoon basically. I grabbed my pillow, sheet and two towels- oh and my camera for the beautiful sunrise! I used the towels to sleep on and the sheet for a cover! I got it all set up, laid down, looked out into the sky and felt the rain drops... what?! Oh yeah... no more then 30 seconds of being out there it started to down pour again! hahaha. Oh my luck! I curled up in a ball and Captain Ron looked out of his cocoon, startled to see someone he asked who I was... "It's Gi"... in my most pathetic and helpless voice. He opened his cocoon and asked if I wanted to crawl in. Well- Captain Ron to the rescue! I crawled in, put my back to him and quickly realized Captain Ron was trying to get his catch of the day! This girl wasn't bitin'! Kept my back to him for the rest of the night- which PS it was NOT almost sunrise- and couldn't really get much sleep. I have to say though it was beautiful to hear the rain and watch the storm from up there. Though uncomfortable, it was one of the most enjoyable parts of the boat trip.

The next morning I was quite the talk of the boat. The deck hand was up in the night closing windows and such and discovered I wasn't there... and let everyone know in the AM... though I quickly bring people to my side and they knew the truth very quickly- that rumor came to an end, because there was no coming!

The last day was basically cancelled because of the rain. I was in the most beautiful places in the world during the worst rain they have seen in 3 years! All I could do and still do is laugh!

Oh dear blog readers...

2007-01-27T22:55:00.000-08:00

I hope you realize that it is mighty hard to keep up with this blog...not for lack of desire or brilliant writing abilities... but just because I have been on the go, go, go! I did the east coast of Aussie in two short but busy weeks. People usually do it in a few months... but not this girl, I took it by storm and boy were there storms... but on to Airley beach first!

I took an overnight bus from Hervey bay to airley beach, oh a mere 14 hours or so. I am a pro at these bus rides now! Thank you Dr. Goodman- a good man indeed, just not to Jennie.

I met a really nice guy on the bus who sat next to me, Rob. He is an early thirties, perma-backpacker- work his way through his travels- going home every so often to earn some more cash- and back to discovering the world sort of guy. Basically can't stay put or grow up and uses travel as an excuse. But nice he was non the less. I slept the entire time and Rob was so very nice to lend me his sleeping bag as a blanket; they keep those buses so cold! We arrived in Airley, early that morning. He, an Irish girl named Kelly, and I hung out all day. We went to the lagoon they have there. The lagoon is basically a pool, made to look like a lil' lake thing, right by the beach. You can't swim at the beach there because of the deadly stingers. We bumped into some of Robs friends who gave us a box-o-red wine. Being the naughty sneaks that we were, the three of us wined and sunned at the lagoon. About two hours into our relaxing day, the lifeguard came over and reprimanded us for drinking- a big no, no at the lagoon.

A quick interruption about Australia. The rules / laws are very cut and dry here. If something is illegal, you just don't do it. There is no getting out of trouble. They are very literal and everything is black and white- no grey area. So we clearly were tempting fate. But I must say, this makes for the safest environment I have ever been in. I have never been to a safer place in the world, and the whole country is like this.

The lifeguard was not very nice and threatened to call the cops if we even touched the box again. She said she had been clocking us since 11:30 and it was now 2:30... a bit of a stretch if you ask me, but I wasn't about to argue. "Fare enough" I said, and that was the end of our afternoon at the lagoon. We found our way to the bar at Rob and Kelly's hostel for some beers al fresco. After a shower and some proper clothing the three of us met up again a few hours later for the nights festivities.

My hostel in Airley was by far the worst I have stayed in. Get this... BED BUGS. You read it kids, I stayed in a bed that had bugs... who knew they really existed?! I will never say that nursery rhyme again...just haunting now! I of course didn't find the bed bugs till my return to the hostel a few days later... but I thought it was worth mentioning now as I am clearly still disturbed by it; don't even get me started on the thread count they use for sheets- I mean would it really be so expensive to get some with at least 450?! The bathroom in the joint was even worse. There was no sink, I had to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink which was filled with dirty dishes. The shower leaked, so they had a moldy towel sopping up the water. This faulty bathroom had to be shared by about 12 people. I could go on... but you get the point... the Gi was not pleased, but I knew I wouldn't be there for very long.

We basically bar hopped between the three bars that are in Airley beach. There was a foam party going on at Magnums, the club. I refused to go as Kelly and Rob wanted to- they really are so gross. At one of the bars, Kelly and I got some food. I ordered a prawn and avocado salad- Rob almost gasped at the price I was willing to spend for a salad dinner- we are talking about $11 us dollars. I just don't get backpackers they will spend loads of money on booze but scrimp everywhere else and will voice there obnoxious opinion about how costly things are. I wanted some healthy grub! As I was eating my salad I was also waiting for my photos to be put on disk at a nearby store. They were done mid meal and I felt badly for Rob because he hadn't ordered anything... at this point I still had sympathy. We are all in different financial standings and I really didn't need the whole salad. So I nicely separated some in my bowl, even giving him some shrimp and said he could eat that bit while I ran to get my pictures. When I returned he left me with half of what I allotted to myself AND left me with two half eaten shrimp (not the full four I left myself!). Who eats a half a shrimp and leaves the rest?! I actually found it funny at this point because it was a damn good salad that even he couldn't resist- it just seemed to prove my point that sometimes it's worth getting what you really want! Don't get me wrong he was a REALLY NICE guy... but the more I thought about it the more it bothered me. Backpackers (this type of one, much like the annoying hippie mentality) seem to contradict themselves all the time- it's quite humorous.

We had a great time from bar to bar... and of course I am sure you have guessed we ended up at the foam party. To my surprise it was loads of fun. The foam came neck high... and we were slipping, sliding and dancing in it for hours on end. There were a lot of guys there and they had all sorts of fun tricks to do. I held hands with to guys, laid on our backs in the foam and kicked off the back wall to go flying down the floor... it really was great fun. Another guy then grabbed my ankles and dragged me around... I felt like a little kid, it was a blast!

Another interruption. In the bathrooms at all of these bars were stickers on all of the stalls that read "It's not always smooth sailing at the Whitsundays". This came true two fold. (PS Whitsunday is right off of Airley... Islands. You only go to Airley to access your boat to them). The sticker also has abuse hot lines and sexual assault hot lines. I thought the stickers were hilarious and laughed every time I went to pee, which was often.

Well this foam party turned into a grope fest. Towards the end of the night, throwing foam on each other turned into a 'cop a feel while you're at it' deal. I had enough and prompted Kelly and Rob to leave. On our way out some guys tackled me in good fun, all laughs till one put his hand up my skirt. Aha! I get the stickers now. Despite all of the soap suds, this party wasn't clean anymore. We quickly left and I no longer laughed at those stickers! Once again I was a little bothered with Rob, he just stood there and laughed as they rough housed me. I know he didn't realize how far one went, but it seemed pretty weak that he didn't he didn't ask them to stop. Please don't read this in horror, especially you mom- this scenario lasted all of 60 seconds and their hands didn't get a hold of anything! I just don't stand for anything of the sort and know to leave when things start to turn like this!

A big group of us went to the lagoon to clean off. Now here is where things get goofy with Airley and their laws! A security guard let about 20 of us go into the lagoon drunk to hang out and splash around... but we got in trouble some hours before for enjoying a couple of glasses of wine. I didn't question it, I just enjoyed myself and then had Rob walk me back to my hostel for a nights sleep (by myself) in my bug infested bed! Rob showed much interest in me that night, but I think Ben would kill me if I came home with such a type- no worries Ben, it will never happen!

The next day I met Kelly for brekky as we waited to go to our sail boats. As she was reading her book I noticed a real hotty sitting at a nearby table. I made the move... I went over to talk to him. Keith from Ireland- and his two other hot friends quickly joined us as well. I have to say, this is what I really enjoy about backpacking. It is entirely okay to go over to someone and just start chatting away. Everyone is there to experience the same things and make friends. It is so cool to be able to do that. These guys were nice as could be and we ended up walking to the docs together. I was out to find them again after my three day boat trip you could be sure of that!

Fraser Island

2007-01-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

let me say that Fraser Island has been the highlight of my trip.

I arrived at my hostel in Hervey bay, staying just one night before pick up for the Island adventure. I met a few people... snobby damn hippie backpackers giving me crap for doing a 'guided' tour rather than a self guided tour. I am who I am, and that is not a camper! Can you believe staying in a hostel is a luxury?! I never thought I would be one to say that!

My tour was 40 strong and I found 5 other girls that were the most fun! We were the life of the three days we spent together. I clicked with two of them in particular- two that will be no doubt friends for life... Gemma and Jenna... can you believe it?! How goofy- we were Gemma, Jenna and Gianna. The six of us kept everyone entertained and made the trip even more exciting... them along with a some others made this totally memorable.

Day one was filled with activity. We first went to Basin Lake. The road on Fraser Island requires 4 wheel drive... and a lot of other power car talk that I don't understand. We were in the bus for 40 with 8 horse power and an 8 cylinder engine and a crap load of gears... not sure if that is all the same thing... but this was one tough machine! We flew down these sand roads which the self guided tours got stuck in- ha- happy digging dirty hippies! Back to the lake- it was emerald green! Truly amazing. The water was clean and calm, but the most spectacular color. I guess it is that color due to the chloroform or something like that. All I know is that is was beautiful and I have never seen anything like it before.

A quick interruption about Fraser Island- it is the biggest SAND island in the world. Meaning, it is all sand and forest actually grows in the sand. Now they explained all of it and how this is possible.. but I will ask you to refer to the Internet to read about it and then maybe report back to me because I haven't a clue!

Next stop was Lake Mackenzie. This is probably my favorite lake I have ever seen. It was crystal blue water with the whitest powdery fine sand I have ever seen. This couple I made friends with (Swedish couple Mateja and Eddy- so awesome! Can't wait to visit them in Europe!), Gemma, Jenna and I walked down a little path to a more secluded aread of the lake. We basically had a whole private area to ourselves. The sand is rich in minerals and so fine that it is known to be a great exfoliate. We covered our bodies in sand and scrubbed away! I tried giving myself a pedicure but unfortunately I needed way more than some sand to smooth these feet! I am dying for a pedi!

We did a jungle walk... but I must say- see one reforest see them all. I think I am done with rain forests... too many creepy crawlies to come and attack! We did see some very impressive greenery though... some cool lizards and gigantic spiders.

That night we went to Dingo Bar- named after the scrawny but vicious animals that roam the island. They attack babies! They just looked like malnourished dogs to me though. The bar was a blast. I met some Scottish dudes and drank with them till 4am. They are a crazy bunch... I wont go through the menu we plowed through or I should say guzzled down that night it would take up too much time- but one thing is for sure it ws a late but fun night! Scottish peeps can drink and drink and drink and apparently I can too! It made for a rough morning, but all the worth it. We will call the night an opportunity for cultural enlightenment- I am just trying to learn all that I can about the world and its people and this meerly introduced me to the Scottish culture- so as you can see it was quite essential to my mission statement of the trip.

The next day was equally impressive, if not more so. We first went to a creek which starts in the forest and leads to the beach front. It is not that long, but a lot of fun. We started at the top and the stream allows you to float down. At the base of the creek was the pool that it formed. There were some lil boys with a boogie board running and sliding on it so we girls thought we would try. As my friends coaxed me on apparently I developed a bit of a viewing crowd, unannounced to me of course. As I ran and slid on the boogie board and toppled over... ohh about a second after hitting it the entire pool area applauded in synchronicity for my complete embarrassment. What's a girl to do but stand with my arms raised high with my Olympic gold pose and ear to ear grin... gotta be able to laugh at yourself! It wasn't so funny when our oldie tour guide came and tackled me in the water... talk about a creepy crawlie!

We also went to Champagne pools. This is where large rocks block the ocean and as the waves come crashing over- it had formed pools of water where were able to sit and chill. They were really pretty and very relaxing. The view was breath taking. I havee to say it is so hard to describe any of this with any due justice on its true beauty. Any picture you get from my description add oodles of more beauty to it and you might get the right mental image of it.

There is a 60 meter high rock formation that stands right on the beach called Indian Head. We climbed it in the dead hot sun with scorching hot sand and made it to the top. It was well worth it! To look at crystal blue ocean water with its natural habitat swimming about was incredible. We saw SHARKS and sea turtles and other unidentifiable swimming creatures! Defo another highlight. The roads to get to all of these places were the beach! The beach is their highway... gold sand with forest on one side and the ocean on the other...

I also took a 30 minute plain ride over the whole island. It was a 14 passenger itty bitty scary thing. But absolutely my favorite thing I have done thus far. I got to sit in the front seat next to the hotty pilate. I basically saw all the lakes and such that we visited but just from the aerial view. It was cool to see the vastness of it all and most impressive was seeing large sand dunes (looked like the Sahara) in the midst of rich green forest- just a crazy sight!

Speaking of the sand dunes- we went there too. We had to walk down them... but we rolled down them! It was great fun, but with dehydration and a hungover belly I am not sure if it was the greatest idea! At the base of it was another emerald green lake. We swam with catfish and turtles...loads of fun!

That night was another late night at the Dingo bar. The girls and I played drinking games... they have the f*ck game in England too! Only the words are slightly different... made me think of you Phi Siggers! That night the sky was clear as could be, not one cloud. It made for the most spectacular sky... we saw every possible star you could ever imagine. The milky way and Venus were visible with bare eyes! As we were appreciating the enormity of it all, we saw a shooting star!

Loads more happened, but I fear I have left this blog asstray and have too much to catch up on... so I will leave Fraser Island at that. By far it is one of my favorite places on earth... but I have so much more to see! Next stop was Airley beach and the Whitsundays... I need more time to write about that... stay tuned!

beautiful men, healthy food and the sun...

2007-01-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

... what more could a girl ask for?

Today was incredible. I woke up and went for a 3 hour kayak trip in the ocean... with dolphins! It was so cool that I was totally like a little girl, so giddy and excited to see them swimming freely! I got paired up with this hot guy from Belgium. We tipped over... the waves were getting intense towards the end of the trip. It was very cool though. The water is so clean and clear. Form a far it looks turquoise but when you are in it you can see to the bottom! The sand is powdery white and feels heavenly on your feet. It reminds me a lot of the beaches in Aruba. The sand makes a cool squeaking noise when you step in it... reminded me of my mom... for some reason I think she would like the noise too!

More importantly, I made friends! I two girls from Ireland, a dude from Holland and some British dudes. The girls and I had lunch and are now off to meet the boys on the beach. Tonight everyone is planning on going to a cheesy bar called Cheeky Monkeys... i am sure you can imagine what that will be like.

Tomorrow I am off to Hervey bay... but I wont really have time there. I get in tomorrow night and I am off in the morning for a three day trip to Fraser island.

It really is amazing how many backpackers there are here. Everyone is just about meeting friends and new people. It is amazing how helpful everyone is... hearing their stories makes this trip seem ordinary.

The town I am in as I said before is filled with hippies. It is pretty funny. They have free barbeque's and dudes sit on the side walk playing drums or acoustic guitar with hats out for cash... it's pretty ridiculous but fun none the less. There are a lot of holistic centers, health food stores... and colon draining... ewww! it is an intresting mix of surfers, backpackers and hippies... all sort of become one.

I have to say I really have never seen so many beautiful men in all of my life- it is astounding and I like it! cheers...

Byron Bay

2007-01-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here I am in hippy town Byron bay... after a 14 hour bus trip which is like nothingn to me now. This is the first time I really feel like I am on my own and its really up to me to make friends and such... I am up for the challenge. I met a really nice woman on the bus, but she was headed further up north- but from what I hear you cross paths with people all the time... seeing them in different countries and such.

The weather is amazing... very hot! Can't wait to hit the beach. I am goign to try to swim with dolphins tomorrow... though i don't know if it is too late to sign up,we shall see. These next two days are really the only two not planned- after that I really have a set itenerary with activites planned already.

I have to add in, MS. Kat Wolf-Leger brought to my attention that I forgot about the Boston aquarium which is quite good too. I think it falls short of NY, like it does in every other aspect- ie. baseball (I hear Randy's out and Andy's back... woo hoo!!!!). So Boston gets the # 3 slot with Sydney in as #4.

That's it for now... nothing much on this front... other than you really should see me backpacking... it's pretty funny... never ever would I have dreamed it being me!

Coogee Cafe

2007-01-09T16:38:00.000-08:00

Good morning! I am gearing up to do a 3 hour walk to Bondi beach and back from Coogee beach. Should be a nice morning as the weather is even nicer than yesterday! I went to a cafe for my morning coffee and inquired about an iced coffee. "Of course we have iced coffee, the very best in Coogee" he says. Well my friends here is a cultural difference. Iced coffee here is espresso with ice cream and whipped cream. We sorted out the difference before I was stuck with that calorie monster... They just couldn't understand cold coffee... but they have named this morning treat after me... our American Iced coffee is now a Sweet Gianna... they had never heard of a such a thing before! Got to love these differences!

Which brings to mind my lactose intolerance (yes it would have been disastrous for all if i had consumed their version of an iced coffee) but the story is that in Argentina I had a heavenly ice cream and was okay! Strange... I can consume the dairy in Argentina. I tested the waters (the cheese) in Brazil... but not such a good idea. Clair, we should move to Argentina!

All smiles in Sydney

2007-01-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

Here I am in sunny Sydney, Australia and I am loving every minute of it! The city itself is a cross between Boston, Beunos Aires and San Diego... a strange mix, yes, but indeed true. Yesterday I freely walked around, no map in hand just a point in the right direction and off I was to see some of what Sydney has to offer.

I first lunched al fresco with Ben's friends Ian and Ali. A nice first introduction and I look forward to dinner and drinks with these Brits tonight. I was then off to the harbor for a little ferry ride. I saw the Sydney opera house but opted not to do a tour. I stumbled on the Chinese gardens which were okay, but nothing to really blog about. However worthy of making it in here would be the stupid Americans (we really do stand out)that PAID to dress up in traditional Chinese gear and have their photo taken amidst the garden. Please think back to when you were 8 years old and went to Disney or six flags and dressed in old western gear for a picture... same thing. Only this was a couple on what I assume was their honeymoon. They looked ridiculous, but it made the trip to the gardens worth the 6 dollar entry fee for the laugh alone. Along those same lines, there was a couple in traditional Irish clothing taking pictures... what are these people thinking?! Whatever they were thinking- glad they did... laughing at other people's expense can be fun at times and okay...this was one of those times!

I then wanted to visit the Aquarium which supposedly is one of the best in the world. I will begin by saying I love aquariums and will go to one whenever possible. On my way over I walked straight into the Imax theater which was featuring a documentary- the Deep Blue in 3D!!! It was narrated by Johnny Depp and some famous chick, but who cares... mmmm Johnny Depp. I have to tell you I was the most impressed and excited person in that theater! Wow has 3D imagery come so far... I was "oooing and aaahing" the whole time... the only one mind you. But I must give props to the little girl two rows ahead of me she actually tried to touch some of the images above and in front of her (I so wanted to too!). The old couple beside me laughed at my excitement, i guess it was a moment of laughing at another's expense to them, hey I had it coming. Don't let that fool you though, in no way did I let them burst my bubble... I was totally impressed by the 3D movie... fish were coming straight for me, jelly fish were bubbling all around me and Johnny Depp was all over me! No.. but that would have made it REALLY cool. What a perfect way to get psyched for the aquarium! I was off...

The really cool thing about the aquarium was the walkway where sharks swim over you. The Baltimore Aquarium only has the wall tanks, this had you in a tube, very cool. But I have to say that was really the only highlight. I was disappointed. I would rate this aquarium #3 on my list with Baltimore #1, NY a close second and Washington DC coming dead last- even below the Petco in Union Square!

I have done more in one day than my whole time in Brazil. It feels great to move around again and to be in a city where I don't fear my life. Don't get me wrong I had a blast in Brazil, but it was a very different experience. Tomorrow I am off to travel up the East Coast of Australia. That's right kids, THE GI is going backpacking- staying in hostils and all! I am headed to Byron Bay, Fraser island, Hervey, Airley, A 3 day SAILING TRIP in Whitsunday, Cairns, Cape tribulation, a horseback ride in the rainforest and a Kayak trip around the reef in Cairns. I am then off to Melbourne for a week- but might travel around down there. I have jam packed my itinerary and I am super excited!!!! I should have some great stories... so check in often!
I am also thinking about doing a cruise around some of the french Polynesian islands... wanted to go to Fiji but they are having some political issues right now...

Qantas Airlines

2007-01-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

This deserves a blog entry of its own. I travelled from Rio to Sydney via Sao Paulo, Miami and LA. Don't ask... it was 42 hours of complete exhaustion and delirium.

After not getting any sleep the night before my 7am hotel departure- I didn't set myself up for an easy travel experience. I had to fly to SP and spend 12 hours in the airport before my next flight. Brazil is infamous for cancelling and delaying flights for no reason at all, so I could not chance taking a later flight. My flight was delayed, but not by much.

I wont bore you with my zombie like experience and to be quite honest I don't really remember it. What I do remember is my last flight. LA to Sydney on Qantas... my new favorite airline. My word! It was great. The DTV's were amazing.. I watched Little Miss Sunshine, Love Actually, October Sky and the start of a couple of other doozies. Point is they had so much to choose from! Now onto the food... it was better than any meal I ate in Brazil! My one gripe is that they bring too much food around... I was a stuffed lil' piggie, but I bet that helped put me to sleep! The fligth attendants were the sweetest and most cheerful... Fly Qantas! and PS... American Airlines was the worst...

I am now in SYDNEY... so excited! I am feeling quite off today... so I am going to do the walk from Congee Beach where I am staying to Bondi Beach. Also going to a travel agent about making some arrangements... promise to write more often!