MyItchyFeetAreBringingMeTo...

Kopkun Ka Thailand for being an amazing last stop

charline_thomasson — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 20:11:00 GMT

This is the last day in Thailand, I’ve enjoyed my last destination very much. After a few days in Chiang Mai, I made my way to Bangkok for another few days when I started visiting the city and around with Ayutthaya. Surprisingly I really like Bangkok. I don’t know why I thought the huge capital city wouldn’t be much to my liking but I got nicely surprised by how modern it is and how helpful and nice people are. It’s not so common to be in such a big metropolis and get people stopping by to help you with your map. Sometimes it’s tuk-tuk drivers hoping they’ll get you to your destination but even they are quite nice because if you don’t need the ride they still remain helpful and smiling. Maybe the political situation in Thailand has influenced tourism towards other destinations in the region so tourist are treated very well at the moment, or maybe they just have so many decades of experience and they still don’t get tired of ‘falangs’ (foreigners). I also liked in Bangkok that I had to use the boat as a pubic transport to go visit some places. You can also have a ride on the river in London but I actually never tried, maybe because I stopped being a tourist there a long time ago 😃… but in Bangkok locals use it a lot as well as it links many places on quite a long distance; and the price is quite different… the ride wherever you wish to go is the equivalent of just under £0.30! It’s quite a nice way to beat the traffic which can be pretty bad at certain times of the day!!

Next I went to Koh Tao, the “turtle” Island. I stayed there for about 10 days, knowing it would be my last time at the beach for quite a while. One more time I was able experience some time in beautiful surroundings. Of course white sands and clear waters, it was amazing. I was a little scared that the rainy season would get in the way of my plans when I got there but I was very lucky. It rained a few times but I got to be a lizard on the beach most days. I was also nicely surprised that even though Koh Tao is not the most well-known island as it is quite touristic it would be a bit spoiled. But Thai people and authorities there have made an excellent job at preserving the island very well. I kind of hope the tourists as well might be well behaved because the beaches and waters were clean. I also liked that the waterfront wasn’t full of shops or bars occupying sand space with subnets. Instead there were just bars, far enough to get free space and ‘street’ sellers were very few. So it was a very relaxing destination. I didn’t know about it before going but I stayed in Koh Tao over the 2 day festival they organise each year. So it was fun during those two days, there was a lot of animations and the first day over lunchtime all restaurants, bars and other shops had organised free food and beverages for everybody passing by. So it was a great opportunity to taste some local specialities. I stayed in Koh Tao as long as possible to enjoy the beach before going back to Bangkok before my flight home. I could have also visited other islands nearby but just the boat ride was a repellent for me. To get to Koh Tao I went on a boat ride for 3 hours after an almost sleepless night and the sea was really choppy so I didn’t want to get on another boat until I really have to!

Back to Bangkok I enjoyed my last 2-3 days by finishing to visit the city and going to the famous floating markets. This city was the perfect last destination to enjoy some cheap shopping for souvenirs, there are so many markets.

Now I’ve checked myself in a hotel near the airport for my last night, it’s weird to think it’s already been over a year I have left London and I’ll go back to Europe for a ‘new’ life as I’ll be landing in Lyon. It was also very strange to realise that in about 380 days I have spent less than 10 days alone in a room and probably less than 10 days alone at all… Some ‘accompanied’ travellers I’ve met were wondering about how it travelling solo… the answer is you are never alone, or very little, and the few times it happens you might feel lucky to have a bit of time for yourself if not, well you can just get to the next destination where you know there will be more people like you.

I feel very lucky about my experience. I’ve met a lot of amazing people, some have become very close friends. I guess I already had a huge interest in travel from my job before but now it has grown so much after this year of ‘vagabonding’ the world that I enjoy so much more reading about special project travels and talking with other travellers about their impressions of places visited. The world is so beautiful and interesting!!! I really don’t have a clue what the future holds for me, I’ll have to settle myself down with a job and rental flat in Lyon or elsewhere depending on how easy or difficult it is to get employment in my lovely city. But one thing is sure… I haven’t finished getting stamps in my passport, maybe it will have to be in the next passport, meaning in some time sooner or later, and not sure for such a long period. Even if I’m daunting all the paperwork and ‘boring stuff to do to settle down in Lyon, I’m very excited about enjoying family and close friends again. I’ve been homesick more than once, and I got some amazing news on the family side whilst I was in Laos… so I’m looking forward enjoying and sharing special happy moments. I’m also happy to know I’ll have a few visits from friends in Lyon, I’m looking forward to it so, very, much!!!

This might be my last post, as once I’m back in Lyon I don’t think I’ll have a lot to write about travel-wise even though I see my return home as a new journey as it’s a different home from the last one I had! And if any of the readers of this blog is curious about Lyon, just come to visit! It’s a beautiful city rivalling with Paris, except it’s much smaller geographically and it’s on the way to many places, so you don’t have to stay that long, just long enough to enjoy it 2 or 3 days before the next stop in the South of France or the Alps or in Switzerland, or even North of Italy! Make your choice! Maybe the tourism office in Lyon should employ me 😉!!

Anyway, to all of you reading this, thank you for following my adventures, I hope you enjoyed them. If anyone is thinking of travelling around and needs any help in answering some questions, don’t hesitate do get in touch, I’ll try to help as much as I can. Travelling is just an amazing experience every single time. you get to experience new places, meet new people, sometimes meet yourself too in a new way. For me it's one of the most rewarding and amazing experiences one can have in life so if you have the opportunity, don't even think one more second, make a realistic plan suiting yourself and book a ticket!

See you later, travel reader!!

OlaLa..os!

charline_thomasson — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 02:45:00 GMT

As planned after Pakse I got a bus North to Vientiane, capital city of Laos. Even though it’s a capital city the relaxed feeling was still there and I just realised the whole of Laos might be this way. I met up with my friend Michiko and until today (writing from Chiang Mai, Thailand) we’ve been traveling together. In Vientiane the activities are quite limited but we did visit the COPE centre which is helping locals suffering from landmine injuries with prosthetic limbs (not sure this is very good English but it is very specific vocabulary so I’m a bit lost.) this organisation is truly amazing. The exhibition was excellent and totally free. Little did I know about the history of Laos and the very heavy bombings they endured during Vietnam war from the US trying to stop Vietnamese using the border. It was a very instructive, really well done exhibition, we just took two hours to find it as we decided to walk there from our hostel and got a bit lost on the way, under the heat as usual… We also visited some temples and the night market but apart from that and trying out excellent restaurants it was time after 3 or 4 days to go on. I kind of chicken out on stopping in Vang Vieng as it is a place where most people go to get full drunk and do tubing (some kind of water activity in the river which if you’re drunk becomes increasingly dangerous specifically in shallow waters during dry season) and I think Michiko who doesn’t drink, or drink much wouldn’t have had much fun either.

Anyway, we made our way to Luang Prabang in a comfortable night sleeper bus which decided to break down at 6am so we finished the road in another bus that was already almost full and had to sit on the floor of the upper deck for 3hours… just a new experience for me but I was just happy to get to my destination! Luang Prabang: a touristic but magical place! Tropical mountain landscapes, beautiful city (UNESCO heritage), the best French bread I’ve had in a year and other delicacies from my native country, more or less due to the heritage of colonial France and expats having set up their business there). Lao food is very good too of course but can be very spicy. We actually decided to stay a week in Luang Prabang. We had a cheap room in a guesthouse which was actually a family house, turned guesthouse. Once again, people were really nice! We woke up early to see the alms ceremony with the orange dressed monks getting breakfast food from offrands by locals in the street, visited amazingly beautiful waterfalls and again went on the night market almost every night! This market was the most relaxed market I’ve ever seen. It was very enjoyable to stay in this town for a little longer than usual without having to pack again so soon. It’s such a pretty city that even when you get stuck by the heat you still enjoy the beautiful surroundings. We suffered a bit from the heat as we slept most days in a room with a fan (no AC) on the first and top floor of the guesthouse. We actually decided on more than one occasion to spend some more time at a café close by, just to cool down under the AC unit and iced tea or fruit shake in hand! We got to see really nice sunsets from the top of the hill near the temple and also on the banks of the Mekong river. Luang Prabang was also a place where we met a really nice Argentinian traveller and so the three of us shared most of our time together for activities, also sharing tuktuk prices! and chatted to exchange tips about our respective onward travel plans. And we also got to meet locals, in particular one guy who started to chat with us on the market where his sister works and sells fruit shakes, it was quite interesting to chat with him as he was educated in a temple and was for some time a monk as so many we saw. I guess it a little like going to a private catholic school in Europe except it is a different religion with different “rules” and you are wearing very distinctive clothes but your life is different as you do have quite a few restrictions and I think you live away from your family. But most of these are assumptions so this comparison is just my way to try to figure it out…

In Luang Prabang something amazing happened… and it proves how small the world is. On the night market, I met again a French family that I had first met in…. Buenos Aires, Argentina!!! The family is composed of the two parents and three kids (2 girls and one boy, aged between 6 and 12). We had spent time together at our hostel in Buenos Aires chatting at night over a glass of wine (wine for adults only of course! Hehe). I knew they had planned to also go to Australia but didn’t know for how long and knew even less the rest of their plan. Neither could they guess how long I’d stay in Australia as I didn’t know myself at the time we met. So it was really fun to find them there by pure coincidence! i'm used to meet other travellers again and again when visiting a specific region of the world, but from a different continent, crossing an ocean I really think this is special, a good surprise!

I think I didn’t realise whilst in Cambodia that one of the things that shocked me there was child labour, a lot of kids are sent by their parents to sell stuff to tourists instead of going to school. I didn’t talk about it before because I thought it could also be related to "economics" but Laos is also a nation that isn’t very reach and actually classified as one of the poorest (although to me Cambodia seemed a lot poorer) but I really appreciated the fact that in Laos children are protected and cherished by their parents. The sense of family felt very strong there and little ones can grow up actually being children, without having to understand too early what money and making money is about.

I think Laos is one of the nicest country to visit, not only for its culture, nature, humble and welcoming people but also because it’s the perfect combination of how touristy a place can get. It’s not so much about the number of travellers either but the kind of travellers and foreign businesses in the country. Laos still has a majority of local businesses and a few foreign ones (might have a connection to communist government… didn’t see a single American brand there. No yellow clown restaurant around!). I’m writing all this because I am now discovering Thailand and getting back to a more heavily touristed country. So far so good, but the difference is huge of course, the kind of travellers is different (I’m talking about old white haired white men going for really, really young Thai women, sometimes girls… sorry for judging but I personally finds this disgusting) and a lot of businesses are foreign, more American and English big brands on the street. Of course I can’t compare it but it’s just the transition time between two countries that makes me realise all this stuff.

So I’m now in Thailand, in the North in the city of Chiang Mai. After visiting the city together and spending a really nice day today at an elephant rescue centre, it was time to say goodbye to Michiko who flew away to go to Bali. I’m going to Bangkok tomorrow, travelling by myself again and trying the Thai trains! I haven’t been on a long distance train since Australia. Otherwise just as a note, the situation in Thailand so far is very calm, in Chiang Mai the only noticeable thing is about the army staying all day and night in the city centre on the main square, leaving enough space for the market when it happens, and of course the curfew which is at 12 at night anyway. I think it should be the same in Bangkok but will just have to stay away from protest areas to be clear of any trouble.

It’s weird to think that Thailand is my last destination before going back to Europe and finding again a more normal way of life, I’m still pretty excited about going home with this amazing journey to think about for the rest of my life, I feel extremely lucky and it is not quite finished yet but I know there will always be room for more if my feet start itching again from something else than mosquito bites.

I think I’ll write the blog again a few more times until there is no travel adventure to write about , so this isn’t the last post but the writing will most probably end when the journey gets to a close.

Discovering Cambodia and Laos

charline_thomasson — Sun, 25 May 2014 18:17:00 GMT

I’m a bit late writing about my trip post Singapore and into Cambodia, I guess it went quicker than I had thought and it involved a lot of bus journeys so even though I’ve had no trouble accessing internet I’ve also spent a lot of hours combined sitting in buses, not very comfortable buses. When I went through South America last year I thought I’d be suffering on bus journeys and actually those buses were more comfortable than in Europe (let’s precise that I didn’t go through Bolivia and Peru and I’m not about the quality there). So I wasn’t really thinking it’s be so bad in South East Asia… it’s not so horrible, I can’t complain too much, but I’ve already had a 14hour journey with the back of my seat that kept going down and one shorter journey of 3 hours with no air conditioning, and this was quite hard on my system. Anyway, enough talked about buses.

My stay in Cambodia was quite interesting, at first I visited the not so happy places, i.e. the killing fields near Phnom Penh (capital city of Cambodia). It’s very tough to visit but I think it’s good to learn about the history of the country you are visiting when this history is so heavy. In short, the Khmer Rouge governed Cambodia for 20 or 30 years and installed a dictatorship communist regime in which they moved all population into the countryside to produce rice. They also wanted to get rid of educated people (criterias were very wide, just wearing glasses meant to them you were educated) and so they killed their compatriots in mass. All over the country you can find sites that were used for mass killings. They destroyed all buildings previously destined for education (schools, libraries…) and for religion (temples), that’s why in a lot of temples, Buddha statues have no heads. The compelling thing about Cambodia’s history is that it is fairly recent. The Khmer Rouge governed until 1997. They were even involved with the UN in talks for help during the last years. Considering all this history made it easier for me to try to understand a bit more about the country, the state it is in at the moment (viewed from my western eyes) and people’s behaviours and way of life, as little as I have been able to witness. The first thing is that the gap between rich and poor is huge, there is a middle class and all of this was noticeable through the capital city, according to different districts it would be very different. In smaller cities it was a lot less noticeable. Still considering the history, the country seems to have quickly ‘recovered’, not that the situation is ideal but when I thought that less than 20 years ago all was concentrated on rural work with no factories (if I understand well) and look at it now, it must have been a huge difference.

After the heavy historical side, I moved on to Siem Reap in North West Cambodia to visit the beautiful, mighty historical temples of Angkor. It’s a huge site, you can spend probably a whole week visiting temples there. However after 1 full day (from sunrise) too many temples starts to become too many and we had no guide so we were lacking explanations.

In Siem Reap, I met someone who became my travel buddy! She’s called Julie, she’s from Australia and we shared a tuk-tuk (moto taxi in Asia) to visit Angkor and stayed at the same hostel. We realised while chatting that our travel plans were more or less matching… so we have been travelling together on and off for about 3 weeks now. We took a slow boat to go to Battambang and on the way see the floating villages. We visited around the next day and then made our way back South. Julie stopped in Phnom Penh as she was meeting a friend and visited the city and I went straight on to the South and the beach in Sihanoukville. It was nice to relax and the beach was really beautiful. Julie joined me again there, we went together on a tour by boat to the surrounding islands and the sea was quite rough so we had our share of ‘emotions’ on that day!

After this we had to back to Phnom Penh (no way to avoid it, and my 3^rd time there!) in order to prepare going to Laos: getting bus tickets, changing money, going to the post office to send stuff home and make our bags slightly lighter… the bus ride to Laos was long 14hours, during the day, with a stretch of road that was very poor so our butts have been challenged for 3hours of the ride. Most of the ride was through Cambodia so we were also getting impatient to cross the border and finally feel that we were in Laos. We left at 7am and arrived just after 9pm. We were so happy that we had booked a nice hotel for 2 nights. It was actually so nice that we decided to stay longer when we also realised that there were a few things to visit around the city of Pakse.

Then we were joined in Pakse by two friends Julie met during her trip in Vietnam and who also came to Laos. All together we went back further South in Laos to stay two nights in Don Det (4000 Island). These 4000 Islands are near the border with Cambodia which is delimited by the Mekong River. We had a fun day cycling around two of the islands which are linked together by a bridge. The next day they all went kayaking but I stayed at our room as I wasn’t feeling so well. We stayed only two nights there but we didn’t sleep very much because of the heat. The island apparently only recently acquired 24hour electricity and we were lucky because we had fans but it was still too hot. I’ve never suffered too much from the heat before, but in South East Asia, now it is the end of the dry season going into monsoon if I’m not mistaken and it’s very humid.

Now I’m back in Pakse and moving tonight for yet another buses journey (my second: ‘hotel-bus’: there are no seats but instead beds, or a big board with a very tiny mattress). I will go to Vientiane the capital city of Laos and meet my friend Michiko who I met during my stay in Griffith, Australia. I’m very excited about it. So far I really like Laos, it’s a very relaxed place. In Cambodia tourists, or foreigners are really considered for their money, so exchange with locals are less genuine or limited to ‘business’ which is a shame, and people come to speak to you directly in English. In Laos I learned very quickly how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ because locals use these words with foreigners as well. Somehow I really this because it feels like I’m learning a little bit, and feels more authentic. And people are very nice in general. The country is very green and with mountains so it might help with the ‘relaxed’ feeling as well.

Anyway, that a long post but it was long time I had not written. After Laos I had planned to go to Thailand, but right now Thailand is under the control of its army. So I don’t know how the situation is going to evolve and when I might go to Thailand. I really want to visit the country but I also want to travel safely. So it’ll be keeping a close eye on the news. I’ll have to make it there at some point because my flight back is from Bangkok in July and my visa in Laos expires mid-June…

4 jours à Singapour

charline_thomasson — Sun, 4 May 2014 00:48:00 GMT

My proper backpacking travels, by myself, have resumed.

After Bali, I flew to Singapore for about 4 days and I’ve had a great time. I think I chose a very nice hostel to begin with, not so much for the comfort or price but for the atmosphere. Staff were so nice and friendly that they managed to get people to interact naturally with each other in a very simple way and I got to meet really nice people to spend most evenings enjoying good food and good company!

Singapore in a way is like the Switzerland of South East Asia. Technically, everything is very efficient and organised. Economically doing very well, it is also probably the most expensive to visit. But after Australia… who cares it’s still a little cheaper and service is a lot better. Culturally, it’s a huge mix. Everywhere in Singapore things are written in 4 different languages: Chinese, Malay, English, and Indian (sorry I know there is no such thing as Indian language but I’m ignorant to which one, or even how it’s called… this I’m a bit ashamed of… could it be Sanskrit?)

When I started visiting the city, a bit randomly I went through Marina bay, which is close by the water and oversees all the skyscraper filled landscape. On one side, the CBD and on the other side MBS: Marina Bay Sands Hotel, impressive building with 3 towers of 56 floors all linked at the top by a roof shaped like a sort of boat where you can overlook the city. At first I then thought that Singapore was just another ultra-modern city with very impressive architecture but then… just that kind of city. But I was sooooo wrong and realised it very quickly on the same day in the afternoon when I started visiting other districts. I got to Chinatown and then Little India that I really loved walking through. In the evening went to meet people in the Arabic district. In one day it was like visiting different countries/ cultures all accessible by walk!!! How amazing is this?? I love the idea.

Otherwise I was surprised to learn what other travellers had heard before about Singapore’s reputation as a strict city. I had really no clue until I got there but I’m not much of a troublemaker anyway so… it wasn’t a problem!! But it was funny to learn whilst I was offering a gum to someone that selling chewing-gum in Singapore is apparently forbidden. Yes, streets are very clean in Singapore!! And fines very heavy if you believe the signs in the MRT stations (subway trains), and it includes a S$500 fine if you are caught eating or drinking (not just alcohol: any drink) on the train. I think it’s nice to have rules to try to make a huge city nicer… but how far can it go? It’s not like there is security or police every corner trying to fine you but still, it feels a bit like you’re not free to live your life-on the train- as you would like. What if you’re late or running from one place to another after work and you’re starving? Can’t you just bite into a snack then? Not that it’s the most appropriate place to eat or drink but still, psychologically it feels wrong to me knowing that you risk a fine just for this essential random everyday ‘needs’. Anyway, it’s just my opinion, maybe being a bit French about it and thinking about freedom in a general term. As long as you’re not a danger/nuisance or showing disrespect to others nor to yourself why would something be forbidden? It’s like jaywalking, if it’s safe for you to cross and there is not a single car in sight… you are in a public space and a free individual, why would you have to walk another 100meters to cross the street, or why would you be fined if you just cross? It’s only my opinion and maybe I’m missing something essential here… but it’s just another debate, not for now.

So in general I found Singapore quite nice and not as strict as everybody was expecting, very rich in culture and met very interesting fellow travellers. It was an excellent start to my trip (obviously after Bali, but I had company there!)

Today I arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. First impressions are good, the culture shock is on! In a good way so far.

Back(pack) on track in Bali! Wow!!!

charline_thomasson — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 23:36:00 GMT

Bali, Bali, Bali!!! I like this place very much! Probably because it was everything I was waiting for… I’d been waiting to be on this holiday and on the road again ever since I set foot in Australia. I was missing the exotic element of travel for so many months and as soon as we arrived in Bali I guess there was a huge smile on my face! It’s such a weird but nice feeling. When the first thing is to adapt to the heat and humidity, when all you see around is totally new. Then, you can’t get your eyes off everything that is around because it’s like you are trying to capture everything in your mind and don’t want to miss any little bit, just like eating but with your eyes until your more than full!

In Bali, we first headed to Balangan beach, we chose an accommodation that was quite luxurious but not too expensive and it was a small paradise for our first two nights. We went to the beach which was beautiful, the waves were huge, so we kind of preferred swimming in the pool at our guesthouse. The village around didn’t have much so we decided pretty quickly that however beautiful this place was we had to move on and skip the beach for the rest of our week in order to discover a bit further. So we headed to Ubud, a quite touristic city in the ‘mountainy’ countryside. We stayed in a guesthouse a bit further away in a village and we were treated extremely well as we seemed to be the first guests to try the accommodation. We paid a very little price for it and it was really beautiful! The house was in the middle of rice fields and during the last two nights we could hear traditional music coming from celebrations happening at the nearby meditation centre. The owner of the house was taking us for free into town when we needed and we got to chat a little bit and learn a bit more about what we were seeing around and about Balinese culture. Everything is s different and I know so little that I appreciated very much his explanations, specifically in regards to the temples and meanings of some statues or pieces of clothes on the statues and so on… I’m so hungry for information and discoveries now! And talking hunger, the food here is delicious!!! The only thing I find a bit of a shame is that I really cannot understand anything of the language, don’t even know a single word… I guess I could learn a few if I was staying longer. People speak very good English here due to the heavy tourism, but I like a lot when I understand a few words in a language or sometimes if I get the hang of the structure for sentences or just a word or two. T feels so rewarding!

As I said, Bali is very, extremely touristic. But for my first week being back on the road, it actually felt good to be in a place that is so developed for foreigners. It means one side that almost everywhere we’ve been we were considered by locals for our money and the haggling at the market was pretty easy but exhausting at the end of the day. On the other side being in such a touristic place means that you get treated more or less fairly because locals also want to retain tourism. And it means that services are developed enough to find pretty much all you need around.

The most overwhelming thing in Bali is the traffic… it’s another jungle. Roads are narrow and curvy but it doesn’t stop two way traffic from happening, many people ride scooters and it’s a total mess!! So it was quite an experience to go from place to place by car. We actually used taxis most of the time because it seemed the only way to get around when we needed. I hope that in the next countries I’ll be able to get around by bus because it’s another way of observing the scenery, sometimes meet locals… anyway the adventure is on!!

Today was a bit weird as I said goodbye to Valentina. She had a flight back to Australia before she actually flies back to Italy later in May. With her goes my last contact of Australia, my last travel friend. I’m back being by myself. I’m very grateful she came with me to Bali as she gave me the opportunity of having a smooth transition between living within a group and getting back on the road alone. Well I also have to say she’s a great person to hang out with, always positive and happy and enjoying life simply. So I feel very lucky to have met such a character. I’ll take all this positive mood with me for my next steps in South East Asia! Next country, next episode… ;)

Bye bye Australia!!!

charline_thomasson — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 20:58:00 GMT

After 4 months spent in Griffith, working in the winery and the airport and living at the hostel with my new international ‘family’ I decided to start travelling again. The season in Griffith started to slow down and work opportunities with it. So I planned the last legs of my adventure and for a few days now have been travelling again. I was joined by my Italian friend Valentina from the hostel in Griffith and we visited Melbourne. It was really weird to come back to the city. After 4 months in the countryside (although it was a decent sized city) it’s the first time that I got overwhelmed by the city when we arrived in Melbourne. The crowds, buildings and pace…. The different atmosphere in regards to people. In Griffith at the hostel everybody would be talking to everybody but in the city people come and go much faster so it’s a lot more impersonal and kind of harder to meet people.

I’m very happy to have a travel friend with me for the first weeks of my travel because after living in our little community at the hostel in Griffith I didn’t realise I’d miss the ‘group’ effect. Being able to chit chat with anyone passing by because you just run into each other constantly… So at least on top of having a really nice and funny travel friend, I also have someone sharing the same experience and with whom to speak about it.

Melbourne is a very nice city, somehow feeling much better than Sydney. We tried a visit at the beach but the temperatures made us go very quick. Autumn is making its way in Australia and in the South it’s getting colder. Although not winter cold, but after not needing anything more than a jumper at night for the past 6 months I was kind of taken by surprise.

Right now, 21^st April, I’m back to Sydney and definitely think that I made the best decision going to Griffith and leaving Sydney at the time I did. Coming back to Sydney I realised I really didn’t click with this place. Whilst it can probably be a very nice place once you are settled with a good job and a house in the suburb, it’s definitely not the best place for backpackers, and work holiday visa holders.

Australia in general has been for me a very mixed experience, full of indecisions and contradictions. First of all finding a job which has usually not been that hard for me became the first challenge when I got in Oz, and somehow it turned out I was not looking in the right place or for the right jobs. Secondly my whole idea of the country itself has been challenged. I also was very surprised to discover the Australian ‘character’ and ‘non-culture’. I don’t mean to be rude or offend but the following is the opinion I shaped for myself and by no means does it mean that I will keep this image forever but for now this is how I see it. The country has no history, very little cultural heritage and the country being so big and empty but still quite isolated from the rest of the world there is not much influence from the outside world. And when there is, I’m not sure if it’s relative to countryside people or in cities as well but it seems really heavily rejected. I have never met more racist people than in Australia. Specifically towards Indians and even aborigines. This is the most shocking of the things I realised here because when you apply for the visa online the government has put together a whole document you must read before applying and they go on about equal rights and brotherhood between ethnies… well this is the most hypocritical piece I have read in my life. I don’t want to make it a general statement because I have seen very little of the country but this is truly what I have experienced wherever I went. Even as a white person, I was classified as a backpacker. People passing by car near the hostel in Griffith would be staring, sometimes honking at us… maybe it was just a lack of education but we were made to feel like zoo animals. And funny enough, when I arrived to Melbourne at the station’s toilets with my backpack on I got the curiosity of a woman who just came by to ask me where I’d come from and what I’d been doing there… just this… Australia has opened its doors to backpackers for years now but its people are still not used to it, except employers in the countryside who take great advantage of offering wages way below legal levels for shitty jobs no Australian past 15 years old would agree to do and surely not for that amount of money. And guess what, if there were no backpackers to do these shitty jobs, farmers would ruin their harvest!! But most backpackers are after the holy grail of getting a second year visa and for this they need a paper signed off by farmers with at least a total 88 days of rural work. This is a whole business altogether for farmers and they take advantage of it in many cases.

I have also felt that Australians don’t seem any curious about the rest of the world anyway… they are very relaxed for everything, almost unmotivated about life in general. Even in Griffith where a lot of people have Italian origins, they usually don’t know much about their heritage. Sometimes they have travelled once to Europe to meet relatives, some speak Italian or a dialect but in general they don’t know much. The relaxed and unmotivated ways also applies to the work life as well. When I worked at the winery the atmosphere was very strange… people not worrying about anything until last minute…communication was as well very bad in that company, different ‘departments’ not working together but actually constantly blaming each other, and everything was very disorganised. For this reason I actually enjoyed a lot more doing manual work at the airport for much less money. Just because the people at the airport were so lovely and actually enjoyed chatting to each other and although relaxed were a bunch of people working a little bit harder.

Australia is the country where I didn’t meet many Australians and certainly learned a lot of Italian, being surrounded by the Italian family at the hostel. It’s also the place where I was surrounded by younger people. This was kind of a first in my life, in my trip. Usually, at school, at work or so far during my trip I have always been one of the youngest. So I’m not sure if I’m just getting old or if Australia is a destination for younger travellers, but I’ve learned to live with people in their early twenties. The difference is not massive but at times I felt like the older sister. It’s true that when you’re in your early twenties you’re still wondering about starting your adult life, what and where to study, if you’re going to succeed, how likely it’ll be to find a job afterwards, if you’ll like it or not…

All these existential questions, added to the questions of friendship and socializing, being socially accepted for who you are and accepting critics from other people who are not your family or close friends…actually strangers. Wow, I’m actually so glad to be the age I am right now and having all this stuff behind me. Having built confidence in life and knowing that whatever happens you can just adapt to a situation and however challenging, you can do pretty much what you choose to do.

In a way the Australian experience was quite challenging and this could be the positive ‘lesson’ I can remember. Of course the first memory I’ll keep is about the great people I met. Staying in the same place for 4 months made me feel at home and friendships created during that time are of course stronger than before in my trip since we shared more time together. It was quite hard to leave but quite exciting as well.

And now for the exciting part, I’m off to Bali tomorrow!!! I’ll be staying there for a week and still travelling with Valentina. This will be the last week with her before I carry on just by myself when I’ll fly to Singapore.

The other big news is that whilst planning my new trip through South East Asia, I was confronted to the question of buying my return ticket home. I could have bought a ticket back to Australia to make more money but since I didn’t really click with this country I didn’t see why I’d be back here and so soon… so tadadadadadadadadadaaaaaaa…. I’ll be back to Europe in July!!! I’m actually very excited about it as I have a ticket to be back to Lyon and I have missed home regularly and sometimes greatly during my trip. I’m not sure what I’ll do once I’m back and how I’ll react about being back in a well-known element but I’m positive about it.

In the next few weeks I’ll experience a total change and I’m going to feel in another world when going through South East Asia. It was one thing to travel in Latin America last year as countries usually have a bit of European heritage, but now I’m going to be challenged by totally unknown languages that I cannot understand one little bit and go through countries where culture, religions have nothing in common with Europe… So the adventure is going to become more intense and I’ll keep the blog updated about my discoveries!!!!

Coming soon - end of April 2014 South East Asia stories!

charline_thomasson — Tue, 1 Apr 2014 16:30:00 GMT

The end of the Australian experience is coming soon.

After working at the winery for 2 months, the rather short grape harvest came to an end and my job with it. Most harvests are finished right now so it makes it difficult finding another job where I am now. Most people at the hostel are also starting to make a move and since Australia is quite expensive and not my "preferrede" destination ever since I have experienced it, I then decided to also move on. But in my case the real backpacker experience is starting again in South East Asia on 22nd April. I will be flying from Sydney to Bali and from then on go on another trip around a cery few countries on this side of the globe.

I will probably write before leaving about my overall impression of Australia after I visit Melbourne and before setting off.

Then the stories about Indonesia and other countires will follow!!

Ciao!

Griffith, NSW, Australia

charline_thomasson — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 19:39:00 GMT

First of all happy new year to readers of my blog!!!

It’s been more than a month I didn’t write as I moved onto the countryside of New South Wales in Australia. I arrived early December in a town called Griffith in search of work and the good news is that I have been successful doing so.

I worked only a few days here and there but had a couple of very cool experiences before getting a real longer term job in the region. My most memorable job was when a friend and I were driven to the smallish airport of Griffith to clean airplanes. It was for a small company of ground surveying planes and we got to fly in a two seat plane above the region on our last day of work. It was really good!!

Since then I have completed my first week of fully time work in a winery. I work with 3 other girls at the weigh bridge where trucks arrive with the grapes during harvest time. It’s really good as it is in offices under the air conditioning. It might be hard to understand the heat for readers based in Europe as I know it is winter for you. But here I’ve lived the hottest days of my life so far. Last week it was 40 degrees every single day and I am nowhere near the beach or even a lake.

The job is interesting as well since I have only visited wineries as a tourist before but never really seen or learn much about the process of wine making in such details. Which is ironic for a French national!! The atmosphere is very relaxed at work but the hours are very long. My system is still adapting to working full time again and working 10 hours at least each day. It will be another thing to adapt to night shift but it will make it a bit of a change in case the job during the day gets too repetitive.

I am very happy about my experience in Australia right now because I chose a backpacker place and living the country life is more authentic and enjoyable.

I also enjoy very much living at the working hostel where I am. All people staying here are staying for a while as they work as well in farms for 2-3 or more months. So we have shaped a sort of international family, mostly European, with French, Germans and Italians. Going back from work to the hostel really feels like going home after 2 months being here.

So life is good for me and busy now which is helping he homesickness I had felt at the beginning of my stay in Australia.

I’ll try to keep up with writing the blog to give more news if anything exciting happens!

Rough start in Australia

charline_thomasson — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 19:05:00 GMT

Going back to Sydney wasn’t a great idea afterall, but I wouldn’t have guessed if I hadn’t tried.

I thought I would have lots of options in Sydney with finding any sort of office job that just requires customer service or admin duties. But I was really wrong. I spent a lot of time and energy applying for jobs online, I think I must have replied to about 60 online applications. With results: less than 15 rejections and nothing else. I had only a single phone call from a recruitment agency, so not even a direct employer and it fell through with them too an hour after our phone call because they had too many candidates and being French was just my disadvantage as I am restricted to work maximum 6 months with an employer. Most companies assume I am probably not able to speak English that well and even if I do they also assume I must do so with a terrible accent. I obviously tried to hand in my CV too in cafes and hostels but even the last job I could have found in Sydney didn’t work out in the end and that was for a cleaning job at the hostel I stayed at. There are too many people in Sydney with a work holiday visa. It almost feels as if Australia is granting far too many of them, but it doesn’t matter to the country because it is making huge money with this. First of all the visa is not cheap and secondly we are contributing heavily to the economy with spending so much money in hostels, for food, transport within the country…

So as the weeks went by in very expensive Sydney and my money running lower and lower I had to make a decision about the next step. I was lucky enough to meet a couple of French people I connected with very quickly when we shared the same dorm. They had decided to go on to the country side to work farm jobs so after a last unsuccessful week in the big city I decided to join them. First of all I for sure was going to spend a lot less money and it seemed that even though the season is not started yet there were more jobs in Griffith, 600km west of Sydney than in Sydney….At this point I didn’t care much what kind of job I was going to find. I needed the money and most importantly to do something with my days.

During my first hours in Griffith I was offered to work the next day. It was a cleaning job but it was a job and paid cash right away. So my luck turned a bit in my favour that day and since then I have been away for 8 days work in the bush. It was an interesting experience. I was also cleaning, this time a whole farm house that was lost in the desert 400km west of Griffith. With nothing around but desert and a few animals. There was no connection to the world there, not even phone network which was a bit hard to bear during the last days as I was assuming my family might be worried after days with no news at all. It was kind of weird to be stuck in house all day within such a big natural space. But I was with nice people so it felt ok, although during the last two days I wanted to go back to civilisation real bad. So when I got back to the hostel on Friday I truly appreciated being back and whatever life I’m up for within the next following weeks.

It’s now 10 days to Christmas countdown and I have not felt the Christmas spirit very much as it is summer. But yesterday we went ahead and added a few decorations just for the fun of it.

So this is my Australian experience so far. A little slow and rough beginnings but getting around the difficulties at the moment and most of all enjoying my time here whatever happens next.

I’m not sure how often I will be writing the blog now but I will try to carry on anyway. However I think it is the right time to wish you all reading this a very happy and lucky festive season with enjoyable and cheering moments with whomever you are celebrating.

Return trip to Cairns

charline_thomasson — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 16:38:00 GMT

As I described in my last post I got a shock when coming to Sydney. After 4 months and half travelling and enjoying the holiday life, my return to a "western", organised city was a bit difficult. Although I knew perfectly I came to Australia with the primary objective of finding work I was trying to fight the return to a more stable life. So I decided to fly to Cairns and possibly try to find a job there. Cairns is up North on the East coast of Australia and enjoys a nice tropical weather which turns into wet (rain) season soon. During those 3 days, I did find a few small jobs there however either against accommodation only (limited number of hours) or with conditions that would have meant no social life for the next 3-4 months.I met really nice people at the hostel in Cairns and had a good time, it was so sunny and hot that i did feel like I was backpacking again and near the beach although you can only swim in the artificial lagoon.

But I suddenly realised that I should really go back to Sydney to find a job. not only because there are probably three times more opportunities in the capital but also because if I come back to a working life I should try to come back to what i know best during a working life... which is life in a big city. And as I described Sydney it is a sort of cleaner and more spacious London, also more relaxed...and sunny!! Plus the beach is not far away either and contrary to Cairns you can actually go swimming! (In Cairns it is forbidden because of sharks and poisonous jellyfishes). So it took me a while to realise all these but in the end I have been following my feelings and it wasn't bad afterall as I also had a good time. However now it is time to seriously start working.

I will write more later about the "work search' and my latest news as I am waiting still to hear more from people and don't want to write more before things are for sure.... so more news in the next episode! I'm crossing my fingers for it to be good (exciting) news!

Sydney - my return to a sunny London!

charline_thomasson — Sun, 3 Nov 2013 17:16:00 GMT

I am still absolutely jetlagged from my trip from Santiago to Sydney. it was a 14 hour flight and the time change is also +14 hours compared to Santiago. But I have managed to go around the city quite a lot already. The only thing is that I get tired early in the evening and still wake up early (around 6 am)...

Arriving to Sydney was both exciting and a bit sad for me. I felt a sort of "counter- culture shock" after my months in South America I got used to the slightly messy ways and the possible element of surprise. In Sydney everything is very well organised and I didn't expect it but I felt like I got back to London already, so I tried to fight this feeling very much... I am NOT ready to be back somewhere that feels like home! The difference with South America and how I feel the effect of being back to a "western" country (if that makes any sense) is in people's attitude. I feel like I am back to a world where people don't speak much to each other and they actually don't really want to interact. As a backpacker my first impressions are usually based from the reception staff at hostels. In South America, in most places staff would be greeting you like if you were a new member of a big family, and they would take the time to chat to you a few minutes. Well...in Sydney they barely speak to you to ask your name and give you a sheet of paper with the general info about the hostel which contains a lot of negativity by the way... just a lot of rules which you will be fined for if you break; in other words: the total opposite of friendly which is really bad considering the hostel is probably one of the worst i've stayed at so far. But I was warned previously that hostels in Australia are very poor quality (another very bad thing considering they are also the most expensive in the world!) Well I just hope some of them are good, in Sydney or elsewhere in Australia.

A bit of positive feelings though: the city is very nice, it feels like a mix of San Francisco and London, with a lot of sun. So I think it must be one of the best cities to live in the world. On top of it the atmosphere is quite relaxed, there is not so much traffic jam and the centre has massive parks that really clean. Also the beach is not far away and there is a lot of art/cultural stuff going on!

At the moment i think i am still adapting from one continent to another and i am starting to feel better in Sydney day by day. it is quite comfortable to be able to communicate very quickly and easily with people and therefore easy to get around too. My first concern at the moment is to find a job and my first instinct is to go away from Sydney because as lovely as the city is i would rather go to a smaller place which would be still big enough to find employment but keep a bit of that holiday feeling with me. So I am tempted to go to Brisbane or anywhere between Sydney and Brisbane (except the Gold Coast and all that "Miami-Cancun-style" area because it just isn't what I enjoy0. So tomorrow I will be starting my job search from Sydney but I might be on the move within 2 or 3 days. I need to be quite quick because Australia is mega expensive!

Chilling in Chile before ocean jumping

charline_thomasson — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 00:19:00 GMT

I finally left Argentina yesterday, after my last week in Buenos Aires which I spent mainly reading about Australia as I got a guidebook delivered there when I was away discovering the country. My last week in Buenos Aires was filled with mixed feelings for different reasons and I felt a bit homesick as a result but I did meet some other amazing people meanwhile! I met a family of 5, with kids from 5 to 12 years old travelling together for a year around the world. This really is an amazing project as a family! It needs a lot of organisation and they have to take more time for everything as they must also have some kind of school time most mornings. But it will be for sure for all of them the time of their life and I can't imagine there is a stronger experience than this to link all family members closer!

Anyway, enough talked about time in Argentina, I arrived in Chile yesterday. The first thing was to see the Cordillas de los Andes from the plane. It was so beautiful. As well I don't how I managed to keep it for the exact moment but when I left London I was offered a book (rather big) which is the biography of one of my favourite writers (Saint Exupery) who was also a pilot. It's been 4 months I carry this in my backpack and I only started to read it lately whilst in Argentina... And of course I knew it but had forgotten that Saint Exupery was one of the first pilot to open airmail routes in Argentina and crossed the Andes as well in his tiny planes. So there is no better reading for me at the moment as I am in the places I am reading about! I just can't imagine how it must have felt to fly over the Andes in a tiny plane of the 1930's.

On my arrival in Santiago I headed straight to my hostel which is in a "trendy" area as far as I understand. It has nothing of a South American feeling but more of a hipstery hang out... It is very quite cute but in my opinion is filled with people who smell very fake and taking care of the way they look more than anything else... But this is only my first impression, I have not yet visited much more of the city. As for Buenos Aires, the hostel is full of Brazilians! I think they are definitely the most travelled people in South America. Apparently the girls from my dorm came from Sao Paulo on a return ticket to Santiago and back for 50 USD... so it is definitely worth it for a long weekend! Although Chile is rather expensive as a country in South America it remains a bit cheaper than Brazil I guess.

I feel weird to leave South America soon, I am wondering how much of my spanish course I will keep in a side of my brain as I will maybe not practice much in future....

But I am glad to go discover another part of the world, and it will be so much easier in English! ...Australian english mate! hehe!

A bit all over Argentina

charline_thomasson — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 06:28:00 GMT

It's only been 10 days since I last wrote and I was getting a bit desperate to meet more people because I didn't meet so many other travellers up until that time. Well, at last I found my way on the backpacker track and I must admit it is really important for me as I am travelling by myself. If I had a travel buddy I would maybe prefer times when hostels are not so full all the time, but being alone is never funny more than one day when you are on the road after that you get depressed and terribly homesick!

So after Tucuman, which was a big mistake (ugly city, overcrowded with too much traffic where it takes a half hour or more to queue to get to a cash point!) I went on to Cafayate, a small town where the landscapes were absolutely beautiful. This gateway to the Northwest of Argentina is a small wine region but I left the wine tasting for later (Mendoza) and went to visit la Quebrada de Las Conchas and it was very spectacular. Argentina is offering beautiful landscapes but what is amazing is how dramatic they are. Most times they are desertic and any life (animal) is kind of wiped out from the scenery, the rivers are dried and vegetation is very small so it makes it look very hostile and a little scary to spend a whole day in this kind of place. Cafayate was kind of quiet but way better than Tucuman in terms of travellers.

Later on I left Cafayate to go to Salta. Salta is called "Salta La Linda" so it made it an indication that it would be fine to stay there and take a day to visit the city as well. I was lucky enough to stay in Salta over a long weekend and meet more Argentinian people and a few brave Brazilians travelling by bike from Brazil to Chile (coast to coast). I have to say that so far both Argentinian and Brazilian people make the best travel friends! Or at least there is something more compatible with my personality/ character?? who knows! Anyway, together with the couple from Argentina and one of the Brazilian guys we went by car to TILCARA. This place was amazing!!!!

I think so far in my trip I had really one place I have loved more than anything else and it was Bacalar in Mexico. Well, Tilcara is my second "location - lovestory" in my trip. It is a veyr small indigenous (and touristy) village at 2500m altitude in the mountains. It took about an hour for me to get used to the altitude but passed this I just loved it, it was simply beautiful and I don't know if it was the altitude acting on my brain but I felt at peace, really relaxed. We made the day trip (a bit long as the road is about 4 hours each way). The next days we visited Salta and tried to pass time because the city is not that big.

Afterwards, I spent a good 20 hours on a bus to get from North to "South" or let's say "center" of Argentina, more precisely to Mendoza. The green-er wine region. It is a nice city and the weather is very nice right now but there is something very strange about the city. It was explained to me yesterday but when I arrived I thoguht to myself "where is the historic center?" like, the touristy bit where you can maybe learn a little about the past of the city...there is none..it was all destroyed after an earthquake if I understood well. But other than this it is kind of nice. I went on a wine-bike tour, you cannot visit Mendoza without doing so! and yesterday I went trekking (very easy trekking) and did rappel (when you go down a cliff with a cord) it was cool, the most we did was a wall of 40meters. I thoguht I would be a bit more impressed but maybe it was too easy... ?? no in real my hands were burning after 25-30 meters! And after the tour took everybody to hotsprings (termas) and it was very nice and relaxing to finish the day.

I am a bit sad because this kind of marks the end of my travelling in Argentina and in South America and in the Americas in general...

Next month I will have crossed ocean to arrive to Australia (that it in 10 days more or less). I will go back to Buenos Aires in a few days and spend my last days in Argentina there. Then (a bit stupidly) I will fly to Chile (it is acutally 6 hours by bus from Mendoza where I am now but I had not really planned it that way) for 3 days before flying over to Australia. it's also marking the end of holiday time because in Australia I will be looking for a job to make a bit of money (yes, my savings are getting shorter now after being on holidya so long even after leaving on budget!)

So I think it is not yet the conclusion, I might right more before I leave South America but a "pre-conclusion" of my visit in the Americas let's call it like this. the first feeling for sure is that I definitely want to be back soon and I have not even left!

Going North of Argentina

charline_thomasson — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 06:34:00 GMT

After I spent a few very enjoyable days with Luciana in Escobar, I went on the road to Rosario which I liked very much. The city is quite nice as it is not too big and not too small. If people get too stressed living in Buenos Aires, I reckon they should settle in Rosario. It did feel like a city where it is nice to live, with enough entertainment but not too much going on at the same time. I stayed in a hostel where the owner had quite a good knowledge of France and very oddly knowledge of some very specific cultural french stuff that it was very surprising.

From Rosario I moved on to Cordoba where I settled for 5 nights as I was exploring the area. There is not much to see in Cordoba, it is a big city, quite crowded with workers and students. But it is a good base to go to a few places around which are really beautiful like Alta Gracia and to go hiking in the Sierras. I was very impressed by the landscapes in the mountains. It is quite a dry landscape and dry season too so the views get quite dramatic and desertic. I also was right on time in the region to participate one day to the Oktoberfest in Villa General Belgrano. It is the same principle as in Munich but happens in Argentina I guess.. I have never been to the one in Munich. I was with 2 german girls which made it even more fun. Somehow the only weird thing I found was to listen to german music during that day because it is not such a great music to dance compared to Argentinian or latin music! but I guess it had to be german since it was Oktoberfest!

Right now I am in San Miguel de Tucuman on my way to the North of Argentina and the region of Salta. There are not many other travellers on the road since I have left Buenos Aires so at times I do find other people but other times I don't and it feels really weird. It is the case here in San Miguel de Tucuman. My idea right now is that wherever there is no one at the hostel I will just pass through and go to the next spot. I am even thinking of going faster in my travel if it happens and get back to Buenos Aires earlier if necessary as I know there, there will be plenty of people!

It's part of travelling I guess to sometmes have to deal with being with others constantly and being sociable and at other times being by yourself. I usually don't have too much of a problem being by myself but mainly in cities where you can still be surrounded by people and go about doing your own stuff. When you wonder whether or not going for a hike because you are by yourself this becomes a bit more tricky.

Anyway I think once I finish exploring North, I will go back down and head towards Mendoza and there will or should definitely be a few other backpackers on the wine route!!!

Captivating Buenos Aires

charline_thomasson — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:18:00 GMT

I have been in Buenos Aires for a week now and I am moving on later today although I somehow felt like I could have stayed much longer here. Somehow all my Argentinian friends and other foreigners had been bragging about Buenos Aires so I was keeping a certain reserve on my expectations so as not to be disappointed. But the city did kidnap my spirit... First of all it feels very comfortable because it looks very European in the city center. So for me it didn't feel much different from strolling in Paris or Lyon. Secondly Argentinians are very welcoming so the few I have met have introduced me to the city and taken me to the main places and taught me some traditions. So it felt good to not have to open a map every few minutes! and the other factors is that Argentina and Buenos Aires are very much backpackers destinations so it's easy to meet people in hostels too.

It is really weird to feel so comfortable in one place and having to leave it. It almost feels like I am now going on a whole new trip because my mind was at rest here and the need to be on the road almost got carried away. I dont know if all of this makes sense, I think I am still a little bit confused but I am finding it hard to describe it too.

In any case, to any of my Argentinian friends reading this, Buenos Aires is a great city and probably so far in my trip the best capital city I have visited, or just the best city... even if I really liked Mexico DF, or Rio De Janeiro, Buenos Aires is by far my favourite. It has the feeling of a huge urban area but with good transport and not in an oppressive way.

Today I willl travel to Escobar to meet Luciana who is a friend met at work in London for those who do not know her. It is again very nice to visit some know faces and I am very much looking forward to it!

13th story and a little strike of bad luck...

charline_thomasson — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 02:58:00 GMT

Can this be related? haha, I don't really think so but in the end all is well anyway.

So far my trip has been going according to plan and absolutely trouble free, which I feel very lucky for. And of course the small troubles which happened to me yesterday are not to be considered any else than just very annoying. I arrived at Sao Paulo Guarulho airport yesterday expecting to go on my flight to Montevideo in the evening.
I arrived quite early so I just asked the airline ground staff if I oculd drop my bag off already. It turned out into a small nightmare since they did not have my booking.

It wasn't the airline's fault though, but my travel agent's. And of course it happened on a Saturday evening. So I spent what seemed to be endless minutes on hold calling the emergency number which after the third time and too many R$ spent led me to someone based in Australia...who didn't even realise which country I was in, even after I had involved Merissa to help me and she had called that same girl twice... Well here goes efficiency for the famous travel agent, which does not deserve to be named as I would consider it publicity and it is the last thing I want to do for them right now, and I am weighing my words after what happened and knowing I have worked my short career in tourism... The way my booking has been messed up with is an absolute disgrace and the girl I was in contact with when I booked was super nice but a bit too relaxed and now I am paying the price for it.

I have to add as well that Brazilian people in general are super helpful and friendly, I mean a man even gave a phone card he had not used to call the damn emergency number! But when you talk to a clerk behind a desk it is really not easy because they sometimes look like they are not concerned at all and like you can do whatever you want even the the most polite way, they will not move a finger. So it can feel very frustrating. Or even having to go to another office which is "temporarily" closed with a sign "we're back soon" - like I'm going on a coffee break please bear with me 5 minutes - but actually turns out no one shows up for more than half an hour.... This is Brazilian bureaucracy at its best, but hey, it is quite the same in many countried, I think even including France (except in France the clerks might even be rude to you at times which makes it worse).

So anyway, I had to pay myself another ticket if I wanted to go to Montevideo, which I did with another, cheaper airline and went on to Montevideo.

Luckily, things cleared up as I arrived in Montevideo, except the weather. here I stepped into winter a little bit more. But I was expecting it. I mean around 10 degrees at night 16 during the day and rain. But I am quite grateful for how efficient things are here, I arrived late at night and I found a shuttle bus which took me in front of my hostel. Hostel which has reception open 24 hours (I had not booked). And the best surprise is how good the hotel is. I mean it remains a hostel so there is nothing super thrilling, but the building is beautiful inside, well maintained with high ceilings, wooden staircase and I have to admit a bit of girly deco in places; and quite importantly really nice staff! I think I also feel good about being able to communicate more here. first of all I am forcing myself to speak a bit spanish but also people here are not afraid to speak in english when needed. I had planned to stay only today in Montevideo and go on to Colonia Del Sacramento quite quickly to cross to Buenos Aires soon. But I kind of have not seen Montevideo in it's true light yet. Mainly because I arrived today on a Sunday and the streets are totally empty, it's like a ghost town! or maybe it was still early!
So I booked another night, I am feeling a good atmosphere here, so let's stay one more night.

Here goes my first day in Uruguay, cold, rainy but feeling better than any time during the last 24-48 hours! (sorry to add this but Sao Paulo was very polluted)

Vamos a vivir otras aventuras! (I hope this is correct).

Last days in Brazil

charline_thomasson — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 10:33:00 GMT

This might be my last post from Brazil or the one before last. But first I want to thank everybody reading my blog because I can see that a few people are following my adventures (I cannot see who of course but it is nice to know I have readers, even if I selfishly read my posts again anyway!) I also want to apologize again for all the spelling mistakes and words gone missing as I type. Sometimes I dont have enough time, and sometimes I just cannot be bothered learning new keyboards configuration...Anyway, this is done, thanks for reading my awefully written stories!!! hehe! and please for those who fancy taking a few minutes to write an email I would be honoured to receive news from you! I have of course been in touch with a few but just in case... don't hesitate!

Anyway, since the last post a few days ago I did visit the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls, and I have to admit an embarrasing truth... after taking million pictures on the Argentinian side the day before, I left my battery charging at night and forgot it in the charger! So I will never prove which side of the falls is better, which is kind of a more diplomatic way to answer the question! But I did feel extremely stupid when I took my camera out and realised I wasn't going to use it that day. All of it will just be memories for my brain only. Then I took a bus to Curitiba.
It was the first long distance bus I was using in Brazil and I was a bit nervous because I chose the cheapest option. Well, it was actually the best bus I travelled with since I started my trip. In Mexico the buses were absolutely fine, but THAT bus, which was half price compared to the fancy option was luxury. I mean the seat was reclining almost fully. I slept like a baby! The only thing which I was prepared for was the air conditioning set to "arctic circle" but after almost " months backpacking no bus driver will fool me anymore! I had my sleeping bag with me!

I chose to go to Curitiba because my very good friend Jules introduced me to his friend Maria who lives here. So I was very nicely welcomed into her home although she is quite busy preparing for exams. meanwhile I decided not to bother her too much and go around the state of Parana. The experience of the last two days has been a bit mixed. With some very good and some slightly disappointing elements. But obviously I take it all as an experience, and it is part of discovering places.I went on my first train ride since I left Europe! and it was a touristic train! it is supposed to be a beautiful scenery but unfortunately the fog hid all of it. However, the train ride I had was one of the best ever!!! As Brazil is proving to be quite an expensive country to travel around I chose one the cheapest tickets for the train ride. Which meant I had a guide in the coach who spoke only Portuguese, but I had guessed it would be fine anyway...not much to say I guess except for a little bit of history of the railway which I could more or less understand anyway.
But this also meant that I was the only foreigner in the coach! and the rest of the car was filled with a family of 3 + a HUGE family and friends party of about 40 people! it was like a big fiesta! Shouting in each tunnel we would pass, singing and being happy! I laughed a lot! And the Portuguese speaking guide was so sweet, she was trying to find a better seat for le in another car as the left side of the train is were all the scenery is...she didn't manage but anyway that day there was nothing to see!
The train took us fro, Curitiba to Morretes which is a very cute little colonial town. I visited for a few hours and took the bus to Paranagua.
In Paranagua, I started getting the feeling that I was totally off-season. And it was not just a feeling but the truth! I stayed in a creepy hostel where we were just 3 guests, also it must be the dirtiest hostel I have stayed at. I mean so far I had nothing to complain about. But I think it is due to the fact that it is low season and owners are not keeping it very well when visitors are not many. But I am glad I was only staying for one night. Also the girl at reception didn't look bothered at all (she was polite but just not interested) so it wasn't the best experience. And hwilst it can sound like relaxing to have a whole dorm to yourself, well let's say if the place was actually clean, I ca ntell you it actually feels really creepy to have no one to talk to!

So I was relevied to leave next morning to go to Ilha Do Mel...which should have been my last beach experience for a while...well again it was very foggy most of the time and I was really the only foreigner amongst very few other travellers. Again I was by myself in the hostel, this one was actually clean and felt a lot better, very close to the beach (I mean everything is close to the beach on that island anyway!)So it felt a little bit like a wast of money and time to go all the way there and back for almost nothing... But it is part of the experience and I do have one very nice moment on the island which I will keep in mind. Whilst the daylight was disappearing, I was watching the high tide and the sea and I saw a dolphin!!!! so I was kind of proud that so far in my trip I resisted paying lots of money to go see dolphins or swim with them like they have in Mexico. All I needed to do was to go somewhere where they live and just watch from further! I was very impressed.

To add to the mixed feelings about the last few days, the fact of being the only tourist also made me aware even more that I am a solo female traveller. I never felt the pressure before during my trip; but here in Brazil the "male authority" is very strong and it has made me feel a bit uncomfortable a few times in the past two days whilst I was by myself. So I am glad to be back to a bigger town with people I know and I will learn to maybe avoid more remote areas if going alone because it is not much fun to feel very little.

For my last days in Brazil I have chosen to skip Sao Paulo or maybe I will make an effort for 1 day but I have booked myself a nice hotel for 2 nights and will enjoy relaxing before I fly to Montevideo - Uruguay. I also need to prepare for slightly colder weather...yes it is winter in South America and the more I go South, the colder it gets, so I am losing my tan little by little but the sun is here most of the time. I am looking forward visiting new countries just a little less looking forward going below 20° degrees...

Rio express, Ilha Grande & Iguacu falls

charline_thomasson — Fri, 6 Sep 2013 08:40:00 GMT

Days are going by faster and faster and Brazil is proving to be quite a surprising country. In Salvador I got to leave my backpack at my host´s place and go relax a few days in Morro de Sao Paulo. This is an Island a few hours away.(I dont know if I already talked about this in my previous post so I will cover it fast) It was beautiful but a bit too ´touristically´aggressive and I had a brilliant time there with another french girl and guy from Spain (also speaking french) who I met at the hostel.

After that it was due time to leave Bahia and fly to Rio de Janeiro! Rio is a beautiful city! but I didn´t spend enough time at all there. I got to see the Corcovado, walk in the city centre and go to the beach in Copacabana, that is it... oh and go to Lapa one night to experience the street dancing of Samba. The city feels very european to me and kind of very safe or at least for the parts I have been to. I know it has probably not been always the case but this is how I felt. I was also very happy to be able to use the underground, I have to say that in any big city it makes your life so much easier to go around when you are a tourist. I guess this is also what was intimidating with Salvador. Not always knowing if the bus was going to the correct direction! I really had a great feeling with the city and can only hope to return some day for a proper full week in order to go around correctly. I left Rio quick because I wanted to take the opportunity to also visit Ilha Grande, an island a few hours away from Rio. This island is also absolutely beautiful and much more protected than Morro. There, tourists are not so necessary and the local population is more oriented on preserving the island. But for me it was the one chance to finally meet with someone who can relate to my life prior backpacking and it felt really good! So here we go! I met with Merissa (for people who do not know, Merissa is a friend from work who lived in London many years and moved back to Brazil a year ago). So it was a great opportunity to catch and actually learn a bit more about Brazil! especially discovering sweets! I am completely addicted to Brigaderos! but should not abuse them otherwise I´m going to put on extra fat! Bikini season is over for a while now anyway but that definitely not a reason! hehe!! I realised that my days in Ilha Grande would probably be my last days at the beach for a while! and I was very lucky because the weather was gorgeous, I had nice company and it was super relaxing with a bit of walks in the jungle/forest to get to the beach!

So after the state of Rio, I flew (again!) to Foz do Iguacu, which is South of Brazil by the border with Paraguay and Argentina and has a beautiful national park extending into Argentina with amazing waterfalls. I had high expectation after coming all the way there and hearing how amazing it was, but I can definitely say that I felt absolutely like the tiniest thing in the world when I saw the waterfalls. I started with the Argentinian side as it constitutes 80% of te 275 waterfalls. The most impressive is la Garganta Del Diablo (Devil´s throat) and it is so powerful that you cannot even see the bottom of it. So it was a beautiful natural show with lots of animals around!
Tomorrow I will go to the Brazilian side and in the evening take a night bus to Curitiba (10 hours on the bus, it is so far the shortest distance I allowed myself to travel by bus in Brazil...knowing the two flights I got so far would have been 25 hours by bus!!!)

So far I like Brazil for how surprising it has been. People are kind but always on the lookout (I guess it is part of the culture to be suspicious, for safety reasons) and it is very funny to realise how sporty people are. Boys and girls are looking after themselves very well but they are also showing off so much it gets quite funny at the beach! I guess I am also getting a bit more confident with the few words of portuguese I know and mixed with spanish. But mainly in Rio and Iguacu people are used to tourist so they speak english quite well and it feels good.
Only 9 days left to discover more Brazil and then I carry on South!

1st steps into South America: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

charline_thomasson — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:17:00 GMT

I left Mexico and travelled for approximately a total of 24 hours with the weirdest connection you may think of...Here is the summary of my mad trip: Cancun to Miami, Miami to Rio and Rio to Salvador. Knowing that I had to run on arrival at Miami to catch my connection after passing the border and picking my luggage (stupid US rules...) So I arrived to Salvador absolutely tired and hungry but I had still to get to my hostel and this was another hour and a half journey (due to traffic). Anyway as for Mexico I received plenty of warnings about being extremely careful in Brazil not doing this and that. I do take all this very seriously and I am not trying to say that it is wrong to receive all these warnings, but to a certain extent it is only creating paranoia into people´s heads. So I need to take everything with a pinch of salt and make my own opinion after a few days otherwise I can just stay at the hostel all day long...

What I didnt realise too well when I left Mexico is that by flying over to a whole new country I would have to do everything all over again... I mean, getting used to new ways, a new language and customs, culture... In a way this is what is interesting for a traveller but beginnings always aks for more efforts and I must have gotten very confortable in Mexico so it felt a little bit like a kick in the butt when I arrived to Brazil and didnt know anyone and going around Salvador by myself. But I had made contacts in couchsurfing again before going so it was only a matter of time.

On arrival in Bahia I stayed in lovely little hostel by the beach, unfortunately it rained quite a few times so didnt get to notice beautiful sunsets there, but it was really nice and relaxed. Then I started meeting a few people from CS and it changed my perception of the city finally! I met a super interesting person who is just curious about almost everything cultural so learning a lot of stuff!

The only little thing I still need to get used to is how to get around in cities and between cities. Oh and also somehow I also need to remeber that here in South America it is winter or almost the end of it so I must be careful with temperatures (I got a little sick in the past two days but it is really hot here, I think it is only due to the rain periods refreshing the climate for a few minutes a day). And also of course I got used to it now but the sun is getting down so early (5:30pm!)

So it has been a bit mixed so far to get Brazil into my system after I had such an easy time adapting in Mexico. But I am starting to enjoy and learning along the way that maybe it is best to land into a smaller place next time for my first days in a country. I do still feel very, extremely lucky that I am able to travel this way and discover so much, meet so many great people! however long it takes to meet them!!

And the maybe good news is to meet a known face in Rio!! this will be for another story if it does happen!! First thing is to get out of Salvador for the weekend if possible, maybe Morro De Sao Paulo if I feel better for a beach weekend (although there is the beach already in Salvador! but probably more relaxed!)

Ciao for now!

From Isla Holbox to saying goodbye

charline_thomasson — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:39:00 GMT

Here is my last story from Mexico! Time has gone so fast, today marks exactly two months since I left London, and I feel like I arrived to Mexico just 2 weeks ago... I spent my last week in Isla Holbox which is an island North of Cancun. It is a very quiet and beautiful Island. It has nothing in common with the perfect beaches of the Riviera Maya. Here two seas converge and so the sea is not as clear and the sand is not as white. The stretches of sand are actually quite small (opposed to wide) and have a lot of seashells which if I am not mistaken means that it is more natural (?). I witnessed beautiful sunsets there and the magic phosphorescent lights in the sea at night created by a specific kind of fish. It was very nice to relax there and the hostel was quite good too. The Island itself or the center is extremely small so everything was very close by. I actually heard a lot of French speaking there, it seems that the Island got some kind of advertising in France! I got to know some Spanish girls and a french girl too there who was a really fun girl! The only thing about the Island is that if you are expecting any kind of nightlife you can be disappointed but luckily I wasn't really in that mood.

Yesterday I got back to the mainland to Cancun and tried to desperately find a guidebook of Brazil in english... well I probably went to all the bookstores and none had what I needed. So my last resort was to buy one in spanish. So here is my first book in spanish: a guidebook of Brazil! if I dont get confused I'll be extremely lucky! But I do understand most of it luckily! In Brazil I hope to meet a couple of known faces which is adding to my excitement! People to chat about things of the past! It's really good to meet new people so often when you travel but somehow I am also looking forward meeting existing friends! So to sum it up I spent all of today reading my guidebook and making plans for the next month because until now I only knew where I am arriving: Salvador, Bahia (after 3 flights, which I am not looking forward to at all... but I was mad enough to accept it in my itinerary!). As Brazil is such a huge country I had to choose very carefully where I am going and how.

So I will keep you updated with my itinerary whilst I'll be on my way.

I am very sad to leave Mexico, I really got to love this country and had such a great welcome everywhere. But I am very excited to go to Brazil and with a bit of aprenhension too but it feels like a new adventure all together!!! From Central to South America, the climate might be a bit colder (although from Salvador to Rio I have been told it is nice all year).

Entonces, hasta luego Mexico, y Hola Brazil!