...and I took the one less traveled by

Quito, middle of the earth

happywanderer — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:28:00 GMT

We arrived in to Quito's new airport shortly after 9pm. The runway had appeared out of nowhere in the dark and clouds, landing high in the mountains. The new airport is about an hour from the city, whilst the old airport is actually in the city. We had no problem getting through customs or getting a taxi and were soon whizzing up and down mountains to our hostel, the Secret Garden, in colonial Quito. The security guard let us in and we went to bed as soon as possible after our 11pm arrival as possible. The hostel was eerily quiet and being in an old house meant that every board creaked as we stepped on it.

We slept in a bit in the morning and finally set out around 11. Because we had missed breakfast at the hostel, we were hungry. We found a little restaurant under the basilica, and just asked for two set lunches (of the day). We thought it would be more expensive being that close to a tourist destination, but two delicious lunches and two bottles of water later we were only out $5.50. We didn't have time to see the basilica at this time because we wanted to make it to the Plaza de la Independencia to find the tourism office where walking tours of the old town start. At 2pm, our guide, a polizia de Quito, took us to several churches and museums around the colonial part. We saw La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, Iglesia de San Francisco, and the Museo de cuidad. Great history and impressive. We were really glad we did the tour as all the museums are in Spanish, and while we can interpret some, having it explained is much more productive and informative. At the end, we got a taxi to the top of the hill there to see el Panecillo, the Virgin of Quito and have a view of the long and narrow city. North to South, Quito is about 23km, but only a few wide, nestled between mountains, one being Pinchincha volcano. From here, we had our driver take us to the trendy and touristy La Mariscal area in new Quito. We had drinks and an appetizer while overlooking the central Plaza Foch. From here we decided to walk (not even) a block to Mama Clorinda's for some "comida typica" -- typical Ecuadorian food. We tried the empanadas verde con queso made from green plantains with cheese in them and got a sampler platter with pork, roasted and popped corn, papas fritas (French fries), and more. Once again, Ecuadorian food proved to be DELICIOUS. And they kindly put the spicy salsa on the side (that's how they do it -- I didn't ask).

After dinner we went back to the hostel and up to the 5th floor rooftop terrace, elevation 2824m. We met some others staying there as well and found an Aussie couple headed to see the Midad del Mundo on Thursday -- our same plan. We all met up at 10:30 the next day and decided to hire a taxi to take us to the various places as doing it by bus takes a long time. Our driver took us to the crater where we could see half of an extinct volcano, the other half being obscured by clouds. We walked part of the way down the trail but didn't do all of it. After, he took us to the real Equator and the museum there gives tours which talk about Ecuador and, of course the Equator. Besides talking about some flora and fauna and the native tribes and traditions such as head shrinking, our guide told us about differences north and south of the equator, mainly with weather. It was a great little tour. After seeing the real equator, we felt a little disappointed when going to the large monument of where the French said the equator is, only around 200m or so off of the actual line, as determined by modern GPS. This park had many shops with traditional wares but felt more like and amusement park to us.

After returning to our hostel, Jen and I went to the basilica and climbed the towers there for some great views and enjoyed a coffee in the bell tower while trying to decide where to go to eat. We went to a place on Plaza de San Francisco and were disappointed that they weren't serving full food at the time, but were still able to enjoy Chocolate con queso and a ceviche with avacado and hearts of palm in it. The hot chocolate comes with a plate of tiny cubes of cheese and by watching some ecuadorians near us, we found that you put it in and then eat it... Didn't really seem to change any flavor, so we don't understand. After, we went back to the hostel and soon went to bed, around 10pm.

Friday was an early start with meeting at 6:30 to start our day. We were given breakfast and then were on our way with one other guy, Tom, and our guide, to Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, last erupting in 1942. The tour operator had told us not to give up hope of sun (as it was cloudy in Quito) and our guide told us the same. We drove about 2 horas all in clouds, but sure enough, around one final bend driving up to the base and car park, there was a break in the clouds. We parked the car at about 4500m elevation and hiked about an hour and a half up to the Refugio. From there we continued to hike to the glacier and start of the snow and ice at about 5000m. I could definitely feel the altitude during that hike! Although it was extremely windy up to the refugio, it wasn't too bad after, and the clouds were parted only over us for the whole time. As we started our descent, not only were many more tourists arriving, but the clouds were starting to come in more. After making it back to the car park, we stashed our gear and cameras in the car and got ready to mountain bike down the winding and bumpy road to the lagoon below. Our guide took photos of us on our cameras, and no one fell -- we had a blast! On our way home we stopped in our guide's town and had a very delicious and traditional meal. Arriving back in Quito around 3:30, we were clearly tired from the day, but took a rest on the terrace, showered and headed out to dinner. We tried to go to a new restaurant, and although the food looked interesting, it was expensive and with Mama Clorinda's across the street, we decided to leave and go back there before we ordered anything. Once again having delicious Ecuadorian food. The chicken, pork, whatever, just always seems to be so tender and juicy! Although we discussed trying cuy (guinea pig, a delicacy), there isn't much meat on one, so we decided against it. After a beer back at the hostel, we turned in early for another 6:30am morning.

Today was Saturday market at Otavalo -- one of the biggest handicraft markets in South America. We first went to the animal market to see animals being bought and sold. Besides the usual cows, pigs, and chickens, we were amazed at the amount of puppies and kittens being sold (not for eating). This was also a great time to see many people in traditional Quechean dress. We bought a few things at the handicraft market and I was overjoyed to find fresh rambutans (called something else here) and bought a bag of those to eat. Our guide took us and the 3 others to cotacachi to see the leathers there that they are known for and for lunch. After, we went on a mini hike up and down Cotacachi to see the crater lake and had great views of the still active Imbabura as well. A 2 hour ride took us back to the hostel where we will clean up and get dinner early. We will pack up and get as much sleep before our 3am departure for the airport for our 7am flight to Cusco, Peru where we will be doing a hike and of course, Machu Picchu. We'll also set up our tour to Manu Biosphere, a heavily protected natural area.

Sailing the Whitsundays!

happywanderer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:09:00 GMT

I'm in Melbourne right now waiting to go to the airport to fly to New Zealand!

I have (obviously) returned from my 3 day/3 night sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. The boat I was meant to be on, the Kiana, had mechanical problems so I was transferred to a new boat, the Spank Me, which holds 28, but there were only 26 of us and 4 crew on board. We sailed first to Hook Island and moored up for the night there. The next morning we started to set sail, but something was jammed in the rigging mechanism in the mast (I don't know terms!!) so we motored at first, then put up the front sail only and sailed to the Outer Great Barrier Reef.

Everyone was given a free dive of 20 minutes, so the one dive instructor on board was busy because only half of us were certified. If you weren't diving, you were able to go snorkelling. Although 20 minutes was short, it didn't bother me as much because I wasn't seeing loads of fish or anything and I was freezing cold. The water was 23... when I checked in for the boat I asked about renting a wetsuit and they said wetsuits and stinger suits would be available at the dock prior to boarding. This was not the case -- they ONLY had stinger suits which provide almost no warmth. The highlight of that dive was actually spent around the boat waiting for others, and after the dive -- we had a friendly Maori Wrasse that was a meter in length and would come up to you and let you pet him -- FANTASTIC! :)

The next day I got up and did another dive, this time seeing Unicorn fish, a wobbegong at a distance, and a white tip reef shark! After that we set sail for Whitehaven Beach -- 7km of pristine white beach. Although, now that I've been there, I can say, the beaches in Destin are just as nice.... only Whitehaven has no condos or anything built on it.... We motored a short distance from there for the night and were able to go snorkelling in the morning. I did this hoping to see turtles, but didn't see any until I (and everyone) was back on board. From there we sailed back to port -- a great trip. Wonderful weather, great people... :D

Camping on Fraser Island

happywanderer — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:53:00 GMT

I took an overnight bus from Byron Bay to Hervey Bay, got in about 9pm and had to be back at reception by 6:30 for the briefing for my camping trip to Fraser Island. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world (it's MASSIVE!! -- I thought it would be small) and has dingoes all over the place. At about 7 in the morning we watched a video about dingo safety, camping on the island, rules, and how to drive on the island. We were then put into groups of 7 (obviously no one I'd ever met) and got in the 4x4s to go to the shop to get our camping gear. They explained everything we had and how to set up the tents, then sent us to the store to get food for 3 days/2 nights camping and then to the ferry to catch it over to Fraser. Lisa drove most of the day because she is used to manual and driving on the right side of the car (being from England). The others in the car were Fernando, Mat, Anne, Pauline & Mirka (no idea how that's spelled). we got to Fraser, having let some air out of the tires on the ferry as directed. We stopped at the petrol station to get our camping/vehicle permits and then we were off! An immediate steep hill of sand with lots of bumps! We drove (possibly the most roundabout way ever) to Lake Wabby to see the lake and the giant sand dunes. We had to leave rather quickly though because we needed to get to our campsite and the sun was going down. We drove a bit to the first campsite, got there just as the sun was fully setting, so most of the food preparation was done with the aid of headlights -- no campfires are allowed. At lake Wabby on the path back near the cars we saw our first DINGO!! again at the campsite there was one about 10 feet away from us, that slowly left when it saw we weren't going to feed it. We had a great grill up the first night -- each vehicle having slightly different dinners based on their shopping. We went to bed reasonably early that night, being tired, and we had to get up the next morning at sunrise to leave early to get the maximum lowtide time on the beach. We drove about 2 hours north on the beach to the Champagne (I almost typed Champaign!!) Pools. These are more like tidal pools named for the bubbles and froth that spills in when a wave crashed up on the rocks and spills over into the pools. The water was chilly, but not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. From here we went to Indian head and hiked up onto some cliffs for a view of the island. After, we went down and I took my turn at driving. Yes, that's right, I drove stick shift, on the right side of the car, 4x4 and in loose, and then hard sand!!! It was a lot of fun :D From there we went to the Maheno Wreck, set up camp, and then walked down to Eli Creek. The Creek was rather low, and chilly so we didn't spend much time in the water, but it was fun to go see. We went back to our campsite to start cooking dinner and found that another group had set up camp right next to us. As we came past, I realized one of the guys standing there was a friend of mine from Phi Phi!! Our two camps had a good time socializing that evening and another fantastic dinner -- pasta this time. The next morning was leisurely taken until we were packed up and headed to Lake Mackenzie. It was beautiful there, but there was a massive rain cloud over us so we left early to head back towards the ferry. We stopped to pump back up our tires, parked our cars by the ferry and went to the beach there for about 2 hours. All 21 of us had a great time and were sad to have to leave.

From there I went to the hostel, showered, repacked, ate dinner with everyone, and then was on another overnight bus north to Airlie Beach, where I am now. Tomorrow I head out on a 3 day/3 night sailing/diving trip to the Whitsunday Islands and the Outer Great Barrier Reef. I heard the weather is supposed to remain beautiful (Queensland is called "the sunshine state") so I'm looking forward to that!

Stupid Wind....

happywanderer — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 12:22:00 GMT

Well, it's a BEAUTIFUL day, but ridiculously windy... meaning the waves are too big, so I can't go surfing. :(

Just kind of enjoying the sun and relaxing is all that I have on my agenda for today. I've uploaded some photos and will do more tomorrow evening when I'm in Hervey Bay, hopefully.

Byron Bay is exactly as it is described... a laid back surfer town. Many of the people that are staying in the Arts Factory (where I'm staying) have been here for weeks or months. Nearby is a hippy/stoner commune in the village/town of Nimbin. Byron is great, and beautiful, but I'm glad I'm moving on... I'm bored without things to really do during the day since the weather isn't great. I even went to ask about diving, but they're not going out either because of the wind/waves created...

On to Hervey Bay tomorrow with a quick stop in Brisbane!

More Phi Phi Photos

Melbourne

SURFING!

happywanderer — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 09:50:00 GMT

Monday I got up, walked around Lavender Bay over to Milsons Point and walked across the Harbour Bridge. I walked uptown in the Central Business District (CBD) and met Carolyn for lunch. After, I took a ferry from Circular Quay out to Manly to walk around. Manly is a picturesque seaside town and has a beautiful beach. Richie had told me that I could learn to surf out there but I had decided against it thinking it would cost an arm and a leg and, well, the water would be FREEZING. I popped in a travel agency to use the internet and ended up talking to the guy about my plans for the rest of Oz (I had asked the best way to head north..) I also found that surf lessons weren't as pricey as I thought...

That evening I went to Carolyn's for family dinner -- got to meet her 2 brothers as well. Her mom cooked a delicious roast lamb dinner! Yum!

The next day I got up and got ready to get the ferry to Manly in time for the 11am group surf lesson! I called my mom while I was walking to the beach, the last thing she said to me was "please don't get hypothermia" -- don't worry mom, I only could barely feel my hands and feet (only exposed parts) after 2 hours... :D for 16/60 degree water, I consider that really good! ANyway, I learned to surf!! definitely need practice, but I can get myself on a wave and up without the instructor's help! woohoo!

After that I went back to the same travel agency to book the rest of my time here in Oz. I now have a pretty set schedule, but I'm very excited about it!

After Manly, I met Richie at Circular Quay (he had just finished work). I went with him to his rugby practice, but he only needed just to talk to the coach -- he hurt his calf last weekend, so we were there 5 minutes. From there, we went and met Amy back at the flat and all went to dinner up the road. Fantastic dinner!

The next day I had booked a tour out to see the spectactular (views) of the Blue Mountains. I went out on that, but unfortunately there was complete cloud cover and I never saw any views or waterfalls :(

We did take a quick hike around in the rainforest there, and I got to ride the world's steepest passenger train down into the valley, and a cable car back out. We drove to a national park and went to this clearing/camping area to look for kangaroos. and saw 3 of them!! You were able to get within 5m of them which was great considering they weren't in a zoo or anything! The funny part about seeig kangaroos --- I had previously been asked by 3 seperate random people if I had seen them yet -- NO, i didn't expect them to just be hopping around downtown Sydney!!

Yesterday I walked around the outside of the Opera House, the Botanic Gardens, met Richie for lunch, then went to the Sydney Museum (all about founding and history of Sydney) and then to the Aquarium and Wildlife world. You save money by buying a combined pass to those, but I even got a student discount which ended up making it just a few dollars over the price that it normally is for the aquarium alone! Both were fantastic-- especially the sharks! In wildlife world they have habitats for the different animals that have a rope to seperate you from them -- meaning, when one of the Koalas wanted to go for a walk, it walked right out of it's little area and one of the keepers had to go pick it up and put it back up in a tree! It was great to be able to be that close to them, and all the other animals there as well.

After that I went back and packed my bag... I caught a 9pm bus out of Sydney to arrive in Byron Bay this morning. I'm waiting to check in here and then go do things this afternoon and tomorrow. It's been pouring rain until abotu 5 minutes ago -- which it is now sunny! yay! I'm going to try to go hike to the lighthouse assuming it stays decent weather... and maybe try to surf tomorrow!

SYDNEY -- with the best view!!

happywanderer — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:57:00 GMT

I flew into SYD on Friday. My friend Dave picked me up at the airport -- Dave did study abroad at U of I this past year. He took me back to his house where I had family dinner with his whole family. I have met his brother Yoni once when he visited last spring as well. From there we went into the city to the area called "The Rocks" to a bar there. About 1 the next day, Dave drove me to Eastern suburbs to Coogee to meet up with my friend Carolyn, and to watch my cousin Richie playing rugby. Luckily, Dave works 2 suburbs away in Bondi (Bondi Beach, I'm sure you've heard of -- for all the surfing, etc?) so it wasn't much out of his way to do that. Carolyn met up with me and we took my bags to her house which was 5 minutes away, and has an amazing view of the whole coast. We went to meet up with Richie after his game at the Randwick Rugby CLub. After, she and I went back to hers to get ready to go out that night. We first went back to the Randwick RUgby club, and then went on to a bar called Fringe. The next day, Sunday, we got up and went for a walk down the coast to Bronte. From there we drove to Watson's bay to go meet up with Richie & his girlfriend at a place called Doyles which has AMAZING seafood. After, I went back to Richie's flat in McMahons point --- 13th floor and has a view straight out, just across the bay, of the SYdney Harbour and Opera House -- breathtaking!!

More to come....

Melbourne

happywanderer — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:39:00 GMT

SO, after leaving Bangkok, my flight arrived in Sydney, where I transferred to my next plane. My flight arrived in, on time, got my luggage, and had to go through customs. In the customs line, my flight leaves 8:00am, it's 7:30. I asked the man working "my flight leaves at 8, is this going to be a problem to catch it?" "it's no problem for me" Gee, thanks. I make it through go to catch a bus to another terminal, get bussed there, find there's another girl on my flight that had asked (I assume the same man) the same question, and got the same answer. We get to the terminal to drop off our bags. Because we had bording passes they let us put in our luggage, but the system was down so everone else had to wait. The TV screen said that the gate for our flight was closed. Both of us full out ran through the airport, made it to the gate, got on the plane.... only to have it delayed because of the system being down -- they couldn't tell who all was on the flight and where they were sitting enough to be able to balance the plane. Anyway, made it to Melbourne, but my luggage didn't arrive in until 2 flights later. I wasn't concerned, I assumed it would happen. Luckily, 2 flights later was only 1 hour later for me to physically have my luggage. From there I got a shuttle to St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne about 5km south of city central.

I made it there and was so tired from my flights I just went to bed. A little later I went in to city center just for a bit, to feel I had accomplished something. The tram picks up about a 3 minute walk from my hostel and goes directly in -- very easy.

That night was a free barbeque at the hostel so I met people staying (some, more like... living) there. a few of us decided to meet the next morning to go in to the art museum. The next morning we got up, had a few errands to do city center, so we all went in there (art museum is there too), first went to some different exhibitions in various galleries across from FLinders St. train station. From there we walked back across the bridge to go to see the Art Deco Exhibition (VERY GOOD!). After, we decided to go see the War Memorial which was through the park across the street. I have never seen parakeets except for as people's pets, but they were in the trees there! Crazy. We went back out to St.Kilda and I went to take some pictures of the area and to see the beach there.

THe next day (Friday) I flew to Sydney.

I'll post the link to the photos I'm uploading soon.

It's been awhile....

happywanderer — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:56:00 GMT

Well, I didn't realize HOW long it had been since I'd written until I logged in. SORRY!! Time flew by! I am now back in Bangkok, now a (pending me sending in the paperwork) certified divemaster! On to Australia next!

SO in these past few weeks, much remained the same... pretty much everyday get up to be at the shop, get my divers ready with weightbelts, leave the shop at 7:30 for whereever we were going diving -- usually (luckily) the Bidas! Take divers around, look for sharks, stingrays, seahorses, etc. Go back to the shop after, maybe do some theory (exams) or work on other practical things needed for certification. Usually go home around 4, nap & shower, and then back to the shop or to dinner around 7/8pm. Usually staying at the shop until 10pm packing bags and seeing if more people come to sign up. We would MAYBE then go for a drink at Deco Bar (above the shop) home by 11 or 12 and then do the same thing the next day! Although we have internet at work... it barely worked and would cut out all the time, usually when I was trying to accomplish something, hence the reason I was a bit rubbish about posting.

BUT I am done now, and on to Australia where my postings will begin again! :)

Busy Busy

happywanderer — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 12:18:00 GMT

Well... I've been VERY busy again and now finally have a day off. Besides doing my visa/border run down to Malaysia, spending 10 minutes there, and coming back --- waste of time and money, but necessary....

During the past week I did my first dive where I was leading divers with no one else! I had 3 Dutch people and we did Bida Nai & Bida Nok. No whale shark this time, but everything went well! The following day I again did a solo lead, but this time only with one man. We went out to the wreck. I have only been to the wreck twice before, as a fun diver. Neil briefed me the night before to make sure I was comfortable leading on the dive and told me "it's ok, you can follow Nathan" -- we were sharing a boat with Viking. So we get out the wreck, Nathan and I do our dive briefings and then he and I went downstairs. He turns to me and asked "so how many times have you been out here?" I told him twice and he smiles and said "I've only been here once!" Luckily enough, the wreck is... well, pretty much a box, so you can't really get LOST. At the end it did take me a little while to find the line, which I then located because divers were coming down it. It's somewhat hard to find in bad visibility because you can't really see it until you're right on it, and it changes locations sometimes daily. Everything went fine though!

After the wreck we went to shark point -- only doing one side of it because the current was so strong. There was an area about 6m deep that has a leopard shark that just swims around and will come RIGHT up to you--within a foot! It's really great :)

The past 2 days I assisted Neil on an advanced course. 4 of the divers were American and the other Irish. All went well. We went to the wreck again yesterday and to shark point as well. On the wreck there are Lionfish everywhere... which are toxic to touch. One of the divers was down close looking at some (about 3-4 lionfish) I just happened to be looking at him and noticed that another lionfish had swam over to him and was now about a foot from his leg--- while he was looking in the other direction. I was pretty close to him so I grabbed him and pulled him back! No stings luckily! He didn't even realize the other one was there and was happy I had seen it :) There was a school of creepy barracuda down there as well that at one point were all around us about 7 feet away. It was pretty murky/bad visibility at the time so it made it really eerie that they were right there. At shark point, we found the same leopard shark that kept coming right up to us all, which is always fascinating, but everyone loves, and makes for a great dive! Current was again really strong there, and at the Bidas, so we had to do the deep side of Bida Nok again. No whale shark this time but I knew we wouldn't --- Neil is cursed. EVERYONE but him has seen it, and he's been within 15m or so (low vis) and hasn't seen it....

Otherwise, very busy and a lot of people need time off for visa runs in the next week. Luckily now there are 4 of us (DMTs) and not just Ash & I to do all the work. :)

Another Whale Shark....

happywanderer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:58:00 GMT

So, this whale shark apparently LOVES our shop. I saw it again for the 2nd time 3 days ago, and the past 2 days they've seen it again. Yesterday it was around them for 20 minutes, today 13. I missed it these past 2 days because I was on my border run down to Malaysia to leave Thailand for 10 minutes, and come back in with another 30 days here. Waste of time and money, but had to be done.

Other than that, it's been really busy here this past week with all the tour groups of teens! It's been nice to close early at night and not have to be in until later, but we're getting spoiled! There are supposed to be 2 more DMTs starting this week as well. Yay for more people! :)

Other than that, not much has changed. We still usually go to Papaya's for dinner mostly or Cosmic 2 if we feel like a change (pizza/pasta). Everything is still well!

A Whale of a Good Time

happywanderer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:51:00 GMT

I GOT TO SWIM WITH A WHALE SHARK.

Pretty much, me staying is completely worth it now. it was one of the best experiences ever. I'm still in awe at it. People who have been here MONTHS haven't gotten to see one and many of the whale shark sitings have been from the boat, or in the distance in the water. I could reach out and touch it. In fact, I had to move out of its way! It was about 12-15ft/4-5m in length. I have it on DVD as well since our videographer was there.

other than that it's been a bit mental around here. the shop has had 3 groups of 15-20 people book to dive --- obviously great for business, but crazy for us. on the good side though, because we don't have to try and book more divers (being full) we close early, and have been coming in later! yay!

Yesterday and today were 2 different groups of all French students (high school). Yesterday was raining almost the entire time, and a bit of wind so there were pretty big swells. Today it wasn't raining but the swells were really large -- even 12m down they were big!! The 2nd dive today i spent holding down a student for the dive. He was weighted correctly, but didn't understand the concept of how to swim really... it was more of a doggie paddle/ bicycle kick, even after Chris, the instructor I was assisting, told him how to do it between dives. Every time he kicked, he'd push himself up... thus, me holding his tank the entire time to keep him down. It's funny all the different things that people do that you would think is just a natural "know how"....

Anyway, things are still going well here! I'm going down to the confined water session tomorrow with instructors for a group of Americans, which I'm ok with since there's a pretty big wind right now...meaning it will be equally rough or worse tomorrow most likely!

On the 28th I'm headed to Malaysia for a Visa run (mine expires on the 29th) so I'll be gone for a day doing that/studying for different DM exams.

Pictures of Phuket & diving

happywanderer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:13:00 GMT

Diving

Phuket

Living in Thailand

happywanderer — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:36:00 GMT

Well, if you haven't seen my email..... I have decided to stay and live in Thailand, Ko Phi Phi for the next 6 weeks. I will be training/working to become a dive master! This means pretty much 7 days a week I get up at 6:30 and don't leave the shop until 10pm or so. But, seeing as how I get to dive pretty much every day, this isn't as much "work".

Today is the first continually rainy day -- which I've been surprised how much it hasn't rained, being rainy season. This is the 2nd "dry" day I've had -- meaning I haven't gone diving. I was finishing up my Rescue Diver/ Emergency First Repsonse course yesterday (the written exams) and today I am taking care of paperwork for starting my Dive Master course-- including a trip to Phi Phi's hospital to be approved (in good health) for diving. This consisted of paying $10, having them look in my ears, and check my blood pressure. And... that was it!

THe other day when I went diving, I was with Pat who was taking some intros (people who have never dived before and aren't taking a course to learn). The one woman took awhile to get in the water, then got in, and said she couldn't do it... she's not really a water person to begin with. The other woman has taken her open water course, but every time she actually gets down under the water, she can't handle it, but really wants to be able to. Her brother was the other intro -- who was actually really good for never having been taught anything other than the little crash course. Our first dive consisted of 3 minutes... But they were good sports about it. THe 2nd dive the 2 women sat out. The brother, Brian, really enjoyed the dive. I have to say though, the best part of all of it.... they tipped at the end!! and very nicely at that! Pat and I both were tipped -- which really surprised me since I had done pretty much nothing. I'm not complaining though.

During the first dive we didn't really have some of the other groups saw two leopard sharks mating! Wish we had been able to see that. Ohwell!

Other than that, I dive, sit at the shop (at night after dinner we usually play cards). Our favorite Thai place has been closed all this week, probably because it's around a Buddhist holiday, but could be they just wanted to close for a bit. Neil, Pat & Ash are pretty much going through withdrawal from not having their Penang from there, which is quite funny because then they argue a lot over where to go eat for dinner.

A couple days ago diving it was just Pat & I (our group at least) in Palong Bay, which meant we could do more of whatever we wanted. I got to see a frog fish -- usually these blend in so well that even if you know where they are, if you take your eye off them you have to really look to find them again. They just kinda plant themselves in one place and move once a year... or very seldom. This silly frog fish was yellow with brown spots, on brown rock, but if you didn't know, you'd think it was coral or some growth. Nico (our videographer) pointed out some pipe fish (very small, 6 inches?) in a little alcove. We also found and octopus again. Watching them change colors instantly... I could sit there for an entire dive watching.

Earlier in the week I went to the wreck again-- even better visibility!! You could see the wreck standing on the boat!! After, we went to Anenome Reef & Shark Point again. Besides seeing a leopard shark, we saw a blue spotted stingray! Apparently these are not common, so Pat was really excited to see one, as were the rest of us! :)

I'm posting some pictures from all of this, but its hard to see what is actually a good photo from thumbnail sizes. I will be making a best of when I get back home though! :)

Yay Diving!!

happywanderer — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:54:00 GMT

Tuesday Julia flew back to London for graduation :(

I came back to Ko Phi Phi, after hearing that the diving here is better than in Ko Tao. Yesterday I started my advanced certification in diving. We dove the wreck -- a ferry that sank in '97, many believe on purpose for insurance... There were tons of fish and Lionfish everywhere you looked, which meant you have to be careful where your hands/legs are so you don't get stung. We actually had really good visibility for this location. After that we went to Shark Point. While swimming around there, a 6-7ft leopard shark came right up behind my instructor, Pat and settled on the ground about 6 feet from us. I was able to get about 3 feet away from it for some photos! :) From there we went to Anenome Reef a short distance away, aptly named the fact that this rock is COVERED in anenomes! Also because of this, there were clownfish everywhere, all little nemos!

Today I went on my deep dive, although because it was SO choppy in the morning (the stern at times was about 7feet from the water and would crash back down) we didn't get dropped off on the deep side and just had to swim along the bottom to get deep enough. We only went down to 28m, and did our nitrogen narcosis test there, having to point out the alphabet in order, being timed. Nitrogen narcosis isn't dangerous itself, but it makes it like you're drunk underwater so people can do crazy things because they're not thinking clearly. None of us seemed to have any problems. Next dive we did our navigation test with a compass having to swim away and back in a straight line and then swim in boxes based on the compass. Luckily we both were good enough at it and made it back to Pat since visibility wasn't that good.

SO other than that, I will head back to Bangkok, arriving in no the 14th early in the morning. My flight to Melbourne leaves the evening of the 15th. I'm diving tomorrow, and since I'm addicted, I will probably dive every day until I have to leave!

well done, us!

happywanderer — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 19:43:00 GMT

First, sorry about the last blog. the computer started typing in Thai and I didn't know how to change it, and no one seemed to know... and then I forgot I hadn't finished it!

SO... what we've been doing since then. Well, the next morning, I guess July 4th?? (happy late July 4th to everyone!) I went diving again. First dive at Bida Nok again and second one at Bida Nai. Again I saw some amazing things: GIANT jellyfish, leopard shark, blacktip reef shark, reef octopus... The jellyfish was really amazing. It was about a 1 1/2 feet across and you could get really close to it because it's tenticles weren't out. The octopus was also quite cool because it would change colors to blend in to the surroundings, instantly.

After that I met up with Julia and we found Dan & Nouey, the English girls from the first day, who had gone to Ko Lanta, didn't like it, and came back. We sat on the beach/in the VERY low tide (4 inches of water?) in the bay. We went to dinner at our new favorite bar/rest./people watching place in town, and then went and watched part of "the beach" being played in another bar.

Next day the girls left, and Julia & I hiked up the hill to the viewpoint where you can see both bays/the isthmus. It was an amazing view and well worth the heat/hike. Julia and I took mini innertubes out to float in the bay for the afternoon.

The next day, Sunday, was our last day on Phi Phi. We both went out on the boat again and I went diving and Julia snorkelled a bit. Bida Nok was again the first one and then Maya/Palong Bay -- we had lunch in Maya Bay (the Beach) which was LITTERED with tourists. We snorkelled during lunch and found the same (type) massive jellyfish from 2 days before, and another really pretty smaller blue/purple jellyfish. The second dive visibility was a lot less than I've had before -- I've been spoiled, but still amazing. We did some swim throughs and saw a HUGE trevaly (fish). That day, I went diving through a different company I had been using becuase I had made friends with some of the guys that work at that shop, from them being on our boat the previous trip. It ended up being just me and Ash (the divemaster diving with me). He's 23, so it was nice to have someone my age! The second dive he was pointing out a type of clownfish to me and was about 2 1/2 feet away from it (his hand) and the fish darted up at him and bit him! Obviously, it was a tiny fish but still really.... funny. :)

After the dive, Julia & I got on the ferry to Phuket, 1 1/2 hours away. We spent the night in Kata, a town on the west coast that we heard had surfing during rainy season. It was small and MUCH more touristy/resorts everywhere than we would have liked, but still a good place.

TODAY!~

nothing. i mean, NOTHING opens until 10. So we had a late start... we finally went to the beach around midday and rented surfboards to learn. Well, I was going to learn and Julia was going to try to surf, because she has done it before, but never actually stood up, until today!! yay! I only ever half made it up, but still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the time we tried was close to high tide so you had to wait about 7-10 minutes for a set of 3 waves to come through that were big enough to surf, so I couldn't really try to learn too much. We decided to rent a waverunner and take that out....

I drove. about 5-10 minutes into our half hour we were going fast, turning, hit a wave wrong and went flying off. My hip collided with Julia's head. We're both in pain from our bumps, but nothing serious. Still really fun. oh, except for the fact that we BROKE THE KILL SWITCH!!! luckily, we found the other half and I was able to pinch it together so that we could drive the waverunner back to shore. they gave us a new one (luckily didn't charge us!!) and we went back out. We were about 10-15 feet from shore when this massive wave was coming at us and about to break... Sitting on the waverunner this wave was 2-3 feet above our head (the biggest we'd seen all day) I gunned it to try and make it over the wave before it toppled us into the sand and up on the beach. THis was definitely one of the sweetest things I have ever done. We went FLYING over the wave, literally the wave runner was about 10-11/1-2 o'clock in the air and you could hear the engine still trying to suck water through it for the couple seconds we were airborne. When I say that, I mean Julia & I were at least 7 feet in the air. It was one of those type of things you would see in a movie. We landed perfectly..... and obviously have no proof of it. Best thing we did.

After, we got fruit to eat and sat in some beach chairs until 4:30 when we got our luggage and took a tuk tuk to Patong Bay.

Patong bay/Bangla Road is Khao San Road on acid. Absolutely mental. WAY to touristy, but it will be interesting for a night. Anyway, tomorrow Julia flies back to London and I am going back to Ko Phi Phi for more diving... I've heard from several that Ko Tao's diving doesn't compare to Phi Phi's!

Fins to the left, fins to the right

happywanderer — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 18:28:00 GMT

This morning Julia and I got up to go out on a long tail boat we hired to go to Shark Point and Bamboo Island. It was pouring rain when we woke up, but luckily when we went out on the boat it was only maybe sprinkling. We went to shark point and got in to snorkel around to look for black tipped reef sharks. We saw many other types of fish, all that we had seen snorkelling/diving yesterday, but still amazing! We finally saw 3 sharks after about 20 minutes of going around. The largest one was 2m in length, and the smaller ones about 1-1.5m. From there the long boat took us to Bamboo Island to snorkel. The coral there was amazing -- looks like roses (but brownish). We were the only ones there for 30-45min and then it was SWARMED. no joke, within 15 minutes there were over 15 speed boats from Krabi, each carrying at least 15 people on them. We got out and walked around to a different part of the beach to see the island and get away from the people. BEAUTIFUL!! OH, i should say, the hilarious part is the Japanese tourists (no offense to anyone!!) They would go out snorkelling in life jackets! I mean, I guess people still want to see what's there and if they can't swim that's the only way, but still seriously funny.

That afternoon we just went to the beach and hung out with 3 of the Aussie guys who stayed an extra night from the day before.

Pics from Angkor Wat & Ko Phi Phi

happywanderer — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 22:51:00 GMT

Ko Phi Phi

Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom

I'm in love.

happywanderer — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 22:10:00 GMT

I love Ko Phi Phi.

It's actually Ko Phi Phi Don, the bigger of the 2 Phi Phi Islands (the other is Lay -- sp?)and pronounced 'pee pee'. First I will say, the sand in Destin is whiter and nicer... but this stuff doesn't get as much everywhere, which is nice. The island is actually two islands connected by a narrow isthmus which you can walk side to side in 5-10 minutes. There are no cars, no tuk tuks, no motorbikes. Just bicycles and walking. The streets are narrow, and although very touristy, it still seems so much... less so? It's island time here... we don't know the date, the hour, or the day of the week, and we are not bothered in the least.

YEsterday after we arrived in after our 30 hour travel, we went for Thai massages, much needed. From there we walked around a bit and then ran into a guy who had also got a massage and sat with him and 2 girls from England... for hours. we ended up having dinner at this bar on the beach, which is where we were sitting to watch the sun set. After his friends got back from diving and took a nap, they came out to sit with us. We all went a little way down the beach to a bar that does fire shows every night (see photos) and had a great time watching them.

Today we got up early and went diving!! well, I did, Julia came along to snorkel. We both had a GREAT time! I got to see turtles, Moray Eels, Lionfish, Triggerfish, angel fish, MANY coral, a sea cucumber, crazy starfish, boxfish, puffer fish, barracuda, trumpet fish, flute fish, etc. Many of the fish were irridescent or neon in color... which try as I might, probably will not show up in my pictures. I also can't tell which ones are blurry or not, so I apologize for that. ANyway, see the pics. We're catching up on the surprisingly fast internet right now and then will head to dinner and decide what we want to do for tomorrow... maybe just lay on the beach all day!

I love phi phi.

Angkor What??

happywanderer — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Well it seems like ages ago now... but we went to Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom on... Sunday? Yes, Sunday. We hired a tuk tuk with some people we met and the 5 of us went to Angkor Thom first. Within the grounds there are multiple things to see. We first went to Bayon, the place known for the giant stone faces. I think out of all the places we saw that day, it is my favorite. I really like the semi creepy faces. We went to Baphuon, but it was shut that day so we couldn't climb it. After that we went to the Terrace of the Elephants. If you see the photo with Julia and a little Cambodian girl... she was chasing Julia around trying to get her to buy something, saying the same thing over and over, sounding like an insect... but cute! From there we were taken to the place that Tomb Raider was filmed with all the trees in it?? I haven't seen it so I can't say, but that's what I was told. There were some massive trees growing, on, in around the ruins. From there we went to the very famous Angkor Wat. This is the nation's symbol, on their money, and flag... and as popular with tourists. It was LITTERED with people. It was hard to enjoy because there were so many people. We were jealous of Mark & Gary who ended up with the place to themselves after staying a little longer after all the tour buses left. We had no such luck. Regardless, it was AMAZING. still very impressive.

The next morning we left at 7am for the journey back to bangkok. The road was RIDICULOUSLY bumpy, but it didn't really bother Julia & I and we slept a bit. We arrived in Bangkok, figured out the bus situation to Krabi, and found that the bus we needed left... in less than 3 hours! So we went to the southern bus station -- not the tourist places, to get a bus because we had already missed the tourist ones and didn't want to wait overnight. The bus was AMAZING. pretty much like first class on an airplane. reclining (almost full out) seats, cushions, blanket, complimentary coke, and breakfast. It was an overnight trip so we slept... all of it. We arrived into Krabi around 8:30 or so in the morning and were taken to the ferry. From there we were able to get on the 9:30 ferry to Ko Phi Phi...

Hue & Hoi An Pics

happywanderer — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:39:00 GMT

Hoi An

Hue