AdventurSpirit

Gallery: 2008 Spain

kelly — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Ibiza, San Sebastian, Barcelona

Gallery: 2008 Singapore

kelly — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:38:00 GMT

Singapore

Ibiza - Party Capital of the World; Lives up to its reputation......

kelly — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Freaking air travel. We left mum’s in Singapore at 9pm Singapore time. Flight left at 11.05pm Singapore time. 13hrs later we landed in London Heathrow and proceeded to the transfer lounge for our Barcelona flight that was leaving 2 hrs later. When we arrived at Barcelona, a 5hr wait till the domestic Ibiza flight was scheduled. Which was just as well, because BA decided to leave Priss’s luggage in London, which apparently was coming on the next flight London-Barcelona. So while we waited at the airport, we were thanking our lucky stars that the stopover was 5hours. PHEW!!! We had arrived in Barcelona at 10.15am local time… it wasn’t till 1pm that we got Priss’s luggage back and our Barcelona-Ibiza flight on clickair (budget airline of course!) left at late at 3.45pm. From Ibiza Airport, we caught a bus into town (EUR1.50 each CHEAP!!) and by the time we checked in, we’d been on the road for 28hrs. At the doorstep of the hotel was Ses Figuerates (beach). We were starving so we just went to the nearest pizza joint and had a pizza and a pasta. It was not nice at all!!! After the yummy feed we experienced in Singapore, the food was appalling. The beer “Estrella” which is a local Spanish brew, went down really well – but it did put me to sleep. Woke up to a racket outside, cars hooning down the street and honking… Me and Priss woke up thinking these Ibizans are crazy people – are they waking people to go to clubs??? Weird! (Later the next day we found out it’s because Spain got into the Euro2008 finals). So we got ready and headed out to town. Walking through the streets, it was dead… Priss attracted the fancy of a local drunken young man who insisted on taking her to a party. He announced that he needed to pee, and we quickly hurried away as he was doing his no.1… Down at the Marina, we popped into a pizza place again for a quick feed. Found out from one of the girls at the joint that they sell pre-sale tickets cheap to the various clubs. The girl suggested we go to Space (pre-sale €15 vs at the door €30), which was supposedly a 5min cab ride away (about €5), but the darn taxi driver took us the long way and €15! Ripped off!!!! When we finally get to space, it was dead… probably because it was a Thursday. The music was fantastic, but with only the main room open, in a couple of hours, we called it a night – not before we spent €50 on alcohol!!! As we headed outside to get on home, we didn’t have a map for the area we were at – Platja d’en Bossa and basically been asking strangers for directions. Later one a couple of locals – a black guy and a very very pretty Spanish girl wandered out of Space and offered us a ride back to our hotel. She didn’t speak any English, but she looked really kind. We gratefully accepted and back at the hotel, we crashed. It was 3am.

The next day, got up at 8.30am for breakfast – ham cheese on bread and a hard boiled egg. I was so hungry, I couldn’t care less what I was being fed. The view from the table we sat at distracted me from the less than desirable breakfast. Back upstairs, we had a bit of a nap and headed out to wander around. We got to the Correos (post office) where Priss made a couple of phone calls to her mum and to Alex. I bought some stamps for our postcards to send back home. Wandering down Avinguda D’Isidor Macabich, walking to the centre of town, we stopped by some shops to have a looksee. Priss bought a few items, I bought a Tiffany’s rippoff ring (€3.95) which was too big for me, but thought that it would be a good idea to wear an engagement ring (since I AM officially engaged) and a red dress. We also wandered into a supermarket and bought some cheap local Ibiza shots called Hierbas Ibicencas which we had the night before at Space. It tastes like licorice liquere quite pleasant in small doses. Not that good in large quantities (as Priss later found out that night). We stopped by a tapas bar recommended by the lonely planet. After a few plates of tapas, we headed back to the hotel and lazed about on the beach. We were wondering why not all the beach chairs were taken until a very fat unattractive man came up to us and said “€15 for 2”. Priss gave him a look and said “no thanks!” and I quietly whispered to her that he’s asking us to pay for using the beach chairs. Wooops! Now we know! Grab a piece of sand tomorrow… =) since we paid, we decided to sleep there for awhile. It was getting a little bit chilly by 7pm, so we headed back to the hotel where we had a bit more siesta (do as the Ibizians do!). We woke up again late, almost 10pm and got ready to go out. Again wandering out to the centre of town, being Friday, there was a bit more activity happening – even then we struggled to find a place for food as it was pushing midnight and most of the resturants had closed the kitchen. Luckily we found a place in the centre of town, and we had more tapas and beer, and with us brought our Hierbas. Back at the Riambua Sa Creu where we bought tickets the last time, we asked around again for a good party. Apparantly Priviledge was having a huge opening party for their new night Supermartxe, so we caught the discobus to Priviledge. Big huge line outside the venue. A black man came up to Parisa and introduced himself. "Hi" he said, in his southern american accent "I'm Jonanthon from Virginai Texas." he says tipsy and smelling of alcohol. "You're pretty as fuck..." he says directly to Priss. We both looked at each other - what da??? Anyway.... It was a MAD party. The music was fantastic… People everywhere – there were performers in costumes and cross dressing performers singing on stage. At one stage, there was a light and laser show which was totally awesome. Unfortunately, Priss had a bit too much Hierbas and felt sick with a shocking headache. Poor girl felt so horrible. We took the offer of a €20 cab ride (private taxi) home, stopping a couple of times along the way for her to throw up… Poor thing!!!! Another late night – 3am back home.

Up again the next day at 9am, I wandered downstairs for my breakfast. Again hungry as anything had 2 eggs this time. Stole some food back up for Priss for when she felt a bit better to eat. I dozed off again here and there and about midday, we decided to head into town again for proper food. Facing the Passeig Vara de Rei was a lonely planet recommended restaurant Ca N’Alfredo. The white wine was very nice, though the Paella could be better (I felt). Anyways, we ate and went back to the hotel. I hopped on the net for a little bit while Priss snoozed away. She looked so peaceful and she was saying that she still had a niggling headache, so I wandered out to the beach to get some sun. I must have fallen asleep on the beach for quite some time, Priss came up to me at about 7pm on the beach. We decided that we’ll try to get out a bit earlier this time. We headed out to again to town centre where we had more tapas and Sangria blanco (sangria made with white wine). Back on Riambau Sa Creu, we got some tickets to Pasha (€35) on recommendation from friends back home. We walked to Pasha only to find that at 5 mins to midnight, it was still shut!!! There were a few people waiting outside to get in but because Priss was busting to go, we decided to head back and try to change our tickets to Space as a local we ran into on the bus the night before while going to Priviledge mentioned another opening party for Space Mantinee. So we swapped our tickets and caught the discobus to Platja d’en Bossa and was again at Space. This time Space was packed. There were so many people there it was packed – cant even get onto the main dance floor. I didn’t quite enjoy it this time – perhaps the third night onto duff duff music was a bit too much for my old ears to bear. The highlight for me on this night – believe it or not – was seeing a deep red brand new BMW X6 parked right outside in the “reserved parking” carspot. Woooo… dream car. By 4am, both Priss and I were beat. Took the discobus back to Figuerates and crashed into bed.

Up breakfast time again, today they had chicken loaf (which I had grown to love) and orange juice. Decided that I should visit Dalt Vila which is the old fort of Ibiza. Priss was having problems recharging her optus prepaid card and had to make a few phonecalls, so I went ahead – seeing that it’s the last day and I don’t have much time to explore. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Dalt Vila, it was siesta time, and all the exhibits were shut. Still I had a good old wander around and took some really nice pics. Met a Brazillian Techno DJ in the old village who asked if he can keep me company while exploring in return he would like for us to speak English. He seemed harmless enough and there were lots of tourists wandering around, so I thought why not. He had been in Ibiza for just over 3 weeks, looking for a gig. It’s a very competitive market there, as many DJs use Ibiza as a platform to launch their careers. He tells me that the same gig he plays in Berlin he would be paid €500 they are only offering him €50 for the night. He was pretty harmless, though he did ask if I wanted to join him at a “private beach” that he was heading to, and then asking if I wanted to see the place he was sharing with his roommate – as it was an old converted medival castle of some sort. Nice try buddy – I’m engaged. Before we parted ways, he did ask again if I wanted to go to the beach – cant fault him for trying! So I went off my merry way and by accident walked right into Croissant Place (featured in the lonely planet) which Priss and I have been trying to get to. Bought a couple of croissants from there and headed back to the hotel. Since we had a bit more time, we hung at the hotel until it was time to leave (giving me some time to update Facebook and have a chat with a couple of friends). Then it was on the bus to the Marina to catch our 9pm ferry ride to Barcelona. Bye bye Ibiza!!!! Its been way too hot and my ears needed a break from duff duff… duff duff… duff duff… urgh.

Eurotrip Prequel..... Prissy's first Spore experience

kelly — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Left Melbourne on the 3.30pm flight…… goodbye Melbourne, bye house, bye Snoopy and MistyKashmir…. See you in a month. *sob*

Arrived on time in Singapore at 9pm local time. Went back to mum and dad’s dropped our stuff. Vince and Mei came to pick us up from home and we went to Zouk. Sat at the lounge area, had some of the renowned Long Island Iced Tea…. oh my… it was strong! Also had a light snack of bangers and mash, Zouk style. Served in plastic cup, mash, onions and sauce in the cup with a sausage on a satay stick for presentation! We were feeling really chilled out…. and given that it was….. mmm 3.30am Melbourne time (1.30am in Singapore) and after a long flight next to a crying baby…. we were feeling the wear…. nevertheless, we still ventured into the main dance floor… had a white wine at the ‘members bar’ (thanks for making us feel VIP Vince and Mei!!!) we got hooked a bit on the music and went down to the main floor and danced a little. But by just after 4am, we were beat. Headed home in a comfort taxi…. Home sweet home to bed…..

5.15am my alarm rings. Uurrgghh…. Supposed to get up to pick Et up from the airport… his flight supposed to arrive at 6am. As my alarm was ringing, I got an sms from him – He’s already here!!! SIA early once again… =) So he caught a cab, came up and snoozed some more. Woke up around 10am – yes!!!! First real meal. So we all got herded into the car and Dad drove us to Toa Payoh food court. There we had Hokkein fried prawn mee, mee siam and congee with mince pork (Singapore style). Had some Singapore style coffee too – kopi. Priss loved the fried prawn mee. Next stop, we went to the Buddhist Temple to visit both my grandma’s which I do every visit. Usually it’s a quick visit just to say a few words to both of them, but with Priss there, I took the opportunity to also take a tour of the temple – something that I should have done before but never have. I didn’t realise how BIG the place was!!! And peaceful and beautiful too! Did some prayers – not that im Buddhist but since I was there… =P Had also some vegetarian food and we went back home for a rest and a bit more shuteye. By 1pm, we were on the road again, this time to Sim Lim Square in search of Priss’s new camera. But of course, before we went bargain hunting, we had late lunch downstairs of Sim Lim in another food court. There we had Ba Kut Teh, Ba Chor Mee Pok and Po Piah… yumm. So full again. Went upstairs and pretty much found what we were looking for straightaway. S$310 later, Priss had herself a new Olympus FE320 fully automatic camera, jammed packed with features AND free extra battery, 2x2GD memory cards, free case, tripod and screen protector. AND she gets GST back too! Bringing the final spend of S$299 – approx A$230. With camera shopping done and out of the way, we decided to head to the infamous Orchard Road shopping heaven. Main aim of the shopping was to find things for my wedding, so we did some shoe shopping, watch shopping etc etc. Even got $10 vouchers at Robinson for tourists – yay for Priss and Et (but really me, since I used it to buy moisturisers – heh heh… paid $25 when it should have been $45 – woooppie!). It was getting late, and we decided to grab some dinner at Killiney Road Chicken Rice place. Yum the food was good yet again!! For dessert, we went to the newly refurbished outdoor food court in Newton Circus. Mmm looking at the selection there, we should have gone there for dinner!!! Oh well, next time – for dessert, had bo bo cha cha, chendol and DURIAN ice kachang. So full I had to roll out on home. Once at home showered and comfy, dad put on Sunshine on his projector – not a bad movie. Sucked me in big time, even though I was dead tired, I still watched it to the end. Exhausted – bedtime – 2am. *yawn*

Day 3 SENTOSA DAY!!!! Yay~! Was up at 7.15 out the door by 8.30am. Went to Thomson for Ya Kun Kaya Toast and coffee with runny eggs. Mmm… brings back childhood memories – runny eggs with soy and pepper. I had to go to Kallang to pickup my new passport from the Immigration Office but was way early (traffic was good). So here’s Singapore efficiency for you – my appointment was at 10am, I was there at 9.30am, so I took a ticket and before I could even find a seat, my number was called! I was outta there in 15mins! Woah… So with time on our hands, we went down to the cheong sam place featured in the papers down at Laguna. The cheong sam was beautiful, but without trying on others, it was hard to just buy it. So we went off our merry way, down to Vivo city to for our Sentosa day out. Went across the street to the open air hawker centre for some local feed. Et had roti prata and char kuey teow (the black kind) and Priss had char kuey teow too. I had vegetarian bee hoon with fake duck, fish and some vegies. Mum had her fish congee. Over the road to Sentosa – bought out tickets and headed up on the cable car with will take us to Sentosa Island. Once on Sentosa, boarded a bus to the Oceanarium. Being a suba diver myself, I always love sea creatures. My favourite is the Touch pool where you could feel the leathery skin of baby bamboo sharks and puffer fishes and the Ray pool where a few types of rays would come up to you and suck on your hand and allow you to feel the smooth texture of their skin. After Oceanarium as part of the package we had a 3D virtual reality log ride – including funky 3D glasses (check out the pic!). Then it was lunchtime, but everything was so exy that Subway was the go. After lunch we bought another package for rides where we visited the Tiger Beer Tower (300m above sea level – gave a good view of the city from up there), Images of Singapore history wax museum – where Priss got a bit of historical flavour of how Singapore came to be, Luge and Skyride (chairlift) – Mum actually tried the Luge!!! Good onya mum!, Pink Dolphin show – so cute those dolphins, the Merlion – how the merlion came about and went through the Merlion walk, and finally the Songs of the Sea water and light show, and took the return Skyride chairlift back to the cable car station and back to Vivo city where dad picked us up to take us to East Coast Seafood Centre for….. CHILLIE CRAB! Yay! Tiger Beer, chilie crab, fried baby squid, drunken prawns and you tiao stuffed with sotong paste. YUM YUM YUM… again rolling on out of the seafood centre and back home.

So quick… day 4 and its Laksa time!!! Mum, Et, Priss and myself jump in a cab and off we went to Telok Kurau. Woooo my childhood favourite laksa still there! Had a big bowl of laksa (yes mum, I shouldn’t eat so much but this is soooooo ggooooooooddd!). Much walking today… first to Kembangan MRT station for a taste of public transport. In less than 15mins, we were at Orchard Road yet again! More shopping cheong sam trying and shoes shoes shoes. By 2pm, it was again time for lunch. Taka food court Priss had thai chicken rice, I had Thai beef noodle, Et had Ban Mein. And then off watch shopping again until 6 and we headed down to Boon Lay MRT station to meet up with Dad and we went to his Yatch Club Raffles Marina for dinner – at the restaurant called ‘Captain’s Table’ for – believe it or not – Chinese food!! We had the set dinner and the Peking Duck. It was pretty good, but again too much food. Had some takeaway to bring back with us… =) Then it was rush rush rush for Dad as mum packed quickly for him for his business trip to Istanbul.

Day 5…. Drove Et to the airport for a 9.25am flight to Macau. Had to be at the airport at 7.25am. Bye bye Et… *sob* see you in 4 weeks!!!! Went back home and slept some more. Until about 10am, got up to do…. more shopping!!! The sky looked threatening as we ventured out to the bus stop. Usually we’d catch the train coz the bus takes ages, but thought Prissy would get more of a sightsee on the bus vs the train tunnels. After giving her half cooked commentary as we approach Raffles City, we hop off for some brunch. Upstairs in the Raffles City food court, we had roti prata and the much anticipated teh halia that Raj insisted Priss had to try when she was in Singapore. We also had fried carrot cake and a tonne of tropical fruit… need that to keep regular that’s for sure!!! We then walked towards Suntec City via the Link shopping mall ducking in and out shops along the way. We finally arrived at Suntec City where we had a look at the Fountain of Wealth. They also had some chinese zodiac horoscopes on display, so we spent some time reading that and some of the zodiac characteristics featured upstairs at ground level of the fountain. Next was more shopping – went to Carrefour and bought a whole heap of discount goodies. Then we went to XX food court which was the renovated food court in Suntec City. It was pretty quaint (as you can see in the pictures), it looked like we were in an old bookshop and really old furniture and fittings. COOL… Priss and I had prawn mee (soup) and fried hokkien prawn mee again! Wanted to get Priss to try goreng pisang, but unfortunately it was sold out when we got there! After lunch and again extremely full, we decided walking back through back to City Hall MRT station was too much (esp since we went a bit nutty with the Carrefour shopping) so we took the free shuttle bus back to City Hall MRT station. Hopped on the MRT and headed back to Orchard road. Was shopping along orchard road when the cheong sam shop rang. They have samples of the materials on the cheong sam I liked! A quick 5min check of the material and it’s ordered!! Yay!!!! 1 more box ticked. Mmm. I also found my watch. This has been a fruitful trip… We then walked over to Killiney Road Post office to buy some stamps for our postcards back to Australia. A further trek down the street into NTUC Fairprice (i.e. safeway) for moe trip supplies and cabbed back home. Time to do some last minute packing and to the airport we went… that was it… Singapore leg finished. As we braced ourselves for a 28hr travel to Ibiza… party town… Here we come!!

Gallery: 2007 Cairns

kelly — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 10:10:00 GMT

Cairns with Martin and Julie

Crystal Cascades

kelly — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Up at 9-ish today. Got stuck watching some documentary about the Miami drug lords on TV until almost 12. Got our stuff and grabbed some Maccas on the way to Crystal Cascades... Lost our way (coz this place was off the map) - apparantly it is the local's hangout! Cool. After getting some directions from a cabbie taking a smoko break, we went our merry way.

As we pulled into the carpark of Crystal Cascades, the first thing I noticed was the sound of running water and rustling leaves in the trees. Soooooo relaxing!!! Asked the crew if they were up for a 1.5km hike to Copplard Dam - no suprises the answer was a unanimous NO! We continued down the track and looked for a nice spot to dip our feet into the water.... BRRRRRR! The water was bloody cold! Splashing around a bit, there were small rapids coming down and when you find just the right spot... it felt like a spa! Cool.... We were spewing that we didnt bring the underwater casing and our snorkel gear and Julie didnt want to get in the water because she didnt bring her rashie - so we elected to go back to Cairns to pickup a couple of things. The road back this time was not too bad. It was actually really close to Cairns! Less than 20mins from town actually (first time took us almost an hour - woops). We were back in about an hour and it was seriously relaxing. We splashed around in the water and looked at the fishes and took some pictures and vids. Vinny had a glimpse of a tortise and I got super excited and probably scared it away... we spent ages looking for the tortise - no luck... bugga. Tired after the search, I draped myself over a piece of flat rock and took a nap. Lucky I put on sunscreen coz it was pretty hot!! By about 4pm we were hungry since we didnt have any lunch.

Yipeeee EARLY PRAWN at Raw Prawn on the Esplanade! 20% discount again 4.30-6.30pm! We had some prawns for entree this time, and I had the Seafood Supreme Spaghetti that Julie had last night.... it was as nice as I imagined it to be. Vinny had the Seafood Curry - and we had almost one garlic bread each!!! Still as yummy as yesterday!!!!

It was still relatively early (only 7pm) so we went over to Global Gossip for $1/hr internet (where I facebooked again - heh heh). We over to the night market for a look and ended up with a personalised mobile phone string with my name written on a grain of rice. =) Dead tired from all the activities from the week and still sick and getting sicker - I vowed to sleep early that night - only to get sucked into some Hongkie movie on SBS - didnt get to bed till 1am... sigh.

Up 7.30am packing up the room furiously... obviously didnt prepare last night!! woops. Hurry hurry - met up with M&J downstairs and back to the Coffee Roast for ham cheeze and tomato croissant. Yumm... So sad.... We're leaving Cairns in a couple of hours.

Sadness...... no holiday to look forward to this time. Hope I make it to Japan in Feb08 for snowboarding. My holiday isnt even finished - already post holiday blues.......... sigh.

Quicksilver Pontoon

kelly — Sun, 4 Nov 2007 20:30:00 GMT

Up at 7.45am - changed and ready to go! We're going to Quicksilver Pontoon!! Drove out of the hotel at ten past 8am, off we went to Port Douglas. An hour later, we pulled into Marina Mirage, after going slightly too far, backtracking and then doing a U-ie to catch the Quicksilver bus. Got our boarding passes and on the boat (if you call that a boat - looked more like a spaceship) we went.

It was smooooooth sailing over the GBR to Agincourt Reef at the continental shelf where the Quicksilver pontoon was situated. After a bit of convincing we managed to rope M&J into doing an intro dive... we didnt want them to miss the chance to experience the joys of scuba! After sighing up for the intro dive together, we watched a safety video together with other intro dive participants. Before we knew it, we were there! First up was our group - diving with Takumi (Jap instructor), so we went directly to the dive area and got kitted up.

Down the dive platform we went and I was amazed at the Giant Napolean Maori Wrasse hanging around there. M&J did some basic exercise (mask flood and reg recovery) while Vinny and I was busy snapping away photos of our mates first dive and also the marine life around us. Julie freaked out at first, but after awhile, she got used to the feeling, and slowly, we went down.

First stop, a boulder sponge coral with live-in Christmas Tree Worms. These are cute - they come out and retract when you pass you hands over them! Next stop, resident clown fishes greeted us at the anemone. M&J were wrapted they saw Nemo!! Off we went to the next stop which was a giant clam where a vicious pink damsel was attacking me - giving me multiple fish hickies on my leg while I was trying to take photos of M&J's first dive experience. Sheese. As we slowly swam away, we bid goodbye to the cute marine life up close and personal.

Back on the surface.... lunchtime! YUM. Grabbed a platefull of food and stuffed our hungry faces. After round 2 of food, we went for the semi-submersible ride where we saw lots of coral, lots of fish (I liked the chocolate-dipped fish the best - reason why they are called that is because they are chocolate brown except for their bright white tail, making them look like they had been dipped in chocolate....), saw 2 sharks (a juvenile and an adult white tip) and a lone turtle swimming under the semi-submersible. Back on the main pontoon, realise time is running short. We went to the snorkel platform for a quick swim around. They did a last feeding (unscheduled) which was real cool coz I missed the last feeding. Nice nice nice!!!! Out we swam to the nearest reef, and before we could say WOW (which was what we felt coz of all the fishes and the colourful coral), the horn blew and we had to make our way back to the pontoon and back on the boat for our trip back to Port Douglas.

We walked around Marina Mirage for a bit but couldnt find a place to eat. Drove into Port Douglas township and looked at eating Nautilus (recommendation from Nic and Lisa, my work colleagues), but decided against because we werent that hungry yet (it was only 5pm). So off we went back to Cairns. Looking through the Cairns guide, found a 20% off seafood resturant aptly named Raw Prawn but we have to be seated and order before 6.30pm. Good deal - so we quickly raced (no we didnt speed)... down to the Esplanade got into Raw Prawn around 6.15pm. Perfect timing! The food was fanastic... though not cheap. I am thinking they probably didnt give us the 20% discount. But when we asked, they said it was already applied. Oh well.... It was a tiring day.... all that diving and snorkeling and driving and pigging out on good seafood... brrruup! Time for bed I think... ZZzzz

Kuranda Skyrail

kelly — Sat, 3 Nov 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Got up pretty early at 8.30am expecting to go pickup the car at 9am. Was dressed and waited for Vinny to turn over. It was not until 10am before we got dressed and went out. Martin and Julie were still asleep so we went to Hertz to pickup the car and went to the National Parks authority to see whether there were walks that we can attempt today. Got lots of brochures and the guide there highly recommended Crystal Cascades swimming holes - mental note to visit there. Martin and Julie called while I was at the National Parks office. Met up with them at the corner cafe for some breakfast. Yummy ham cheeze and tomato croissant... hmmm.

We thought we should go for the Kuranda Skyrail experience, since we have been recommended by a few people to check it out. Went back to Dr Tours to book the tickets. Wooops... we took our time to get up, last skyrail cable car would leave Kuranda at 3.45pm and it was already past midday! Quickly bought the tickets, raced home to grab our cameras, water bottles etc the car and off we went again.

30mins later, we were at the Skyrail station. Caught the cable car up to Baron Falls station - wheres the falls? Because it is dry season, there was hardly any rainfall and hence the falls is quite dry... more like a trickle... heh heh.... 1st time visiting a compost toilet... ewwww.... that's an experience. Yeeek!

Off to the top of Kuranda highland town. Not sure if this is considered altitude since it has only been less than 24hrs since our last dive??? Too late now that we're here!

Caught the free shuttle to the top of Kuranda Town - township of only 5000. The shops are bustling - lots of tourist (it being their ONLY economy there). We went through the Kuranda Market - decided against visiting the Butterfly Park, Koala Park and other places of interest due to lack of time (or was it lack of interest?). On the way down we had homemade ice cream and you'll never guess that the guy running the oldest homemade ice cream shop used to be a Melbourne Boy... and schooled in Hyde Street Footscray no doubt!! Talk about a small world... sheese.... down down down we go, down the main street. Stopped by the Honey House for some honey souveniors. By the time we got back down to the Kuranda Skyrail station and caught the cable car back down it was past 3pm. This time we stopped by the Red Peak station and took a 10 min boardwalk around. Didnt want to miss the last cable car so we took the next cable car back down to the carpark. Goodbye Kuranda!

Back at the hotel, took a nap before deciding on going to Tides (Shangri-la in-house resturant). The food was not that good... even with the 50% discount - not worth it! Took a walk down to the main street to Global Gossip's $1/hr internet (to facebook of course!) and booked a car for the next day so that we're mobile. After dinner, back to the hotel. Back to sleep. Good night. Back in the water tomorrow.... yipee!

Taka Cod Hole Liveaboard - 30 October to 2 November 2007

kelly — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 15:30:00 GMT

Up at 5.30am... sheese - what sort of holiday starts so early?

At the airport by 6.30am for 7am flight to Cairns. Couldnt sleep on the plane so watched 'The Reaping' on the MacBook - lucky we got that, coz Jetstart didnt even give us earphones for a 3.5hr flight. Ah well - the joys of budget air travel.

Arrived right on schedule at 9.30am Cairns time - no daylight saving so we gained an hour - yipee! Got dropped off at Taka Dive shop and left our gear there. Walked around a bit and went to the local cafes that were just opening... had 'brunch' at 11am in the morning. Not bad food I must say, maybe Im just hungry. Took a walk around town a little bit, hot and sweaty - still trying to acclimatise to the weather. Into Cairns Shopping Centre for some Boost Juice. Ahhh..... went down real well! Popped into Dr Tours to book Martin and Julie in for their intro dive the next day and we went back to the hotel to take a quick shower and chill in the aircon for awhile.

It was almost 4pm before we dragged ourselves out of the hotel to buy some provisions for the dive trip. Met back at Taka Dive shop 4.30 and off we went on a mini-bus to the Boat M.V. Taka for the next 3 nights... wooo hoo! Cant wait!

Was wrapt that we managed to get a 3 share room to ourselves. It's pretty comfortable. Quite a bit of space for 2. Which is great because I was really feeling sick - not due to seasickness, but suffering from a cold. Paranoid that I cant dive tomorrow. Urrgghh! Wanted to get to bed early, but deciding to do Nitrox course, I spent most of the evening/night after dinner doing the first Exercise! Poor Vinny was feeling really ill - I must have passed him my germs! Woops! Got to bed still pretty early around 11pm.

The next day, morning call 6.50am - not too bad considering the day before was 5.30am... but unfortunately didnt sleep well - bad pillows. Tried to eat light for breakfast but the food was really yummy! Anyways, apprehension as I jumped in for the 1st dive - which was a check dive with Sharryn, because we hadnt dived more that 50 dives. Bummer. The viz was pretty poor, only ~10-12m at Challenger Bay. Spent most of the dive doing exercises. Im just super glad I could equalize my ears with my cold. Phew!! Didnt see anything interesting on the first dive - was disappointed with the marine life - or lack of! I'm also wrapted that I can still hover. Wooopie! The 2nd dive at Pixie's Wall was a little better. At least there were some Giant Clams and there was a bright yellow Nudibranch that got me happy. Visibility was still not the best maybe slightly better than Challenger Bay at about 15-20m. The First Mate on the boat told me that he was there last week and the viz was at least 30m. Apparantly the northerly winds brought in the tide and sediments. Oh well... cant be that lucky ALL the time. The next dive at Cod Hole was the grouse!!! We were instructed to form a circle and Trent took the bait box with him and lured Mr. Giant Potato Cod over. We waited for ages and I got pretty cold staying in one spot even though my Mosquito told me the water temp was 26deg. Whilst waiting, we saw a huge Black Tip swim past - must have been around 2m! My fingers were so cold I didnt get my camera out quick enough to get a photo. Hiya! Finally finally it was my turn.... Mr Potato Cod is HUGE. He's at least 1m long and half a meter wide. I petted his head and body. He didnt care. Lots of photos and vids later I was so amazed that these Cods are so fearless! Wow... They act like they are almost trained! We did the night dive at Cod Hole too. We saw a big red crab and a white tip shark close by. Apparantly the sharks hunt at night... yikes! Nothing much else apart from shrimps and lots of sea urchins. Oh and Mr. Potato Cod hung around, so I gave him a quick pet before I left. Back on the boat and a hearty thai green curry dinner I set out to do my 2nd exercise for Nitrox. Almost certified!!!

2nd day of diving was at Steve's Bommie which was very nice - saw a tonne of marine life! Saw a couple of huge sharks (must have been 2m long) look like bronze whalers, NEMO, anemone fish, Morish Idols, blue spotted groupa, 2 puffer fishes, schools of yellow trevalley and tuna, a huge stone fish (ugly sucker) and tonnes and tonnes of nudibranches. Itwas pretty choppy when we surfaced and it was a long ass swim back to the boat. Sheese! Next dive was at the same site. This time there was drama - first the dive crew forgot to fill my tank - easy fix, just a big rush to do everything. Finally swam out to the bommie and Vinny said that he had no air! I was about 10ms from him - told him to come to me to check if his air was turned on - he insisted that the dive co-ordinator had checked it before we jumped in. So back we swam, against the current. When we finally got to the boat - what do you know.... Vinny didnt turn on his air... urrrgghh!!!!! Given the option to abort the dive after swimming for the past 20mins, we thought - nahhhhh! Back in the water.... but after a 20min swim I was really buggered and swimming in the wrong direction (because of the current) and we got a tow from the dinghy.... it was really fun!!!! Like James Bond... haha... OK back to the dive... saw a tonne of fish again. This time, saw black clown fish, nudibranches again, a transparent worm thingy, found those pipefishes that I didnt see on the first dive, lizard fishes. Still another long swim back. Must have been at least 30mins this time. Exhausted! We were meant to go to 'Temple of Doom' as the next dive site, but because the previous 2 dives were so taxing, we went to Princess Bommie instead - an easy mooring line guided dive site and easy to navigate. Saw some really nice nudibranches, pipefishes and this cute butterfly looking fish. It was a nice relaxing dive. A 5hr break in-between till the night dive, we got dropped off at a dive site called the Beer Garden. Not sure why, the dive co-ordinator didnt know either. Here we saw a lot of 'night life'!!! I saw a GIANT turtle sleeping under a cave overhang, a cuttlefish and a porcupine fish (a big one too!). Very pleased with myself, but couldnt take photos coz we were in caverns and there were too many people there and kicked up all the silt which made viz impossible. Dinner time again! This time we got hamburgers.... yum... and the wraps were delicious.... onya Jase (the cook)!!

Last day of diving.... Hogs Breath. Saw a huge Bat Fish swimming real close - I got a real good vid of that. Saw 2 blue spotted rays, one really close to me and I got a nice vid from this too. Manage to see 2 pipefish too... and I touched another Cod fish... so cute. Last dive of the trip was on Split Bommie. Me and Ethan took this dive really easy. started 17m and slowly worked our way up. Saw many many many fishes and nudibranch, the highlight was this baby nudibranch... it was less than a cm long! so cute and so bright blue and orange (see pixs)! That was it... back on dry land, met up with Martin and Julie. Found out from M&J that they got really really seasick and took the chopper home (obviously didnt dive). Was starving so we headed out to the food court coz Vinny was craving for KFC! I bought some sushi rolls and stuffed my face. Then walked all around town to several travel agents, checked the weather and Sunday looked the calmest so we booked for Quicksilver trip to the pontoon out at the continental shelf. Hometime. SLEEEEP...... Not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow!

Wellington - Quiet Town

kelly — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:50:00 GMT

Arrived at my hotel at 7.30pm... the town is DEAD!!!

A quick change of clothes and out I went to explore. A short walk to the famous Wellington Cable Car up to the botanical gardens... it was pitch black! There was no one there and I only had a fleeting thought about walking into the pitch blackness of the gardens.

Very quickly I took the cable car back down and on the way asked a student from Victoria University where people would hang out on a Monday night and was told - no where!!! But she did suggest walking to Courtney Place - so off I went down Lambton Quay...... as I got closer to Courtney Place, I found that the streets had a few more people and there was actually music coming out of some of the resturants. I settled for a quaint little cafe on the corner of Blair St and Courtney Place since they were playing jazz. The pumpkin soup was beautiful... and the mussels divine. After having my fill, I walked all along the pier back to the hotel... it was a nice night... a bit nippy, but I had my scarf and gloves which kept me nice and warm. Back at the hotel, watched some TV and had a chat with Vinny before falling asleep. The room was really cold... didnt sleep very well.

Up bright and early the next day - a quick bite and coffee later, off to Wellington office. The view from the Wellington office is unbelievable... and the fact that it was a bright sunny day just made me want to get out there and explore. After my presentation, I took an hour to get out there to explore Wellington in the daytime. I wished I had a full day to explore at least. But an hour is all I got so I made the best of it.

Back at the office and the Wellington guys were great to take me out to lunch. I had a fantastic meal before I made my way to Wellington Airport to catch my flight back home.

5 hours later I was still in Wellington airport - our original 3.50pm departure time became 7pm because the plane that we were on had some 'technical difficulties' in the cockpit and we were told to change planes after sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours. Finally on the way to Sydney I made friends with Dayna, a Uni Student from Victoria U thinking of moving to Brisbane. I had missed my connecting flight to Melbourne, but managed to get the last flight home - which is more than I can say for my friend who was forced to stay in Sydney and had to take the first flight out to Brisbane the next day... poor girl! Got home after midnight - 4.5hours later than expected. Absolutely exhausting!!

Gallery: 2007 Auckland & Wellington

kelly — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:59:00 GMT

First time in NZ

First time in NZ - Auckland

kelly — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:04:00 GMT

Up at 4.30am for 7.15am flight out from Tullamarine airport.... *yawn*... what are the chances that the flight was delayed?? Oh nvm. I flew Emirates - had a ball, watched 'Next' with movies on demand and had yummy omelette breakky... the 3.5 hr flight went by real quick - didnt even have time to get some shuteye!

Arrival Auckland Airport 2pm local time - lost 2 hrs in transit.... I cant believe how wet it is... =(

Auckland airport is just 30mins away by cab. Got to my hotel and checked in - NICE!!! Skycity Hotel is very nice indeed. After freshening up, I booked myself into a tour for tomorrow to Bay of Islands and went out exploring.

Took the City LINK bus around the city for NZ$1.60 round trip - cheap!!! Had a nice bus driver offer to take me around the next day... uhhh... too bad I've already booked a tour. Dropped off at Viaduct Harbour and wandered around a little bit - it was bloody cold and windy, but I was determined to explore with the little time I have in Auckland. At 6pm, it was understandable that Auckland resturants were a bit dead. I was looking for the busiest resturant in the belief that it would be one of the best.... but there was just no one around!!! Walked around a little bit more and settled for an Italian joint called Al Dente. The food was really good - I had the Antony Pasta which I had with spagetthi, fresh baby spinach, fresh salmon with cream, basil and italian tomato sauce topped with sundried tomatos. Through dinner, I got chatting with the waiter, Alex, who also offered to take me around Auckland on Sunday - what a pity I had already booked a tour! He left me his number to text him later to catchup for a drink. Had my dessert (Tiramisu - YUM!!) and went off my merry way.

Back at the hotel, decided to go down to the gaming floor for a wander around. While watching some live entertainment at the gaming floor - I got approached by a korean pilot with Korean Air who asked if he could buy me a drink.... what's going on??? Thats like the 3rd 'pickup' in half a day!! Anyways, I politely declined. So I was sitting at the bar by myself drinking my scotch and coke and decided - what the hell. I texted Alex.

Before I knew what was happening, we were zooming away in his bright yellow car. We went up to Mt Eden, but unfortunately the gate was shut and I wasnt game to walk up to the summit in the dark. So off we went to the north shore where we got a really nice view of the Harbour Bridge. It was still raining lightly and I got to know Alex a little bit better. He is italian/maltese and only 23 (he' a baby!). And he had only been in Auckland for the last 7 years and only been speaking english for that long... We decided to move to the next spot - under the Harbour Bridge where we were next to the wharf. He tells me that a lot of people have boats here but never takes them out to sea. A lot of these boats dont see the ocean at all. Talking more about real estate in general and comparing Melbourne's rental market to Auckland, I couldnt believe that Alex was paying NZ$400/wk for a studio apartment! I commented that it must be a huge studio for that sort of rental... In that context, he invited me up to his place to have a look... It seemed innocent enough, but I thought better of it and decided to head back to the hotel. I thanked Alex for his hospitality and told him that if he ever found himself in Melbourne that I would return the favour =)... Back at the hotel... totally exhausted I crashed....

Up at 6am the next day - the tour bus came to pick me up from the hotel at 10 to 7am. The tour was very pleasant. I slept a lot of the way (it is a 3hr drive afterall). Lots of stops on the way and that's where I met my Alpaca friend (see photos). She's sooooo cute!!! Onward to the Waitangi Treaty Ground where I learnt a lot more about the Maori heritage and language. Our bus driver was half Maori and half Caucasian so he knew alot about Maori heritage. He taught me how to say 'Kia Ora' which is hello in Maori. Then I took the Excitor Cruise from the Bay of Islands to Cape Brett - which wasnt that exciting btw, because the weather was calm and the sea was flat as a pancake.... blah!!!! We did, however, get windblown and very cold. Was glad to get back to the bus and head back to Auckland - slept all the way back....

Back at the hotel - went up to Orbit resturant up the top of Skytower for a nice meal. Just had the scallops entree with a side of steamed veges. The scallops were beautiful!! It was getting quite late... and I had to go into the Auckland office to present tomorrow. After having a chat with Vinny with the phonecard I bought, I turned in for the night.

Gallery: 2007 Phuket

kelly — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Patong - Crazy Town

kelly — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Massages, Poolside relaxation, Trannys and Manicure+Pedicure. What more can I say??? Bye bye Phuket!!!!!!

Phi Phi Island Overnight - 13-14 April 2007

kelly — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:00:00 GMT

7 dives in 2 days on M.V. Greta.... phew!

See photos in gallery for all the pix we took.

After 4 dives on the first day - Anemone Reef, Koh Bida Nok, Hin Bida and night dive Palong Bay - we got chartered by longtail boat to the island of Phi Phi... it was really cold and rainy and Tyler our nice dive guide was sitting next to me blocked most of the wind and rain. By the time we got to the hotel, I was totally rained out and didnt even want to wander down to Phi Phi Island town to look for something to eat. So me and Vinny pigged out on packet nuts and chocolate bars from the bar fridge!!! Yikes! The next day - up bright and early - breakfast at the hotel and off we went for the rest of the dives. Koh Bida Nai, King Cruiser Wreck and Koh Doc Mai. Highlight of the dives would be the white eyed morays in the toilets (see gallery) It was really a funny picture. =) Also my first CAVE DIVE at Koh Doc Mai.... scary!

Back to dry land... checked into Andaman Beach Suites at Patong Beach... NICE!!!

Similan Liveaboard - 8-12 April 2007

kelly — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:00:00 GMT

By the time we got to the Chalong Pier to catch our boat MV Dolphin Queen out to the Similans, it was past 8pm. Everyone was tired and hungry. We got introduced to the crew, had some dinner and pretty much went straight to bed!

Up early the next morning (6.20am?? Are you nuts?) - off for the first dive of the trip. People say that a picture tells a thousand words. Check out the gallery for photos... We dived:

Barracuda Point
Similans East of Eden
Similans Deep 6
Similans East of Eden (Night Dive)
Similans Elephant Head Rock
Similans North Point (deep dive max depth 34.7m) - my 1st Leapord Shark!!
Koh Bon
Koh Bon (Night Dive)
Koh Tachai Plateau Richelieu Rock - FISH SOUP...
Richelieu Rock Koh Bon (again)
Boonsung Wreck

Back to dry land - it was quite an experience. Off to Patong Beach for SongKran.... got totally soaked - who would have thought that I had enough of being wet all the time... =) Off to bed. Up tomorrow for Phi Phi Island overnight dive trip!!!! More diving.....

Khao Lak Elephant Safari

kelly — Sun, 8 Apr 2007 18:30:00 GMT

Afer a big night at Lisa’s 21st Birthday Party, it was a surprise we actually made it to the airport on time. A lot of sleep and 2 movies later, we landed in Phuket at around 8.30pm local time. Our accommodation was about an hour and a half away up north of the airport. It was raining when we arrived, but still unbearably hot and humid. Finally arriving at our bungalow around 10pm, a quick freshen up and off we went to explore.

Wasn’t much happening in Khao Lak town, many of the shops were starting to close up for the night. We were feeling quite peckish since we hadn’t yet had dinner (no food on Jetstar!!!) so we popped into the local 7-11 and bought some heat up meals and drinks. Sat out at the bus-stop out front and tuckered in… having ate our fill and bought some water and snacks, we headed on home for a good snooze.

Up early next day for breakfast… elephant trekking!!! Yipee! A quickie breakfast at our bungalows - the pad thai is different but very yummy! Vinh had pineapple fried rice… very thai indeed! The driver was waiting for us out front when we got to reception. He took us to the Phang Nga Coastal Fisheries R&D Center where we had a glimpse of the work they were doing on the save the sea turtles project.

Next stop, Asia Safari Park Khao Lak for an hour of elephant trekking. Our elephant was nice, very placid - Kun Tong was his name. It was very hot and humid, but it was a nice relaxing trek. Took some photos on the elephant and after getting off. I think he likes me!!

After that, since the tour group didn’t feel all that hungry, we decided to go for our Bamboo Rafting journey down to the riverside restaurant. Floating along the river, with only a couple of light rapids in between was very relaxing. We even had a froggie friend hitch a ride on our raft. Spotted a hornets nest and a sleeping snake in a tree overhanging the river.

Lunch was really good too. Had some traditional thai homecooked food. Sat around for a bit and then we got driven back to the hotel. We both took a shower and proceeded to go out for a bit of a wander and explore town.

Khao Lak is really a small town with a small town feel - everyone seems to be moving in slow motion, which is fantastic. We went for 2 hours of massages, had some dinner and that was Day 1.

The next day, we decided that we'd spend another relaxing day doing much of nothing, and on a whim, decided to get my hair braided for the scuba diving trip. 3 hours (yes THREE HOURS) later, my head was in braids for a bargain basement price of A$25 - OMG, these thai hairdressers are soooooooo patient!! But the braids gave me a headache (which took me a few days to get used to actually!!). Another massage later, and we were just about to head to the dive shop to meet up with our dive co-ordinator and a downpour!!! Rained and rained and rained - I wish it would rain like that in our Aussie reservoirs.... sigh.... it was only a short distance to the dive shop, but a 3 min run through the downpour and we were drenched!!! As expected, a few people were late and about 30mins later the rain stopped.... DOH! ah well....

Gallery: 2007 Korea

kelly — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Singapore and Korea with Martin and Julie

Singapore - CNY Dinner

kelly — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:30:00 GMT

3pm Singapore time - Im here!!!!!! Mum and dad were wraptd that I got back in time for CNY dinner.

We love kim chi, but you have to admit, too much of a good thing can really get ya!! Afterall, we were all 'kim-chied' out. So we decided to have Boon Tong Kee chicken rice... a nice change from spicy spicy spicy.... After dinner, we went out to Orchard Road, and I was kicking myself because the Chingay decorations lighted up the street and I left my camera at home... bummer. In anycase it was really pretty - that and also picked up 1kg of chinese BBQ meat (they call Bah Kua) - went home and put some in the oven whilst having red wine and watching Cradle of Life (Tomb Raider 2) on Dad's new projector.

Next day went to a couple of dive shops after having Prata at Raffles Place (again!) and Ethan gave his amex a good workout. 2 pairs of fins, booties and gloves and a wetsuit + a dive bag took us 40mins and S$925 (about A$770) to purchase... sheese! Not too bad considering we both got Scubapro Jetfins and really nice booties and gloves too. Check out http://www.livingseas.com.sg/index.htm - only disadvantage of that is that we'll look like twins underwater (apart from the hair... heh heh.... Dragonball).

Back home for a quick break before we headed out to Dad's new Yachting Club out in Tuas where we met a 'massive jam' according to the traffic information board - which didnt turn out that massive afterall. It was pouring then, which might explain why. Anyways, dinner at the Yacht Club was nice, and I particularly enjoyed the Yu Sheng (check out YouTube!) and highlight of the night was walking out to the pier. It was quiet and picturesque and there was a cool breeze after the rain had stopped. Dad gave us a tour of his newest Club, and I do look forward to coming out to the boats again when I have a chance on the next trip. Maybe even buy one!!!! haha Had my eye on a 2nd hand Sunchaser ONLY USD175k. haha.... cheap considering one of the more expensive ones was asking for EUR1.75mil... yikes!

Decided to drop by Toa Payoh Hub to get last minute CNY wares. There was a real massive accident, 2 cars on PIE pinballed between the freeway barriers, 3 lanes reduced to 1 and both the hotted up Civic and Corolla looked like they have been in the car crushing machine. So by the time we got to Toa Payoh, it was 10.30pm and we were half expecting all the shops to be shut. But on the contrary, the place was bustling. People everywhere and there was a HUGE Q waiting to pickup mandarins... it was like Christmas all over again!!! Was spewing that I am leaving the next night, coz there was going to be a huge fireworks display to ring in the year of the Pig, and I will be on a plane halfway to Bali when that happens.

Woke up early the next day and more last minute shopping. Another rice cooker and perfume and pressies, even had time to go for free coffee at TCCs.... was pretty relaxed. Got home around 3-ish and took Et to the airport at 5.

At the airport now, and I cant believe I managed to take 45kg onto the plane. Not without alot of stress and coaxing!!! But it all worked out well in the end and I'll be home soon.

It has been a fantastic 15 days, although it feels way too short. I just cant believe that I went from 34deg in Melbourne to the coolness of 28deg in Singapore and then to sometimes sub-zero korea back to 32deg in Singapore and 38deg back home. Wish I had more time to do more, but for now - Im looking forward - forward to my next holiday......

Diving in Phuket - Easter 2007 - Watch this space!!!!!

Seoul - Sickhead..... Puke

kelly — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Arrived back in Seoul after a horrid 4hr bus ride from Changwon. Julie's mum came to the bus terminal to pick us up. One look at the boys and she said - you need some 'after-alcohol' fooood!

She took us to this famous fish soupy rice place, and the boys soaked it in. All felt better after a warm hearty meal, and we headed off to the youth hostel to check-in.

Initially planned to hit the night markets after dinner, however Julie was feeling unwell and went to the doctor's (prob due to the busride) and us three were buggered anyways. Got to about 10pm and we started getting hungry - after getting sucked into Armagaddon on korean cable tv at the hostel.

Took a train to the next suburb - Hongik Uni - in search of our fried chicken or Isaac toast. Finally found one, but it was not what we imagined. Maybe it was the lady who couldnt be bothered with the food as she was closing really soon, but I reckon it was just our tastebuds having been saturated in shoju the night before.

Walked around somemore and found a pub-like establishment. Went in for softies and chicken, although Martin couldnt resist ordering a beer, but in the end it was all too much for him.

That's when it started. I felt nauseous, first time threw up in the ladies and we decided to head back. Tried to get a cab, but apparantly we were too close by and they refused to take us. 3 rejections later, we walked our sorry asses half an hour in 1 deg weather back to the hostel... on the way, I marked my territory..... sad aint it. Throughout the night, I threw up again and again and again - even when I could throw up no more. Gastro for sure!! What bad luck!!!!

It was 8am when I got up the next day - didnt sleep all night and glad that today we had planned to get our hair done, so not too much running around. I got my hair straightened and highlights put in. Martin and Ethan both got a haircut and got their hair coloured (BLUE and SILVER)... yikes!! 4 hours later, both of them looked like cartoon characters out of Dragonball. Haha.... Funny!

Julie's mum joined us later, and we went out to the night markets to buy some wares. Couldnt believe it... but it started raining and it was *brrrrrrrrrrrrr* cold!!!! My shoes were wet, my gloves were wet and I was coooold. But with only 1 night left, we soildered on. The night market is bizzare... Its like all these shops bunged together with no apparant system. I bought myself 2 leather jackets - one ala The Matrix. I didnt have any dinner - everyone else had some soup and later Julie's mum had Lotteria fried chicken and we told ourselves we will have that before we left.... that loooook good! hmmmm... Finally got back home around 10-ish, not too late, but crashed into bed straightaway.

Was supposed to meet up at mid-day the next day, but slept in till 1pm and feeling so much better than the day before. Met up with Julie around 2pm and grabbed the rest of our luggage from Julie's mum and bid her 'arn nyong ha say yoh' and see her in Melbourne when she comes to visit with Jasmine.

First off, headed to Gyeongbokgung where the movie Daegyeonggum was flimed. That place was very interesting, but it was too cold to stay outdoors and we were relieved that we could duck into the National Folk Museum where we learnt alot about the history of the Korean people, their culture, food, practices, religion and generally how they came about becoming Korean.

Next, we headed off to the nearby 'old street' where we managed to purchase a lot of the souveniers that we wanted to take home to friends and family. I bought a nice teacup set and Juya citroen tea for my parents. Martin bought some nice korean chopsticks and spoon set for my folks..... thanks Martin!!

Next, more shopping... we headed to Grand Mart where Martin bought a ricecooker for his mum. The highlight of my shopping trip was the pets section of Grand Mart. It was a serious selection of exotic pets... lizards, chinchillas, tortises and my favourite - baby puffer fish!! wow!

Next off to get a feed - Chilie Crab korean style! OMG - if you wanted collogen injections and couldnt afford it, just have korean chilie crab or chilie potato cod stew... my lips werent only swelling by the end of it, but had turned a dark shade of scarlett.... talk about pouty lips!!!!

Back home to pack... and got sucked into The Matrix on korean cable again. Suckers!! Didnt get to bed at all, and it was time to head off to the airport at 6am. Unfortunately didnt get to have our Lotteria fried chicken for breakfast - we had gone into immigration before finding out it was outside!!!! DOH!!!!

I had a blast... but glad to get out from the cold to go to Singapore. Welcome 28degs!!! phew!