Laura's Travel Journal

From Hammocks to Home

laura_street — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:00:00 GMT

My flight to Fiji went to plan and we landed at about 4:30pm. Once I had collected my luggage, I went outside to wait for the bus. I had booked into a hostel – The Beachouse - on the main island and had been informed that I needed to get the local bus heading to Suva. As soon as I stepped outside the airport, I immediately felt the heat radiating off of the tarmac, although I was dressed inappropriately in Jeans and a T-shirt, it was a welcome change from the last few days of constant rain in New Zealand. I sat on my Rucksack outside the airport and soon got chatting to a local guy who turned out to be the bus ticket man. He told me, along with a German couple who were also getting the bus that the next one would be at 6pm. It finally arrived, old, rickety and full. We shoved our luggage in the compartments under the bus and climbed aboard where I perched on the edge of a seat next to a young girl. The journey ended up being 3hours long and the bus didn’t seem to get any less empty along the way. I was quite happy looking out of the window though (until it got dark) and the locals were extremely friendly, so I was kept entertained. I was even offered Fish and Chips by an old man sitting across the very narrow aisle from me. Finally we arrived at the Beachouse stop and I clambered off of the bus tired and hot. The German couple were also staying for a few days at the same hostel and we were met at the end of the lane by a guy with a torch. We checked in and were shown to our rooms where I met my roommate (who turned out to be quite a character and was the topic of many conversations), had a shower and went to bed.

It was raining when I arrived at the hostel and was still raining the following morning when I woke up, much to my disappointment. I found my way to the bar where they were serving a free breakfast of cereal and toast. I spent the morning with my book, relaxing on the sofas in the bar, waiting for the rain to stop. It finally did early afternoon so I retired to the beach where I spent an hour battling the wind which brought sharp swirls of sand across my body. I gave up after an hour and went back for a shower to try and get the sand out of my hair before dinner. I was a bit bored of my own company by the evening, so walked into the bar and asked a group of young travellers if I could join them. It turned out that they had all met at The Beachouse within the last few days, so I didn’t feel too out of place and soon got chatting. I ended up spending the rest of the week with this random mixture of people.
I found out that my interesting room mate, Kimberley, had been at the resort for 4 weeks. She was chatty enough but spent a lot of her time wandering round, smoking and talking to herself. She was American; we guessed she must have at least been in her 30’s and was obviously a sun worshipper – one of the boys called her handbag face because her skin was like leather! One “Kimberley moment” that kept us giggling all week was that she had planned to go to New Zealand for two weeks as part of her month-long holiday. She made the 3 hour bus journey to the airport on the day of her flight, only to get there to find that she had missed it. When looking at her ticket, she had read the flight number thinking that was the time of her flight. I, along with everyone else, had absolutely no idea how she managed it, seeing as a flight number usually has at least 2 letters in front of it and doesn’t correspond with what would be a sensible time to fly. FJ212 – “Oh” she said “I thought my flight was at 12 minutes past 2”. So she hopped back on a bus to The Beachouse and there she stayed. I think she was a picnic short of a sandwich.

The Hostel, like many other resorts on Fiji, was in the middle of nowhere, with the nearest town being a 45min bus journey away. This meant that our daily activities were limited mainly to lying in hammocks, reading, swimming, chatting and waiting for our free afternoon tea and scones, but the hostel did offer some other options which would use up an hour or two of our lazy days. On Saturday morning we went snorkelling. We were taken to the next bay along by ‘snorkel guy’ (Each employee seemed to have just one set job at the resort and were known to guests by the job that they did - ’snorkel guy’, ‘trek guy’, ‘horse man’, ‘harry the driver’ and so on). It was quite windy, which meant the sea was pretty choppy, but the snorkelling was still really good. We saw royal blue Starfish and tiny electric blue fish that glowed in the dark; we saw a few stingrays and were also lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a White-tipped Reef Shark.

On Monday, Laura, Ian, Tommy and I (the only ones remaining of the original group that I had met on Friday) decided to venture out of the hostel and make the 45minute bus journey to the local town, Sigatoka. The idea was to get there around lunch time to have a look around and have some lunch. We arrived just after 12 and found that the only thing to do there was to look around the vegetable market (10 minutes), have lunch (20 minutes) and buy Rum (5 minutes). The town was tiny and it reminded me slightly of my Asia days. Everywhere felt a little bit grubby, the place where we had lunch served up huge portions of noodles and rice and going into the toilets there scarred me for life. There were ladies on the side of the road selling Corn and people just sort of hung around, not really looking as though they were doing anything, apart from spending the day away from their village.
We were only there for an hour before catching the bus back to the safe haven of The Beachouse. It made me feel bad that we, as tourists, were coming to the ‘Paradise Island’, Fiji, to spend our time on beaches lined with palm trees, reading books whilst swinging in a hammock, drinking cocktails whilst watching the sunset over the sea, when the local people are living in little huts up in the mountains, living off the land, sometimes without running water. But then on the other hand the tourist industry is so big over there that perhaps it is providing the economy with funds to improve living conditions and brings in an increased amount of job opportunities for the local people. It’s hard to tell what’s right.

We signed up to take part in Coconut bowling on Wednesday. Run by one of the many employees, we all had to choose a coconut and try to get it as close as possible to the marker laid a few yards away. We had a couple of rounds on the grass, a couple on the beach and the final on a bridge which crossed a small river. It was trickier than it sounds a neither Laura, Ian or I did well enough to win one of the prizes – an Ice Cream, Soft Drink or Beer. It passed an hour of our afternoon though.

Finally Thursday came around. My final day. We had booked onto a village visit in the morning and were picked up from the hostel at 9am. We were taken to where the local school was and were shown some of the crops that they use on a daily basis – tapioca and coconut. We were then driven to a village where we were shown around by guy who lived there. There were kids running around everywhere and washing was hanging on bits of string outside the huts where families lived. Each village has a church and we were shown around the little building where the village hold services everyday. The place had a real sense of community, everyone knew everyone else, helped each other and waved and shouted ‘Bola!’(Fijian for Hello!) as we passed. We were then taken into the chief’s house where we sat on the floor for a Cava ceremony. Cava is a root vegetable which gets chopped up, dried, ground and mixed with water. Fijians drink this instead of alcohol and a Cava ceremony is used as a way to welcome people into the village. We sat in a circle and were passed half a coconut shell of the concoction in turn. It tasted like it looked, like muddy water, but it was only polite to drink what we were given. It made my tongue feel numb but didn’t seem to have much other effect on me. After our Cava ceremony, some of the children of the village sang a traditional song for us, which was a lovely way to end our visit. We were dropped back to The Beachouse at lunchtime.

My flight wasn’t until 10:50pm and I walked around in a bit of a daze for the rest of the day. I had been so excited about going home for the last few weeks, I hadn’t really thought about feeling anything else and was just picturing seeing dad at the airport and my lovely mum, brothers and Bec when I got home. But although I was still excited about seeing everyone and sleeping in my own bed, I was suddenly scared. My travelling experience, which I had been thinking about and planning since I was 17, was over. What was a going to do now? I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, apart from to see more of the world, which I’d have to wait for. I had been talking about careers all week with my hostel buddies, who all knew what they were going to do – a lawyer, a secondary school music teacher, a history teacher......I guess it would just have to be something I’d have to think more about when I got home.
I packed up my stuff for the last time, throwing away a lot of my travelling clothes which were smelly, tatty and falling apart after 6 months of being in a backpack. I checked out, said goodbye to my friends and went to catch the bus. I got on, amongst the locals, and cried. I did that for a while, being stared at by an old man, who obviously thought I was some crazy white girl, before thinking “Pull yourself together Laura. What are you crying about?” I’ve had the most amazing time, seen and done things that I never thought I’d ever get to see or do. I’ve volunteered in Thailand, help build a house, seen the sunrise over the temples in Cambodia, ridden a scooter around the crazy streets of Vietnam, floated on a rubber ring down a river in Laos, been White Water Rafting, watched the sunset from a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, camped on a sand island, hiked up a glacier, jumped out of a plane. I’ve eaten things I never thought I’d eat, met amazing people who I never would have met under normal circumstances. I’ve travelled the whole way round the world (a big place), some people aren’t lucky enough to get to do that and I’ve done it, at 23. What are you crying about Laura??

I bumped into Ali at the airport after I’d checked in. We knew we were on the same flight home but hadn’t managed to meet up in Fiji. Our flight to L.A. took off only slightly late and I settled down to watch a few films and try and get some sleep. When we arrived in L.A., it was 1pm and still Thursday. My body was extremely confused; I’d had the longest Thursday of my life. Ali and I, along with a girl who I’d got chatting to in the queue for border control in L.A., all checked in together so we could sit together on the plane. Our flight was on time, we just had to sit in the airport for 3 hours. Finally we were on the final stretch. Now I was with friends I felt fine and was just ready to get home. I didn’t really sleep much, but that was expected due to the confusing time zones that I had been through in one day. Coming into land at Heathrow, it was extremely foggy so everything was a bit delayed. We were home to good old English weather and I was surprisingly happy about it. Never expect anything from English weather apart from cold and rain and then anything else is a bonus! We had to wait for a while to get off of the plane once we had landed, which was very frustrating. We were home, I knew dad was in the airport and I couldn’t get off of the plane. Finally we were off and through passport control. Our bags came out pretty quickly and I said goodbye to my travelling buddy, promising to visit each other soon. Dad wasn’t there when I came out of the arrivals gate, so I waited until I saw his head above the crowd. And then I saw another face I recognised...and then another. Mum and Mike were there to surprise me! They didn’t recognise me and were looking straight past me until I stood right in front of them. I was so pleased to see them all. I was home and I was extremely happy about it.

NZ Magic - From South to North

laura_street — Sun, 6 Dec 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Our next stop after Queenstown was Dunedin. We were in a bit of a hurry to get to the North Island now, as we wanted to see as much as possible while we were there and Ali only had just over a week left until his flight to Fiji. We therefore decided to only spent one night in each stop until we reached Wellington.
Dunedin is known as the 'Edingburgh of the South' as it was founded by Scottish settlers. All the street names are the same as they are in Edingburgh and is the site of New Zealand's only castle. It was quite a dreary day when we arrived and was a Sunday, so everything was shut. The town was really quiet and there wasn't really much to do. Ali and I walked around the town for a while, going to see the spectacular Railway Station building and the big church and statue of Robert Burns, which stands in the main square. Not really knowing what to do with ourselves we wandered into the cinema and decided to sit and watch a film. We spent the rest of our evening sheltering from the rain in our hostel.
We thankfully awoke to better weather the following day and were up early to get the bus to our next destination. On the way out of Dunedin we made a stop at the worlds steepest street. It was only short, but walking up in flip flops was extremely difficult. It was so steep that my feet kept slipping out of my shoes.
The next stop was on the beach to see the Moeraki Boulders - huge rocks scattered along the shore, famous for their perectly smooth round shape. After some pictures and a coffee we headed off on a scenic route to Lake Tekapo, where we would be spending the night. We arrived at 'Lakefront Lodge' just before 3pm, so we had the afternoon to ourselves. The surroundings were stunning. Our hostel looked out onto Lake Tekapo, which due to being filled with water from New Zealands largest Glacier, it was the most vibrant turquoise - like nothing I'd ever seen before. Our bus driver said that he'd drive us down to the small church on the edge of the lake and we could then walk back, which is what we did. Church of the Good sheppard is a tiny tiny church on the very edge of the lake, with views of the water and the surrounding mountains. It was beautiful and is apparently still used for weddings. I could see the appeal - the photo's would be amazing! After seeing the church and the statue of Collie Dog (bizarre, but apparently a dedication to the dogs that helped the farmers of the region) we walked slowly back along the side of the lake to our hostel where we ate dinner in the garden with the most amazing view.
The following day we were making our way back to Christchurch. The weather was beautiful again and we were able to enjoy the scenary and once we arrived in Christchurch, have a wander around the town without getting wet! It was good to have a look around, as I had only seen the inside of the hostel last time. For the first time I spotted some Christmas decorations on top of the police station in the main square, reminding me that it was the end of November, not August like it felt it was.
Tuesday it was back to Kaikoura. We were feeling a little despondent as we knew that there wasn't really anything to do in Kaikoura and that it was wasting a day that we could have spent somewhere new. It was a compulsory stop though, so there was nothing we could do. We arrived early and luckily it was another lovely day, so we sat on a bench on the beach reading and writing in our diaries.
The next day we were finally off to the North Island, and really looking forward to it. We were taken to Picton on the bus, which is where the ferry port is. We had a 3 hour ferry journey over to Wellington, which was nice to start off with but became a little windy sitting outside after a while. When we arrived in Wellington, we found that we had to catch the city shuttle bus, which would take us to the train station and then the tram, known locally as the 'Go Bus', which dropped us by our hostel. We didn't end up arriveing until 6pm, after having to wait for our different modes of transport, so we checked in and went straight down to the Hostel bar for our 'free-meal' (free if your only want 3 peices of pasta and a spoonfull of sauce - but you could upgrade to a decent sized meal for $4). It was mine and Ali's last night together as he had to get up to Auckland for his flight, but I had decided that I wanted to stay in Wellington for longer, so we had a few drinks in the bar and went to meet Hannah, who happened to be in town at the same time.

The following day, I was feeling at a bit of a loose end without my travel buddy. I discovered I desperately needed to do some washing and food shopping (even backpackers have to do chores!!) which is how I spent the morning, before going to meet Hannah and her friend for a look around the city. Wellington is known for being windy and it was living up to its reputation on this day. After looking around the shops and city for a while i had to head back to the hostel as I was only in shorts and flip flops, due to all my clothes being in the wash, and was feeling really cold! I bumped into a couple of guys that were in my hostel room as they were heading down for dinner so I decided to join them and ended up spending the whole evening with them. We had a really good night and it was nice to be back in a city that wasn't really quiet and where the pubs had more then 2 people in.
I woke up to torrential rain on saturday morning so decided to go to the 'Te Papa' museum. It includes exhibitions about New Zealand's history and ways of life - including their Earthquakes, (New Zealand is spread over 2 tetonic plates, so they have earthquakes everyday - the majority of which are too small to feel, but some which have been absolutely huge and destryed whole towns) Maouri traditions and the diifferent settlers that have come here. The museum was massive - spread over 6 floors, and I ended up spending nearly 4 hours in there. It was really interesting though and I learnt a lot. All for free too!!

After 3 nights in the Capital City, it was time to move on the following day. We set off at 7:45am through the Rimutaka Ranges. Passing through little towns we pulled up at 11:30am at the Tui Brewery. Magic customers got a special tasting deal - 3 pints for $2, which is less than 1pound! It was a really nice day after the constant rain on saturday, so we sat in the brewery garden entertained by a little folk band. I couldnb't quite manage 3 pints in the time that we were there, but thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun with a couple of pints on a sunday lunchtime.

We arrived into our overnight stop, Napier by early afternoon. It was strange to be on my own again but seeing as it was such a lovely day, I decided to make the most of it by going for a walk. The town of Napier was all but destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in Art Deco style - the fashion at that time, so the town centre in Napier is all flat roofs and brightly colured, patterened buildings. The owner of my hostel gave me a map and highlighted a route that would take me on a 2 hour walk around Napier. I followed the route which took me along the beach, up to a lookout point, down to the harbour, through the Botanical Gardens and finally through town. It was a really good way to see the town and by the time I got back it was dinner time and I hadn't noticed being on my own half as much as I thought I would have.

It was up early and back on the bus the next morning, heading for my next stop - Rotorua. We stopped off in the Lakeside town of Taupo to drop people off as this was an optional stop. I would have liked to have stopped here too but I was now only 4 days away from my flight date, so had to press on. After Taupo we stopped at Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. As we were stopping here for a while, I decided to pay to go in and have a look around and I'm so pleased I did. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Steam rising up from the ground and water and mud bubbling away in huge bowl-shapped cavities in the ground. The strong smell of rotting eggs and fertiliser was constantly evident as you walked around the pools due to the huge amount of sulpher in the earth. The water in the pools was the most amazing thing. Naturally flourescent Yellow, Orange, red, lime green caused by the different substances in the volcanic rock. I wandered around here for an hour before boarding the bus again and heading for Rotorua. The weather had changed for the worse and there was now constant rain. This meant that any sight seeing of the government gardens or the lake at Rotorua was put off for the afternoon, in the hope that it would be brighter the following day. There wasn't really much else to do in Rotorua and being by myslef in a quiet hostel, out of town I was a little bored.
Tuesday the weather wasn't any better. We weren't being picked up until lunchtime so I just sat in the hostel writing my blog and diary, until the bus arrived.

Our next destination was Mount Maunganui, which was only a couple of hours away from Rotorua. There was only one hostel option here, so everyone on the bus stayed in the same place, which made it easier to get chatting to other people from the bus. I was put in a room with a nice girl from Newcastle (Emma) and although it was still raining, we decided we should go and see 'The Mount' while we were there. The town was actually really nice and there was a lovely sandy beach down by the mount, which would have been a nice place to spend the afternoon had the weather permitted. We had a wander round and then went back to the hostel for dinner (mine were becoming more and more interesting as I tried to use up what food I had left).

Wednesday 2nd December was my final jouney on the Magic Bus to Auckland. I was pleased to have met Emma as it meant I had someone to spend my last night in New Zealand with. Still absolutely pouring with Rain we trudged down the main High Street in Auckland trying to take in as much of the sights as possible, but being a city there wasn't too much to see, especially in the rain. We decided to go out for a few drinks that evening and headed down to the hostel bar for our free meal - which consisted of a few lettace leaves and two mini spring rolls. We then moved onto a different hostel bar, where our bus driver and a few of the people from the bus had said they weere going for drinks. While we were in there Emma bumped into a girl that she met in Sydney a couple of months ago (who comes from Crowborough!) and we ended up spending the rest of the night with her and her friends. In one bar that we were in, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Chris, one half of a couple that Leanne and I had met in Mission Beach at the very beginning of our Australia trip. It was so strange that we just happened to be in the smae place at the same time, after not seeing each other for nearly 2 months. We had a really good night and it was a fun way to spend my final night in New Zealand.

I had to gert the airport shuttle bus at 10o'clock on Thursday morning. I felt my usual airport excitement - going somewhere new, meeting new people and after my constant travelling in New Zealand, just relaxing for a week before flying home. Ali was going to be going to one of the many Fijian Islands and I would have like to have met up with him but, being the end of my trip, my finances wouldn't allow it so I decided to head to a place on the mainland and see what happened from there.

The countdown to going home begins.....

NZ Magic - Christchurch to Queenstown

laura_street — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:30:00 GMT

My flight to New Zealand was uneventful and fairly relaxing. I arrived into Christchurch at 3pm, local time. Upon decent the pilot told us that it was 10 degrees that day and as I stepped out of the airport and onto a bus the temperature was a bit of a shock to the system after my 30degree weekend in Melbourne. I had pre-booked into a hostel in Christchurch city centre for monday night and after a 20minute bus journey my helpful Kiwi bus driver pointed me across Cathedral Square to Base Backpackers. I checked in and on my way to my room found Ali on one of the computers in the internet room. Coincidently, we had been put in the same dorm room and we were able to catch up while I got settled in for the night. Hannah, who I had met in Melbourne, was also staying in the same hostel so we went down to the hostel bar to make the most of Happy hour. Ali and I were both booked on to take the "Magic Bus" around New Zealand and our tour started the following day. Our route was going to take us on a loop of the south Island before going up to the North Island and ending in Aukland. The bus has both comulsory and optional stops, which gives you the choice to stop where you want to. The drivers recommend hostels to stay in and activities to do when you reach your destination and will book these for you en-route if you would like them to. The south island route means that you have to stay in Christchurch twice, so I wasn't worried about not really seeing "the most English city outside of England" before setting off for our first stop, Kaikoura. Along the way we had a breakfast stop and stopped to take photo's of a seal colony who were relaxing on some rocks just below the road on the shoreline. We also had a short 5 minute walk up to a waterfall where seal pups were playing in a little pool there. Unfortunately, the weather was grey and drizzley so pictures weren't quite as good as they could have been but it was still nice to see animals in their natural habitat. We arrived in Kaikoura at around lunchtime and checked into our hostel before going to suss out the area. There were options to go dolphin, whale or seal watching, but I decided to opt out. If I heard it was really good I could always do it when we came back on the way up to the North Island. We found Kaikoura to be very small and quiet although the scenary was amazing, just like it had been during the bus journey from Christchurch. Snow topped mountains join the sea and it feels like you are constantly walking around inside a postcard or a canvas painting. I even didn't mind the rain because it meant that the trees and grassy hills were a vibrant green - not the beige and brown I was used to in much of dry Australia - and the waterfalls we passed along the way were gushing with fresh water. The weather brightened up as we walked down the one main street in Kaikoura and we took photos and looked at seafood restaurant menu's before deciding that we couldn't afford the local delicacy - Cray fish, afterall. (Kai means "to eat" and Koura translates to "crayfish"). We decided to try the local fish and chips instead for dinner and dubiously went to a small little cafe which suprised us by presenting us with delcious fish and chips for $8.50 (4 pounds!!). While walking back to our hostel, Dusky Lodge, after dinner we spotted Hannah in another one of the hostel bars and we decided to pop in and say hello, which ended up in us being persuaded to take part in the Pub Quiz. We were a terrible team and ended up losing the first 2 rounds, which led to us having to drink a shot of Tequila and tabassco and downing half pints of larger through a straw. Not quite the civilised evening we had started off with. The following day we were picked up from our hostel at 8:30 to head towards our next stop, Blenheim. It was an optional stop on the tour but it was in the Marlborough Wine distrct and surrounded by Wineries which produced Wine that Ali had sold during his time working for Majestic Wines at home, so he was keen to go on a wine tasting trip and, of course, I was happy to tag along. We were dropped off, along with another girl on our bus, at a small homely hostel in the tiny town of Blenheim just before lunch time and booked on to an afternoon Winery tour. We went to Lawson's Dry Hills, Wither Hills, Saint Clair, Drylands and Baldervines. We sampled maybe six or seven wines in each - Sauvingon Balnc, Cardonnay, Piont Noir, Reisling....the list is endless. Ali taught me some wine tasting tricks, to help bring out the different flavours and help me appreciate the different wines. By the end of the tour (which lasted a good four hours) I was feeling a little tipsy but had thoroughly enjoyed myself and had spent the whole afternoon thinking "Mum would absolutely love this". It had been a perfect way to spend a rainy, grey afternoon! We spent the evening tucked away in our comfy hostel reading and catching up on our journals. The following mroning our pick-up wasn't due until 11:00am, so we enjoyed a bit of a lie in before the bus turned up, slightly late, at 11:45. Our next stop was Nelson but along the way we had a pit stop in Picton to pick up people who had travelled over from Wellington, in the north island, on the Ferry. We arrived in Nelson around 4:30pm and were given a quick tour of the town before being dropped off at our hostels. Taking a little walk around the town that afternoon we were suprised at how quiet it was considering it was meant to be one of the larger towns on the west coast. There was such a diiference between the towns here and the towns down the East Coast of Australia, which were always bustling with backpackers and there was always someone in the bars. We were booked onto a trip to Abel Tasman National park on Friday, so were up at 6am to make our packed lunch and catch our "Magic Connections" bus to the little bay, where we were met by a boat which took us on a scenic trip up the coast of the park to where we were going to start our four hour walk. The start of the walk was a fairly steep uphill climb but I was pleased to finally be getting some much needed exercise and the views once we reached the top were more than worth a bit of thigh ache. As we continued our walk through the park the sun came out and every corner we turned provided us with more stunning views and photo opportunities. By the end of the day I had so many "scenic" photo's, I could have opened a postcard shop. After a couple of hours, we decided to have our lunch-break down in a deserted little bay, just off of the walking track. By this time my feet, which had been used to being in Flip Flops for 5 months, had begun to blister inside my walking shoes. Unfortunately this put a bit of a dampner on the rest of the walk - my feet always seem to ruin my fun! Despite my hobbling towards the end of the trail, we still reached our detinatation, Marahou, well ahead of schedule and I was able to introduce Ali to the Street Family Tradition of a much earned pint at the end of a walk. We were picked up by the bus and driven back to our hostel, where we spent the evening with a bottle of the Locally brewed ale and some Pasta. It was another early start on Saturday morning to make our way down to Greymouth. We made a couple of stops along the way at Cape Foulwind (so named by Captin Cook after his ship was blown of course here....not because he ate too many beans) where we saw yet another seal colony relaxing on the rocks. Another stop was made at "Pancake Rocks", where we did a litttle 10 minute walk to see the flat-topped rocks that lined the coast line. We arrived in Greymouth (where it was indeed Grey) at about 5:30. We had just about enough time to check in before being picked up to go on a tour of Monteiths Brewery. Monteiths is one of New Zealand's famous Breweries and produces its own Ales, Pilsner and Cider. We had a short tour around the working part of the Brewery, where we were told about the process of making the beers, before hitting the brewery bar to sample the friuts of their labour. We got a taste of each ale and then got to pour half a pint of our own choice (I think I'd need more practice before working in an actual bar!). The price of the Brwery tour also included dinner at one of the pubs in Greymouth Town, which we enjoyed along with jugs of Monteiths Original. There isn't really a lot going on in Greymouth and considering it was a saturday night the pub was extremely quiet. As the night wore on though, it became evident that "The Railway" was the only place to go in Greymouth that stays open past 11 o'clock and soon there were all sorts on the small dancefloor - hen parties, backpackers, old men. Ali and I spent the rest of the evening being entertained by people dancing away to the in-house band. Our next destination was the alpine town of Franz Josef. After stopping off in the town's of Hikitika (famous for Pounamu (Greenstone)) and Ross (famous for Gold mining), we arrived early afternoon to yet more rain. Ali and I had decided to do a Full Day Glacier hike, so after booking oursleves onto this we had the afternoon free, although I was so cold (being higher up in the mountains with added rain and cold wind) that we didn't really manage to do much apart from write in our jounals and drink hot tea. The following morning (Monday) we had to report to the Glacier Hike office at 8:15. We were fully kitted out with hiking boots, waterproof trousers and coats, gloves and hats. Once ready to go we were driven for 15minutes up to the Glacier Car park. Our first sighting of the Glacier was when we emerged through the trees into a rocky valley. Steep mountains with the occassional impressive waterfall lined the sides of the Valley making the Glacier appear a lot closer than the 2km it actually was. Here the start of our trek began. We walked to the bottom of the Glacier, which up close was even more amazing - just a huge block of ice, dotted with the occasional black rock, rising up from the valley floor. We sat on large rocks to put on our Crampons, which were going to enable us to walk on the ice, and were given a safety talk from our guide. We then begn the hard climb up the hand-made steps at the bottom of the Glacier. The first part was the steepest and the hardest but my surroundings made me forget about my burning legs and lack of breath and once we reached the top of that first climb and taken off a layer of clothing we were ready to see more. It was the most amazing experience. The ice is so compact that it traps the sunlight and refelcts a deep turquoise colour back at you. Our tour guide was ahead of us, constantly digging steps and pathways out of the ice with a huge pickaxe. We climbed up and down and squeezed between big mounds of Ice and through ice caves, my only embarrassing moment being when I slipped a few feet back down the rope while trying to climb up and out of an ice cave with mittens on. I learnt my lesson after that though and I was suprised at my lack of accidents during the whole day. I think I may have to invest in a pair of Crampons for the bottom of my shoes to wear in day to day life. They managed to keep me fully upright the whole time! My only injury being my blasted feet. I started the day with double plasters on both heels and managed to ignore the rubbing until we reached the rocky valley at the end of the hike. Here I found I couldn't walk properly across the uneven ground and was left hobbling behind the group back to the car park. I was almost in tears by the time I reached the bus and once I had taken my boots off I realised that the plasters and tape I had put on my feet in preparation had slipped off during the hike and I now had nasty looking holes in the back of my heels, so painful even walking without anything on my feet was difficult. We walked back to the hostel to grab our swimming things before heading down to make use of the Hot Pools to rest our weary limbs (i'm actually speaking for myself here, I think Ali's legs were more used to exercise than mine, although he was suffering with a bad blister too). The Hot Pools were basically just three different extremlely large hot tubs of varying temperatures but they were nice to relax in and we got entry at a discounted rate because we'd booked it at the same time as our hike. We were moving on again the next day, this time to Fox Glacier. This was also an optional stop off but Ali had been recommended by a couple of friends to go here and do a sky dive, so we booked to do a jump from our hostel in Franz before we had time to think about it. It was only a half an hour drive to Fox Glacier, so we were checked in to our hostel by 8:45 on Tuesday Morning and headed straight for the small airfield. Here we were met by 2 guys in jumpsuits - Deano and Rod. We were given our own jumpsuits to climb into and were given a quick demo of what positions we had to hold when we were in free fall. It all went so quickly - I had visions of us going through meticulous safety procedures and talks, but within 10minutes we were squashed into a tiny plane, strapped to our instructors. The weather was fairly good - if a little cloudy, but it didn't affect our visibility in the slightest. We were given a 20 minute scenic flight over Fox Glacier and the surrounding mountains, which was incredible. I was surprised at how calm I felt. No nerves at all and I was just enjoying the view and taking loads of pictures - this was until we reached 12,000ft and they opened the door. It was so loud and for the first time I felt a few butterflies in my stomach. Ali was right by the door, so it was him who was going out first. Suddenly he just disappeared. No wave, no warning, he flew past the plane window with Rod and a parachute attached to his back. As soon as Ali was gone it was my turn. I had to shuffle along the plane floor towards the door, which was more difficult than it sounds with a man attached to you. I had to dangle my legs out the door and, it sounds ridiculous, but the strength of the wind shocked me and my legs were being forced to side. The pilot peeled my hand off the side of the door (I didn't even realise I was hanging on!) and there I was just hanging out the side of a plane at 12,000 feet. I wasn't even sitting on the edge any more - Deano was holding all my weight. After a couple of pictures taken by a camera on the plane wing I felt my self tip forward and we were out. I think I made some sort of little screeching noise as we went tumbling through the air, the plane and the ground flashing through my vision. I felt a tap on my shoulder indicating I had to assume the Free fall position - arms out to the side, legs bent at the knees. We fell through the air like this for 45 seconds and I was smiling the whole time. I knew this because I was suddenly aware of my teeth hurting due to the air being so cold. I felt movement behind me and suddenly we slowed down, it went quiet and my legs swung out in front of me. I heard Deano ask me if I was alright and then say "we've got a good 'chute up there so we're not going to die today". The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. The views were stunning and once the parachute had opened it was so peaceful. I could have stayed up there for hours. Another positive of diving at Fox is that they allow you to take your own camera up with you, attached on a string around your neck. So once I was under the parachute I could take out my camera and get photo's of the views. I saw Ali land safely below me and Deano circled us round (which caused my stomach to turn, like I was on a rollercoaster) and we landed extremely softly on our bottoms on the landing strip. I couldn't believe it was over and wanted to do it again! Ali and I climbed into the car and were driven back to the airfield, babbling away like excited school kids the whole way. We both absolutely loved it. By 10:30 we were walking back to our hostel with 2 days ahead of us in this tiny alpine village. Ideally we would have only stayed for one night, but there wasn't a bus coming through Fox the following day, so 2 nights was our only option. After being on the move constantly for a week, we decided to make the most of our days off and read, catch up on our journals and have a lie in! On Thursday we travelled to Queenstown. It was a fairly long day on the bus, not arriving into Queenstown until nearly 6pm, but we had a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was only 10minutes after we'd got on the bus - Lake Matheson. Also known as the 'Mirror Lake' due to the reflections if the surrounding Southern Alps that can be seen on the surface. Unfortunately it was a fairly cloudy day, so the mountains were hidden. We still took the short walk down to the Lake and saw some moody cloud refections. The next stop was at Lake Wanaka, which was yet another stunning Lakeside town, with views of mountains lining the edge of the lake. We sat here for a while, admiring the view and waiting for the bus to come back after having to go off to pick people up and fill up with petrol. On our way into Queenstown we passed the worlds first commercial bungey site, the Kawarau Bridge. It looked pretty scary!! Queenstown is known as being home to many extreme sports and there is a lot here to keep you entertained and help you spend all your money. We booked onto a trip to Milford Sound on Friday, so once we'd booked into our hostel and had a little wander round town we had a quiet evening in preparation for our early morning the following day. It was a long journey to Milford Sound but, as usual, the scenary was stunning - especially through the Fiordland National Park, and we stopped in a few places to take photo's. We arrived at the ferry port around lunchtime and boarded our boat for a two hour cruise through the Sound. It rains at least 200 days a year in that part of the world, so we weren't surprised to find ourselves in our raincoats. In a way though, the rain adds to the scenary. It means that the waterfalls are flowing and the plants and trees are a luscious dark green. As well as the many waterfalls and hanging valleys, we also caught a glimpse of seals and one lone penguin. As we pulled back into the port, the rain stopped and the sun made an attempt to shine, which meant that we got a clearer view of the scenary on our coach journey home. Ali had booked to do a canon swing on saturday morning. I was tempted after absolutely loving the sky dive, I had got a taste of extreme adrenaline highs, but it was another $200, so I decided to save my money. Maybe I'll do it next time I come to New Zealand..... I paid $20 to go and watch instead. It was a 15minute drive out to the Canyon Swing site and in the minibus on the way there I felt more nervous then I did just before I jumped out of a plane! I'm not sure why, but perhaps it was a good job I wasn't jumping after all! Ali got harnessed up and I went up to the look out point, armed with both of our camera's. Canyon swing is simialr to a bungey, but instead of just going down and up again, you swing out across the canyon in a 200metre arc. You can also choose how you jump off...forward, backwards, flip, attached to a plastic chair, upside down. Ali chose to do the "pin drop" first, where he just hopped off the edge sideways. I think that would be the worst bit - having to jump off yourself. It's an unnatural thing to do. At least with a Skydive, you don't have the option. Your Rod or Deano decides for you. He did it though, just a little sideways hop was the difference between him being on a solid platform and flying through the air. The guys who work there really wind you up before you jump too, pretending they haven't attached you to your harness properly or that there is serious risk of injury or death if you jump in a certain way. Ali loved it though - so much that he jumped a second time. This time they hung him off the side of the platform on his back and just cut the rope when he wasn't really paying attention, so he went swinging across the canyon on his back. It looked so much fun - but pretty nerve wracking. We spent the rest of our day in Queenstown and decided that since we were in a place that actually had more then one pub and got busy at night, that we should take the opportunity to have a night out. We started in a bar where we got 2-4-1 drinks and bumped into Rick, a Canadian guy who was on the Brewery Tour and Glacier Hike with us. He was with a friend and we ended up doing a little bar crawl with them and had a really good night. It's funny how, when you're travelling you randomly bump into the same people in different towns. It makes things more intersting though and I think Ali was happy to have someone to talk to about motorbikes and cars and other boy things which I have no knowledge of!

Australia - The final Chapter

laura_street — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Dear Readers,
Please accept my sincere appologies for the delay in the update. I don't really know what happened in Australia but I was unmotivated, which is naughty.
Now in New Zealand I will ensure that my blog is kept up to date more frequently so that you all know that I am still alive.
Thank you for your continued support.
All my love x x x

From Rainbow Beach we caught the trusty Greyhound bus to Noosa. Upon arrival I could see why it was a popular destination for the wealthy, further down the coast, to have holiday homes. It's small, quiet, has nice beaches and gorgeous little cafe's and restaurants for backpackers like us to stare wistfully at as we walk home to cook rice. We found a minibus to take us to a hostel that was a little way out of town but still nice enough and offering a special deal if you booked in for three nights, which is what we did.
The following day we arranged to go to Australia Zoo. We caught the free transfer bus that ran from the centre of Noosa to the zoo. We were shown a DVD about Steve Irwin on the way to remind us of the man who set it all up. Leanne, Ali and I spent the day seeing huge Crocodiles and snakes, feeding Kangaroo's, stroking Koala's and having what felt like a good family day out! We saw a show in the "Crociseum" which involved snakes and crocs and big colourful birds flying over our heads.
Steve Irwin and his family are still a huge part of the Zoo and being there and watching the dvd's that we were shown on the bus makes you realise how much Steve Irwin did for Australian Wildlife and how passionate he was about it all. It's such a shame he's not around anyomore to carry on his great work.

Noosa has a huge national park which Leanne and I decided we should see while we were there. We got up on Tuesday morning and set off on a costal walk. Only wearing flipflops we weren't really that well prepared but we still had a good walk around the coast, through different bays (one of which was a nudist beach which shocked us a little bit) finally arriving back by the Main Beach in Noosa. We sat resting our weary legs (neither of us had done so much exercise in a long time!) and had lunch before making our way to a lookout. It was a pretty tough walk up there and it was so so hot, which made it harder, but we made it and the view was stunning. We trudged back to Noosa junction where we flagged down the minibus going back to our hostel.
After our third night in Noosa we booked a greyhound to Brisbane. Leanne had already spent quite a bit of time in Brisbane as she has family there so we decided to see the main sights and then move on the following day. We arrived just before lunch time and went to The Valley and then South Bank, all very nice but not really much to see for tourists. We spent the night in a cramped hostel with the creakiest beds I have ever witnessed. So after a very disturbed nights sleep we made our way to the station to catch the train to Leanne's Aunt and Uncle's in the Gold Coast. We said goodbye to Ali here. He was heading further down the coast to Coolangatta, but we arranged to meet up again in Sydney.
Leannes Aunt Carol was waiting for us at the station when we arrived. She drove us back to her house in the comfort of her BMW. I couldn't get over the house when we arrived. It was absolutely pristine and big enough for Leanne and I to have our own bedrooms with double beds and en-suite bathrooms. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about sleeping in a proper, comfortable, non-creaky bed and being able to shower in a clean bathroom which had guaranteed hot water. The house itself was in a gated community which backed out onto the river. All the houses looked like show homes, it reminded me a bit of Stepford wives. There was a small pool and patio area out the back where Leanne and I whiled away the hours reading until Ethan got home from school. Ethan is Leanne's cousin 8 year old son. Sweet, socialable and full of energy. We spent our first evening in watching The Jonas Brothers concert DVD. We didn't mind though, just grateful to be sitting on a comfortable sofa and having an early night.
Most of our days there were just spent by the pool or at the man-made beach, reading and catching up on some sleep. One evening we were taken out for dinner to a nice seafood restaurant where we ate Oysters and "Sea bugs" (like Lobster) and big Prawns and drunk proper wine (not the cheap, boxed stuff we were used to). We were both in our element and were thouroughly spoilt.

Saturday evening we went to Surfers Paradise to visit Leanne's friends from work. We stayed at their house and had a nice evening in, chatting and eating BBQ food cooked inside! (it was a little bit chilly to be sitting outside eating)
On Sunday we went for a walk along the beach, where there were plenty of Surfers to watch (or just look at) and had a wander through town to the Tribal Travel shop where Leanne used to work. We booked our Blue Mountains trip in preparation for our visit to Sydney and I booked my Bus Tour for New Zealand. We then decided to go for a little drive (as we had use of Carol's car) into the mountains to Springbrook, where we had a short walk through the forest. We were on our way back to Carol and Frank's when the car started playing up. We knew we were low on petrol, but not that low! Going up a hill the car completely gave up and came to a stop. We were still in the middle of nowhere and for a while we just sat there looking at each other wondering what we were going to do - we couldn't pick up the phone and call Dad! Luckily there was a sign for a hotel just a few metres up the road, so Leanne stayed with the car while I went off to find the Hotel. I had to walk up a long driveway, but came to a tiny Hotel. I walked in and felt all eyes on me as I made my way to the bar. It was full of Australian men who obviously live in the area and this was their local. I told the bar lady about our situation and asked how far it was to the nearest petrol station - "too far to walk" being the answer. She then shouted across the bar "is anyone going into town? This girl needs petrol". My response was to go bright red and smile hopefully at all the old men. No one answered but a hippy looking guy with long dreadlocks and bare feet sauntered up to the bar. "You looking for petrol? I just filled up my tank this morning, It's in the back of my Ute". Seeing no other option I gratefully hopped into dreadlocked mans truck and he drove me down the hill to where Leanne was waiting. He emptied his tank of petrol into the car and said we could pay him back by buying him a beer. Grateful as we were, we weren't about to go and sit in a random bar, full of Australian men with a dreadlocked man. So we graciously declined saying we had to get back, gave him some money and off we went again. It's all an experience.....
We stayed with Carol and Frank for nearly a week in the end. Ethan had won two free tickets to a show called "Outback Spectacular" and Carol asked if we wanted to take him, which is how we spent our last night there. The show involved lots of horses, some cattle and sheep and cheesy singing and chanting. We were given free cowboy hats which we had to wear throughout the show and had a three course meal with wine. It probably wouldn't have been something I would have paid the $80 ticket price for, but it was something a bit different and Ethan enjoyed himself, so his enthusiasm rubbed off on us.
On wednesday morning Carol drove us back to Surfers Paradise to catch our Greyhound to Byron Bay. It was a 2 hour journey, plus an extra hour for "Daylight Saving" (clocks going forward an hour). I still find it bizarre that different states in Australia are almost like different countries. Queensland doesn't have Daylight saving but we drove 30minutes down the road across the border into New South Wales and suddenly we had lost an hour.

We had already booked into a hostel in Byron Bay and met a minibus at the bus stop which took us there.
Leanne's friend form work, Alex, had arranged to meet us in Byron to join us on a tour that we were doing on the Thursday. Being a travel agent she managed to get us a private room for the price of a dorm room which meant we were eased back in gently to the hostel lifestyle. On Thursday morning the three of us were picked up by a big blue mini bus to go on "Jim's Alternative Tour". Our main destination was Nimbin - a tiny hippy town famed for it's relaxed atmosphere (mainly due to marijuana consumption). Along the way we stopped at a pub for a drink (at 11am) and a couple of lookout points. We arrived in Nimbin around lunchtime so we had a wander down the one main street all the while being offered "Cookies" and "Cake" and "Weed". We ate lunch and had a look around the Nimbin Museum, which contained many artefacts relating to the legalisation of weed.
The next stop on our tour was at the house of a crazy hippy. He had "art" in his garden which was actually just old Ironing boards, t.v's and rusty gardening tools. He had frizzy long hair and wore patchwork clothes and talked in a "far out man, every creature in the world is equal" type of way. We sat on his veranda until he started getting all "at one with the world" and spouting crazy hippy theories, when Leanne, Alex and I decided to go and float on rubber rings in his lake.
From here it was time to start heading back to Byron, being entertained by our driver and his themed music.
We went out for a few drinks in the evening with Alex, but Byron turned into a sleezy tourist destination at night, so we didn't last long being leered at in the street and attempting to avoid being dragged on to non-existant dance floors in pubs.
We spent friday wandering round the little shops and sitting on the beach until Alex had to head back to Surfers. We booked our Bus to Sydney to leave on Ssaturday evening, so Friday night was spent in the hostel chatting to a coupe of Norwegian girls who came to sit on our table.
Saturday was yet another day at the beach, (we're very well practiced at this past-time now) where we stayed until we got cold and had to go and make diner before catching our bus at 8:30.
It was a long journey to Sydney, 14hours overall and I didn't really sleep at all. By the time we arrived in Central Sydney at 10am, we were tired and hungry, unsure where our hostel was and there was no nice little mini bus meeting us like there had been in the smaller beach towns. We knew we had to ge the train to St James station but from there it was pretty much a mystery apart from the vague directions we were given on our booking voucher. We ended up spending an hour and a half traipsing round with our huge bags on our backs looking for the hostel. During those 90minutes it had begun to rain - heavily, and we walked up and down the same street about 4 times. We finally realised, after getting through to the hostel on the phone, that it had been where we had started and we crashed into reception cold, wet and close to tears.
After a hot shower and a chat to some of the people in our room we were feeling better and went to find some lunch. It was still raining so we decided against sight seeing and ended up in the cinema instead. Luckily, the rain had eased by the time the film finished but we had a trip to the Blue Mountains the following day, so we walked back to the hostel for an early night.
We awoke the following morning to more rain. Optimisitcally we put on flip flops and leggings and packed our raincoats in out bags. As it turned out, we didn't take our raincoats off all day and our feet were so cold by the end of the day they were completely numb. The day would have been brilliant if it wasn't for the rain. The weather prevented us from seeing any of the amazing views we were promised and meant we spent our lovely woodland walks concentrating on not falling over rather than our surroundings. However we tried to make the most of it and laugh through the pain of numb, wet feet. We were driven up to the mountains in a minibus, stopping off at various points along the way. We warmed up by having lunch in a nice little cafe in a small village and then went on Australia's steepest cable car down the mountain and the worlds steepest finicular railway back up again. Our trip included a Ferry ride down the river in order to get back to the centre of Sydney which meant I got my first glimpse of the famous Opera House and Harbour bridge...all through the cloud and rain though, so I decided to save the photograph taking for another day. We didn't get back to the hostel until 7:30 so it was a long day, but after warming up and having showers we went to meet Ali for a drink as we hadn't seen him since we went our seperate ways in Brisbane.
Tuesday morning wasn't as rainy as it had been for the past couple of days, so we decided to go and do a bit of sightseeing. We walked down to Darling Harbour with Ali and Matt, another guy who was in our dorm room. The harbour is lined with nice seafood restaurants and bars and there is an aquariam, a huge theatre and entertainment centre - none of which we went in. We wandered around, taking photos and generally looking like tourists before going to meet Matts friend Ben. I had also arranged to meet Kylie (a friend I made on my Cambodia trip who is from Sydney) on Tuesday evening, so the 5 of us got on a train to Newton - the little part of town Kylie lives in - to meet her in her local pub. It was really nice to see her again and we didn't stop talking for the whole evening. Before I knew it it was time for us to catch the last train back into the City Centre where we followed the boys to a bar which our hostel had arranged a night out to.
After our late night on Tuesday, we had a lie in and therefore a bit of a late start on Wednesday. By Wednesday afternoon the rain had finally stopped and the sun came out so we decided to get the Ferry to Manly, a small beach town in Sydney bay. The Ferry took us right past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, which this time I was able to get pictures of! Once we were in Manly we had a wander round the town and saw the main beach - which was extremly windy, before going to sit on the smaller, more sheltered stretch of sand on the other side of the island. We caught the Ferry back to Sydney city centre after a couple of hours and walked up to the Opera house to take more photos (I now have more than I know what to do with!) and went for a stroll through the Botanical Gardens. By this time it was starting to get dark so we had some dinner and headed back to the hostel.
We decided to go to stay in Bondi Beach for the night on Thursday night. Being one of the most famous beaches in the world I thought I should see it and spend a bit of time there! Matt, Ben and Ali were all staying at the hostel in Sydney, so we were able to leave our big rucksacks with them while we went off to stay in a hostel in Bondi for the night. It was a strange little place. The town reminded me a little of a little seaside town at home. Mainly because of the grey sky when we first arrived, but also because of the little coloured buildings that climbed the hill at either side of the bay and the quirky little cafes and restaurants that were so different to the huge chains that we had seen in Sydney City Centre. We managed to sit on the beach for a little while wrapped up in hoodies and scarves to protect us from the wind. We sat there and read and watched the surfers until we got cold and decided to go back to the hostel for showers and to have something to eat.
The following day we awoke to bright sunshine and warm weather so we excitedly donned our bikinis and went to see Bondi Beach in it's full glory. It was packed and there were so many surfers out at sea we were kept entertained for hours. Ali came to meet us for the day and we sat on the beach and wandered along the little prominade before getting the bus back to Harbour City Backpackers to stay for a few more nights.
Saturday was Haloween so Leanne and I wandered into town to buy some accessories to help us look like we'd made some sort of effort for the hostel Halloween party. Some people really made an effort and we had a really good night and met a lot more people. Funny how a bit of Fancy Dress can bring people together.

We spent the next few days in Sydney just relaxing at the hostel, wandering around the city and sitting in Hyde Park reading our books when weather permitted.

Origianally, Leanne and I were meant to be travelling down to Melbourne together but she managed to secure herself a job as a hostess on one of the Whitsundays boats, which is an offer that no one can refuse, so she booked a flight back up to Airlie beach and I booked an overnight greyhound bus to Melbourne. I left on Wednesday night, arriving at 9am on Thursday morning. I immediately noticed the drop in temperature and my feet felt extremely cold in my now standard foot attire - flip flops, while I was waiting for the Tram to take me to my hostel. It felt strange not being with Leanne after all this time. I was bored on the bus and had to talk to myself when working out how to get to the hostel. Luckily, I was meeting Ali and a couple of his friends at the hostel that day, so I wasn't alone for long, although I still really missed her!
We spent the rest of the day looking around St Kilda - the Melbourne suburb where our hostel was and then the following day we went into Melbourne town centre for a look around. I really liked Melbourne. The town centre looked like it would be brilliant for shopping and there was some interesting architecture - which is unlike the rest of the East Coast where everything is pretty new.

Ali caught his flight to New Zealand early on Saturday morning and I arranged to meet up with Katie and Michael - friends from my Cambodia trip. It was so nice to see them again and I ended up spending the majority of the weekend tagging along to various places with them. They picked me up from my hostel and we went for lunch on Lygon Street (apparently the "little Italy" of Melbourne) We then went along to a house warming party of one of their old colleagues for some Pimms and Punch, it was then back to Michaels to get changed before heading off to a 40th Party for an hour (which Michael failed to inform me was black and white themed so I stuck out like a sore thumb in my bright floral summer dress) and then on to a 21st birthday party. I ended up having a great night dancing away and chatting to friends of Katie and Michael who made me say things just so they could hear my accent.

We woke up the next morning feeling slightly worse for wear after spending the night drinking free Champagne, so we went out for a nice breakfast with Michael's parents and brothers before going back to their house to swim in the pool. It was nice to be in a family home again surrounded by brothers and their banter - I miss my own.

Katie dropped me back at my hostel where I had to pack and have an early night as I was up at 5am on Monday morning to get a shuttle bus to the airport for my flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. And so another chapter of my travels begin. Everytime I fly to another country, I feel like it's the end of my trip. But far from it. There is still so much more for me to see and do.

Boat adventures and 4 Wheel Driving

laura_street — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:30:00 GMT

Again, I have got a lot of Blog writing to catch up on! We have been so busy doing various trips, that catching up has had to take a backseat. I doubt i'll have time to get fully up to date in one go, but i'll try my best!

We made our way to the harbour just before 7o'clock on Tuesday evening to board Anaconda 3, our home for the next 3 days. The boat itself was huge and Leanne and I were pleased to find that we had our own cabin. Small as it was, we weren't sharing a room with anyone for the first time in over 2 weeks. We set sail into the darkness heading for White Haven beach. We spent the evening on deck, having a couple of drinks and chatting to crew and other guests on the boat - who all seemed to be really nice. It's strange how being on a boat, drinking Champagne can come so naturally to someone who has never done it before. I could quite get used to it!
The following morning we were woken by the breakfast bell at 6:45. We clambered upstairs to find we were moored just off of Whitehaven Beach. It was stunning and made being up at that time much easier. We were told that the sand here is world famous for being fine and soft. It can clean jewellery, exfoliate and whiten teeth! (I exfoliated but couldn't quite bring myself to put it in my mouth!) Leanne went off to do a dive and I, along with the others were taken over to the beach. I walked and sunbathed until I was called over to do my 10 minute dive introduction. It was a free service the dive instructor offered if you've never done a dive before and were interested in doing one on the trip. It was useful to get used to the equipment and practice a few basic skills and hand signals. The first few times I went under the water I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. It sounds strange but your head tells you that you are under water so you have to hold your breath. You just have to remember that you have got a huge tank strapped to your back and a regulator in your mouth! I really liked the feeling of being able to stay under water though and decided that I definately wanted to do a dive. Once back on the boat, we set off for the reef and had some lunch. It was so nice to be fed again!
When we arrived at the reef the first time divers were taught some more skills and hand signals and were put into small groups. Joey (the girl I was put with) and I were the last two to go, so we went off for a quick snorkel first. When it was time for us to go for our dive we donned our BCD jackets which, with a tank attached to the back were extremely heavy out of the water. Leanne had to pull me out of my seat because I couldn't get up!
We were taken out by a smaller boat and had to do a backwards roll off the side. Me being me, rolled off and got tangled in the rope that was attached to the side of the boat and ended up just hanging there, while everyone else started to swim off. Of course the crew found it hilarious and i'm sure it looked very funny, I was just confused as to what was going on and why I couldn't swim away from the boat!
To make descent easier we had to pull ourselves down a rope that was attached to a crate at the bottom of the sea. I had trouble with my ears at first - I think I was going down too fast and therefore unable to "equalise" (pop my ears as I went down). I soon sorted it out and began to swim around. I found it difficult to steer myself at times and crashed a couple of times, but I was more worried about damaging the coral then myself.
I enjoyed every minute though. We saw a huge variety of fish but I was more amazed at the size of the coral. It looks big from above when you're snorkelling but when you're down there next to it, it's huge! We were down there for about 25 minutes and once I got the hang of it, I loved every minute.
We woke up the following morning in the middle of nowhere. It was amazing just being able to see miles and miles of deep blue sea. I decided that I wanted to do another dive, as we were now on the actual Great Barrier Reef and the visibility was much better. We were the first ones in the water - a great way to wake up! I loved my first dive, but this one was 10 times better. You could see about 3 times as far and the amount of different fish and coral we saw was unbelievable. As everyone in the group had done at least one dive by now, there was less hanging around and we were able to just swim at our own pace. Towards the end of the dive we saw a small Leopard Shark, which Harry got particularly excited about as apparently they're quite rare. Coming up from this dive was really dissapointing - I could have stayed down there forever. I wished that I had signed up to do my open water qualification like Leanne. Oh well, that'll be another day and another trip....
After lunch we sailed to a different part of the reef where we went snorkelling. Again, even though we were on the surface, the things we saw were incredible - my personal favourite being a White-Tipped Reef Shark. It swam right beneath me. I was shocked at first but then just amazed.
The following morning we woke again at a different spot - Blue Pearl Bay. We snorkelled here after breakfast. For a small bay there were a huge amount of fish. We saw a Moon Wrasse and a Coral trout, both of which were absolutely huge, along with other brightly coloured scholls.
After our swim it was time to start heading back to shore. We'd had such a good time we didn't want to go back to dry land. Leanne and I tried to find placed to hide on the boat, but we were told it was searched thouroughly before it set sail again. Shame, I could have got used to that life..

It was back to Airlie Beach for us though. We had a night out with some of the people on our boat on friday evening and then it was finally time to move on. It felt like we had been in Airlie for a long time, so we were ready to see something different. We boarded an overnight bus to 1770 on saturday evening. We finally arrived in the sleepy beach town of Agnes Water just after 8am. There are no hostels or shops or anything really in the actual town of 1770 (so called as it was where Captin Cook landed in 1770), just a population of 30 and a few holiday homes. We spent a couple of days here relaxing on the beach and in the hostel. The Hostel we stayed in was very chilled out and did $5 meals in the evening!

Our Greyhound bus on Tuesday morning was at 6:45, so we had an early start to travel to Rainbow beach.

We arrived in yet another quiet beach town just before lunchtime, ready for our briefing meeting for our Fraser Island trip which we were going on the following day. Fraser Island is a sand island just off the coach and we had booked onto a self drive camping trip for 3 days - meaning we were given a 4 wheel drive and camping equipment and sent off with a map for 3 days. We had a group of 11, all girls apart from Ali - a guy we had met in 1770 who was doing the same route as us down the east coast, and Max - a quiet German guy. Luckily, Ali had experience in driving 4 x 4's, so he understood all instructions about when to use 4 wheel drive etc - they went completely over my head! We left our hostel just after 11am with Ali at the wheel and headed for the Ferry crossing.

The first stop on our itinerary was a short pit stop at Eurong, a small village on Fraser, before heading to Lake Wobby. Leanne took over the driving at Eurong and did extremely well when we took a wrong turn which lead to some unnecessary off-roading. We hadn't realised that we had to park on the beach and walk inland to the lake. We did realise by this point though that there was a communication problem between different members of the group. We finally found the car park and trekked for 40 minutes to get to the lake. The lake was beautiful - a huge sand dune surrounded by forest that led down into cold fresh water - however due to our unfortunate detour we could only spend 45minutes here before having to trek back through the sand to the car. Because the majority of the driving was done on the beach we had to ensure that we were at particular destinations by certain times so that we didn't get caught out by the tide. We decided to camp on the beach that night, so drove along the beach to a campsite and found a spot to set up camp just as a big black cloud came over. I couldn't believe that I had been in Australia for over 3 weeks and not seen a spot of rain until we were camping! Typical. The rain came down as we haphazardly set up our tents - there were only a couple of experienced campers amoung us so setting up camp took a lot longer than it should have! Luckily, the rain only lasted half an hour and we were able to start cooking our BBQ. We sat around the camp fire for the rest of the evening chatting and drinking Goon (cheap wine!)

The following day we planned to spend the day at Lake Mackenzie. The drive was pretty tough and we ended up getting stuck a couple of times. Ali took over the driving and managed to get us to the car park safely. The lake was absolutely stunning. The water was completely clear and so blue and it was surrounded by the whitest sand. It was a really hot day, so swimming in the lake was perfect.

We stayed here for the majority of the day until we had to set off to find our camp for the night. We were staying in Camp K'gari, an aboriginal run camp just off the beach. It was nice to be staying in a place that had proper toilets and a camp fire to sit around. After eating dinner we were joined by Jay, an aboriginal guy who worked there who told us about different weapons and instruments they used and played his Didgeridoo. It was really insteresting to get a small insight into aboriginal way of lfe.

The following morning our first port of call was a shipwreck on the beach just 5 minutes from the campsight. We stopped just to take photo's before heading off to our next stop, Eli Creek. As I hadn't had a go at driving I volunteered myself that morning. It took me a while to get into it, especially driving on soft sand - it's like driving on ice! There was a bit of a hairy moment before we arrived at the creek where Ali took over the driving as we had to go through a huge wash out, but other than that it was ok. The weather wasn't that great - cloudy and very windy, so we sat reading until it was time to pack up and head to the ferry port. I drove again as I hadn't driven for very long that morning and it wasn't long before I came across my first hurdle. The tide wasn't as far out as we thought it would be so I had to follow some other cars through the edge of the surf and then up an inland bypass. It was pretty bumpy but it was going ok until we came across a huge traffic jam - obviously everyone else had the same idea and there was a big tour bus trying to get up the hill that we were trying to go down. There were 4x4's and trailers lined up on the side of the road and men out of their cars trying to decide what to do. I ended up having to reverse back up the hill and squeeze into a tight gap to let the bus past. I was sweaty and tense, not helped by the girls in the back who screamed everytime we went over the smallest bump. Luckily, I had Leanne beside me calming me down and telling the girls to button it, and Ali in the back guiding me into the space. We finally managed to get back on the beach and had a slighty bumpy, but less stressful ride back to Eurong where Leanne took over the driving. There was a point on the way back to the ferry when we didn't think we were going to make it, but thankfully Leannes speedy driving ensured we were there with 10minutes to spare. We arrived back at the hostel extremley dirty, after not having showered for 3 days, and tired but pleased we'd made it back in one piece. The car was also in one piece too which was a great relief - backpackers can't afford car repairs!

We spent the following day at the hostel, watching films and relaxing. Joey, the girl we'd met on the Whitsunday's trip had arrived in Rainbow Beach that day, so she came to our hostel for a few drinks in the evening. We were up at 5:30 on Sunday morning as we were booked onto do a Dolphin Kayaking trip. Unfortunately when we met the guy at 6 o'clock we were told that it was too windy to go out. It was such a shame because we were both looking forward to it (and we'd got up early for no reason!) and had booked our bus to leave that afternoon, so we didn't get another opportunity to do it.

I'm going to have to finish this entry here....I'm sure i've taken up enough of your valuable time already. Hopefully it wont be long until the next installment!!

Australia - The beggining

laura_street — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:30:00 GMT

My flight to Australia was successful and uneventful (I find planes so much less complicated than buses). I still get the feeling of excitement and anticipation of going on holiday when i'm in an airport - even after being on holiday for 3 months.
I had an overnight flight and didn't sleep a wink so by the time we touched down in Cairns at 8:30am, I was shattered. I had arranged to meet Leanne at the hostel where we were staying in the afternoon, so after checking in I went to bed for a couple of hours.
When Leanne walked through the bedroom door just after 3pm, we were so excitable we didn't really know what to do. We had so much to say to each other but didn't know where to start so we just stood looking at each other for a while - and then the chatting started and didn't stop for hours. Leanne showed me the leaflets of all the things we were going to be doing over the next six weeks. She had tried to send me an email with all the details attached, but I couldn't open it so everything that she had booked for us was a suprise. We had so much to look forward to - snorkelling, white water rafting (a birthday present from Leanne), sailing, camping, kayaking.
We decided to go out for dinner and carry on catching up and then go back to the hostel for an early night. However, there were two Austrian guys in our hostel room when we got back drinking and chatting so we got chatting to them and before we knew it we were out again dancing away in a little club. Leanne said my face was an absolute picture. Being back in the western world came as more of a shock to me than I thought it would. We were inside, there were lots of people packed together on the dancefloor trying to dance on a square foot of laminated floor. The music was loud and everyone was singing along to songs I didn't recognise. People were spilling drinks as they squeezed through the crowds and I was wearing flip flops with little grip. I was used to being on beaches, dancing on sand, having as much space as i liked and listening to old pop and R'n'B. I got over the shock by the end of the evening, it still baffled me that this is what we did at least once a week when we were at uni. The Austrian guys were hilarious and made the night one long laugh. We woke with aching faces and stomachs the following day.
Sunday we spent the day wandering around Cairns town - which is suprisingly small, and sitting by the Lagoon. The sea is too dangerous to swim in here (due to jellyfish and the occasional croc) and there is no beach, so a man made lagoon and a park is where everyone relaxes and sunbathes. On our way back to the hostel we were given a voucher for a $10 roast dinner - Leanne actually squeeled when she saw they served Yorkshire Puddings (apparently the majority of people don't know what they are), so we spent our sunday evening with a traditional sunday dinner. Of course not as good as mum's but still pretty good for a pub and after 3months, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
We had an early start on monday morning to travel up the coast to Cape Tribulation. The story goes Captin Cook landed here after nearly sinking his ship just off the shore. When he finally got ashore he named it Cape Tribulation as he had been through trials and tribulations to get there. During our journey up to Cape Trib we stopped at Mossman Gorge, which was beautiful. By this point we were slowly moving into the Daintree Rainforest, so there was plenty of wildlife and picturesque views. We also stopped off at a little nature reserve where I saw my first Australian Crocodiles and Wallabies. we finally arrived in Cape Trib just after lunch time. We dropped our luggage off at our room and went to explore the area. "Downtown Cape Trib" consists of one shop, a chemist and a little shop. The population here is 90. Leanne and I loved it though. It was so peaceful and we enjoyed just wandering along the gorgeous beaches and the boardwalks that take you through little parts of rainforest.
The following day we were booked to go on a boat trip to the Barrier Reef. We were picked up from the beach and taken out to our large catamaran - Rum Runner. We had roughly an hours journey out to Mackay Reef, during which we were kitted out with snorkels and flippers and were given a short safety talk. I was a bit apprehensive at first - my first proper snorkelling trip and I wasn't sure what we were going to come face-to-face with - especially after we had just been told what to do if we see a shark. Leanne reassured me though and we jumped in together. It was absolutely stunning. It's like a whole other world down there. I couldn't get over how brightly coloured everything was - and it was all natural. Not just the fish, which were vibrant and beautiful, but the coral too. Bright blues and greens and pinks, it's just amazing to think that these things grow and live in the sea.
Unfortunately, we didn't come face-to-face with a turtle or a shark. We saw some huge fish though and a Dory Fish - but no Nemo. One of the the crew members gave us a talk on coral and different fish after lunch, so we learnt about the different things that we were seeing. We had such a good day we didn't want to get off the boat and were the last ones to be taken back to dry land about 4:30. We spent the evening in the bar chatting to people we had met on our boat trip and some bizarre locals who spoke about the trees singing to each other and sunrise "really charging you man" - it kept us entertained though!
We were picked up by our minibus at lunchtime on Wednesday for our trip back to Cairns. Our tour guide was typically Australian and kept saying things like "no worries guys" and "too easy". We stopped off at Daintree Ice cream factory to sample some local ice cream in some slightly strange flavours. Once over the river (which we crossed on a cable ferry) we stopped for a "croc hunting tour". During our 50minute boat ride we only saw 2 small crocodiles, which could have easly been mistaken for branches so we were slightly dissapointed. We had a driving tour through Port Douglas, a small town which is reknowned for being expensive and a place where celebs go on holiday. We arrived back in Cairns about 6:30, checked into a hostel, had some dinner and went to bed, both feeling shattered.
We spent the following day at the Esplanade by the lagoon. Leanne had a friend that she had met while she was working in the Gold Coast, who had moved up to Cairns so we met up with her and some of her friends on Thursday evening. While we were out we bumped into our Austrian friends, who had missed their flight home so were having to stay in Cairns for a couple more days. We spent the rest of the evening with them and their roommates from their hostel.
We booked a greyhound bus down to Mission Beach leaving on saturday morning. In comparision to some of my Asian bus journeys this was luxury! The good thing about being back in a western country is that you can almost guarentee some degree of comfort when travelling. The journey was only just over 2hours and we were met at the bus stop by a minibus, which took us to our hostel. Scotty's Beach House was a really nice, small, relaxing hostel. Everyone there was so friendly and after spending a couple of hours on the beach (which was lovley and really quiet) we sat around a big table chatting to the staff and other guests. This was how we spent the rest of our evenings here, making friends over a few glasses of cheap wine.
We were booked in to do our White Water Trip on the Tully River on Monday. We were both a bit nervous - fear of the unknown. We had no idea what to expect or how difficult or scary it was going to be. We had to rent sandles that were going to stay on our feet if and when we fell in the water and were given a helmet and life jacket. When we arrived at the starting point we met our guide, Vinnie, and climbed ungracefully into our raft. We practiced our forward and back paddle and holding on (suprisingly, there is a technical way to do this!) and off we went. The rocks and bolders sticking out of the water concerned me slightly and as we came up to our first grade 4 rapid, I let out a littke scream. I soon realised that Vinnie was extremly good at his job and began to enjoy myself. We managed to stay in our raft the majority of the time, apart from when we were tipped out on purpose! We had a really good day and ended up happy but exhausted.
We spent a couple more nights at Scotty's and regretfully left on Wednesday morning to catch our Greyhound bus. We had an 8 hour bus journey down the coast to Airlie Beach. It was quite a long journey but after some of the Asia bus trips i'd done, it was a breeze! We arrived, shattered at 8pm. We trudged to our hostel and went straight to bed.

The following day we realised that we hadn't really planned in advance very well. LEanne had to book our boat trip to the Whitsunday islands before I arrived and after looking at the dates again we noticed that we had 5days before our trip started. We could have stayed at our beloved Scotty's longer! But we were in Airlie Beach now, so nothing could be done - we'd just have to make the most of it. The difference between Australia and Asia is that in Oz, when you're not booked onto a trip of some form there isn't much to do apart from sunbathe. Not that I'm complaining, it could be cold and raining! But in Asia you could just wander round the city or town that you were in for hours taking in the differences in architecture and culture, stopping off at little stalls, chatting to locals, staring at the crazy food. The places we have visited in Australia so far have been small and there is not much to see apart from a few shops and restaurants and many many bars. Something else that is noticeable is that in between towns there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ocassional farmland and miles and miles of deserted bush - So it's not even as though we can pop to the next town while staying in one place for a long time because we would have to travel through miles of nothing to get there.

Saying this we have made the days pass quite pleasantly by sitting by the Lagoon (again you cant really swim in the sea here and there isn't much of a beach) and talking to the new people we have in our hostel room everyday. Leanne has begun her dive course today - she is working towards her open water certificate while we are on our boat trip and has had to start her Pool and Theory work today. We're leaving to go on our trip tomorrow evening. We're on the boat for 3 nights and are visiting the beautiful surrounding islands and doing some more reef snorkelling - I might even give scuba diving a go if the visibility is good. I'm really looking forward to it now though. Apparently the that they give you is really nice too, which excites me far more than it should....cheap food becomes such a bore after a while! I'm sure i'll have essays to write on our experiences upon our return.

Any excuse for a Party (plus buses and Singapore rules)

laura_street — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:30:00 GMT

As I expected my week on Koh Phangan was extremely lazy and we spent the week by the pool, reading, wandering and partying. Being a small town designed completely for travellers, the Full Moon party and hangovers there wasn't much else to do. We weren't that lucky with the weather - it was cloudy everyday and rained for a couple of days. It reminded me of home.....just a few degrees warmer. We spent a lot of time by the pool pretending it was warm and sunny, when in fact it was windy and overcast and we were a little bit chilly in our bikini's and sundresses.

We checked out of our bungalows in Haad Yao on Monday morning and got a taxi to Haad Rin. Kat and Tom had given us the name of the place where they were staying, so we decided to try and get in there. Upon arrival it became evident that finding a place to stay that wouldn't completely empty our bank accounts was going to be harder than we'd imagined. We knew the town got busy nearer the Full Moon Party, but we had arrived with 5 days to spare, so we were shocked to find many places already nearly full and charging ridiculous prices for very basic rooms. After 2 hours of hunting Simon and Emily finally stumbled upon a hotel where rooms were 500Baht a night and had a nice swimming pool. The rooms were pretty basic for the amount of money we were paying - although you could fit 3 people in a room, which would make it really cheap but, being a loner, I had to pay the full 500 myself. It was the best of a bad lot though, so we settled on it and it turned out to be in a good location. It was on the opposite side of the small peninsular to where the Full Moon Party would be held, which meant it wasn't too noisy but it was close to lots of bars and restaurants and only a 5 minute walk to the centre of the action.

Any excuse for a party in Haad Rin - There are "Pre Full Moon" Parties everyday of the week, so we decided to pay one of these a visit on Monday night. Coral Bungalows is set in the hill about a 20minute walk from where we were staying. However, they run free taxi's there every night so you just have to hop in one of these (you can't mistake them - Coral Bungalow Pool Party written down the side and music blaring) for a free ride. The party was as you imagine - like something out of an American Teen Movie. People dancing everywhere - on the dance floor, on podiums, on tables, round the pool, in the pool....swinging buckets of cocktails and shouting at each other above the loud music. Not being a huge fan of the buckets, I had a couple of beers and then enjoyed dancing and laughing at all the chav's trying to be cool and instead slipping over or trying to chat up girls and instead slurring in their ears. The time flew by and before we knew it it was time to walk back - finding it only took 20mins along the beach instead of a huge trek round the roads, which we had expected.
Kat had some friends from uni coming to Koh Phangan on wednesday so we decided to see what was happening on the beach on Wednesday evening. We noticed that as the days went by the by, the beach and town got busier and busier as people arrived in preparation for the big party on Friday night. We had a nice evening on the beach having a couple of drinks and chatting, although I did decide that I just cant keep up with the young ones. All being 21 at the oldest Emily, Simon, Kat, Tom and all their friends seemed to be able to just keep going. It gave them some entertainment that i couldn't keep up with them and they called me their "old sister". I just need so much more sleep!
Therefore, when another night out was suggested on Thursday night I had to decline. Being the night before the Full Moon Party, i wanted to be fresh and ready to have a really good night on Friday so I went for dinner and a drink and then went home to bed, while everyone else stayed out.

I was pleased I decided not to give in to peer pressure by the time Friday evening came round. The beach was absolutely packed! Apparently over 10,000 people come to the beach in Haad Rin for this one party. Emily and Simon had a friend from Uni, who was staying in Haad Rin and had a balcony that overlooked the beach, so we went here to have drinks and get a good over view of what was going on. Different music was pumping out of different bars along the sand and people were dancing and buying buckets of drinks from the many many bucket stalls. There were also First Aid tents set up by the shore which had "sleep area's" attached to them (basically tarpaulin laid out on the sand in a fenced off area) where presumably the drunk and injured could go and sleep off some of the alcohol. I know it's bad to laugh at someone else's misfortune but i couldn't help it when I saw someone in there at 10pm. It was more than likely that it was self inflicted though, so I allowed myself a little giggle.
Although I was slightly apprehensive at first (10,000 people, one beach, lots of drinks) I ended up having a really good night. We danced and sat down, danced and sat down all night. I got followed back from a bucket stand back to where everyone was sitting at one point by an Israeli guy, who had decided he was my friend. He was harmless but pretty boring, so one of the other boys had to "save me" by taking me for a hypothetical drink!
Again, the time seemed to fly by and by the time I went home the sun was coming up. Sign of a good night!!

Saturday was another dreary day so we sat around discussing the events of the previous night. Kat didn't get in until 1:30pm on Saturday afternoon. I don't know how she did it - apparently Mojito's at 10 in the morning are the way forward. Everyone was leaving on Sunday - Emily and Simon going back to Bangkok to fly home and Kat and Tom to continue their travels - so we went for a "Final Supper" on Saturday night. It was sad to say goodbye to them all. It's been nice to have someone to share my adventures with for the past few weeks and to have someone to chat to on long bus journeys, but Facebook means we can all stay in touch!

I booked my bus to Singapore for Monday, so Sunday I spent alone. Luckily it was sunny, so I managed to sit by the pool and finish my second book in 6 days. I had researched my travel options to Singapore and found that although the bus journey was an extremely long one , it would save me about 100pounds plus the cost of an extra night's accommodation. I wasn't in any particular hurry to get to Singapore (apart from having to be out of Thailand by 8th September, because that is when my Visa ran out) so decided to brave it on the bus. I was picked up from near my hotel at 6am on Monday morning and taken to get the 7am ferry to Surrat Thani - on mainland Thailand. Upon arriving at the port I was pointed in the direction of my bus. It was one of those buses that you joke that it's going to be yours but never actually think it will be. The ones with rust down the sides and all the windows open as a sign of no air conditioning. The ones with seats that are falling apart and no suspension so you feel every single bump in the road - and infrastructure in Thailand isn't their strong point. So i boarded this bus giggling to myself (otherwise i would have cried), resigning myself to being stuck on it for a good few hours. As it turned out, it was only about an hour until we arrived at a bus stop and told to get out. I then had to get on a little minibus full of people and their luggage. It wasn't as cramped as it could of been but it wasn't particularly comfortable. At least it had Air Con though and there was an extremely good looking Argentinean boy to keep me entertained.
We were on this bus for about 5hours until we arrived at a small town close to the Thailand/Malaysia border. Here we had to all get out and wait in a little travel agents to have our passports checked. Everyone, apart from me, was going to Kuala Lumper so they all piled back on to the minibus and off they went - gorgeous Argentian and all. Leaving me alone in the random travel agents. Here I sat for 45minutes wondering what was going on. Travelling in a country that speaks a completely different language is sometimes difficult. Sometimes they only know how to say "you wait here" and are not able to elaborate on how long "you wait here" or what "you wait here" for. After a while I was showed to an old man's car and told he would take me to "big Bus". The only thing you can do when you are in the middle of no where on your own is to trust these people, so i hopped in and off we went at a speed of about 5miles an hour. Bless him, the old man was really sweet and took me to "big bus" and helped me with my bag.
The "big bus" turned out to be the most luxurious bus I have been on since I've been away. Wide, reclining seats with head rests and aircon so strong I had to wear a jumper, scarf and socks! Luckily I wasn't trying to impress anyone as, as you can imagine, i looked delightful! (Obviously no one is stupid enough to catch the bus all the way from Koh Phangan to Singapore, so the bus was just full of locals) The only downfall to having reclining seats is that the person in front of you can recline their seat too. I never recline mine all the way, as I am aware of invading the space of those behind me, but the man in front of me just didn't care! He was so fully reclined after a couple of hours that his head was in my lap! Needless to say the luxurious bus became much less comfortable.
The rest of the journey almost passed without a hitch. The only time I got confused was at a border crossing from Malaysia into Singapore. Thinking it was a toilet stop (which I was absolutely desperate for) I hopped off the bus and followed everyone up some stairs. Only when i reached the top of the stairs did I see a line of desks and everyone with their passports in hand. I flew back down the stairs to discover the bus had moved, with my passport on board. Luckily, after a quick search, I managed to find it and grab my passport and run back upstairs to go through Passport control. Obviously, once back on the bus, i looked flustered (I was still wearing my jumper and scarf so was extremely hot after all the running) and confused. I explained to a man who was sitting across the aisle from me that i didn't realise I had to take my passport and after this, every time we stopped he told me what the stop was for, so I could be prepared with whatever I needed.

We finally arrived in Singapore at 10:30am local time (Malaysia being 1hour ahead of Thailand). Luckily, I had booked myself into a hostel, so located a money machine and got a taxi directly there. Walking up 3 flights of stairs in a strange looking building, i was slightly dubious about what I had let myself in for but going through the glass doors of The Rucksack Inn, I was filled with relief. After a 28 hour journey I was pleased to find a clean, comfortable and welcoming place with big sofas, clean sheets and friendly staff. I had booked into the big dorm room, which has over 20 bunk beds, but is a good way to meet people. Being a nice place to relax you also get chatting to people around the TV or in the kitchen over tea and toast (unlimited!!). I was given a map of the city and decided to spend Tuesday afternoon exploring. Singapore, as it turns out, is a really nice city. I felt comfortable here straight away and spent a couple of hours wandering slowly through the streets and along the river, looking at the Theatres and museums (from the outside) and having some lunch in one of the many food halls (big rooms, usually under shopping malls with a huge choice of different food stalls) By the time I got back there were lots of people milling around the hostel and I got chatting to an American guy and an Irish guy. Jake (the American) had been here for a few days so said he's show us where we could eat cheaply. So the 3 of us went out for dinner and ended up having a few drinks and dancing to a live band singing covers in a pub. It was a really fun night - possibly because it was so unexpected.
The following day I decided to discover a new part of the city and walked to "china town". It's strange that you can be in a huge city full of sky scrapers and western business men and turn down one street and be somewhere completely different - Little Chinese restaurants and shops everywhere and the roads are decorated with Chinese lanterns. I had lunch here and then wandered around a small park near by.
The one thing that made me feel slightly uncomfortable in Singapore is all the rules. Chewing Gum is completely Illegal. I spoke to a Swedish girl in Bangkok who had been fined when she crossed the Singapore border just for having a packet of chewing gum in her bag. You can also get fined for "Jay Walking" - crossing the road not at a crossing. Many of the locals will wait at a crossing, even if it's late at night and there are no cars coming, until the green man shows. I've been scared of being fined so have followed suit. They also have strange rules about smoking. Whilst out having dinner at a roadside cafe on Wednesday evening, I saw a man ask if he was allowed to smoke. In reply the waitress told him No, but if he stood up and took one step to the curb, then yes he was. Having his curbside cigarette, he asked me if I knew a place where he could take his friend for a drink, which started a long conversation. His friend turned up and they invited me over to their table for a drink as there was a special deal on beer if you brought three. I accepted and sat with cigarette guy (who's name escapes me) who was from the Philippines and his friend Matt, who was from Haywards Heath of all places!! Small world. I sat with them for a while and then headed back to the hostel. They invited me to stay with them for the evening but I decided that my budget wouldn't allow me to return the favour of buying a round of drinks, so I made my excuses and left. Naughty, I know but they had jobs and money (or so it seemed!).
Yesterday I decided to explore another part of the city - Little India. Again, it was like stepping out of Singapore into a different place. The wide, busy roads were replaced with small streets lined with small Indian restaurants and shops. After spending the morning walking around here, I headed for Orchard Road -a complete contrast to where I had been in the morning. A huge road filled with huge shopping malls. There are absolutely loads of them lining this one street, each one as big as the next. I went into couple just to have a look - unfortunately not being able to spend too much time in there, as my purse wouldn't allow me. I did go into a Body shop to smell some cocoa butter, A Dorothy Perkins to look at some non-shabby, non-musty smelling clothes and finally into a Marks and Spencer to look at some big knickers. I'm so tired of seeing tiny tiny clothes and underwear, which look like they should belong to a 7year child. It was nice to see some things that were bigger than a size six, so I could feel a little bit normal again (I also treated myself to some Percy Pigs for my flight to Australia! Strange how such little things can make you feel so happy. Good Old Percy)
After all this walking my feet were hurting and I had started to get blisters, so I caught the MRT (Singapore's Underground) back to the hostel. I booked myself onto do the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo yesterday evening, so as it turned out I only had time for a quick chat to Jake and a shower before power walking over to the Singapore flyer (Singapore's London eye). Here I got onto a bus and was taken to the Zoo with a tour guide called Dorothy (69 years old and still going strong!). Our ticket included the Tram ride around the night Safari and we could get off at certain points to see different animals. It was really good and I saw a lot of amazing creatures. There are no cages, just small moats for the slightly dangerous animals (Lions, Tigers, Hyena's etc) so we got to see many of them pretty close up. The only down side being that we couldn't take photo's because the flash could scare or anger the animals, which may end in disaster! Without a flash, my pictures were just black so I have to keep the pictures of the Giraffes, Hippo's, Rhino's, Cheeters, Leopards and many others in my head.

My flight to Australia is at 8:25 this evening. The hostel have kindly let me stay here today before I catch the MRT to the Airport later. I'm really excited about seeing Oz now and also about meeting up with Leanne. I've spent so much time on my own in the last week and although I don't mind and strolling at my own pace (generally extremely slowly) and taking in the scenery has become one of my favourite past times, I'm looking forward to having some company. Especially the company of someone who knows me well and I can be myself with from the word go.
Australia, is also going to be completely different to all the places i have visited so far, so i'm excited about seeing the sights and going to the little trips that Leanne and I have planned.
I'll be home in exactly 3 months today - half way through! I had a dream last night that I decided to stay and work in New Zealand for a year, but I also had a dream that Lauren and Leanne came to visit me at home and we went to the spar in Westdene to buy cheese. So I don't think it means anything. Im sure by the time I get to New Zealand, my dreams will only be about home......

Vietnam to Laos to Bangkok to Koh Phangan all in 10 days!

laura_street — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:00:00 GMT

I decided to stay an extra day in Hanoi to get myself sorted and book a bus for the next part of my trip. Luckily Sally, one of the Australian girls on my trip was staying too so we were able to share a room and spend the following couple of days together. We went to see the Temple of Liturature - the first official university in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh's Museum and where he lived and Ho Chi Minh himself. He is laying in state in a huge mausoleum. It was strange to see someone who had been dead for 40years, but just looked like he was having a siesta. He looked a little bit like a wax work model at Madam Tussauds.

Vu, our tour guide, had said that he would take us out for dinner that evening to a "traditional Vietnamese restaurant". 8pm arrived and Vu and his non-english speaking flat mate rocked up to the hotel on their scooters, with an extra helmet each for Sally and I. We clambered onto the back of their scooters and jetted off through the busy streets of Hanoi. I spent the majority of the time staring at the back of Vu's head, too scared to look at the road ahead and how close we were to other traffic. We arrived safely at the "Restaurant", which turned out to be little plastic stalls and tables on the side of the road and Vu ordered a traditional Vietnamese meal and the local wine. We were served bits of chicken - i didn't like to ask which bit of a chicken, a soup which had "baby eggs" floating in it - they get the eggs out of the chickens womb (or whatever a chicken has) before they are laid, pigs brain soup - literally a brain floating in some stock with some veg and chicken legs - as in the feet and ankle part, and a small bottle of vodka. The chicken i could deal with, and the baby egg soup was ok, i couldn't manage a whole brain but nibbled on a bit and the chicken feet were just a step too far. I held it, thought about it, watch Vu eat it, sniffed it, licked it, but I just couln't bring myself to nibble on a chicken toe. It still had the claws on and everything! The vodka we drunk straight and made it more acceptable to be eating parts of animals anatomy that I never thought i would be. Although when I look back at the pictures of that night I feel a little sick, Im so pleased we went for the experience.
The following day I had to catch my bus to Laos at 5pm. I turned up to the travel agents on time, was then told to get on a scooter with a guy who worked there - with my massive backpack on! I thought there was definate chance of injury. I was then dropped on a random street corner and told to wait. Slowly a few others joined me on the street corner and we were then crammed into a taxi and driven to the side of a main road where we had to wait for about 10mins. We were then lead up a dirt track, past the entrance to what looked like a bus station and left on the side of the road again for about 45mins. Finally a bus turned up and we all piled on. This is what travelling in Asia is like. Never simple, never straightforward and never on time. The bus was no where near as bad as I expected it to be and neither was the 22 and a half hour journey to Vientienne. There were others on there that I was able to chat to for entertainment and the journey was broken up by a confusing border crossing. I was slightly confused as to what was going on and you're not told what to do, you just kind of have to follow suit. But I almost got lost (there was a 10minute walk between where you got your passort stamped and where you got you visa) and i got told off by a guard for missing out a check point. Ooops....I made it over though and was allowed into the country, so a success overall!!
We arrived in Vientienne, the capital of Laos at about 4:30pm. It was so different from being in the capital of Vietnam. Hanoi was busy, noisy, polluted, busy and busy. Vientienne was quiet and you could cross the road without risking your life and there were no beeping horns or people trying to get you into taxis or cyclos.
I tagged along with a brother and sister (Tom and Kat) and a couple (Simon and Emily) from England, all around 20-21. We found a fairly cheap hostel and then went to find some dinner. The restaurants along the river were really pretty and we sat eating and drinking and chatting for a while here. They had all decided that they were going north to Vang Viang the following day and asked if I wanted to go with them, so I did.
We had a very uncomfortable and bumpy 4hr bus journey the following day to the backpacker haven of Vang Viang. This is where Tubing takes place, the main attraction if Laos for many travellers. Tubing is essentially sitting on a rubber ring and floating down the river. Along the way there are different bars that you can go into for a drink or two. When you see a bar you want to go into you wave at one of the guys standing on the edge of the river and they throw you a rope and oull you in. There is no other way of getting out because the river flows so fast. There are rope swings and zip wires and slides going from different bars into the river - I was only brave enough to go on one rope swing and even then the guy behind me in the queue had to give me some moral support!
We spent a couple of days tubing - some people get stuck there for weeks, months even, just tubing and drinking everyday. I'm just not that hardcore and 2 days was enough for me! The following day Tom and Kat had to leave as they were travelling to Chang mai in Thailand to meet some friends. Emily, Simon and I stayed in Vang Viang for an extra day (the majority of the bars and restaurants show either Friends, Family Guy or the Simpsons all day everyday, so I got a big Friends fix on this day!).
The following day we had booked a bus back to Bangkok. It was a 16hr journey, the first 4 being the worst ever. We were crammed on a minibus with broken air conditioning with too many other people. I was squashed on the back seat in between two guys, who weren't skinny and i kept sticking to them because it was so hot. I spent the majority of the journey on the edge of my seat! After this, we got a much more comfortable bus overnight back to Bangkok. I didn't sleep at all. The guy next to me got comfortable, put on his eye mask and blanket, snuggled down and in the process practiacally sat on my lap - he got a good nights sleep, I did not. We arrived in Bangkok at 5am and had to find somewhere to stay. We couldn't all get into the same place but we were so tired we didn't care.

This being my 5th time back in "the gateway to South east Asia", I wasn't keen to do anything in particular apart from get over the long journey in preparation for another. The places where we stayed gave us access to a hotel with a pool - tiny, but big enough to immerse your body in, which was a welcome break from the mid-day heat of the city. So for 2 days I sat in cold water, ate, shopped a little (after 2 and a half months some of my clothes were beginning to look tired and falling apart which although I am travelling and you can't care what you look like the majority of the time, there is only so far I will go......i'm not quite at the dreadlocks and wearing bits of shredded cloth for clothes stage just yet) and wrote my pages and pages of blog and diary that I had to catch up on.

On Friday (28th) Simon, Emily and I caught a bus at 6pm to travel to Koh Phanagan. Although Lauren and I came here for a short time in July, there is a Full Moon Party happening on 4th September which a lot of people I have met are going to and I decided that it would be cheaper to just come straight here, rather than paying to travel somewhere else and then come here later on.

The journey was quite a long one. We travelled by bus to Chumporn port, where we arrived at 3:30am. The next boat wasn't until 7am, so we settled on the tiled floor of the port office, to try to get some more sleep before getting the boat. Suprisingly, I did sleep a little. We boarded our uncomfortable, but air conditioned at least, boat and sailed to Koh Tao, where we dropped people off and picked people up before continuing to Koh Phangan. We finally arrived tired and hungry and about midday. We decided to stay somewhere slightly quieter for a few days before going to the south of the island to Haad Rin, where the party is held, so we got a songathew (the island taxi) through the windey roads to Haad Yao, on the north west of the island. We found little bungalows to stay in (this is where I wish I was travelling with someone else as a lot of places charge per room/bungalow, so it makes it a lot more expensive for me) and went to the beach for lunch. The beach here is really nice and there is a good choice of bars and restaurants dotted along the beach front. We spent the rest of the day, like we have today sunbathing and swimming. Simon took himself off diving as he has already got his diving qualifications, while Emily and I read on the beach and did a bit of snorkelling (although there wasn't that much to see!) We've had a text from Kat and Tom to say that they are arriving on Koh Pahnagan today, so we are leaving here tomorrow to meet them on the south of the Island. It appears as though the week will continue as it started and my batteries will be fully charged in time for my flight to Australia. The next hurdle being getting to Singapore.....

The best of Cambodia and Vietnam - Part 2

laura_street — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:30:00 GMT

Every day that goes by means I have more and more to write in my blog, so i'm still not up to date, but here is the next installment!

Nicky, Ben and I met our new group at our hotel at 6pm on Sunday 9th. They were very differrent from our last group. Everyone was Australian and it was mainly older couples, apart from 2 Australian grils in their mid-twenties. They were all nice though and our new leader, Vu, was nice - very energetic and spoke really good English. We went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant for our first group meal. The menu was huge and had things like Frog, Porcupine and a local delicacy - Goats Prick (which was how it was written on the menu!) I wasn't brave enough to try anything to extravigant and stuck to grilled wild bore and rice. We were up early the next day to vsit the Cuchi tunnels, just outside Ho Chi Minh City. These were amazing - a whole network of tiny tunnels that the Vietnamese used to escape the Americans. We went down one of them and had to shuffle along bent in half. I could only manage 30metres before I got claustraphobic and had to get out and these had been made bigger so westerners could get down them! After lunch we visited the War Remenants museum back in the city. It was full of photo's taken during the vietnamese war, some of them really gruesome. It showed how the war has affected and is still affecting generations of people, due to the "Agent Orange" gas and the landmines still littering the countryside. It was pretty horrible to see. Wars are just unbelieveably disturbing - especially when you see pictures of little children in pieces on the floor. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Innocent, but never got to grow up. We then had a cyclo tour of the city, which was a nice more relaxed way to see the sights. On Tuesday 11th we went to the local airport and caught a plane to Da Nang and drove to Hoi An. After being in the crazy busy streets of Ho Chi Minh city, Hoi An was a nice relief. Quiet, quaint and relaxed. It has a big french influence and there are delicious looking patisseries dotted about. The main trade here is the Tailors - there are absolutely hundreds of them. Suits, dresses, shoes, bags, anything. If i had more money, i probably would have got something made because some of the girls came away with some beautiful dresses and skirts, but i managed to resist! The following day was a free day in Hoi An, so Ben Nicky and I hired oush bikes to cycle to the beach. It occured to me as i clambered onto this thing that I hadn't riden a bike for many years and I suddenly felt slightly concerned. After a shaky start I soon got the hang of it and thouroughly enjoyed my leisurely cycle to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful - Nicky said it was just like the Carribean. We got sunloungers and an umbrella and sunbathed and swam in the sea until it clouded over and we had to make a break for the hotel before the rain set in. Which it did, just as we handed our bikes back. The storm was right over us and as I ran outside to buy a bottle of water from the little stall a bolt of lightning struck the roof that I was sheltering under and scared the living daylights out of me! That evening we went to a Vienamese cooking class. It was so much fun and made me remember how much I enjoy cooking - especially when there is someone telling you how to make a delicious dinner! After the inital shock of having a whole fish - eyes and all - placed infront of me, we made Fish stuffed with lemongrass, garlic , spring onion and ginger (Muz, you would have loved it), vegetable spring rolls, sweet and sour sauce - which we had with wontons and squid with Lemongrass and chilli. It all tasted amazing - even if I do say so myself! The following day we caught the bus to Hue, stopping off at various points of Photographic interest along the way. We arrived at our hotel, dropped our bags at the hotel and caught taxi's to the Citidel. Hue was the "Royal City" of Vietnam and many of the kings resided at the Citidel. It was absolutely huge, like a miniture city. Although unfortunately a lot of it had been demolished by the Americans during the war. If it hadn't had been pouring with rain, it would have been a beautiful place to wander leisurely around. On Friday 14th we were up early to go on a boat ride down The Perfume River (so called because of a flower that grows at the source of the river and when it's in bloom, it's scent carries up the river) After getting off of our Dragon Boat (not the kind you row!) we all hopped onto scooters to go on a Scooter tour of the city and countryside. We saw the Kings tomb, a little village where they make and sell incense sticks (something you never really think about, but it's amazing), and drove up a big hill where we got an amazing view of the river. We stopped at a Pagoda in the country where Monks laid on a huge spread for us for lunch and then set of again for a long drive in the beautiful countryside. Some of the villages we passed through were tiny and the people there lived on practically nothing. They get around on pushbikes and use them like we use our cars. The things you see people carrying on tiny, thin framed bicycles is incredible. I saw one man carrying huge bungdles of Bamboo on his bike, which stuck out a couple of metres either side of him and another guy carrying a massive paine of glass on his cyclo. We stopped off in a little village where there was a Farming Museum and a crazy 76yr old lady who worked there who provided us with some entertainment showing us how the old farming tools worked and singing as she did it. After our scooter tour it was time to head to the train station to get our overnight train to Hanoi. I didn't really know what to expect of the train, i wasn't expecting the orient express but was dubious about how good it would actually be. When we boarded the train the first thing I saw was that someone had been sick in the bathroom and it was still there. So that kind of set the standard. The cabins were small and felt dirty and the sheets on the beds weren't clean. We all sat there in silence for a while, contemplating how we were going to spend the next 12hours on the train. However, onve we got over the shock and realised that we were just going to have to embrace the experience, we relaxed a bit and all crammed into one cabin for a few drinks and a giggle. I actually managed to get a few hours kip too, which suprised me. We finally arrived in Hanoi at 5:30am and went to our hotel for a rest until 8am. We went out for breakfast at a restaurant called KOTO, a place aimed at helping street children gain new skills. There are thousands of street children in Vietnam and many of them go to Hanoi as they think they will be able to find a job more easily there. But with no skills, they just end up on the street again. It's so sad, but it makes going to a place like KOTO a really good experience. The kids there talk about how much the restaurant has helped them and how much they enjoy it...snd the food was delicious! After breakfast we had a free day to explore Hanoi. In the old quarter there are lots of market stalls and little shops. One street will have stalls and shops which all sell the same products. There is a T-shirt street, a sunglasses street, a bag street, shoes street etc etc. It makes you wonder how these places survive with all that competition. Ben, Nicky and I had a wander round here in the morning and in the afternoon went to visit a prison nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton". It was used when the French were in power for Vietnamese prisoners and then again during the vietnamese war for American soldiers that were captured. It was only small but really interesting to see. There was a picture of John McCain - the guy who ran for American President....was his name John McCain??. His plane was shot down in the war and he was captured by the Vietnamese. On Sunday 16th we had a 4 hour bus journey to Halong Bay. We arrived just before lunch and boarded our Hotel boat. We had our own private boat with our own personal crew to serve us, nice little cabins and a deck where we could sit and watch Halong bay float by. As we set off we were served a delicious seafood lunch and were then able to sit and take in the scenary. It was beautiful and looked just like it did on the Top Gear special, but better! There are floating villages where people live and catch fish to send back to the mainland and huge, steep islands sticking out the sea every so often. We got off the boat to have a look around these huge caves, with some pretty impressive stalagmites and stalagtites! It made me think of Chedder Gorge with Gran and Grandpa, but much hotter!! We also hired out Kayacks and went paddling round a small bay where we had mored for the night. The water was suprisingly warm and pretty salty, but it was nice to jump off the boat and have a swim. We were only on the boat for the night, so sailed back to shore after breakfast the following morning and then it was back to Hanoi where we had a free afternoon before our "Farewell Dinner". Sitting having an icecream in a little cafe on the edge of the lake in Hanoi, I looked up to see a guy who i had been at Twin House with walking in the door. It was so strange to be in such a huge city and to be in the same icecream cafe. It was nice to see him anyway and we're going to be in Australia at the same time too, so maybe i'll see him again! So the farewell dinner that evening concluded my tour of Cambdia and Vietnam. I was really pleased I did it and have had a bit of luxury for 18days (staying in places with hot water and en-suite bathrooms and clean sheets and no lizards on the walls.) I have met some lovely people who can now show me the sights of Sydney and Melbourne and the Gold Coast, when i'm there.

The best of Cambodia and Vietnam - Part 1

laura_street — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Wow. I have got a whole lot of blogging to catch up on. The past 18days have been unbelieveably amazing, extremely busy, exhausting, educational and eye opening.
The only place to start is the beginning - as Julie Andrews taught me, so it's back to Saturday the 1st August.....
After saying a sad goodbye to Lauren, I caught a Taxi to the meeting point hotel in Bangkok to meet my group. I was pretty scared. What if they didn't like me? What if i didn't like them? What if they all knew each other and I got left behind? But as per usual I was being silly. My Cambodia group were the best part of the trip and the amount of fun and laughs we had made the first leg of my trip what it was - amazing. Intrepid Travel is an Austrlian company, so the Aussies were the majority but there was also 3 of us from England, an American couple on their Honeymoon and a girl who was originally from South Korea, but now lives in London. The age range was from Ben at 15, to his mum Nicky, in her 40's. But we all couldn't have got on better and I have now got some friends to visit on the East Coast of Austalia when i'm there.
Sunday 2nd - We had a fairly early start to begin our long journey into Cambodia. I'm pleased we had someone to show us the ropes when crossing the Cambodian border as it was slightly confusing. Lots of different check points where you had to show different documentation and have your tepmerature checked etc etc.
Cambodia is much more beautiful then i imagined it to be. Some places you still see extreme poverty, but everyone is still smiling. The countryside is stunning and Siam Reap, our first stop, was a lot cleaner and traveller friendly than i expected. Due to it being the closest city to the famous temples tourism is the main source of income for the people here.
We had our first Cambodian meal at a buffet style restaurant and watched an Apsara show (traditional Cambodian dancing). It was a good way to begin to get a taste of Cambodian culture.
Our tour guide, Limny, was Cambodian and was extremely good at showing us little things that made up Cambodia and the way people lived.

Monday 3rd - was our first day at the temples of Angkor. We had a different guide for our temple days - Allan who spoke very good English and her knowledge of the temples was second to none. Angkor as a place is beautiful. It reminded me of a huge National Trust park. There are 38 (I think!) temples in this area. We obviously didn't see all of them, just the most famous. The ones that we did see were all absolutely breathtaking. How on earth did they carry this massive concrete blocks and make them into buildings for kings? The carvings in the stone were also so detailed, it must have taken months just to do one block.
On our way inbetween 2 temples we stopped at a Landmine Museum, set up by Aki Ra. He used to be a child soldier in Cambodia and helped to lay Landmines during the war. When he grew up he realised the damage that they cause and now helps to demine areas all over Cambodia. I couldn't believe that there are a huge amount of unexploded Landmines still in Cambodia and they affect and take peoples lives every day. Aki Ra set up the museum to help fund a school for children affected by Landmines.
Our final temple of the day we climbed to the top and watched the sunset over Angkor. It was a little bit cloudy but we got the gist - beautiful and so peaceful just sitting....

Tuesday 4th - We set our alarms for 4am so we could watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the most famous temple). At 4am, I wasn't over enthusiastic about the situation but by the time 6am came around I was happy as larry. The sun came up behind Angkor Wat and it was a clear morning which made it beautiful. I only wish that Pops was there with his camara - my pictures really don't do it justice! We then had a tour of Angkor Wat - all before breakfast!

We finished our temple tours by 11am and headed back to the hotel. On the way some of us jumped off the mini bus to give blood at the local childrens hospital. Allan had told us that it was safe and they particularly needed blood group A/B. Being A/B positive and seeing some of the poverty, I decided the least i could do was share a few blood cells.

After lunch we had an optional tour to a floating village, which i was interested in seeing. It was amazing to see people living in huts on stilts above a river. They live so simply. They don't have anything materialistic. They jump in their boats and go fishing for their dinner or picking vegetables that grow in the water. The childrens playground is the river and they use this water for everything. There was a dry part of the village, where we jumped off our boat to look around. There was a school and a temple for the monks to pray. We spoke to a 16year old boy, who wanted to practice his English and he was extremely good. It made me feel completely inadequate to only speak one language fluently.

Wednesday 5th - We left Siam Reap for Phnom Penh. Along the way we stopped off to try some local delicacies. Sticky rice - rice cooked for hours with coconut milk and some seasoning and then stuffed into a bamboo tube. Spider - fried whole spider. Real life, massive black, hairy spider. There was a huge bag full of live ones and then a basket of fried ones next to it. When in Rome, I thought!! There was also Crickets and Grasshoppers here, so i sampled one of these too. Actually a pretty tasty snack. An alternative to knobby's nuts with a pint...

Half way between Siam Reap and Phnom Penh we stopped for lunch at a silk farm. We got to see how the silk went from worm to scarf. A long process but one that gives the locals a job, which is something that is desperately needed and the American guy who set the farm up is a legend!! I also decided to give Silk Worm a try here as a pre-lunch apperitif. Not good. It left a horrible taste in my mouth. Luckily there was a delicious lunch cooked up for us after our little tour.

The food in Cambodia (generally - obviously you don't eat bugs and things all the time) was amazing. Everything that was recommended to us to try (minus the silk worm) was really tasty. Definately going to google some Cambodian recipes when i get home!

By now i had begun to learn more about the Cambodian history and about the terrible things that happened there within the last 30 years, which made it even more shocking. Over Breakfast one day Limny told us about his family and experience. We were all either speechless or in tears. Its absolutely mindblowing to hear what the Cambodian people have been through and yet they all just get on with their day-to-day lives. If half the things that had happened in the west as they had here, we'd all be in therapy. Limny was only 2 when the Khumer Rouge stuff started but his mother and older sister had to watch his dad dig his own grave and then be murdered. If they cried, they would have been killed too. His uncle was also killed and they saw it all happen right in front of them.
If you were educated, or had a business that was it, killed. if you had pencils in your pocket, wore glasses, had soft hands. Killed. If you cried, if your child cried, if you were out of step, showed weakness...or strength, you were killed. It's just horrible.

We learnt more about this during our visit to the museum S-21, which was a prison and a place of torture during the war, and a trip to the Killing fields on Thursday. Hearing the stories and seeing the mass graves was just shocking. It really didn't happen that long ago - so recently that there were still bits of bone and clothing on the floor at the killing fields and in the middle a huge glass cabinet filled with the skulls of the people that they found - a lot of them crushed in places where the had been hit over the head. We all came out wide eyed and silent.

Friday 7th - We caught a bus to the Ferry port in Phnom Penh. I use the word "ferry" here very loosely - More small stuffy boat with no fans or aircon and water coming in the windows if opened making it extremly hot. We managed to sit at the back, where it was open, for a while and have a little picnic which made it more bareable. It was 4 hours over the Cambodian/Vietnamese border to Chao Doc - A town that the Cambodian people still believe is in Cambodia and the Vietnamese belive is in Vietnam. Here we dropped our bags at the hotel and hopped onto a convoy of scooters and headed up into the hills to watch the sunset. The sunset part of the trip didn't really work out - it was too cloudy. But we all sat in hammocks drinking local beer before going back into the town for dinner. Riding on the back of a scooter was a new experience, but one which i really enjoyed. Although petrified at first, I soon relaxed and enjoyed the wind in my helmet covered hair!!
After dinner we had a short Cyclo (a push bike with a carriage on the back) tour of the town, stopping off at a local bar to try locally brewed beer and a bar snack. Rat and Snake. Rat was actually quite nice. Its a cliche, but it tasted like chicken. Snake on the other hand was a different matter. Far too boney to enjoy!

Saturday 8th - We had yet another early start to begin our long Journey to Ho Chi Minh City (formall Saigon) It was a bit of a shame to finish our tour with 2 long days of travelling, but we made the best of it.

We checked into our hotel in Ho Chi Minh and went for our "Farewell dinner". It was sad to start saying goodbye to my travelling family. We had such a good time together. A couple of them were staying in Ho Chi Minh for a few extra days, so we saw them again. It was nice to stagger the goodbyes! But it was time for Nicky, Ben and I to meet our new group to begin the second leg....

To be continued......(shower and dinner calls!!)

p.s. Happy Birthday Mikey! Love you x x x

Back to Bangkok - the long way round

laura_street — Sat, 1 Aug 2009 13:00:00 GMT

I have just read all my comments from everyone. It's so nice to hear from you all! Slightly scary at the amount of people who are actually reading -I feel under pressure to get all my spellings right! But nice that people are taking an interest and haven't forgotton about me when Im so far away. The rest of last week was spent relaxing on Phi Phi. We had good weather for the majority of the week so spent hours on the beach reading and people watching - The amount of men who still wear speedos and extremely tight swimming trunks is very concerning, especially when old and fat. Not good and enough to put you off your ice lolly! We tried a new restaurant every night - there were plenty to choose from and I had my first taste of pasta in 6 weeks. So boring when you're at home put extremely good when you've been eating rice and noodles for 6 weeks. On Saturday - my Birthday - we went for a stroll around the little market stalls that lined the seafront and then went and got a spot on the beach to charge our batteries for a night out. Lauren treated me to dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant, where we had mussels in chilli and basil -10 out of 10! We then went to a few bars in the town and went to watch some fire dancing on the beach. I managed to pull the "it's my birthday" trick out the bag and got a few freebies! We left Phi Phi on Monday - a week after we arrived. It was strange to be on the move again. We had a long day of travelling. A boat to Krabi (on the mainland), a minibus to Surrat Thani and then another bus to Koh Phangan. Our original reason for heading to Koh Pangan was to got to the Half Moon Party - a big party in the jungle which Koh Phangan is famous for - which we thought was going to be on the Tuesday. However, when we arrived at the port on Koh Phangan, the signs dissapointed us. The party had been moved to the 30th, the day we had booked to leave the island. We stayed in the North West, an area which is quiet and much less commercial than the south of the island. We had a nice little bungalow (which turned out to be extremely hot) 2 minutes walk from a Postcard beach. White sand, clear blue water, palm trees, the lot. It was here we spent our two days on Koh Phangan doing what we do best - relaxing. There wasn't really anything else to do in the area, so we made the most of our last beach days. We had an early start on Thursday (5:30am!)as we had to get a taxi to the port, a boat to Surrat Thanni and then a bus to the airport, where we caught a plane back to Bangkok. Lauren didn't really get to see Bangkok when she arrived a couple of weeks ago so we decided to spend our last couple of days here so she could do some souvenir shopping. Yesterday we went to a shopping mall in Bangkok which was the most bizzare place ever. Absolutely huge - 7 floors, everyone looking pretty much the same. There were big food halls selling wierd and strange smelling Thai food and western and indian and muslim(?!)foods and bakerys. Pizza Hut, KFC, Dairy Queen, Dunkin' Doughnuts next to noodle restaurants and hot pot buffets and whole roasted ducks (beaks and all) hanging from hooks of stalls. We spent a couple of hours walking round in a daze before trying to get a taxi back. We jumped in and when we said Koh San Road please the taxi driver told us it wasn't possible because of the traffic so dropped us at the public boat port (like a bus but on water). It was actually quite pleasant going up the river instead of sitting in a taxi in the Bangkok traffic. Lauren is leaving today. I want to keep her here but she has a job and a family and a boyfriend (who would murder me if i kidnapped her) so i'm going to have to let her go. It's made it slightly easier that i've got something to go to. I meet my group that Im doing my Cambodia and Vietnam trip with this eveing in a hotel in Bangkok. We travel to Cambodia tomorrow. I'm excited to see new countries and meet new people and feel more relaxed that I have my accommodation and travel sorted for the next 18days. I'm not sure how much time i'm going to get to go on the internet, so communication may be infrequent. I will update you all as soon as possible though! Lots of love x x x x

Trekking, Phuket and Phi Phi

laura_street — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:39:00 GMT

We were picked up from our hostel just after 9am on Thursday to meet out trekking group. There was 6 of us all together - everyone seemed really nice.
We had an hours drive in a rather cramped and very warm minibus to where we were going to be doing our elephant ride. It was amazing and I know it sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but elephants are MASSIVE!! Lauren and I were perched on a small seat on the elephants back and our guide was sitting on the front. It was slightly scary at times trekking for nearly an hour through the jungle, up and down hills and through water on the top of this massive animal, but still fun. I did have pangs of guilt though. Elephants obviously weren't made to have humans riding around on the back of them and trekking about all day long, but apparently we weren't hurting them (how they knew that, i don't know) and we fed our one some bananas, so it wasn't all bad!
We then had a short drive to where we had lunch and begun our trek. Lauren and I really weren't worried about the walk. Seeing some scenary (chang Mai is absolutely beautiful), some jungle and some waterfalls. But how wrong we were. 3 hours, blistering heat, treacherous paths and uphill. Not exactly the relaxing stroll we were planning. My feet - used to wearing only flip flops for 5 weeks, protested the whole way and by the time we came to where we were spending the night, both of us had big blisters.
Where we were staying was in the middle of nowhere, in a wooden hut. We slept on the floor - if we weren;t so tired than there would have been no sleeping what so ever. There was no electricity, the toilet was a hole in the ground and the shower a broken tap. If that isn't roughing it, then i don't know what is!
The next day we had another 2 hour trek. This time the majority of it was downhill, but having to put the same shoes on, for them to rub you in the same places and to walk when you are already achey and trying not to slip down steep paths is no walk in the park.
By the time we reached the waterfall, where the walking ended we looked like we'd been up for a week and had been dragged through a hedge backwards. (I'm speaking for myself here - sorry Loz!)
The fun hadn't ended tho, we got in the back of a truck to be taken to lunch and it started to rain. Not just a little bit, but actual proper full on downpour. We got soaked through and then had to sit eating lunch in our wet clothes.
Next we were taken rafting. The rest of the group wanted to do the white water rafting but that required effort and paddling, neither of which me and Lauren felt we could do. So we opted for the Bamboo rafting. 6 big bits of Bamboo joined together which we sat on and got pleasantly punted down the river by a little Thai guy. There were gaps inbetween the bamboo and we went down some little rapids, where the water washed over us so our bums got wet again - but this time we didn't mind because it was so relaxing.
We got dropped back at our hostel where we were grateful for the airconditioning, a regular shower and some clean clothes.
We visited the Night Market on Wenesday night and loved it so decided to go back on Friday night for some dinner and to look at the things that we missed on Wednesday.

Saturday was a travelling day. Up at 6am to get to the airport to fly to Bangkok, then a 5 hour wait for our flight to phuket. Once at Phuket we managed to find the Airport bus that took us into Phuket town. We hadn't booked anywhere to stay but decided to head to a hostel that was in my Guide book. This turned out to be full so we booked into one a couple of doors down. It was, in a word, horrible. Concrete floors throughout, dingy, dirty, noisy, gross. But we were so tired we just couldn't find the energy to keep looking and told ourselves that it would only be for one night.
Phuket town was strange. According to the guide book, it was the most traditional and authentic Thai Town on Phuket Island. The buildings and streets looked old and dirty. Thai men sitting on the street talking, and staring as you walked past. Minimal tourists, which it may sound silly but makes me feel less safe. One good thing though was the restaurant we went to - another thing we got from the guide book! It was a big wooden building, with loads of different levels and plants absolutely everywhere. Hanging baskets, trees and fish tanks made out of old TV's. The food there was absolutely derricious (the Thai way of saying delicious!) which made us feel a lot better.

We got up the next morning and made our way to the port to get a boat to Phi Phi Island. This in itself was a bit traumatic because of all the people trying to sell you tickets and taxi rides - you never know if you're being ripped off or not. At the port we were constantly hassled by guys trying to sell us boat tickets - all for the same price and all for the same boat. The guide book had mislead us and we thought there was going to be a boat at 11:30, but it was actually at 1:30, so we had another long wait here.

We finally made it over to Phi Phi and got a Long Boat, to Long Beach. We booked into a hostel which was in the Guide book. Again - Horrible (sometimes the guidebook is a bible, at others a hinderance) a dirty wooden hut, with a hard bed. We grinned and bared it though, but found that Long Beach was not the place to be. There was nothing there, apart from lots of couples and everything was shut by 10pm.
Monday we decided to check out and get the long boat back to the main port, which is where the main town on Phi Phi is. We booked oursleves into a hostel , which for 50 extra baht (just under a pound) we got a nicer cleaner room, ensuite bathroom and comfier beds.

So here we are, much more happy and relaxed. We have spent the last couple of days on the beach and exploring Phi Phi town. We had a night out on Monday, where we spent the majority of the night people watching a giggling at touristy chavs. Phi Phi is extremely touristy in the main town and turns into almost a Zante type resort at night. Beautiful Scenary though!

We think we're going to stay for a few more days here and are making plans for my birthday on Saturday....Cheers! x x x

Visa Mayhem and Koh Samet

laura_street — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:27:00 GMT

I spent my last few days at the orphanage playing with the kids. It was quite nice to go back after my week at the Community Project and there was a national holiday in Thailand on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week so the children didn't have any lessons and were free to play games and do colouring in!

Due to the national holiday all the volunteers had Tuesday off which we spent at the pool after having a party on Monday night.

Emily, a girl that I had volunteered with at the orphanage, came back to Twin House on Sunday and, thankfully was put in my room so I was alone no more! We got on really well and she made my last few days in Sing Buri a lot better.
She had come back to Twin House from the Hilltribe project because she had realised that immigration hadn't seen her 90 day visa when she arrived in Thailand and only given her the standard 30 days. She had been in the country for 2 and a half months by this time. When she told me what had happened, i checked my passport and realised that the same thing had happened to me and I technically had to leave the country on Friday. We were told that we were going to have to go to the embassy in Bangkok, but because of the National Holiday we would have to wait until Thursday before we could get it sorted. We spent the rest of the week telling ourselves that it would all be fine, fine fine fine.....but the not knowing was killing us.
So we had our last day at the orphanage on wednesday and left for Bangkok on Thursday morning. Once at the bus staion in Bangkok we got a tuk tuk straight to the embassy (well kind of...the Tuk Tuk driver got lost and the traffic was horrendous, so it took longer than planned to get there). The British Embassy turned out to be extremely unhelpful. The lady there told us that the rules had changed and now, even if you get a visa before coming to Thailand, you still only get 30days and have to go to the immigration office every 30days to get another stamp. So she sent to very worried girls off in search of the immigration office. Poor Emily was sitting in the taxi thinking that she was going to have to pay 500baht for everyday that she was over her visa, which would have worked out at about 500pounds.
We finally arrived at the immigration office to be told "no worry, only mistake". We were so relieved that it was as simple as walking into the immigration Office and getting our Visas re-stamped, we both nearly burst into tears.
I was so pleased that Emily was with me, it would have been a horrible thing to do on your own, especially being told by the crazy lady in the Embassy that the rules had changed. She obviously didn't know what she was talking about.

Feeling completely drained we got a taxi to Koh San Road and booked into a hotel.
Emily had booked to go to Koh Samet (a small island off the coast about 3hours from Bangkok) with some of the other volunteers for the week, but wasn't due to get there until sunday. We decided that instead of going back to Sing Buri for a couple of days, we would stay the night in Bangkok and then head down to the island on Friday morning, where we would meet up with the other group on Sunday.
So that's what we did. Booked a bus and a boat down to Koh Samet and booked into the cheapest hostel we could find - Naga Bungalows, 300baht per room, per night. 3pounds each for a wooden hut, with shared toilets and cold showers (which were just little cubicles outside). Extremly basic, but something i'm sure i'll get used to on my budget!

We spent our first couple of days just relaxing on the beach. There was a strip of restaurants and bars along the beachfront, where we ate lunch and dinner. It was really nice to relax and be free to do what we wanted. We met a few others who were staying in our hostel, who we spent a bit of time with.
The rest of the group arrived on Sunday afternoon to not very nice weather, which continued through monday too. The sea was really rough on monday and I attempted to swim but it was too difficult and my bikini fell down (not a treat), so i gave up.

I travelled back to Bangkok on Tuesday morning in the pouring rain. The only taxi's on Koh Samet were open top trucks, so I ended up with see through trousers and looking completely drowned by the time I got to the pier to catch my boat. Luckily I was travelling back with an Australian guy who I had met at my hostel, so he carried my bag for me the whole time....bonuses of being a girl I guess!
I booked into a hotel and just had a wander down Koh San Road and some lunch before meeting Lauren. We arranged to meet at the end of Koh san Road and she arrived at 9:00pm. I was so pleased to see a familiar face and it is so nice to have someone to constantly talk to! She was shattered after her long flight, so we just had some dinner and went to bed.
We had booked a flight from Bangkok to Chang Mai for today at 11:50, which we got with no dramas. We also pre-booked (so organised!) into a hostel called Spicy Thai Backpackers, which is where we are now. The Hostel is really nice and Lauren and I have got the best room in the place! We're planning on going to the nightmarket tonight and then we're going on our two day trek tomorrow. WE're both really excited...elephant ride, trekking through the hills, bamboo rafting and staying somewhere.....we don't know where buti'm sure it'll be fine! We're back at spicy Thai on Friday night and then it's back to the airport to fly down south to Phuket to begin our tour of the islands. Busy busy busy......

The one where I help build a house

laura_street — Sun, 5 Jul 2009 16:30:00 GMT

The lack of Blog writing this week has been sown to yet another failure. I spent ages writing an update of my weekend and day on Monday, only for it not to save. So I have been building up the courage and working out new tactics since then, so here goes.....

I had a really nice weekend last weekend. The party of Friday night was a complete success. Everyone had a really good night, made better my the Michael Jackson Thriller tribute dance! (I got some great pictures of everyone dancing in our small bar)
There were a few of us travelling down to Bangkok on Saturday, which was nice and I managed to find a girl to share a hotel room with to make the night's stay cheaper. It was really good to have a change of scenary, some air conditioning, a hot shower and food that wasn't rice or noodles. We found a cafe where I had a cup of PG Tips and Marmite on Toast. Complete highlight of the weekend! (Lauren, I'm afraid I might be dragging you back in there when you arrive as it would have been another 2 weeks since my last cuppa!) Silly to think i've come all this way and I have tea and toast, but there are only so many days when you can have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner before you get board.
I met up with Gemma and her boyfriend on the Saturday evening. The other girls went clubbing but I was happy just to sit chatting. We found a bar on Koh San Road that was showing Wimbledon, so we sat in there for a good few hours.
I negotiated my way safely back to The Twin House on Sunday evening. It felt like I was arriving home! But I returned to an empty room as Erin and Anna left on Saturday so it felt a bit strange and lonely. New people arrive every sunday though so I have managed to find others to latch on to and have spent the week floating in between groups of friends.

This week I have spent the week doing The Community Project. The current project is focusing on building a house close to one of the other volunteer houses. It was originally being built for the parents of one of the men that drives the volunteers to the orphanage. However, within a week of the project commencing, the mother died. Then 2 weeks later his father also died. So sad for him to lose both his parents so close together but I get the impression they were both elderly and perhaps the stress of the mothers death caused his fathers heart attack. They are continuing with the build anyway and the driver is going to live there instead.
So my first day began with plastering concrete onto the walls that had been built in order to seal them. The foreman spoke no English what-so-ever, apart from "ok!", so I was taught by the power of charades! There was a co-ordinator with me too, who could speak more English so she was able to translate some of the time.
I was the only volunteer on the project on Monday but was joined by two dutch girls on Tuesday, so then after just one day of plastering I had to teach them how to do it! It just completely baffled me that I- Miss "have never done any DIY in my life" Street - was plastering the walls of someone's actual house that they were actually going to live in. How could I be trusted to do a thing like that?! I got completely covered in cement (which Im sure Muzzy can believe after seeing me and the kitchen after i've baked a cake!) but I really enjoyed myself. Maybe I've discovered a new career path....
The Foreman said to Kong (the co-ordinator) that now I can go home and tell my parents what i've done and i won't have to pay for anyone to do my DIY any longer as i'd be able to do it myself! As you can imagine, I laughed 'till I cried at that thought! Can you imagine Dad letting me do that?!?

Wednesday brought new challenges; Wall Building. We built the walls for the bathroom and finished off one of the outer walls. Again, I was completely and utterly stunned that I would be trusted to build a wall, let alone a wall of a HOUSE!! Admittedly, the standard of building isn't as high over here as it is in the UK. My new mate, the foreman, just said "ok, ok" when i showed him a little bit of a wonky section. Apparently mistakes are covered with cement. What is it Grandad used to say..."the art of a true craftsman is being able to cover your mistakes", so that I did. Talking of Grandad, I have been thinking about him all week this week. I could just imagine him laughing his big chesty laugh at the thought of me building and playing with cement. I really wanted to phone and tell him...I'm sure he knows anyway.
I also have a new found understanding of Uncle Dez's dirty hands. I have had constant dirty hands and nails for a whole week. It's impossible to keep clean when you're just going back the next day to get dirty again, so I gave up. However, a trick of the trade out here is to use the juice from these fruits that look like limes, but aren't edible to clean the cement off of your skin at the end of the day. Works a treat and you can't get more organic than using the fruit straight from the tree!

We have had another relaxing weekend this weekend. Pool in Sing Buri yesterday for a few hours, although the weather hasn't been great this week; lots of rain and thunderstorms and cloudy most days. It was still nice to go for a dip though. Today I have just been at The Twin House. I have a new roommate, finally! It is a girl who I volunteered with for my first 2 weeks, Emily. She went off to do the Hilltribe project and is now back at the orphanage for another week. Im really pleased that I have got someone to chat to and that it's Emilt because we get on really well.
Tonight a few of us are going to a Thai Boxing fight in Sing Buri. One of the coaches that I met when I went to Thai boxing training is fighting, so we're going along to cheer him on. Im slightly worried that I won't like seeing him get hurt, but it'll be an experience (my new favourite saying!)
I'm going to go back to the orphanage tomorrow as it is my last week, which means it's only just over a week until Lauren arrives. I'm so excited!! More fun to come....

New week, new adventures

laura_street — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:30:00 GMT

Yesterday was a complete failure for blog writing. I spent absolutely ages doing a really long entry about what I had been up to only for the internet to crash as i clicked 'save'. I was so distraught I had to leave the internet cafe. So here I am again, another day, another attempt.....

Monday morning was back to the orphanage and back to our digging project. It ws so hot that minimal work was done, but with the help of 2 other new girls, we managed to pretty much finish it off. The longer I stay at the orphanage, the more i realise that the jobs the volunteers are given aren't necessarily the jobs that should be given priority. After having a better look around I realised that the boys bedrrom doesn't have proper windows, so when it rains they leak. There doesn't appear to be any form of mosquito protection. Some of the little ones have got such bad bites, not helped by their natural reaction to scratch them. So instead of giving us jobs which should be more important, they focus on the 'cosmetic' side of things. The border could have waited to be dug out, the ceiling could have waited to be painted, the wall, which 2 volunteers built a couple of weeks ago, could have waited to be pulled down again. It's just a bit infuriating, because we are all there and willing to do any job that we know will make a difference to the childrens quality of living, but it just seems as though they are trying to find any litlle random tasks for us to do, just to keep us going to the orphanage. So, after 2 weeks there I have decided to have a change. I spoke to my co-ordinator today and hopefully I'm moving onto the Community Project, which helps people in the local community around where we are staying. At the moment the biggest project is helping to re-build someones house. I am hoping that a chasnge of project and feeling as though i'm doing something to actually help will motivate me a bit more!

Tuesday morning I decided to spend some time woth the little ones and do some colouring in. Although it was a lot more difficult then it sounds. Just to add to the fact that i can't colour in between the lines very well, not being able to speak Thai makes it very difficult to communicate with the kids. Apart from smiling and putting my thumbs up, there was not a lot else i could do. And sometimes the little ones just aren't in the mood to hand around with someone who cant understand what they want. So Tuesday afternoon i went back to grouting the tiles!

As a bit of a change on Wednesday, I decided to go to Thai Boxing training, which is another scheme the project offers. I had been talking to some of the guys that go, so me and a few other girls decided to go along to see what it was like. The day began with being picked up at 5:40am and taken to the Boxing Gym (what looked like an open sided shed, with a boxing ring and punch bags) where we donned our trainers and went for a jog. This jog lasted longer than I care to remember and by the end I was beetroot red (spinning class style) sweating profusely and feeling slightly sick.(aka looking extremely beautiful) I also didn't have appropriate running footware, so I now have more blisters on my feet than i have ever had in my life! (3 on one foot, 4 on the other) Luckily I live in my flip flops, so I can ignore them. Once back at the gym and returning to a normal colour one of the Coaches taught me how to kick "Thai Style". I also had a go in the ring with the coach practicing punches. As I have never punched anyone in my life (apart from Chris and Mike in our younger scraping days. Sorry boys) I was absolutely rubbish, but i gave it my best shot! Despite my complete aversion to violence or any form of conflict, I actually really enjoyed myself and the adrenalin kept me awake for the whole day, even after such an early start. We all had a much needed trip to the Pool in Sing Buri Wednesday afternoon and still, two days later my legs and stomach muscles are still aching, but it was all worth it!

Yeterday I had another day out at the orphanage to visit an Aids and HIV clinic with some of the other volunteers. After an hours taxi ride we arrived at the clinic, which is kind of like a little community for those who have been diagnosed with Aids or HIV. There are little houses and different wards set amongst green hills and Temples. A beautiful, calm but very sad place. When we first got there we went into "The Life Museum"- ironically named as it is full of dead bodies. People who have died there donated their bodies to show the effects of the disease. It was quite shocking and unexpected to walk into a room and just see dead, decayed bodies hanging there next to a little plaque which gave their name, age when they died and how they contracted the disease, most of them not even in galss cabinets. It appeared that the main reason people contracted the diesease was through the sex trade. The bodies of 'lady boys' hung with still perfect breast implants, while the rest of them was just a sack of skin and bones in the shape of a human.
We then moved on to a ward which left me completely speechless. The people in there were so ill and frail - some have only days left to live. Yet the majority still manage to smile a greet you as you walk past. It was hard because I wanted to speak to them and give them a little bit more than a smile and a wave, but again the language barrier prevented it. I had to have a moment by myself and a little cry after coming out of there. In a way I felt bad for being upset. These people have been through so much, but still they manage to smile. I just walked through their ward and burst into tears.
We were told that once diagnosed many suffers will generally do one of three things; Commit suicide, try and infect as many people as possible (something I don't understand) or their families disown them, so they come to a centre like that one.

Visiting a place like that, although very upsetting, puts things into perspective. It made me feel so lucky to have a family who I know would never disown me and will love me no matter what disease I'd have. I felt grateful to be healthy and be able to do things like go beetroot red after a jog or kick a punchbag. It also makes you think about the thiongs that you moan about and how completely insignificant they are the majority of the time. Why does it matter that I have a bit of a jelly belly, or I have celulite on my thighs? Why ask "does my bum look big in this?" and constantly worry what people think? It doesn't matter, life's too short. You also realise the importance of living life to the full, no matter how cheesy and cliched it sounds, is so important. I just hope i rememeber all these things now.....

I went back to the orphanage today, and actually had a much better day. We did the usual grouting, tiling thing this morning, but this afternoon we had a sports afternoon. The whole orphanage came out to play and watch and we did Volunteers versus Children vollyball - We got thrashed and turns out i cant play vollyball to save my life! And 5-a-side volunteers versus children football. After which i decided to go and wash my hands, slipped and fell over. I ended up completely covered in i dont know what (and i don't wish to know) and grazes on my knees, elbows and fingers. Looking back now it must of looked like a comedy sketch, made better by the fact that i got up and slipped and fell again! Oh dear, Me and my clumsiness, i knew it wouldn't be too long before I hurt myself. At least no one was around to see it and i didn't hurt myself that badly, just felt more like a complete and utter wally!

Gemma (my partner in crime) left yesterday morning to go to Bangkok to meet her boyfriend for a few days. I was sad to see her do because we got on really well and ended up doing everything together. I'm going down to Bangkok this weekend though to see her for a night out before she goes home. Quite a few people are leveing The Twin House this weekend and are going to be in Bangkok on Saturday night too, so it should be really fun. It'll be nice to have a weekend away, have a hot shower and some air conditioning! Extreme excitement!

I'm off to get ready for the friday night party now. Not that getting ready here takes that long. Shower, dress, bucket load of insect repellant, Done (Pops, you wouldn't believe I was the same person ;-) ) x x x x

I've survived my first week!!

laura_street — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:43:00 GMT

I can't belive i've been at The Twin House for a week already. It has absolutely flown by....al the days seem to blend into one. But it's been fun.

I spent the rest of my week at the orphanage carrying on with the digging project and breaking down the wall round the border. It was pretty hard work as it was so hot, but we're allowed to take plenty of breaks and get brought water, so we survived! By the end of it there was only two of us working on the digging, as the others who had started with us had given up (wimps!)
There were times, however, that some of the little boys would come over, take our tools and start doing our job for us. It seemed as though they would get as much done in 20 minutes as we would in the whole day. But they seemed to be having a good time smashing up the brichs and digging away at the soil, so we just observed! It looked like we had hired a little army at one point.
One thing that really shocks me, and makes me a little nervous, is how the children run around with either flip flops or bare feet a lot of the time. Even doing the digging some of them were running around on the ground where there are sharp shards of brick, and stones, and tiny little ants that really sting when they bite you, with nothing on their feet and i just couldn't watch. They dont seem to get hurt though....maybe because it's because it's normal for them and they form some sort of second shoe on the soles of their feet.

We generally finish at the orphanage between 2:30 and 3:00 - Only half a day's work really! But we're all so hot and dirty by that time, we're ready to go. On certain days throughout the week, the coordinators take us somewhere on the way home. Monday, Thursday and friday, we go to the little Seven Eleven shop (a convienance store) to get any snacks or drinks we might like. Because we have dinner here so ealy (4:30/5:00ish) We're all hungry by 9:00!!
On a Tuesday we go to a massive Tesco (yes, Tesco!) Which obviously sells Thai food and none of your Tesco Sandwiches or Pasta Salads, but we just loved going there for an hour for the air conditioning and the cleanest toilts i've seen since i've been here. They flushed, had toilet paper AND soap to wash your hands, which excited us immensly. Sad really, that the smallest things are starting to become luxury. I dream about having a hot shower (no hot water at the houses) being clean for longer than 10minutes, eating a jacket potato and salad (of all things, something i've had a massive craving for) being cold at night, and i've only been here a week! Slowly getting used to it all though....she says envisaging a large sofa.
Anyway, i digress.....Wednesdays at the orphanage are a half day and we leave after lunch to go to the swimming pool in the local town Sing Buri (they actually have a sign saying "Foreingers 50BAHT" Thai people go free!). It was a really nice pool. Big and the water was really warm. It felt nice to submurge myself fully in water and de-sweatify myself for a couple of hours.
Wednesday evenings we also go out for dinner with the rest of our house. It was nice to do something different for an evening and they had served us salad!! I wasn't going to risk it whilst i was in Asia, as i had heard bad reports, but i was desperate so i risked it. It was really nice and i felt fine the next day, so i know what i'm going to have next week!!

On friday evening there was a party arranged at the bar opposite our house. The people from the other 2 volunteer houses all got taxi's over and we chatted and drunk jugs of cocktails for a few hours. It was nice to meet some new people (although i didn't chat to that many newbies as i decided to spend time with the girls who were leaving the following morning) and have a bit of a dance. I only spent 250Baht (5pounds) the whole night too, which was a bargain!

Yesterday, i still woke up fairly early due to the local election trucks driving round blaring out loud music from about 6am. It has happened everyday this week. Men drive these trucks around all day with big megaphones on top, each truck telling you to vote for a different candidate. I have been told, however, that the voting is held today so fingers crossed we'll have no 6am (sometimes earlier!) awakenings from now on.

The people that were leaving were all picked up around 10:30. There seemed to be alot of people going and i was sad to see 4 of the girls, who i've spent the past week with go.
Those of us that were left decided to spent the day at the pool in Sing Buri, so caught a taxi.
Another thing that i have noticed since i have been here is the seemingly lack of common sense rules. 22 of us were in one taxi (which is an open sided truck over here) People sitting on laps, hanging out the back etc etc, but noone batted an eyelid. You also see people having a cigerette while filling up their motorbike with petrol and having a beer before they go to work in the morning. Bizzare to see, but then i do come from a country with more rules then you could shake a stick at, so i guess it's just a bit of a shock.

Thai people are so so friendly though, and it seems the poorer they are, the bigger the smile. They all smile and wave as you drive past and want to talk to you if they can speak good enough english - and if not they just chat way in Thai, smiling. They love white skin too. "White skin beautiful, brown skin no" i got told as i sat catching a few rays. Maybe i should give up on the sweaty sunbathing! Saying that, my first opportunity for sunbathing only came yesterday at the pool, so i have just got some rather fetching suntan marks in the shape of a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from where i have been working at the orphanage. Plenty of time for sunning myself though so i'm not too worried. That, and it's just far too hot! It hasn't rained for a few days now so is pretty hot and sticky. Seems strange to be hoping for rain, when at home all i want is for it to go away! Always want what we cant have though i guess......

Today has been spent relaxing at the house, reading, chatting, napping (how lazy - I think it must be the sun!!) But it's back to work tomorrow. I'm planning on having a break from the digging and doing some arts and crafts with the little ones.

A new group of people arrived at the house a couple of hours ago, so i'm going to go and chat to them, see if i can meet some new people to chat to in the evenings!

x x x x x x

First Day at the Orphanage

laura_street — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT

We left the comfort of the Royal Hotel at 2pm yesterday and, after a 2hour journey in a pimped up minibus complete with tv screen (which played the Britney Spears DVD pretty much the whole way!) and flsahing coloured lights, we arrived at The Twin House - my home for the next four weeks. I didn't have very high expectations so was pleasantly suprised when we arrived. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere (but luckily an internet cafe just up the road!) Firstly, you walk into a large open-sided building, which is where meals are served and you can chill out in the evenings. Up a path through a little garden area, past another "chill out" area,is where the little outhouses which are the bedrooms are.
I'm sharing with Anna and Erin, who have been doing the "Thai experience" with Real Gap for the last month and are now working at the orphanage for the next four weeks. I was pleased to find others who are going to be here as long as I am, as everyone I had spoke to seemed to only be staying for 2 weeks. There are lots of others staying at the Twin House and working at the orphanage, so I have spoken to lots of different people since I have been here.

Overall the accomodation seems ok. You share your rooms with a couple of strange looking bugs and little lizards and i think i'm going to feel constantly dirty for the next few weeks, but it's all part of the experience and I am loving being able to get ready in half the time as no hairstyling or make-up required!

This morning we were picked up after breakfast (thankfully no noodles or rice - but fruit and toast) and driven to the Orphanage. It takes just under an hour to get there. Not the most comfortable of rides in an open sided truck, but at least we don't have to walk!!
The orphanage is fairly big, i'm not entirely sure how many children are there yet, but at least a couple of hundred. They all greet you as you walk past - "Sa wa dee ka", and bow their heads. Extremely cute and watch you with such intent.
We got shown around the orphange by our co-ordinator, John, who grew up in Brighton(!) but has been at the orphanage for 14 months. It's absolutely amazing the amount of work that has already been carried out there by the volunteers, but there is always more to be done. Today I have been grouting a tiled floor with blue grout, so i now resemble an oversized Smurf! It gets everywhere. Then this afternoon a few of us started to dig up some of the boarders that surround the orphanage walls so that they can be concreted over and little seats put around the trees. Can you imagine me weilding a pick axe and hacking away at a load of soil. It's got danger written all over it really hasn't it?! But I, and all the girls around me, survived! (apart from having severely achey back and arms!) I'm going to be a DIY expert by the time I get back. John said I might even have to build a wall before i leave. urrrmmmmmm.........

The food has been good so far. We have breakfast and dinner at the Twin House and lunch near the orphanage. We get to choose whatever we like for lunch (obviously within reason - no sausage and mash or stew and dumplings! But any rice, noodles, veg, meat) We just have to tell john in the morning what we want and it's ready and waiting for us when we go for our lunch break.

Apparently the three volunteer houses meet up once a week for a party, so i'm looking forward to that! Not sure when it's going to be but there is so little else going on around here that it seems to be the highlight of the week.

I was just about to say the the weather has been gorgeous all day, but as i sit here the heavens have opened and the noise in the internet cafe is unbelievable. I have never seen rain before like i've seen here. You step out for a second and you're soaked to the bone. Think my internet bill might be slightly more then originally planned today - although it's so cheap I'm going to take advantage while i can.

I'm pleased i decided to do the orphanage work now. It really seems like we're making a difference and the children are all so friendly and want hugs and to play all the time. It's pretty hard work but I don't mind - i'm going to be twigzilla by the time i leave! just in time for my beach holiday with Lauren. Although the bar across the road isn't helping my cause, but we'll see.........x x x x

First few days

laura_street — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:34:00 GMT

Well, what a complete and utter whirlwind the past few days have been!

The flight here was ok, but very long and quite cramped. I was sandwiched between a nice old man, who helped me put my things in the overhead compartment because I was getting in a muddle, and two canadian girls. I was loving the TV screen in the back of the seat though so managed to watch 3 films as sleep appeared to be off the agenda.

I was met at the airport by a little Thai man holding a piece of paper which said "Real Gap Laura Street" and he drove me to my hotel, which took about an hour because of the traffic.

My hotel is pretty nice. Good shower, flushing toilet and air conditioning, which is the main thing! In fact, i've been sleeping in my hoodie because im so cold! Prefer that then swealtering heat though, which i'm sure is what im going to be sleeping in for the rest of my travels.
Breakfast is included so at least i'm guarenteed one meal a day! Although when i walked into the breakfast room on my first morning, i nearly walked out again. Presented before me was an aray of noodle, rish, meat and vegetable dishes. I don't know why but the thought of that in the morning really turned my stomach. Luckily i found some fresh pineapple and watermelon and some american pancakes with maple syrup!

Bangkok is as hot and muggy and busy and polluted as you imagine. The roads are mental! I had to cross a really wide road on my way for dinner on my second night and it was the scariest experience ever. Zebra crossings dont mean the same as they do in England. The cars don't stop, you literally just have to leg it!

My first day, during which i had just planned to have a wander round the area then head back to the hotel pool to relax turned into a crazy Tuk Tuk journey to temples and buddah's and silk shops and tailors (the drivers take you there because if you buy something they get a coupon for fuel for their Tuk Tuks) and a boat trip down the canals of Bangkok to see the "real Thailand".

You get nagged by Tuk Tuk drivers constantly when you walk down the streets. "Hewo miss. How are you? where you from? where you going? you want to see buddah? only 50 baht for 2 hours." I spoke to and declined many in my first half an hour of wandering but after speaking to "The Tourist Police" I just decided to go for it. How often am I in Thailand after all?! So i hopped into Mr Boonmers Tuk tuk and off we sped through the busy streets of Bangkok. I ended up visiting 4 Buddahs, 2 temples, 3 suit shops and going on a boat trip. I'm sure i probably got ripped off somewhere down the line, but i had no idea how much things were meant to cost here so i just went along with it.

After my hectic day some food and a cold beverage was needed so i decided to try and find Khao San road, a strip of restaurants, bars and hostels that is known for backpackers. I managed to find it (all neon lights, loud music and tourists) and had a nice dinner and a couple of beers on my lonesome. Was o.k. though because there were others on their own and I felt suprisingly much safer being around a few chavvy English boys and drunk Australians.

Yesterday Gemma, one of the other volunteers arrived early in the morning so we spent the day together wandering, chatting and drinking. Was really nice to have someone to properly chat to at last as i was getting bored of talking to myself (which i did A LOT!) We also met Hannah, another volunteer in the afternoon and she came out for dinner with us.

We are being picked up at 1pm today to travel to the orphanage, which is about 2-3hours away. I just hope the bus has got air conditioning bacause it is so so hot. The weather has been nice everyday. It has rained a couple of afternoons, but only for about an hour and it is still absolutely boiling so it's quite a welcome refreshment!

I'm looking forward to meeting some more people and seeing where i'm going to be staying for the next month. I'm sure it won't be all power showers and white fluffy towels but i'm excited all the same! x x x x

Waiting to leave

laura_street — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Only 7 weeks to go!