greetings, again. i left off with what was a riveting tale of my few days in cambodia, which, is all you really need in my opinion.
we left siem reap bright and early (well not so much bright considering it was 6 am) and boarded our first bus that would bring us to saigon/ho chi minh city. this bus was nothing like our bus to siem reap: it was full, smelly, and uncomfortable. i cannot imagine what it would have been like had sarah and i not stocked up on dramamine.
an unpeaceful sleep later we arrived back in phnom penh for the bus switch. the first leg was over! onto the second bus, still dramamined up, i enjoyed being squished against the window while two people shared the aisle seat next to me with absolutely zero regard for my need of personal space. my "accidental" shoves and elbows didnt phase them and my stink eye was repelled without even making them flinch.
we crossed the border and were in vietnam! we arrived at our hotel, madam cucs hotel 127, after an awful cab ride where we were scammed beyond belief. these cabbies definitely know whats up and how to get you when youre down. if we didnt have all of our luggage we would have been out of there in a hot second but clearly we know better and it is better to pay the 5 dollar fare and just get over it. after such a long day we ventured in for some food which was quite difficult - pork uterus is not something i would like to try. we finally found food and then passed out.
our next day in saigon was interesting. the city did not meet my imagined expectations minus the millions of motorbikes that i knew would zoom by me without thinking. i had the idea that saigon would be old world like with pretty buildings and charm thrown into the bustling city life. it wasnt. saigon is just a dirty city with very little i liked, except the market. sarah and i never turn down a good market. we ventured our way through the millions of fake bags, jewelry and lacquered items and came out with a few quality purchases such as our "good morning vietnam" shirts. the day had passed and before we knew it it was time to head to the train station to meet kay in nha trang!
we arrived to nha trang very early in the morning and already our spirits were lifted. nha trang is known as a beach town but even if it didnt have the beach i still think it was more charming than saigon. we arrived at our guesthouse, may huy (pronounced mais oui) where we fell in love with the place and the friendly staff who took great care of us. after another early morning nap we were reunited with our best friend kay who were are going to live with in beijing. we got settled, ate, chitchatted and then hit the beach, had great dinners and explored the local night life. perfect day. repeat 2 more times.
we said goodbye to may huy and boarded our train to hue. another dramamine filled night sleep later and we had arrived at binh minh hotel. hue is a quaint little town with cute shops and cafes. the first day we explored the city and scoped out the river and citadel which is the citys main attraction. the citadels walls are 18 feet thick!!! thats a lot of bricks people. after our tourist bout we decided that our time would be best spent at the pool and buying pictures from local photographers. we came home with some gorgeous prints which totaled about 1 dollar! a little goes a long way in the nam.
the next day we said a tearful and early goodbye to kay and then headed out for our private half day boat tour. we moseyed along the river and soaked up some sun while stopping at various points along the way. the first stop, a pagoda, was gorgeous and sarah and i got in a bit of meditation time. next, we headed to the tombs and then a temple. while the stops were great and interesting the best part was just seeing the city from the "lazy river" and soaking in the city from another angle. we also had a great lunch in the process cooked by the wife of our boat driver. we headed back home and then were on our way to the train station for another long ride to hanoi.
hanoi is what i believed vietnam would be like. the buildings are quaint, the people friendly, and the french influence is obvious. it has charm while still being a bustling city. we stayed in the old quarter which is a great area and has everything to offer. the first day we just got a feel for the quarter and strolled around the lake area looking in various shops and cafes along the way. we soon unleashed our need for silk scarves and now there are none left in the country. get ready for presents, people! hanoi was great for us because we could take our time and relax and do what we wanted when we wanted. we liked lazily soaking up the city and taking our time with the sites and shops. we also took in a water puppet show which was highly entertaining even though we understood nothing. the one downside to hanoi is the patch of skin i am now missing from my lower right calf. word to the wise - be careful and do not slip when getting off motorbike taxis. exhaust pipes are hot and will burn your skin off. it is not fun. despite the missing flesh, hanoi was my favorite city in vietnam. we wined, dined, shopped, and really just "lived".
we are departing for shanghai tonight where we will spend a few leisurely days before embarking on our 9 day tour of china. you will hear of that adventure later.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
There's Nothing Funny about Cambodia
hello, again. i am currently writing to you from hanoi, vietnam. it is our last day here and later tonight we head to shanghai, well, nanning and then take a plan to shanghai from there.
before i get into stories from the 'nam, i must first tell you of cambodia, if i can remember that far back.
we flew from bangkok to cambodia and arrived in phnom penh. our guesthouse, grandview (name is not fitting) was in the midst of a backpacker road with tons of restaurants and cafes where "happy" pizzas are plentiful (at some places you can even ask for extra happy). we had dinner, some drinks and were down for the count.
we woke up early the following morning to head to the SE2 museum, on old high school where pol pot and his regime tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of cambodians whom were assumed to be against the khymer. like walking around dachau in germany, i could feel all that had gone on there. there were pictures of individuals who were brought and killed there under gruesome ways which, excuse this phrase, brought such an awful history to life in my eyes.
after the museum we headed back to grandview for a quick lunch before boarding the bus to siem reap. we had an entire bus to ourselves and after a lovely 8 hour nap we arrived at jasmine lodge. our staff could not have been more friendly and helped us book our tour of angkor wat (the largest religious site in the world). we had been told that getting there for sunrise was breathtaking so we decided to go to bed early to wake up at 4 am. of course, the morning we decide to do this, the sunrise is clouded by a wonderful rain shower. the clouds and mist eventually did clear and we were able to enjoy some of the other temples in the area in full sun. the temples were incredible and depicted such intricate detail of life in cambodia through carvings. many people, we were told, spend about 3-4 days returning to angkor wat, but sarah and i could not have been more content with our 6 hours. i think if we had spent days there the temples would have merged together making the experience far less memorable.
we returned around 11 am and found it to be a perfect time for a nap. after finishing a peaceful sleep we just hung out on our rooftop terrace and read before enjoying a great happy hour in "downtown" siem reap followed by some market stall shopping and then a delicious traditional dinner of khymer cuisine at khymer kitchen.
then it was back to jasmine before waking up early yet again for our 2 buses to saigon.
before i get into stories from the 'nam, i must first tell you of cambodia, if i can remember that far back.
we flew from bangkok to cambodia and arrived in phnom penh. our guesthouse, grandview (name is not fitting) was in the midst of a backpacker road with tons of restaurants and cafes where "happy" pizzas are plentiful (at some places you can even ask for extra happy). we had dinner, some drinks and were down for the count.
we woke up early the following morning to head to the SE2 museum, on old high school where pol pot and his regime tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of cambodians whom were assumed to be against the khymer. like walking around dachau in germany, i could feel all that had gone on there. there were pictures of individuals who were brought and killed there under gruesome ways which, excuse this phrase, brought such an awful history to life in my eyes.
after the museum we headed back to grandview for a quick lunch before boarding the bus to siem reap. we had an entire bus to ourselves and after a lovely 8 hour nap we arrived at jasmine lodge. our staff could not have been more friendly and helped us book our tour of angkor wat (the largest religious site in the world). we had been told that getting there for sunrise was breathtaking so we decided to go to bed early to wake up at 4 am. of course, the morning we decide to do this, the sunrise is clouded by a wonderful rain shower. the clouds and mist eventually did clear and we were able to enjoy some of the other temples in the area in full sun. the temples were incredible and depicted such intricate detail of life in cambodia through carvings. many people, we were told, spend about 3-4 days returning to angkor wat, but sarah and i could not have been more content with our 6 hours. i think if we had spent days there the temples would have merged together making the experience far less memorable.
we returned around 11 am and found it to be a perfect time for a nap. after finishing a peaceful sleep we just hung out on our rooftop terrace and read before enjoying a great happy hour in "downtown" siem reap followed by some market stall shopping and then a delicious traditional dinner of khymer cuisine at khymer kitchen.
then it was back to jasmine before waking up early yet again for our 2 buses to saigon.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Monks, Meditation and Massages
greetings. i deeply apologize for what appears to be the longest gap between posts since the beginning of this adventure. i already got yelled at from gary himself and since no one else is my parent you cant express the need for blogs in such a vulgar manner although i bet youre thinking it to yourselves. so fear not, i am here and ready to share.
when i last left you we had just returned from 6 wonderful days of sun, happy hours and all the rest that goes along with general beach merriment. we took another long train ride and were in bangkok. we decided that after such a long journey and our need to be presentable when showing up to the temple the following day we were in need of a bit of luxury. luckilly, sarah and her mom had been to bangkok before and we decided that it would be worth it to stay at their previous hotel, ibrik. we had a lovely room with a balcony that faced the river in addition to a hot shower which these days has been quite difficult to come by.
we settled in, ate lunch and then perused the local market. i have never smelled so many conflicting scents in my entire life. you could have a fish vendor next to a flower vendor next to a sweets vendor. now take that aroma and multiply it by 1,000,000 and there is the local market in bangkok. a successful t-shirt purchase later, we were back at the river room in ibrik relaxing before our last bit of the high life: dinner at the famed suparta river house. we had a wonderful dinner on the water and treated ourselves to our first glass of wine since leaving australia. we had low expectations of wine in thailand but it was better than goon and thats all that counts!!
the next day we did a bit of sightseeing before heading to our project in the late afternoon. we went to the famed wat pho and saw the reclining buddah, which is incredible. this is one massive buddah and in addition to its enormity it is completely gold from head to toe which makes the sight even that much more spectacular. after bonding with the first of many buddahs, we went to the massage region of the temple (wat pho is the one of the original schools for thai massage) and enjoyed a nice half hour relaxation break. we headed back to ibrik for a last sweep of our room and with a tearful goodbye we left the high life and headed for wat arun.
we must have been a sight for sore eyes. the taxi dropped us off in the middle of the main temple grounds and for about 10 minutes or so sarah and i just stared and wandered aimlessly in hope of finding something that would point us in the direction of the volunteer center. finally someone found us and correctly guessed that we were the newest additions to the volunteer team. the man, known as hartanto or "teacher" as we often call him, is the head of the meditation center and volunteer program.
the center and program was founded by a couple in florida who had known hartanto and wanted to repay their thanks to him after he helped them adopt two thai children. hartanto runs it and in accordance with the thai ministry of education, the center helps thai teens have a better life. the program offers them a year of schooling in addition to jobs at the local hospital and engineering centers. the children are learning english with the guarantee of a job the following year.
we helped to teach these children english in the morning for a few days but then were told that a summer school program had come up and we would be teaching younger elementary school children for the remainder of our time at the center. teaching was great and sarah and i proved to be a great team. there is now a group of 20 thai children who are well versed in "there was a crocodile..." and "everywhere we go..."!! in addition to the elementary school, we taught adults who worked for hitachi electronics on tuesday and thursday afternoons. this class was very fun and we enjoyed working on pronunciation and detail with the adults. some of our classes received very high acclaim!!
we slept at the dorm with the other girls and by the end of our two weeks sleeping on the floor was somewhat natural feeling (yeah, right - the second we got on the sleeper train to chiang mai it was like the hard floor had never happened!)
during the off hours when we were not teaching (which was often enough) we would read, meditate and hang out with the head monk (pra metti; pra means monk in thai). pra metti was the funniest man i have ever met. no matter what you were doing he always seemed to have something more interesting (at least to him) for you to be doing such as chopping coconuts, picking flowers or watching bbc television with him.
i have found that although it is very difficult for me, i greatly enjoy meditation. hartanto taught us that it is not about being at inner peace with yourself. it is the opposite; instead of thinking about calming thoughts or just being one with your thoughts, you are not supposed to do that. you can be aware of thoughts and feelings but aside from that awareness you are not meant to follow them any further. if a bug just bit you or you are thinking about something you forgot to do, just acknowledge that you have thought it and then put it aside. the main idea of inside meditation is to follow your breath and for lack of a better buddhist phrase to finish with, see where it takes you. i have tried to continue with meditation at least once daily since we have finished teaching. sometimes i am successful and others i am not. the key for me is to not beat myself up after a "bad" session just to say that i sat for however long as i did and then know that i will try again later or the next day and maybe have a great session. good or bad, as long as you continue to try thats all that matters.
we left bangkok for a 5 day mini vacation to chiang mai which is in northern thailand. its a good thing we went there after our volunteer stint because i had plenty of saved money that didnt go to guest houses and hostels. thats right folks, youve guessed it, the extra cash went to presents for all of you (and myself, obvi.) chiang mai was the perfect place to relax. we got massaged, ate wonderful food (sarah and i managed to find the only restaurant in thailand that serves bagels and lox!), and graced the local shops and markets with our burning wallets. when we werent burning through money, we were laying by the pool at our guest house and reading.
and of course, we couldnt go to chiang mai without taking a thai cooking course. our course was lovely and the people who we shared the day with were great. our teacher was very enthusiastic and we had a great time learning about thai ingredients and how to prepare: hot and sour soup, chicken pad se ew, chicken with cashews, spicy papaya salad, green curry with my very own homemade curry paste, and sticky rice with mango. by the end of the course (3:30 pm) we could hardly move due to the fullness and took our leftovers home for dinner.
we are currently back in bangkok - we had one farewell nights sleep with the beloved floor - and fly to cambodia tonight for a few days before meeting the lovely kay in vietnam. its amazing to think that we are over half way through this trip and in a mere few weeks will be finished with the moving around every few days; we will finally be stationed in a city!!
thats all for now. keep reading.
when i last left you we had just returned from 6 wonderful days of sun, happy hours and all the rest that goes along with general beach merriment. we took another long train ride and were in bangkok. we decided that after such a long journey and our need to be presentable when showing up to the temple the following day we were in need of a bit of luxury. luckilly, sarah and her mom had been to bangkok before and we decided that it would be worth it to stay at their previous hotel, ibrik. we had a lovely room with a balcony that faced the river in addition to a hot shower which these days has been quite difficult to come by.
we settled in, ate lunch and then perused the local market. i have never smelled so many conflicting scents in my entire life. you could have a fish vendor next to a flower vendor next to a sweets vendor. now take that aroma and multiply it by 1,000,000 and there is the local market in bangkok. a successful t-shirt purchase later, we were back at the river room in ibrik relaxing before our last bit of the high life: dinner at the famed suparta river house. we had a wonderful dinner on the water and treated ourselves to our first glass of wine since leaving australia. we had low expectations of wine in thailand but it was better than goon and thats all that counts!!
the next day we did a bit of sightseeing before heading to our project in the late afternoon. we went to the famed wat pho and saw the reclining buddah, which is incredible. this is one massive buddah and in addition to its enormity it is completely gold from head to toe which makes the sight even that much more spectacular. after bonding with the first of many buddahs, we went to the massage region of the temple (wat pho is the one of the original schools for thai massage) and enjoyed a nice half hour relaxation break. we headed back to ibrik for a last sweep of our room and with a tearful goodbye we left the high life and headed for wat arun.
we must have been a sight for sore eyes. the taxi dropped us off in the middle of the main temple grounds and for about 10 minutes or so sarah and i just stared and wandered aimlessly in hope of finding something that would point us in the direction of the volunteer center. finally someone found us and correctly guessed that we were the newest additions to the volunteer team. the man, known as hartanto or "teacher" as we often call him, is the head of the meditation center and volunteer program.
the center and program was founded by a couple in florida who had known hartanto and wanted to repay their thanks to him after he helped them adopt two thai children. hartanto runs it and in accordance with the thai ministry of education, the center helps thai teens have a better life. the program offers them a year of schooling in addition to jobs at the local hospital and engineering centers. the children are learning english with the guarantee of a job the following year.
we helped to teach these children english in the morning for a few days but then were told that a summer school program had come up and we would be teaching younger elementary school children for the remainder of our time at the center. teaching was great and sarah and i proved to be a great team. there is now a group of 20 thai children who are well versed in "there was a crocodile..." and "everywhere we go..."!! in addition to the elementary school, we taught adults who worked for hitachi electronics on tuesday and thursday afternoons. this class was very fun and we enjoyed working on pronunciation and detail with the adults. some of our classes received very high acclaim!!
we slept at the dorm with the other girls and by the end of our two weeks sleeping on the floor was somewhat natural feeling (yeah, right - the second we got on the sleeper train to chiang mai it was like the hard floor had never happened!)
during the off hours when we were not teaching (which was often enough) we would read, meditate and hang out with the head monk (pra metti; pra means monk in thai). pra metti was the funniest man i have ever met. no matter what you were doing he always seemed to have something more interesting (at least to him) for you to be doing such as chopping coconuts, picking flowers or watching bbc television with him.
i have found that although it is very difficult for me, i greatly enjoy meditation. hartanto taught us that it is not about being at inner peace with yourself. it is the opposite; instead of thinking about calming thoughts or just being one with your thoughts, you are not supposed to do that. you can be aware of thoughts and feelings but aside from that awareness you are not meant to follow them any further. if a bug just bit you or you are thinking about something you forgot to do, just acknowledge that you have thought it and then put it aside. the main idea of inside meditation is to follow your breath and for lack of a better buddhist phrase to finish with, see where it takes you. i have tried to continue with meditation at least once daily since we have finished teaching. sometimes i am successful and others i am not. the key for me is to not beat myself up after a "bad" session just to say that i sat for however long as i did and then know that i will try again later or the next day and maybe have a great session. good or bad, as long as you continue to try thats all that matters.
we left bangkok for a 5 day mini vacation to chiang mai which is in northern thailand. its a good thing we went there after our volunteer stint because i had plenty of saved money that didnt go to guest houses and hostels. thats right folks, youve guessed it, the extra cash went to presents for all of you (and myself, obvi.) chiang mai was the perfect place to relax. we got massaged, ate wonderful food (sarah and i managed to find the only restaurant in thailand that serves bagels and lox!), and graced the local shops and markets with our burning wallets. when we werent burning through money, we were laying by the pool at our guest house and reading.
and of course, we couldnt go to chiang mai without taking a thai cooking course. our course was lovely and the people who we shared the day with were great. our teacher was very enthusiastic and we had a great time learning about thai ingredients and how to prepare: hot and sour soup, chicken pad se ew, chicken with cashews, spicy papaya salad, green curry with my very own homemade curry paste, and sticky rice with mango. by the end of the course (3:30 pm) we could hardly move due to the fullness and took our leftovers home for dinner.
we are currently back in bangkok - we had one farewell nights sleep with the beloved floor - and fly to cambodia tonight for a few days before meeting the lovely kay in vietnam. its amazing to think that we are over half way through this trip and in a mere few weeks will be finished with the moving around every few days; we will finally be stationed in a city!!
thats all for now. keep reading.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Malaysia: Toilet Paper Not Included, Ko Samui: I Live Here After Melbourne
hello, all. it feels like its been ages since ive posted so i thought that now would be a perfect time before my skin officially burns from the thai sun. yes, now is the time to be jealous that im on the beaches of thailand and you are not.
but back to malaysia...
melaka:
there is not much to do in melaka. we left singapore bright and early to catch our first of many long train rides. we were off and i said goodbye to singapore. a lot of reading, sleeping and ipod action later, we were in melaka. wishful thinking led me to hope that the heat and humidity would lessen after singapore, but again, that was just wishful thinking. we had a very nice cab driver who spoke wonderful english take us to our guest house after we gently declined his invitation to stay at his house. he gave us a personal tour which allowed us to get a small idea of the lay of the land. we pulled up to our guest house, travellers lodge, and instantly loved its subtle charm. having not eaten since too many hours to count before, we headed to a hawkre center for lunch and refueled with some chicken rice and a fresh juice. we then felt engergized enough to explore but soon found that there wasnt much to search for. melaka has not one, but two, MEGA malls and they seem to take great pride in them. in one of these malls we found not only a starbucks but a coffee bean and tea leaf!! of course my iced green tea cost 10 times what my lunch cost but it was well worth it and still not enough to break the bank. malaysia is cheap, my friends. we headed back home, excited to relax on travellers private roof top terrace which was soon our favorite spot. before we knew it, it was time to eat again which is really the main thing to do in melaka. as my mom would say "if the shoe fits, buy it in every color" so we headed back to newton hawkre center to try some more local fare. lonely planet had told us to try kopiah which is a vegetarian spring roll, but in reality its more like a pancake filled with vegetables and plum sauce. regardless, it was amazing. we ate quickly so that we could enjoy the last bit of light on the rooftop with our books before heading to bed.
the following day we woke with the idea that today would be our tourist day in melaka. again, the heat was in full force which made everything that didnt involve air conditioning very unpleasant. we walked around the town hall square which was actually quite interesting. the buildings in this region are all painted red from when melaka was in the hands of the dutch. it makes that part of town seem more regal and noble. we then walked around chinatown which didnt seem too tourist friendly, more like shops for locals daily needs. the heat began to fry our brains so we decided that we had had enough and went home to relax on our roof. we had planned to go to a museum describing the idea of mutilation and beauty in malaysia but we had then realized that we were train ticketless and that we needed to find a working printer in order to make it to penang the following day. we searched high and low. every place that seemed to have a printer had a broken printer. finally, we got to an internet cafe (malaysian boys LOVE video games) and printed our tickets. frazzled from that long and frantic hour, we cozied up with a tiger beer before heading to dinner at capitol satay.
capitol satay gets its own section in this blog. lonely planet said that this place was enough to make anyone want to move to melaka. i laughed internally but they were right. id either move to melaka or open one of these bad boys in whatever city i choose to reside in next. this place was popular and we knew that our slight wait would be more than worth it. lonely planet wasnt lying, you walk in and there are literally, stainless steel tables connected to a propane tank which then fuel the BUBBLING VATS OF SATAY SAUCE in the middle of your table. we sat down, ordered some drinks and waited for the fun to begin. sarah and i just stared blankly at the massive wall of satay options. you walk to the wall and load your tray with anything you want, if you can decipher what is even there. i have no idea how the melakans (?) do it. i could barely recognize anything other than shrimp and tofu. there were obscure meat balls that these people seemed to recognize even though they were raw and had no name to describe them. maybe they just like to eat anything and will take a chance. sarah and i clearly needed help to decipher what was what. when our tray was full we let the fun begin. you are told how long each stick needs to cook and then just dunk it in the vat and wait. we certainly ate more than necessary but had to soak it all in. the best part? our many sticks and beers cost us about 7 dollars each! capitol satay also taught me something very important - real toilets are going to be harder and harder to come by. in capitol, squatters room only, of course, without toilet paper. luckilly, sarah and i had wised up by our second day in melaka and brought our own. i suppose this leads me to the title of my post: after we settled in at travellers lodge after our train ride sarah and i both went to the bathroom. we learned that there wasnt any toilet paper so we informed, like we assumed any guest would, the man working at the desk that there was none. he told us, the seriousness of his face never leaving that "toilet paper was not included in the price of the room." baffled, we just nodded and were on our way (in the end, we were never charged for the two rolls we acquired).
penang: we took our long cab ride back to the train station and prepared ourselves for another 9 hour journey. another enjoyable ride full of napping, music and some reading, i mostly gazed out the window at the vast expanse of jungle we were riding through. finally, we arrived at butterworth station and after our ferry ride, were in georgetown, the historic and most popular section of penang. we arrived at our guest house, 75 travellers lodge, hot, exhausted and ready to enter our double room with fan (as you travel further and further into air conditionless places, you realize how important your own room can be and that fans are luxuries). the house keeper told us as we wiped sweat from our eyes that our room was still occupied by the previous tenant because they were not feeling well and decided to stay another night. baffled and downright angry, sarah and i had zero energy to argue and took the two beds in the dorm room which, of course, was fanless. the windows were wide open and this led us to the first usage of our trusty mosquito nets which is like sleeping in a clostrophobic prison. too tired to truly care, we fell fast asleep. i now wonder what would have happened had there not been those two empty beds in the dorm...good thing we never had to find out.
we woke, changed rooms, and had breakfast. we decided to get our bearings so we took a hop on hop off bus of georgetown. unfortunately, this was no guide into the history of penang, more of just a free bus that happened to stop at "historic" spots. still happy to have seen a large portion of the city, we hopped off in little india for lunch. this is the kind of little india i imagined singapores to be like. there was bollywood music coming from all sorts of shops that were full of indian garb and shiny bangles that sarah and i had to refrain from buying. we stumbled into a delicious vegetarian restaurant and were quite pleased. sarah has a friend who is malaysian and when we asked her what to do, she bluntly replied, "eat" - so we did. we then checked out the penang museum and learned about penangs history and culture. i really enjoyed the museum and looking at the old artifacts it housed. we headed home then went off to gurney plaza which was wendy from singapores reccommendation for a little AC fix and a manicure if we fancied. manicure aside, this place was nothing sarah and i had ever seen before. if we thought the mega malls in melaka were huge this was a whole other ball game. i had never seen a mall this size let alone even thought that one existed. there were about 8 floors full of shops and restaurants and beauty salons. each floor was actually divided by "subject" keeping all like stores and services together to make for a less confusing shopping experience. sarah and i just rode the escalators with open jaws as we looked around. we then went to the hawkre center near by which did not disapoint. we tried another traditional dish called rojak which was a salad composed of fruits and vegetables (sarah and i could only name cucumber and pineapple) that are dressed with a thick combination of plum sauce and peanuts and maybe a few other ingredients. we had a great outdoor dinner of fried noodles with vegetables (in asia, "fried" just means wok seared which is something us americans could learn to pick up on) then finally found our way home after a few troubles navigating the penang bus system. for such a popular mode of transportation, these bus stops certainly do not want to be found!
the following day we went for a traditional dim sum breakfast which is something i reccommend everyone eating every day of their lives. after you get over the fact you are most likely eating lunch and dinner foods for breakfast, just enjoy. the best things we found were savory pastries filled with barbeque pork. we had some traditional chinese tea and made some english speaking friends. sarah and i appeared to be some kind of novelty in malaysia. people would just come talk to us, fascinated by the mix of american and english accents. people even asked to take pictures with us! i mean, i know were pretty but please!! after breakfast we waited for the bus and enjoyed a fresh juice. in penang, they just squeeze fresh fruit and vegetables and put it in a plastic bag with a straw then tie the bag up so you can wear it like a bracelet therefore making your drinking experience hands free! sarah and i loved the idea and hope it catches on at home. we then caught the bus to penang hill which was a nice little excusrion out of the city. we then took a funicular train up to see wonderful views of the city and look at a gorgeous temple and mosque. we headed back home and then got ready for our "fancy" dinner at a chinese restaurant. lonely planet again told us about this place and warned us that although the place looks like another hole in the wall you must dress the part which of course was dressy. well, dressing up was worth it. we had some of the best chicken and vegetables we had ever had. we then walked around and headed back home.
apparently, according to sarah, many people neglect malaysia (and singapore) during their gap year. i find this to be such a shame. both places are so full of culture and life (and great food) that they should not be missed. having said that, i think we planned perfectly and divided our time between places in a great way. another day in melaka would have been too many, one less in penang would have been too few.
now a glimspe into thailand. another 9 hour train ride turned into a 12 hour train ride but we finally arrive to surrat thani station. making our arrival 2:30 am instead of 11:30 pm, we were glad our hostel was literally, right around the corner from the station. we were also quite lucky that the station has "attendants" for lack of a better word working at the station and one was nice enough to walk with us to our hostel to avoid creepy windy streets in the black of night. we arrived at queen, were shown our room and passed out in the beds before we could even say goodnight to one another. we woke up and got ready for our bus and ferry ride to ko samui. another bus and a long song-tow ride later (think an open cab) we arrived in paradise, matlang resort. we have a private little wooden beach house with ensuite bathroom and, of course, a fan. our long days of travel were behind us and we instantly fell into the beach life.
we fill our days with sunning, swimming, walking along the ocean line and of course eating and drinking. occasionally we throw in a massage on the beach with a few games of cards here and there. we are zooming through books and forgetting all about the real world which is what the beach can do.
thats all for now. we leave for bangkok tomorrow - another glorious train ride, this time hopefully on time. a few days after our arrival, we begin our volunteer project at temple wat arun, otherwise known as the temple of dawn. sarah and i will be teaching english - this is where your confused looks can come into play - and partaking in daily meditation sessions with the monks. we have already pitched the idea to nancy mccann and as of now, meditation with ruthie and sarah is now going to be an after dinner activity for seniors only.
will report from bangkok...stay tuned.
but back to malaysia...
melaka:
there is not much to do in melaka. we left singapore bright and early to catch our first of many long train rides. we were off and i said goodbye to singapore. a lot of reading, sleeping and ipod action later, we were in melaka. wishful thinking led me to hope that the heat and humidity would lessen after singapore, but again, that was just wishful thinking. we had a very nice cab driver who spoke wonderful english take us to our guest house after we gently declined his invitation to stay at his house. he gave us a personal tour which allowed us to get a small idea of the lay of the land. we pulled up to our guest house, travellers lodge, and instantly loved its subtle charm. having not eaten since too many hours to count before, we headed to a hawkre center for lunch and refueled with some chicken rice and a fresh juice. we then felt engergized enough to explore but soon found that there wasnt much to search for. melaka has not one, but two, MEGA malls and they seem to take great pride in them. in one of these malls we found not only a starbucks but a coffee bean and tea leaf!! of course my iced green tea cost 10 times what my lunch cost but it was well worth it and still not enough to break the bank. malaysia is cheap, my friends. we headed back home, excited to relax on travellers private roof top terrace which was soon our favorite spot. before we knew it, it was time to eat again which is really the main thing to do in melaka. as my mom would say "if the shoe fits, buy it in every color" so we headed back to newton hawkre center to try some more local fare. lonely planet had told us to try kopiah which is a vegetarian spring roll, but in reality its more like a pancake filled with vegetables and plum sauce. regardless, it was amazing. we ate quickly so that we could enjoy the last bit of light on the rooftop with our books before heading to bed.
the following day we woke with the idea that today would be our tourist day in melaka. again, the heat was in full force which made everything that didnt involve air conditioning very unpleasant. we walked around the town hall square which was actually quite interesting. the buildings in this region are all painted red from when melaka was in the hands of the dutch. it makes that part of town seem more regal and noble. we then walked around chinatown which didnt seem too tourist friendly, more like shops for locals daily needs. the heat began to fry our brains so we decided that we had had enough and went home to relax on our roof. we had planned to go to a museum describing the idea of mutilation and beauty in malaysia but we had then realized that we were train ticketless and that we needed to find a working printer in order to make it to penang the following day. we searched high and low. every place that seemed to have a printer had a broken printer. finally, we got to an internet cafe (malaysian boys LOVE video games) and printed our tickets. frazzled from that long and frantic hour, we cozied up with a tiger beer before heading to dinner at capitol satay.
capitol satay gets its own section in this blog. lonely planet said that this place was enough to make anyone want to move to melaka. i laughed internally but they were right. id either move to melaka or open one of these bad boys in whatever city i choose to reside in next. this place was popular and we knew that our slight wait would be more than worth it. lonely planet wasnt lying, you walk in and there are literally, stainless steel tables connected to a propane tank which then fuel the BUBBLING VATS OF SATAY SAUCE in the middle of your table. we sat down, ordered some drinks and waited for the fun to begin. sarah and i just stared blankly at the massive wall of satay options. you walk to the wall and load your tray with anything you want, if you can decipher what is even there. i have no idea how the melakans (?) do it. i could barely recognize anything other than shrimp and tofu. there were obscure meat balls that these people seemed to recognize even though they were raw and had no name to describe them. maybe they just like to eat anything and will take a chance. sarah and i clearly needed help to decipher what was what. when our tray was full we let the fun begin. you are told how long each stick needs to cook and then just dunk it in the vat and wait. we certainly ate more than necessary but had to soak it all in. the best part? our many sticks and beers cost us about 7 dollars each! capitol satay also taught me something very important - real toilets are going to be harder and harder to come by. in capitol, squatters room only, of course, without toilet paper. luckilly, sarah and i had wised up by our second day in melaka and brought our own. i suppose this leads me to the title of my post: after we settled in at travellers lodge after our train ride sarah and i both went to the bathroom. we learned that there wasnt any toilet paper so we informed, like we assumed any guest would, the man working at the desk that there was none. he told us, the seriousness of his face never leaving that "toilet paper was not included in the price of the room." baffled, we just nodded and were on our way (in the end, we were never charged for the two rolls we acquired).
penang: we took our long cab ride back to the train station and prepared ourselves for another 9 hour journey. another enjoyable ride full of napping, music and some reading, i mostly gazed out the window at the vast expanse of jungle we were riding through. finally, we arrived at butterworth station and after our ferry ride, were in georgetown, the historic and most popular section of penang. we arrived at our guest house, 75 travellers lodge, hot, exhausted and ready to enter our double room with fan (as you travel further and further into air conditionless places, you realize how important your own room can be and that fans are luxuries). the house keeper told us as we wiped sweat from our eyes that our room was still occupied by the previous tenant because they were not feeling well and decided to stay another night. baffled and downright angry, sarah and i had zero energy to argue and took the two beds in the dorm room which, of course, was fanless. the windows were wide open and this led us to the first usage of our trusty mosquito nets which is like sleeping in a clostrophobic prison. too tired to truly care, we fell fast asleep. i now wonder what would have happened had there not been those two empty beds in the dorm...good thing we never had to find out.
we woke, changed rooms, and had breakfast. we decided to get our bearings so we took a hop on hop off bus of georgetown. unfortunately, this was no guide into the history of penang, more of just a free bus that happened to stop at "historic" spots. still happy to have seen a large portion of the city, we hopped off in little india for lunch. this is the kind of little india i imagined singapores to be like. there was bollywood music coming from all sorts of shops that were full of indian garb and shiny bangles that sarah and i had to refrain from buying. we stumbled into a delicious vegetarian restaurant and were quite pleased. sarah has a friend who is malaysian and when we asked her what to do, she bluntly replied, "eat" - so we did. we then checked out the penang museum and learned about penangs history and culture. i really enjoyed the museum and looking at the old artifacts it housed. we headed home then went off to gurney plaza which was wendy from singapores reccommendation for a little AC fix and a manicure if we fancied. manicure aside, this place was nothing sarah and i had ever seen before. if we thought the mega malls in melaka were huge this was a whole other ball game. i had never seen a mall this size let alone even thought that one existed. there were about 8 floors full of shops and restaurants and beauty salons. each floor was actually divided by "subject" keeping all like stores and services together to make for a less confusing shopping experience. sarah and i just rode the escalators with open jaws as we looked around. we then went to the hawkre center near by which did not disapoint. we tried another traditional dish called rojak which was a salad composed of fruits and vegetables (sarah and i could only name cucumber and pineapple) that are dressed with a thick combination of plum sauce and peanuts and maybe a few other ingredients. we had a great outdoor dinner of fried noodles with vegetables (in asia, "fried" just means wok seared which is something us americans could learn to pick up on) then finally found our way home after a few troubles navigating the penang bus system. for such a popular mode of transportation, these bus stops certainly do not want to be found!
the following day we went for a traditional dim sum breakfast which is something i reccommend everyone eating every day of their lives. after you get over the fact you are most likely eating lunch and dinner foods for breakfast, just enjoy. the best things we found were savory pastries filled with barbeque pork. we had some traditional chinese tea and made some english speaking friends. sarah and i appeared to be some kind of novelty in malaysia. people would just come talk to us, fascinated by the mix of american and english accents. people even asked to take pictures with us! i mean, i know were pretty but please!! after breakfast we waited for the bus and enjoyed a fresh juice. in penang, they just squeeze fresh fruit and vegetables and put it in a plastic bag with a straw then tie the bag up so you can wear it like a bracelet therefore making your drinking experience hands free! sarah and i loved the idea and hope it catches on at home. we then caught the bus to penang hill which was a nice little excusrion out of the city. we then took a funicular train up to see wonderful views of the city and look at a gorgeous temple and mosque. we headed back home and then got ready for our "fancy" dinner at a chinese restaurant. lonely planet again told us about this place and warned us that although the place looks like another hole in the wall you must dress the part which of course was dressy. well, dressing up was worth it. we had some of the best chicken and vegetables we had ever had. we then walked around and headed back home.
apparently, according to sarah, many people neglect malaysia (and singapore) during their gap year. i find this to be such a shame. both places are so full of culture and life (and great food) that they should not be missed. having said that, i think we planned perfectly and divided our time between places in a great way. another day in melaka would have been too many, one less in penang would have been too few.
now a glimspe into thailand. another 9 hour train ride turned into a 12 hour train ride but we finally arrive to surrat thani station. making our arrival 2:30 am instead of 11:30 pm, we were glad our hostel was literally, right around the corner from the station. we were also quite lucky that the station has "attendants" for lack of a better word working at the station and one was nice enough to walk with us to our hostel to avoid creepy windy streets in the black of night. we arrived at queen, were shown our room and passed out in the beds before we could even say goodnight to one another. we woke up and got ready for our bus and ferry ride to ko samui. another bus and a long song-tow ride later (think an open cab) we arrived in paradise, matlang resort. we have a private little wooden beach house with ensuite bathroom and, of course, a fan. our long days of travel were behind us and we instantly fell into the beach life.
we fill our days with sunning, swimming, walking along the ocean line and of course eating and drinking. occasionally we throw in a massage on the beach with a few games of cards here and there. we are zooming through books and forgetting all about the real world which is what the beach can do.
thats all for now. we leave for bangkok tomorrow - another glorious train ride, this time hopefully on time. a few days after our arrival, we begin our volunteer project at temple wat arun, otherwise known as the temple of dawn. sarah and i will be teaching english - this is where your confused looks can come into play - and partaking in daily meditation sessions with the monks. we have already pitched the idea to nancy mccann and as of now, meditation with ruthie and sarah is now going to be an after dinner activity for seniors only.
will report from bangkok...stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Singa-what? Singa-who? Singa-(down)pour
greetings from melaka, malaysia. i know many of you are concerned for the wellbeing of the prime minister, my dear cousin lauren especially, but not to worry, i have neither seen zoolander around nor have i heard the song "relax" during my stay here. but enough about that, onto singapore.
as ive already told you, we had a great flight to singapore. we were met at the airport by our driver who made sarah feel very special when she saw him flashing a piece of paper that said her name in big, capital letters. he took us to our b and b, 1bnbsingapore (original, i know), located in the cute area of spottiswoode park.
we were met by some one of the caretakers and shown to our room which was lovely. the b and b had so much character and charm - 5 or so rooms, nice little dining and living room and a nice kitchen. the people could not have been nicer which made this so much more enjoyable than some of the previous hostels we have been staying at. our room was perfect, complete with AC, and cable tv. we were quite exhausted after the journey that 5 minutes into jimmy kimmel we both fell into a peaceful sleep.
we woke up the next morning ready to take on singapore. we woke up, had breakfast then headed off to explore. after getting a bit lost on the way out of spottiswoode, we finally made our way and started in the direction of chinatown. on our hot, humid, sticky and sweaty walk there we stumbled upon the buddah tooth relic museum which is a temple with different rooms and floors - combining temple with tourist attraction i suppose. there is one room that is covered in wall to wall buddahs (1000 to be exact). it was very beautiful and the colors were magnificent. the temple, of course, was next to chinatown which was perfect.
we walked along, browsing each stall trying to sell us various knick knacks and jewelry. we made it further and further in and stumbled upon a place to have lunch. weary of our stomachs we trusted this place due to the mix of people - tourists and locals alike seemed to be eating there. we braved it and instead of water, enjoyed our first of many tiger beers (possibly one of my favorite to date). lunch turned out to be delicious. weve noticed that fresh juice is a very hot commodity in singapore and malaysia. the spicy food makes you desperately need a palate cleanser and cooler in between bites. sarah and i learned this lesson early and have carried it with us thus far in our travels. we walked around a bit more, contemplating buying more art for the apartment i dont have in the city i dont live in but decided against it because whatever could be found in chinatown we are hoping can be found in china itself!
tired and dragging, we headed back to 1bnb for a little r and r before getting ready for our night safari. we stared with dinner at the famed newton circus, a massive hawkre center full of merchants touting at you because obviously they sell better food than the stall next door. in true singapore fashion, we reserved our table as the locals do, with a packet of tissues! apparently, if the tissues are down no one would dare go near your table. the tissues also are vital to have because napkins dont seem to exist here. so whether its for making sure youre eating cleanly or wiping the sweat from your face after eating some chili, youll be glad you brought the tissues.
the night safari was incredible. you can walk and or take a tram through the designated paths full of animals from all over the world, mainly focusing on asian and african animals. sacha, jennifers friend whom we met for drinks the following night, told us that the lighting on the animals at the safari was done by a theatrical lighting director which made lots of sense after going through the safari. each animal was illuminated as if by spotlights and it was so cool to see them at night. the safari is so life like that you can rarely see the barriers between you and the animals, if there even was one. my favorites would have to be the tigers, lions, male elephant and the hyenas. contrary to what the lion king shows you, they are very pretty animals that i kind of wanted to just hug, but didnt, for fear of being bitten by the strongest jawed animal second to the lion.
the following day we decided to explore the colonial district which is full of great architecture and famous buildings such as the parliament buildings (old and new), courthouse, etc. this area sits along a gorgeous quay (pronounced key) full of river boats and taxis and cute waterfront shops and restaurants. we met sir stamford raffles who has a big statue right at the beginning of this area. we explored a bit, again, getting very sticky very quickly. sacha, who gave us an insiders guide to singapore, recommended a lunch place near by so of course we took him up on his offer and enjoyed some delicious prata bread, of course with juice, for about 3 US dollars! then we headed to the ancient civilizations museum which is housed a very picturesque building but honestly, the museum was a bit disappointing. sarah and i found ourselves most entertained in the exhibits designated childrens sections where the learning was hands on and much more fun.
as we were leaving the MRT (singapores version of the metro which is 1000 times nicer than any metro system i have ever been on) we were caught in our first downpour. the rain was coming down hard and fast and not one part of our bodies were dry by the time we reached cover under the police station. we waited, and waited, and waited until the rain began to clear and we made it home without being caught again. the second we entered 1bnb, the rain continued and did not look like it was going to let up. lucky for us, tonight was the one night we wanted to look nice because we were meeting jennifers friends, sacha and wendy, for drinks at the famous raffles hotel. while sarah and i seriously contemplating getting a room there, we figured our 1000 dollars were better spent elsewhere. we opted for a cab and made it raffles looking nice and dry. sarah went for the raffles famed singapore sling but after doing a bit of research on the ingredients i opted for anything other than what resembled cough syrup with alcohol (sarah referred to it as "fruit juice"). wendy and sacha were such lovely people and it was great to meet them. they even gave us some tips for penang which will be very useful.
we left them in search of yet another hawkre center, lau pa sat. both sacha and wendy recommended that i try chili stingray which, much to my surprise, was amazing. the best comparison i could get was the consistency of salmon, maybe even a bit more tender with the white color of swordfish. any fish lover should try stingray. exhausted, we made our way back home and sunk into bed.
i woke up not feeling so hot so opted to stay home from the national museum of singapore. i figured there was no better place to feel sick than at 1bandb. i fell back to sleep and woke up to be greeting by csi sunday on tv. nothing like a little horatio and gil grissom to make one feel better! sarah made it back and regaled me with singapores history and even brought me a present - percy pigs! who knew that singapore would have a marks and spencer? well that certainly made me happier. we were both starving so we made our way back to chinatown and got our lunch before downpour take 2 hit. this storm was amazing. the lighting and thunder were so close and the rain would not let up. we sat, took our time eating and drinking tea for a good 2 hours before the rain eased enough for us to buy umbrellas. we then made our way to little india which was not my cup of tea at all. neither sarah and i were finding anything we wanted to look at or eat for dinner so we decided to go back to the quay and eat along the river. everything was so beautiful when lit up and we had a delicious meal in an even better setting. we stayed along the river for a bit then headed home to pack up before leaving the following morning on our train to melaka.
my general impressions of singapore were quite good. the city, and country, were much more developed than i had expected, actually, i didnt really know what to expect. and they are right when they say that singapore is clean, there are people on every street corner sweeping up anything that hits the ground. you really take notice of it when there arent just various pieces of garbage strewn about. the people were overall very friendly and with the exception of the touting at hawkre centers, which is illegal, i never felt too out of place or awkward like a typical tourist. i think that feeling will quickly subside as we getting deeper and deeper into asia.
we are leaving melaka today for penang so keep your eyes out for that post. again, i am quite disappointed in all of my readers. my followers number is still a measly 7 people. jump on the bandwagon, folks! thats all for now!
as ive already told you, we had a great flight to singapore. we were met at the airport by our driver who made sarah feel very special when she saw him flashing a piece of paper that said her name in big, capital letters. he took us to our b and b, 1bnbsingapore (original, i know), located in the cute area of spottiswoode park.
we were met by some one of the caretakers and shown to our room which was lovely. the b and b had so much character and charm - 5 or so rooms, nice little dining and living room and a nice kitchen. the people could not have been nicer which made this so much more enjoyable than some of the previous hostels we have been staying at. our room was perfect, complete with AC, and cable tv. we were quite exhausted after the journey that 5 minutes into jimmy kimmel we both fell into a peaceful sleep.
we woke up the next morning ready to take on singapore. we woke up, had breakfast then headed off to explore. after getting a bit lost on the way out of spottiswoode, we finally made our way and started in the direction of chinatown. on our hot, humid, sticky and sweaty walk there we stumbled upon the buddah tooth relic museum which is a temple with different rooms and floors - combining temple with tourist attraction i suppose. there is one room that is covered in wall to wall buddahs (1000 to be exact). it was very beautiful and the colors were magnificent. the temple, of course, was next to chinatown which was perfect.
we walked along, browsing each stall trying to sell us various knick knacks and jewelry. we made it further and further in and stumbled upon a place to have lunch. weary of our stomachs we trusted this place due to the mix of people - tourists and locals alike seemed to be eating there. we braved it and instead of water, enjoyed our first of many tiger beers (possibly one of my favorite to date). lunch turned out to be delicious. weve noticed that fresh juice is a very hot commodity in singapore and malaysia. the spicy food makes you desperately need a palate cleanser and cooler in between bites. sarah and i learned this lesson early and have carried it with us thus far in our travels. we walked around a bit more, contemplating buying more art for the apartment i dont have in the city i dont live in but decided against it because whatever could be found in chinatown we are hoping can be found in china itself!
tired and dragging, we headed back to 1bnb for a little r and r before getting ready for our night safari. we stared with dinner at the famed newton circus, a massive hawkre center full of merchants touting at you because obviously they sell better food than the stall next door. in true singapore fashion, we reserved our table as the locals do, with a packet of tissues! apparently, if the tissues are down no one would dare go near your table. the tissues also are vital to have because napkins dont seem to exist here. so whether its for making sure youre eating cleanly or wiping the sweat from your face after eating some chili, youll be glad you brought the tissues.
the night safari was incredible. you can walk and or take a tram through the designated paths full of animals from all over the world, mainly focusing on asian and african animals. sacha, jennifers friend whom we met for drinks the following night, told us that the lighting on the animals at the safari was done by a theatrical lighting director which made lots of sense after going through the safari. each animal was illuminated as if by spotlights and it was so cool to see them at night. the safari is so life like that you can rarely see the barriers between you and the animals, if there even was one. my favorites would have to be the tigers, lions, male elephant and the hyenas. contrary to what the lion king shows you, they are very pretty animals that i kind of wanted to just hug, but didnt, for fear of being bitten by the strongest jawed animal second to the lion.
the following day we decided to explore the colonial district which is full of great architecture and famous buildings such as the parliament buildings (old and new), courthouse, etc. this area sits along a gorgeous quay (pronounced key) full of river boats and taxis and cute waterfront shops and restaurants. we met sir stamford raffles who has a big statue right at the beginning of this area. we explored a bit, again, getting very sticky very quickly. sacha, who gave us an insiders guide to singapore, recommended a lunch place near by so of course we took him up on his offer and enjoyed some delicious prata bread, of course with juice, for about 3 US dollars! then we headed to the ancient civilizations museum which is housed a very picturesque building but honestly, the museum was a bit disappointing. sarah and i found ourselves most entertained in the exhibits designated childrens sections where the learning was hands on and much more fun.
as we were leaving the MRT (singapores version of the metro which is 1000 times nicer than any metro system i have ever been on) we were caught in our first downpour. the rain was coming down hard and fast and not one part of our bodies were dry by the time we reached cover under the police station. we waited, and waited, and waited until the rain began to clear and we made it home without being caught again. the second we entered 1bnb, the rain continued and did not look like it was going to let up. lucky for us, tonight was the one night we wanted to look nice because we were meeting jennifers friends, sacha and wendy, for drinks at the famous raffles hotel. while sarah and i seriously contemplating getting a room there, we figured our 1000 dollars were better spent elsewhere. we opted for a cab and made it raffles looking nice and dry. sarah went for the raffles famed singapore sling but after doing a bit of research on the ingredients i opted for anything other than what resembled cough syrup with alcohol (sarah referred to it as "fruit juice"). wendy and sacha were such lovely people and it was great to meet them. they even gave us some tips for penang which will be very useful.
we left them in search of yet another hawkre center, lau pa sat. both sacha and wendy recommended that i try chili stingray which, much to my surprise, was amazing. the best comparison i could get was the consistency of salmon, maybe even a bit more tender with the white color of swordfish. any fish lover should try stingray. exhausted, we made our way back home and sunk into bed.
i woke up not feeling so hot so opted to stay home from the national museum of singapore. i figured there was no better place to feel sick than at 1bandb. i fell back to sleep and woke up to be greeting by csi sunday on tv. nothing like a little horatio and gil grissom to make one feel better! sarah made it back and regaled me with singapores history and even brought me a present - percy pigs! who knew that singapore would have a marks and spencer? well that certainly made me happier. we were both starving so we made our way back to chinatown and got our lunch before downpour take 2 hit. this storm was amazing. the lighting and thunder were so close and the rain would not let up. we sat, took our time eating and drinking tea for a good 2 hours before the rain eased enough for us to buy umbrellas. we then made our way to little india which was not my cup of tea at all. neither sarah and i were finding anything we wanted to look at or eat for dinner so we decided to go back to the quay and eat along the river. everything was so beautiful when lit up and we had a delicious meal in an even better setting. we stayed along the river for a bit then headed home to pack up before leaving the following morning on our train to melaka.
my general impressions of singapore were quite good. the city, and country, were much more developed than i had expected, actually, i didnt really know what to expect. and they are right when they say that singapore is clean, there are people on every street corner sweeping up anything that hits the ground. you really take notice of it when there arent just various pieces of garbage strewn about. the people were overall very friendly and with the exception of the touting at hawkre centers, which is illegal, i never felt too out of place or awkward like a typical tourist. i think that feeling will quickly subside as we getting deeper and deeper into asia.
we are leaving melaka today for penang so keep your eyes out for that post. again, i am quite disappointed in all of my readers. my followers number is still a measly 7 people. jump on the bandwagon, folks! thats all for now!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sydney Stories
greetings all. i am currently in singapore and will regale you all of the tales of this place once our stay is through but i wanted to be up to date and give you a taste of our time in sydney.
first of all, i would like to announce that this blog is becoming more and more popular each day. i was officially reunited after what seems like years with my loverly cousin, lauren and she made my blog follower list go up to 7 whole people! i suggest all who read it daily (LRH) while at work or surfing the net, should become one as well. you get updates when i update and honestly, it just makes me feel much cooler than i already am.
after a very long overnight bus with one nice and one grumpy bus driver, we arrived in sydney mid morning to find dark clouds and very grey sky. we unloaded our stuff at our hostel, wake up! (exclamation point included, obviously) and then headed to what seemed like the perfect rainy day activity, the sydney aquarium, australias number 1 tourist attraction.
im not sure i agree with the number 1 status, but it was very very cool. you can walk through underwater tunnels and watch as massive sharks of all shapes, sizes and species swim over your head along with sting rays, and various other aquatic life. we also saw two dugongs, which i believe to look like manatees, which are very rare apparently. people often refer to them as the "original mermaids," im not sure why but thought it was an interesting factoid to mention.
we headed home and got ready for a lovely dinner in the spanish quarter which of course led us to some good wine and delicious tapas. a bit of dancing later (without cyclone) it was off to bed with our wonderful roommates, one of whom snored like his life depended on it.
the next day we were greeted by a bit of a gloomy sky so we decided to check out yet another indoor activity, the powerhouse museum. i could have spent 3 days in this place. they had an incredible exhibit about design and how its changed over the years full with architecture, textiles, furniture, etc. while that part was amazing, the best was the ecology exhibit. of course australia would have one of these in their museum, because they are so green! neither sarah nor i could save sydney from a huge trash dump being placed on their land, and we learned that our carbon footprints are not up to snuff either (sarahs was 5 and mine 8 ONLY because i misread a question so the game thought that i rode a subway for 2 hours a day in addition to driving a car two hours a day. had i been smart, i would have answered correctly and therefore lowered my carbon footprint. so if sarah wrote that i am an energy waster in her blog at least you have the reason why).
upon leaving the musuem we were greeted by glorious sunshine which was perfect because we were headed to tropfest, the worlds smallest film festival which we had read about and lucked out by being in sydney at the perfect time! we headed to the botanic gardens and set up shop full in tow with our picnic, blankets, etc. australians know how to picnic. some people even had stands for their wine glasses to ensure zero spillage. we were joined by 30,000 aussies who also came to enjoy the sun, films, bands and overall merriment of the day. the films were incredible and it really made me feel like a local. i like that sarah and i do more than just touristy stuff, it pays off to research what is actually going on.
the next day the sun was shining just as bright so we got our tourist fix and needed pictures in the perfect setting. we gazed adoringly at the bridge but nixed walking across it, our imaginations are so good that we didnt need to do it for real. we saw the opera house in perfect conditions and seriously, it is incredible. the way the light reflects off of the roof is just amazing. then we headed over to the rocks which is a cute "london-esque" town with cute shops and cafes in and out of little alleyways. i bought a wonderful aboriginal painting with the apartment i dont have in the city i dont yet live in in mind (liz, im becoming you).
we headed home just in time to change and head to the sydney tower, sydneys version of the empire state building. you get incredible views of the city (we were lucky to see it in daylight then go down for the oz trek and then headed back up to see the city lights in all their glory which was breathtaking). an interesting fact from the oz trek, 80% of australias population lives on only 1% of its land!! as bill bryson told me, there is a whole lot of nothing in this country. we headed back home for dinner and had do it yourself korean bbq which was loads of fun.
another day and the sun was still shining. we decided to get our obligatory beach fix in and head to the not so secretly famous, bondi. sarah and i stayed on sand while thousands of people splashed in the surf against the lifeguards warnings (that day, actually within the 3 hours we were there, 150 people were stung by blue bottle jellyfish! as i continue to say, the ocean is a scary place). as the sun started to go down we did the hour and a half coastal walk from bondi to coogee beach. the walk was incredible and gave you the most gorgeous views of the coast line and blue green waters. we ended in the beach town of coogee, had dinner and headed back home.
upon rachels australian suggestions, we decided to take scruffy murphys on. this bar was amazing. no matter who you are, what mood youre in, its there - locals, backpackers and kids abroad alike will find what theyre looking for. upstairs is just chill bar scene, downstairs is a live cover band, and in the basement is a dj full of fun dance songs. we had a blast, i taught some more people the jess fridstein dance, and then we headed to the famed 5 star kebab from which our mouths are still burnt!
the following day we decided to get some sydney shopping in. we headed to the famed paddington neighborhood, home to oxford street. there were tons of nice shops - i had to be pulled away from sass and bide and zimmerman, and we just walked around and tried on things and had genuine fun. our day sadly ended with nothing in hand and we decided what better way to end our time in sydney than how we began it. we had so much fun at the moonlight cinema in melbourne we did it again this time seeing breakfast at tiffanys which was lovely.
our last day in sydney was spent researching the next leg of our trip and enjoying the last bit of cuisine that does not include rice, dumplings or noodles. we headed to sydney airport and were off to singapore.
a little sneak peak into the singapore files - i did not sleep one wink on this flight. (shock falls upon the crowd, my dad especially) what you say? i, ruthie kasnett, am famously known to sleep on every moving vehicle i step foot in. well, the entertainment on this flight was just too good. qantas kept giving us things to stay awake for: meals, drinks, tea, popsicles, etc. and the movie selection was wonderful. i couldnt resist watching 2.5 movies (dont ruin HSM3, ill just have to finish it when we get home). 7 hours later we were in singapore and trust me, you could feel the humidity from the plane. more to come...
apologies again dear followers. i am trying to work on pictures from life after melbourne and the computer is not cooperating. hopefully i can get them up soon, youre in for a treat!
first of all, i would like to announce that this blog is becoming more and more popular each day. i was officially reunited after what seems like years with my loverly cousin, lauren and she made my blog follower list go up to 7 whole people! i suggest all who read it daily (LRH) while at work or surfing the net, should become one as well. you get updates when i update and honestly, it just makes me feel much cooler than i already am.
after a very long overnight bus with one nice and one grumpy bus driver, we arrived in sydney mid morning to find dark clouds and very grey sky. we unloaded our stuff at our hostel, wake up! (exclamation point included, obviously) and then headed to what seemed like the perfect rainy day activity, the sydney aquarium, australias number 1 tourist attraction.
im not sure i agree with the number 1 status, but it was very very cool. you can walk through underwater tunnels and watch as massive sharks of all shapes, sizes and species swim over your head along with sting rays, and various other aquatic life. we also saw two dugongs, which i believe to look like manatees, which are very rare apparently. people often refer to them as the "original mermaids," im not sure why but thought it was an interesting factoid to mention.
we headed home and got ready for a lovely dinner in the spanish quarter which of course led us to some good wine and delicious tapas. a bit of dancing later (without cyclone) it was off to bed with our wonderful roommates, one of whom snored like his life depended on it.
the next day we were greeted by a bit of a gloomy sky so we decided to check out yet another indoor activity, the powerhouse museum. i could have spent 3 days in this place. they had an incredible exhibit about design and how its changed over the years full with architecture, textiles, furniture, etc. while that part was amazing, the best was the ecology exhibit. of course australia would have one of these in their museum, because they are so green! neither sarah nor i could save sydney from a huge trash dump being placed on their land, and we learned that our carbon footprints are not up to snuff either (sarahs was 5 and mine 8 ONLY because i misread a question so the game thought that i rode a subway for 2 hours a day in addition to driving a car two hours a day. had i been smart, i would have answered correctly and therefore lowered my carbon footprint. so if sarah wrote that i am an energy waster in her blog at least you have the reason why).
upon leaving the musuem we were greeted by glorious sunshine which was perfect because we were headed to tropfest, the worlds smallest film festival which we had read about and lucked out by being in sydney at the perfect time! we headed to the botanic gardens and set up shop full in tow with our picnic, blankets, etc. australians know how to picnic. some people even had stands for their wine glasses to ensure zero spillage. we were joined by 30,000 aussies who also came to enjoy the sun, films, bands and overall merriment of the day. the films were incredible and it really made me feel like a local. i like that sarah and i do more than just touristy stuff, it pays off to research what is actually going on.
the next day the sun was shining just as bright so we got our tourist fix and needed pictures in the perfect setting. we gazed adoringly at the bridge but nixed walking across it, our imaginations are so good that we didnt need to do it for real. we saw the opera house in perfect conditions and seriously, it is incredible. the way the light reflects off of the roof is just amazing. then we headed over to the rocks which is a cute "london-esque" town with cute shops and cafes in and out of little alleyways. i bought a wonderful aboriginal painting with the apartment i dont have in the city i dont yet live in in mind (liz, im becoming you).
we headed home just in time to change and head to the sydney tower, sydneys version of the empire state building. you get incredible views of the city (we were lucky to see it in daylight then go down for the oz trek and then headed back up to see the city lights in all their glory which was breathtaking). an interesting fact from the oz trek, 80% of australias population lives on only 1% of its land!! as bill bryson told me, there is a whole lot of nothing in this country. we headed back home for dinner and had do it yourself korean bbq which was loads of fun.
another day and the sun was still shining. we decided to get our obligatory beach fix in and head to the not so secretly famous, bondi. sarah and i stayed on sand while thousands of people splashed in the surf against the lifeguards warnings (that day, actually within the 3 hours we were there, 150 people were stung by blue bottle jellyfish! as i continue to say, the ocean is a scary place). as the sun started to go down we did the hour and a half coastal walk from bondi to coogee beach. the walk was incredible and gave you the most gorgeous views of the coast line and blue green waters. we ended in the beach town of coogee, had dinner and headed back home.
upon rachels australian suggestions, we decided to take scruffy murphys on. this bar was amazing. no matter who you are, what mood youre in, its there - locals, backpackers and kids abroad alike will find what theyre looking for. upstairs is just chill bar scene, downstairs is a live cover band, and in the basement is a dj full of fun dance songs. we had a blast, i taught some more people the jess fridstein dance, and then we headed to the famed 5 star kebab from which our mouths are still burnt!
the following day we decided to get some sydney shopping in. we headed to the famed paddington neighborhood, home to oxford street. there were tons of nice shops - i had to be pulled away from sass and bide and zimmerman, and we just walked around and tried on things and had genuine fun. our day sadly ended with nothing in hand and we decided what better way to end our time in sydney than how we began it. we had so much fun at the moonlight cinema in melbourne we did it again this time seeing breakfast at tiffanys which was lovely.
our last day in sydney was spent researching the next leg of our trip and enjoying the last bit of cuisine that does not include rice, dumplings or noodles. we headed to sydney airport and were off to singapore.
a little sneak peak into the singapore files - i did not sleep one wink on this flight. (shock falls upon the crowd, my dad especially) what you say? i, ruthie kasnett, am famously known to sleep on every moving vehicle i step foot in. well, the entertainment on this flight was just too good. qantas kept giving us things to stay awake for: meals, drinks, tea, popsicles, etc. and the movie selection was wonderful. i couldnt resist watching 2.5 movies (dont ruin HSM3, ill just have to finish it when we get home). 7 hours later we were in singapore and trust me, you could feel the humidity from the plane. more to come...
apologies again dear followers. i am trying to work on pictures from life after melbourne and the computer is not cooperating. hopefully i can get them up soon, youre in for a treat!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I'm Too Tired to be Witty: Hervey Bay, Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, Byron Bay
to my dearest and most loyal fans, again, i am so sorry to have kept you all waiting for this next post. im sure you all have been on the seat of your pants with anticipation and if not, im still going to pretend that you have been.
when i last left you i had just avoided a cyclone and monsoon and by the skin of my teeth made a bus out of airlie beach. as the overnight bus headed into hervey bay i have never been more excited to have been woken up by the bright bright sunshine. direct quote: "i have never been happier to put sunglasses on". seeing the sun immediately brightened my spirits and the nasty and irritable ruthie from airlie beach was gone. we headed for our hostel, woolshed backpackers and i could tell it was going to be a good day.
woolshed was quaint with lots of personality and was just what we needed to recharge our drained batteries. not wanting to miss out on sacred sunshine, we headed to the beach to explore our new stomping ground. hervey bay is very cute and is truly just a simple beach town with little shops and restaurants and beach houses. i wonder who vacations in hervey bay because pretty much all of australia is sun soaked at one time or another. i suppose when its cold in melbourne people need a place to retreat to? hervey bay reminded me a lot of northshore which is where we used to be beach bums in rehoboth. clearly, rehoboth has nothing to worry about but just a comparison for those of you out there who know what im talking about. the beach was very pretty and gave sarah and i a bit of a workout as we walked in the heat to continue exploring and walk the expanse of the sand. clearly after such a long day we needed a nap and amazingly we woke up 3 hours later just in time for, you guessed it, dinner!
our second day in hervey bay pretty much mimicked the first - beach, sun, strolling. i had a great session with my ipod on shuffle songs and i felt an ease which i hadnt felt in days. an interesting fact about hervey bay: while walking along the running path, yes walked, we encountered various circuit training stops along the way. people here must really take fitness seriously because it was quite the genius idea. sarah and i scoffed a bit at first because it would appear to be ineffective for particular people (a 200 lb man versus a 120 lb woman) but these people are smart - the machines are all weight based so you gotta do the work! we had quite a bit of fun and believed that if we had known about this little path and circuit stations we would have taken a nice long run in the morning (believe what you wish).
side note: i write these blogs as i follow my journal entries (i am behind in blogging because clearly i was behind in keeping up with my journal). be thankful for these things because writing in the journal, while worth it in the end, is such a chore. so here is my side note of thought about internal australian flights - they are asking to be bombed. shoes stay on, liquids are fine and do not need to be under 3 ounces or removed for screening, passports are barely looked at and your boarding pass is not checked at security. reassuring? not really, but then again heathrow, jfk, and lax missed sarahs mysterious scissors in her carry on. it would be the fijians who have airport security down.
we left hervey bay and headed for rainbow beach which is where we were to depart for our fraser island camping trip. sad to see rain clouds and not sun (sunshine coast really needs to live up to its name) we checked into pippies. we then had our info session on fraser island and got acquainted with our fellow group members. we watched an informational video about camping safety. i learned that if a dingo (australian wild dog) approaches you, you will be safe if you cross your arms over your chest and back away with caution. the video, however, does not inform you of what to do if while backing away you happen to bump into another dingo! similar to moose procedure at camp, if i see a dingo i am getting the heck out of wherever i am and running like hell.
our group seemed to mesh very nicely and sarah and i used our tripp lake camping skills to discuss food purchasing and of course initiated the idea of making smores while on our trip. clearly, only the canadians knew what we were talking about but everyone was a smore supporter by the trips end. sarah and i went grocery shopping with a few other girls from the group and as we checked out and received our $50 in change (started with $220) the check out woman told us that we were being so frugal and smart with our purchasing decisions. apparently, a group came before us and for the same amount of people and before buying hamburger meat, they had already spent $500!!! i was so happy, never in my life have i been told that i make good purchasing decisions!! a good walk in the pouring rain later we were back and ready to leave the next morning.
we woke up to rain and turmoil. that night, two girls had their passports stolen. of course, it was the night before they were meant to fly home to belgium. the police were on their way and it was being debated whether or not we were going to get out on time. luckilly we were fine and we packed up the car, went over our itinerary and were off. the 4wd is a massive vehicle with 3 people in the front and 8 people on bench seats facing each other in the back. lets just say as the driving became bumpy, which is often did, our group became quite close haha. just looking at the car made my stomach turn.
fraser island is basically a sand island full of dunes, beach, freshwater lakes, rainforests and multitudes of vegetation. its amazing that such lush plant life can grow right out of sand. besides from being gorgeous vegetation wise, fraser island, and australia in general is a dangerous place. more things in australia than anywhere else in the world can kill you. so in addition to being on dingo watch you must also be aware of strong currents, rapidly crashing waves, sharks, jellyfish, spiders and snakes (the spiders and snakes are usually undetectable which makes life even more fun and exciting). basically - safety first!
the freshwater lakes were gorgeous and the water was so clear that you could barely tell you werent on dry land. in addition to being gorgeous it was so nice not to feel salty for once. we set up camp and were ready for our bbq (sarah and i were of course in charge of trash bag salad, caro would have been so proud) which was really fun and gave us all a chance to know one another better. sarah and i taught everyone the infamous slap bag and game of 21 which is always a hit. but the biggest hit of all was mad libs - which of course, sarah and i had zero doubt about.
we packed up and headed to the site of a shipwreck which is basically just stuck in the wide expanse of beach. i wish i could have seen the wreck years ago because the rust and erosion only continues to get worse but regardless, it was amazing to see and illegally touch for the sake of pictures. then we set out for our second campsite, the aboriginal camp, but stopped first at the pinnacles which are mountains and peaks formed from colored sand, and then went to indian head which is a gorgeous little hike up to the top of a huge hill where the views of the ocean and beyond are incredible. usually, shark and sting ray sitings occur but of course not when we went! we went back to camp, made dinner and a fire and got to know daniel, the aboriginal as he taught us the didgeridoo and regaled us of stories about aboriginal life.
one of the biggest disappointments is that we learned of the fact that women are not allowed to touch the didge. they may ask permission to touch it only if they are going to be domestic and decorate it. if they play it, they are speared. sarah and i instantly reverted back to our fijian knowledge of cannibalism and asked daniel if the aboriginals and fijian villagers were at all friends in the past. of course they were. so while the boys got to play the real thing, sarah and i were blowing unsuccesfully into a rubber pipe.
we woke up and were up at out of the camp by 7 am in order to make it on the beach before the tide came up too far and do a rainforest walk. well god had other plans for us. of course it was friday the 13th and that did not go unnoticed. we were on our way when the car began to slide and eventually, we got stuck as the tide continued to come higher and higher. after zero luck using our own man power, some nice guys came and helped tow us out before the tide could wash our car away. of course it was too late for the rainforest walk and we had to change plans a bit. did i mention this was all before 9 am? we went to another lake and after the worst drive of my life i had never been so happy to be outside in the rain as the world stopped spinning and my stomach slowed its churning down. then we were back home to pippies where our exhaustion and lack of sleep and goon hangovers took us to bed quite early.
we headed out the next morning and made our way to noosa. we checked into koalas and made our way to what has been the most disgusting room of the entire trip. we met our roommates who all worked at the hostel for accommodation and after a few months of living there, the room showed and smelled it. we explored the town as the rain drizzles came down. noosa is full of cute stores and restaurants and the beach is gorgeous. after a bit of exploring we headed back to rest before getting ready for our valentines evening. we enjoyed koalas happy hour and made our way to a great dinner in town before heading to rolling rock for a night of fun and dancing. slight problem, we were turned away for improper dress code. apparently shoes matter in australia and rubber thongs are not permitted regardless of how nice your apparel is. we had to run back up a huge hill to koalas to change and then ran back down. hey, we burned off dinner! we got our dance on before treading back up the hill to hit the bed.
our second day in noosa pretty much mimicked the first. we walked around, got some sun and then decided to see hes just not that into you over a dinner of popcorn. i think we stayed the perfect amount of time in noosa. i think any longer and boredom would have kicked in.
we ate an early breakfast and prepared for our long day of bus travel to byron bay. unfortunately, there was no night bus so our journey took up most of this day. a long nap later we were in byron bay and guess what? the rain followed us yet again. we got to our hostel, the arts factory lodge, which has been by far my favorite place to stay thus far. the arts factory used to be a place where musicians and bands would congregate and just play together and put on ridiculous shows. the place now maintains that original vibe and is very chill and inviting. everyone sits outside together and just hangs out, listens to music and lays in hammocks all day long. byron bay is a great town as well. more than just another beach town, it possesses the artsy and funky vibe of a surfer town combined with hippie music appreciation. its a great place. our first night we hung around the factory, ate dinner and watched our fellow hostel goers play in a talent show. we hung out that night and for the first time all trip, i met a fellow american!!! even more exciting, more than just being american, i found a jew! after a month of missing it, it was quite fun to be able to play jewish geography. laugh if you wish.
our days in byron bay have basically all consisted of strolling around, hanging on the beach, reading and making iced green teas. i cannot wait until sydney when i can walk into a starbucks and have a venti iced green tea just handed to me instead of dealing with tea pots, melting ice and spilling everywhere. for those of you who remember my hat finding issue at the beginning of this trip, my hat ripped. the seams just fell apart while we were at pippies. luckilly, i found the byron bay hat company and have replaced the original with a much cooler and cheaper hat.
our one day of zero beach was our third day in byron when we put ourselves into the hands of alternative jim and took a day trip to nimbin which is basically the amsterdam of australia. think of hippies, tye dye, and lush rain forest type roads to travel on. i was quite pleased with my purchase of a tye dyed headband which looks phenomenal.
tonight we head to sydney where i will be reconnecting with the world when i get my new phone. while i have loved not being in contact with any of you (just kidding, kind of) it will be nice to know that i can if i want to. be on the lookout for bbm requests left and right. hope this post did my lack of timeliness justice.
when i last left you i had just avoided a cyclone and monsoon and by the skin of my teeth made a bus out of airlie beach. as the overnight bus headed into hervey bay i have never been more excited to have been woken up by the bright bright sunshine. direct quote: "i have never been happier to put sunglasses on". seeing the sun immediately brightened my spirits and the nasty and irritable ruthie from airlie beach was gone. we headed for our hostel, woolshed backpackers and i could tell it was going to be a good day.
woolshed was quaint with lots of personality and was just what we needed to recharge our drained batteries. not wanting to miss out on sacred sunshine, we headed to the beach to explore our new stomping ground. hervey bay is very cute and is truly just a simple beach town with little shops and restaurants and beach houses. i wonder who vacations in hervey bay because pretty much all of australia is sun soaked at one time or another. i suppose when its cold in melbourne people need a place to retreat to? hervey bay reminded me a lot of northshore which is where we used to be beach bums in rehoboth. clearly, rehoboth has nothing to worry about but just a comparison for those of you out there who know what im talking about. the beach was very pretty and gave sarah and i a bit of a workout as we walked in the heat to continue exploring and walk the expanse of the sand. clearly after such a long day we needed a nap and amazingly we woke up 3 hours later just in time for, you guessed it, dinner!
our second day in hervey bay pretty much mimicked the first - beach, sun, strolling. i had a great session with my ipod on shuffle songs and i felt an ease which i hadnt felt in days. an interesting fact about hervey bay: while walking along the running path, yes walked, we encountered various circuit training stops along the way. people here must really take fitness seriously because it was quite the genius idea. sarah and i scoffed a bit at first because it would appear to be ineffective for particular people (a 200 lb man versus a 120 lb woman) but these people are smart - the machines are all weight based so you gotta do the work! we had quite a bit of fun and believed that if we had known about this little path and circuit stations we would have taken a nice long run in the morning (believe what you wish).
side note: i write these blogs as i follow my journal entries (i am behind in blogging because clearly i was behind in keeping up with my journal). be thankful for these things because writing in the journal, while worth it in the end, is such a chore. so here is my side note of thought about internal australian flights - they are asking to be bombed. shoes stay on, liquids are fine and do not need to be under 3 ounces or removed for screening, passports are barely looked at and your boarding pass is not checked at security. reassuring? not really, but then again heathrow, jfk, and lax missed sarahs mysterious scissors in her carry on. it would be the fijians who have airport security down.
we left hervey bay and headed for rainbow beach which is where we were to depart for our fraser island camping trip. sad to see rain clouds and not sun (sunshine coast really needs to live up to its name) we checked into pippies. we then had our info session on fraser island and got acquainted with our fellow group members. we watched an informational video about camping safety. i learned that if a dingo (australian wild dog) approaches you, you will be safe if you cross your arms over your chest and back away with caution. the video, however, does not inform you of what to do if while backing away you happen to bump into another dingo! similar to moose procedure at camp, if i see a dingo i am getting the heck out of wherever i am and running like hell.
our group seemed to mesh very nicely and sarah and i used our tripp lake camping skills to discuss food purchasing and of course initiated the idea of making smores while on our trip. clearly, only the canadians knew what we were talking about but everyone was a smore supporter by the trips end. sarah and i went grocery shopping with a few other girls from the group and as we checked out and received our $50 in change (started with $220) the check out woman told us that we were being so frugal and smart with our purchasing decisions. apparently, a group came before us and for the same amount of people and before buying hamburger meat, they had already spent $500!!! i was so happy, never in my life have i been told that i make good purchasing decisions!! a good walk in the pouring rain later we were back and ready to leave the next morning.
we woke up to rain and turmoil. that night, two girls had their passports stolen. of course, it was the night before they were meant to fly home to belgium. the police were on their way and it was being debated whether or not we were going to get out on time. luckilly we were fine and we packed up the car, went over our itinerary and were off. the 4wd is a massive vehicle with 3 people in the front and 8 people on bench seats facing each other in the back. lets just say as the driving became bumpy, which is often did, our group became quite close haha. just looking at the car made my stomach turn.
fraser island is basically a sand island full of dunes, beach, freshwater lakes, rainforests and multitudes of vegetation. its amazing that such lush plant life can grow right out of sand. besides from being gorgeous vegetation wise, fraser island, and australia in general is a dangerous place. more things in australia than anywhere else in the world can kill you. so in addition to being on dingo watch you must also be aware of strong currents, rapidly crashing waves, sharks, jellyfish, spiders and snakes (the spiders and snakes are usually undetectable which makes life even more fun and exciting). basically - safety first!
the freshwater lakes were gorgeous and the water was so clear that you could barely tell you werent on dry land. in addition to being gorgeous it was so nice not to feel salty for once. we set up camp and were ready for our bbq (sarah and i were of course in charge of trash bag salad, caro would have been so proud) which was really fun and gave us all a chance to know one another better. sarah and i taught everyone the infamous slap bag and game of 21 which is always a hit. but the biggest hit of all was mad libs - which of course, sarah and i had zero doubt about.
we packed up and headed to the site of a shipwreck which is basically just stuck in the wide expanse of beach. i wish i could have seen the wreck years ago because the rust and erosion only continues to get worse but regardless, it was amazing to see and illegally touch for the sake of pictures. then we set out for our second campsite, the aboriginal camp, but stopped first at the pinnacles which are mountains and peaks formed from colored sand, and then went to indian head which is a gorgeous little hike up to the top of a huge hill where the views of the ocean and beyond are incredible. usually, shark and sting ray sitings occur but of course not when we went! we went back to camp, made dinner and a fire and got to know daniel, the aboriginal as he taught us the didgeridoo and regaled us of stories about aboriginal life.
one of the biggest disappointments is that we learned of the fact that women are not allowed to touch the didge. they may ask permission to touch it only if they are going to be domestic and decorate it. if they play it, they are speared. sarah and i instantly reverted back to our fijian knowledge of cannibalism and asked daniel if the aboriginals and fijian villagers were at all friends in the past. of course they were. so while the boys got to play the real thing, sarah and i were blowing unsuccesfully into a rubber pipe.
we woke up and were up at out of the camp by 7 am in order to make it on the beach before the tide came up too far and do a rainforest walk. well god had other plans for us. of course it was friday the 13th and that did not go unnoticed. we were on our way when the car began to slide and eventually, we got stuck as the tide continued to come higher and higher. after zero luck using our own man power, some nice guys came and helped tow us out before the tide could wash our car away. of course it was too late for the rainforest walk and we had to change plans a bit. did i mention this was all before 9 am? we went to another lake and after the worst drive of my life i had never been so happy to be outside in the rain as the world stopped spinning and my stomach slowed its churning down. then we were back home to pippies where our exhaustion and lack of sleep and goon hangovers took us to bed quite early.
we headed out the next morning and made our way to noosa. we checked into koalas and made our way to what has been the most disgusting room of the entire trip. we met our roommates who all worked at the hostel for accommodation and after a few months of living there, the room showed and smelled it. we explored the town as the rain drizzles came down. noosa is full of cute stores and restaurants and the beach is gorgeous. after a bit of exploring we headed back to rest before getting ready for our valentines evening. we enjoyed koalas happy hour and made our way to a great dinner in town before heading to rolling rock for a night of fun and dancing. slight problem, we were turned away for improper dress code. apparently shoes matter in australia and rubber thongs are not permitted regardless of how nice your apparel is. we had to run back up a huge hill to koalas to change and then ran back down. hey, we burned off dinner! we got our dance on before treading back up the hill to hit the bed.
our second day in noosa pretty much mimicked the first. we walked around, got some sun and then decided to see hes just not that into you over a dinner of popcorn. i think we stayed the perfect amount of time in noosa. i think any longer and boredom would have kicked in.
we ate an early breakfast and prepared for our long day of bus travel to byron bay. unfortunately, there was no night bus so our journey took up most of this day. a long nap later we were in byron bay and guess what? the rain followed us yet again. we got to our hostel, the arts factory lodge, which has been by far my favorite place to stay thus far. the arts factory used to be a place where musicians and bands would congregate and just play together and put on ridiculous shows. the place now maintains that original vibe and is very chill and inviting. everyone sits outside together and just hangs out, listens to music and lays in hammocks all day long. byron bay is a great town as well. more than just another beach town, it possesses the artsy and funky vibe of a surfer town combined with hippie music appreciation. its a great place. our first night we hung around the factory, ate dinner and watched our fellow hostel goers play in a talent show. we hung out that night and for the first time all trip, i met a fellow american!!! even more exciting, more than just being american, i found a jew! after a month of missing it, it was quite fun to be able to play jewish geography. laugh if you wish.
our days in byron bay have basically all consisted of strolling around, hanging on the beach, reading and making iced green teas. i cannot wait until sydney when i can walk into a starbucks and have a venti iced green tea just handed to me instead of dealing with tea pots, melting ice and spilling everywhere. for those of you who remember my hat finding issue at the beginning of this trip, my hat ripped. the seams just fell apart while we were at pippies. luckilly, i found the byron bay hat company and have replaced the original with a much cooler and cheaper hat.
our one day of zero beach was our third day in byron when we put ourselves into the hands of alternative jim and took a day trip to nimbin which is basically the amsterdam of australia. think of hippies, tye dye, and lush rain forest type roads to travel on. i was quite pleased with my purchase of a tye dyed headband which looks phenomenal.
tonight we head to sydney where i will be reconnecting with the world when i get my new phone. while i have loved not being in contact with any of you (just kidding, kind of) it will be nice to know that i can if i want to. be on the lookout for bbm requests left and right. hope this post did my lack of timeliness justice.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Nemo: Found, Cyclone: Avoided, Sunshine: Back
since i last posted it feels as if i have been in a whirlwind. when we last spoke, it was superbowl monday and i was flying to cairns.
we arrived in cairns very late monday night and arrived at our hostel, gilligans. gilligans is very cool and seems to be one of the "it" places for cairns flashpackers. we checked into our room which came equiped with a lovely balcony and went to sleep.
february 3: we woke up to the clouds. after heading downstairs, we decided to book our day tours to the great barrier reef. i made sarah go in hopes that she would overcome her fear of fish. and how can you come to cairns and not see the reef?!? we ate lunch at a little place opposite to gilligans and decided to explore.
cairns reminded me a bit of ft. lauderdale (from what i can remember from visiting my grandma in years past). everything was basically in strip malls, with the exception of the real mall, and seemed a bit seedy. it was tourist shop after tourist shop with some jewelry, dive and travel shops in between. to escape the humidity we made our way to the mall just as the rain began to pour. we opted for a movie, which is basically how i filled my days in cairns (the rain just kept on coming). after the 3 hour curious case of benjamin button, the rain was still waiting for us and we arrived back at gilligans fully soaked. too tired to do anything, we ate dinner at gilligans, had a drink and went to bed before our 6 am wake up call for the reef.
february 4: guess what? we woke up to the rain! sarah and i put on our rain jackets and trodded down to the marina in hopes that as we sailed away from cairns the sunshine would appear. we got on our boat, and met our passions of paradise crew along with our fellow boat mates. the crew was so nice and very entertaining. about 2 hours of rainy skies, we arrived at michelmas cay where i would go as far to say it was sunny but there were zero raindrops which was perfect to me.
first, sarah and i went on the glass bottom boat which was basically a boat ride around the reef while looking into a boat with, a glass bottom! it was very cool and we got to learn things about the reef that we wouldnt have otherwise. i am a huge fan of the giant clams. our boat guide taught us quite a bit of great barrier reef sexual education included how flatworms mate and some things that finding nemo decided to leave out. for more information, email me or look it up on the internet; i dont find it blog worthy.
the boat then dropped us off at the "beach" where we had a designated snorkel area. well, something that was left out was that this "beach" really doubled as a bird sanctuary. a girl who is afraid of fish and one who is afraid of birds - these people must have thought we were such dummies to be going on this tour. i snorkeled a bit and saw some great fish but we were waiting for the next stop to see the big stuff.
we returned to our main boat and had a delicious lunch and actually laid out a bit in the sun! we made it to our second stop and in attempts to get over sarahs fear, one crew mate, simon offered to take her on a guided tour of the reef. basically, all she had to do was hold on to a life tube and let him guide the way. being the great (and lazy) friend that i am, i came along for moral support and who better to show me the cool things of the reef than a man who has been diving in it for years? simon tugged us along and pointed out great things and even dove down and brought us a sea cucumber and some mushroom coral to hold. the colors of the fish were incredible and we found nemo and dory! sarah only freaked out once but then we miscommunicated. she kept hitting me and i couldnt see what was wrong but it was just her excitement that more nemo were nearby. i am so proud of her for doing this and she even said she would do it again and is so glad this isnt going to be on her list of things she always wished she had done.
we headed back in and were again greeted by the rain. around 6 we returned to gilligans, yes you guessed it, drenched from head to toe. we met charlotte at gilligans to learn that the roads from cairns to airlie beach (our next stop) were flooded and we were basically going to be stranded if we didnt make a plan. buses were out so we were lucky enough to find a cheapish flight and ferry that would take us to airlie beach after a few extra and unnecessary days in cairns. after sorting our lives out, and a much needed shower later, we went to the greek place next door for dinner and an even much more needed glass or two of wine, hung out then headed for home...in the rain.
february 5: sarah and i slept it and were greeted by a tad bit of sunshine. we walked around and headed to the lagoon while we were dry. the lagoon is amazing. it is basically a pool of salt water (translation: a clean ocean). we hung out there a bit and cooled off before the rain came. we decided our time would be best spent at yet another movie. cant go wrong with role models. we decided to pick up dinner in the food court and buy some wine and enjoy a nice dinner on our balcony.
february 6: basically the same as the 5 - more rain, and another movie. i saw milk while sarah and charlotte saw slumdog millionaire. a bit more of indoor activity and a nice tea and coffee break, we were back on our balcony for dinner and wine before an early wake up call to head to the cairns airport.
february 7: we arrived in airlie beach early in the morning, the ferry took us to the marina and it poured the entire time. we checked into beaches, our hostel, then decided to sort out and check in for our whitsunday islands tour. the whitsundays are meant to be amazing but not when there are thunderstorms looming and the words monsoon and cyclone are being thrown around. sarah and i are not boat fans to begin with. after a long decision making process we decided that a. it would not be fun to be on a boat for 2 days in the rain and b. that when we arrived most likely floods will have closed down the roads. we got on a 8 pm bus that luckilly came and headed to hervey bay, the sunshine coast (we were right, according to the news, more flooding in airlie beach has occured and buses are not traveling north or south - we have good gut instinct!)
thats all for now. stay tuned for hervey bay, rainbow beach and our four wheel drive fraser island camping trip!
we arrived in cairns very late monday night and arrived at our hostel, gilligans. gilligans is very cool and seems to be one of the "it" places for cairns flashpackers. we checked into our room which came equiped with a lovely balcony and went to sleep.
february 3: we woke up to the clouds. after heading downstairs, we decided to book our day tours to the great barrier reef. i made sarah go in hopes that she would overcome her fear of fish. and how can you come to cairns and not see the reef?!? we ate lunch at a little place opposite to gilligans and decided to explore.
cairns reminded me a bit of ft. lauderdale (from what i can remember from visiting my grandma in years past). everything was basically in strip malls, with the exception of the real mall, and seemed a bit seedy. it was tourist shop after tourist shop with some jewelry, dive and travel shops in between. to escape the humidity we made our way to the mall just as the rain began to pour. we opted for a movie, which is basically how i filled my days in cairns (the rain just kept on coming). after the 3 hour curious case of benjamin button, the rain was still waiting for us and we arrived back at gilligans fully soaked. too tired to do anything, we ate dinner at gilligans, had a drink and went to bed before our 6 am wake up call for the reef.
february 4: guess what? we woke up to the rain! sarah and i put on our rain jackets and trodded down to the marina in hopes that as we sailed away from cairns the sunshine would appear. we got on our boat, and met our passions of paradise crew along with our fellow boat mates. the crew was so nice and very entertaining. about 2 hours of rainy skies, we arrived at michelmas cay where i would go as far to say it was sunny but there were zero raindrops which was perfect to me.
first, sarah and i went on the glass bottom boat which was basically a boat ride around the reef while looking into a boat with, a glass bottom! it was very cool and we got to learn things about the reef that we wouldnt have otherwise. i am a huge fan of the giant clams. our boat guide taught us quite a bit of great barrier reef sexual education included how flatworms mate and some things that finding nemo decided to leave out. for more information, email me or look it up on the internet; i dont find it blog worthy.
the boat then dropped us off at the "beach" where we had a designated snorkel area. well, something that was left out was that this "beach" really doubled as a bird sanctuary. a girl who is afraid of fish and one who is afraid of birds - these people must have thought we were such dummies to be going on this tour. i snorkeled a bit and saw some great fish but we were waiting for the next stop to see the big stuff.
we returned to our main boat and had a delicious lunch and actually laid out a bit in the sun! we made it to our second stop and in attempts to get over sarahs fear, one crew mate, simon offered to take her on a guided tour of the reef. basically, all she had to do was hold on to a life tube and let him guide the way. being the great (and lazy) friend that i am, i came along for moral support and who better to show me the cool things of the reef than a man who has been diving in it for years? simon tugged us along and pointed out great things and even dove down and brought us a sea cucumber and some mushroom coral to hold. the colors of the fish were incredible and we found nemo and dory! sarah only freaked out once but then we miscommunicated. she kept hitting me and i couldnt see what was wrong but it was just her excitement that more nemo were nearby. i am so proud of her for doing this and she even said she would do it again and is so glad this isnt going to be on her list of things she always wished she had done.
we headed back in and were again greeted by the rain. around 6 we returned to gilligans, yes you guessed it, drenched from head to toe. we met charlotte at gilligans to learn that the roads from cairns to airlie beach (our next stop) were flooded and we were basically going to be stranded if we didnt make a plan. buses were out so we were lucky enough to find a cheapish flight and ferry that would take us to airlie beach after a few extra and unnecessary days in cairns. after sorting our lives out, and a much needed shower later, we went to the greek place next door for dinner and an even much more needed glass or two of wine, hung out then headed for home...in the rain.
february 5: sarah and i slept it and were greeted by a tad bit of sunshine. we walked around and headed to the lagoon while we were dry. the lagoon is amazing. it is basically a pool of salt water (translation: a clean ocean). we hung out there a bit and cooled off before the rain came. we decided our time would be best spent at yet another movie. cant go wrong with role models. we decided to pick up dinner in the food court and buy some wine and enjoy a nice dinner on our balcony.
february 6: basically the same as the 5 - more rain, and another movie. i saw milk while sarah and charlotte saw slumdog millionaire. a bit more of indoor activity and a nice tea and coffee break, we were back on our balcony for dinner and wine before an early wake up call to head to the cairns airport.
february 7: we arrived in airlie beach early in the morning, the ferry took us to the marina and it poured the entire time. we checked into beaches, our hostel, then decided to sort out and check in for our whitsunday islands tour. the whitsundays are meant to be amazing but not when there are thunderstorms looming and the words monsoon and cyclone are being thrown around. sarah and i are not boat fans to begin with. after a long decision making process we decided that a. it would not be fun to be on a boat for 2 days in the rain and b. that when we arrived most likely floods will have closed down the roads. we got on a 8 pm bus that luckilly came and headed to hervey bay, the sunshine coast (we were right, according to the news, more flooding in airlie beach has occured and buses are not traveling north or south - we have good gut instinct!)
thats all for now. stay tuned for hervey bay, rainbow beach and our four wheel drive fraser island camping trip!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Moving to Melbourne
g'day mates! since i last posted i have fallen in love with my future city of residence: melbourne.
january 28: after the easy 5 hour flight from fiji (sarah and i barely remained awake long enough to be fed and down a glass of wine) we arrived in melbourne around 11 pm. exhausted and unsure of how to maneuver public transportation, we opted for a cab to our hostel. well, the cabs here are not cheap. instead of gas, they must feed these cars and their meters with speed or some other stimulant because every second, literally, we were 10 cents poorer. we finally arrived at our hostel, base.
base cannot be missed. using an excellent marketing and advertising tools (just for you sarah b) such as their unmistakable red building and signature "x" symbol base has become a brand name in the world of "flashpacking" (translation: backpacking with style). we walked in to find the place hopping. unlike every hostel we stayed at in fiji, there were actually people here! we were excited to learn that there was an elevator that would take us up to our third floor room and then shot in the heart when the man at checkin next told us it was broken. after a winded climb up 3 flights of stairs i stayed awake long enough to brush up, get pjs on and open my book but not read it.
january 29: after a hefty nights sleep our internal alarm clocks went off from waking up so early in fiji. we found ourselves starving and ready to brave the outdoor oven that is st. kilda (the area where base is). as i have already stated above, i would move here in a hot second, literally, a hot second. the second you go outside it is sweat central. although the heat is not humid, it doesnt matter. of course we arrived in the largest heat wave since 1908 (temperatures rose to about 103 farenheit!). even when the wind blows, it blows hot air, much like a blowdryer or opening an oven after doing some heavy cooking. basically, its not pleasant. but no complaints, the sun was out and despite my glistening face it was a beautiful day.
we left base and turned onto acland st. which is where the party begins. this street and those neighboring it are filled with shop after shop, and restaurant after restaurant. every place we passed we either wanted to eat something at or buy something from. bad news bears. it is also so eclectic. sarah and i have not yet been to sydney but we decided that from what we have heard we could make this comparison. if australia were new york, sydney would be fifth avenue and st. kilda soho. acland street is so eclectic as are the people in it. the fashion is "urban outfitters meets the oc meets wear whatever you want" as sarah says and the overall look and feel is even more laid back than la mixed with british terminology. we picked a cute little cafe and sat outside as we enjoyed the massive amounts of water brought to us in previously used wine bottles (melbourne is all about being green). sarah was stoked for her first iced coffee to be even more pleasantly surprised that instead of ice she received ice cream! as i continued to unstick my legs from one another we enjoyed a great breakfast.
we walked around a bit more and then went back to base to be greeted by sarahs friend charlotte who will be traveling part of australia with us in the coming weeks. she has been in melbourne for a while and helped me sort my phone issues out and got me to a post office to send my phone back to dad. another instance of how melbourne promotes the green life is through its children books. while in the post office, we were met by titles such as "turn off the water" and "dont leave the lights on". while a good message, sounded like crap books.
we then caught the tram to the city to do a bit more exploring. we decided it was too hot and went into a cafe for lunch. sarah and i finally had the salad we were deprived of in fiji (if you cant drink the water then you certainly cant eat the raw vegetables that have been washed in it or as sarah and ive been told "if you cant peel it, you cant eat it"). a little walking later we headed home to shower and enjoy our free champagne from 6-7 that came as a perk with our room. (i dont hate it!) sarah and i have learned that we have perfect australian hair. we have come to grips that we probably will not meet a good hairdryer or flat iron until beijing but here it works to our advantage. the messier and wavier and matted your hair is the better. if your hair is in your face and strewn about in every direction you look amazing by melbourne standards. well, lucky for us, our hair does just that, we dont even have to try!
we then went to a restaurant on acland for some tapas and margaritas that again, didnt seem to really exist in fiji. then we went back to base for "ladies night" which again gave us free bubbly from 9-11. they tried to sell this free champagne as mimosas or as we were told orange juice with maybe a drop of champagne. sarah and i asked for the real deal and were given flutes of just champagne without any arguments. charlotte met us and as it got too crowded we went to another bar in st. kilda then attempted to make it home. we hopped in a cab and gave the driver our address and he had no clue that a street by the name of carlisle existed. we immediately got out and hopped in a knowledgable taxi and went to bed.
january 30: we woke up and headed down the street to a cute cafe called galleon (sarah and i have eaten breafast there every morning since and now dont call it galleon, but "our place" because "we so live here") it is a funky little place that is hopping with locals and organic fare. i then treated myself to a mani/pedi. after fiji i couldnt bear to even look at my poor excuses for nails. the bright orange not only goes well with my tan but bodes very well in melbourne. im totally a local. then i met sarah and charlotte and had an iced green tea at a cafe. unfortunately, no one has caught on with the iced unsweetened green tea. i may have to go to starbucks to get my fix.
the next few hours were the longest of my life so ill make it short. we went to tribal travel to map out our next few weeks of traveling down the coast. the route we have planned sounds great but i wont spoil it for you so youll just have to read about it as it comes.
after a light lunch to regain our strength, we headed to safeway to prepare for our twilight picnic at the botanical gardens. we picked up some nibbles and i carried out sushi. i have never been happier in my life. this place was like mixing sushi sushi and raku together so for those of you from home, obviously this was heaven. a tako salad, few pieces of spicy tuna and two seaweed salad handrolls comprised my meal. the handrolls here are genius. they are not cone shaped but actually are just a smaller version of an uncut roll. this is quite bright because then you can actually take away and walk with it and only use one hand. when i come home im going to spread the word to raku that they should take their seaweed salad to the next level and create a hand roll with it. of course it would be named after me. the ruthie roll at raku has got a very nice ring to it dont you think?
after shopping we got back in time for a flute of champagne, and then headed to the botanical gardens. they were gorgeous. we were going as the sun was going down which brought all of the amazing foliage to life. almost every day the garden sets up a twilight movie on a huge screen. luckilly we ordered our tickets because it was sold out and thousands of people filled this huge lawn with beds, food, and drinks. sarah and i set up our spread, ate, drank and waited for the sun to set so twilight, the movie, could start at twilight! clever, huh? the movie was amazing, the setting great and edward cullen and i will be getting married in the spring. we got home late and went to bed.
january 31: after a bit of a lie in (see, im turning british) we went to our place and were greeted by a swarm of hungry australians. we got seats at the bar, read our books and realized that our waitress had forgotten to put our order in. the situation was rectified, our stomachs were full and we were off to the australian open. the heat was just right and we strolled around the grounds and the rod laver arena area. we even got to go inside and watch some of the junior mens finals. of course we did not have access to see serena play in the finals but it was cool to say that we were there. we took the tram and walked around federation square and had a drink by the river to refuel. hungry and tired we had a quick dinner and just strolled around before going home.
a sidenote: before i left, gary (my dad) gave me a great book called comfortable with uncertainty. i read a bit each day and i stumbled upon a quote that really struck me and i thought was suitable for this trip because while some is planned we are also in new areas all the time and partially flying by the seats of our pants. "sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. we can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day by simply exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment - over and over again."
february 1: we woke up early and started our day at our place. we dropped our laundry off at a cheap place next door and walked on acland. every store we pass is having a sale. to me, this is like giving an alcoholic a drink - clearly a bad idea. i could easily toss everything in my suitcase and purchase a whole australian woredrobe. but i didnt. i actually abstained from shopping until the devil on my shoulder aka sarah suggested it. shame on us but we did have control. we wound up not spending a lot and purchasing things that will get their moneys worth.
we headed to the beach to walk around and checked out the sunday market. nothing impressed us so we went back to acland to prepare for our evening. we went to safeway again and bought things for our second twilight picnic that would take place at melbourne zoo! there is nighttime music that you can go to after checking out the zoo and we were all for that. we did our shopping and came home to repack and shower before seeing fiona, another tripp counselor who is in melbourne from sydney. she met us and we headed to the zoo. the melbourne zoo is crazy. there are soo many animals, including ones that are not actually part of the zoo. what you say? yes, waltzing around the zoo is a peacock. just chilling and flying and walking about. this does not surprise fiona or sarah but scares the crap out of me. i dont do well with birds, even pretty ones. especially ones that can sense my fear like this peacock. luckilly, i made it out to find many more surprises along the way. again, what surprises you ask? well, the fact that when you see the kangaroos, wombats and koalas, you are actually walking with them. people were petting kangaroos as if they were dogs!! on the way to the koalas i had a heart attack as we were greeted by two emu. again, i luckilly made it out. we then set up our picnic and waited for the music to start. our concert was amazing. it was a tribute to motown and the blues brothers. every song we were dancing and or singing to. sarah and i decided that when we live here we will be the hip parents and grandparents who come to such events. i thought about my mom while there because she and my dad would have loved this. listening to hits from the four tops and temptations and dancing outside would have been up her alley in particular. after all, they were voted best dancing parents at every bar/batmitzvah! dad, sadly, they did not play my girl but i thought of you anyway!
we headed back and found a wine shop and just sat on the hill near the beach and caught up like old times. i have concluded that although tripp lake helps introduce a friendship to you, the friendship speaks volumes when you can talk of other things than camp. if you had seen the three of us you would have thought we had known each other for years and years since little kids. of course we always revert back to camp because it is just amazing but it was like old friends never skipping a beat. i thank tripp lake for bringing such wonderful people in my life.
february 2: today i woke to my stomach and a pounding headache. i packed up and had to checkout of base by 10 even though our flight to cairns isnt until 9:30 tonight. we all had breakfast at our place and then i came back to base to watch the superbowl. great game. sarah and fiona left do go to some street where a crazy soap opera is filmed that they life. they have yet to return and im getting bored. unfortunately we say goodbye to fiona today but will hopefully see her in thailand and we meet charlotte at the airport to head to cairns. thats all for now, i know i just spat a lot out at you but dont be overwhelmed, read it bit by bit.
january 28: after the easy 5 hour flight from fiji (sarah and i barely remained awake long enough to be fed and down a glass of wine) we arrived in melbourne around 11 pm. exhausted and unsure of how to maneuver public transportation, we opted for a cab to our hostel. well, the cabs here are not cheap. instead of gas, they must feed these cars and their meters with speed or some other stimulant because every second, literally, we were 10 cents poorer. we finally arrived at our hostel, base.
base cannot be missed. using an excellent marketing and advertising tools (just for you sarah b) such as their unmistakable red building and signature "x" symbol base has become a brand name in the world of "flashpacking" (translation: backpacking with style). we walked in to find the place hopping. unlike every hostel we stayed at in fiji, there were actually people here! we were excited to learn that there was an elevator that would take us up to our third floor room and then shot in the heart when the man at checkin next told us it was broken. after a winded climb up 3 flights of stairs i stayed awake long enough to brush up, get pjs on and open my book but not read it.
january 29: after a hefty nights sleep our internal alarm clocks went off from waking up so early in fiji. we found ourselves starving and ready to brave the outdoor oven that is st. kilda (the area where base is). as i have already stated above, i would move here in a hot second, literally, a hot second. the second you go outside it is sweat central. although the heat is not humid, it doesnt matter. of course we arrived in the largest heat wave since 1908 (temperatures rose to about 103 farenheit!). even when the wind blows, it blows hot air, much like a blowdryer or opening an oven after doing some heavy cooking. basically, its not pleasant. but no complaints, the sun was out and despite my glistening face it was a beautiful day.
we left base and turned onto acland st. which is where the party begins. this street and those neighboring it are filled with shop after shop, and restaurant after restaurant. every place we passed we either wanted to eat something at or buy something from. bad news bears. it is also so eclectic. sarah and i have not yet been to sydney but we decided that from what we have heard we could make this comparison. if australia were new york, sydney would be fifth avenue and st. kilda soho. acland street is so eclectic as are the people in it. the fashion is "urban outfitters meets the oc meets wear whatever you want" as sarah says and the overall look and feel is even more laid back than la mixed with british terminology. we picked a cute little cafe and sat outside as we enjoyed the massive amounts of water brought to us in previously used wine bottles (melbourne is all about being green). sarah was stoked for her first iced coffee to be even more pleasantly surprised that instead of ice she received ice cream! as i continued to unstick my legs from one another we enjoyed a great breakfast.
we walked around a bit more and then went back to base to be greeted by sarahs friend charlotte who will be traveling part of australia with us in the coming weeks. she has been in melbourne for a while and helped me sort my phone issues out and got me to a post office to send my phone back to dad. another instance of how melbourne promotes the green life is through its children books. while in the post office, we were met by titles such as "turn off the water" and "dont leave the lights on". while a good message, sounded like crap books.
we then caught the tram to the city to do a bit more exploring. we decided it was too hot and went into a cafe for lunch. sarah and i finally had the salad we were deprived of in fiji (if you cant drink the water then you certainly cant eat the raw vegetables that have been washed in it or as sarah and ive been told "if you cant peel it, you cant eat it"). a little walking later we headed home to shower and enjoy our free champagne from 6-7 that came as a perk with our room. (i dont hate it!) sarah and i have learned that we have perfect australian hair. we have come to grips that we probably will not meet a good hairdryer or flat iron until beijing but here it works to our advantage. the messier and wavier and matted your hair is the better. if your hair is in your face and strewn about in every direction you look amazing by melbourne standards. well, lucky for us, our hair does just that, we dont even have to try!
we then went to a restaurant on acland for some tapas and margaritas that again, didnt seem to really exist in fiji. then we went back to base for "ladies night" which again gave us free bubbly from 9-11. they tried to sell this free champagne as mimosas or as we were told orange juice with maybe a drop of champagne. sarah and i asked for the real deal and were given flutes of just champagne without any arguments. charlotte met us and as it got too crowded we went to another bar in st. kilda then attempted to make it home. we hopped in a cab and gave the driver our address and he had no clue that a street by the name of carlisle existed. we immediately got out and hopped in a knowledgable taxi and went to bed.
january 30: we woke up and headed down the street to a cute cafe called galleon (sarah and i have eaten breafast there every morning since and now dont call it galleon, but "our place" because "we so live here") it is a funky little place that is hopping with locals and organic fare. i then treated myself to a mani/pedi. after fiji i couldnt bear to even look at my poor excuses for nails. the bright orange not only goes well with my tan but bodes very well in melbourne. im totally a local. then i met sarah and charlotte and had an iced green tea at a cafe. unfortunately, no one has caught on with the iced unsweetened green tea. i may have to go to starbucks to get my fix.
the next few hours were the longest of my life so ill make it short. we went to tribal travel to map out our next few weeks of traveling down the coast. the route we have planned sounds great but i wont spoil it for you so youll just have to read about it as it comes.
after a light lunch to regain our strength, we headed to safeway to prepare for our twilight picnic at the botanical gardens. we picked up some nibbles and i carried out sushi. i have never been happier in my life. this place was like mixing sushi sushi and raku together so for those of you from home, obviously this was heaven. a tako salad, few pieces of spicy tuna and two seaweed salad handrolls comprised my meal. the handrolls here are genius. they are not cone shaped but actually are just a smaller version of an uncut roll. this is quite bright because then you can actually take away and walk with it and only use one hand. when i come home im going to spread the word to raku that they should take their seaweed salad to the next level and create a hand roll with it. of course it would be named after me. the ruthie roll at raku has got a very nice ring to it dont you think?
after shopping we got back in time for a flute of champagne, and then headed to the botanical gardens. they were gorgeous. we were going as the sun was going down which brought all of the amazing foliage to life. almost every day the garden sets up a twilight movie on a huge screen. luckilly we ordered our tickets because it was sold out and thousands of people filled this huge lawn with beds, food, and drinks. sarah and i set up our spread, ate, drank and waited for the sun to set so twilight, the movie, could start at twilight! clever, huh? the movie was amazing, the setting great and edward cullen and i will be getting married in the spring. we got home late and went to bed.
january 31: after a bit of a lie in (see, im turning british) we went to our place and were greeted by a swarm of hungry australians. we got seats at the bar, read our books and realized that our waitress had forgotten to put our order in. the situation was rectified, our stomachs were full and we were off to the australian open. the heat was just right and we strolled around the grounds and the rod laver arena area. we even got to go inside and watch some of the junior mens finals. of course we did not have access to see serena play in the finals but it was cool to say that we were there. we took the tram and walked around federation square and had a drink by the river to refuel. hungry and tired we had a quick dinner and just strolled around before going home.
a sidenote: before i left, gary (my dad) gave me a great book called comfortable with uncertainty. i read a bit each day and i stumbled upon a quote that really struck me and i thought was suitable for this trip because while some is planned we are also in new areas all the time and partially flying by the seats of our pants. "sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. we can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day by simply exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment - over and over again."
february 1: we woke up early and started our day at our place. we dropped our laundry off at a cheap place next door and walked on acland. every store we pass is having a sale. to me, this is like giving an alcoholic a drink - clearly a bad idea. i could easily toss everything in my suitcase and purchase a whole australian woredrobe. but i didnt. i actually abstained from shopping until the devil on my shoulder aka sarah suggested it. shame on us but we did have control. we wound up not spending a lot and purchasing things that will get their moneys worth.
we headed to the beach to walk around and checked out the sunday market. nothing impressed us so we went back to acland to prepare for our evening. we went to safeway again and bought things for our second twilight picnic that would take place at melbourne zoo! there is nighttime music that you can go to after checking out the zoo and we were all for that. we did our shopping and came home to repack and shower before seeing fiona, another tripp counselor who is in melbourne from sydney. she met us and we headed to the zoo. the melbourne zoo is crazy. there are soo many animals, including ones that are not actually part of the zoo. what you say? yes, waltzing around the zoo is a peacock. just chilling and flying and walking about. this does not surprise fiona or sarah but scares the crap out of me. i dont do well with birds, even pretty ones. especially ones that can sense my fear like this peacock. luckilly, i made it out to find many more surprises along the way. again, what surprises you ask? well, the fact that when you see the kangaroos, wombats and koalas, you are actually walking with them. people were petting kangaroos as if they were dogs!! on the way to the koalas i had a heart attack as we were greeted by two emu. again, i luckilly made it out. we then set up our picnic and waited for the music to start. our concert was amazing. it was a tribute to motown and the blues brothers. every song we were dancing and or singing to. sarah and i decided that when we live here we will be the hip parents and grandparents who come to such events. i thought about my mom while there because she and my dad would have loved this. listening to hits from the four tops and temptations and dancing outside would have been up her alley in particular. after all, they were voted best dancing parents at every bar/batmitzvah! dad, sadly, they did not play my girl but i thought of you anyway!
we headed back and found a wine shop and just sat on the hill near the beach and caught up like old times. i have concluded that although tripp lake helps introduce a friendship to you, the friendship speaks volumes when you can talk of other things than camp. if you had seen the three of us you would have thought we had known each other for years and years since little kids. of course we always revert back to camp because it is just amazing but it was like old friends never skipping a beat. i thank tripp lake for bringing such wonderful people in my life.
february 2: today i woke to my stomach and a pounding headache. i packed up and had to checkout of base by 10 even though our flight to cairns isnt until 9:30 tonight. we all had breakfast at our place and then i came back to base to watch the superbowl. great game. sarah and fiona left do go to some street where a crazy soap opera is filmed that they life. they have yet to return and im getting bored. unfortunately we say goodbye to fiona today but will hopefully see her in thailand and we meet charlotte at the airport to head to cairns. thats all for now, i know i just spat a lot out at you but dont be overwhelmed, read it bit by bit.
here is the link to the melbourne pictures: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.624250214705.1233549395733
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bula: Fiji's Shalom
hello, again. so sorry to have kept my loyal fans waiting for what is going to be an exhilarating post. i decided that it would be best to write about all of fiji at once instead of in nonsensical chunks of time (translation: i really couldnt be bothered with internet and the outside world until today).
january 21: after another great los angeles day with cindy (she and sarah are now in love) we arrive at lax airport. we zig zagged our way through security and made it to our overpacked gate only to learn that the flight was delayed. we were happily surprised to learn that the flight was only 10 hours instead of the dreaded 14 we had assumed. sarah and i had a whole row to ourselves in the upper deck on the plane which was nice. a xanax and a day later, we were in fiji.
january 23: it is amazing to believe that for an entire day sarah and i did not exist in this world. because we crossed the dateline (left on the 21, arrived the 23) we were just two people truly void of spacial existence. bill bryson explains it much better in his book, a sunburned country, but thats all youre going to get from me. we got to our hotel, nomads skylodge and instantly fell into a deep hunger (it was 7 in the morning!) and ate some breakfast only to want to sleep more. a hefty nap later, we awoke to the rain and it pretty much stayed with us all day. after a lovely dinner with our three new british friends (another ruth i might add - i have never met another ruth who was not in my family let alone a ruth the same age as myself) we passed out in order to be well rested for our 8 am departure on the feejee experience (quite a lovely marketing ploy to revert back to the previous name of fiji - refer to sarahs blog for a complete history lesson).
january 24: i awoke after an awful nights sleep (lets just say that my stomach has not yet adjusted to being in fiji, actually it still hasnt and today is our final day) i learned to see that my phone is donezo, so to those who have tried to contact me, im not intentionally being rude, or am i? just kidding. sarah and i were picked up by our minibus with our guide and driver in tow. we picked up a few more along the way to have a nice and cozy little group of 9 which would soon become 5 as people remained at our first nights stop for a few more days of r and r. normally, the bus would have been a large coach with about 35 people but due to the recent floods, many had either canceled or stayed away from the experience altogether. they missed out. we drove to town and picked up some water and fixings for our fijian barbeque lunch. let me tell you, fiji water is cheap. you can buy a huge bottle - 1.5 liters - at the market for about 2 fijian dollars which equates to about a little over one US dollar. we then drove to the seventh most beautiful beach in the world (i personally think they are lying or it was the seventh most beautiful in 1990 because it truly was nothing special) and hung out for a while while our guide and driver made us a fijian lunch (be prepared to hear me talk about food for a good portion of this blog) complete with chicken, sausage, veggies and the most delicious papaya and pineapple.
upon our beach visit we headed off to a town outside of nadi. we were given a brief history of fijian family life and what i believe fiji thinks is its claim to fame: cannibalism. sarah and i had a multitude of questions that seemed preposterous in the eyes of our tour guide. we walked around and spoke to the children who are always managing to sell a variety of trinkets. our final activity for the day was heading to the sand dunes which i obviously wanted zero part of (heights and i dont really get along and even more importantly my contacts and diving head first into a sand hill did not seem very logical). we then arrived at our resort for the night, mango bay, showered, enjoyed happy hour and the sunset and a delicious dinner.
that night we went to the hotels "nightclub" for a few beers and dance party. the other guests and our tourmates did not seem to understand what sarah and i refer to as tripp lake style dancing and music requests. we of course took it upon ourselves to play "cyclone" and to our dismay were the only people who enjoyed it.
january 25: after breakfast at mango bay we were prepared for our 3 hour trek in the fijian jungle. our tour guide had not led us to believe that this trek would be difficult but after the full description sarah and i opted for the other choice of a lazy boat ride down a river. we floated for a while then went in inner tubes the rest of the way and ate lunch while the boys used their testoterone charge to jump off a waterfall. we then drove to our next stop, uprising resort.
uprising was the most gorgeous place of them all and the people were more friendly than i could have imagined. we had arrived early enough to enjoy some more sun soaked fun and then showered before another wonderful happy hour and dinner. sarah and i shared a bottle of wine and romantically drank it on the beach at sunset. we had a great dinner and just sat and chatted for a long while with our guide and the uprising staff while watching a game of rugby.
january 26: once again, my stomach woke me up and the first noise i heard was rain, heavy rain. as if at camp, sarah and i zipped up our ponchos and made a dash for breakfast. we left uprising with a tear and went to the market where we bought some treats for the children at the orphanage where we were next visiting. we bought coloring books, pencils, crayons and of course some sweet treats to munch on. of course we arrived at the orphanage as the children were taking their naps but once we arrived that went to hell. we played and talked with them and got them more riled up than their "house moms" would have liked. after our short time at the orphanage we got back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to our next stop. because of the floods, we had to back track in order to make it to volivoli beach. volivoli was basically empty - just us and another guest.
again, we had time to sit on the beach and i used my tripp lake kayak award skills to paddle sarah and i around for a bit before another great happy hour which turned into happy night. we drank with the owner of volivoli, steve, and sarah and i introduced the wonderful game of flip cup to our tour mates, steve and australian anthony. well, the game, as i already knew, was a hit. steve even said he was going to teach it to every tour that continued to pass by. we then had crab races and lucky number 3 came in second, winning me a free beer. the night passed and it was time to head back to bed where i read about 80 pages of bill bryson waking up to not have remembered any true detail.
january 27: i believe youve begun to catch on but just in case youre slow, guess what woke me up? luckilly, i was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours because of our late departure from volivoli. sarah and i had a late breakfast and soaked up a few more rays before leaving for another fijian village. we took part in a traditional kava ceremony which is led by the village in which you drink water mixed with dried kava root. i would describe it as dirty, milky water with a grit of mud in it. sarah and i of course drank not one but 6 bowls of the murkiness for fear of being eaten or skinned with a fork. we drank and danced with the locals and said goodbye for we had another 3 hour drive back to nadi. lets just say that the combination of unpaved roads, alcohol sweat, already existing nausea and a stomach full of kava made the car read less than enjoyable. we arrived back at nomads to be greeted full circle by the rain. sarah and i washed the filth and sweat from ourselves and went to town and had our final dinner at a traditional fijian restaurant, nadina. the food was wonderful and even better, so cheap. we each had a drink, full meal and split a dessert for a bill with the grand total of about 25 dollars! being the old ladies that we are, we got into bed, read and were both asleep by 10 pm.
january 28: that takes us to today. we slept, read, ate breakfast and now i am here talking to all of you. we are already late to check out but i am not losing this precious internet time that i (gary) has paid for. youll thank me later when the pictures are up. we leave here around 4 to make our flight to melbourne at 6:30. speak to you all then. bula!!
here is the link to the fiji pictures!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.312198393705.1233298516449
january 21: after another great los angeles day with cindy (she and sarah are now in love) we arrive at lax airport. we zig zagged our way through security and made it to our overpacked gate only to learn that the flight was delayed. we were happily surprised to learn that the flight was only 10 hours instead of the dreaded 14 we had assumed. sarah and i had a whole row to ourselves in the upper deck on the plane which was nice. a xanax and a day later, we were in fiji.
january 23: it is amazing to believe that for an entire day sarah and i did not exist in this world. because we crossed the dateline (left on the 21, arrived the 23) we were just two people truly void of spacial existence. bill bryson explains it much better in his book, a sunburned country, but thats all youre going to get from me. we got to our hotel, nomads skylodge and instantly fell into a deep hunger (it was 7 in the morning!) and ate some breakfast only to want to sleep more. a hefty nap later, we awoke to the rain and it pretty much stayed with us all day. after a lovely dinner with our three new british friends (another ruth i might add - i have never met another ruth who was not in my family let alone a ruth the same age as myself) we passed out in order to be well rested for our 8 am departure on the feejee experience (quite a lovely marketing ploy to revert back to the previous name of fiji - refer to sarahs blog for a complete history lesson).
january 24: i awoke after an awful nights sleep (lets just say that my stomach has not yet adjusted to being in fiji, actually it still hasnt and today is our final day) i learned to see that my phone is donezo, so to those who have tried to contact me, im not intentionally being rude, or am i? just kidding. sarah and i were picked up by our minibus with our guide and driver in tow. we picked up a few more along the way to have a nice and cozy little group of 9 which would soon become 5 as people remained at our first nights stop for a few more days of r and r. normally, the bus would have been a large coach with about 35 people but due to the recent floods, many had either canceled or stayed away from the experience altogether. they missed out. we drove to town and picked up some water and fixings for our fijian barbeque lunch. let me tell you, fiji water is cheap. you can buy a huge bottle - 1.5 liters - at the market for about 2 fijian dollars which equates to about a little over one US dollar. we then drove to the seventh most beautiful beach in the world (i personally think they are lying or it was the seventh most beautiful in 1990 because it truly was nothing special) and hung out for a while while our guide and driver made us a fijian lunch (be prepared to hear me talk about food for a good portion of this blog) complete with chicken, sausage, veggies and the most delicious papaya and pineapple.
upon our beach visit we headed off to a town outside of nadi. we were given a brief history of fijian family life and what i believe fiji thinks is its claim to fame: cannibalism. sarah and i had a multitude of questions that seemed preposterous in the eyes of our tour guide. we walked around and spoke to the children who are always managing to sell a variety of trinkets. our final activity for the day was heading to the sand dunes which i obviously wanted zero part of (heights and i dont really get along and even more importantly my contacts and diving head first into a sand hill did not seem very logical). we then arrived at our resort for the night, mango bay, showered, enjoyed happy hour and the sunset and a delicious dinner.
that night we went to the hotels "nightclub" for a few beers and dance party. the other guests and our tourmates did not seem to understand what sarah and i refer to as tripp lake style dancing and music requests. we of course took it upon ourselves to play "cyclone" and to our dismay were the only people who enjoyed it.
january 25: after breakfast at mango bay we were prepared for our 3 hour trek in the fijian jungle. our tour guide had not led us to believe that this trek would be difficult but after the full description sarah and i opted for the other choice of a lazy boat ride down a river. we floated for a while then went in inner tubes the rest of the way and ate lunch while the boys used their testoterone charge to jump off a waterfall. we then drove to our next stop, uprising resort.
uprising was the most gorgeous place of them all and the people were more friendly than i could have imagined. we had arrived early enough to enjoy some more sun soaked fun and then showered before another wonderful happy hour and dinner. sarah and i shared a bottle of wine and romantically drank it on the beach at sunset. we had a great dinner and just sat and chatted for a long while with our guide and the uprising staff while watching a game of rugby.
january 26: once again, my stomach woke me up and the first noise i heard was rain, heavy rain. as if at camp, sarah and i zipped up our ponchos and made a dash for breakfast. we left uprising with a tear and went to the market where we bought some treats for the children at the orphanage where we were next visiting. we bought coloring books, pencils, crayons and of course some sweet treats to munch on. of course we arrived at the orphanage as the children were taking their naps but once we arrived that went to hell. we played and talked with them and got them more riled up than their "house moms" would have liked. after our short time at the orphanage we got back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to our next stop. because of the floods, we had to back track in order to make it to volivoli beach. volivoli was basically empty - just us and another guest.
again, we had time to sit on the beach and i used my tripp lake kayak award skills to paddle sarah and i around for a bit before another great happy hour which turned into happy night. we drank with the owner of volivoli, steve, and sarah and i introduced the wonderful game of flip cup to our tour mates, steve and australian anthony. well, the game, as i already knew, was a hit. steve even said he was going to teach it to every tour that continued to pass by. we then had crab races and lucky number 3 came in second, winning me a free beer. the night passed and it was time to head back to bed where i read about 80 pages of bill bryson waking up to not have remembered any true detail.
january 27: i believe youve begun to catch on but just in case youre slow, guess what woke me up? luckilly, i was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours because of our late departure from volivoli. sarah and i had a late breakfast and soaked up a few more rays before leaving for another fijian village. we took part in a traditional kava ceremony which is led by the village in which you drink water mixed with dried kava root. i would describe it as dirty, milky water with a grit of mud in it. sarah and i of course drank not one but 6 bowls of the murkiness for fear of being eaten or skinned with a fork. we drank and danced with the locals and said goodbye for we had another 3 hour drive back to nadi. lets just say that the combination of unpaved roads, alcohol sweat, already existing nausea and a stomach full of kava made the car read less than enjoyable. we arrived back at nomads to be greeted full circle by the rain. sarah and i washed the filth and sweat from ourselves and went to town and had our final dinner at a traditional fijian restaurant, nadina. the food was wonderful and even better, so cheap. we each had a drink, full meal and split a dessert for a bill with the grand total of about 25 dollars! being the old ladies that we are, we got into bed, read and were both asleep by 10 pm.
january 28: that takes us to today. we slept, read, ate breakfast and now i am here talking to all of you. we are already late to check out but i am not losing this precious internet time that i (gary) has paid for. youll thank me later when the pictures are up. we leave here around 4 to make our flight to melbourne at 6:30. speak to you all then. bula!!
here is the link to the fiji pictures!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.312198393705.1233298516449
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