Ten Rapid Travels

Reintegration into society

2007-01-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, Well. I'm back living in Scotland. Many things are a little challenging at the moment. The weather, job hunting, and internet access!!! You don't realise how dependent you were on internet cafe's till you can't find one!! Even though I don't have a job yet, looking for one seems to take up a lot of my time, and no real progress yet. However, one thing that had to be done was the hair. So I've taken a few photo's of me before, and after. Thanks to Penny for the great clipper work!! Scott

Hippy

That's right, hat off...one step at a time

Baaaaa Baaaaaa, so this is how sheep feel at the shearing

Baldy wee man that I am, for some strange reason shaving off the tail seemed fun

Rotophotos!!!!

2006-12-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

The pressure was too much, in the end....she blew

From a distance it looks rather star trek-ish...minus the wooden barrier, and asian tourists of course!

A bubbling puddle of mud!

After letting of some steam, the geyser drifts into the pool...for a wee dip.

Bad photo, cool dance!!

Better photo...but not so much a dance as a rant!!

I'm gonnae eat your heart...cuz I'm bigger than you..and you belong in ma belly!!

Sulphur lake...not so pretty really!

Some of the locals, out for a wee afternoon paddle!

Christmas New Zealand style...man I don't wanna come home, it's gonna be wet wet wet!!

Rotorua stinks!

2006-12-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

So this is my last tourist destination before spending two nights back in Auckland before catching my flight home. Rotorua, what do I think? Well it stinks...literally, sulphur and all sorts of other gasses leak out of the hot pools, mud pools, and various fissures and cracks in the earth. I could actually smell Rotorua on the bus before I could see anything that told me we were there! That aside, you kinda get used to the smell, and it is pretty unique. It looks like something out of a Captain James T Kirk Star Trek episode....everything looks alien and dead! The lakes have very low oxygen counts so there isn't much life in them, however there is still quite a few birds around, I suppose the chance to take a warm bath beats that of a cold one!!

So what did I see? Well I planned to go to a National Park, however in my rush to get there on time I forgot my ipod in the internet cafe....so after spending $10 on a taxi to the park, I then spent $10 to go back, and surprise surprise, some evil human stole my ipod. So not only did I miss the 12:15 Maori cultural show, and the guided tour of the park...some swine stole my ipod (music player for those who don't know). I had only bought this in Thailand 6 months ago, and it was a life saver for the 6hr bus rides, it also had a selection of photos on it, and also solitaire....how will I now cope? I have a 26 hour flight to Scotland in 2 days...and no music...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

But I'm not dead, and that's a good thing. I did eventually get back down (walked the 45 mins cuz I couldn't afford to buy anything for the rest of the day!!) and finally saw geysers steaming up, mud pools bubbling away, hot pools and the Maori cultural show which featured a tradional Maori welcome dance, as well as the Haka. If you've ever seen the Haka you know how intimidating it can be, if you haven't imagine a massive polynesian psychopath with his eyes rolling around in his head, his tongue hanging out his mouth, while he stomps his feet, and slaps one of his hands on his legs, while the other is waving a spear, not too mention the tattoos all over his face, all while chanting about how they're gonna eat your living heart...well actually everything they were shouting was in Maori, so I've no idea what he said...but I reckon he wanted to eat all our hearts.

After that I went back to the hostel, met two new fellows in my dorm, and we went out for a few beer, and Jon (from Holland) and Jon (from Germany) were happy to stay for one more last beer, and then one more last beer, and then one more last beer!! Our "only out for two beer" dragged us back into the hostel between 2 and 5 am...as we all left at different times. Good night though...although my vow of no more drink only lasted 2 days...ah well.

So the next day I went for a walk around Sulphur Lake, and although it was pretty in parts, it stunk royally. However, you can see why the Maori saw it as a magical place. One area outside Rotorua was known as Hell's Gate, for obvious reasons once you've seen some of the landscape!! I realised about half way round that I'd done something to my foot and limped home shortening my walk by about an hour or so....but you'll see the photo's pretty bleak in places!!

My last day I spent in the museum, and chatting to a few folk....then caught the bus!! Rotorua was definetely different than the rest of New Zealand, and I'm glad I went...now if only I can get to see a black beach before I go!! So this effectively is the end of my travels. My last entry from overseas I believe. I'll be home in 2 days (the 11th of Dec) and then a whole new adventure starts since I have no money, no job, no flat, no car!! I'm looking forward to the challenge though!! It really has been the most incredible trip. I guess some expectations were met, some weren't there were definetely some surprises, and some scary moments, also some absolutely unforgettable moments, and most of all some amazing people...and that is half the fun of travelling...you never know who your going to meet!!

That's it for now...hope to see you soon!

Scott

Tekapo and dolphins photos

2006-12-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Of course the first thing you do is go for a swim in a glacial lake that's 5-10 degrees....if you're from the North!

Beautiful old church in a perfect surrounding with wild flowers, a beautiful lake, and mountains!

Wildflowers in Lake Tekapo

Wild flowers and lake Tekapo in the background

Beautiful Sunset from our hostel where we were staying in Kaekora

Dusky Dolphin getting ready to jump

There he goes

And getting ready to land!!
He's in!

This is our view from the hostel during the day...not bad eh?

Queenstown Photos

2006-12-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

I apologise for not having more photo's of my bungy's, there was a technical hiccup online and I could only download 1 set of photo's, from one bungy...however my bungy photo's of the bridge (smallest jump) are at the bottom. Wait till you see the others! Will get them up soon hopefully!

A Yellow eyed Penguin (or in Maori a Hoiho), cleaning himself

A Hoiho flapping about...sorry it's a bit blurry, it was rainy and miserably dark...plus he was moving!!

The little female seal up close and personal!

The big male seal, wouldn't want to mess with him, even if he is a juvenile!

The little female rushed up to our guide and put a bit of fright into most of the tourists...not me though!!

Preparing for a plunge! Note the 10 fingers for Ten Rapid?

The pivotal moment.....stepping away from the stable platform to plunge over 30m\100ft down

I don't know if you can see the look on my face...but yeah, it's fear

The rebound after going in up to my waist and getting a good mouthful of water!

T-t-t-tekapo and Kaikoura...eek eeeek eeeek

2006-12-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

So we were on our way to beautiful Lake Tekapo. I had bumped into Scottish Adam, and we had decided on two key things on the way to Tekapo. One that as we were on holiday there was nothing wrong with having a bottle of wine on the bus on the way, and two that since there was a glacial lake that was around 5-10 degrees, we should not only plunge ourselves into it, but try and encourage as many others from the bus to do it as possible.

So just before arriving, I made an announcement, announcing what we intended to do. We checked in, then gathered out front with a combination of nervous and cold shivers running through many a body. In total, there was Adam, myself, 3 more Canadians, and 2 more Brits. Funny how it was all Northern hemisphere bodies, and all blokes!! So we all charged the beach, and plunged into what is probably the iciest coldest water I've been in in a while. Then as quickly as we were in, many were out...however I did make it a point to stay in longer, and miraculously my body went numb as did Adam's and we agreed it wasn't so cold once you got used to it. The unfortunate side to this was that when we got back inside the showers were taken....and to make matters worse, my roomates had the keys. So I managed to shiver my way through a window into my dorm where warm clothes awaited!!

We then head outside for some more wine, and a BBQ. Around midnight my busdriver had passed a comment that it was awfully brave to head into the water, but a different kettle of fish at midnight (which it was). Before you could call us Pansies, Adam and I had stripped off and were frollicking yet again in the somewhat more baltic waters of Lake Tekapo.....ah the stuff memories are made of.

I spent the next few days at Tekapo taking photo's of the mountains, wild flowers and a beautiful old church, as well as reading, playing guitar, lots of cards and even a game of scrabble. There was also a wee group of us, 5 Canadians and an English Fellow named Ben who got along pretty well, and ended up coaxing each other into drinking pretty much the whole time we were in Tekapo. Now that I'm in Kaikoura, believe me.....I'm on detox. Tekapo was beautiful though. Well worth a visit for a few days of unwinding!!

Kaikoura

This was my last stop before returning to Picton, but also one that I was strongly looking forward to. As a result of the one thing that I had planned to do from the minute I heard about it. Swimming with Dolphins. There is a couple of pods of Dusky Dolphins which live around one of the bays here. So when I booked my dolphin swim it was with a lot of excitement. However before arriving it turned out that they were booked out and I wasn't going swimming, however I was booked in for whale wathcing which I didn't want to do. Then it turned out I was booked in for the day I arrived not the day after, so I was doing a swim!!

The swim was incredible. We had between 50 and 100 Dusky dolphins at least. We slipped into the water off the back of the boat and swam out sounding like morons. Making loud cooing noises and high pitched squeels to try and get the dolphins interested. Interested they were. We had loads of dolphins swimming over us, around us, behind us, under us....absolutely everywhere. It was phenomenal. When they came up with you, if you were quick you could swim alongside them, or in circles with them, sometimes they slowed town to keep up with you, others they rushed away in a mad dash to show off their speed. Almost everytime though you had eye to eye contact with these beautiful, intellegent, friendly, curious and elegant creatures. They were completely wild, not fed, or encouraged in any way. The draw for them seemed to be purely curiousity. This was definetely one of those experiences that define this trip as a once in a lifetime experience. If any of you are heading this way I strongly recommend it, you won't regret it....in fact you can't get enough and just are left wanting more. I am seriously thinking about taking an Environmental course with a stronger focus on biology after seeing so much of our worlds wildlife in it's natural surroundings. I want to understand more about them, and do what I can to conserve them....it's official, I'm now a hippy.

Next stop Picton where it all started on the south Island, and then who knows. I've still got about a week and no money...so we'll see how creative I can get. Speak to you soon!!

Scotty

The Queens-town, and a mini Scotland.

2006-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

As far as I'm concerned the mountains are the most majestic thing about Queenstown. It's a beautiful town, very much like a small version of Whistler. I arrived there with 2 things on my agenda. One a bungy jump, and two letting off a bit of steam and enjoying a few pints with my fellow travellers.

Queenstown

So my priorities were to do a bungy jump, and then celebrate. The bungy jump in questions was planned to be the mighty Nevis jump. That's 134 meters or 440 feet. That's correct, I planned to stand on a ledge the length of your arm and throw myself off the ledge, for an breathtaking 8.4 second freefall watching the ground rush up to your face...providing of course your eyes are open.

So our bus pulled up to the Kawarau Bridge the site of the first commercial bungy which was a paltry 43 meters, or 140 feet. Compared to Nevis that is. However we decided to book our Nevis bungy at this center. There are 3 jumps the Nevis, the Bridge, and the Ledge...all operated by AJ Hackett who pioneered bungy. I convinced a wee American gal named Jeanne that this would be a good idea for her, to plunge around 450 feet head first. So tentatively she agreed and signed on. After all she'd bungy jumped...how hard could it be?

So we got into town, and there was about half a dozen of us that had met on the bus that agreed to go for a wee pint that night. It was funny, I was with 5 girls.....and no boys. Ya know, sometimes you just miss talking Formula 1, or Rugby etc. Not with these gals, a wee conversation about Schumacher and the future of F1 developed, it was great!!

So the next day Aurora a wee Italian gal and I decided to head up the Gondola and get some photos, as well as try the luge....which can only be described as a non motorized downhill cart that steers like a bike....man was that fun, I even managed to get a bit of air! Then we went to watch people plummet off the ledge, the other bungy jump which is a slightly more substantial 47 meters, or 155 feet compared to the ledge. I watched people and listened to their screams as they plunged off the ledge, and man, I couldn't wait till Nevis...literally, so I went and signed up...a big part of this was cuz I knew that you could flip off the ledge. So I wandered down for my first ever bungy, and man was I stoked. The guy that set me up had a Scottish Accent, and we were mutually amused to find we both lived in Stirling!! Ah well, so on with the jump. I lined up, got my mind focussed, ran towards the ledge and threw myself into a forward roll motion which resulted in almost 3 full sommersaults before the bungee started to retract, and I stopped screaming. Ahhhhh. It was fantastic. I knew I wanted more, and as it turns out you could do all three bungy's in the "Thrillogy" package. So I forked out way more money than I had planned, budgeted or had, and was set for the next day, Kawarau and Nevis. It was liking waiting for Christmas morning as a kid!!

Kawarau and Nevis

First stop was Kawarau Bridge, the home of bungy, a smaller jump than the Ledge and obviously Nevis, so I asked the guy how to get the best bang for my buck. He suggested that I face him and step back off the ledge keeping my eyes on him. Sounded good to me. So I placed my hands behind my head as instructed, and as they counted down, jumped back off the platform and fell away at something like 80-100 kms an hour. Scary stuff all the same, even though it wasn't as high as my upcoming or previous jump. This one felt like you were floating away from the top instead of falling towards the ground. It was a bizarre sensatation because you expected there to be a jarring impact, instead within a split second you're going from feet first looking at the sky to headfirst with water rushing up to you, then I went head first into the water, up to my waist, with a nice healthy mouthful of the Kawarau river as a souvenir. It was still a kick, but what would Nevis be like at around 3 times as high?

Scary is the answer. In fact probably the scariest thing I've ever done. I watched a couple of guys ahead of me, and thought I was ready. Until I took the rickety old wire platform over to the main gondola. The gondola is suspended over a canyon, with a shallow, and I mean shallow stream at the bottom. Once I stood up after being strapped in and waddled my way over the ledge, I stupidly looked down. I tell you know. My stomach flipped and turned, and I asked myself for perhaps the first time in my life, what are you doing? The river looked like a pencil mark. In reality it was about 12 feet wide. You will never understand the height from photo's as distance has a funny way of being much more perceptible to the human eye when you're balanced over it. They started counting down quickly 3-2-1 and for a split second I decided not to do it as my body had committed, and my mind revolted...however in this case it was body over mind and before I knew it I was jumping, and literally throwing my whole body off the ledge and plummeting head first towards the canyon bottom. As I threw myself off the ledge almost as if of their own accord my vocal chords let out an ear splitting baratone "God Help Me" which quickly rose to as close to soprano as I'm ever going to get....that is until I realised there was no sound coming out of me because I was 4 seconds into my fall roughly, and had no air in my lungs. It was absolutely terrifyingly exhiliratingly brilliant...so I took a deep breath and thought to myself, may as well settle in and enjoy the ride.......and quietly watched the river expand in size. Next thing I knew I was rebounding back up then doing it all again....eventually the electronic motor winch started pulling me up and for some reason I found it hard to let go of the bungy rope which was my lifeline to safety. Absolutely brilliant for those of you who reckon this may be your cup of tea. I strongly recommend it.....you must do it! There isn't anything like it as far as sensations go, the other bungy's didn't come close!!

I'm actually excited just after typing it all out, and man, as scary as it was, I'd do it again....I think.

The rest of Queenstown was more mellow, a few drinks in the evening, and just bumming around watching movies and reading. I did debate hiring a mountain bike (a giant reign) and heading to the local bike park for some jumping about on the doubles, tabletops and singletrack...but decided I'd spent enough adrenalin and money for a few days. The next stop was Dunedin, a quaint wee Scottish influenced town.

Dunedin
Dunedin was very much like Scotland, in fact NZ can be seen as the love child of Vancouver and Scotland. Mountains reaching to the sky, with snow peaked caps, and soft, gentle rolling green hills. It definetely reminds me of both. Well Dunedin was a one night stop, but I was staying in a reputedly haunted hostel....however to my disappointment it was only haunted by two zany Japanese who let me play their little 3 stringed Japanese guitar thing and plenty of other travellers. However I did see my first wild penguins, and got up close and personal with some sea lions. The sea lions were about 10 feet away, there was a large male about 100 kilo's and a smaller female. The female charged our guide, and while half the group stayed near the guide, the other half decided caution was the better part of valour and backed away from all of us!! I of course having complete trust in my guide, and being an idiot stayed where I was to capture video footage, and photo's. I got some awesome photos of wild Sea Lions as a result and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I am starting to think when I go back to Uni maybe I need to consider a biology based degree. The next day we were off to a wonderful place called Tekapo.

Frans Josef and Wanaka

2006-11-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

So I conquered the mighty Franz Josef Glacier. Well some of it. We left for a full day hike, at 9 in the morning and got back at around 5pm. It really was a good day out, but nowhere as difficult as I thought it would be. I was totally amazed at the size of the glacier, and how rough yet beautiful it was. The colours of blue in sections was awesome. I reckon if Dean and I had done it we'd have climbed to the top and just about killed ourselves!! I was missing my Vancouver Crew...what say we do Joffre's Lakes when I get back?

After the glacier I soaked in the hostels hot tub for a couple of hours, and had an early night before we left for Wanaka where I am at the moment...leaving for Queenstown shortly, but man is Wanaka beautiful. I don't know how anyone couldn't fall in love with it...and Big Al at Wheelcraft was right, it is absolutely awesome here.

Left to Right, a Dutch fellow, English bloke, and Irish gal (who studied Ninjitsu and Jujitsu and was a black belt in both..em, woah.) who I chatted quite a bit with.

You wouldn't want to lose your grip and fall onto that badboy, you'd be a bit sore....if you lived.

One of the glacial crevasse's we climbed through, the blue of the glacier comes from the weight of the snow pressing out most of the oxygen and allowing only the end of the clour spectrum blue and violet to escape.

Very lord of the rings, minus the ice axe of course!
Jagged ice teeth reaching up to the sky
It's a bit tougher than it looks, I had nothing to hold onto with my left hand
Ice stairs hewn into the glacier on the right, and 30 meteres (100 ft) of crevasse to the left, don't slip!!
An ice tunnel we climbed down into and out the other side, very cool!! Note the blue?
Hundreds of jagged teeth reaching up from the glacier bed
The water below us was about 5 feet deep (or more?) and bone chillingly cold
I was having a blast, we need more glaciers in the world! Note my MEC bag, it was made for this....thanks Jay!!
Just an artsy fartsy view of the valley from the glacier
A Kea, not sure if that's the right spelling, but they're parrot like birds that will rip apart anything with their beaks to get at any type of food. The buggers live in and around the glacier.

Wanaka, very, very pretty, much like Vancouver, but the size of a tiny village.

Wanaka at dusk, a little sideways, but that's what happens when I get tired!

New Zealand South Island Photos!

2006-11-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

Me doing my volunteer stint ripping out non native plant species...in this case jaggy, prickly, no nice boxthorn (do I look hippie yet?)

The view on the Ferry over to the South Island of New Zealand!

Someone with a creative sense of humour, I liked it!!

Giant fern tree thing on the Abel Tasmen hike to Mahataua or something like that
Into the Jungle...well rainforest technically
Crystal clear streams were plentiful
Abel Tasman, by ferry....and we hit a rock, nah it was a giant Maori with a big axe that hit the rock, cleaved it right in two as you can see
Did I mention we passed by a seal colony on the Magic bus on our way to Franz Josef?
These strange formations are called the pancake rocks
Waterfall on the beach
Closeup of waterfall on beach

North Island Photo's

2006-11-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, photo's of the North Island are here....I'll try and get South Island photo's up soon!!

The English family of wanderers on Waikiki Island or something like that...just off Auckland
Half way there!! 7.5% alcohol in a lethal, but lovely stout (the dark one)
The view from the hike Fergus took us on half way up
Not the edible kind I don't reckon, but looks like a Fun-guy all the same
Life around Paekakariki and Paraparaumu is a little laid back
View from the top of the hike
No, not Scotland....New Zealand. Easy mistake though!?
Paul, and some interesting salad tongs, look in the bowl

Fergus showcasing his good crockery

Me on the ferry over to the south island, yup about 2 weeks of growth, why shave when amongst friends?

I don't like Kiwi's

2006-11-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

Not the people of course, they are good fun, well the ones I've met...mostly. The fruit, never have actually. Well I'm in Franz Joseph as I right this. Franz Joseph is a wee town nestled at the bottom of....Franz Joseph Glacier. So I shall update you on my travels up till now.

Townsville
Well Penny and I went to the aquarium for our last day to photograph some of the creatures we've seen on our dive, then we parted ways....but only for a few weeks as Penny has a work visa and is coming out to Scotland till November next year. So we'll see how that goes, we just figured we're having fun, so why not extend our round the world journey...to sunny Scotland.

So my flight to NZ was relatively painless. It was a bit tricky transporting my 20kg backpack, my wee back pack, my guitar and my bike....but I managed, and now I was in :
Auckland!!

Well almost 3 years ago I decided I wanted to live in New Zealand for a year. That has changed into a 10 month round the world trip, with one month in New Zealand instead!! Auckland was, another city. I decided just to stay for the night and then head down to Paraparaumu, and then on to Paikakariki where I was going to do some volunteer work. So I had a day to kill and met an English family who were hoping to settle in NZ. Gary was the oldest, about 25, and he was travelling over to Waikiki Island with his two brothers and their girlfriends...while mom went shopping for dinner...some folk have it made! So I joined them and we hired a van that looked liked it was going to fall apart and dondered around the island to check out their beaches, and also a winery/brewery. Where I sampled four of their lovely real ales....one of which was 7.5 % and didn't taste any different than a normal beer. Scary but true. VERY dangerous stuff.

We got back in time to get the ferry back to Auckland, however the weather was so bad they had to help people off the ferry one by one as it was moving up and down and back and forth by a couple of feet. So much so that the actually ramp had a section collapse. Uh oh. So they had to reroute everyone out the entrance instead of the exit...as it was half in the water!! The waves on the way back were about 5-7 feet high, you'd have been toast if you fell in, for sure. Then I caught my bus to the south.

Journey with a psycho.
Okay, so I got to my stop and asked this attractive blonde with a crutch if this was the right bus, she said it was and I was happy. It started filling up and she suggested that we share a seat, and I figured better the devil you know than some stinky old drunk. Well the stinky old drunk got on the bus at the next stop, he was completely unshaven, smelled like old man and tobacco, as well as stale booze, and was staggering up the aisle. I said to Jeni, or Nicki or whatever her name was...I'm glad you're here instead of him!! ha ha. I changed my mind two hours later.

She produced a bottle of wine (one litre) and explained that it helped her to sleep. She got nervous when she travelled. So I thought fair enough, she also mentioned that she'd already had half a bottle before she left....um, ok. So she then offered me some, I politely refused and she just swigged straight from the bottle...fair enough. So over the space of the next 2 hours I found out that she was divorced from an drug addict greek husband, had one child, was very close to her father, and was a hairdresser and 24 years old. She was going to a party that her friend was throwing her, and that I was more than welcome to join her tomorrow night, I'd be the only bloke though. Ok. I explained that I would likely have to work, but thanks for the invite, (even though I didn't) and she said she'd give me her mobile number just in case I changed my mind. Oh, I also noticed that she'd tanked most of the wine, so when she offered again I thought why not and had a quick mouthful.

So now there are a couple of American chicks behind us, about 21 or so, and a big, I mean big, mean looking Maori woman in the seat in front of chicki (whatever her name was, she was proud that it was spelt with an i at the end instead of a y) and as I was chatting to the American girls, chicki started jumping into the conversation as I suppose she was feeling a bit left out. It was kind of aggressive so I chatted to her for a bit to try and cut down any conflict. So 20 mins later she started giving the bus driver grief for going to slow, then she started saying she wanted to go home, then she was shouting and whining that she wanted to be taken back....then she started making fun of the American girl behind us by mocking her accent, then she started kicking the seat of the Maori woman in front of her.....I was looking around madly for my waterproof jacket which was a great full on water proof from MEC that handled Mt Toubkal the second highest mountain in North Africa no problem, so I figured it was more than up to the challenge of protecting me from chicki's blood as this Maori woman procedeed to batter the life out of chicki with her bare meaty manlike hands. Amazingly she turned around and very gruffly and in terms I shan't repeat told chicki to stop kicking her chair. I was amazed behind eyes that were squinting to keep red and white blood cells from spraying into my eyes. Whew situation diverted. Nope, she started calling the drunk guy a homosexual and hurling verbal abuse at him. He thought it was funny and kept winding her up, so the two of them were shouting back and forth, until he got tired of it, or passed out. Then she started crying, actually crying that she wanted her daddy. At this point I was a little concerned about the stability of this young lady's mind, when she takes my arm and puts it around her shoulder. hmmm, so I pretended to adjust my ipod, and put my arm back on my lap. Then she started shouting that her dad was in the mafia and if the bus didn't turn around and take her back she'd make sure he sorted everyone out. At this point a kung fu mean looking asian woman who looked like she'd just walked off the set of a dodgy Ninja b movie came up in a very high pitch old voice and told chicki to shut the !#$!#@ up, that we were all sick of listening to her voice....that didn't go over well and chicki told Kung Fu lady what she thought of her, and I thought of my rainjacket again...however by yet another miracle the Kung Fu lady mumbled her way back to her seat. I was starting to sense that perhaps I wasn't the only one to sense instability and that perhaps people were slightly loathe to tangle with a psycho, at least they didn't have to sit beside her. Then she put her legs across mine and stretched out to relax, called me by her ex husbands name and asked me to cuddle her.....um, no. She started kicking the Maori Woman Mountain's seat again, and this time for sure I thought "Raincoat" but again, the Maori woman just gave her a dirty look and ignored her....it seemed to work, and chicki then pouted called me bad names, and fell asleep...with a half glass of wine left in the bottle she was cuddling into her chest. Well, when she woke up 2 hours later she had wine all down her top and said to me straight faced "awww, hmmm, I'm tired, I must have fell asleep, I guess I drank alot eh?" I simply said "understatement, and I think you upset a few people on the bus". And walked off, she was asleep when I came back on and when my stop came I grabbed my stuff and tried to leave without waking my little psychotic bus companion....it worked.

Paikakariki and Paraparaumu
Well Fergus came and collected me from the bus station, and he was the fellow who started the group I was volunteering with. The job was simply to go out into the foothilils and rip out non native plant and weed species. So although I didn't sleep much thanks to her Royal Princess Psychopath I grabbed one hour's kip and and was up to head out with Paul and Hannah who had helped organise everything with me. They were both very friendly, and the day passed quickly, although painfully. I still have scars all over my hands from pulling out Boxthorn from trees and bushes. Think....rosebush, but much meaner, and tougher. I proceeded to do this for a few days and also went on a good hike with Fergus which allowed me to get some fantastic photo's. It was pretty cool, cuz most of the people I was working with were pretty much vegetarians (Paul had dreads piled up on his crazy little head), grew their own vegetables, cycled around on old bikes, and were just so nice it was almost wrong!! So they were like Kiwi Versions of me!! Except better looking, smarter, and nicer! So it was a very good stay, and I felt like I really helped them out a bit. So if the offer is still there, and I have time, Fergus told me to stop by on my way back, and I reckon it would be cool to catch up...we'll see how my time goes!!

Ferry Crossing to South Island
I left Fergus's place where I was staying and caught the ferry from the North Island to the South Island. It was a beautiful ferry ride, not unlike the one to Nanaimo from Vancouver. I for the first time realised on this trip, really realised that I could be in an office back home working away and instead the sun was shining on me, mountains were rising up in front of me, and waves were rippling gently below as I made my way towards the last segment of my incredible trip. I was a little sad, but happy all the same. In one month, I could be behind a desk again. Ahhh dear. I arrived in :

Picton
Was a small town, with a harbour that looked great from the viewpoint of the hill I climbed, it was supposed to be a 1 and a half hour climb, I did it in 45 mins!! I'm was inspired to try and lose some of the doughnut that has spread around my tummy. I got back, made dinner chatted to an English fella named Pete who was into outdoors stuff as well, and hit the sack!!

Nelson
I jumped on the Magic bus. The bus just goes round and round New Zealand, and you just pay x amount depending on where you want to go and jump on and off whenever you want. So here was the start of my real trip in New Zealand. We arrived in Nelson, and had a quiet night, as the next day we were going for a hike through Abel Tasman National Park.

Boooo, it was a 4 and a half hour hike over roughly 15 kilometers of track, it was beautiful, but it rained the whole time. My raincoat held out for the first two hours, but packed in, or soaked in I suppose on my last half hour (probably would've handled blood fine though!). I finished in 2hrs 45 mins, with warmth, dryness, and a cold pint as my motivators. Emma an English girl had almost caught up to me, but heard some nut walking along singing Jack Johnson songs at the top of his lungs, and decided maybe she didn't want to get that close to the nut....who incidentally was me, I laughed when she told me, cuz I didn't realise I was singing so loud....oops. Nice views, nice to be out walking, but too wet to really enjoy the hike. We got back, ordered Domino's pizza, had a few beer, and went to a pub....good day!!

Greymouth
Bad day. Very hungover, and a long busride to Greymouth. We saw a cool waterfall onto a beach, and also pancake rocks as well as a big blowhole that didn't blow so we actually didn't see much. Not much to see here, Emma and I went for a pint and some KFC (I know I know, that only encourages the doughnut.) then we went back and watched a bit of tv and vegged....oh and there was supposed to be a ghost, but of course I don't really believe in that stuff....but ask me about that night and my ipod (music player) sometime.......

Franz Joseph
So now I'm in Frans Joseph and tomorrow am hiking for a day up the glacier, we won't get to the top, but I get crampons, an ice axe, and full on mountaineering gear!! Cool!! I'll let you know how it goes when I'm updating next!!

Drawn to Magnetic Island

2006-11-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

Catching one of Penny's mom's tennants (they're everywhere in the house!)

Up close and personal

Mangrove submerged at high tide

Mangrove De-submerged at low tide (see the roots sticking up?)

Mangrove roots shooting up at low tide (now you see em?)

A rock wallaby and her baby, yup, they live on rocks.

Me and myyyyy, shaaaadow - you remember the song!?

A sneaky wee possum hiding in her cave

Sunset on Magnet Island

Sand, palms and sun, on Magnetic Island

After the sunset, the possums come out to play!

A blue spotted stingray just a couple of feet off the shore

Magnetic Island locals

Cairns Sweeney style

2006-11-04T23:37:00.000-08:00

Behold, the frill neck lizard (although he's hurtin and you can't see his frill)

Big Crystal Creek, escaping some of the hot Australian Sun

Some of Tropical Queenslands rainforest, on the way back from Cairns
The beautiful Wallaman Falls, the highest in Australia

Falling 268 meters (around 1000 feet) tends to turn water to mist, pretty eh?

Penny, Danny and I went to Yorkie's knob, near Cairns. Nice beach, better if you can get a bit of air on it (gotta love kite surfing!)

Sweeney and the Scott....with two friends they met along the way....bloody Cane Toads, nearly went into orbit!

The Sweeney Files & Maggie Isle

2006-10-30T21:41:00.000-08:00

Cairns
So after arriving back in Townsville, and spending a couple of days in Penny's mom's house...we got a bit restless. So we drove 500kms up to Cairns to see Daniel of the Sweeney's. A good mate of mind from Scotland, and incidentally, a co-founder (the only other co-founder) of Ten Rapid Clothing. Danny is now in Australia as well...www.ozfest.co.uk if you want to check out his blog. Well Danny was in the midst of a dilemma. He and his mates had just spent $2000 dollars on repairing the Dannymobile. A big combi van. They'd decided they'd had enough and that selling it was the best option. So as Pen and I pulled up, low and behold out front of our little youth hostel (Shenanigans) there was a domestic Sweeney about to meet a potential buyer of his love wagon. He didn't recognise me at first what with my rather feral look at the moment, but once he did it was all hugs and beers....after he sold his van! We spent a few nights in a place called the woolshed, watched goldfish racing (much to Penny's horror), drank more than we should have, played guitar, and went down to Yorkie's Knob. Yeah, I know what you're thinking...what on earth is Yorkie's Knob? Well, it's a beach. So Danny and I swam in water that may have harboured tiger sharks, bull sharks, killer jelly fish, or just sea weed...depending on your luck...fortunately we only encountered much hilarity and swallowing of sea water.

Yorkie's Knob
We then went on a wee photo scouting opportunity where we found a dude kite surfing and doing back flips, big airs, and grabs and other things that were just cool. Deke, was yet again thinking of you! I want lessons when I get back...Kite Surfing rocks!! Danny had never had a wild coconut so Penny was trying to find one...no luck, so I started chucking rotted out coconuts at a tree to try and knock a coconut out of the tree. No luck, but stupidly I wasn't looking inside the hollow coconuts to see if there was anything in there (you know, spiders, snakes, anything else that might want to kill me), for if I had (like Danny did) I may have realised that there could have been a couple of unwitting passengers in my projectile coconuts. Danny picked one up to launch at the tree, and looked inside (being the cleverer of the two of us) and saw two little fellows sitting inside.......two baby Cane Toads. Now Cane toads are bad news. They eat everything native (practically), but nothing native eats them (practically). So although they are a curse, these two fellows were rather cute and photogenic. I wonder how many others I launched to their doom? Ooops.

Wallaman Falls
After spending a few days with Danny and co, we decided to meet up on Magnetic Island in Townsville before I went to New Zealand, and Danny went to Melbourne. So that being agreed upon, Penny and I set off for Townsville, and randomly decided to stop at the Wallaman Falls, which are over 800 feet hight. They were awesome!! They are the highest falls in Australia and beautiful. When the water falls it starts off as a fall of water, but by the time it hits the pool much of it is in the form of mist, and so ethereal swirls of mist make their way around the skirts of the pool at the bottom, it's hypnotic to watch. I was pleasantly surprised seeing as I had no expectations for the falls!! There is also some beautiful rolling rainforest not far from the falls, and if I didn't know better I could have been in South America, Asia, or any rainforest in the world...not an hour and a half from Townsville!

Crystal Creek

Pen and I went to Crystal creek for the day to escape the heat, and it was awesome!! A few rocks to jump off of, and the great frill neck lizard! After an afternoon of swimming in the swiming holes, we found a frill neck lizard who was looking worse for wear. At first we were amazed that we had finally seen a frill neck lizard, the last real Australian critter that I hadn't seen, but upon closer inspection he was pretty rough. His eyes were bloody, and there was a bit of blood on the road. So as a result we ended up taking it to an animal hospital. We don't know exactly what the deal is, yet, but we're hoping he'll pull through.

Magnetic Island

We had planned to meet up with Danny again on Magnetic Island. The Friday came and as we were on the Ferry I texted Danny to let him know there was a full moon party and the island was pretty busy, so he'd better call and book a place. He texted me back with a whooops. He'd forgotten that this was the Maggie Island weekend cuz there was a few things going on with him and his boys. So Pen and I spent a weekend on our own on Maggie Island. It was awesome. It was just like being back in Asia!! Right off the bat we got shoved on the bus with a million other backpackers and tourists and had a few backpacks shoved in our faces, only to be dumped at our resort!! Gotta love it, and these buggers speak English! Well, Australian which is kinda half English half American! We checked out our resort, and it had lots of palm trees, two pools, and was a 2 min walk to the beach. Cool!! So we went for a swim and then went to the beach to check out the Stingrays as Penny had been before and new there were loads, and there was!! We must have seen about 20 or so. Then we went up to see the rock wallabies....a wallabie is a small kangaroo, and these wee fella's live on and in the rocks! How cool is that? After our encounter with nature, we had a few drinks and hit the sack.

The next day we did some snorkelling after waking up with a morning swim, coffee for Penny, and a leisurely lie in for me. We saw loads of fish, and I saw my first toad fish, as well as a few wee lobster things. There was a wreck called the Moltke which we thought would be good to scuba dive at low tide...except it was murky as coffee, and you couldn't see your hand a foot in front of your face, so logically we started swimming out towards the wreck....of course there is the minor issue that the whole area is reknown for being a breeding ground for tiger sharks.....we got about 10 meters (30 feet) out and I said to Pen, it's not getting any clearer, do you want to head ..... before I could say back she said "yeah, c'mon lets go". Seems the whole time she was totally terrified that a tiger shark was gonna sample us.....so she was at the shore before I could even say ok. Ah, murky water....spooky stuff really!!

We went diving again the next day and saw some cool fish, some big Mullets, a huge angel fish, and a school of some type of herring that was about 30 feet (10m) long, and we had to swim through it or we would have been waiting all day to get by...it was awesome though, a flash of silver that stretched for ever in both directions right and left, and flashed in front of us....we swam between massive boulders, and rocks, and felt like explorers finding these things for the first time...it was awesome. We eventually got out and spent the rest of the day reading on the beach in the shade enjoying the sunshine and 30 degrees temps! What a great few days!!

Next up....New Zealand, my days of lounging by the beach are over, and next is adrenalin city, bungee jumping, glacier hiking, maybe a spot of mountain biking, and with luck...glacial snowboarding!! We'll see how the budget goes. By the way, I'm now officially 77 kilo's or 170 pounds (12 stone) according to the scales in the chemist here in Townsville. That is the heaviest I've ever weighed in my life, and when I left I was around 70 kilos, 11 stone or 155 lbs any way you look at it....I need to do some serious cycling when I get back!!

Whit Sundays Pics Part 2

2006-10-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

Penny and Captain Peter
Penny and Fin, our fearless cook...and dive master, and well many of many talents!

Morning Swim off the yacht

Batfish, read: Bigfish (well size of my head anyway...)

Morning swim ..... with batfish, go for the bread, go for the bread....

Baby Barracuda
Here fishie fishie fishie
The art of Zen, Scott floats in front of giant coral

Yacht, see!!!

2006-10-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

The mighty MatadorAfter the dive, the beer can flow

The main sail a couple of hundred kilos of canvas

Some of our crewmates!The bloody Jib....not fun to raise

Captain Scott reporting for duty

The sea eagle...close up and blurry, but about 5 foot wingspan...awesome.

Another Sunset in Paradise

The What Sundays?

2006-10-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

No no no, the Whit Sundays. Don't ask me why they called them that, but the Whit Sundays are a group of Islands just south of Townsville. So seeing as it was our last stop before returning to Townsville where our little adventure started, we thought we'd spend a few days there.

It's ironic that Erlie Beach is the main area for tourists, and that it doesn't actually have a beach. That doesn't stop thousands of toursist flocking there every week! It's got some pretty funky clubs and bars, boat trips, diving, snorkelling, and a lagoon (which we never saw) which is a man made swimming area.

So we got there, found a place to sleep (Magnums which was good!) and met up with a mate of mine....Fin, who as fate would have it is a dive instructor that I met in North Thailand when he wasn't a dive instructor...and then again on Koh Toh Island in Thailand where he was becoming and instructor...and I was becoming a diver...and finally here in the Whit Sundays where he was an instructor, and I was a diver. So although I'd never sunk into the great blue ocean with Fin, I have sunk a few beer with him. So after catching up over a few beer, Fin suggested we try to get onto his boat that he was working on in a few days. So we said we'd see as we were tight on money. It turns out it was a yacht called the "Matador" which was a racing yacht which has won numerous yacht races around Australia, and was bloody fast by all accounts. The deal was 3 days and 2 nights on the Matadore, but as working crew...to an extent. We would be required to help raise the sails, and lower them as well as help out anywhere else the captain said. Sounded like fun, especially as a free dive was included....and all food and accomodation (which was on the boat). The normal price was $450, however Pen and I had a mate named Fin who reckoned we could get on for $250...or if we went standby, cheaper. We waited till the morning she sailed, and with a bit of luck got on...for $130. That's roughly 60 pounds for you brits...bloody ell, that was a deal!

So we jumped on and what an experience, we were coffee grinding, raising jibs, and even got a shot at driving, or "sailing". The yacht sails at 45 degrees when the winds are up and one end is rather "in the air" however when a good wind comes, and speed is the order of the day the boat tips further. We had the boat practically at 90 degrees at one point with the side we were on looking directly down on the other side of the boat as the wind gripped the main sail and dipped the other side of the boat into the water practically up to the rails...phwoah, that was fun..for most of us, there were a few worried squeels, certainly not from me though!!

We also had to do a bit of coffee grinding. Let me explain, there are 5 or 6 posts in the middle of the boat. These posts have winches shaped like coffee grinders and each post fits two people on each side. The purpose is for each pair of sailors to use the winches (coffee grinders) to raise the main sail which weighs a good couple of hundred kilo's and is also fighting gravity...so when the skipper shouts grind, you grind as if your life counted on it!! Tough work...but not as tough as raising the jib!!

What the heck is a jib I hear you ask? Well the jib is the sail at the front of the yacht, and in similar fashion to the main sail it needs to be "hoisted". Except this is done with only 3 people pulling on one rope. Bloody ell this was murder. I got "roped" into this twice, now I ain't the biggest boy in the world, and certainly not the boat...but one Scottish Fella Michael weighed around 250 lbs, 115 kilos, or 18 stone and with him starting he would grab the rope and pull with all his weight downwards, while the jib went upwards. Easy, when Michael couldn't then Dave who was inbetween Michaels weight and mine would join Michael and when they couldn't pull anymore then I would join, and at finally when the cumulative weight of the 3 of us could pull no more a winch was used for the last few feet. That was bloody hard graft I'll tell you that for nothing, and Skeebie, if you're out there reading this....I tell ya, you would of loved the whole experience!! I have to admit I was wishing you were there!!

We also went for a free scuba dive, and paid $50 for another one. It was cool because we saw some of the biggest fish I've ever seen, I also saw my first Barracuda (Juvenile though), and we also swam through a massive gorge about 15-20 feet hight which was awesome, and spooky cuz it was awfully dark at the bottom, and we didn't know what we would find....turns out nothing too frightening!! Just a few dozen beautiful tropical fish!! We also saw a Flowry Rock Cod about 3 feet long, he was big...and cool...sorry no photo's of him though!

From the deck of the Matadore we also saw flying fish which was awesome, they actually come right out of the water and skip across the surface for about 30 feet. We saw a sea eagle come soaring out of the sky, swoop down and grab a bit of bacon out of the water, it was so precise there was hardly a splash when he grabbed it, we saw loads of turtles, and an awesome sunset.

We met loads of great people, including a bunch of mad Irish (aren't they all?), loads of English, and a host of other nationalities including a few Canadians. So when we weren't stuffing our faces, diving, or lounging on beaches, we were sailing and chilling out on the deck with a book, a beer, and in some cases a babe....good deal!!

We got back and as a final farewell, we had a big dinner and some free beer courtesy of the Matador staff. So we all took our wobbly sea legs (after 3 days on a rolling yacht it felt like we'd all had a few jugs of beer, and that was as soon as we were off the yacht!) over to the Beaches Bistro and had a merry ole time. It has to be said there is something to be said for the sea life, it's bloody hard work, but if you're pillaging and plundering and bringing home a few pieces of 8 it's all worth it in the end I reckon...shame a pirates life expectancy is about 30 years!!

Fraser Island Animals

2006-10-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sea Anemone
A spider Ant

Fraser Island Dingo...purest descendant of the asian wolf in Oz
Giant sea turtle, about 6 feet

A six foot Eagle ray...bloody huge!

A blue bottle jelly fish...not a good thing to have sting you

A local who isn't afraid of the camera (cuz he's dead)
Check out the size of this dude...he's massive the size of my hand

Fraser Island

2006-10-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Into the jungle in our delux Uni Mog, which is a Universal Machine of Germany. It was a beast, and served us well. Then there is me, with my rainforest survival kit.

Into the desert sands of Fraser Island......

...to get to a refreshing pool of freshwater, catfish and all

The Moheno, a 5 star cruise ship in its day, stranded during a cyclone on Fraser Island. Note the Maori name of the boat, and the Maori face on Penny...coincidence?

The Champagne pool

Me in the champagne!!

The view from Indian head where we saw millions of animals

Swimming in Paradise.....freshwater, crystal clear, and refreshing, all in the sands of Fraser Island

Lush greenery everywhere around, and totally drinkable water, gotta love it!

Some of the gang at our guide Kel's place, aussie bbq breakfast, pool and beer at 8 in the morning, and all is good.

Sydney and Brisbane...kinda

2006-10-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

Okay so these photo's are taken from Sydney up to the Gold Coast. The pub is not anywhere near Sydney, it's near Aubrey Wodonga.

Scotty shredding the waves!!

Wee Bindi Irwin at Steve's Crocosium

Me and Steve, getting freaked out!

Crikey Mate!! Stevo on video at the Crocosium

Just chillin with his homies!!

The memorial at the Zoo. Crikey we'll miss ya Steve

Honey, I'll be back in 20 mins, just taking the wombat for a walk.

I'm on my way home...Toronto that is!!

Nature about to kick my @ss....

at Bondi Beach!!!

Ray, Penny, Stacy, and Brenan AKA as Brendan

Stacy's room mate

Perhaps the funkiest pub in Australia?

I'm baaaack - well back in Sydney

2006-10-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

So after arriving in Sydney on July 9th from asia I've arrived back in the harbour city. I've now technically travelled all the way around Australia, although I flew from Sydney to Townsville to see Penny, so now we're going to be driving up to Townsville...so although I've been all around, I haven't seen it all ... yet.

Sydney
Well we arrived back in Sydney and met up with Pen's best mate Stacy and her husband Brendan. We stayed with them for almost a week, and Stacy's dad Ray was with us for a few days as well. It worked well as it was a long weekend so although Brendan had to work during the mornings we were all free in the afternoons. So we had a chance to check out Bondi beach, where the waves were massive and I had my poor fat wee body pounded by some serious waves, about 8 feet tall in some cases. It was about 17 degrees so no-one else wanted to play with me...cuz it was too cold for them! Bredndan scored some tickets to the Rugby Grand Final...the Brisbane Bronco's versus the Melbourne Storm. The match was awesome, and INXS played a couple of songs live before it started....with their new frontman...who incidentally is Canadian, and they were pretty good it must be said! So after a few beer and a bloody good rugby game, Brendan and I got lost on the subway...which is nothing new to anyone who knows me, but since Brendan lives there, I was pretty disappointed!! I had a rather embarrassing moment with Brendan. He did a rally driving course, and his certificate said Brenan, so I thought I'd heard his name wrong and was calling him Brenan for the majority of the weekend until I heard Penny call him Brendan....and asked her what his name was...Brendan of course was the answer. Bloody Canadians, insulting their hosts all weekend. Ah well.

We also went to visit Penny's family, her aunt, uncle and cousins. Man are they mad. They can play the guitar though like you've never seen! They've also got about 15,000 dollars of sound mixing and recording equipment, so yeah they take their music seriously!! Good people, but they run on sugar and caffeine and are constantly wired!!

Gold Coast - Elenora
Well we went to visit Stacy's sister Nicki and her husband Craig who wanted to see Pen as well, and so we stayed with them and went for a swim at their local beach, well I did cuz it was still too cold for anyone else, and I booked myself another surf lesson for the next day.

The Next Day
Well, I got up early and we went to the beach for my surf lesson. Not only was it raining, but the water was flat as a pancake. So instead I got my money back and we argued about Brisbane. I had said to Penny I wanted to go to the "Palmetarium". Well, Penny thought Brisbane was a hole, and didn't want to go. Especially not to any "Palmetarium". Why did she want to see a bunch of Palm trees? We've seen them everywhere on this trip. Well eventually we agreed to at least check it out quickly. She was rather embarrassed when she realised we arrived at a building that showcased the universe in all it's glory, that's right, a building called a "Planetarium". So now that that little misunderstanding was cleared up, the planetarium was shut. What a cracker of a day. So we carried on up to a viewpoint at the top of a hill that overlooked Brisbane. I had a beer, she had a cappacino, and things were better for everyone, until it started raining. Ah well, Brisbane was a hole. Well, not really but I wasn't having fun.

Sunshine Coast - Caloundra
Surfing!!!!!!!!!!! Well Pen and I got ourselves sorted. We booked a surf lesson. Pen really wasn't sure she wanted to as she has this thing about being eaten by a shark. So we hmm'd and hawed all the night before, and when it came time to gear up and get in the water....she did!! She did great as well, got up a few times. Me on the other hand, I did awesome!! I was riding my board every time towards the end. Of course, my board was as long as a canoe, and made of superfloatable styrofoam, and as wide as a football field...but all the same, my technique worked and I was up for a good 5 or 6 seconds before I ran out of wave and water!! Man surfing rocks. I'm dead keen to try it when I get back to Scotland, of course I may need to buy a wetsuit to prevent hypothermia and death.

Australia Zoo

We also visited Australia Zoo which is about an hour or so North of Brisbane near the gold coast. It was awesome, a great way to spend a day. We saw loads of animals, and also the tribute to Steve Irwin after his death. People are still bringing tributes, which is cool. We also saw Bindi his daughter in the Crocosium filming a TV documentary, at 8 she's got a lot of poise! Later Steve's wife Terry, and their son Bob (3 yrs I think) came out as well. It was good to see them getting on with life. Anyways, the zoo was cool....and we had to go before we knew it!!

Fraser Island
We made our way up to Hervey Bay to jump on the ferry barge to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world's largest Sand Island, it is entirely sand, and a bloody miracle that anything grows on it!! However, we found out that there are no roads. The highway is a state highway, but is basically the beach. There are just sand tracks for roads, and Penny's Honda CRV just wasn't going to cut it. We then looked into a tour and booked a 2 day off road bus tour. It absolutely rocked. It cost us $250 each, which is way more than we had to spend, but it was totally worth it. We went from Sand, to scrub, to forest, to rainforest, to forest to scrub, to sand in about half an hour, all while getting bounced off our seats every 5 seconds...if it wasn't for the seatbelts we'd all have been knocked out cold by the roof of the bus/truck.

We saw the most amazing things. We saw emerald green swimming holes in the middle of sand dunes, surrounded by forest. Off Indian Head peak we saw a shark, a 6 foot Eagle ray, and similar size sea turtle, two little stingrays, dolphins, we saw whales driving along the beach, a dingo at one of the watering holes, a sand monitor lizard, loads of golden orb spiders, a blue bottle jellyfish and probably more that I'm forgetting. We also went swimming in a champagne pool...it was a rocky basin that waves kept crashing into and creating a foamy pool of foam in the pool...well you know what I mean. There were also little fish in the pool, sea anemone's and a crab. Awesome!!

We're now on our way to the Whit Sundays for some Snorkelling before heading back to Townsville where my Aussie journey ends. Booo. It's been an awesome last couple of weeks though, surfing, Fraser Island, and loads of beaches and body surfing. I'm tired just thinking about it all!!

Albury bloody Wodonga mate

2006-10-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Post ride beer
Penny on the see saw...cool
Me on the see saw...no biggie
Paul, me and Gem
Penny showing confidence!
Paul and I
My butt doing some bouldering
Me almost at the top
Melbourne morning around 8:45

Funny buildings in Melbourne
Paul getting fitted for his wedding suit

Little ant dragging a bull ant 3 times his size....awesome

Some of the 12 apostles
Aw aren't they pretty?
The arch
One of these collapsed....is this Apostle next?

Adelaide-y

2006-10-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

John and I with a view of Adelaide after our bikeride
John and his club...ripping my legs off
A bloody wild Koala! In a carpark?
in this carpark! Me getting ready for pain
Scott and I getting ready for more pain...12 degrees water...ouch
Didn't stop me doing it again though!
Pen buried in seaweed
Me buried in seaweed
Mouthy little fellow
But we got on fine
Scott Claire and Penny
The view they were looking out at

Civilisation again!!

2006-10-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

We made it!! We made it to civilisation! We arrived in Adelaide after Ayers Rock and Coober Pedy to stay with some of Penny's friends, and meet up with a couple of mine....and it all took off from there. We have beds! We have toilets, we have civilisation!!

Adelaide (Hills)

I found out that john a friend that I met through the Stirling bike Club was now living in Oz. So we stayed with him and his wife Sheena for a couple of days....we ate like kings! John took us out on the mountain bikes to one of his favourite local trails, only to have a puncture in his tubeless tire. Sadly he repaired it only to have his pump break part way through pumping it up. Then after 15 mins his tire deflated again...with no pump and to more patches. So he flew home and Pen and I followed at a much more leisurley pace. We then got lost and John had to come and get us.

A few days later John took me out with his local club...it just about killed me, I just don't have what it takes to go out on a proper bike ride anymore...it's shocking. It was fun though, but one of the coolest things was the Koala bear in the tree in the parking lot where we all geared up for the ride!! I managed to get out for one more ride with John in which i bought the most expensive beer on this trip... $8 a beer! Good, but not that good. After the beer we cycled home and my bike fell apart. A loose bolt on my bike stopped me cycling about 10 mins walk from John's place....good thing it never happened when we were 8kms in the middle of nowhere!

We met up with Scott and Claire Penny's friends and stayed with them for a few days as well. They just bought a new house 15 mins around the corner from John and Sheena so we all went out and had a meal and a few pints...good night! Scott took us on a coastal walk in about 30 degrees temp, it was pretty, but we all roasted so he then took us to another spot he used to swim in as a kid. It was a wee cave on the coast with some rocks off the shore that meant we could jump into the ocean. Man was that water cold...I reckon about 14 degrees, it was fricking freezing, your whole body went numb after about 10 seconds. Glad I wasn't stuck in it...Penny didn't go in as apparantly Great Whites are seen here from time to time....bah, it's just a big fish.

All in all we just had a very chilled week or so with friends, lots of wine, dinners and conversation. It was awesome.

Victoria - Albury Wodonga

Well after all that drinking, lounging and lazing in Adelaide, I was ready for some adventure, biking isn't enough! We went to Wodonga in the North of Victoria after staying in Melbourne for a couple of days. Melbourne was cool. We stayed at a hostel on St. Kilda beach which was cool except for the rock concerts that a live band put on both nights in the pub below us....the gig went on to 2pm both nights we stayed there. Not much sleep to be had. We did cycle along the beach and up to the Melbourne South Markets where I bought a few handmade wool beanies/toques and we got caught in a torrential downpour...rain for the first time in...oh 2 months? It was cold and refreshing...although Penny wasn't so happy!!

We headed to Wodonga to see friends of mine Paul and Gemma. This was a good thing since we have drunk too much, eaten too much, and not exercised enough! Paul took me fishing, took both Penny and Gem and myself rock climbing, bouldering, and mountain biking. Penny had never been climbing and did really well, she was pretty freaked out at first, but doing really well on her second climb. On our bike ride Penny and Gemma managed to ride over a seesaw which I don't need to tell you is pretty cool! Especially since Pen is still a rookie on the bike!! We also saw a brown snake on the ride, he was pretty big and laid back...not really interested in us, he was sitting in the grass off the main track. Glad we didn't run him over!! He's just one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

It was a pretty full on visit with Paul and Gem, and awesome to see them again, they're engaged and getting married next March...for good reason...they're awesome together! Well Penny was pretty worn out after all that adventure, so we made our way to Sydney and I'll fill you in on that at a later date.

It's been great being with friends, being out of the outback, back in civilastion, and not having to sleep in a tent anymore. From here we head up the east coast back to Townsville and the end of our trip...it's not far away. We should be back by the end of October. I've also decided to return home to Scotland early. So providing I can change my flights, I should be back before Christmas. Ahh, home sweet home!

Yoo hoo Uluru

2006-10-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Olgas a rock formation not far from Ayers Rock/Uluru
Ayers rock, up close and personal. Can you see the sleeping giant?
Can yu see an aboriginal head?
That thin blue line in the rock is sky shining through
One of the more rugged sides
Yes, it's wheelie me at Ayers Rock
You can start to see the colours change over the next few photos

Rockstar Scott
Team Penscott

It's all mine - Coober Pedy

2006-10-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

A salt lake...no city
The entrance to Crocodile Harry's Croc nest
Inside the mine
How divine....
The entrance to our campsite...underground
Our campsite!
A wedge tailed eagle
Artsy fartsy scott shot
A horny devil lizard

Imagine living in a cave house!
Wild Camels
Horny Devil!
The crazy travelling gypsy

The mines and their dirt
How much fun would it be to play with this at the park....a tunnel digger!
Big toys for big boys
just hanging out with the locals

Esperence and none the richer to Ayers Rock

2006-10-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hello again. So what are we up to now? Well after our Norman Beach capers we ended up in Esperance. What can I say about Esperence? Well we didn't actually do much.

Esperence
We arrived, but couldn't find a campsite, so we asked tourist information who confirmed.....no campsites. So instead we stayed in a little youth hostel. The lady that ran it gave us two vouchers....buy one beer get one free....for the local pub. We figured we'd treat ourselves since we hadn't been in a pub since Daly Waters a couple of months back. So we had a pizza, and then went for a beer. Man I tell ya, we got suckered. They had leather sofa's and a big screen playing music video's. I tell ya, we were in heaven. Heat, light, comfy sofa's, beer and music video's. We hadn't been that spoiled the whole trip! So of course our 2 beer turned into many many more, and in the end we met up with a couple of locals who convinced us to join them at a club after the bar shut. It didn't take much convincing, after that things got blurry, I vaguely recall drinking somebody's beer by accident, an angry Irishman, and somersaults on the pavement....but not much else about the club. Somewhere in there I bought Penny her first whiskey, a Jamieson....it apparantly was also her last judging by the look on her face!! Ah well. Good night though! We spent most of the next day seriously hung over. We just hung out with a Brazilian guy named Clayton and watched a bit of TV and movies.

We left the next morning and found another free campsite, in the middle of the outback as usual with bugger all around. Which was fortunate because about 15 mins before I was ready to go to bed I heard a horrible gurgling noise in my bowels then felt like someone had jammed a fork in my intestine. I ran to the car grabbed the bog roll and just had time to duck behind some trees before I had an emergency evacuation of my bowels. Not much fun when you're in the outback squatting over an old campsite because you didn't have time to dig a hole....all the while worrying about what deadly creature wants to bite you on the butt. Ah well it all be good all the time. Fortunately I didn't have a repeat of the event later that night.

South Australian bight and Crikey dies

We had travelled for a few days across the Nullaboar not sure about the spelling of that as it sounds like and is written like something out of Star Trek. It's a big stretch of road that goes for miles through the outback...and there really is nothing but small shrubs and blowing dirt. However we did visit the Great Marine Bight which is a marine park, and saw a few whales, which was cool, and we even saw one of them breach or pop his head out of the water which was cool. Unfortunately we also heard the night before that Steve Irwin died. Crikey that was a shock. We didn't believe it at first, we never hear news as we're not exactly in the center of a city more often than not. So by chance we met an older couple at our campsite who had a radio and they had just heard it and said to us, "did you hear how Steve Irwin Died?" and we both thought it was a joke...unfortunately it wasn't and we both were shocked. I don't care what anyone else says, he was fantastic for animals and the environment everywhere...not to mention kids as well. I have to admit I reckon there's a bit of Steve Irwin in most blokes, that kid that never wants to grow up. Ah well so it was a sad night....but I still kicked Penny's butt at Scrabble.

Wirrula

We crossed the WA border and made it into South Australia and stayed overnight at this little town that was basically a bar, a general store, a big grass lawn and massive silos. We set up our tent and went back in time to 1878. The pub hadn't changed much, it was an old wood cabin type building, and the people inside were farmers, sheep shearers in town for a couple of weeks work, and of course the bar maid. Man, they were friendly enough, and the guyes were looking at Penny in a way that was a bit too friendly if ya know what I mean. They laughed a little to hard at her jokes, and got a bit too touchy feely so we ate our dinner and left thinking it was one of the more bizarre experiences we've had....man cue up the banjo, they were some weird people.

Coober Pedy

Next morning we were on our way to Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is where they mine most of the world's Opals. I didn't really know what an opal is, but I do now. An opal is basically a type of rock that has hardened in pockets over millions of years. It has a number of different types, but is relatively rare, but very pretty in sunlight as it reflects all sorts of colours. So we got a tour of a mine on our way through the first time on our way to Uluru, and saw how the various machinery works, and also how they used to live.

It's pretty cool as they live in buildings called dugouts. This is basically a building that has been carved out of the rock...essentially a cave. But the really big ones have swimming pools, snooker rooms and are basically mansions! We also got a tour on our way back from Ayers rock and stayed in an underground campsite...apparantly the only one in the world....what a bizarre experience. I really could have been in Afghanastan it was quite strange. On this tour we were shown how they use divining rods to find faults where opal may lay....it was bizarre as well and actually did seem to work and the rods did seem to move of their own accord. Kinda spooky, not sure I believe it worked or not. We also went to see Crocodile Harry, an 80 year old legend. He was the original Crocodile Dundee. He came over to Oz from Latvia and hunted hundreds of crocs, on one occasion catching and killing 80 in one night, and on another catching and killing an 8 meter croc....over 20 feet. Crikey, that's a different kind of croc hunter all right. He lives in an old cave a few miles outside of town, and although his croc hunting days are behind him, he still has a few stories to tell!! All in all Coober Pedy was strange, but cool. Worth a visit!

Ayers Rock (Uluru)

So, perhaps the most famous feature in all of Australia...what did I think? Awesome. We left Coober Pedy and made our way up to Ayers rock. We passed this crazy old man who was walking along the road with camels carrying an old wagon with a dog and a cat in it. He was in the middle of nowhere with a towel over his head and cart being pulled by camels....to make it even stranger...he was Dutch or German judging by his accent! We got to a free campsite outside the national park. We put up our tent and then went to go get photo's of the sun setting over Ayers rock. We got there about 4 and waited till 6 playing guitar and chatting to other folk who were there as well. From a distance when I first saw Ayers rock I was disappointed, but when we got closer and saw the colours change as the sun set I could appreciate why people found it so appealing. It went from a brown to a dark red, then orange, then dark brown again. Pretty cool.

The next morning we got the bikes out and cycled around the base of the rock. That is where it really was a spiritual place. There were so many different area's in the 10km trek around it's base. A watering hole, a forested grassy section, a sparsely wooded area, an open desert section, a rocky craggy area, and it just changed flawlessly. The side of Ayers Rock was awesome as well with many sections pitted and carved by wind and sand over thousands and millions of years. There was one section that looked like a sleeping giant, another that looked like the profile of an Aboriginal, as well as small and large caves, and one area that had a large section that had a thin but long crack that allowed a sliver of daylight to be seen through the rock. It was a really cool place. As much as I wanted to climb it, I was beginning to understand why it was such a spiritual place for the aboriginals, and respect their wishes not to climb it....besides the winds were about 40 knots and the climb was closed anyway! What an awesome place, but look at the photo's they will tell the story better.

On our way back down to Coober Pedy, we passed the mad gypsy guy again!! He had covered 200kms on foot over 3 days, we had covered almost 1000kms by car! Insane, we should have asked what he was doing, but instead we just offered him water. What a nut!

Margaret Albany Norman

2006-09-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ewoks hit the millenium with titaniumIt's a long way down, 120 feet or 40 meters
Some big trees around here, over 20 meters in diameter or 60+ feet!

A dude we saw in Albany
Another bloody lizard, glad you're not the frog?
Cool Dragonfly...now I know where they sleep!!
Just some pretty tree blossoms/flowers
Jannie/Miriam .... I've been to Denmark!
The little park/river where we had lunch in Denmark

Conspicuous Cliffs near the Walpole tree walk...more pretty than Conspicuous

Norman Beach....our beach. Not a soul on it...

except this fellow...although his soul has long departed by the looks of him. Sad really.

Me and all my friends on Norman Beach

Funky Scott Shot

Wine Whales and Weach .... okay Beach

2006-09-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

So where in Australia are we now...well we're in Victoria, but more importantly...where have we been? Let's start with the Margaret River!

Margaret River
We stopped in Margaret River for one reason, and one reason only.....the wine. It's famous for having loads of wineries, both small and large, and so we found a campsite, and set up for the evening. There was a fellow named Dave who was a bit of a guitarist and spent a bit of time playing, and showing Pen and I how to play various chords and scales, one thing led to another and it was midnight before I made it to the tent. Unfortunately our air mattress didn't want any part of it and had blown up at some point in the evening. Well actually just leaked horribly, and went flat. So it wasn't the best night's sleep. On top of that, there was a bloody rooster in the campground. This rooster took it upon himself to start crowing at 4 o clock in the morning. If I'd been able to get ahold of him I'd have strung him up by the feet. So I was awake and trying to get a couple of hours more sleep when 3 of the loudest and most annoying birds in the world started a 3 way conversation from the treetops. I actually got out of the tent to see if there was any way I could kill a rooster and 3 conversational birds with one stone....no luck so that was me up for the day with about 4 hours of broken sleep.

The day did get better, I complained about the rooster and we got offered a soundproof cabin, and then we embarked on a wine tour which we had booked, it was pretty good. Because my budget is tight like well, many things, I had opted to buy one bottle of wine from one of the 6 wineries we were visiting. The interesting thing was one of the wineries that we visited had created a wine using chilli, so there was a hint of chilli to the wine....very good and very cool. So on top of that bottle another 5 were bought. Doh. However they were all unique wines, and most were gone within a week!

Shannon National Park/Walpole
We stopped in a place called Northcliffe, and went for a cycle, one trail was pretty good, and so we ventured on to the second track called the "Adventure Trail". They weren't kidding. Poor Penny had to carry her bike for most of it, over logs, along logs, over fallen trees with foilage still attached and clawing at her, it was wet and very slippery to boot, and she was getting very tired very fast. Then it all went uphill to add to her misery. All things said and done, she didn't whinge once, although when we were done if looks could kill I'd have dropped dead on the spot. After that we headed for Walpole to do a treetop walk. They had built an Ewok Village type walkway (metal instead of wood) and it climbed 40 meters (over 120 feet) and we still weren't over the top of the trees. Those are some seriously big trees, I discovered that as it was metal wires that held the walkway, jumping caused a really cool sensation of the bridge swaying...well I thought it was cool, another death glare from Penny and a few other tourists told me they thought otherwise....ah well. We also saw this massive tree that was 20+ metres (60+ feet) in diameter...bloody 'ell! It was hollowed out in the middle, but still alive. We also went to Conspicuous Cliff to see more beautiful Pristine beach and water....still not sick of it!

Albany
Well I won't say too much about Albany, but we camped by a wee cliff over looking a bay in hopes of seeing a whale for the first time....but no luck that evening. So we tried to patch our poor little mattress, the patch it came with was woefully inadequate for the job, so I pulled out my bike tube patch kit which after 3 patches also proved useless. So another night on the ground it was. Arrghh. I woke up to Penny yelling at me to come see, come see the whale!! Man it was awesome. A big whale on the other side of the bay, it looked about the size of a sealion it was so far away, but it was breaching (jumping out of the water) half a dozen times, then resting for a minute or so before doing it all again. It did this about 4 or 5 times and was awesome to watch such a massive whale doing such an incredible thing. That was the first time I'd ever seen a whale in the wild....awesome.

We went into Albany to do a cycle on a famous cycle track that was being built over the last few years....except it hasn't been finished. I was gutted. However we found another cycle that took us over and around the coast and bays around Albany. Penny wasn't sure if she could make it as all the nights without the air mattress made her back pretty cranky, but in the end we decided to do a shorter 10km ride instead of my 30 km ride. We saw a few lizards every 10 feet on the path which was cool, then pulled over for a rest at a wee area with signs about whales etc....and low and behold we saw our second, third, and fourth whales of the day...between 40-100 feet infront of us. To boot there was a wee sea-lion as well sitting on a rock, just chilling.

We continued on to Middleton beach where there was another 5 whales or so, and some really cool surf to muck about in. So I went in body surfing, and the whales went on doing their whale thing. One of them got closer and closer until he was about 90 feet behind me, and just kind of hung around while I body surfed. What an awesome experience...being the idiot that I am I thought making whale noises underwater would be appropriate....now I just feel like an idiot... I'm sure the whales would have thought the same. So I went from never seeing a whale in the wild to seeing millions, calves, mothers, males/bulls and a sea lion to boot!! What an awesome day. One of the coolest in my modest 30 years, and definetely on this trip....I was swimming with whales!

Norman Beach
We stayed at this free campsite that was on a beach outside Albany, and man was it cool...yet another beach! This one was ours, not a soul around so we had our own private beach. So we went for a walk in the evening, had some wine and watch the sun set, and stars come out...pretty cool. We also found a puir wee dead dolphin who had washed up on the shore. I also went for a jog along the beach the next morning. We stayed for a few days as it was such a cool site, and I set up my hammock from Vietnam and just vegged in it for about half a day! That night was a SPOOKY night. We were in the tent playing scrabble cuz it was rainy and dark and miserable, when we heard a moaning. At first we thought it was someone hurt, and it was kind of freaky....until we weren't sure what it was. It was right outside our tent so I tried to rationally figure it out, and presumed it was a cow in pain...injured or giving birth. So we went to investigate...but not before I grabbed my wood chopping hatchet...just in case. We walked about and couldn't see or hear anything so we went back to Scrabble. That was it until about 10:00 when we were dozing off to sleep and it started again...we both decided to ignore it....it would either go away or come and eat us, fortunately it went away. Weird night, I'm not sure what a hatchett would have done if an angry insane cow charged us, but it felt good in my hands anyway!

Less animals...more landscape

2006-09-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

I do love me dragon flies, and now I know where they sleep!

A tree that is 26 meters in Diameter.....bloody ell eh?

Freemantle prisonk, where the only criminals are the ones that want to charge $20

Couldn't quite get this one to rotate, so you'll have to self rotate your head...

Penny and the Peli, -can that is.

Nikki the dolphin, in for her fish supper!

The roof we slept on, and watched the stars....not exactly prime real estate I suppose.

Some sort of Whale skull we sitting in some fella's yard...bizarre.

The famous blowholes, well cool if not famous.

Just hanging around the tropic of Capricorn...as you do.

Photo's of Karageni to Perth/Freemantle

2006-09-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

Mmmm Emu, apparntly pretty good to eat?

The deadly brown snake (as far as I can tell)A close up, on one of the deadliest snakes in the world...anyone able to confirm?
D-I-N-G-O and Dingo was his name-o...but don't feed or pet him...he's bad news

There were loads of these guys around Fortescue Falls

Fern Falls, a little slice of Paradise, great place to swim!
A groovy little fellow we met along the way

The Redback Spider, not a good roomie to have in your tent

Moving on down the road..again

2006-09-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

So we left 80 mile beach many weeks ago. Some of you may have already seen the whale photo's...that happened in between then and now, but the whales were so cool I had to get them up right away. So what's happened between 80 mile beach and the whales....well funny you ask, let me tell you. This is another epic so may want to read this in parts!!

Karageni National Park (N.P)

We opted to go to Karageni on the advice of a German fellow, there was rock climbing, gorge walking, and a tree that had fallen across a gorge and was the only way across....it all sounded like adrenalin fun. Except we got there and found out all those routes were off limits and you could only do it with shedloads of gear and permission, neither of which we had. So instead, we opted to see what else there was around. We stayed at a free campsite and found my first redback spider. You wouldn't want these fella's as roomates. They are pretty poisonous and can kill in some cases, at best make you very very ill. We had dinner on the picnic table the night before, and after going for a cycle we came back and this fellow had pulled one out from under the table....eeeek! On the bike ride we were poking around in a dry riverbed when I pulled out a freaky looking Centipede, he was about the length of my middle finger, yellow and black, and had the biggest pincers ever....he was fricking huge! I was trying to get him back to get a photo (I stupidly didn't have my camera), but he kept falling off the stick, and I wasn't bloodywell picking him up...we researched him and it turns out he may have been poisonous....enough deadly creatures for one day.

We went to a place called Fortesque falls and Fern Falls, Fern Falls was gorgeous as you'll see in the photo. We went for a swim, sat under a little waterfall and chilled in the sun for about half an hour. There were millions of dragonflies which were beautiful. A little slice of paradise. We had seen a dead snake which looked like a brown, but I still hadn't seen any of Oz's deadliest snakes in person. Then we saw him!!! A brown snake, a brown snake, a brown snake!! Sunning himself on the road. I reckon he was at least 5 feet long. There he was, one of the deadliest animals in the world....so of course I got closer for a photo....but not too close. Then shoed him off the road with a branch so he wouldn't get flattened by a semi/truck. 15 minutes later we saw an emu walking around in the brush....cool. You just never know what you're gonna see....like a Dingo! Yep, saw a wild Dingo next eating a sandwhich someone had thrown out their car..bad people. However got a pretty cool photo of it though!!

The Blowholes....yup, the blowholes.
After Karageni we went to see the blowholes. They're a rocky outcrop, almost volcanic with holes in them...so when the massive waves come crashing in they force the water up like a geyser about 20 feet in the air....pretty impressive. We stayed at this crazy little campsite where they let us sleep on the roof of an old shack instead of setting up our tent...so we watched the sun set and slept under the stars.....now that is what camping is about!!

The next morning we went snorkeling in the bay and saw some pretty cool fish, including a wrasse about 2 feet long...but the tide was going out and I was getting sliced up like sushi on the coral as the water was only a foot deep in parts...so we cut the snorkeling short.

Denham/Monkey Mia
We stayed in Denham and drove 20 mins to Monkey Mia which was as cool as it's name. There wasn't a whole lot, but there was a little bay where wild dolphins come in and get fed......so I got to see my first wild dolphin, up close and personal...about 5 feet in front of me on the shallows of the beach. Nikki was her name and she was an adult female, cool we dolphin I reckon. Best of all the lovely wee thing didn't want to kill me like the rest of the buggers I've met over here!!There were also Pelicans on the beach, I'd never seen a pelican, but found a rather descent chap who posed for me, and let Penny get pretty close and personal with him. After that we spent the afternoon playing scrabble on the beach.

Geraldton/Perth/Freemantle
Well this started with a freaky incident. Penny was driving through Geraldton when this woman decided to run a red light and missed Penny and I by about 6 inches....if Penny hadn't slammed on the brakes we would have been creamed. Man that was an adrenaline rush I could do without. We got to Perth and were set to cycle around Kings park as recommended by many people...however we couldn't find a campsite and had to go to Freemantle. Perth was ok, big city.....nice park, but the highlight was a Mexican meal, and a redback......beer in Freemantle...man Mexico can have my babies any day. We cycled the next day along to see the Freemantle Prison, and even though it's not in use anymore, it's still full of criminals.....cuz the buggers wanted $17 to go in and see it!! We opted to save our money.

Whale of a story

2006-09-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so rather than keep you in suspense, here are a few photo's of the various Marine life we've seen over the last few weeks. Some of the wales we saw (and I swam near) were in Middleton Beach near Albany, south of Perth. The others were from the Great Australian Bight Marine Park between Eucla and Ceduna ... pretty cool eh!?

Bight Marine Park Right Whale
Blowing off at Bight Marine Park
Heads up at Bight Marine Park
Two whales coming together - 160 tonnes of "how you doin?"

The photos above are from Middleton beach where I was body surfing when a rather curious right whale came up to see me, you can just make him out in the background of some of the photo's.

2006-08-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

4x4 hits cow

They both lose

80 mile beach Funny shaped shells, perfectly flat, hole in the middle, and a star pattern around the hole

80 mile bech sunset

More photo's of the crazy outback

2006-08-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

A gazzilion year old dinosaur track up from cable beach...as if Oz doesn't have enough deadly reptiles...fhwoah!Some of the cool rock formations up the road from Cable beach
Cable beach melting into the sunset

Cable beach preparing for a napCable beach by day... beautiful place to spend the day

Wild dogs (not Dingo's) at the side of the road eating a roo carcass

This little fella is similar to the wallaby/roo we saved.

The sinister Boab tree...the king of evil trees this one is 1500 years old. A lot of evil.

Fires and Water Photies!

2006-08-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Scott cooking dinner on the campfire...hmmm BBQ veggie burgers!
Buley falls, my favourite swimming hole...8 feet deep, and about 15 wide...crystal clear....ahhh.
On the way into Argyll lake
#1 rule in Oz, don't touch the wildife...right Skeebie...oops. Blue tongued lizard at the side of the road. Stupid touching it I know...but couldn't resist!!

Penny at Buley Falls
The Barramundi at Howard Springs

The lost City...there's a reason it's lost...who cares?

Wengi Falls

After Darwin - fruit stealing buggers

2006-08-24T00:57:00.000-07:00

Well from the last entry which was predominantly...outback, we've seen more....outback. We left Darwin and went to...

Howard Springs

Howard springs has a cool natural pool where you can swim with Barramundi which are massive fish about 2-3 feet long. There's turtles and stuff in there as well which is cool. We also saw a couple of big turtles in there, and on the other side a file snake which is a land snake that hunts in the water as well. Cool. My second live snake in Oz!!

Litchfield National Park (N.P)

We had planned on going to Litchfield but kind of forgot about it until an older couple reminded us in Howard Springs of how beautiful it is meant to be...so we headed over to Litchfield N.P. Man are we glad we did. For 5 dollars you get to camp beside beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes. Buley was cool as it was a series of small falls about 3-6 feet high and various depth swimming holes from 3 to 8 feet deep....and at the right time we had the pools all to ourselves!! We also went to Wengi Falls which had a beautiful tall waterfall and fantastic swimming hole which we wanted to stay at but the campsite was full so we spent the night at Buley...nothing to complain about really. We got a fire going and I cooked our entire dinner on the fire, that's what camping is about!! We had veggie burgers, baked potatoes and gravy....hmmmm. We awoke at about 2 in the morning to the bang and clatter of something big in our site...it was a wild pig about the size of a German Shepard...as far as I was concerned he could root around all he liked. I wasn't going to say boo to an animal that weighs twice as much as me and has tusks.

The next morning I cycled 30 kms to the Lost City, it was a bunch of rocks that made a formation similar to a ruined city...or so they say. The distance was further than I thought, mostly uphill, about 10k was over sand, and the pin for my bottom pivot fell out. I did however make it, however the view was a bit of an anticlimax....see the photo. Good workout though, I did it all in about 2 hours...considering the dilemma's I had and that I'm a doughnut at the moment I was happy. Then I got back, rode straight to the swimming hole, and jumped right in! What an awesome feeling!! Totally refreshing and invigorating!! The term swimming hole and swimming pool are the same...it's a natural swimming pool! Just to avoid any confusion...not a lot of traditional swimming pools in the outback.

WA - Kunnanara - Derby
We were crossing the WA border, and I was not a happy bunny. We had all our fruit and veg, some of which was only a few hours old confiscated to be thrown out. It was about $20 worth of veg. That's alot when you're on a budget. I was not impressed in the slightest. Safe to say we won't be bringing fruit anywhere near the next border. We stopped at Argyle lake, nothing incredibly awesome, but nice. We drove straight through Kunnanara, spent the night in a free campspot and went to Derby...cuz Penny wanted to see a 1500 year old Boab tree. Boab tree's are evil. You just look at them and you know they are the overlords of evil trees in Australia. Check out the photo and you'll know what I mean. Freaky looking things. No leaves...no leaves? No leaves, well none that we saw. We saw the old one...spent the night in Derby, and met a fellow who was from Germany and told us we had to visit Karageni N.P...so we gave it some thought...and ended up going...but that's later.

Broome

We couldn't find a campsite that would fit our budget so we stayed in a youth club that offered camping. They had basketball courts!! Playing B-Ball in 27 degrees...ahh reminds me of my youth in Georgetown! We stayed a couple of nights, but the highlight was our ride out to cable beach. It was about 7km's, but on the way we came across a dead Wallaby (like a wee roo) that had been mangled by a car. I rode back to get a better look, and Penny pointed out that there was something moving in the pouch...it was a Joey!! We managed to get him out and he was such a puir wee soul...his mommy was dead, he was a bit bloody, we dragged him out of the dark pouch into the blinding sun, by his legs none the less...so we figured the best thing we could do was make a stew out of him. Penny knew how to make roo stew, so we figured if he was dead by the time we got to the beach we'd just eat him. Nah, just kidding. A limo pulled up and the workers were volunteers at a wildlife refuge, how convenient...so they took him away. Sadly we didn't get a photo, but he was a cute wee bugger. We called the next day and they said he was cold, but doing ok.....and they said if he makes it through the day they'd call him Scott....as he was a fella...cool. We went to cable beach and spent the day lounging, reading and swimming. Then caught the sunset and cycled back....long day!!

The next day we checked out some prehistoric dinosaur tracks in the stone by the shore, you can only see them at low tide, but hey it was worth the 7:00 rise as they were kinda cool. Some really neat rock formations as well.

80 Mile Beach

We stopped at 80 mile beach after Broome, on our way to Karageni N.P and saw some pretty cool shells on the beach, caught another sunset and mosied on the next day.

4 more quick photies

2006-08-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

Ten Rapid - blisters after swimming with fins the wrong size
The Penny Mobile and packing up from a free campsite
The outback at night

The outback burning down....we drove by a number of fires, but this one was the largest...at one point the heat was so strong the inside of the vehicle felt like 100 degrees, and the flames were actually inches from the car....not good.

More outback photies....

2006-08-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, managed to get a few more photo's sorted!!

Above is me in the Daly Waters Pub, you can see the wall are littered with boxer shorts, photo's, business cards, all sorts of stuff, you can also see that I'm turning into a doughnut...man am I fat now. Next is Penny and I at the Devils Marbles, then Penny going all out on the way to the Gorge carrying her Mountain bike over a rocky section, and finally a smushed roo, just cuz I see them all the time on the road, so I thought you should too. Don't worry though, there's millions more of them happily in the outback grazin away on grass.

Aboriginal cave painting, a few thousand years old
Me before we headed off to the outback
Check out the size of those termite mounds!! About 10-12 feet? That is also my new bike, a Kona Manomano...it's a coil shock with about 4 inches travel is my guess...it makes me happy

A few photies from outback

2006-08-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

I'm working on Photo's but having problems with the uploading side of things. It may be a few weeks before I get to another internet place that I can upload at. So my humblest apologies, here are a few that I managed to upload. Many more I'd love to share with you...just can't...yet!

The 8 foot croc we saw in Daintree

The Devils Marbles in the outback about 600kms south of Darwin

Scott mucking about as usual on some beach, fyi, I fell off a split second after the photo

The Big Guana we saw in a park, he's about 5 feet from nose to tail!!

Just a cool shot I liked

The watering hole we went swimming in, hopefully it was croc free!

The gorge we didn't go swimming in, cuz we're chicken

The outback

Just heading outback

2006-08-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

For two weeks! I've been travelling on my Ozzie trip for 4 weeks already, but it's hard to believe time is flying so fast!! I won't go into too much detail and will just update since Port Douglas and the dive.

Daintree
We headed up to Daintree and Cape Tribulation. In Daintree I found my first wild Crocs!! Penny and I took a river cruise (in a 8 foot tin motorboat with a roof!) and saw a wee baby croc in some roots on the river bank, he was about 8 inches, then we saw a juvie (juvenile) about a foot long, and finally we saw a big boy, about 8 feet long, but only saw his head. So we were a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see a big one out of the water, ah well. We did a wee cycle and stayed well away from the waters edge. I also broke my vegetarian funny diet fast. I had a croc burger. It tasted kinda like fishy chicken, but was kinda tough. Like a well done steak as I remember them. It wasn't bad, and I'd eat it again...no funny tummy that night either!!

Cape Tribulation
We went up to Cape tribulation and spent a day on the beach, just playing guitar, reading, and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. One of the quietest days I've had in a while!! It was quite pretty!

Outback!!!!!
So next we headed across the top of Oz, and through the outback. Wow is there a lot of dust, scrub, and sun!! Not quite desert, but not quite a place to hang out either...very dry!! We passed through a whole host of towns, and camped in a lot of places, all in Croc territory, so we didn't get to close to the water.

We did see Krys in Normanton. Krys is a 28 foot crocodile they caught and shot. The largest ever caught in the world as I understand!! You should see the photo. It's scary to think that bad boy could be in the same lake or river as me. They took a mold of him and put it in the town center. Frightening.

We camped one night by a dam which we were told was Croc free, so we bathed and swam in it. I was going to swim across to the other side, I got 6 strokes across and remembered hearing stories out here about Crocs going miles to find new water.....and turned around promptly to return to the shore. Yup, quickest swim I've ever had.

We spent 2 nights in a place called Daly Waters, and it had the coolest little pub, loads of little things left behind by all the travellers, it had an atmosphere that's for sure!!

We also went to Kakadu National Park and saw some beautiful waterfalls, and unfortunately...no Crocs. We cycled about 20km's to a Gorge where there was the most amazing waterfall, and swimming hole...if you're brave enough we weren't. We did hike up to the top of the falls and I took a very quick (about 20 secs!!) plunge into a wee waterhole after carefully checking for Crocs, there were a couple of locals in so that put me at ease as well!! On the way back Penny let out a yelp....I looked over and her feet were on her bike frame top tube....she'd run over a snake!!! Cool!! She gets to see all the cool stuff. I didn't get to see the snake, it was gone before she could get her feet down. We then went to another out of the way waterfall and there was a wee lagoon there which we did swim in because it was crystal clear, you could see a croc if he were near you, and there were loads of other people in there so we figured the chances were good that they'd get snapped up first. Nah, we just figured the noise would keep any crocs away. It was a fantastic day, a 40km bike ride, spectacular scenery, and a swim in the outback!! Doesn't get any better really!!

Now we're in Darwin and just enjoying civilisation for a bit before heading off into the outback...again. I had McDonalds, and it was bloody good! Darwin is cool, pretty big, sea side, boardwalk or Esplanade as they call it here, and lots of touristy shops. Nice, but gimme more outback!! I saw my first wild Roo as well on the way to Darwin from Kakadu, we were in the car and he ran away as we approached him at 140kms an hour. Smart roo!

GBR Dive Photo's - Professional!

2006-07-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken by the cameraman on the Poseidon, so there are a few photo's of us, as well as photo's of the creatures we encountered. These photo's show the colour much better than our little kodak ones....so don't be too hard on ours!!

Pen and I with the Titan Trigger fish

Me surrounded by fish I can't remember the names of...

Reef fish, around.....the reef
The sea turtle I didn't see....doh

The tawny nurse shark I didn't see...groan...12 feet long!
A couple of coral trout...they taste great :o(

View from the captains seat
An anemone fish of some sort

Scott's GBR Dive Photies

2006-07-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

These are photo's that we took with a Kodak waterproof disposable camera...they didn't turn out too bad to be honest!!

Titan Triggerfish...Titan here is about 2 feet long
Happy Scott, in deep at around 18 meters or 60 feet

Look closely that's our shark - white tipped reef shark, I know hard to see...
Pen and Scott on the ropes
Giant Clam about 3 feet long and 2 feet high
Ok, look at the dark pink centre above the rock, then left there's a wee fish, and under is his eggs, the grey coloured splotch
A floating seacucumber caught in a pocket of air escaping from the floor, never seen that before...he must be dizzy.

Great Barrier Grief!!

2006-07-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well Penny and I are now in Port Douglas after spending a few days in Cairns.
Cairns
Cairns was a pretty cool place to hang out for a few days. We just stayed for 3 days and the highlight was Fitzroy Island. We booked our Great Barrier Reef dive in Cairns but we were departing from Port Douglas...however because we booked from Cairns we got a discount on a boatride to Fitzroy Island.

The ride to the island was interesting...our boat was a Catamaran and it got air on the way to the island quite regular as the waves were quite high and it was quite windy. So the folk on the sundeck got soaked, and those inside got a little green around the gills so to speak. We were ok though, we moved from the top after getting a soaking and were fine inside. We got to the island and hiked to the summit, then over to the lighthouse for a view of the Ocean, and back to the beach. There were beautiful views from all around the Island, and the whole walk was about 6 km's and took us about 2 hours. We jumped back on the boat and headed back to Cairns. A neat thing about Cairns is that it's been known for the big Saltie Crocs to bask on it's beaches from time to time....well neat unless your on the beach at the same time.

There is a pretty cool esplanade in Cairns and they've built a little lagoon into it to swim in as it isn't the best beach in the world, it's mucky and the tide always seems to be out! There is a pretty busy main street, helicopter rides over the Great Barrier Reef, and plenty of palm trees and sunshine! Well at least while we were there.

Port Douglas
By contrast, Port Douglas is tiny, quiet and quaint. It doesn't have a whole lot to it other than a beach, a main street with loads of restaurants, and a harbour for the boat rides. There are a couple of art shops, one in particular had amazing photo's of australia blown up and framed in amazing frames. The other was aboriginal art which was interesting. Abstract is one way to put it. Cool though. We were only in Port Douglas for 3 days, the highlight of course being the dive on the great barrier reef (GBR).

GBR
The GBR is over 500,000 years old and is made up of millions of individual bits of coral and other organisms. It is constantly dying off in sections and new sections being reborn, so although the barrier is ancient, the organisms that live on it aren't so old and the current version of the reef is estimated to be around 8000 years old.

We booked our dive with Poseidon, and the crew were helpful and funny. The trip out was only about 45 mins, or so...and before we knew it we were geared up and ready to dive into the big blue ocean.

The first dive.
On our first dive we saw pretty much you're usual suspects, sea cucumbers, a variety of colourful reef fish, some larger about the size of a watermelon, and others about the size of a walnut. The two highlights for me were a Titan Triggerfish which was huge, about 2 feet long, and the other was my first stingray which was under the sand and invisible until he decided we were swimming to close to him and he upped and swam away. Both were awesome, and new to me.

The Second Dive
Was by far more interesting, we saw more of the usual suspects, but we also saw an anemone fish with a nest of eggs. That was cool, and he was protecting his eggs which were under....an anemone. In the photo if you look just to the left of the little fish you'll see a grey cluster of eggs. Pretty cool. The highlight was A SHARK!! I saw my first shark, it was a white tipped reef shark and was about 4-5 feet long. He was a good distance away, much to my disappointment so he looks more like a shadow in the photo...he was resting on the sea bed at about 22 meters or about 65 feet. We were at about 18 so I couldn't get too close.

The Third Dive
This is where we encountered grief. Penny had problems with her ears, and I had blisters from my fins. So we skipped the last dive which was a drift dive. That means they drop you off at the head of a current and you just flow along and they pick you up at the other end. We were pretty disappointed because we'd never done a drift dive...but not as disappointed as when they got back. They saw 4 sharks and a turtle. I was gutted. The first shark they saw was a 4 meter or 12 foot tawny nurse shark, and then later 3 bronze whaler sharks not sure of the size. The turtle was about the same length as me!! I can't describe how gutted I was that I didn't get to see them all. Ah well. Next time I suppose.

I will try and get the photo's up, but not sure how well it will work.

Sydney Siding it

2006-07-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sydney!
Okay, so I'm in Oz!! I landed, jumped on the train and headed to Kings Cross, cuz I was told there was millions of hostels there. Yup it's true. And strip clubs, and bars, and hookers. Aw man, what have I got myself into? It was all okay though, I met a few boys, Odie - Austrian, Chris - Canadian, and David - German. We went for a few pints, then watched the world cup football, we watched germany go out of the cup with a lot of Germans...good night though! And then stumbled home around 3 in the morning. The great thing about the pubs here is they're open 24 hours...or maybe that's a bad thing. Anyways, I slept till about 2:00 the next day, then just spent the day playing guitar (Did I mention I bought a new steel string acoustic guitar in Singapore for about $30 Canadian, or 15 pounds?) surfing the net, checking emails...you know. Rough day. Then went with Odie to have a few pints, and watch the next football match, Portugal vs England....and again a room full of English Wanks who had too much beer, and not enough manners....they shut up pretty quick when Portugal scored in the shootout. Viva la Portugal!

I went to the Opera house the next day and snapped a few photo's, then walked along through a maze of streets up onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I walked along it and got a few more photo's. Nice quiet day, it's a pretty cool place to hang out for a few days. However my few days were up, and I wanted out of the city!

Katoomba
So I made my way to the famous Blue Mountains. I went to a town called Katoomba which is about 2 hours North of Sydney. From there I stayed in a cool little guesthouse called Cecil's where I got my own room (no bathroom) for $5 more than the hostel dorm room I had on Kings Cross. So I spent about 4 blissfull days playing guiter, playing pool, and hiking around the blue mountains. One day I managed to hike about 10 kms in about 3 and a half hours. Considering the amount of stairs, the 5 hour suggested time, and my doughnut like body (travelling, beer, and too many $2 meals in Asia had a bad influence on me) I was chuffed. I also had another experience that some of you may cringe at. I decided to hike a ridge that I'd read about. So I set off at 2pm thinking that gives me 2hours to get the hike done before it starts getting dark in the woods around the ridge. So the bus driver told me that it would take about 4 hours 5 mins before I got off the bus. FECK!! At least I had my flashlight...oops. I'd forgotten it. So as soon as I jumped of the bus, I started a light jog, about half an hour in, I passed a couple...and asked how far to the waterfall which signified the end of the hike and the next carpark...they said about 15 mins. So it turns out I went for a half hour jog, and my busdriver was apparantly on crack, or had a cracked hip. I was pretty relieved though that I wasn't going to have to make my way along an Ozzie trail in the dark, in the jungle, on my own. They have kangaroos you know. So I got back, treated myself to the biggest portion of chips (without fish) you've ever seen in your life, and chatted to Gary...one of the other residents. My last day, I just spent chilling out, and that night I got a bottle of wine planned on playing guitar and instead blethered with Gary for a good few hours. Then on my way up to bed I passed a room full of 19 year old Aussie gals who were up for the weekend!! They begged me to come in with the guitar, so of course I obliged...and stayed up chatting with them for ages, one particularly lovely young lady played guitar like a rockstar and was adamant that I could play better, so she spent the better part of the night teaching me, and I spent the better part of the night staring at her...ah, life is good. However eventually I dragged my 31 year old bones to bed, and left the girls to while the early morning hours away. Next morning I jumped on the train back to Sydney.

Townsville
Townsville started off to a rather nasty start. I flew up to meet up with Penny, the girl I had first met in Japan with Dereck, and then met up with again in Thailand. We had discussed the possibility of travelling Oz together, and so I flew up to see how feasible it was. When I arrived I'd found out that there was a young Scottish fellow who had been beaten pretty badly trying to break up his fight...in front of his Hostel I believe. That wasn't so nice. Then it turns out that it was my Cousin Brian's wife Thresa's cousin. If you follow that. So it wasn't a good situation, he was from Moodiesburn, where all my family are from. It'd have been cool to find out he was here under different circumstances. At this point he's still in Critical Condition. We're all hoping he gets better soon.

Apart from that unfortunate incident, Townsville is really quite pretty. Palm trees, beautiful beach, a few hills, and a place called Magnetic Island which is meant to be pretty. I'm going to chceck that out at some point. So Penny and I met up and had a wee chat about money, time, and priorities. We've both agreed that we're happy to camp, she's got a Honda CRV, and the time to take a couple of months to travel round Oz. So it is! We've agreed to travel. She said I could stay at her Mom's place with her until we take off, so we spent a few days around Townsville. One of the coolest things was the Billabong Animal Sanctuary! I got to hold a Koala, and man are they cute but stupid little buggers! It was awesome getting to hold one! There were roo's just running around everywhere, and there was a mother who came up to me with her baby hanging out her pouch...how cute was that? On the other side of cute, of course is Ugly. That would describe the "Salties". Salt Water Crocodiles. They can grow up to 20 feet long, and have a rather horrible smile. We saw one named Weipa (wee-pah) he's about 40-50 years old, 15 feet and was over half a tonne. He was considered a small Salty!! However in the wild they can get up to 20 feet. That would stretch across most rooms in your house. Eek! The best tip we picked up was if you're camping near water, stay at least 40 feet away from the waters edge. I reckon a town's distance should be sufficient. We also saw three of the deadliest snakes in the world...which happen to all live in Oz as well. Two types of Taipan, and the common brown snake. It's the common that worries me.

Even cooler than Billabong, was my bike!! I bought a bike!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about having a bike again!! It's a Kona Manomano full suspension, coil bike with 4 inches rear travel roughly, and rock shox Psylo's up front. Ok, for those of you to whom that means nothing I apologise, and for those of you whom that means something....phwoah. I'm happy. It's second hand, but it makes me happy, and I've already taken her off a 3 foot drop to flat concrete at the local park. Ah, biking. Feels good again. I also managed to convince Penny that she needed a bike, so she got herself a Merida Kalahari 590SX...just sounds cool don't it? Anyways, so we're taking off today to head north up to Cairnes. Where we're planning on doing a few dives along the great barrier reef. So as we get further away from civilisation out towads outback country emails and blog updates may become sparse...hence the flood right now. So that's it for now!! Let the Aussie adventure truly begin!

Townsville - Billabong Sanctuary

2006-07-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

A mommy roo

Me and Roo just chillin

Cute ugly fella hey?

Now now, temper temper

16 feet long, that's a lot of lizard..ok reptile

Now him, he's just adorable

She's cute too...that's Penny from Japan, no no, that's where I first met her

Isn't he just adorable? I want one.

Sydney - Katoomba

2006-07-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Remember you can click on any photo's to enlarge them! The first few are the blue Mountains near Katoomba.

Aboriginal legend says the three sisters on the left were turned to stone, over love!

The lovely Katoomba Falls

More of the lovely views of the blue Mountains, 3 sisters again on the left

The Opera House

The Opera House .... again

Me and a boat and ...... the opera house.

Sydney Skyline from the Harbour Bridge....I like this photo - Old and New

Second Batch KanSing

2006-07-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Washing the elephants before the Trek

Scott King of the jungle, conquers the mighty Ellyphunt

Fashion tips for the jungle

A non edible monk

A hopefully non-edible scott, check out the size of his paws!

Brigit, you couldn't tame this fella, he's chained for a reason!

Here's a good boy who's not chained. Awesome

Think like a tiger, think like a tiger

The first batch of KanSing

2006-07-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Merissa and I at the falls
Beautiful falls at Kanchanaberi
A big misnake?
The Famous Bridge over river Kwai

Our Grumpy Driver
Artsy Fartsy Scott Shot
Not a great name for a restaurant

The famous Singapore Sling, in Raffles

Kanchanaberi and Singapore

2006-07-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well after my Malaysian adventures, I headed back up to Thailand, and then on to Singapore.

Thailand
Well it was back to Kaosan road, which by now almost felt like home. I met up with Merissa again a gal I met about a month before, she was one of the Peace Corp people I met in the North of Thailand. Well we had arranged to go see Kanchanaberi (I forget how to spell it) as it had a number of touristy things to see. It turned out to be one of the coolest things about Thailand, because we got to go on a small Elephant trek, and had the option to bathe the Elephants, which I didn't do, and best of all we got to go into a tiger temple. The tiger temple is run by monks, and most of the tigers are orphans. The cool part is.......you actually get to go in and pet the tigers. They aren't drugged, they just get fed well before you go in! You're not allowed to wear "hot colours" such as red or orange...probably reminds them too much of raw meat.

We also saw the Bridge over River Kwai, which is famous for being in a movie, and never being destroyed, well permanently during one war or another. We were just down for two days, and then headed back up. I also got the chance to catch up with Jannie and Miriam two friends that I'd travelled with quite a bit, and say good bye...I realised after leaving that I'd forgotten to pay for my watermelon shake...my last one in Thailand...thanks girls...ooops.

Singapore
I stopped in Singapore before I went on to Australia...short but sweet!! I didn't do to much in Singapore, just went to Raffles which is famous for inventing the Singapore Sling, it was like something out of the 20's and looked like it belonged on an African Safari...speaking of which I went on a night safari!! During the Safari, I watched a live animal show...they asked for a male volunteer and a few of us put our hands up...however I must have had some quality they were looking for because they chose me....and then proceeded to pull out a 10 foot python. They took it and wrapped it around my shoulders, and it's tail naturally wrapped itself around my thigh...this animal was about as thick as my thighs and the keeper quietly whispered to me..."whatever you do....Don't squeeze it", yeah cuz I wanna get cuddly with a 40 kilo 10 foot python!! I don't think so!! Anyways the rest of the safari was pretty cool, a lot of your usual suspects, crocodiles, rhinos, Big Oxen, Tigers, Lions etc. etc. It was a good night!

The only other exciting bit of Singapore was the pizza!! I had a fantastic pizza at a restaurant...man it was good to get Western food again! So that was it, basically a week split into two places. Next stop...Australia!!

Malaysian Mug shots

2006-07-02T02:45:00.000-07:00

Malaysia's Petronas Towers

An indoor amusement park, in a mall. We hit all the rides!

A sample of the jungle world Pretty waterfall in the jungle

Pretty waterfall in the jungle

Flower in the jungle

Bug in the flower in the jungle

The Tea plantation

The Temple

Party Pics

2006-07-02T01:56:00.000-07:00

My Jungle home on Koh Pangnang for the Full Moon Party
A Scott Made seat, as there wasn't one on my deck...it worked!
A beach puppy!

One of the fire swingers on the beach

Some of the 6000 Heathens

Beach without the heathens

Beach with the heathens!!

Fool Moon Party and Malaysia

2006-07-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Koh Pangnang (Ko Pan Yang) is the home of the biggest beach party in Southeast Asia. Every month when the full moon rises there is an all night party on the beaches of this beautiful island. The full moon, the buckets (a bucket filled with alcohol usually vodka or whiskey, coke, and redbull), being with mates, leads to some people going a little crazy. However I'll fill you in on me shortly.

Day 1 & 2
So I arrived on the island via a high speed ferry, and made my way up to the West Coast and found a little cottage/beach hut place with a beach about a 30 second walk from my hut, hammocks strung up between palm trees, and a little restaurant that served great fruit shakes for 40 baht...or about a buck. Heaven, just heaven. I basically just swam, read, slept and ate for a couple of days. It was great.

Day 3
I made my way to the main beach in Had Rin and found myself a place similar to the one I just came from. Except there was loads of little restaurants up the beach, so you just walk along the beach and choose your restaurant! Pretty cool. I met a bunch of girls, 2 from Wales, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Australia, and a Dutch guy. They were all pretty cool, so we hung out over the space of a few days. We just played cards, hung out on the beach and read books....pretty mellow, but soooooo cool!

Day 4 Full Moon Party
Ok, well we started drinking around dinner time, and yes we were drinking buckets, it's the island thing to do! We made our way into town for a fantastic Mexican meal, and to meet a couple of Danish girls I knew Jannie and Miriam. Then we went to the beach, and man was it packed. It was only about 7:00pm, but you could hardly see any sand for all the bodies! We eaked out space to sit on the sand, and then proceeded to lose everyone. I think everyone got seperated at so me point! I lost everyone a few times, you'd go to get beer/buckets and then not be able to find anyone when you got back!! I was pretty good, I didn't do anything too stupid, but did manage to dive through a couple of flaming hoops.....it seemed like a good idea at the time, besides other guys were doing it!! I reckon there was about 8,000 people on the beach, in the bars, and on the streets. A lot of people! They said this was a quiet full moon party as well, sometimes there is as many as 12,000 people. Good night, and I was in bed by around 4am, whereas most of the party goers were up all night, we were having breakfast and watching some bodies straggle in red eyed and covered in paint, some bleeding from foolishness of some sort, and others just looking tired!

Day 5
I didn't do much the day after the party, there was a big boulder which I endeavered to climb, and dragged the Ozzie girl with me, it wasn't that difficult but had a good view! We played some pool, had a great meal and a bottle of wine chatting the night away. Nice girl...slightly mad though.

Day 6
I packed up my gear and headed off to Malaysia. I needed to renew my Thailand Visa. Malaysia was interesting. After being in Thailand which is pretty basic in many ways, it was interesting to see a modern asian city. I went to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and met a bunch of backpackers as soon as I got off the bus, they were going to a youth hostel and so I tagged along. They were you're usual assortment of travellers, Ozzies, Swedish, and a German! We all watched the football up on the rooftop bar, had a few beer, and I had an early night!

Day 7
We went to the Petronas Towers, which are famous for at one point being the tallest buildings in the world. They also were in Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. There is a shopping mall at the base of the towers, so we wandered around for a bit, and I bought a Boston Creme doughnut! Whoo hoo, civilisation at last!

Day 8, 9, 10
I booked a bus to go to the Cameron Highlands (CH) which are in the North of Malaysia and arrived around lunch time, wow what a difference! The temperature went from about 30 in KL to about 15 in CH. I met a few Scottish folk, from Aberdeen....Fit Like?! So we just hung out for a few days, and did a Jungle hike to a Tea Plantation, with a wee Temple attached to it! The jungle was actually secondary Jungle and reminded me a lot of the Baden Powell trail in British Colombia. It was nice to get some jungle air, and there was a cool waterfall on the way as well....didn't see any cool animals unfortunately! On the last day I jumped on a bus and spent 25 hours on two buses to get back to Bankok for a weekend in Kanchanaberi....that's next!!

Koh Tao, this is deep

2006-06-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

My diving crew, Big Dave, Janine and Wee Dave

The sunset from the table of one of our favourite restaurants

The small beach I ahd to myself on my last day...heaven!!

The dock in front of our dive school

How cool...a Sandmaid?

The beach in front of our wee cottage/cabin

A pack of beach dogs

Some of the beautiful scenery around the island

I always went in feet first...it was how I was taught!

This is exactly like teh Sea Cucumbers we saw..about 1 and ahalf feet long.

Hi Mom, I'm weightless in Koh Tao!

Very similar to the Moray Eel we saw. Scary looking bugger ain't he?

Nemo!! This is like the clown fish we saw, except ours had 2 babies kicking about as well...cute!

Into Koh Tao

2006-06-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry for the delay. I was in the south of Thailand where it was ridiculously expensive for internet access, and slow as well...not conducive to blog updates!! I'm going to try and get photo's up in the next couple of days...bear with me!

So June 1st Dereck left for Sydney Australia, Jake left for India, and I left to head down to the Islands in the South of Thailand. My first stop was Koh Tao, which is pronounced Coat Ow. I was there to relax on the beach and more importantly.....get my scuba diving licence!! So I hooked up with Fin a guy I met on my Thailand Jungle Trek, and Fin was diving with Master Divers, so, so did I. It was a 4 day course to get me my Open Water licence...which means I can dive to up to 18 meters or roughly 60 feet. I met to English Daves, big Dave and wee Dave. So we all bunked together and did our dive together. Sadly, we had too much fun for photo's so there aren't a whole lot of photos to see of Koh Tao...sorry!!

The dives
Our first dive was in about 8 feet of water and was just to get us comfortable with the basics. The second dive was in about 15 feet of water, and we saw see cucumbers, seargent majors, little parrot fish, loads of beautiful coral, and anemones. Nothing too exotic though! On our last dive we went to about 50 feet and saw little fish from the barracuda family, a moray eel, little angel fish, and a big angel fish which was about 2 feet tall, and awesome!! We also saw trigger fish, and I saw a really big cool looking fish that was about the length of my arm and black yellow and white...but don't have any idea what kind of fish it was!! We also saw little shrimps, and a Nemo fish, can't remember what it is exactly, maybe a clown fish? We forgot to buy an underwater camera, so sadly I don't have any photos of my own...but I stole some from the net so you can get a feel for what it was like.

Scott Moment
In typical Scott style, I had a wee moment. As you may know, coral is razor sharp....and we were doing a swim through, which means we swim through a small cave, or arch. This is something other groups didn't do, but Janine our dive instructor had faith in us so we got to. Well on the way through I managed to brush against the coral and cut my thigh. Then I felt a tug and I couldn't go forward. I thought wee Dave was behind me and tugging on my fins to stop me...you know joking around. Nope, then I noticed my regulator hose was caught on the coral...eeeeeeeeek. Fortunately it wasn't cut, but interesting moment. When I got through I looked at my thigh and it was oozing green stuff...cloudy in the water. It was blood!! Blood looks green at depth because the Colour red gets filtered out. So I was seeing green blood ooze out of my thigh....very cool!! Fortunately the sharks didn't notice cuz we didn't see any. I did have loads of little reef fish picking at my wound though, it felt like someone tapping my leg. Yup, I'm a clown.

Diving
Diving was awesome, it's such a wicked feeling to just float in the water, to get so close to the fish, and coral and little plants n stuff. It was cool to look up and see how far down you are, and equally as cool to look from the top 40 feet down to the ocean floor and see stuff as clear as day. I'm looking forward to doing some more diving in Australia.

Koh Tao
Well the beaches were pretty, but not so great for swimming, they were really shallow with coral growing, kinda fun for snorkelling though, and there were tiny little sea cucumbers littered all over the water, that was kinda neat. Since I'd never seen one in real life.

All in all Koh Tao was good, I just relaxed and enjoyed the dives, beaches and food....I love Thai food!! I left Koh Tao to head to the full moon party...you'll hear about that soon enough!!

Wat scenery!

2006-05-26T21:36:00.001-07:00

This was the size of my hand, and typical of the detail everywhere at Bayon Temple

This was one of the corner sections of Ankor Wat, bit dark...sorry!

Ankor Wat at sunrise

One of the many faces at Bayon

One of the trees growing at Ta Prohm

One of the residents of Ta Prohm (also one of my better Macro shots)

One of the many people selling goods by the roads amongst the temples

Shattered Bozzie, too much drink the night before.....again.

Ankor Wat at sunrise...again

Temple of Bayon from a distance

Scott inside Bayon

Anyone recognise this? Ta Prohm temple...now where did Lara Croft get to?

3 of the faces at Bayon

The temple of Bayon

The walkway up to Ankor Wat taken from inside

A Buddha at Bayon, note the glow around his head?

One of the many carvings adorning the side of Ankor Wat

The mighty Ankor Wat, an a rogue puppy! Taken from the walkway up to the temple.

Our wee clan, Tracy, Dereck, Sarah, Christine, Jake...and me! At Ankor Wat.

Set Ankor in Siem Reap

2006-05-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

We stationed ourselves in Siem Reap for a few days. Angkor Wat is the name of biggest temple in the Siem Reap area...however it is also the name commonly given to the entire temple complex, as there are many temples in the area.

Angkor, is situated 7 kilometres from Siem Reap. Angkor's site extends over 400 square km. 287 temples were counted in the region, the construction of which is spread over the 9th & 13 th centuries. If I remember the names correctly we saw Angkor, Ta Phrom, Bantey Srei and one other that I can't remember the name of.

Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat was most memorable for it's grandeur, solitude and beauty. It was very large, and complex and mostly intact. It was amazing to stand at the top and look out over the sculpted gardens and imagine that this is what it may have looked like 800 years ago, as the various Kings of Cambodia would have seen it.

Bayon Temple
The one with the faces I think, not sure about this one's name, but it was awesome too as there was such detail in all of the stones that made the castle, small Buddha's the size of my hand, inscriptions, small designs in doorways. There was a labrynth of tunnels and walkways under the main temple complex. Very easy to imagine secret walkways, and rooms! They were also a welcome respite from the heat of the day...and it was only 10:00am!

Ta Prohm
Was the famous site of the Lara Croft tombraider movie. It is most impressive because of the trees that have grown in, over, and through the temple complex. Most impressive! It really was awesome to walk through the ruins of this once great structure.

The overall feeling I had walking through all these different temples, was one of being overwhelmed. The scale of the structures is impressive, especially the detail. I felt totally at ease sitting watching the world move around Ankor Wat. I had stayed behind to just chill while Dereck, Jake, the Swedish girls, and Tracy the American gal all went to explore another building. It must have been about 20 minutes, but felt like 5 mins they were gone. It really was a magical place. In fact they were all pretty incredible. The sense that the jungle wants to swallow up the temples was ever present.

I could try and explain more about the temples, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll let you look at the photos!

Night of the snake wine

2006-05-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

Snake wine is a rice wine that has a bunch of snakes, or sometimes geckos, or in fact anything

Here we have Janni and I before the snake wine, and shortly after a photo after the snake wine.

As you can see in these effects, the snake wine can have disasterous effects. Namely being the worst vegetarian in the world (as Jake and Deke are fond of pointing out) and chewing on a dead snake from the rice wine, capturing and kissing toads, and hijacking military vehicles. I know, I know....but it was all good fun!!

Boys on a road trip!!

2006-05-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

Young girl from a random village we passed going to Kampot

The beach at Sinoukville

Snorkeling? This morning? May as well get the gear on now!

Happy kid on the beach at Sinoukville

Lots of happy kids going to school on (we were on our way to Phnom Penh)

A lot of houses like this lined the road on the way to Phnom Penh

The boys on the road!

Did anyone order an elephant, where do you want it?

Jake looks on as his flat is fixed

The puppies!

Jake do you see that cow in the road? Yeah, lets go round it Deke.

Kaleida-fun.....again

Was I bad?

White boy gets flat...fun for the whole family!

Hey, if I'm hairy like a monkey, why not climb like one?

An adventure awaits

WWF even makes it out here, get that choke hold on tighter sister!

Road trip!!

2006-05-19T00:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so on the lighter side of things!! Dereck, Jake and myself all rented bikes, scooters whatever you wannat call them and rode for about 500kms around southern Cambodia. Here's how it went!

Sihanoukville
We started by going 250 kms to the southwest of Cambodia to Sihanoukville. This was an old port city used during the civil wars (Vietnam and Cambodian) to transport people and weapons...now it's just a small village. Sihanouk was their Political leader as well as king, a very interesting person that has split popularity here. He no longer has a role to play in Cambodia, but was active during hte Khymer Rouge era. On the way down we passed on jeep in the ditch cuz he got run off the road, one cow hit by a car and crumpled, but still alive, and had a heard of cows decide to walk out in front of us while we were clipping along around 70kms an hour. Bugger. The roads are chaos, but organised chaos, you just need to find the flow and go with it!

We stayed at a guesthouse just up from the beach. We just relaxed the day we got there, went for a meal, and went back to the guesthouse to relax watch a movie and have an early night. The next day we went for a late breakfast after sleeping in....I didn't sleep much as the rain was so heavy it felt like drums constantly pounding on the roof. I actually lifted all my stuff off the floor onto my bed cuz I was worried it would flood...it really is getting close to rainy season. So after a long lazy lunch the guys had a few beer, and I went to the beach to read for a bit and go for a swim....it was pretty good until a troop of wee terrors came up to me. A bunch of kids whose ringleader's name war R all wanted to know what my camelback was, why I was so hairy, they kept touching and pulling all my hair, and poking at my camelback (which is a big rubber bladder for holding water/drink), they were grabbing my sunblock and asking how much, how much...then they were trying on my sandals....man all I wanted to do was read!! There aren't a lot of tourists here, so you kind of expect it I guess. I went for a swim keeping a very close eye on my stuff. I got back to the room and Deke and Jake were still chatting away at the restaurant...the beer was 50 cents US, I don't blame them...but I''m detoxing, haven't had a beer in over 4 days now...I'm going to go 2 weeks I hope.

Anyways, we went back and changed then went for a walk, and up to an all you can eat buffet we found....the three of us cleaned them out and they had to wait 10 mins before they could refill the food! Yes boys, yes!!!

The next day Jake and I were going to go snorkeling on one of the beatiful islands, however as you'll see in the photo, at 8:00 in the morning it wasn't looking good. There was a lot of rain, a lot of cloud, and quite a bit of wind....our boat wasn't going anywhere.....ah well. So we decided to ride to Kampot and ditch Shinoukville, maybe the weather would be better in Kampot.

Kampot
Ooops. The guidebook (lonely planet) suggested that the 4 road we took down to Sinoukville was an excellent road...we agreed. It said the 3 road was good. We strongly disagreed. It was completely dirt and potholes, and it was completely bucketing down rain. We couldn't see bugger all, were covered in clay mud, cold and generally having the time of our lives! It took us about 2 hours to get to Kampot, in the pouring rain. We did get a couple of breaks in the rain..but not many. So when we got there we showered got into the driest clothes we had and went for food. It was around 4pm. Then on the way back there was a truck going by with a bunch of kids in it...so I waved and indicated if we could get a lift...they said yes...so the three of us sprinted and jumped on the back of the truck with these kids and got a lift back to our guesthouse in the rain. After stocking up with junkfood we settled in to watch a movie as it was still pouring rain. I handled one and a half before getting stir crazy, so I wandered out in the rain to walk about. I met an English couple and chatted to them for a bit, they pointed me to what was supposed to be one of the most happening bars in Cambodia...the Little Garden Pub, or something like that. It was dead. The rain may have had something to do with that. I had a bowl of soup, and noodles, then used the net, and walked back to the guesthouse in the pouring rain. The owner of the Little Garden Pub pointed out....this is definetly the start of the rainy season...I completely agreed. The rain was hitting me so hard on the way back my forehead felt like a piano with a Beethoven composition in full play.

I got back and after discussing the weather with the boys we agreed that it probably wasn't going to get better. At this point they were on 3 or 4 movies in a row? We watched Sahara with Jim Belushi and hit the sack...well kinda, Dereck stayed up and watched Beverly hills cop 2, he's a masochist...that was his 5th or 6th movie? The next moring the weather was still miserable, and it was still pouring down....almost 24 hours of non stop rain...the UK would be floating by now!! That's why these houses are on stilts I suppose. Anyways, we opted just to head back to Phnom Penh early rather than spend days stuck in a guesthouse. The way back was colourful to say the least.

Flat!!
Jake got a flat in the middle of no-where, but fortunately we were in front of a bamboo house and the family sorted his tire out for him (I also gave their daughters my last kaleidascope they were tickled pink by it). It was cool watching them all stare at us. Dereck noticed a palm tree and mentioned how the locals climb up to get coconuts, so I gave it a try...much to the amusement of the family. Dereck tried and kept slipping, and looked like a lanky gorilla, this amused the family even more so, and they were practically rolling around wetting themselves. The girls had two adorable little puppies (I don't think they were the eating kind) and they were about half the size of Dereck's foot!! Everyone was really quite shy and looked and laughed and pointed at us a lot, but really didn't say too much. When I gave the girls the kaleidascope they barely wanted to come forward to get it!! After 20 mins or so we left, and they were all standing around waving at us!! It was quite cool, for all of us I think!

Strange few minutes
We passed a bunch of school kids, when I say few, I mean there was about 2 miles of non stop school kids on bikes, then a few minutes later we came to a small village and I had to stop my moped cuz there was an elephant in the middle of the road, shortly after I got run off the road by a minibus in a hurry....I was doing 60 kms and was forced off the road onto the muddy shoulder where my bike went rally style and started sliding around...my heart was going a hundred miles an hour, but I managed to get the bike under control. Scary moment! We finally made it back to Phnom Pen, and the boys were trying to cut left through traffic to get to the grocery store, and I went straight not thinking. I turned around (no u-turns..but there are no traffic rules in Cambodia!!) then got to a red light and rolled through trying to catch up to the boys (there are no traffic rules in Cambodia) and got busted by the police who wanted a "fine".

It was supposed to be 20 dollars. That was when he thought I was Australian. Then he wanted 10 because I was Canadian, then I told him all I had was 2 dollars, he said we'd have to go to the station....bugger. That's not good. I'd lost Jake and Deke by this point so I was on my own with two Cambodian police officers. On the upside I frowned a lot, looked stressed, and didn't make eye contact. It all came pretty naturally to me. In the end he took my two bucks and told me to get outta there....I didn't need to be told twice!! Sorry I didn't get a photo of them....they didn't look in the mood.

So now here I am finishing off my tales of adventure from our road trip, and haven't yet found the boys.....wish me luck!!

Cambodia Photo's - The darker side

2006-05-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Self explanatory if you read the caption...

They were happy to get the kalaedascope honest!!

Prisoners of S21

S21 "Interogation room"

Killing fields Skulls

One of the largest killing fields mass graves

Faces of some of the prisoners of S21

The hanging beam where they were hung upside down and interogated

One of the many massacred Cambodians

One level of skulls from the tower

One of the unmarked mass graves, life goes on

This was especially sad

Cambodia Photo's - Lighter side

2006-05-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

Opening the car door to let us out...through the panel!
Scott firing off the AK47
Dereck firing off the AK47
The average street in Cambodia...full of dirt!

Killing Fields - Warning not a happy blog section

2006-05-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, now this is where it get's a bit heavy. If you don't want to know about the Pol Pot Khymer Rouge Regime and the killing that took place then please don't read on. The photo's that I'll be putting up may also be disturbing to some people.

The Killing Fields
Next we visited the Killing Fields of Cambodia. This experience profoundly affected me and was graphic, again if you don't want to know what happened to innocent people under Pol Pot then please do not read on. This was an extremely moving experience, and made the experience of shooting off a few rounds of an AK47 feel so wrong. There was a massive temple like structure that was filled from bottom to top with shelves of skulls from those found in the fields. Once can understand better why they are called the killing fields once you've been there. They are simply fields, farmers fields that have cows walking around them now, almost as if to reinforce the fact, however the cows make their way around mass graves where anywhere from 50 to 400 bodies were dumped after women, children, men and old folk were hacked with swords, beaten with canes, or hit with farm tools until they died. In one case there as a killing tree where children were beaten to death against. There was also a Magic tree, which was a large tree where a chime or alarm was sounding regularly to drown out the sound of the suffering and torture that took place in the fields. The term magic seems out of place to me.

The women were often raped, and often entire families were massacred at once. In one grave around 75 bodies were found without heads. To see these fields even today after 30 years have passed it is still chilling to think what these people have suffered. Not just here in Cambodia, but in Yugoslavie, WWII, Vietnam, but here first hand it was particularly moving. The shrine with the skulls left a heavy feel on your heart, many skulls were positioned almost so it looked like they were solemn and silent in respect of all those who died. Others were left in a position where jaws were agape in a silent eternal scream of protest against these atrocities. All in all there was a quiet solitude, and a heavy oppresion inside.

Outside there were children everywhere, all asking for money, or clothes etc. As some of you may know my parents gave me some small brightly coloured Kaleidoscopes, I thought this was an opportune time to hand one out. There were some small children playing in a small field surrounded by barbwire, and I called them over to offer the kaleidoscope. I thought it a fitting time to offer such a colourful toy, to what seemed like children with such a dark history. I had to hold it back to explain that I wanted them to share it, that I wasn't giving it to one child...and in their excitement, anticipation of whether they would or wouldn't get it they just kept trying to grab it out of my hands.The photo wasn't what I had hoped for...the children reaching through the barbwire fence to get at the toy, and me holding it back was eerily like a flash back to a few years past when Khmer Rouge soldiers and guards would have taunted prisoners. It's one of the photo's that I think will forever stick with me after this trip is long finished.

The S-21 Museum
The museum stands for Security Office 21. It was a high school before Pol Pots regime opted to turn it into a prison. In these buildings prisoners were kept in cells the size of a closet in some cases, or in large mass detention cells chained to the wall, or in other cases interrogated and tortured. The photos again tell a thousand stories, and the faces in many cases are haunting. Every prisoner had a biography and mug shot taken upon arrival. Strangely, and beyond my comprehension, many of the children in the photo's are smiling. Many died in the prison. There were rooms with a single iron bed that prisoners were chained/shackled to in order to be interogated, there was a large exercise bar where they were bound by their arms, and hung upside down to be questioned until they passed out, and were then dumped in a large pot of fertiliser aka feces in order to wake them up and start over. There were also strict rules of behaviour which very simply went like this, you ask before you do anything, whether it's move your sitting position or go to the washroom. You answer every question I give you, and you will do whatever I tell you. If a prisoner was thought to have been disobedient they either received 10 lashes, 5 bursts of electrocution, or worse.

I know this seems graphic, but I was amazed, and appalled by it. As I said before I left we will see many beautiful things, and horrible things, all of which are part of the world we live in, and this is a world tour for good for bad. I just thought some of you might appreciate seeing or understanding exactly what happened as the story is told over here. I'm sure the next few days will offer more beauty and happiness in contrast to today.

Phnom Penh Arriving and Shooting Off

2006-05-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Cambodia
Where do I start? We arrived and it was the King's Birthday so we walked to his palace and saw some fireworks, and a very celebratory feeling was in the air. Lot's of small kids running around shouting "Party Party" when they saw us. We met an English fellow named Geoff who came with Dereck, Jake and I...and we all opted for an all you can eat buffet dinner for $2.50 US....that included a table full of fanta and pepsi. So true to the advertisement we ate all that we could and left feeling slightly bloated, but happy! We just nipped into a small supermarket and bought a few things before going to bed.

The Shooting Range
We first off went to a shooting range where we were able to fire off a few rounds of surplus army ammunition. The road to get there was incredible, a dirt road, with holes everywhere, and it was perhaps one of the bumpiest rides ever, and apparantly that is the way most of the roads in Cambodia are. We passed Palm trees about 20 feet high with blue buckets in them, our guide explained that they are for collecting liquid for making Palm Wine. When we got to the shooting range we got handed a menu...the strangest I've ever seen, but we weren't allowed to photograph it. It had AK47, Rocket Launcher, an array of other semi and automatic machine guns, including a tommy gun, and an equally extensive offering of handguns, 45's, CZ75, and others. There was also an option to throw a hand grenade. Prices ranged from 15 US for a few rounds of a handgun to $200 for a rocket launcher.

In the UK I fired a semi automatic police issue carbine as part of a programme I was on. So I fancied trying an AK47 or Kalishnikov to compare how it felt compared to the carbine. So for $30 US Dereck and I each fired off 30 rounds each. Yup, a dollar a bullet. It was interesting, and had less kick than I would have thought. We did it sitting down on a seat with the gun resting on a y shaped metal holder. Dereck also opted to fire off 7 rounds of a CZ75 handgun and said it was a more interesting experience, in both cases he hit his mark, whereas I don't think I hit the target once. I guess I'm not cut out for military action. Suits me.

The Story of the South (Vietnam)

2006-05-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hue
So after Ha Long bay we went to Hue, where Jake Dereck and I rented bikes, well Scooters actually. In the beginning there was chaos. We went for petrol and I managed to leave the bike in gear, so when I started it up it went straight into a pilar, fortunately the bike and I were ok. Then on our way out to the hills....I ran out of petrol. I managed to buy some in an old sprite bottle...which got me to a petrol station where Jake and I filled up....as Dereck's was full. Then on our way out to the hills just outside the city there was a kid walking his bike across the road....he looked at Jake who was in front, then looked for traffic the other way, and walked right in front of Jake doing 60kms an hour. The kid had a basket full of Jackfruit, his fruit was all over the road, he was knocked over, his front wheel went rolling away, and Jake managed to stay on the bike. I managed to avoid everything as I was behind Jake, and Dereck was well enough back to be well clear of it all. We pulled over and by the time we got back the kid was on the other side of the road, and ok. Dereck put his wheel on, but unfortunately his Jackfruit was fit for a pancake and that was about all. Incredibly after a bunch of older Vietnemese came out of the fields they were working in they started shouting at the boy, then he bashfully put his hand out for money. We just politely pointed out that he walked into Jake and headed off, once again, for the hills, gratefull to be ok. We stopped for a 7-up and to let Jake calm down a bit, when he noticed he had no back brake. When he hit the kids bike he totally bent the pedal back...however with some quick thinking and a bit of muscle Dereck managed to bash the pedal back into place...more or less. Once again we were on our way to the hills.....when I looked back and no Dereck, no Jake...no cry. I waited patiently until Jake caught up, Derecks fuel needle was faulty and he'd run out of gas.....we all decided to throw in the towel, and head back...fortunately without much more incident!!

The next day we were booked in to go and see the tunnels up in the North. The tunnels are now in what is known as the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone. It was amazing to get the bus up and see how regenerated the area is, there is dense jungle, hotels, and shops where during the war there was carnage, wreckage, and bomb craters. The tunnels are built into the ground, with small networks of passages connecting a large underground area, the Vietnemese took shelter in these for weeks, or months at a time, with many rooms being no bigger than a closet, and entire families living in them. They are much bigger than the tunnels of the north near Saigon which were mainly used for fighting and were of a different construction (we didn't actually get to see these unfortunately). The tunnels were pitch black in places, and I managed to crawl into one of the small side areas, awaiting Mr Bozman patiently....I managed to jump out and give him the fright of his life as I grabbed him and snapped a pic with the flash...you'll see the look on his face in the photie!! Priceless moment, lucky to have survived that one was I! After the tunnels we took the bus back and had a pretty good lunch, of noodles and rice. Then it was off to the next destination, via another overnight bus!

Hoi An
We got to Hoi Ani and relaxed in the hotel during the day, either reading, chatting or checking emails....and then at night we went for a few beer, and a game of pool. Enter the snake wine. The snake wine as you may know is indeed what you think it may be. It's a jar of rice wine, with sankes preserved in it...and we thought when in Rome etc. So Jannie (one the Danish girls we were travelling with) and I tried one. It was awful. It was described by Miriam (the other Danish girl) as tasting like dead bodies...which is pretty accurate in retrospect...and the reason she knows is because Jake and I beat the girls at pool so they had to drink the snake wine as a forfeit....not good. We also all hired bikes and cycled to the beach on the last day in Ha Noi, and it was stunning! It was lined with Palm trees to give a bit of shade, then a beautiful sandy beach, then crystal clear water, and a temperature just chilly enough to be refreshing in 35 degrees! We stopped for a meal on the way back and then got back in time to get changed for our next destination...Nhatrang.

Nhatrang
The beaches at Nhatrang are supposed to be stunning, and they were cool, they had all these cool beach huts, and beautiful, warm water....but I preferred Ha Noi's beach. It was just less busy, and in my opinion much prettier. There was a funny moment on the beach when a woman came up with a big pot and an even bigger smile....she pulled the lid off and there was millions of seafood inside...all of it caught in the last hour and cooked on the beach...so there were whole cooked lobsters, prawns, king crabs, and other stuff that I didn't notice....man, I really am not a seafood fan...I just kept thinking what a shame!

Before the beach I'd bumped into a Swedish girl named Jenny who I'd met on the bus, and I was planning on going cycling with Dereck, but when I got up he wasn't about so decided to head off on my own....however in the end Jenny tagged along and we visited a temple complex. It was similar in style to My Son which was in Hoi An, and unfortunately I didn't get to see. The My Son complex was around roughly 400 AD, and was used up until 1200AD (I think). The ruins we went to see were also Champa ruins (the local people who built them) and so I would expect a similar history there as well. The ruins had a beautiful garden in the middle, with temples raning from the size of a closet, to a kitchen to a very large living room. It was great to sit and look at these ancient buildings, and just appreciate a moment.

Saigon
After Nha Trang the girls stayed behind to enjoy a few more days of beach, sand and sun before they headed off to Malaysia...whereas I was headed for Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh city as it's known now. We didn't really do much in Saigon, the guys went for a walk, I met Chase and Paul, and American and Ozzie and went for a few cheap Bei Hoi with them. Then we met a few Israeli guys and a couple of Swedish girls (and a Swiss girl) and we all ended up chatting about travel, life, guys, girls and all the fun of Asia. Before we knew it the sun was coming up and it was 7am!! So we all scurried back through torential rain (there was about a foot of water in the streets that was actually overflowing past the curbs!!) to our hotels. Paul, Chase and I were scheduled to do the Tunnels tour for the south of Vietnam, but Paul and I reckoned it was too wet, and we were too tired. Jake and Dereck had been out for a walk about Ho Chi Minh and just enjoyed walking, talking, and taking in the sights and sounds of one of the biggest cities in South East Asia. After Saigon we headed for Cambodia where we are now!!

All in all Vietnam is very diverse, pretty clean, pretty aggresive for getting you to buy things, and very pretty. It has a pretty interesting history, and I'd come back again after initially thinking I wouldn't. Recomended!

South Vietnam Photos Part 2

2006-05-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Nhatrang Harbour

Temple Entrance in Nhatrang

Nhatrang Temple Gardens

Flowers in the Gardens

One of the temples in the temple complex

Jenny from Sweden...again in the temple

Beach in Hoi An

Me and my rental bike in Nhatrang

Photo's from the South of Vietnam Part 1

2006-05-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Everyone in front of a tunnel entrance at the DMZ

The Tunnel Entrance

Going into the tunnel...or coming out?

The look of a frightened Skeebie

Boys on bikes in Hue

Boys n bikes with no petrol in Hue

The boys on bikes again

Photos of the North

2006-05-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

Countryside view from a speeding bus

Mountains in the distance
Floatin boats in Cat Ba harbour
In the mountains
Proof that we're in the mountainous jungles of Nam.
A smaller floating village
The majestic Ha Long Bay
Me in pirate mode, looking for treasure in the cave "arrgh matie, pieces of 8 indeed"

North Vietnam - Cruisin Ha Long Bay

2006-05-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

We had fun fun fun while we were cruisin Ha Long Bay.

The Boat
It all started on a wee boat, more of a ferry with bedrooms and a dining room. It was 3 levels. The bottom level was mostly bedrooms, a toilet and the kitchen. The second level was a deck at the back with benches, a dining room and two bedrooms for crew at the back of the dining room. The third floor was the roof/or deck and had benches to lie on and read, sun or watch the mountains go by. I sat on the 2nd floor deck in the shade reading the DaVinci code, which after purchasing in January, Dereck finally managed to finish and pass over to me...the swine. Dereck was around the corner talking to an English fellow about how incredible engines were, and how he'd be able to tear down the engine of our wee ferryboat overnight and rebuild it to be 3 times as efficient. I was in such a happy place...the sun was shining, the sea breeze was blowing over me and there was an incredible view all around me. So in between snapping a few photies and reading my book...it was a good place to be.

We stopped at a cave, well a system of caves and got a tour, the caves were 10,000 square feet, and were millions of years old. They had been formed by the waves constantly wearing away at the limestone. There were all sorts of features inside that had names as they looked like a turtle, or a sword hilt stuck in the stone, or a dragon...and each feature had a legend that explained it. Pretty cool.

We got back underway and stopped in the middle of the water near a small floating village. There were loads of them with some having as many as 8-10,000 villagers living on them! We anchored and were able to go swimming and kayaking. So naturally I asked if we could jump off the top of the boat...about 15 feet up. They said of course you can you crazy Canuck. So much to my glory I was able to front flip, back flip, dive and throw myself off the top of the boat to my hearts content. Oh happy day. I didn't stop except to jump in a kayak with Jake, head out in the Kayak for a wee jaunt...it was all going well until we decided to pick it up a notch and up the tempo...that's when my paddle snapped. The oar sunk, and I was left with a pole with one paddle. I nearly wet my pants laughing. How do these things happen to me? So we got back and our guide was not a happy bunny. "Dese aw Twenny Dowah new, what I tell de viwwagers?" I told him that one certainly wasn't new, and that it wasn't worth twenty dollars. I also suggested that I didn't know what he was going to tell the villagers, but as my vietnemese was a little non existant I certainly wasn't able to explain the situation. In the end nothing came of it...but 20 bucks is a lot of money over here, for me and for them. Ahh, it was funny though.
For some reason Deke opted not to swim, for me it turned out to be the highlight of the boat trip! Shortly afterwards we had a seafood lunch (I saw a veggie salad with pasta, except it wasn't pasta, it was little tentacles...bleugh), then dropped a few people off on Cat Ba island, and I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, and watching the sun set over the hills. Beautiful. We had another seafood dinner, I avoided the tentacles this time, and we played a bit of cards, and had an early night. Dereck stayed up chatting to a few of the other passengers.

Cat Ba Island
After a seafood breakfast (I do hate seafood it has to be said) we got kicked off the boat and dumped in a wee hotel. We then got taken to a small cluster of houses where we started a trek up into the mountains. It wasn't the most gruelling hike I've ever done, but it was one of the most uneven surfaces! Rocks, roots, and trees everywhere! Dereck had shot ahead in 5th gear again, and me and a Brazilian boy eventually caught him up. The rocks on the way up were razor sharp, but when we got up there the view was awesome...just miles of jungle on one side and the ocean on the other. We made our way down from the island and bused back, and then had ....... another..... wait for it..... seafood lunch. Doh. Then we were hustled off on another wee boatride to Monkey Island!!! And guess what....it had monkeys! There were monkeys in the trees, and hiding around us. It also had a wee beach, and some jungle. So some of us sat on the beach, Dereck went off to explore the island, and I realised I'd left my swimming shorts on the boat that we slept on. Doh. So I had to swim in my underwear. Yes I felt a bit silly, but hey it was about 30 degrees and I was sweating like a pig. The water was a little chilly but that was cool, as it cooled me down! After a few hours we headed back to the hotel.

Snake juice
So in the hotel there was a jar filled with a small chicken, a snake, a couple of big lizards, and some crows feet. This was all floating in rice wine. Remember the photo of the apes feet, pigs head and cobra? Well same thing. It's for men to drink to improve their virility. I ain't man enough for that kinda shot. We had another seafood meal, and found a Bei Hoi place where we knocked back a good few glasses of it, and then eventually wandered back and passed out.

The next morning we headed back to Hanoi, and we spent the afternoon with a couple of German girls we met, Connie and Sarai drinking Bei Hoi....which led to the night, which led to a very drunk Dereck heading to his bed, and about 2 hours later a very drunk Scott following. Gotta love the Bei Hoi. The next morning we booked a bus to get us south, and just phaffed about most of the day until our bus showed up at 6:00 pm. A 13 hour bus ride awaited us. Dereck and I got seats at the back of the bus, and were told we had to move, so we then had seats at the front of the bus. Then some Vietnemese guy wanted our seats and asked us to move....I was pretty much fed up with bus issues and very firmly told him I wasn't moving...that was the end of that.

Vietnam in the week or so that I had been here really drove me insane for one reason. Everyone is out to screw the westerner. I've had a woman tell me Sprite was 13,000 dong, then when I went to pay told me 15,000. I've had an internet place tell me it was 3,000 dong a minute then try and charge 5,000. Then there's the prices they charge for stuff, it's a couple of thousand dong more than it normally is for Vietnemese....you really need to constantly battle for prices...and it gets tiring. But it really is an interesting place....so far!

North Vietnam - Hanoi

2006-05-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, we're back. In many ways. A new adventure started in Vietnam a couple of weeks ago, and I'm finally updating the blog. I'm also back with Deke and Jakers. I met up with them in Hanoi. So that's where I shall start the story!

Hanoi
Well after our bus got to hanoi and I found accomodation with the French guys, English Ben, Alice and Jess we then all agreed to go out for a bite to eat. I still hadn't had an email from the guys so didn't know where they were. We found a little restaurant that served us all sorts of culinary delights...one of which was a crazy fruit shake called Kudzu. The fruit shakes here are awesome, fresh fruit blended up with Ice for less than one American dollar. So I got adventurous and strayed away from the pineapple, lemon, watermelon and apple shakes I'd been sucking up till now...and went for the Kudzu. Wheweeee was it different. The texture was almost powdery and the taste was familar but I couldn't put my finger on it...not unpleasant, but not watermelon...so I'm done with Kudzu. We then went out in search of the famous Bei Hoi. Bei Hoi is beer that is brewed at home and sold for peanuts...well not literally but you pay about 13 cents American per glass. So after much searching we found it...the first glass makes Nelson's dad's home brew taste like a Belgian award winning beer....but after it settles down (it may take a few glasses) it is well worth the 13 cents. So we hoisted a few in honour of Alex's birthday (one of the french boys) and then a few of us went back and hit the sack!

The next day I'd received an email from Deke and arranged to meet up with him at 6pm. In the meantime I went for a walk with Alice and Jess around the lake in the center of Hanoi...and as it started to pish down rain we opted to run for a 3rd floor cafe with a view over the lake...I indulged in a normal watermelon shake...man they're addictive. We lazed in the cafe for a few hours and had a good chat about guys n gals, relationships and love....ahhh the joys of travelling!

I then left to catch up with Skeebie. It took me a few tries as the street he told me he was on wasn't the street he was on....I still reckon he's trying to lose me permanently. The bugger. I walked by his place and he didn't see me, (or so he says) and I didn't see him, but on the return my heart swelled, and our love was rekindled. We hugged, and danced, and sang in the street for once again our love was whole. Actually it was more of a hey. Hey. How's it going? Good. Good. So you eaten yet? Nah. Cool. Then we gathered the crew....Jake, Miriam and Jani...and went to try and book a trip to Ha Long Bay and get food. It was nice to meet back up with them all and catch up on stories and what's happened. We went to a restaurant that had a rather amusing menu which offered fired frog, rice and crap, amongst others...who spell checks these things? Anyways the food was good, although Jani saw a rat run across the floor...but hey it's all fun.

Hanoi is a big city, well compared to some of the small places we've stayed. It's nice to be able to buy whatever you need, but at the same time I hate the noise, the smells, the traffic and general chaos of all the cities. So I was glad we were leaving for a boat cruise thingy the next morning. I had hoped to visit Ho Chi Minh who freed Vietnam from the French rule and was one of Vietnams biggest heros. He is dead of course and just lying in a wee case apparantly...but in the end I never did get to see him cuz he's only available mornings...and I don't really do mornings well. I know, bad tourist.

Liang Prabang 2

2006-05-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Sideways falls, a natural phenomena... ;o)
A little bit of Heaven
Look closely in the middle - that's Scott Crashing in on Heaven
Bek, Steve, Sarah and me!
Beautifall
The sideways falls straight up

Liang Prabang photos part 1

2006-05-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Me on the mini falls
Cool Laos flower
Another amusing sign...and thats exactly how they would say it! Lazing Tiger, where's the dragon?
Little bears with no mommy.

Funny bug, missing one furry attenae, ouch!

When in Vientienne get the bus out!

2006-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Vientienne

Well, I knew it wasn't a great place cuz Steve and Sarah emailed me to let me know, but hey always give people and places the benefit of the doubt.....they were right. It was a hole. The best part about it was the Beerlaos factory where they brew Beerlaos. The company started making beer in 1973, and before that Laos imported all it's beer. They are going for ISO 9001 this year, and sell about 60,000 cases of beer a day....12 beer in a case, I'll let you do the math.

Vientienne is just buildings, restaurants, and bars....no real character as such. It was also very bland, all the buildings appeared washed out and colourless. We did find a great wee Indian restaurant that did awesome samosa's 2 for 5000 kip. Thats about 50 cents, or 25 p. Good food!

The Bus
So I booked a bus to get me out of Vientienne to Hanoi, it cost 200,000 or 20 us dollars, and was a 24 hour bus ride. Not cheap, and it was a complete fiasco. They said they'd be there at 6pm, but showed up early. They then procedeed to squeeze 8 people into a 7 person people carrier. Then they pulled us out, and put us on another mini bus, then took some of us out and put us back in the original mini bus. Then when we got to the bus station to catch the big bus, they told me to put "Gigantor" (the affectionate name given to my backpack by Jake) on the bus with me. It's huge and didn't make any sense to me, but whatever. Then they proceeded to pile up all our rucksacks in a section at the back of the bus where there used to be a few seats.

Then they started passing our luggage out one of the windows, including gigantor, and emptied the space where the seats used to be....much to our amusement and puzzlement. Next they stared bringing seats on the bus and hammering them into place. I was very confused....eventually around 8:00pm we left....phew. I pulled out my book and started to read, and the reading lights went out. So I got out my trusty flashlight (Thanks Brian and Theresa) and the lights went on...so I put my flashlight away, then they went out, so I took the flashlight out, and guess what they went on again....this was the story for an hour or so before I got fed up and tried to get some sleep.

I dozed for an hour or so and then tried reading again, eventually nodding off. I woke up as I was jolted out of my seat. We were going over a really bumpy road, and it was pitch black outside, it was almost midnight. The bus came to a stop and we appeared to be in the driveway of some farm. Everyone got out to get food, or use the toilet, except there wasn't any. It really was just someone's farmhouse. Except there were about 12 Vietnemese guys boarding our bus....and one of them had the pleasure of sitting beside me. We reversed out of the driveway and got back on the main road, and my friend started to doze. After a few minutes I detected a lovely odour, it was a combination of stale cigarette smoke, and sweat, and it was coming off of my friend. He was wearing a T shirt that was stained with food from various dinners over the last month is my guess. Probably a contributor to the lovely aroma he effused.

So this was bad, and I turned away from him towards the window to try and get away from his pungent aroma....when he decided to get cozy and turned in the same direction practically spooning me. Dude, I don't even know you're name and we're spooning on the first date? I normally don't even kiss on the first date!! So I tried to make as much space as possible and reduce body contact. Not in a happy place was I. He eventually shifted and managed to lodge his elbow in my spine. That was enough I took his arm and put it on his stomach, and after 2 minutes he happily replaced it back in between the vertibrae of my spine.

2 painful hours later we pulled up at a small restaurant around 2 in the morning. Most of were pretty hungry, and thirsty and need of the toilet. We walked in and saw a football match on, Champion's League and many spirits were lifted. Then we saw what was in the jars, and many spirits sunk. There were Gorrilla feet, A cobra, and a baby pigs head in jars on the counter of the kitchen. Hmmm. When she came around to ask if we wanted soup and noodles, only the brave ventured forth with a timid...yes. I wanted a can of 7 up, as it doesn't have caffeine, but they only had cola which would keep me up for the rest of the trip so I had a beer. Turns out it didn't really matter cuz we were staying here for 4 hours. Great.

So a couple of English girls we'd met in Chiang Mai were on the bus, Jess and Alice, so we played a couple of games of cards with some French Canadian boys we'd met and passed the hours munching on snacks, playing cards, and listening to tunes on my beloved little speakers....all very civil. Then we got on the bus around 6am and drove to the Vietnemese border where we had to get off and walk up to immigration, only to be herded like cattle and pushed prodded, bumped and bruised in the process of being processed as visitors. After all that we got out around 7:00 to get back on the bus. Nope they were taking all our luggage off the roof as we had to have it x rayed...so back again we went, then lugged our stuff back to get hefted onto the roof again.

The Puppies
We then had to walk 10 mins up the road for some reason before the bus could pick us up....and this is where I saw one of the worst things on this trip so far. A truck passed me, and I did a double take. It was full of cages, which in turn were full of puppies. They were crying, yelping, snarling barking, essentially making every dog noise possible, while some were just quietly sitting and looking up with the saddest eyes in the world. Some of the dogs were piled on top of each other, and just looked so miserable. Although I don't know for sure, I'm pretty sure they were on their way to be butchered for meat. I felt so awful. There was nothing in the world I could have done. Even if I bought them all with all the money I had for the rest of my trip what would I do with them? What about the next truck load. Man that was rough.

We stopped for lunch a few hours later and piled off the bus. When we were done lunch we went to go back on the bus, and they told us no....that bus. A public bus that was even more crowded and funkier smelling than the big bus. Not good. We hoped it was just a transitional bus to get us to our next one. Nope. We spent 6 hours of the most uncomfortable busride in the world hoping that we'd crash to put us out of our misery. Then I realised I'd left my travel towel, my beanie, my book and about 10,000 dong on the other bus. The trip just got even better....grrrr. At least smelly boy stayed on the original bus, (and probably is the proud new owner of my belongings) and we didn't have to stand, but we did have to watch our bus driver do his Michael Schumacher impression, passing everything in front of him with ridiculous blasts of his buses foghorn. We finally arrived in Hanoi, and watched in amazement as they pulled off 5 mopeds that had been strapped to the roof beside our luggage. 5 mopeds! I hated every minute of that bus ride. Hated it.

Vientienne and bus photo's

2006-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

The Beerlaos factory...the best part of Vientienne

Billy Chris and Me with our free beer!

Our 2 AM bus stop. Gorilla feet, a cobra, and pigs head....uh, yeah. No menu thanks.

A dog-gone tradgedy so it is.

Van Viang Pho-toes

2006-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sarah Steve and Scott begin their tubing adventureSteve Tarzan style off the first bar's amusement...a rope swing

The calm before the crazy drunk Laos guy wanted to Thai box our asses

Me preparing for a back flip off a higher rope swing (I jumped off the top platform too!)

Billy Boy at our lunch stop

No more tubing for today...booo!

How's that for a sunset, only 5 mins after I took my photo above! Billy, Steve and Sarah

The Elephant Buddha in the Elephant Buddha Cave

The Elephanat Buddha cave Elephant....can you see it?

The result of playing vehicle pinball, fortunately no-one was seriously hurt

All Van Viang'd up

2006-04-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

Arrival
As mentioned when we arrived the road we were on was the main one and it was a dirt road with open sewers on both sides. It must have been at least 35 degrees, and we were baking just waiting for our bags to come off the roof of the bus. I went to an internet cafe to see where Jake and Deke were holed up....to no avail. No email, so I found myself a guesthouse, and splurged a little...I paid 35,000 ($3.50)kip for a double bed with a bathroom inside all to myself!! Except there was a slight problem. When I grabbed my money and passport to go pay for the room....I realised I couldn't find my passport. I'd done laundry in Liangprabang and given my passport over, and forgotten to get it back. The bus ride was 4 hours and 50,000 kp x 2. FECK!!! That's if that was indeed where I left it.

We had all agreed to meet up for dinner later that night, so after booking in and giving a fake passport number, I went to the internet cafe next door to email Bryan back in Liangprabang to see if he could try and get my passport before he left the next morning.

There was bugger all I could do except keep checking my email until Bryan either did get my email and get back to me, or didn't get my email and it was too late. Then the internet went down in every cafe in Vanviang. I was seriously stressed. I had to catch Bryan before he left!Vanviang had a whole load of cool bars. Some played Simpsons non stop, some played Friends non stop, others movies non stop...and all had these really cool seats. Raised kinda like a stage with low tables, and loads of cushions to sit on instead of chairs...really comfy. So I hung out in the bars, and kept checking all afternoon for the net to get up and running and when it finally did? No respsonse from Bryan, and it was time to meet for dinner.

We went to an English place that served fish and chips, steak pies etc, and it was pretty good. I left early to check the internet and see if Bryan had got back to me. I went across the road to check the net....it was down. Aaaarghhh. At 8:30 that night I got an email from Bryan......he had my passport!!! Whoooo hoooo result! I'd also gotten an email from Dereck. He and Jake were leaving in the morning to Canoe downriver to Vientien. Missed em. Ah well.

I went back had a few more beer, and went to bed feeling a whole lot more relieved!!

Vanviang Day 2
So we got up and rented tubes to float down the river on. What a great idea, see cuz when you pass a bar (which is basically a bamboo hut with either beer on ice literally, or in a fridge) they just hold out a bamboo pole and reel you in. Each of the bars have an "amusement" in some cases it's a rope swing, in others it's a high bamboo platform you jump off of, on others it's a zip glide thing that you hang onto a bar with, and zoom across the water. One place even had a kind of trapeze. The whole point of these amusements is to get drunk, and throw yourself off 20+ foot platforms into the water. Whadya mean Health and Safety risk? Like all dangerous things it was silly fun.

It wasn't long before I figured out with enough momentum you can flip off all these things, so I suffered a few times trying to get the hang of it, but got there in the end. All I can say is that falling 20 feet onto the side of your head, back, stomach and arse hurts. Believe you me, an enema from 20 feet up is painful. However as mentioned I nailed it in the end, it was a riot of a day.

There was one particularly interesting moment, we had stopped at this one bar which was about 12 feet by 12 feet of bamboo floor to sit on, but they brought out a guitar. There was some Laos dude puking over the side, so apparantly he had heat stroke....okay, you're probably right...he was probably just pished. So we were all sitting chilling, having Laos Bud, and life was good. We got up to go and they started saying that we hadn't paid for one beer. So then Pukeboy gets up and starts wobbling and shouting that "Yuuu musssss pay". We weren't sure if he meant with money or our lives, then Billy the Irish boy (who has a shaved head, and is the nicest most easygoing guy ever" was pulling his tube out to drift away when Pukeboy points and him and says "you, you Thaibox" and assumes a Thai kickboxing stance.

Billy's response will be with me till the day I die. In a very alarmed voice that rose 3 octaves with stress he responded in a typical Irish voice as he stumbled back in both surprise and fear "What?" "Me? Me? Jesus fuck no, fuck no" and wildly looked around at us to see if he'd heard right. Pardon the profanity, but he thought he was going to have his lovely Irish head punted the length of a rugby pitch. If the Laos boy hadn't been so set on kicking someone's ass I probaby would have laughed. However I was getting pissed off at pukeboy trying to intimidate us, so I said to him loudly, clearly and aggressively...."we paid for 4 beer, we drank 4 beer, we're going now" puke boy turned to me and said "No, you no go, you must pay" and took a step towards me.

I'm both stupid and stubborn enough that my last word's would have been a gurgled "shit" as he held my head underwater and drowned the life out of me, but damnit I was not paying another penny. Then some old geezer stepped in, waved us on, and we drifted away in serenity. Yup, he was hammered....I reckon I could've taken him. cough cough, erm. So we drifted on to the next bar had a sandwhich and a beer, then wrapped up the tubing. When we got to the shore the sun was setting, and wow, what a sunset. Then we changed, met up, ate a cracking meal (pizza....hmmmm) and booked up for an adventure tour the next day!

Vanviang Day 3
Today was much more mellow and relaxed. Although my body felt all banged up, (like it was lucky to have walked away from a car crash .. an omen?). It was sore all over, and the whiplash...ohhh mammy was I sore. However we had an adventure tour to complete. We started by tubing into a cave which was pitch black, and at some points we had to get out and walk amongst stalagtites, and stalagmites, and were in the caves for a total of about half an hour before getting back out. Pretty cool, but not if your afraid of the dark, or claustrophobic. Then we visited the Elephant Buddha cave, which is a shrine to Buddha and so called because there is a natural rock formation that vaguely resembles an elephant. We then walked a few metres away to a bunch of huts where they served us a lunch of rice and bar b q'd veg kebabs, or meat kebabs and a baguette! Pretty good lunch!!

After lunch we canoed down the river, two people per canoe and the canoe's were these crazy plastic things. I was with an older German lady, and I wanted to get the canoe sideways through the rapids, but she wouldn't for some reason. So we had a slightly more mellow trip than I would've liked....until it started to rain. More on that in a second. We stopped at one of the jumping platforms and Pete the English fellow we'd met the day before was determined to make a better go of rope swing than the day before. So he went on a few times. For our last jump I asked the guy if I could just jump off the platform into the water...this is probably about 25 feet or so, so slightly higher than the swing....but felt like a hundred feet higher. So I said to Peter, you doing it....he said no outright. I did it, and what a great feeling that was...although it still freaks you out looking over the edge and forcing yourself to jump off! I hit the water and came up, and saw Pete looking over, I yelled at him to "Have it" .... and to my suprise he did!! He said it scared the crap out of him, and he couldn't believe he did it....I said he had definetely stepped up his game!!

So we to back into the boats, and as mentioned it had started to rain. It felt like someone was throwing small rocks at our heads it was so heavy. Then, the thunder...and lightening started. That spiced things up nicely....until we noticed the boat was getting harder and harder to paddle. My arms were getting tired, I figured cuz I'd been doing most of paddling....apparantly not. Upon looking at the sides of our canoe, the water was about 2 inches from the top ofthe sides. previously it had been a good 6 inches. Turns out there is a big hole in the back which is supposed to have a cover...ours didn't have a cover so as it had been pelting down rain it had been filling up...and sinking our boat. We were only 20 minutes from the finish so I'd been hoping we could make it. A few paddle strokes and I noticed we where tilting way out of control, one last paddle stroke and the water started filling in the side of the boat....on the left side...and so it was that we got dumped into the water.

In between laughing, and trying to swim with the tipped boat to the shore we both nearly drowned. However we got there, and trying to lift the boat to tip it when it was full of water was not easy...especially as we were both shivering with cold as the clouds had come out. We emptied it eventually and got back in, man what a difference....we headed for the finish full steam ahead with visions of warm dry clothes and food dancing in our heads. We got there, and dropped off the canoe and went right back into the water to warm up. The water was roasting compared to outside!! As we were sitting there we saw this crazy bus come flying along the road, and plunge right into the river in front of us. It was only a foot or two deep, but not exactly what you expected to see....then all these young boys jump out and start washing it....a Laos bus wash....cool! We got fed up waiting for them to strap the canoes on to the trucks and drive us back, so Billy, Pete and I opted to walk back...man was that cold.

Then we got changed, and Billy and I met up with Nic and Chris, and a few other folk...namely Bryan...and my passport!!!!!! As well as an american girl I'd met canoeing named...Nicki. There's a lot of Nicks, Nics, and Nickis going about over here. We all hit a club, then wandered to some bonfire, except Bryan wanted food so we lost them, then trecked over a bridge, through some grass, hopped a fence, and found them....but no bonfire. So Billy stayed, and Bryan and I sod off for our beds. Busy, hectic, but fun day.

Vanviang Day 4
Nothing to tell here, except that we left for Vientien. I was on the way to Vientien today from Vang Vieng (here in Laos) when we had a slight problem. We had a 6 hour bus ride to Vientien.

After an hour of mostly normal driving on the bus, our bus driver got a little crazy and tried to pass on a corner heading over a small bridge.....with a truck coming towards us. We smashed into the first truck on the left side of the bus, and then careened over to this massive transport truck on the right that was carrying jeeps and slammed into it ripping open the right front side of the bus (where the door is) and buckling the front of the bus.

The first truck was run off the road, and we got wedged between the bridge and the transport lorry. I was asleep when the first hit took place, safe to say it woke me up. The second hit I was watching out the front screen of the bus when I saw glass shatter and cascade into the front of the bus as we ground to a halt. The glass came from the entrance doors, and they were so buckled we had to climb through where the glass previously was as the doors physically couldn't open.

Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt, and just a lot of hearts going a hundred miles an hour. I think the folk in the front had the biggest scare. It took an hour or so for the police to show up, and clear the bridge, there was traffic queued up as far as the eye could see in both directions. Freaky, but I'm ok.

The crasht certainly wasn't the highlight of Laos, nor was Vientienne. I don't think many people were too impressed with it, it was just a small city with restaurants and bars. We did a tour of the BeerLaos factory which was cool...they're going for ISO9001, how very cool!! However I wanted out as soon as possible and booked a 24 hour bus ride too Hanoi Vietnam where Dereck and Jake are...so that is where we shall pick up next!

Liang Prabang up to Speed!

2006-04-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Liang Prabang
So after getting off the slowboat Bryan and I manged to eventually find a guesthouse where we each got our own room, with fan, and a double bed for 25,000 kip, or 2.50 each! So we checked in, dropped our stuff off and went out for a bite to eat. We bumped into Sarah and Steve on the way into the main street, then a few minutes lataer, low and behold Skeebie and Jake!! They were with an Ozzie fellow and a couple of gals. So they had already eaten and were going for a walk, and had already booked their bus to leave the next morning. They did recomend going to the waterfall, and seeing the tiger and bears....so instead of trying to book a bus, I opted to go see the waterfall, and catch them up somewhere else! I needed money though so Steve, Sarah and Bryan were recommended to an Indian, so off they went and I changed my 100 US travellers cheque into....."One million dollars" said with a Dr Evil accent of course. It was actually one million kip, but for the first time in my life I was a millionaire...I liked it. I couldn't find the Indian place, but I found another Indian, and met a lovely lady named Bek, who is from Brisbane and has a band called Excavator....they're album is coming out, so keep your ears open...she described them as a jazzy ensemble with a bit of Evanescence about them. Bek was kind enough to put up with me over dinner, and we had a good chat about our travels before we parted ways and I went to find folk. I bumped into so many people from other parts of our trip it was highly amusing. I eventually found Bryan in an internet Cafe and so we went for a beer and met Seattle Dan!! We all had a few beer, decided to meet at 10:00 to head to the waterfall and headed home.

On the way home we bumped into a Swedish girl and Dutch guy who weren't ready for bed yet, and convinced us to join them and a few friends down at the river for a few more drinks and a chat. So we went back to there place where there were a couple of Dutch girls.....and Canadian Dan who I met in Chaing Mai!! I also met another Canadian bloke named Matt and we all headed down to the river where we had a great ole chat about everything worldly. The constelations down here are totally different which is both cool and disappointing at the same time.

Day 2 in Liangprabang
So we all met up at the intersection as discussed to get a Tuktuk to the waterfall, except we didn't all show up. Brian was having a lazy day and Seattle Dan was a no show. So the Tuktuk driver wanted one more person to take Sarah, Steve and myself. So I volunteered to rustle up an extra body. Low and behold who did I find? Bek! So she was up for the waterfall and off on our merry way we were. The falls were awesome. If you've ever imagined a tropical waterfall, here it is. Check out the photo's. We were only there for a couple of hours, but could have easily spent all day there with a book, some music and a bit of grub n beer.

The big falls were spectacular and cascaded for almost a hundred feet, then there were mini falls which cascaded in turn downstream from the b ig falls, and then there were emerald green swimming pools which were fed off the mini falls. Just awesome. Nature really is incredible.

We got back and bumped into Seattle Dan who had slept in, a hangover apparantly! We had a bite to eat, all wandered off to do our own thing, I caught up on my journal in this really cool wee garden with benches, and shrubs that looked like dogs!! Then we met up for dinner which was out of this street vendor. There was a buffet all vegetarian, one bowl as much as you could fit into it of rice, noodles and veg...all for 5,000 kip that was about .50 cents. What a deal. Nobody got sick either!! Good grub. We then went to a bar where we had a few beer, we'd met Chris and Nic as well so Chris pulled out his Ipod, I pulled out my speakers and we listened to someone totally take the piss out of George Bush all night. It was a good night!!

Leaving Liangprabang
The next morning we jumped on a bus (we being Steve, Sarah and myself) and met an Irish boy named Billy who shared the bus with us to Vanviang. Pretty uneventful trip, although it was bloody hot!! We arrived in a very dusty, run down Vanviang. Pictures to arrive as soon as Danny boy has time!!

Slowboat, really means Slow!!

2006-04-24T04:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, so we took a minibus from Chaing Mai to some remote place near the Thai - Laos border. We then spent the night in this way out of nowhere town, where they packed our lunches for the next day. Next day we went in a small water taxi across the river to....Laos! Yup, it was about 2 minutes across this tiny river and bang....we're in Laos. So we all got ferried to another point by Tuktuk...which in this case was a pickup truck with a canopy and metal frame roof. We then boarded...the slowboat. The slowboat is a really long, slow boat..as opposed to the fast boat which is....a really short, fast boat. Basically a speedboat. They are much more expensive and legend has it a few tip on occasion. So we opted for the slowboat, and I still think it was a good choice.

Day 1 Slowboat
We figured about 40 or 50 people would fit on them? Wrong, try 70 or 80 and every stop it seemed we picked up more!! They're basically like a train service, except along the river. We just stopped at what seemed like random bits of rock and people just jumped on or off!! I met a good bunch of folk, Bryan from the US but living in BC. Sarah and Steve from England, and Chris and Nic from England. So we spent most of the first 6 hours just chatting to each other.

Of course, even though there was good conversation I felt the ante needed to be upped!! So I managed to climb out the side of the boat onto the roof, where I lay back in the sun and vegged for all of about 5 mins before this pished English girl comes running up on the top screaming and hollering and whooping her arse off...the boatmen (sounds ominous!) saw her, then me and make me climb back in. Boooo. I also managed to lose the back of my MP3 player, and the cap that covers the USB in the scramble ontop of the boat. Booooo again.

At one point we had to get off and walk for 15 mins cuz the boat got stuck.....there were two boys from Manchester who had apparantly met the opium boys and took them up on there offer. Coming off the boat they were all over the plank, then off it, then on the beach, then in the water, I've seen gay guys straighter than those two could walk. The hike was roasting, we were all dripping in sweat, and my t-shirt had to be wrung out when we I was back at the boat.
So we eventually go to the pickup point...and all got on the boat, pulled away and somebody said....where are those Manchester plonkers....so we had to go back and wait for them. They eventually showed up and half walked half tumbled down the sandbank into the boat.

We arrived in the overnight village and where hit for opium about 5 times!! We found a room for what amounted to 3 bucks each (for Bryan and I). It was...adequate. It had Mosquito nets, which where more holey than the Pope, I tell ya, what's the point!! However, so goes life. We had a lovely meal, of spicy rice, and then hit the sack.

Day 2 Slowboat
Instead of half of us sitting on the floor like we did the first day, this slowboat had seats for almost everyone. We were on the boat for 8:30, but didn't leave till 10:00, we think because some girl met some guy, and they opted to stay in bed the next morning, and the boat was waiting for them...bugger. We eventually got on the way, and the scenery was better than the first day, more extreme...the rocks were really sharp and rose quite high, and there was fishermen all over the rocks casting nets, and using lines. The mountains rose up and away and created a dramatic colourful background to the dark brown cliffs along the waters edge.

Bryan and Steve decided to sneak up onto the roof and had a good run about until they got busted too....but it was all good cuz we had just pulled up into Liangprabang...or something like that. After wandering around, we finally found a guesthouse that met our requirements...our own room, with fan, and double bed, outside shower for 25,000 kip...or 2.50 american. Good deal. We settled in, saddled up and went out to explore the city!!

Laos'd in the Translation

2006-04-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

Chiang Pai

2006-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Pai

Okay, okay, you're right, I should have taken a photo of our lovely quaint little bungalow in Pai. I didn't. I'm a bad blogger. It was a 4 bed bungalow, with a tended garden out front, with a wee veranda to sit out on and drink beer before going to the clubs, not that I do that often, in fact I didn't really do it, but Skeebie and Jake did. From there we explored a few bars/clubs, and waterfalls and hot springs. One day I rented a mountain bike and cycled about 30-40 km's to a hot spring (it was about 30+ degrees) which was interesting, and bloody hot!! Then I just chilled, or heated I suppose in the hot springs, and met some local fellow who gave me a 20 min Thai massage cuz I was Canadian....which was cool. Dereck and Jake rented mopeds and hit the hot springs but didn't go in, then went to a waterfall where Jake slid on his arse from top to bottom of the falls.....as you do. They then decided that later in the evening after we'd all had a few beer that it would be good to go back to the falls....I missed out on that as I passed out in bed, and the boys went back and had a wee bonfire by the waterfall, by all accounts it was a good night!!

Chiang Mai

There are no photo's to substantiate this story. Sokran (spelling is likely off) is the Thai new year, and it is celebrated with a lot, I mean a lot of water. Basically everyone grabs a bucket, a water gun, or anything that disperses water and throws, shoots or disperses water over anyone and everyone. So the streets and pubs are lined with big bins filled with ice cold water or equally as bad, moat water which looks and smells like shite. Pardon my french. At least the moat water is warm. So once you find a spot after walking around and being hit by moat or ice water, you then return the favour by hitting anyone on foot, moped, bike, car, truck or taxi with your moat or ice water. This goes on for 4 days. You'll understand why there's no photos!!

We basically spent the 4 days drinking, swimming (yes Dereck and I ended up in the moat at one point...fortunately we didn't get sick), and dancing....not that I danced a whole lot. We met a great bunch of folk in the American Peace Corp and had a few laughs and drinks with them, and I opted to stay behind for an extra day or two, and catch up with Jake and Deke in Laos....stay tuned!!!

Have your Pai and Changmai Too!

2006-04-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

It's growing exponentially Sarge!

Old Temple Wisdom unleashed from the Peace Corp
Chaing Mai Waterworks
New Temple
View from Pai on a mountain bike

Hot springs in Pai...they were...roasting

Thai Chi

2006-04-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, Elephant boobies
The kids, and Scott just in the water....the poles are similar to the raft we rode on
Mechanical man builds a boat for the village kids
Scotty rides the Ellyphunt, Kiwi Dan on the left
Look me in the eyes, and tell me you love me
Dereck asks the Elephant....who's yer Daddy?
A tree with a plant in it, yup that's it
Who you calling Dumbo?

Another Thai Plant
Look carefully there is a lizard there, I caught him too!!
I dare you climb that tree Deke says....shah, right.
The village kids delighted with their Kalaidascope
Very tall bamboo trees
Deke, protector of the group
The jungle village we stayed at first night
Wild Banana trees
The view from our dinner table
Lohso our guide, and his trusty assistant....neither to be messed with!
The three Coconuts, Scott, Deke and Jake
The waterfall in it's entirety
Taking a break from all that hard jungle hiking!

Most of the crew munchin and lunchin

Welcome to the Jungle

2006-04-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

We had fun and games....well we had 3 days in the jungle, it was fun and mad, and here's how it went!!

Day One

The first day we went to a beautiful waterfall in the back of a pickup with a roof and two benches that ran along the sides. 10 of us sat on the benches, and another 3 hung out on the back of the truck...literally. Eventually we got off the truck or "Ute" as they say in Oz. We had a 30 min hike to the falls which were beautiful, and then just mucked about there for a while then we hiked back down and had an awesome lunch of soup and fried rice in a wee bamboo hut. We then travelled for another hour or so to the start of the real trek. We all geared up, sprayed ourselves, sun blocked ourselves and prepared to enter the Jungle. The Cicada's (sic) were everywhere. They are crazy little bugs loud as, well loud. If you don't know what they sound like, it's kinda hard to explain, but at points they were so loud it was almost deafening. There was thick brush and tree cover, but it was more like forest than Jungle as I'd imagined it. However we hiked for about an hour or so and had a pretty good pace going, even though it was mostly uphill!! Towards the end of the hike we came across some bamboo trees that were about 80 feet high. Pretty impressive. We also found some small venus flytrap like plants growing in the grass. Just growing there as wild live things do. We got to the first hut and had another really good meal, chatted, drank some sam sung (whiskey) and eventually hit the sack.

Day Two

Whoooo whee. This was some hike. We had to hike for a couple of hours....up hill, in the heat (30+) and everything was brown and dead. Our water was evaporating faster than I can manage to hurt myself on my mountain bike, and the sweat and sunburns were out in full force. It was tough! Monroe tough but half the height, and more effort! However being me I just got the nose down and hammered through it, even though it nearly killed me. We got to a small village where I gave some of the kids a Kaleidascope that my parents had given me to give to some kids. I did and they were totally amazed by it, then they tried to give it back and I had to explain that is was for them! When we looked again all the kids were passing it from one to the other throughout the village. It was pretty cool Mom/Dad.

Dereck had gone ahead with the first group, and I was taking my time trying to get photo's for the first part, and the camera went away once it got gruelling. However on the way down we had a lot of singletrack, or thin walking/riding trails for you non cyclists. So we were hammering down as fast as we could (we being mostly Kiwi Dan and myself) and then we turned a corner and bang. There was elephants. Big. Yup, big animals. We sat and had lunch which was noodle soup, and then this big elephant starts walking towards us. This may just sound like another blog story, but see when this thing walks up to you and your eyes meet it's knees, and it's eyes are staring at you......and you don't know why......it's intimidating, and quite unnerving. Skeebie is 220 lbs, which they eat for breakfast in bamboo shoots. Ellyphunts are awesome creatures!!! So now that the elephant and I are aquainted it's time to get a bit closer. Let's ride that fellow! Riding an Elephant you understand how powerful, and elegant (rhymes with elephant) they are. We were on a trail that was about 1.5 feet wide. The elephants walked it like it was a motorway. By far one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had....especially going downhill!! We got to the next village by Elephant and the village was an experience unto itself!!

Day 2 TheVillage
We got to the village and there was a huge wooden suspension bridge that was hanging, and this is amazing....suspended!! over a river. We crossed over dumped our stuff into another bamboo hut and headed to the river. Some folk went swimming, but Dereck and I were afraid of dying from typhoid or something nasty. So we skipped out. Then we all went up on the bridge (20 feet?) and saw this massive school of fish just anchored to one spot that took up the whole of the width of the river (15 feet) and about 10 feet long. They apparantly were forbidden to fish, so they just exist. That ryhmes. The coolest part was watching the village children, just be children. They were running around jumping in the water off the stone bank, bollock naked and happy as Jay Birds. There was an 8 year old who was taking care of a 6 and 3 year old, and they were all playing about, until the 8 year started to shampoo the 3 year olds hair in the river. When they were done, the 8 yr old put the 3 yr old on the bank, and went in to play with the 6 year old...the water was about 2/3 feet deep and the 3 year old just threw herself in giggling cuz she knew the 8 year old would be there to get her....even though the 3 yr old couldn't swim!! She kept doing this and giggling like crazy. It was awesome to see. There were also about 15 kids on the other side of the bridge jumping off a big set of rocks....so eventually I figured bugger it, and did some cliff jumping too....I did front flips, back flips and dives and all the kids were amazed, then they climbed up the bridge and jumped off it into about 6 feet of water.....they had me beat, I wasn't doing that!!

That night we had another amazing meal, and all sat around afterwards as Ozzie Mick got hold of a guitar and we just sang every song you could imagine, and had a really awesome night in the jungle!

Day 3 - The River
This was soo much fun!! We basically got up, and made our way down to the river. We were split into two groups, one for each raft. The raft was basically a bunch of Bamboo held together with vines.....in the photo of the kids playing you'll see roughly what they looked like. They had a tripod type thing for all our bags to hang on at the front, and bamboo poles to push us and steer us. We all got on, and what fun was had!!

We were soaking the other raft, trying to steal their poles, jumping from one raft to the other, trying to push each other in the water, jumping off the raft, waiting in ambush to throw a massive rock in the water to soak the other raft, jumping off the raft onto little rock islands then back onto the raft.....ramming the other raft....it was all good fun. Okay so maybe I was a little more hyper active than some of the folk, but it was a good laugh, and everyone seemed to enjoy the day. There was one particular moment where Deke jumped and totally slipped falling into the water, and another where he managed to snap our bamboo pole....not good. We were on the river a total of 4 hours, so towards the end we were all a little mellow, and just sat and chilled floating downstream. Then we got to our destination Village where we had a great meal of noodles, and then jumped into the truck to take us back to civilisation.

What an all round awesome experience. Next up I need to tell you about the Thai New Year and Sokran, spelling is probably wrong, but I'm sure you'll forgive me!! Let's just say it could be called Soak/ran....speak to you soon!!

Thai a knot in it punk

2006-04-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

The train from Bankok to Chaing Mai
Mountain Jungle, or Jungle Mountains? From train
Bangkok park - traditional Thai dance
Reach for the sky punk, train to Chiang Mai
Dereck discusses calmly how exactly they lost his passport
Israeli Guest House, Hooligans, and Siam Sato in Bangkok

Jungle Huts, if you can see them

Thai'd up - first week

2006-04-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well here we are in Thailand. It's only been a week or a little over, but man, what a week!

The Flight

Well Dereck was a lucky boy. We had a pretty obviously gay Thai flight attendant who for some reason decided to give Dereck his own row. So he seperated us and Deke got to stretch out and relax. The fellow never said boo to me, but Deke was getting a lot of special attention. So when we landed I got off the plane ahead of Deke, and as I heard him shouting on me saw his face....not a happy one. He'd lost his plane ticket. Our tickets are for all our flights for the whole trip. Not good! Especially when we found a sign that said we need our tickets to get our Visa for Thailand......bad news folks, bad news. So we tried to speak to a few people but no-one really knew how to sort out our problem. So I showed the Thai Airlines woman my ticket to help her understand that Derecks was lost......that's when his fell out of mine. I guess when they checked us in they gave them both to me. Man. Talk about stress.

Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok and found a guest house that had a reasonable room rate, and was close to Khaosan road...which is one big street filled with shops and stalls. We met up with an English fellow named Ben who's hair put Xanders fro to shame...it was total bush. Anyways, Ben crashed on our floor as he couldn't get in touch with his mate in Bangkok. The first night we just wandered the streets and got a bite to eat. The next day we went to a Market with Ben and this Market was huge! The stuff they had for sale was crazy, crabs for eating, crabs for pets, snakes, fish, lizards, featherless parrots, beautiful carved wood furniture, millions of clothes and shoes, and it went on for miles!! After the market we just went for a bite to eat and met up with Ben's mate who is in Bangkok working on music. He's signed to the same album as the Scots Rockers Mogwai and was an interesting fellow. Ben and his mate sod off, and Dereck and I just chilled and had an early night.

Jake flew into Bangkok the next day so we got a room, and booked our train to got to Chiang Mai, as well as our Vietnam Visa's. Everything would be ready the next day. We went for a bite to eat on the street and I found this crazy wine type drink called Siam Sato. We all had about 3 of them and ended up completely wrecked. We decided to go see one of the shows if you know what I mean. All I'm going to say is that the Ping Pong was impressive. It was a pretty interesting night purely because none of us could believe how drunk we got off 3 bottles of that wine. The next day we just hung about the streets, went to a park where we saw a traditional Thai dance which was neat, and went back to get our passports. Ooops. They only had 2 of them. Mine and Jakes. We were getting the train at 8:00pm and it was now 6pm. Dereck wasn't going to have a passport. Oh man, can you say stress? He wasn't a happy Bunny that is a fact. They had promised to have his passport delivered to him in Chiang Mai.....but he wasn't too impressed, but then again there was bugger all he could do. We couldn't get into Vietnam without his passport, so we'd just need to wait and see how it went.

Chiang Mai
The train ride was intense. It was roasting hot and we were in pretty small sleeper cabins. I just kept sweating all night long. Didn't sleep that well to be honest. We woke in the morning to an incredible view. Rolling hills, spotted with jungle, and small wooden huts dotted along the way. We arrived in Chaing Mai and had met Mick, an Ozzie fellow who was happy to tag along with us and try and get some cheap accomodation. Enter Mama Honey! She pounced on us once we got off the train and promised us good accomodation, and good prices. So we jumped into her van along with about 6 other folk. To say it was tight in that van is an understatement. However we got to Chiang Mai Guesthouse which is Mama Honey's place, and we agreed it would do the trick, ordered food and booked ourselves up for a jungle Trek! The trek was leaving the next morning at 8:30. I went for a swim at Mama Honey's other guest house, and man that was some pool! Met a Canadian bloke named Justin, and had a good chat and agreed to meet up later on at my guesthouse after we had our jungle trek briefing around 6. Our guides name was Loh So or something like that, and there were about a dozen of us all said and done that were going on the trek. After the brief we went to a night market ate food, and a few of us went to a bar for a couple of beer.

The bar was in front of a big square with a boxing ring. Which was cool cuz we watched some Thai Kickboxing, sparring. It was good. Then things got a little weird. We ended up at a table with Thai Lady Boys. Justin wanted to speak to one of them, and so it was. Thai lady boys, are all woman up top, but all man down below...freaky stuff. Everyone had buggered off except for Justin, Fin a Scottish fellow (Grew up in England so has an English accent!) and myself. Justin wanted to stay and chat and Fin and I were ready to call it a night. That's when a bunch of topless ladyboys wandered by. Man, it was just weird, Justin insisted that I get my photo taken with him.....so yeah....Fin hasn't sent me the photo, so you may never see it...probably better that way. We headed back to Mama Honey's and hit the sack!