My Adventures

Working hard...hardly working

2009-05-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

The original keys/locks that they still use, very cool and a little tricky at first....

Sunkist Backpackers the Old Lady Bowen hotel

Yikes! One guy tried to tell me he saw ghosts there when he stayed...

Kauaotunu Beach

So after my fun in Whitianga my friend Craig needed help for a couple of days in his hostel doing reception so I went back to Thames for the week. It was very nice to be invited back, not sure if I'll get invited back again, especially after putting a guy in the girls dorm room! On paper I put him in the correct one but then I gave him a key for the girls room by total accident which just happened to me my room as well. It all worked out and everyone was happy except for the boss but we are still talking or trying to.....I have trouble with the kiwi talk sometimes! haha

Then I went back up the west coast to spend a couple of nights in Coromandel Town. Lots of nice treks and also took a 16km bike ride on partly gravel roads to a place called Waiau Waterworks which had all sorts of contraptions that run on water and nice pathways too.

Relaxing now in Whitianga again for my last few days in the Coromandel. Rainy day today, lucky I finally got time to work on my blog!

A Little Ferry Ride to another Amazing Place!

2009-05-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

Back Bay

View pf Back Bay from the Whitianga Rock / Pa

Trail that leads to the old Pa site

View of harbour from Shakespeare's Cliff

Looking down...

On the Edge, quick take the picture! Another windy bad hair day...

View below Shakespeare Cliff

Having so much fun, I've stayed in Whitianga for a week now! I took the shortest ferry ride ever across the way and did some really nice walks around to an old Pa site with an amazing view of the harbour on the other side. And then went over to Shakespeare Cliff for more great views.

New Chum Beach and Poker Night

2009-05-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

At the pub it was Texas Hold Em poker night. The local competition, guy on the right won!

I got second place out of 16, not bad! A $40 bar tab and a beer shirt! They didn't believe it was only the third time I had played. Had to make dad, my teacher, proud! Thanks Dad! :)

Hostel in Whitianga where I stayed and helped out at with Sue.

New Chum Beach

A really cool stream on the way to the beach with black streaks

Peace and tranquil :)

Supposed to be one of the top 10 beaches in the world I believe, just north of Whitianga. The good thing about being here in the winter time is it's certainly not crowded! It was a nice walk down one beach, over alot of rocks and thru a forest to come out on the other side and see the view as in the picture above!

Coromandel - Another Favorite!

2009-05-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

On the walk to Cathedral Cove

Tunnel to Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Cove beach

Coastline to the cove

Hot Water Beach

Finally got to soak in the heat....it would have been deeper but our walls kept caving in!

And nice people here too, imagine that! First night stayed in Thames and went out to watch a rugby game with the friendly hostel owner and his mates. Then next day headed up along the most scenic coastline on the west shore. Checked into our hostels in another really nice town called Whitianga and then headed to Cathedral Cove where Narnia was filmed. Another absolutely amazing place with beautiful scenary, coastline and beaches.

The next day off to Hot Water Beach with some other backpackers to dig our own pool at low tide. This area of the beach has hot water streams running underneath and you can dig and dig and find hot or warm or cold pools all in one small area. Our pool ended up being too cold so we merged it with the people beside us who's was so hot they couldn't sit it it!

Today I Jumped Out of a Perfectly Good Plane!

2009-05-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Before the jump

Free falling! Just jumped out of the plane with a backwards flip!

Finally the parachute!

Amazing views!

Butt shot!

Wheeee! I can fly!

Oh my freezing lips!

Fun! Can't stop smiling/laughing!

Floating thru the clouds!

Actually it was on May 6th I will never forget that day! I stopped again in Taupo for the night just to do this, I've been thinking about it since I got to NZ and Kylie kept on me about how amazing it was. She said either that or bungee jumping, some how this seemed saner! (Is that a word?!)

We it was arranged to go and after several delays because of the weather they finally called and said it was a go at 3pm, I was so excited!

Got there and all strapped up and in the plane we went. First guy and his instrutor leap out, that was a little weird watching them disappear so quickly but I was still doing okay. Then it got a little too cloudy and we had to do 3 fly bys and I was starting to think they were going to cancel it again. I was getting a little leary and very cold and ready to call it quits when the guy waved us quickly to slide to the edge of the plane and before I knew it we were doing a backwards flip out of it! Then we free fell at 200mph for over a minute, it was amazing and so fast that my lips were frozen like I was just at the dentist Xs 10! Finally he pulled the cord and we did corkscrews round and round above the lake, I asked if we were going to land there as we seemed so far away from the land! He laughed and promised me we wouldn't and we didn't! Landed closest to the button actually! What an experience! Would I do it again? Yeah! Maybe in the summer though. Back to the hostel for a hot tub, dinner and a game of New Zealand Monopoly!

Back to the North Island and warmer temps!

2009-05-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

mmmm New Zealand's own soda, it's delicious! Hope I can find it in Canada! This picture was taken in Paeroa - L & P stands for Lemon and Paeroa. Obviously with lemon in it and mineral water and 'special ingrediants' from Paeroa. I tried the ice cream too at 10am as it's only available in that town, great breakfast dessert!

Me and my surfer dude! Thank god there was no water as I actually fell off!

Sea shells washed in along the beach in Mount Monganui. Another great town only was a little rainy and cold.

Napier/Hawkes Bay, ocean waves were huge and came loudly crashing in, I loved it there! Walked on the beach for hours, if only it was summer! Loved this town too!

View from the ferry

Took a ferry from Picton to Wellington and for all of you wondering if I've met any nice guys in my travels wow did I meet a dozie on the ferry, started out all nice and then he got into freaky talk about where we come from and why and where we're going...any ways I managed to hide in the cinema area and escape......the ferry's here have bars, cafes, theatres and viewing decks. Lots of ways to entertain and places to hide on the 3 hour trip.

mmmm Wine

2009-05-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

View from Marcus and Val's home of the Picton harbour, they could watch the ferries come in.

Wine Cellar at Wither Hills

Different grapes vines

Still some grapes on the vines

Loved the fall colours

From Kaikoura to Blenheim we passed Shania Twain's sheep farm just before Queen Charolette Sound. Beautiful area. There are now more cattle than sheep in NZ and deer farms they have here as well.

New Zealand does have alot of vineyards so I went off with another kiwi friend to explore them one day outside of Blenheim. Unfortunately they weren't giving tours as the season is slow now but they were quite happy for us to taste quite a few. I like the Merlots here, they can't grow the right grapes for my favorite Shiraz though. The colors were amazingly beautiful and then I stayed in Picton and went to a neighborhood party. My friends kept asking me if I had enough warm clothes to wear, I already had on all the warm clothes I owed on and I asked well they do have heat don't they? Then they laughed and said well it's a Bar-bie (BBQ) outside! It's like late October weather and we ate, drank and danced outside all night! The latter two were required just to keep warm and forget about the cold. The homemade sambuca really made me forget!

Good memories on the south island, I will definitely be back but next time in the summer. Awesome sights, lakes, mountains, treks/tramps, people and things to do! Luckily I missed the snow!

**on my fourth bag now...my first one burst the seams back in Malaysia, the second one I bought in Malaysia lasted one day.... the third one finally burst in small town Picton. There's not much to pick from there so now I have a super size red suitcase and don't look like a backpacker at all! But at least all my stuff fits plus I have room to expand so it should get me home now!

Saturn, Cathedral Square and Pas

2009-05-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Me on an old bike in the Christchurh Museum. it said children need accompanied by an adult but it didn't say any thing for adults so of course I had to try and then have some random stranger take my picture. I could hardly reach the peddles, people must have been tall back then or maybe I am just short....

Darren's family whanau (homestead)

Darren, a Maori friend, who enjoyed teaching what he called 'Maori 101'. This was an old Mauri Pa (village) that he showed me around.

Seals by Kaikoura

Mount John Conservatory

Sorry I haven't been on strike just been busy having fun, my updates are long overdue!

One other thing I did in Lake Tekapo was to go up on top of Mount John one evening to see the Mount John Conservatory which works in conjunction with the University of Canterbury. There we looked thru telescopes and actually got a clear view of Saturn and it's rings, also got to see the "Crux'- the southern crosswhich you are not able to see in North America and a few other constellations like the Jewel Box, Sirius, Milky Way and Orion.

Next stop was Christchurch, a really nice town with Cathedral Square that had trolley cars, old buildings and a church. Had fish and chips in newspaper and strolled thru their beautiful museum for a few hours. Saw the movie 'The Reader' with Kate Winslot, it was a nice day ending it with delicious Indian food for dinner!

Next day I was off to the beautiful town of Kaikoura to swim with the dolphins. My friend who lives there laughed at me cause he said even the dolphins wear wetsuits this time of year! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) there were no dolphin sitings that day so it was cancelled. Apparently the week before a bunch of orcas came thru and ate a bunch of dolphins right in front of some Japanese tourists who were screaming 'Stop them' only to have the locals look at them and say 'It's nature!'

So I met up with a my friend Darren, who is passionate about the Maori history and spreading the word and he took me for a tour of an old Pa (village) where a Maori tribe lived, explained how they built them to fight off other Maori tribes and where they would have their homes and ceremony areas. Then he took me to his family site where they have gatherings for everything from weddings, funerals or any other type of celebrations. Very interesting and cultural afternoon and I didn't have to freeze in any water!

Then Darren was kind enough to give me a crayfish to cook. I really appreciated this even more once a group of us from the hostel went out that night and some wanted to try crayfish. It cost $118 for a whole one and $72 for 1/2 of one! So I cooked mine the next day, it was delicous, tasted alot like lobster.

A cloudy look at Mount Cook

2009-04-29T03:43:00.000-07:00

One of the swinging bridges over the raging river.
Me and our cloudy rainy view
The troopers I tramped with, taking a shot of the cloud in front of Mount Cook.

From Lake Tekapo we decided to take a day trip to climb and see NZs largest mountain, Mount Cook, yet another place named after James Cook who discovered most of the Pacific Islands!
It was supposed to be a mostly sunny clear day but it started with me waking up at 6:30am to hear a torrential downpour and then to continue on all day raining. My friends and I were hoping it would change once we got up to the mountain but after waiting around all morning, teaching our Brit friend Ben all about PB and banana sandwiches and watching him eat one we decided it wasn't going to clear so we gave up entertaining ourselves and ventured out. It wasn't too bad just mostly sprinkling but we couldn't even see the cloud covered Mount Cook. We tramped for 3 1/2 hours with the last hour raining quite hard. Came back to the lodge for a well earned coffee with Baileys and to sit by the fireplace and dry out a bit! I have been very lucky, this is the first time the weather has really affected my day and the views so I guess I can't complain. We blamed it on Kelli who has had bad weather and no views on every major hike she's been on, poor girl but she's toa trooper, she's a Canadian who grew up on the Alaska border. I have met more Canadians in the last week here, it's been great. One night there was 10 of us sitting around and 8 were Canadians!

Another Favorite Town! Lake Tekapo

2009-04-29T03:19:00.000-07:00

A view of Lake Tekapo, I practically had to lay on the wet ground to get this shot but it was worth it!

After climbing straight uphill on Mount John for an hour or so, I got this shot of Lake Tekapo

Moeraki Boulders between Dunedin and Omarua.
The first church in NZ

I think I have developed an attraction to small towns by lakes....this lake was actually very stunning. First the color is the most amazing blue, it's created from 'Rock Flour', which is washed off the glacier rocks by the rain and then goes into the lake turning the water this turquoise blue. As I was walking along the shore side I felt like I was at the ocean as large waves where literally crashing into the shore constantly, it was so strange I really had to think about where I was as this lake is also very large and you can't see the far side. It probably helped being that it was a very blustery rainy day out.
This is a very small town and it has the first church in NZ here. It's a tiny stone bu idling that seats 40 people and has a 2 1/2 year waiting list to get married there. I guess if you had to wait that long you'd really be sure you want to get married so that could be a good thing! I was so impressed by the view of the lake out the big glass window that I had to take a picture totally not seeing the 'please respect our church/no cameras' sign that I also blindly captured in my photo! The people I was with quickly told me no pictures and I felt ashamed then only to see the little old man working there grinning at the horrified look on my face. He laughed and said that was mainly because when they get too many people inside it's too hard and holds things up. He was so sweet I had to make a donation!

Critters everywhere!

2009-04-29T02:57:00.000-07:00

A sheep who was curiously watching us as we walked back up the hill from the beach.

Hooker seals taking a break from their wrestling. I took this from a ledge just above the beach, safe spot but very close to them. They didn't pay us much attention.

Little yellow eyed penguin heading past us to his/her nest.

Another cute one who waddled along, looked like a little old man.

I arrived in Dunedin after Queenstown and decided to go on a Wildlife Tour as I really wanted to see the yellow eyed penguins. After touring around and looking at all types of birds including the Albatross (it's amazing how many NZ has especially after being in SE Asia and hardly seeing any!) we headed to a farmers property alongside the ocean where the tour company had special access to and built an area just for the penguins to nest.
Here we hiked down the steep hills to first see the yellow eyed penguins who were so adorable! We watched them keeping a distance of about 15 feet or more and I couldn't stop laughing at one little one who was frantically trying to get out of the ocean. As he glided in on his tummy he would try to quickly get up and then waddle as fast as he could to get out of the water before another wave came crashing in forcing him to fall flat on his belly again. Poor little guy did this about 3 times before he got safely up onto the beach. Then it's the season for them to find their mates and we watched them flirting and calling each other and saying hello by standing feet together with their heads looking up in the air. Not sure why they think this is a way to attract someone it looks as though they are ignoring the other with their nose in the air but hey whatever works I guess!
Then we wandered further down the beach to find the Hooker Seals, they are larger than the Fur Seals and all of them where males who were on 'holidays' as they don't take any part of rearing their babies. They leave the mothers and babies alone until it's time to mate again. They just sat on the beach and were constantly fighting and picking on each other, some life huh?!
Further down the beach we saw more penguins coming out of the ocean and going up to their nests in the bushes or meeting a 'mate'.
Then up the humongous hill and down the other side (no one told us there was going to be hiking straight up some of the steepest hills I've seen here!) to see the Fur Seals who were just coming in with their baby pups. We watched them romp around and play and make all kinds of noise, no wonder the males leave..... It was too dark to take pictures of them as we were up above on a cliff and watching them below.
They are very environmentally aware and take special care not allowing us to get too close to the animals which is good. The farmer has been very co-operative in working with this company and allowing them to build a fenced in area for the penguins to nest so other animals like the seals can't get to them.

Amazing Milford Sound and Homer Tunnel

2009-04-29T02:37:00.000-07:00

Spent a day going to Milford Sound from Queenstown. Along the way we had a few stops including Mirror Lakes with even more mirror images of mountains in the lakes that were just stunning and then we went thru Homer Tunnel. This is a famous tunnel that is 1.5 kms long and took them 20 years to build. Apparently in Canada we don't know what tunnels really are as my friend from Germany thought nothing of this tunnel as we were going through it and I was just in awe!

We got to Milford Sound and took a 2 hour boat tour through the sound, past 3 large waterfalls, lazy seals and lots of amazing cliff/mountain sides. The scenery was so dramatic and amazing it's no wonder this is one of NZ's top spots to come and see!

Queenstown- The Place to Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

2009-04-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

Me and Mr Rees, the founder of Queenstown and his pet sheep?!
Semra and I in the Minus 5 ice bar, she's the bad influence!
View across the lake from Queenstown
Eating my Fergburger!

What a change from my little Wanaka town! Queenstown is a beautiful hustle bustle energy packed city with lots to do. They claim to be the adventure capital of NZ but I find this whole country is packed full of adventures of every sort possible! They are also know for their pubs and the famous Fergburger, which is an absolutely huge burger of all types, I tried the Lil Bambi one. Sounds mean but they actually raise deer here to eat so I thought I would give it a try. In fact NZ used to be known for sheep farming but now cattle farming is the most popular and then sheep and deer.
We also had to go and try the 'Teapot' drinks at Old World Bar. These are basically a large cocktail served in a teapot and they give you little shot glasses to pour into and then drink out of. Then we had to check out the Minus 5 Bar, it's an ice bar that is around -7 or -8 degrees and all made out of ice. They give you warm jackets and gloves and you are only allowed to stay in for 1/2 hour and drink your drinks out of glasses made of ice and sit on ice benches and look at ice sculptures, very cool!
Then we had to check out a popular spot called Winnies which had a rooftop that opened up to the sky so when it got too hot they would pop it open, let the wind gust thru the place and shut it down again. Here I was lucky to catch up with a friend, Krista, whom I had met in Cambodia, amazing where you run into your traveling friends! Then off to an Irish Pub for some more drinks and dancing! I love the diversity in this city, what a great place wish I could have stayed longer!

Fun observation- NZ has $1 and $2 coins as well. I accidentally asked a lady when I was doing my laundry if the washing machines took Loonies or Twoonies. She burst out laughing and asked me what I was talking about and then I realized what I had said!
Also the Kiwis are so into their outdoors they have patio seating with heaters or fireplaces year round!!

My Favorite Town - Wanaka!

2009-04-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

The Ames Illusion Room, tiny me and big Semra
Now I'm Big!
The Roman bathroom
Morning mist
View to View point on Lake Matheson with Mount Cook in the back.
Left Franz Joseph and drove past Fox Glacier. There are only 3 glaciers in the world that are attached to a rain forest, Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier are two and the other one is in South America. Next stop was at Lake Matheson and we tramped up to the View to View point and got lucky again as it was another sunny day and took pictures with reflections in the lake with west side of Mount Cook in the distant background.

Then I headed down to an often missed little town called Wanaka. Along my travels so many people had told me to stop here and I am so glad I did! What a great little 'chill out' town, I went to a cool place called Puzzle World where they had different Illusion rooms and a Giant confusing Maze. They also have a giant leaning Tower of Wanaka with a backwards clock that they stated on January 1st, 2000. They also had Paradiso Cinema where I watched the movie - Changeling with Angelina Jolie while sitting in a decorated room with comfy couches and an old car and you got giant cookies at intermission. They still use a projector to show their movies.
I also rented a bike and followed the paths along the lake and through the yellow freshly fallen leaves, it was so beautiful and smelled just like home in the fall! I have only gone thru 2 seasons in the last 6 months, Fall, Summer and Fall again!

More Tramping- Franz Joseph National Park

2009-04-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

Yes another windy bad hair day.....
'Heaps' of Ice!
Thru some tight spots
Up up up we go
An official NZ 'tramper' now
Arrived into Franz Joseph National Park and it was raining so I headed up to some amazing hot pools and managed to spend 3 hours soaking in the heat! They had 3 pools with different degrees- 40, 38 and 36. Spent about 7 minutes in the 40 degree pool then just over an hour in the 38 degree one (and managed a little nap somehow) and then visited in the 36 degree one quite comfortably. It was beautiful, outdoors and in the midst of the rain forest.

The next day I went on a Glacier Hike, they equipped us with all the proper clothing thankfully which included clamp ons, boots and wind proof jackets. We lucked out and got a mostly sunny day. Started off with a 45 minute tramp to the glacier thru some rain forest along a river until we got to the base. Then strapped on the clamp ons and headed up the glacier as our guide cut out steps for us with her ice pick. Went up and down some pretty steep and narrow areas but the views were incredible and the ice itself was the most amazing blue color in parts. Met 2 ladies from Minnesota, the oldest who just turned 73, she tried backing out part way up but our guide was incredible with her and kept her going along side her and she proudly finished the 4 hour trip. Ended the day with some hot soup and another soak in our hostel hot tub!

Beaches, Pancakes, Breweries and a Stag party!

2009-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Praying for gold!
During the stag party we got a little hungry and had to 'drive thru' the drive thru to get some McD Burgers!
Truman Track
Pancake rocks
Cape Foulwind coastline
Leaving Nelson we headed down the coast and stopped off on a few small 'tramps' along the way. The first stop was Cape Foulwind which was an incredible beach with crashing waves and seals with their pups romping on the rocks below. Next stop was Truman Track, more crashing waves and incredible views after a 15 minute tramp down hill and finally the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes with Hokey Pokey ice cream! Here they had even bigger crashing waves and amazing rock views. The rocks themselves looked like actual stacked pancakes and were huge. It was simply amazing and again the views were incredible!

That night my Turkish/German friend, Semra, and I went off to the Monteith's Brewery Tour in Greymouth. Not that I am a big beer fan but there isn't much else to do in this town and I've been on a few wine tours but never a beer tour. Very interesting and we got to do some taste testing at the end and found a Shandy flavoured one I didn't mind too much! We ended off at the Royal Hotel for a buffet dinner and then some how got involved with the gang at 'Ellie May's' Stag party. Danced and partied into the wee hours of the night so Greymouth ended up not being quite so boring as everyone else had told us!

Up early the next morning after a couple of hours sleep and stopped into Ross Goldfields where there has been major gold discoveries and tried my luck. Sadly I only found about a dozen flakes and a couple of tiny pieces of jade.

South Island - Nelson / Abel Tasman National Park

2009-04-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Paddle paddle paddle
Setting out for our kayaking day on the Abel Tasman

Got up early and was relieved to not have fallen out of the top bunk in my dorm so it's a good day so far! Headed to the south island via a ferry. This was the 'gourmet' of ferries, it was an incredible ship with a bar, movie theatres and lounger chairs which I enjoyed using as we passed the most beautiful scenery.
Once on the south island our Magic Bus picked us up and we stopped off at a winery to do some wine tasting. Not sure about this place, good wine but they said only 3 countries they couldn't ship to and one being Canada. When I asked why the lady told me apparently there is a drinking problem in Canada and our government won't allow personal shipping of alcohol into the country unless you have a signed note from a DA stating that you are of sound mind and body! I think maybe she drinks too much wine herself to make up that story!
Spent a few nights in Nelson and went out to the Abel Tasman National Park for a day of kayaking. Chilly weather but with spray skirts and jackets we were plenty warm and had a great day of kayaking, seal watching, a beach picnic and some beach combing.

Trains and Cable Cars

2009-04-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Civic center, looks like the ball is unsuspended but there are wires
New Zealand's Silver Fern, it was huge about 6 feet across
Roses in the Botanical Garden
View from the train ride as we are leaving the National Park
Cable car that I took up to the Botanical Gardens
The train bridge looking back.
Some of my new friends I made on a street in Wellington
Street corner in Wellington
Sadly leaving the National Park I decided to try the train ride from there to Wellington. It was like a "Magic" train compared to Thailand's sleeper trains. Clean, comfortable and lots of room to move around. You could go from car to car and there was an outdoor viewing platform that I spent alot of time on making new friends, waving at people in the towns and on the highways as we passed them and taking amazing shots of the scenery and animals as we blew past it. It was an amazing journey I am so happy I took. It took 5 1/2 hours to get to Wellington with a few stops in small towns but the time just flew by.

Wellington is a beautiful city that is compared to San Francisco and I can see why. It's very trendy and has lots of funky things to see including the Te Papa Museum which is 6 floors of history, culture, world science, stories of immigrants and the land and lots of interactive things to do. It also had a special exhibition showing a giant squid that was caught by a fishing boat about a year ago. It's one of the largest known ones ever seen.
I also took the Cable Car, which is very small in camparison with San Francisco's, but fun none the less up to the Botanical Gardens where they still had an amazing section of various Rose Bushes growing then walked thru the city past the Parliament Buildings which were made in the shape of a Beehive and thru the civic centre.

Going Tramping

2009-04-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

View from close to the bottom of the trail
My tramping buddies- Mia and Gina, sisters from America. We all suffered together right til the bitter end!
On the edge, one of them.
Rugged terrain
Beautiful site, almost as nice as our Rockies
I found snow!

Red crater, amazing color

The Emerald Lakes, a group of 3 water filled explosion craters

You can see the trail coming down the mountain on the right that we followed down and we were only part way down when I took this picture!

I had to walk through some snow! It was so exciting after missing winter in Canada, I even made a snowball and threw it!

It's called 'Hiking' in Canada, 'Trekking' in Asia and 'Tramping' in NZ! I learnt this as I started a hike on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the National Park. A guy casually asked me if I had done much tramping in NZ and he looked so serious I took a wild guess and said you mean hiking right?!

I spent a couple of days in the most peaceful National Park I have ever been to, it's probably like Banff was a hundred years ago, it was beautiful. After talking to many people I decided to do some tramping. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is considered one of NZs top hikes. It's 19.4 kms long over spectacular volcanic terrain and the highest point is 1886m. We started our tramp about 8am with some clouds but then it cleared to a beautiful sunny day which started melting their bit of snow they had gotten 2 nights earlier. We hiked up and down and around past craters, cliff sides, sulphur lakes and over rocky terrain and even down some soft volcanic dirt. Had picnics on rocks by the lakes and overlooking amazing valleys and got lots of great photos! It was the most amazing time! Until the last 3 kms.....hiking in rental boots to boot!

This was the longest and steepest hike I had ever done and the last 3 kms just about killed me, in fact I got past the pain and started to feel nothing at one time! We also had moments of unstoppable laughter at literally nothing but it sure took the thoughts off of our wobbly legs. I was never so thankful to see the end of a trail about 4pm, and collapsed once I got in the bus only to have to get off in 30 minutes and feel like I got put into some 100 year old persons body! I could hardly get off the bus let alone walk and was so embarassed but then looked at everyone else and they were all hobbling along the same!
None the less, 3 days later and still feeling the pain I can say it was totally worth it to see what we saw, go where we went and to say I conquered the Crossing! YAY!!

Culture, Thrills and Explosions

2009-04-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Waioapu Thermal Park

Amazing scenery and colors

Ditto

Friends Lisa and Tim and our crazy driver Mark who is a Irish Maori man who drove us to the show. On our way back to town he was singing songs and when we got to the roundabout he sped the bus round and round and round singing "Here we Go Round the Mulberry Bush" till we were exhausted from laughing.

Saw this and then went on the Giant Swing below....(sorry I can't sort these pictures in order! aarrgh!)

Maori woman in costume telling us stories of her culture.

Lady Knox Geyser.

Geothermal pools at Rotorua, leaves a sulphur smell all over the town called Rotorua.

Scary warrior at the Maori show, I was supposed to me sticking out my tongue but I forgot....

Adrenaline thrill time- Me on the Giant Swing outside of Taupo. Too fun! But I screamed alot and scared the next girl from trying it. Sorry Michelle!

Shearing the Angora Rabbits

Now I'm heading south on the north island. I am on the 'Magic Bus' tour and it's much more magical than the buses in Asia and not so scary either!

It's great as they stop along the way at points of interest like Mount Eden just outside of Auckland for an amazing view of Auckland and also the volcanic craters around the city. They have cattle in this viewing area to 'mow' the lawn. Apparently it's easier to keep cattle here as the sheep are easily stolen especially close to Easter time.
Next stop was to the Rabbit Shearing show, poor bunnies! But if left unshaved apparently they would die from heat exhaustion.

Then off to Waitomo Caves where inside are thousand of tiny glowworms that sparkle like stars. We sat in a boat in complete darkness and it was amazing just like looking up at the stars only way more lights.

That night I was off with my Magic Bus friends to a Maori show that taught us their culture and how they came to NZ. They showed us how they cooked our dinner underground, a traditional ceremony, tattooed faces, dances and songs. Very worthwhile, interesting and fun night!

On the way to Taupo we stopped off a Lady Knox Geyser that blows every day about 10:15am, they actually put a substance in it to help it along..... a tourist site for sure but it was free for us and very cool to watch. Then went through the Waiotapu Thermal Park and saw about 20 different craters.

Then it was time for some action at a place called Rock N Ropes. I chose to do the Giant Swing and with a harness climbed up a few hundred feet up a pole and jumped off sort of like Tarzan swinging on ropes thru the jungle only I didn't sound like him at all!

Road Trip to Bay Of Islands- Paihia

2009-04-08T00:19:00.000-07:00

Our crazy Tuk Tuk driver we found in Auckland. Gave us the ride of our lives up a steep street, thru mad traffic and down sidewalks dodging people! Much like the asian ones!

Leaving Paihia

Kylie and waterfall in Paihia

Hole in the Rock

Cute little red shed on Otehei Bay Island

Wandering down Paihia beach looking for seashells

Scary Warrior girls

Lunch stop at Otehei Bay and more seashell hunting

Dolphins right in front of us!

Nice hair! Very windy day!

Off in a little rental car, a Nissan Sunny, about 3 1/2 hours north of Auckland. Sounds easy but they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road here with the steering wheel on the 'wrong' side and the signal light clicker on the 'wrong' side too! I nicked a couple of little things but the car didn't look any different and the tires stayed inflated so it was all good except that poor Kylie is probably still having nightmarish flashbacks, sorry again hun!! If it's any consolation my ears are still ringing from your screams..... I don't know how many times I would wipe the windows when I really wanted to turn!

We did make it safe and sound and found a cute little place called Cantabay Lodge to stay in which was only a couple of blocks from the beach.

We went on another boat tour of the Bay of Islands and helped deliver mail/supplies to a couple of the islands, come across a pod of dolphins and got to watch them follow us for miles and miles and then suddenly a tiny little penguin shot in front of us too! Got to see the famous Hole in The Rock island that was originally named Piercy Island by Captain Cook. Unfortunately we didn't get to go thru the hole as the waters were so rough and choppy it would have been like driving on shear ice.
Stopped at the end for a drink at the Duke of Marlborough Inn in Russell, across the bay from Paihia. This pub was the first liscensed pub in NZ and Russell used to be the capital of NZ.

Observations in Auckland- I was told that there are 1.5 million people in Auckland and that they have no proper transit system as far as trains etc. So the traffic in this city is actually even worse than Calgary! Very slow, very congested and very busy. You have to own a car in this city most families have 2 or 3. The cars here are different styles and brands, like the Nissan 'Sunny' and another GM product called Holden equilvanlent to Ford I beleive.

New Zealand- A Whole New World!

2009-04-07T23:20:00.000-07:00

Brandi was a little scared of the Plexiglas floor but she got braver.

Kylie was right in/on there and being normal.....haha

Auckland skyline from the boat

A welcome sign I was in the process of making at the Mercury Pub next to our hostel. They arrived a little too early but it was mostly done. Thanks to Suzie and Ray for their help!

View of the harbour with a volcano in the background, from the Sky Tower

Looking way down!

Happy to be here and on a beach even if it's cold!

I am frickin' freezin' in New Zealand! Any one think I should become a poet?! :)

Well the days aren't too bad sometimes but the nights sure get cold, but I'm still wearing sandals so far.

Arrived in Auckland and a few hours later Kylie and Brandi did as well. I was so excited to see Kylie and hear more of her stories as I haven't seen her for 6 months!
Stayed at BK Hostel and got us a cozy 'little' room. We spent a couple of days catching up and checking out the city and a little shopping. We also took a boat on the Harbour Tour to see the city and all of it's volcano's that are supposedly all dormant now. The last one went off 600 years ago and Auckland is still considered to be an active area. I was glad we were leaving the next day. We also went up the Sky Tower and got some fun shots! Took Kylie to her first Comedy Club show, they love to pick on the Aussies!

Back in Bangkok

2009-03-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

A Celebration Parade near my Guesthouse

Cheap Charlie's Pub around the corner from Suk 11 Guesthouse and some people I met. Fun little pub with crazy signs and people!

This is where one of the crazy people took me....just for a photo op and some interesting people watching! Then back to our neighborhood Irish pub.

It was suggested from a young lady, Meghan, who I was traveling with to stay at the Suk 11 Guesthouse near Nana Plaza in Bangkok so I thought I'd check out yet another part of Bangkok. Not sure if I'm getting used to the craziness or what but it's all quite exciting and interesting everywhere you go. Small doses and only occasionally also helps I think. I got some shopping done as I was leaving for NZ in a couple of days and needed some warm clothes. I got my teeth cleaned for $35, it's not any more fun here than it is in Canada unfortunately. Spent 2 hours at the post office trying to mail 3 packages, what an ordeal, helped when I finally got the English speaking 'boss' to help out. I also got my hair colored and butchered. I kept telling the lady, not so short and she kept reassuring me it's not and I thought maybe the mirrors were those funhouse ones cause it sure looked like alot was falling off my head. Sure enough once she was finished I swear I lost a couple of pounds of hair!

Oh well, it will grow back and meanwhile I am trying to get used to styling it with no appliances only gel /mousse and my hands! Some days are better than others.

Then I went for one final Thai massage! I am so going to miss those!

On my journey to NZ I had a 7 hour stopover in Singapore but found myself very entertained. They have everything there including free internet, only catch is you have to stand....I had some Thai food for dinner and then went to the cinema to see Johnny Depp in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Koh Samet- The last of the beaches in Thailand....for now....

2009-03-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Bamboo Island, just a few huts along the shoreline.

One of the vendors selling food on the beach.

Statues of Prince and Princess on the beach

Beautiful!

What a great ending to the beaches of Thailand. I stayed at Jeb's Guesthouse on the ocean and just relaxed and lazed on the beach all day for 4 days. Met some Aussies, Germans and Koreans to hang out with. My first night there I went to the Red Ginger restaurant, which I recieved a flyer on the beach for, it said it was run by a Canadian so of course I had to check it out and support it! :)

Met Roger the owner/chef and we became fast friends talking about Canada and he was so happy to have an 'english' speaking person to talk with and relate to. He used to work for CBC and was the editor for a show called 'One the Road Again'. Once he could shut down the restaurant at night we went out on the town. Saw fire shows and bands on the beach, went to a Reggae bar with a live band which was so funny cause they try to sing the words to Bob Marley songs and lots of other hits we know and if they don't know the words they would just make them up!

Lots of fun on the island and the only bad thing was it had tiny little sand flies who bite really hard and then the bites itch so bad! I am still itching a bit and it's been 2 weeks!

Back to the Beach!

2009-03-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

View of the beach on Bamboo Island at BimBamBoo, a resort on the other side of the island. Only a five minute walk on a pathway thru a jungle where I came across 2 cows, one even let me pet it!
Whipped cream fight
Pyramid, we had to put the dog on top as there weren't enough girls. What we won't do for a shooter!
The boys playing poker with seashells
Arriving at Bamboo Island, the shoreline with only 10 huts and a dorm on this beach. So peaceful and quiet!

My little spot to watch the sunset turned around and saw the lone footsteps on the beach, very cool
Looking down the quiet beach on Bamboo Island

Sokha Beach
Small children working on the Sohka beach selling fruit and drinks.
Climbing on/over the rocks to get to Sohka beach, was worth the trip but we found a nice pathway to get back home on.
A cool rock I just had to climb up and pose on!
Fashion statement in Cambodia, I tried many times to be inconspicuous and take a picture of these women and children walking around in 2 piece pajama sets!

After a month and a half of inland traveling in mid 30s temperatures it's great to be back at the beach! Hence the slow down of updating my blog, plus with the poor or lack of Internet service in Laos and Cambodia.
Sihanoukville is the resort spot of Cambodia so fairly busy but I found a couple little great getaways spots with quiet sandy beaches and crystal blue water. One place was called Sokha Beach which was a 5 star resort. We paid $4 to use their beach chairs, a luxurious velour beach towel, showers/toilets and swimming pool and what a treat it was! I felt like I was living the high life for a day!
I also went to a great spot called Bamboo Island where I spent the night in a rustic little hut (from luxury to roughing it in 1 day, I'm so adaptable!) right on the beach, going to sleep listening to the crashing waves and waking up to the same sound, best sleep I had in a long time! Especially after the crazy night we had of competing for shooters, swimming at midnight with the phosphorences again and whipped cream fights! Quiet island but the 30 some people there know how to liven things up!
One of the great things about Sihanoukville is at night all the places along the beach have $3 seafood BBQs so we quite often feasted on the beach. Also we had some amazing rain showers and thunder/lightening shows at night, which was fun and cooled us off.

Kampot- Bodhi Villa

2009-03-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Floating bungalows on the river
dThe Restaurant/Bar right on the river
Lockand and his art museum, a neighbor of Bodhi Villa
The dock on the river

Next day I was off to Kampot in Southern Cambodia. Time to 'chill out' and my Canadian friends (even though they are from Edmonton) Cara and Dave told me the best place to go was Bodhi Villa.
It's a great spot along the river where at night you can swim with the Phosphorescence and during the day just relax, enjoy the scenery and peacefulness. I must say too the bartender, Tan, had to be one of the coolest Cambodians I've ever met. He had an Aussie accent and could dance like a rapper!
Nice stopover place before taking a 'taxi' to Sihanoukville. In this taxi they could actually fit up to 8 people including the driver but if you pay for an extra seat you don't have to sit squished into this little 1980s Toyota Camry with broken door handles and no shocks. Yet another very interesting mode of transportation, thank god it only lasted 2 hours!

Phnom Phen, Cambodia

2009-03-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

One girl's story posted in the Tuol Sleng Museum
Traffic in Phnom Phen
Monument created at the Killing Fields, inside were shelves of skulls recovered from the fields.
The cells inside Tuol Sleng Museum
Another cell in the museum.

OK so island life isn't always paradise, I was working on my masterpiece of all blog postings last night and the power went out in the middle of it making me lose all the material I had wrote! So here I am again....
I see I have a few more followers signed up, thanks (except for my family?!), some anonymous ones as well which have me wondering.....and thanks to those of you who have emailed me and told me, it does motivate me more if I know people are reading it.
So I will try to remember what I had written last night after a day of lying on the beach and my create juices were flowing and I was full of wit....now I am just going on another late night at the amusing Reggae bar, 2 cups of coffee and the eager thoughts of getting to the beach once I'm done here!

After another karaoke fun filled bus ride, I arrived mid day into Phnom Phen which is the capital of Cambodia and has alot of history from the Khmer Rouge reign including some of the Killing Fields. Cambodia is lush and green and mostly flat land with some hills and bushes in the north and south. Phomn Phen is a very busy, noisy, action packed, dirty city which is very dangerous for walking and crossing roads. I did venture out dodging traffic and went and did a bit of shopping and got some trendy, new glasses for $48!
That night at my Guesthouse I watched the movie -The Killing Fields, I had heard of it but hadn't seen it and thought it would be good to get some insight before my tour the next day. It was actually very well done and interesting about a western journalist and his Cambodia photographer friend and trying to escape out of Cambodia once the Khmer Rouge took over.
The next day off I went with my friendly English speaking tuk tuk driver, we made it about 2 blocks when we got a flat tire....luckily there are moto repair guys on every street corner so 1/2 hour later we were good to go, thank goodness it didn't happen on the highway!
First stop was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, it was a high school the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison before taking the people to the Killing Fields. It showed a movie first and then you got to tour the 4 buildings which took about 2 hours. It was full of peoples stories and pictures and gave you a really good understanding of what happened and how the Khmer Rouge tricked people including the Europeans whom they invited over for 'tours' and donate but only showing them what they wanted them to see. From the stories, they were very manipulative and tricked so many people into believing they wanted to help people and make a better world for them including soldiers they recruited, only for them to find out quite quickly that wasn't so.
Next stop was the Killing Fields, I had mixed feelings about seeing this and hardly took any pictures and a couple I did I have decided not to post on here. It's hard to explain, I think it was worth going to see to understand and it was well set up and done with guides who blatenatley explained what was done and where. They seemed so matter of fact about it all. I understand that they are trying to just move on from what happened and not dwell on it, even though alot of the area and buildings were destroyed by families of people who were killed there after the Khmer Rouge lost control of the country. It was very emotional and after I left and reflected about it all on my way back to town it certainly gave me much more of an appreciation for the Cambodian people and the horrors they have been through and how they are working hard at trying to go on with life. Of course some are doing better than others you can see but for the most part, people just want peace and happiness now.
Last stop of my tour which was a nice change of pace was shopping at the Russian market. I decided to get a bite of local food and found 'the best ice coffee shop' in Phnom Phen and took my snack of backed rice cakes there to eat and enjoy my coffee. Now I am not sure why but Asian people don't think anything of touching food, your food, thier food whatever. As I was waiting for my rice cakes to cool and for my coffee the guy who ran the shop sat beside me and decided to check out my food my proceeding to poke his fingers into each little rice cake! You think I would be a little more relaxed about these kinds of actions by now but I immediatley yelled well kind of laughing in disbelief- 'Don't touch my food!' So he quickly apoligized and went off to make my ice coffee.....when I was done I thought I'd just have a 'look' at the shopping and found myself buying a hammock! One thing I just had to have and somehow find a spot in my overstuffed bag for it! Now I have somewhere to sleep when I come home just need a place to hang it! :)
Ended the day with a tour up and down the busy riverfront which was mostly blocked off with huge billboards as if they were doing riverfront construction. Ended up at a restaurant called- Friends which hires street kids to work there and get their lives straightened out. Great food, expensive but for a good cause and a couple of nice, young german guys I sat with treated me! Almost like a double date and the best part was they walked me home to my Guesthouse with no expectations as they were on their way to the bars to find some Asian girls! I feel so safe here, its great! haha

More kids! ACODO Centre

2009-03-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

The guest of honor in the middle

Little 'monkey' boy, 4 years old

Youngs girls doing an amazing job
This young girl had so much grace and beauty she was just as good as the women I had seen at my first Aspara show.

There are many orphanages in Cambodia still from the affects of war. I was given a postcard on the street from a young lady who told me about this particular one and an Aspara dance show they put on every night by the children of the orphanage. She just raved about the place so I thought I'd go check it out.
When I arrived I was welcomed by alot of enthusiastic young people who offered to give me a tour of their 'home'. They were so proud to show off the classrooms, the large bedrooms, the kitchen, lockers and the computer room and finally the stage area. They range from 4 to 17 years old, go to school there and also learn to dance or play a musical instrument. I could not believe how well behaved, polite and friendly they were. It truly was one big happy family and they all supported each other and loudly applauded their friends after each dance. I was the only guest there that night and the founders told me that often they have no one but the show still goes on and they cheer every night for each other.

Siam Reap, Home of Angkor Wat and all the other Little Wats

2009-03-16T08:15:00.001-07:00

Aspara dancer at The Temple Restaurant/Bar
Look very closely, what do you see?! Somebody's watching.
Banyan Trees at Ta Prom. They have overgrown in the Temple and are doing major destruction unfortunately but they are beautiful and this along with Banyan Wat was one of my favorites.
Angkor Wat
Just one of the staircases I had to climb in mid 30 heat of the day! But amazing views at the top so it was worth it!
Apparently one of the scenes in Tomb Raider has this Banyan Tree in it.
Banteay Srei temple
Angkor Wat
Sunrise at Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument and one of the 8 wonders of the world!

After another grueling bus ride that lasted about 9 hours , complete with non-stop blaring karaoke videos, sick people, screaming babies and a bus driver who laid on the horn every 2 seconds to warn oncoming traffic that we'd be flying by and to clear the way I ended up in the charming, touristy town of Siam Reap. Then at the bus station I had 3 tuk tuk drivers arguing over me and after the 3rd time I had to get out of one and get into another one I finally got upset and told them I was going to start walking if they didn't make up their minds right now. After the journey I had just gone thru I could not believe this was happening now, I just wanted a shower and a bathroom without a squat toilet even though I have mastered the art of balancing myself over a squat toilet with my backpack still on without splashing on my feet! My latest new skill thanks to my years of Pilate's and core strength!
Finally found a guesthouse and went off to the market to get a real authentic Khmer dinner for $2.50 and then to a traditional Khmer Aspara dance show at a bar appropriately called The Temple.
The next few days were spent with my driver taking me from temple (Wat) to temple as Angkor Wat itself covers over 25 square kms. Alot of destruction from the Khmer Rouge days but they are working hard at restoring them. Each was very unique and beautiful with amazing, detailed sculpture work. It's so hard to believe these were created and built by men alone with no machines.
Also went to tour the Landmine Museum founded by an interesting man, Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge soldier (not exactly by choice) who has an amazing life story. I was very proud to find out that Canada is in partnership with this museum and has donated to the clearing of the landmines.

Next Stop - Cambodia!

2009-03-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

The lake in Phnom Phen and it's canalways thru the morning glory which they plant there.
An Irrawaddy Dolphin Tail!

I am a bit behind in my blog, mainly because of the slowness of the computers here and pictures taking forever to upload. Sorry if my stories aren't as entertaining and inspiring, it's blistering hot and beginning to effect my brain I think (that's my story and it sounds good to me!) Actually yesterday (March 10th, the mark of my four months of travel) I had my first actual sick day. Yes poor me and no one around to feel sorry for me! Luckily it was one of those rare times I had a tv in my room. I think it was a bit of heat exhaustion from trasping around the temples the day before in the mid 30s degree weather, lots of water but still didn't help!

Ok back to the beginning of Cambodia.....my first stop was a little town called Kratie. The town itself didn't offer too much but one day I did a tour to see some Rapid Waters (yes they considered it a tourist attraction), a mountain (which was a good way to avoid saying- 300 steps up in this heat and you get to see another freakin temple) and the best part a tour- to go see the Irrawaddy dolphins! There were quite a few pods around and I got to see about 5 dolphin tails which is apparently quite rare. The rarest is to see a head pop out and I never did, but still it was very exciting to be amongst them and it's nice to see they have strict rules for the guides not to run their motors around them and to keep a distance. The government here is working hard on preserving the dolphins whom almost became extinct and when I was there they were having a big meeting about how to improve the park and what they are doing there. Nice to see them so conscientious about their nature which is very rare in some 3rd world countries and especially because here there was still war activities happening since not so long ago, 1998.

My wild night out in Kratie consisted of going around the corner to a little pub with a girl I met while having dinner. We each had a Sprite and decided the next day to get up early and rent bicycles, take them across the river on the ferry to tour around the island's villages which included a Vietnamese Floating Village too, before it gets too hot out. We agreed to meet at 8:30am after renting our bikes so off to bed early. I headed back to my guesthouse only to find the place dark and totally locked up at 10:45pm! They usually have a night person or security guard but after 10 minutes of rapping on the doors I was beginning to worry.
After 45 minutes of finally finding the owners, arguing with them that I didn't want to stay in another cheap place 'for free' after I had already paid for this room because they couldn't wake up the night watch person and that I wanted my room with ''my stuff'' and being lectured that I should know better to stay out so late I finally got into 'my room'. Well, Welcome to Cambodia I thought! Needless to say I moved across the street the next day to a place that had a side door that you could get into after they lock the main doors, like most places usually do have! So now I have learned another life skill for travelors which is to find out how to get into your guesthouse if you happen to be out a little 'late'.

The Last of Laos :(

2009-03-11T03:21:00.000-07:00

This tugboat literally pushed us on our 'ferry boat' to the other side of the river.
A view of the river at Don Det
One of the amazing waterfalls
Elderly woman selling baked bananas

I really loved Laos, what an amazing country that just makes you want to chill out and relax. Partly because you had too, like I said previously everything shuts down so early. (Apparently if you are a real keener and want to party there are a few late night places which I did manage to find one night in Luang Prabang but still was very low key). But partly was because you just wanted to soak in all the beauty and enjoy just watching the livelihood of the local people here.
But for day trips, Laos has some amazing countryside which was great to explore! Just when I started to think big deal, another waterfall, I saw the most amazing waterfalls here that were enormous! Some of them you go to all prepared with bathing suit and towel thinking a cool dip would feel so great but they were so powerful and forceful you didn't even dare try swimming in or near them.

WHO is Actually Reading This?!

2009-03-11T03:11:00.001-07:00

, Nice relaxing chair I found by some enormous waterfalls with plywood and all.

Of course I had to try it out, it didn't break!

OK, people keep telling me how much they are enjoying my blog and I am surprised to hear they are reading it! I have no idea how many people are, I know it shows that I have 10 followers but that doesn't even show my family and I know they are! It would be cool (for me) to see how many people are actually following my blog so please amuse me (cause I've been amusing you) and sign up as a follower. I don't think it's that hard.......Thanks!! :)

ps- who is Orca Girl?!? Is that you Lisa?!

Southern Laos- Tad Lo and Don Khong

2009-03-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

Went on a tour from Don Khong to the smaller islands Don Kong (hardly confusing) and Don Det. This was one of the big attractions. The Japanese had built a railway from one end of the islands to the other to transport things to Vietnam. This is what was left of the railway.

A little girl in Don Khong village leading her water buffalo home, she was not impressed! I thought my kids had it tough on the farm!

One of the local buses, this one wasn't too bad but they cram as many as they can in. When they run out of seats they put stools in the middle. I had to climb over the stools to get to my seat.

On my way to Don Khong Island in Sipandon (4000 islands). Got stuck in a local 'tuk tuk' at what I was told the bus station but at least it took me where I wanted to go......3 1/2 hours cramped in with the locals and thier food for the week. Basically it's an open air, back of a truck with sides and a roof. We stopped in a small village along the way and got smarmed by about 30 people selling food. One was selling chicken on a stick, it literally looked like a run over squashed chicken that had then been cooked. Still had the head and feet on it.....I didn't buy one.....

Cute kids in the village above the waterfalls. They all love to clown around for the camera and then ask you for food or money or your jewelry or try to get into your bag. The westerners have truly spoilt these children. They think it's so fun to see their faces when they give them treats and things but it just encourages them to beg and the candy isn't good for their already bad teeth. It's sad, hopefully more people will realize and quit doing this. It's much better to give to a school, village leader or something like that so they can distribute fairly and everyone gets something. Only in Northern Thailand do I remember seeing children that haven't been affected by this and never asked for anything they were just truly happy to see you.

Tad Lo Falls in Bolevean Plateau, a beautiful spot where I spent a night.

One of the local buses.....this one wasn't too bad, usually the outside is much nicer looking than the inside. One local bus I took I swear was made in the 1940s and had plywood flooring with gaping holes everywhere.

My VIP sleeper bus bed, lucky me I wasn't in the middle!

OK the 'VIP sleeper bus could have been worse! Luckily (?) I was in the back row with 3 other tiny girls from England. It was basically a hard board with a little cushion a pillow and a blanket. The other people had to share bunkbeds and 2 people had to sleep in one bed! Most were strangers to each other and one lady was in her 50s, rather plump and had to share with a young, hefty 20s guy! Seriouusly these beds weren't even the size of a twin bed. They told us there was a toilet on board which there was, it a tiny 3' x 3' room crammed full of supplies you could spot a little tiny toilet.

But they did treat us, gave us a warm soy milk juice box, a little bag of chips, a bottle of water and in the morning a wet wipe!

Off the VIP bus at 6am to take a local bus to Tadlo Falls and to find a room and have a shower!

Beautiful place along the river with the Falls right in the village and another larger waterfall about 20 minutes away. It was refreshing to go for a swim in but strong currents so couldn't go too far.

Next day up to the main road to catch the local tuk tuk to Don Khong, the largest island in Siphandon, also known as 4000 islands as in the dry season (now) the water is low and there are little islands every where! Arrived and took a ferry boat over, nice quiet little island. At 10pm the young guy who was serving us at the riverside pub/restaurant asked us if we could pay our bill so he could go to bed! It was so cute and funny! We looked up and down the dirt road and it was pitch black so off to bed we went as well!

Next day went on a tour of the other islands and yet more waterfalls. I haven't seen as many waterfalls as temples though! Beautiful country, hard to believe it had been bombed so badly years ago.

Next stop, Cambodia border crossing!

Vientiane - The Capital City of Laos

2009-03-01T02:42:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin at the start of the Buddha Park

Three headed elephant

A hodge podge, great shot I thought!

Spent a night here, this city is the equivalent of Thailand's Bangkok but on a much smaller scale. Plus in Laos, being a communist country, most of the bars close down early by 11:30 or midnight by law. There are a few that can somehow bend the rules and stay open later, not sure how must have something to do with the laid back attitude. It has it's 'lady boys', bars, restaurants and Wats (temples) and the busyness of the traffic.
Funny I was only here an hour and I ran into 3 different people/couples I'd met in my travels so far. Small world or what?
Being here on a Sunday, lots of things were closed but I did manage to get to the Morning Market, which had a few shops open with their handicrafts and then hopped onto a local bus to go an hour out of town to Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park). I have seen so many Buddhas in my travels but I had to check this out as it was listed as one of Laos highlights even though they say it's quote- 'The flowering of one man's bizarre spiritual vision'. It's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist statues done by an artist with the name of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who had a large local following for his teachings that merged the religions in the 1950s. It consists of 200 sculptures of humans and animals in a chaotic display. (okay I copied this as I am running out of time and imagination on here!)
I took about 50 pictures and stood at the top of the giant pumpkin statue (in which you enter by climbing thru it's mouth) after climbing a series of stairs inside and thru chambers of even more statues. Alot of these statues have humouristic qualities to them as well as some very serious ones.

Well off south to Pakse/ Tadlo tonight on a new adventure called a 'sleeper bus', I'll see if I sleep more on this than the trains!

Some more Fun Observations

2009-03-01T02:31:00.000-08:00

The people here are so nice and laid back, in fact they are so laid back they often forget to place your order in the restaurants or bring you your bill after you ask (in SE Asia you always have to ask they won't bother you asking for refills or if you are done.) Then they look surprised and say something to the effort of - 'oh yeah' and dash off to do it. Patience and smiles goes a long way here.

Another thing is I keep seeing the odd Christmas decoration up, at first I thought maybe it's like home with the people who don't take down their outside lights, they just leave them up all year but then the other day I saw them taking an artificial tree apart.

Here in Laos I keep seeing signs for saunas....I can't imagine going to one and actually paying for it! I am in a constant sauna and even though I've adjusted somewhat to the heat the sweat just pours off of you all day!

Lastly I love how the traffic flows here, being so laid back (well maybe not the bus drivers) they just go along slowly, merge, let people in no matter what they are driving. Here the cars, tuk tuks, bicycles, motorbikes, buses, trucks all just flow along smoothly not like Deerfoot Trail at all!

Next stop, Vang Viang!

2009-03-01T01:37:00.000-08:00

Two girls on the side of the road during my bike ride who were hollering and excited to see me so I stopped. Only to find they just wanted money, I shared with them some crackers instead but they wanted more and even tried getting into my bag. It's best not to give them money as it only encourages them to beg and candy is not good for their teeth. I probably shouldn't have given them anything but I did get a picture. Not sure why this little girl had a flower ring on her head but they were sweet.

This was on the path to the cave, a barbed wire fence to climb over in flip flops, first of two!

Beautiful scenery on my 'trek' to the cave
The village people working/playing in the river
View from my hammock.
Eating Deep Fried Mulberry Leaves with a honey/ginger sauce, very good!
Mulberry Shrubs on the Farm
Farm truck we saw on the tour around, didn't see any cows there so not sure how it got so damaged!
Loading up the buses!

Waiting at the bus station is always interesting. This time I watched as people were loading up their motorcycles on top of the buses! One bus had about 1o on top, didn't actually get to see how exactly they got then up there, just watched them spending a long time tying them down.
The trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Viang, was probably one of the longest, windiest roads I had ever been on. Last minute I decided to take the VIP bus, I didn't feel very VIPish though as I was in the back row which meant there there 5 seats across and they didn't recline and you had people on either side. On the one side was one poor lady who held a plastic bag to her mouth the whole time from motion sickness. I was thrilled she didn't actually need to use it, taking with a friend who took the local bus the locals didn't have as strong of stomachs. Note-next time book the VIP bus a little more in advance for a better seat! Either way everyone on the bus got their share of shake ups with a few close calls with oncoming buses/trucks/vans and loads of honking. Not a restful drive at all!
Arrived safe and sound and again wanted to kiss the dirty ground but refrained. Went to stay at the Organic Farm just outside of town, sounded peaceful, tranquil and healthy. Alot different from an organic farm you would see in Canada. Here the farm is at the start of the popular tubing tour they have here where there are platforms of bars along the river with swings, slides, ziplines and loud music that goes all day. It's fun and worth doing once but it really took away from the ambiance of the farm. As far as healthy the Mulberry Pancakes were awesome but the deep fried Mulberry Leaves I'm sure weren't on the Eat Smart list! Also they had a sign there to promote drinking as proceeds go towards the children's bus that they donated to the community! Great people and fun times just a little different than what I expected!
Next day I moved into town on the quieter south end. They had hammocks along the river and I spent the day being totally lazy (this traveling can be very tiring I have discovered) It was great to watch how the village people live, using their souped up little tractors to haul rocks/mud/gravel out of the river. Women picking river weeds, children playing and swimming and later in the day families coming down to bathe. The animals here pretty much roam free and I watched 5 of them come across the river and start to go up the road into town. I wanted to jump up to see what chaos that was going to cause but next thing I know someone must of headed them back into the road and they carried on down past me and up into a field.
In town had a great BBQ'd kabob dinner and found the big thing to do is lay around in outdoor cafe/bars and watch reruns of mostly Friends, some places also showed Family Guy and Seinfeld. On the river edge the 'young' people partied and danced until late after spending the day drinking on the river. Luckily I can't drink in the heat of the day so I was very well behaved and home early, exhausted from the heat. It's their summer now and I heard it gets as hot as 40 degrees!
Next day I rented a bike, I really miss my bike at home but this one had a basket which is very handy here because you don't want a backpack on your back only to make you sweat more!
I toured around the villages and then across the bamboo bridge to find the Blue Lagoon and Cave I had heard about. After a good hour or so of biking in the heat and the very bumpy road I finally reached it. Things are less expensive in Laos but every thing you want to go visit costs money. If you want to see a cave you pay, if you want to see waterfalls you pay, if you want to cross a bridge you pay etc....only about a $1-2 so it's not bad but you have to make sure you have extra cash on you all the time.
I decided to go find the cave, a short trek after my long ride but the sign said only 100m to the cave so off I went. The arrow pointed out the direction but I came to a dead end except for a barbed wire fence that was sort of altered you could see. So here I am climbing over it in my flipflops only to find another one to climb over about 10 metres down the way. Walked across an old rice paddy field and got to another lagoon and up a small hill where there was a restaurant. Found some people who also went looking for the cave only to hear the base of it was 100 meters away but it was about a 400 or 500 meter hike up! I decided to scrap that idea being in flipflops and 40 degree weather! So down to the lagoon, full of 20 something year olds, I decided to go down to the first one which wasn't quite as nice but still peaceful only to find it now full of small children just out of school. I had gone swimming in the river with the children and Linda the day before and some of them are curious about you but most just ignore you. Off back down the dusty road to go for a much needed shower again!

Yeah! More Elephants! And kayaking!

2009-03-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

Kayaking on the Nam Khan River, awesome views and so peaceful.
nHow low can he go?!
After the bath, we are all squeaky clean!
Kuang Si waterfall, one of the layers with a swimming hole below.
Pak Ou cave looking out onto the Mekong River

I decided I wanted to see more of the area around Luang Prabang and booked myself on a 2 day combo tour. I was the only one doing this specific tour so the first day me and my very young guide, Pang, who had an instant crush on me....here we go again.....went to the Pak Ou Caves. It's just off the Mekong River and is literally crammed full of thousands of Buddha statues of various shapes and sizes. Further up a couple of hundred stairs in the +30 degrees there was another cave as well which was hardly worth the effort but good for the exercise (keep thinking positive) then back onto the hour boat ride to cool off.
After that we toured a few villages which ended up walking past tables of handicrafts for sale and glancing over at their homes but I did get to try a shot of Lao Lao Whiskey, not sure what burns more going down that or the snake whiskey! Then off to the beautiful Kaung Si Waterfall. It was stunning to see, lots of swimming 'pools' and layers and you could hike to the top which I did! I so badly needed a swim after my day only to be told eagerly by Pang to go ahead but I only had 5 minutes before we had to leave. I chose not to and when we arrived at the Eco Lodge near the elephant village I enjoyed a nice long shower! Off to an awesome dinner where I luckily met a group consisting of an American, Australians, German and Dutch that I would be spending the next day with.
Up at 6:30am with a wake up holler from my friend, Linda, as Pang got the times wrong (he's a new guide, probably cause he just graduated!) and dressed quickly in my Elephant 'suit' and down to the river to go retrieve our elephants for a bath. I climbed on top of my elephant with very little direction and almost promptly flew over his head on top of mine except when I screamed (a little) they told me quickly how to hang on and where to stick my legs to 'drive' properly without falling over. Still took a bit of getting used to but by the time we got back to the river I was a pro, almost. Bath time in the river was so fun, some of the elephants were so playful slapping the water with their trunks and everyone literally got bathed. Mine laid down so he was pretty much immersed and then used his nose to spray water back on himself and me too, it's like he knew what he was doing!
After breakfast we got to go on a ride, much like the one I had in Thailand, only for some reason they let an Italian guy drive our elephant at the start who had his own agenda and we ended up going down a very steep cliff like embankment. I told him as we were going down and hanging on for dear life with the guides all panicked and yelling that he does not get a tip! I am waiting for a picture still from the people in front of us, they said it was priceless.
After we got down the hill the Italian hopped off and ran up the hill and out of site.....I think he was a little freaked out, didn't see him again until the end and he said he wasn't supposed to be on that part of the tour. So how did he get to driving our elephant?! Anything goes here in Laos, very laid back people here. It's great most of the time!
After lunch we headed off for our kayaking adventure. The big part of the adventure was getting there, a 1/2 hour ride on a Tuk Tuk with open sides, sort of like sitting in the back of a truck but with benches and railings on the sides so we don't bounce out!
By the time we arrived to the start point we were so covered in dirt even my really white friend from Holland, Linda, even looked tanned! We jumped into the river to get rid of the grime and then I was in heaven as I got my very own kayak to paddle downstream for 3 hours. What a beautiful, peaceful journey it was. Very odd in SE Asia, you really don't see any animals, reptiles or even birds along the river. Some people say it's because they hunt and eat so many of them but I prefer to think maybe cause its the dry season and they all went south (or north) for the season.

Laos- So Far So Amazing!

2009-02-21T01:11:00.000-08:00

Me and my bike, love the basket! In front of a little bar called- Refuge by the Last Dreamers in a small village where this nice, young couple is trying to bring music to the locals including the young children and monks.
Sunset on the Mekong
Very small part of the Night market just setting up
Offering to the Monks at 6am
View of the Mekong and boats at dusk after we got to Pak Beng.
The shoreline
Inside the slow boat down the Mekong River into Laos
One of the slow boats
Me and the Canadians girls (Weyburn and Vancouver) as we were waiting to board.

I love this country so far even from the start of the adventure of getting into Laos! It took 3 hours alone to get across the border which included going thru a long line up of departure procedures and then taking a small boat from Thailand over to Laos to a long line up at the immigration on the other side. Found out Canadians pay more than any other country ($42 USD rather than $30-35 USD). I thought they were picking on Canadians for some strange reason but apparently has something to do with our Canadian government....I'll have to check that out because it just doesn't make sense not to support such a beautiful country!
I had decided to take the slow boat down the Mekong River, it takes two days on a crowded boat with little wooden benches. One of their most profitable incomes here is selling cushions decorated cutely with little pink and blue bears or plaid if you are lucky, to sit on to make the trip more 'bearable'. haha Doesn't sound like a great time but it was one of the most memorable trips I've had. In such close quarters over 2 days of course you are going to meet people and make friends and that passes the time so quickly we were sad to see the end of the trip. Plus the scenery and peacefulness was amazing even though the Mekong is a murky brown color and there was the haze which seems to loom over most of SE Asia alot. The feeling of peace and tranquility here definitely adds to the 'feel' of the country. Luckily too we stopped overnight in a small town, Pak Beng, that had electricity from 6-10pm only, no internet but awesome restaurants and cheap rooms!
The next day they must have thought we had too much luxury on the first day and decided to fit 3 boatfuls of people into 2, oh joy! It was even more crowded but made even more friends.
Arrived in Luang Prabang at 5:30 after 8 hours to find the most peaceful town with so much ambiance and character.
I have no plans to leave here quickly, just enjoying the cafes, walks along the rivers, watching the children play, hanging out and talking, riding/walking my bike around town, night markets, day markets, going to the museum, volunteering at Big Brother Mouse (talking with Lao people and helping them with their English), going to the bookshop/cafe for evening movies upstairs in the loft, sitting on mats and pillows with low tables (so far have seen Indecent Husband, Elegy and tonight is huge- Slum Dog Millionaire which I've heard so much about, hope its good!).
I also set my alarm (yes I still have to do that occasionally, especially if I don't want to miss a bus!) yesterday morning to go and watch the offerings to the Monks, it was very amazing to see.
Tomorrow off on a two day tour to see waterfalls, caves, villages, sleep in an EcoLodge then wake up to bathe the elephants and ride them. This time I get to drive! Then end with a 2 hour trek and back to town!

Valentines Day in Thailand

2009-02-14T19:54:00.001-08:00

Two girls making a heart sign
My gifts from the school children

The Thai flag

A few of the school kids made me some Valentine treats on the last day of school, this meant so much to me and was such an honor that they welcomed me so readily, what true little sweethearts they were!
The next day I had a great day, treated myself totally! I had met fellow Canadians from Vancouver Mike and Sherry and she took me off window shopping. Sherry is like one of those girlfriends who loves to go shopping and tells you how good of a deal it is and how fabulous you look in it and how you so deserve it! I like her, we hit it off and of course I did the same for her!
I now have a new shirt, new bag, earrings and a ring......all for the price of 1000Baht which is $30 Canadian. :)
Then I went for my final Thai massage. 250Baht or $7.50 Canadian for 2 hours of bending, twisting, stretching and yoga type moves went home so relaxed and slept like a baby!

Today I leave for Northern Laos! Two days on a slow boat down the Mekong River!

Back in School

2009-02-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

With the winners of the bingo game. I gave them Canada stickers and tattoos for awards
Peter and the kindergarten class, they were adorable!
Loved to have their picture taken!
Sweet
Getting ready for Valentines Day with cards and roses

Back from the meditation retreat I stopped in at the Wat Suan Dok Elementary School next door. I have been trying to find a place in Thailand to do some volunteer work where I don't have to pay to do so. It's tough as most large organizations need money more than actual people to help out.
I met a really nice Thai lady teacher who then introduced me to Peter Pope, an interesting Englishman, who's been teaching there since May. He was a terror in school back home he explained to me with no real teaching experience, he just took a TESL course in Chiang Mai, so he figures his teachers would be just shocked to hear what he is dong now. The kids now adore him and have learnt so much English and even better, to trust a foreigner. Peter said it's been a challenge with usual politics and him being male, but he loves every minute of it. We decided I would come help teach the next 2 days with his English and Computer classes.
The first morning I arrived excited and eager to teach. Then we found out a teacher was away that day and instantly had an extra 20 kids for the morning! Mass chaos and noise, I had a headache in about 2 minutes.....these children come from an assortment of backgrounds and a few have learning disabilities but they are sweet, rambunctious and happy. We ended up playing Bingo with having to yell out the names of actions in English and they matched up with the picture on the card. Every time they got one they cheered loudly.
It's a very relaxed atmosphere but I am so impressed at the knowledge these kids have especially on computers, they love it! I helped the patum (grade) 4s with typing on Excel spreadsheets which they race though so they can play games, even the kindergarten kids were whizzes at the games that Peter spent all his own money on and his spare time downloading onto each computer in the class (they have 18). He also rearranged the classroom and got upgraded equipment for the school as well.
After the first day back at school, I left totally exhausted and wondering how some one can do this 5 days a week! Kudos to you Peter, the kids are very lucky to have you!

The Monks say I have a 'Naughty Mind'

2009-02-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Me in my suit, practicing.....
The temple were we had our meetings
The sleeper train before the beds were made up, one above and one below, like bunkbeds
Poking my head out the window, almost got hit by a sign! Have to really watch out for obstacles!
View out the back of the train, very slack safety regulations in Thailand

OK I do know how to behave properly in most situations......after another night on the sleeper train to Chiang Mai I ended up going to the Wat Suan Dok Meditation camp. I was talking with a girl from Holland, Linda, who was staying at my guesthouse and she had checked it out at the temple so I thought why not I was due for a new cultural experience! So after a brief introduction to Buddhism which was very interesting, it's not a religion or philosophy it's a way of thinking, off we went out into the country after stopping to get our food supplies to the Meditation Training Centre.
After trying and trying to 'still my mind' and focus on keeping it blank and finding that impossible the monks explained to me (and others as well!) that our minds are naughty and like monkey minds. Always jumping around with different thoughts. Apparently it can take a while to practice and master meditation and quiet your mind and I believe it! So practice practice practice.....lots of homework for me!
All in all it was a great experience. We chanted (can't say I am a chanter any more than I am a singer!) even at 5:30am the next morning...... did yoga (loved that), did an ALMS offering to the monks (that's when they walk with their bowls and you offer them food), had discussions and tried a couple of different types of meditations. It was peaceful, relaxing and enlightening, maybe one day my mind will be 'pure'!
What I gathered most from this is to -
Concentrate on the present, don't dwell on the past. Today is history, tomorrow is a mystery! :)

Why Bangkok?

2009-02-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Sweets in the food court! Gourmet!

Shark in the underwater pathway

I found Nemo! Lot's of them!

Underwater pathway

A sea turtle just like the one I saw snorkeling off of Gili Trawanga in Indonesia.

A lion fish like the one I saw snorkeling off of Krabi, Thailand.

Well I am headed to Northern Laos and I was told the best way is to go thru Thailand and head south so here I am in Bangkok again making my way to the north!

Started with taking the sleeper train (still not sure why they call it that). It was only 100 minutes late this time and finally were off at 9:30pm. We were originally to arrive at 8am so when the porter started yelling at me at 5:45am to get up I was confused and kept telling him not this stop, Bangkok. Finally the locals motioned to me that I had to get off too. I found out later from an Aussie guy that there had been a train accident further up as we got hearded in mass chaos onto buses for the rest of the journey. Finally got to Bangkok and found a place by 10:30am. Decided to stay close to the train station so I wouldn't have to deal with the taxi drivers, only tuk tuk drivers. Walked around and found out I am in one of the many Gold/Silver/Gem shops area and being Sunday they were all closed. Darn, no shopping for jewels today.....so I hopped on the Sky train to go to Siam Center. It's a huge, and I mean huge, (makes West Ed Mall pale in comparision) World Class Retail Environment Phenomenon- quote/unquote. This was after a tuk tuk driver tried to tell me that 75% of stores would be closed there and he would take me to other 'shopping places'- hah, I read the guide books and politely said, 'no thanks' and walked away as he scowled at me.

On the map I found that Siam Center has an Ocean World and then I was really excited! Turned out to be the most impressive and amazing aquarium I have ever seen with over 20,000 species of marine life and an underwater walkway as well as a rainforest. I saw close up, sea horses, shrimp, sharks, rays and I even found a tank full of Nemos! This was way beyond my expectations of what I would see and there was even a 4D Xventure show that was done amazing well and so funny! After hours spent there I went to check out some more of the area. Endless food courts and restaurants, high end shops for everything imaginable (and they were all open!) After trying out a few different tastes at the food court I headed up to the Paragon Cineplex and to my delight there was an American movie playing called Revolutionary Road with Leonardo Dicapriano and Kate Winslet (together again). The movie cost me 160 Baht ($5.50) and I got to prepick my seat.

After the movie it was 10pm and I was exhausted so decided to take a tuk tuk home. Chaos outside of the Centre so I found one who said he'd take me for 50 Baht and once we got down the road he pulled over and asked me again where we were going. So I showed him on the map and he started to complain it was too far away. He wanted to ditch me there and I was too tired to argue so I just sat there as he jumped around outside of the tuk tuk. I told him it's not fair he take me away and leave me middle of no where (it wasn't really but on the side of the street with no buildings or stores) and he kept saying take a taxi so I told him to find me one. Finally he said he'd take me for 80 Baht and I argued a bit more with him and we settled on 70 Baht just out of fairness I thought as it was a fair distance. I can be very stubborn and cranky (for those of you who don't know me real well....) when I am tired!

Well next thing I knew we were in the Indy 500, I didn't know Tuk Tuks could go so fast. Racing across traffic, zipping in and out and around cars, burning rubber, horn beeping constantly. Not sure if he was pissed off or what but I hung on for my life and braced my feet and yelled at him that's he not going to get any money if he kills me! Finally reached my hotel and I laughed and thanked him for the wildest ride of my life as I paid him his money. Then jumped out and almost kissed the filthy dirty ground!

All in all I had a great day but am happy to say again, Good Bye Bangkok!

Last day In Khao Sok :(

2009-02-08T19:22:00.001-08:00

Trail thru the forest

Beautiful as the sun was rising.

Lush and green and very alone feeling....... just me and an elephant somewhere.....

YIKES! I wanted to peel off the paper and see what was underneath it before but I refrained

Woke up early and decided to tour some more of the park and go on a hike to San Yang Roi. Lots of stairs, yay, I did say I wanted exercise!

At the beginning of the trail there was a sign that warned me of a wild Elephant in the area. I paused for a second and thought is this safe to do all alone?! Can't be worse than some of the situations I manage to get myself into so off I ventured, trying to think with all my wilderness survival tips from Canada what would I do if I saw a wild Elephant?! The best I could come up with is to hide (well try to) behind the tree with the thickest trunk in the forest that hopefully he wouldn't plow it over. Luckily as much as it would have been so amazing to run across the elephant I didn't have to worry as the only animal I actually saw was a squirrel. I heard lots of noises and knowing how gentle and quiet they can be I still think I would have spotted him even with my bad eyes if he had been close in the area. So my walk was good exercise and little adventure, that's okay with me cause next stop is Bangkok again!

Too Much Fresh Air?!

2009-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

Sunset on the lake on our way home after a fabulous day

My German friend, Ollie and I under a staligtight in the cave

View looking out of the cave

Trekking on the way up to the caves

Smooth as glass

Raft houses on the lake

The gang on the hour long scenic ride on a long tail boat.

Cheese! I hate having my picture taken, just so you know I was really there!

The race is on with the other long tail boat

One night in Khoa Sok I had the weirdest dreams and I can remember them which is really strange.....the first one was I was getting married! On my way to the ceremony in my white dress and got to a point where people told me that I had to swim the rest of the way thru this lake/river. So I just shrugged and said 'OK' and jumped in and swam past all my guests including my family, who have been so great and supportive, were sitting on the banks and waving and maybe looking at me like she's really gone overboard now. So you dream interpreters tell me your thoughts on this, I would love to know! haha

The other dream was that I was back home in Canada and I realized I forgot my passport at the office and woke up paniced because I could not remember where I was last in SE Asia and had to find my 'guide' book to figure it out! I have been hauling around this huge book on SE Asia on a Shoestring, it's been a great reference. What a relief once I woke up and looked around and thoguht 'whew, I'm still here!' Just when I thought I was homesick....

Next day was the Lake Program which was highly recommended by everyone so off I went with Ollie another Morning Mist customer and we met up with some French Canadians, more Londoners and Europeans too. We hopped onto a long tail boat that took us across the lake for about an hour or so to a beautiful spot with raft houses. Here we stopped and went for a swim and had some lunch before starting off on our 1 1/2 hour trek up to the caves. We saw stalimites/tights, bats and other critters which I didn't focus my headlamp on for very long! Then we started trekking thru the cave climbing over rocks and thru the rivers which where at times ankle deep and other times as high as my chest (especially once when I tripped and fell....) but it was refreshing. We then had a 1/2 trek back to the lake for another swim and snacks before heading back after a full day.

Finished the day with dinner with the gang and then a Thai massage for 200 Baht ($7) and hit the sack! No wild dreams that night, too tired I guess!

Canoe or Kayak?

2009-02-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Woman fishing in the river. Her daughter just dove under with a net, camera shy or hard worker?!

View as we were 'relaxing' down the river

Very lush and green

Me taking over the paddle- hah!

The other boat

Canoing down the river in Khao Sok park sounded like great fun and exercise so a San Francisoite friend, Drea and I decided to sign up. We got to the river with our 'guide' waiting for us and one kayak paddle in a canoe type vessel.

We were told we get to 'relax' (like I haven't done enough of that) and take pictures on the trip down the river, that sucked! So after we got on our way I nicely asked our guide if I could paddle. He laughed and handed me the paddle and then was shocked I could paddle so well and so strong but he still felt the need to paddle with his hands and arms.

All in all was a fun and scenic trip, saw various birds including the kingfisher and some lizards too.

I Found Paradise!

2009-02-07T00:54:00.001-08:00

Mountains in the area

The gardens, they would gather fallen flowers early in the morning to decorate our drinks in the restaurants

View of the mountain from my hammock on the veranda

The Hammock :)

The huge bathroom with hot water and shelves and hooks!

Sleeeeep.....

After spending about 1/2 hour or more of writing this and adding lots of pictures it got blown away.....I will update this again soon hopefully! :(

Just to keep you in suspense.....sorry!

Here's a few pics for now...it's a Khoa Sok National Park located in the western part of the Surithanyi province of Thailand. Absolutely beautiful, it covers over 738 sq kms.

Ok here goes again, fingers crossed!

I arrived in this peaceful little town and found this absolutely gorgeous place to stay called Morning Mist. It's located along the rivers and my room had a mountain view. One of the most peaceful, serene places I've seen here in Thailand besides the hill tribe area in the Northern area.

Just what I needed to 'detox' my body, eat healthy (their food was amazing), and catch up on some sleep even though all the birds and little critters were quite busily nattering and scampering around all thru the night.

Too Much of the Beach Life!?!

2009-02-06T23:47:00.000-08:00

The ex-pats at thier new condo home in Long Beach, Koh Lanta...my 'going away' party haha

View from Lanta Family Resort, at night the tide went out and showed the rocks, then morning was beautiful blue ocean with no rocks showing.

The beach with the river at Thai Beach House Resort, Kim and Graham's place

Nui and Maimi lighting up a lantern and then it floats off into the sky.

The 'lilo' girl- Rach and the Muay Thai boxer- Andrew on their scooter after a day at the beach

I can't believe it but I finally got tired of the beach life! Partly because with the beach life in Koh Lanta comes the night life which 99% of the time involves alcohol. Those ex-pats can party, look for the Irish pubs! Koh Lanta was 8 days of sun and fun and I will miss all my dear friends there. From Nui and his Finnish girlfriend, Maimi to the crazy Americans as well as at my one 'resort' the Italian cook/fire dancer- Bobbie! Lasagna night was delicio!

Koh Lanta Island, Thailand

2009-01-28T22:00:00.001-08:00

Children from Malaysia on holidays, playing a game on the beach. They explained it to me and asked me to play. Very sweet!

Tuk Tuk ride home late one night. It's a tiny cart attached to a motorbike that we squished into! Notice the lovely wind blown hair do!

View looking at our resort from the beach. Little platforms with cushions to sit on, very cozy and relaxing!

Sign for our bar- the Chocolate Bar

Another sunset

Nui, the owner, climbed up the tree to get us coconuts! What service sure wouldn't get that in a 5 star resort!

Just enjoying relaxing on the beach, visiting and talking with people from all over Europe and some Americans too! It's like a family here, nice people running it and very chilled place to be for a while. Staying in a very rustic, tiny hut with see thru bamboo walls, roughing it again!

Not much to write, just relaxing, trying to organize my trip up towards Cambodia, trying to find a place to do something worthwhile and volunteer for a bit and not have to pay $$, had a massage on the beach, sort out my Telus bill.....busy busy busy.

I was busy drinking my Mango Lassie, which is a fruit drink with yogurt, at a little roadside cafe and read this interesting little story I thought I would share with you.

A Buddhist monk was on the beach with his apprentice after a fierce storm. Thousands of starfish had been washed up and were stranded on the shore. Stooping down the monk carefully lifted a creature and returned him to the sea. His young disciple wondered aloud why his master bothered to do this when it made little difference to the mass of helpless creatures. As they walked along, the monk picked up another single starfish and gently replied "It makes a difference to this one'. as he returned it to the sea.

Walking along the beach last night, I came across some families from Panang, Malaysia that are on holidays for the Chinese New Years. They are touring the islands around here for almost a week. The mom told me that the New Years celebrations last for 15 days here as each country or territory has their own specific day. Such nice, friendly people they introduced me all around and told me about her family and children. One of the girls there was leaving next week for Australia to go to school to become a psychologist. She's 19 and was quite excited to hear I had a 19 year old daughter traveling around Australia.

Thanks again for reading! Try to update much sooner next time!!

The Beaches of Thailand

2009-01-28T21:17:00.001-08:00

View of Maya Beach

Touring around Phi Phi Islands

Ton Sai, Phi Phi

Brian and I on the sunset/snorkeling tour. Another amazing sunset!

Little boy on Pranang Beach selling pop and beer out of a cooler. Must have been 4 years old, couldn't even carry the cooler had to drag it along the beach.

Signs seen by all the beach areas now.

Beautiful sunsets

Snorkeling/sunset tour we went on

The islands around Krabi

Railay West Beach, Krabi

Yay! Another update finally! I am going to lose my readers if I don't smarten up! Please send me updates on you though....a little homesick these days and would love to hear what's going on in Canada, how are the Flames doing? Still kicking ass?! I miss watching them...a little....

What's going on with the governement there? Any gossip about town?! I would love to hear some stories from 'home'! Feeling a bit out of sorts these days.....kinda feeling like I don't belong anywhere and then I realize I don't! haha So I am staying right now in a very rustic hut in Koh Lanta for about a week just to have a 'home' and regroup and organize my trip upwards to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. I am excited but a little scared because I am just getting used all the english speaking people in Malaysia and this part of Thailand only to know I'm going to where they'll speak much less English.

So I have been touring the area hardest hit by the Tsunami 4 years ago. There is some construction still going on but no more than any where else that is developing. Lot's of new developments as well that were probably started in the boom times.

The most beautiful beaches were in Krabi at Railay. Pranang was absolutely stunning with the rock mountains along the sides and the rock islands all around. Went on a snorkeling tour 9even saw a very rare Lion fish!) of the smaller islands and had dinner while watching the sunset on a little sandy island with fire dancers entertaining us. Then on the way home in the dark we stopped for one last swim in the ocean where there were phosphorus fish nibbled at us and lit up in the water as we swam, very cool!

Next stop was Kata Beach in Phuket. It's one of the quieter beaches and the most beautiful one in Phuket I think. We went and saw Patong (party) beach and it was so packed with people, nice views though.

After Phuket I lost my traveling buddy, Brian.....well not liteally even though I tried a few times.....lol. Brian had to head back up to Bangkok to fly home after a month of travels with me, poor guy but luckily he survived and is still talking to me! You find out alot about a person when you spend almost 24/7 with them. He learnt (very quickly) not to place my toiletry bag on the floor beside the toilet when he needed to relieve himself and I learned that he needs more closet space than I do! He learned not to use MY towel and I learned how to share, have patience and bite my tongue! All in all it was a good experience for both of us, I am so glad we are still speaking and I will miss my travel buddy (believe it or not Brian), but I am also happy to venture out, have my independance and run around the room naked if I want to now too!

I was off to spend time in Koh Lanta and took a day tour trip of Phi Phi Islands on the way there. I was told it was very expensive to stay there so I figured a few hours on the island I could get a good feel for it. It was a beautiful but very busy island, crowded beaches and lots of shopping! I loved the feel of the island as they had no motorized vehicles on it. We swung by Maya Beach where the movie - The Beach was filmed. Tour boats where lined up for 1/2 mile and the beach was crowded with hoards of tourists, we snapped a couple of photos and continued on to snorkel at Coral Bay which was beautiful with bright, colorful Coral. Then off to Koh Lanta where I met some crazy Americans along the way and we all ended up staying at a funky little relaxed resort on the beach. Very laid back here, enjoying my 'down' time here!

Marvelous Malaysia!

2009-01-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Stairs up to Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

Inside Batu Caves, view looking way up!

Trevor, the ex-Canadian/permanent traveler, my trekker guide

A drink Brian and I had to try after the lady told us foreigners will not like.....she was so right! It tasted like grass and it was jelled! ewwhhh

Pretty Bessie

View from trekking thru the jungle along side the ocean, beautiful!

Cameron Highlands, Tea Plantation. These trees live and produce tea leaves for 120 years.

Little girl on the bus, kept sneaking to take pictures and then show her mom.

After the trek on Monkey Beach, Panang

Ponggal celebration in Little India, Panang Love how they decorated the cows, whom they consider to be sacred animals.

OK enough pressure, sorry I haven't updated for a while time is flying by and I've had a cold
:( and had a few sad days where I thought I had lost my journal but happily it appeared! :)

So after arriving into Butterworth, Malaysia via sleeper train (not sure why they call it that cause it's really hard to sleep on!) we carried onto a town called Panang where the most exciting things I found where outside of the city. The city itself didn't offer much but Panang Hill accessible by tram was a beautiful view of the island and lots of monkeys you had to watch out for as they loved to steal your food/belongings! Did meet some more interesting people including a long ago Canadian (he's been on the road for 21 years now),Trevor who took me on a 4 hour trek to Monkey Beach. What a great trek, started off in a fishing village, Taman Negara, on the north side of Panang saw a floating village, then trekked along a path thru the jungle that looked down onto the crashing ocean below and then out to a beautiful beach. Along the way we got to see giant lizards but luckily they were just as scared of me as I was of them! Then we had to make sure the monkeys didn't steal our packs once we got to the beach!
Between the monkeys and the temples, not sure which I am more tired of!
Before going on our trek we went to Little India for a Roti Chanoi breakfast which is bread with a lentil sauce that you dip it into. As we were eating on the roadside tables, a celebration/parade came by with people chanting and cheering. They were dressed in bright, beautiful attire following a carriage pulled by 2 cows with men on it. Apparently this was the Ponggal celebration that the Malaysian Indian people celebrate as a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest and it ends up being a 3 day party.
The next day I headed up to Cameron Highlands to meet up with Brian again. Decided to go the cheaper way and had a stop off in Ipoh that was half way there only to have just missed the next bus to Cameron Highlands and either had to wait 7 hours or take the city bus to the local bus station and leave in 3 hours so I opted for that. I was writing in my journal while waiting at the bus depot, when I noticed a strange man sit about 5 feet away from me but I managed to avoid his staring and kept on writing and he left. A little while later as I was still writing he sat down about 2 feet away from me, still ignoring him but smelling something odd and very strong I looked up from my journal into this crazed man's eyes and watched him lift up a bag of milky colored liquid and sniff it, then I realized it must have been glue. I head about glue sniffers but never had gotten that close! I looked about and everyone was watching so I figured I had enough protection and he finally left me alone. Amazing the things you see off the beaten path, I just wouldn't have experienced this if I had chosen the more expensive, tour operated trip! Then on the local bus up to Cameron Highlands, I met a very nice young lady who is a nurse in Ipoh and is getting married in April which she invited me too. It is an arranged marriage and she told me all about the Indian customs and her views, it was very interesting and even made sense. I would have loved to have gone to it if I was still in the country. Well visiting, a little Malay girl was so curious about us she kept popping her head over the seat to see us and started taking pictures, I even caught her taking one when I was sleeping, they are so curious about westerners you have to laugh!

Cameron Highlands, what a difference with the altitude! I even had to wear my fleece at night and in the early mornings! But the countryside and views were so amazing and beautiful! I did a countryside tour of the tea fields plantations and factory which were amazing as well as a Bee Farm, Strawberry farm and a few other stops. Very peaceful countryside totally different air about it from the oceanside places I had been to with great food!
Next stop was Kuala Lumpur, I believe it's the capital city. Stayed at the original Backpackers Inn with a fun little rooftop patio. Went and saw the Batu Caves and Petronas Twin Towers and the night market in little India.

Sorry computer is acting up and not adding my pics either!!?? Will have to finish updating later....right now in Krabi, Thailand, going to do a beach/snorkel/island tour now!!
Thanks for reading will try to get back on here real soon! :)

Chaweng Beach, VW Vans and Kayaking!

2009-01-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

My drink! The bottom had a tip on it so it sits on a wobble! Like I don't have enough trouble with spilling, good thing it was the first one of the day, errr evening.

Fire dancers at the Bamboo Beach Party

View from my beach of a fisher woman early in the morning as I was having coffee.

A dock at Fisherman's Pier, Bophut Beach. I made it all the way to the loose, wobbly end! Then I had the drink pictured above...sorry these pics come up with no rhyme nor reason and last time I tried to move them I ended up deleting some! So they are a little mixed up.....

Kayaking! Off of Chaweng beach and I haven't forgotten how!

Beach party at the Bamboo Hut, I had a drink in a bucket with 5 straws and I couldn't even finish it! Maybe it's meant for sharing......

VW van with a bar in it parked on the street....my next vehicle/ my next job!

View from my beach at Chaweng.

Ended up on the most picturesque beach yet on the north end of Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui the pictures do not do it justice at all! I am mastering the act of beach bum yet again, yay! Something I highly recommend that one has to do now and then :) I even bought a beach mat, not sure how I am going to fit it into my backpack yet.....no worries...

Finally getting tired of the local food in the last week and have had McDs french fries (good for hangovers in Bangkok), clubhouse sandwich (here they make them with hard boiled eggs as well), grilled corn on the cob and even had Indian food, the Butter Chicken was almost as good as Canada makes it! haha I did try a new local food here yesterday called Papaya salad, it's really good but you have to watch how many chili peppers they put in!

I haven't added any 'observations' for a while and here's a good one. The shop people try to get you to come in to their business and I kept hearing them yell 'Hi Sir!' I don't know how many of them I ignored and walked by until I finally figured out they were talking to me! So of course I had to try correcting them and in a country where I was told they speak English very well (20 key words max for most of them!) that was not an easy task. I think I have them even more confused now! I tried to explain that sir is a man and that you call a lady a ma'am (I know, I can't believe I asked someone to call me a ma'am!). They looked at me blankly then I realized that maybe man and ma'am sound too much alike.......so I have been trying to think of another 'polite' word for lady but since my night of setting them straight I have not heard one more 'sir' so maybe the word got out some how....

Well that's about it for this island, I got to see most of it and would love to come back and see the others as well. I think the islands on the west coast are going to be bigger and better yet! Next stop leaving on the midnight sleeper train to Malaysia for about a week. Have to do a Visa run as mine has run out, not sure how I am going to adapt to the culture there, mainly Muslims so have to tuck away the bathing suits, tank tops and short shorts! :(

Lamai Beach and the Canadians!

2009-01-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

The motorcycle repair shop on the side of the road.

Amazing sunset at Hin Ta Hin Yai

Having a beer at the funky reggae bar 'The Rock' on the beach

The 'male' rock

Peggy and Ron lighting our Canadian lantern! People do this all up and down the beaches and watch them float off into the night.

Jenga pros! Here in the bars they always have games to play.

Walked down the beach to an area we had heard of called Hin Ta Hin Yai (means Grandpa and Grandma) that had rocks that resembled the male and female organs. Only in Thailand! Found the male one easily and everyone was still trying to figure out the female, haha. Had to have a beer at the local reggae bar appropriately called 'The Rock' and listened to Bob Marley tunes.

Met some more Canadians, even born and raised in Calgary! They just sold their house and are traveling for a year as well so we had lots to talk about it, was great! Had a fun night of lantern flying, eating, drinking, pool playing and Jenga!! I am getting quite good at playing pool with a slanted table, chipped cue ball, warped cues and bugs running in front of your balls! Too funny, I won't know how to play on a normal table when I come home, not that I could before any how but I am learning to break at least!

Next day we daringly rented a scooter to tour the south part of the island. A little hairy of an experience, I can say I don't need to do that again for a while. Besides I think Brian needs to recoup from me screaming in his ear a few times! We did get to see some beautiful beaches and went to the worst tourist attraction ever, the Butterfly Gardens (not my choice but I am learning it's not all about me when you have a traveling companion.....lol). Well we could have seen more butterflies on a walk thru a park, good thing for the exhibition of the dead ones which was sad but at least we can say we saw some! More bad luck (I am going to start calling Brian Schleperock), we got a flat tire! So off we starting walking in the heat and it was so funny cause finally this little Thai girl stops and asks us if we need some help! The Thai guys never would stop that would require some effort and maybe work! Off she went to find a place for us and I saw she was wearing a Fire and Rescue shirt, we were her big emergency for the day! She did find us a motorcycle repair place not too far away, what a welcome sight! Only 30 baht to fix it too which is equilvalent to about a dollar.

The little things in life

2009-01-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

The dancing ladyboys, they looked pretty good!

Brian, looking a little too excited about it all!

View of Ko Samui from the ferry.

Peanut Butter and Brown Bread! The little things in life that make you happy! I had emailed Brian and asked him to bring a small container of PB just enough for a couple of pieces of toast and he brought a whole jar!! Then we were at a supermarket and found something rare, their version of whole wheat bread, it's not like ours but at least it's not white! So after treating ourselves to a Starbucks Low Fat Vanilla Latte we went back and made toast and PB. Great start to the day which was good because after a 2 hour search for the bus depot, apparently it had moved and even the one bus depot for Bangkok only gave us wrong directions and we had cabbies arguing over where it was we gave up and headed for the train station. I asked for a sleeper train for that night or the following night and she said there was no room so we got out of the queue and then decided maybe we can just take the regular train and sleep in the seats so went back and asked for that and she said they have top bunks in the sleeper train....suddenly there were some available??!! So I am figuring out, here if you don't like your first answer, wait 5 minutes and go ask again! I quickly grabbed those before she changed her mind and we were all set to leave that night at 10pm for the island, Ko Samui. The train was only about 40 minutes late, not sure what class but worse than the last one I was on but did manage to get a bit of sleep only to arrive at 6:30 to wait for the ferry.

Finally hit the beach around 4:30 and then went walking to find an Aussie Pub for drinks, walked thru yet another night market (they shop alot here or think the tourists want to day and night!), dinner at Blue Wave Restaurant and then off to a very tame but enjoyable at least lady boy show! They were actually good singers and dancers and it was well done, like a drag queen show we think would be! Didn't have to run out of there under attack at least! Then off to an Irish Pub to watch a another band, the talent/music here isn't quite as good as Indonesia.

New Years in Hua Hin!

2009-01-02T00:26:00.001-08:00

A little car that I liked! Most cars are very new and modern here though!
Hua Hin Beach on New Years Day.
Look at the name of this bar.
The bar where we celebrated midnight. Not sure why but Brian is fuzzy!

After spending my last night in Bangkok quietly watching the movie- The Beach (very appropriate) at a small restaurant/bar and having a facial at 11pm. This town seriously never sleeps! My friend, Brian who had been traveling for over 2 days with missed flights and all arrived at 2am! What a nice sight, a Canadian! We know each other thru the outdoor club in Calgary and when I told him of my travels and he had the month off in January, he asked if he could join me. So we made plans with me not even knowing how nice it will be to have someone who doesn't speak with an accent and that I can totally understand! It's great to see a familiar face! We of course had to go for a couple of drinks and the next day when Brian's backpack finally and luckily appeared by 1pm off we went to hop on a bus for Hua Hin to avoid the New Years craziness in Bangkok and see some ocean!
Luckily we finally found a place to stay (they had given our room away as we were a day late) then off we went for a marvelous seafood dinner and walk along the beach to watch random fireworks and stop at the many temporary bars for a cocktail. Very low key which was okay with my last few days of madness and Brian's terrible flights and jet lag but fun and again more great people watching!
Here they think it's fun to shoot fireworks down the streets and watch people jump out of the way!
The weather since we arrived here has been warm but very windy so going to head south soon to hotter temperatures and the islands! Having a quiet day today, Brian is starting off his trip with a bang, first missed flights and now the flu! Maybe it's good for me, he's slowing me down! But little does he know I am just getting rested up again! :)

XXX Bangkok

2009-01-01T23:40:00.000-08:00

Chinatown, Bangkok all lit up! Busy, noisy, smelly too!
Little boy concentrating and ladyboy watching
The children playing Jenga and neglecting their flower selling business, was so nice to see them laugh and smile, especially Ole, he didn't know yet what was to come!
Getting my massage outside the men's washroom with jealous onlookers. Gave him 100 baht tip.

Down the "Alley of Sin", where we stayed on the edge!'

Our first night with 'snowcapped Heinekens!

How's that song go?! "One night in Bangkok and the world went crazy....." Not sure but I had to think about this for a while and get over my shock before I wrote about my last wild night in Bangkok! Talk about a whole new cultural experience!
Started with the Danish couple I met (of course I need someone to blame!), Ole and Trine. We had celebrated our tattoos and became fast friends. So the next night when they found out I was stranded in Chinatown having a pathetically quiet night cause I didn't want to go out in the smog, noise, pollution and mass crowds they came to my rescue, if you can call it that. We hopped into a taxi to get out of Chinatown and Ole with his accent asked the driver to take us to a ka-row-key bar! My first thoughts were oh this night is getting worse and you would understand if you've ever heard me sing! We end up on a very busy street somewhere in the middle of Bangkok and we start walking up a street lit up like Christmas with Dream Boys and all sorts of clubs along the way. The 'boys' were all over Ole in a second so Trine and I just followed along and watched him squirm! There was shows of every type imaginable and they were all trying to drag us into their bar. We went back to the entrance to regroup and have a drink when we were suddenly surrounded by children selling roses. They were so cute and seemed to be oblivious or maybe just used to their surroundings. We decided to play with them, bought them cokes and got a Jenga game from the bartender and had everyone in the place watching us and laughing even a lady boy!
After an hour or two and a few drinks we decided enough child's play and decided to see a 'show', Ole agreed to what we thought would be a very tame one, with ladyboys. We thought we'd be watching a drag queen show but our somehow acquired 'guide' took us to a place he guaranteed we'd like, I didn't even get to finish my beer before Ole (not that we disagreed) got a little too uncomfortable and we bolted for the door trying to avoid the flying ping pongs!! Let's just say the 'ladyboys' (and I honestly couldn't tell who was what there), got a little too friendly with all of us and the dancing was not that appealing!
So what to do now? We hopped into another cab to see a new part of town and asked the driver to take us to go dancing. We ended up at what they call here a 'Bossy'. It's a huge bar, with all 'types' of people (again it was hard to tell with a few who was what....) and the dance floor is a stage that runs thru the middle of the room with poles! Another great people watching place!
Oh and a bonus, we found out that in the men's room they get massages well doing their 'business' and Trine and I felt so ripped off as all we had was a lady selling toiletries we went to check it out! Ended up being guys (Ole nelglected to tell us but that was okay) in the men's washroom so we motioned for them to come out and they proceeded to give us the best shoulder/neck massage on the stools outside the washrooms for about 20 minutes, everyone was so jealous!
Finally at 3am, Ole had the sense to drag us girls home and put an end to our XXX night in Bangkok! I can say the 'cultural' experience was much more fun than the quiet night I had planned reading in my room in Chinatown, thanks Ole and Trine, miss you both already!

Houseboats, Canoes and Tattoos!

2008-12-29T03:57:00.000-08:00

My coconut drink being prepared.

Cooking the Chinese buns

More food!

Little girl watching me get my henna tattoo, adorable but they told me she never smiles. Very friendly though and loved to look at pictures of herself.

Taadaa!! I love it!

Canoing with Maja

My houseboat home for the night.

I finally got to try houseboating, who would have thought in a lake in Thailand! They made it sound like we'd be on bamboo rafts and sleeping under the stars and I was excited. We ended up with a 'nice' rustic home on the water in which a tugboat pulled us and docked us along the rocky ridged shoreline for the night. Very relaxing and beautiful scenary with the hillsides/mountains. Then we got to take out the canoe for a little cruise around and my friend Maja managed to not tip us in the lake on her first experience in a canoe. She's from South Africa which is on the ocean but never has tried canoeing or kayaking didn't even know the difference! What a sport and she loves learning and trying new things, I hope I am like that when I am 60!

Up at 6am so we can get the boat back and dash to see the Floating Market! It was absolutely amazing to see how they manage along the canals and sell things or cook from off of their boats. I took so many pictures and they just don't do it justice. I had to sample some things off the boats cause half the fun was watching them prepare and then get it to you and for you to get them their money! First I bought a coconut for the juice and watched him use his machete to chop it open, then some Chinese Buns (sort of like a perogy with vegis, papaya and taro-whatever that is) which she cooked in hot oil by her legs with food surrounding her. And then fried bananas in coconut milk! I was so full and it was all delicious! I could have spent hours wandering around there and watching.

Then on the bus back to Bangkok, big excitement as the 'red' party was having a demonstration by our hotel again but it appeared to be very under control. Back to my favorite road, Khoa San for some shopping, drinks and a new tattoo! No I haven't gone crazy, it's a henna and will disappear in 2 weeks. Met another couple who just got tattooed as well so off to celebrate at the Rooftop Pub!

History and party

2008-12-29T03:22:00.000-08:00

Erawan Falls

Johhny, Julie, Cowboy lady and 35 cent drinks!

River Kwai bridge which was bombed twice and rebuilt but no longer in use.

Memorial and Cemetery from the Death Railway

Went with the group to see the Thailand/Burma Railway Centre (or as the banner over it now says The Death Railway Museum and Research Centre in Kanchanaburi. This was all about this history of the railway from WWII when the Japanese wanted easier access from Thailand to Burma (which is now called Myanmar) and India. They used thousands of POWs and it portrayed their horrible living conditions, medical aspects, timelines, geography and a summary of all the deaths which there were alot because of the lack of care they received, the living conditions they had and the Japanese had promised they would be well looked after. It was very sad to see but very interesting considering I usually don't like to hear about these things. We also walked over the bridge that was bombed twice by the Allies to stop the Japanese. All the work involved and all the deaths the railway was only used for just over a year.

Then I decided to check out this town and headed off on my own only to find a crazy Australian couple, Julie and Johnny. We had fun checking out different pubs and even found a little roadside one with a fun, entertaining lady working there wearing a leather cowboy hat. Drinks were only 10 Baht which is like 35 cents so of course we had to have a couple there!

Up early the next morning and went off to see some beautiful waterfalls, a set of seven along the way as we hiked for about 2 hours. Then off to see our bamboo raft accommodation!

A Different Kind of Christmas!

2008-12-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

Up so early, so why not tour another temple or two?! Maybe another palace too!
This one was interesting too with alot of history, it might have made more sense if I had had a better sleep. But what I gathered was that it was built in the 1300s by the Thai people at Ayuthaya that used to be the capital of Thailand. The Burmese (not Myanmar) attacked the temple and destroyed the beautiful Buddha images and buildings and it's now been left as a World Heritage Site. Very sad to see the destruction of what would have been so beautiful with so much manual physical labour to build it. Also saw the original Royal Palace and where the Pagoda with the Kings Ashes were placed and it is all cemeted up now.
Back to the hotel for some R n R and rays by the pool. Another hilite of my day was the phone calls from my family. Kylie was so sweet to call me at 5:30am cause I had texted her to tell her I'd be up early and we had a great chat for about 25 minutes, thanks hun, that's the best present you could have given me! Then my brother, Guy called and I also got to talk to nephew Jo and Mom and Dad which was so awesome! It's great cause with phones and internet you don't seem so out of touch with everyone.
Was hoping to find somewhere with a turkey dinner but I ended up having a nice Seabass with black pepper and vegetable dinner with a rice cake designed like a turtle, why a turtle I'm not sure usually they are just round bowls. Got to hear my favorite Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy made by dinner complete along with the great company of my traveling companions- Maja, Graham and Barbara and our guide Tee.

Oops not sure what happened but the pics didn't post! :( Oh well off to bed, good night and Merry Christmas to All! Peace and love to you all!

The Bicycle Tuk Tuk ride, Bus Ride and Train Ride and a Christmas Starbucks drink!

2008-12-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

The gang on the sleeper train before our 8:30pm bedtime.

The girls on one of the city buses

Enjoying my Starbucks by one of the trees that popped up within a few days before Christmas, not like us at all who start in November!

Our Tuk Tuk driver before he got lost.

So we found this empty tuk tuk and thought it would be fun to take pictures in it when a 70 year old man approached us and said he'd take us for a ride. So we figured why not, and figured we negotiated a good deal with him and that he understood where we were staying. So off we went only to shortly arrive at a red light where he proceeded to get off the bicycle and then push us across the intersection and around the corner. Poor guy I thought with our weight, laundry and night shopping we were going to give him a heart attack but once the bike got it's rhythm he proceeded to hop back on and peddle madly. I seriously wanted to get off and push but luckily we got on a bit of a downhill slope. So he toured us around every once in a while pointing out something and blurting out some Thai words and then he stopped us at a nice park/temple to get off and take some pictures. I am thinking he wanted a break. Then back on our way and we thought he was taking us back home when after a while we where going into an unknown quiet end of town. We kept saying things like hey where are you taking us, where is this and he just replied with a little grin and a heehee noise and kept going. Would have been a bit scary if he was a young fit guy but we figured we could take him if need be. Finally we arrived at some fancy hotel where he motioned us to get off but we had to explain this wasn't ours and gave him the name of our hotel once again and off we went. Finally ended up with an almost hour long ride like he wanted to give us originally but we gave him a very good tip cause we felt so bad....then we wondered if this was planned all along....

Up early the next morning for a 4 hour bus ride with a broken seat, it was about as wild as the elephant ride especially every time the driver stepped on the brakes which was quite frequent.

Had a nice 5 hour break in Chiang Mai and enjoyed a Starbucks coffee while listening to Jack Johnson felt like I could have been in Canada, only in the summertime!

Then off to board the sleeper train, which everyone should experience at least once and if you're really lucky you'll get the bottom bunk. You have a little curtain that separates you from everyone else and a bathroom at the end, needless to say you sleep in your clothes, wear extra clothes cause of the air con and don't bother brushing your teeth cause the 'facilities' are dark, not to sure about the sanitation and with the train constantly lurching you'd probably end up with toothpaste on your feet or who knows where!

Up on Christmas morning as we arrived in Ayuthaya at 5am! Last time I was up that early on Christmas morning I shooed the kids back to bed, this time I was hopping off of the sleeper train onto a little tiny ferry boat with luggage and across to the island the old part of the city is located on. Then off to our rooms for a much needed shower and rest without moving or being jostled!

Snake Whiskey and Opium at the Golden Triangle

2008-12-23T03:52:00.001-08:00

esThe Myanmar and Thailand border at the Golden Triangle
Monks at the Golden Triangle viewpoint
Display of a man smoking opium. This position they found to work best as their head was already on a pillow while they went to dreamland....
iohhh bad picture of me, I just tasted the snake whiskey can I blame it on that??!!
Snake whiskey bottles on display for sale. Cheap!

OK I tried the Snake Whiskey but not the opium! Actually I didn't see any opium to try....surprise.
Today spent the day touring the Golden Triangle area starting with a tour of yet another temple but this one was even more amazing and beautiful than the last one! It had a museum as well with art from a man who rebuilt and recaptured the 'White' Temple called Wat Rong Khun.
Then off on a boat down the Mekong River and we could see 3 countries all at once, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Stopped off on a small area of Laos to see the village and had to try their snake whiskey (at 11 am good start to the day at least it was before the temple) . It was not very smooth and I had to have a piece of gum after to kill the taste.....
Saw water buffalo, raft homes, a big golden Buddha along the way back to Thailand and went to the Opium Museum and learnt all about the opium trade and the long neck people as well. Very interesting and very political. Then went to the Myanmar border at Mae Sai but couldn't cross because if I did when I came back into Thailand I could only get a 14 day visa at this crossing and it would shorten my stay in Thailand. Strange rules they have, nice to have a guide to inform us!

Trekking Day 3 with the Elephants!

2008-12-23T03:41:00.000-08:00

Feeding the elephants
Arriving at the base camp at Ban Kariang Ruam Mit Village
Trekking thru the forest

Woke up early to have coffee by the river and watch them bathe the elephants and get them suited up with 'saddles'.
This morning is day 3 of our trekking and we don't really have to trek at all, just had to hang on for our lives onto these amazing animals as they trekked thru places I never thought an elephant could fit! Some very narrow and steep as well, we had to do lots of hanging on and ducking our heads it was a real workout might as well have been trekking ourselves! Ended up in the Mae Kok River and then lunch at the Ban Kariang Ruam Mit village where I had to feed the elephants some sugar cane and vegitables. The first one was so cute just looked at me and kept bobbing his head up and down and up and down like pick me please! So I fed him alot, such personality he had! We then hopped on a Long Tail boat to continue down the river and back to Chiang Rai to do some much needed laundry and have a hot shower! Oh yeah and an hour long foot massage for about $6 :)

Trekking and living with the Hilltribe people

2008-12-23T03:21:00.000-08:00

oOur surprise visitor with our food supplies.
Morning coffee in bamboo cups by the campfire and river...yes that's me in the hat!
Beers on the veranda of our hut.
Amazing hillside view
Our first night stay village, the government supplies them with solar panels for lighting their homes.

Now started the real roughing it part. Backpacks filled with a few essential items for the next few days, and yes it's chilly in those hills! Had to wear pants, long sleeved shirts, fleece jackets and even socks at night! Somehow I don't think I'm going to get much sympathy....
We headed out on the trail early morning to enjoy some waterfalls, amazing scenery of rolling hills and lush green forest. Stopped in a village for lunch and a rest and saw how happy and simply the people lived. Talked with a young man who was given a scholarship to go to school and become the future village doctor. Very rare for these people to travel and get an education, he was a brilliant young man the village is very lucky as right now they have no doctor.
We were told my our tour company not to hand out things or even sweets to the children as this promotes begging and they don't want that to become part of their culture. Makes sense, they are all so happy now just running and playing much different than the begging children in the streets of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, it's very sad how they are taught so young. If you wish to donate they much prefer you give cash to the schools or the villages and they will put the money to good use for everyone. Continued on our hike until we ended up at the village of about 126 people and 26 families called Ban Yafu. Had a beer on our veranda and dinner on a bamboo mat on the hut floor. Woke up early the next day to the most amazing alarm clock with sounds of pigs grunting, roosters crowing, puppies yapping, chickens clucking and little children singing all at the same time right outside our hut! Just laid there and listened for a the longest time to the sounds of the village.
Next day we hiked on and stopped in a village for lunch and watched the people playing what we call boccie ball. Very reserved and didn't seem too excited to see us but one little girl looked over at me and smiled and offered me a cookie, that was so sweet. Arrived at our next village that consisted of a few huts and a family of a husband, wife and their grown son along side the river.
We were relaxing on our new veranda, having a well deserved beer and the most amazing site to suddenly see was a man riding up the river thru the bushes on an elephant delivering our food supplies! Luckily I had my camera on hand for this!

Culture and Adventure in Chiang Mai, Thailand!

2008-12-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Hilltribe dancer

Ready set GO! Zipping thru the rain forest!

Little Hilltribe girl and her kitten on the 306 steps up to the Doi Suthep temple

Junior Monks at the Doi Sethup temple.

Laying Buddha in Wat Po temple.

Left Bangkok a few days ago so now it's safe to tell all of you that even though I said I would stay away from demonstrations and government buildings, little did I know our Hotel the tour group booked was right beside them!! Very peaceful though except for one leader who shouted almost all day until midnight about whatever he was very passionate about! Our dinner on the first night was at the same restaurant with all the political leaders in the next room! I understand that the Thai people generally are very peaceful and don't like violence and it sounds like they are trying to work things out, I hope they do you can see the damage it had done to the tourist industry.

Some other observations I've made is that Cellophane is very popular here, recycling not so much! They even put drinks into cello and just stick a straw in! Very smoggy here drivers/workers wear surgical masks while out. Drugstores sell very toxic creams for 'whitening' skin here, the Asians want to have whiter skin and we want to be darker! You can buy anything in Bangkok on the streets including a University Degree, passport, ID even dentures (even though they looked used and were still missing teeth! ewhhh very creepy!)

Took the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai, what an experience that was! Lucky me got the top bunk too that is half the size with the aircon on my feet and the light in my eyes...I 'found' an extra blanket and wore my eye mask but with two tiny little straps holding me in place I didn't sleep too well as the train jostled around up thru the mountains! Arrived in Chiang Mai on very little sleep with a full day of plans. Headed to the famous Doi Suthep temple complex, had to climb 306 steps (they call it the Stairway to Heaven) to get there and watched the young monks and was blessed by another in the temple and recieved a white bracelet for good luck. Here a woman cannot touch or be touched by a monk so his helper had to put on my bracelet and found out later the men get the nice woven ones and the women get the basic plain ones! No such thing as equality here and of course that doesn't bother me at all! Yes! Oh well hopefully the luck will just keep coming!

In the afternoon we toured some factories and watched them make jewelry, umbrellas, weaving etc and then off to the famous Chiang Mai Night Market for shopping where you can find anything imaginable. Had to do something to please the guys so we headed to the Muay Thai boxing fights. What a rough sport, they use their elbows and knees too! Even two women competed and there was to be a Championship fight with a Canadian but after about 8 fights we really had seen enough.....and I forget to bring my Canadian bandana to wave any how!

Thursday, December 19th I said enough culture I need some adventure so off to go ziplining thru the rain forest! 2 kms about 18 different ziplines and soaring thru the beautiful forest! It was so fun, something I've always wanted to try, what a feeling and what views!

We also visited beautiful Mae Kompong Village had lunch and toured up to the waterfalls.

Back to town then for a little more culture, went to a dinner show with the traditional Northern Thailand Dancers (I even got asked to dance and they said I was good!) and then saw the Hilltribe dancers which I enjoyed even more!

That's it for now, I am off to Chiang Rai today and tomorrow we spend 3 days trekking and living with the Hilltribe people!

Love to all, stay warm and stay safe!

Leaving Bali and off to Bangkok

2008-12-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

My canal tour boat in Bangkok

Hilltribe woman/baby selling wares on KhaoSan Road. The babies are so adorable!

KhaoSan Road

Tanah Lot Temple

Sadly left Bali on December 14th, I will be back to Indonesia one day for sure! I loved the food, people, culture - everything pretty much even got used to the pushy guys, just make them laugh and they leave you alone!

I stayed my last days in on the west coast at Seminyak. Went to see the Tanah Lot temple which stands for land in the middle of the sea. Mystical strength was used to lift the great rock and cast into the sea and to be safe from the villages angry leader. It was amazing beautiful and I took about a hundred pictures!

Off to Bangkok then and out-tricked the taxi driver who tried telling me he was giving me a 'good deal'! Thanks for all the tips from my travel buddies and my tour company,

Had to go see the famous KhaoSan Road full of shopping, pubs and awesome people watching! Met up with a fun couple from England and Thailand who toured me around some of the other roads and helped me taste some new foods and every once in a while we had to stop for a Singha beer of course!

Funny the western guys flock here looking for a Thai girlfriend/wife but nobody looks happy! And after spending the evening with this couple and watching her emotional tears as she didn't get her way and hearing his views it 's apparent life is not always greener on the other side of the fence! It seems to be a way out for the thai girls for a better life and for older, lonely men to find a companion.

Beautiful cultural Ubud Dec 8th to 11th

2008-12-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Careful how you buy your petrol or what you drink here! Sold in Absolute Vodka bottles!
The Suckling Pig hawker stand and my friend/driver Mus.
Beautiful dancer at Legong Dance show
tFamily kitchen
Bowls and crusher, whatever it was smelled delicious! Spices...
eStove
Bike group (all Europeans, two local boys and me the Canadian)
yVolcano mountain
Fire Dancer
Evil dress swinging monkey

Arrived back in Bali and met a wonderful couple from Italy, Ivano and Lena. We toured the town and did some more cultural things like evening performances. The first being in a nearby pub with the Ubud local reggae band who were amazingly good and then of the real Balinese dances- Kecak Ranayan and Fire Dance one night and then Legong and Barong Dance show another night. Amazing music, costumes, makeup and details, a lot of work goes into these shows.
Decided I needed some exercise and wanted to see more of central Bali so I went on a bike tour to Kintamani Volcano and Lake Batur. The views were amazing and first we went to a coffee plantation and saw how they made coffee from a Luwak's (ferret looking) waste droppings consisting of cherry coffee berries that he ate, fermented in his stomach and once 'disposed' of was gathered by people, cleaned, roasted slowly and then crushed and ground into fine coffee that apparently is sold in department stores in Australia, London and even the States for about $50 a cup! I wonder if the people really know......what some people will do for a 'good' cup of java! They had samples but I tried a sip is all and choose to have lemon grass tea!
We had more coffee at our viewpoint and banana bread with is not like ours at all, it's deep fried (of course) and battered kinda yummy I'm getting used to it.
So full of caffeine we started off on our bike race, I mean ride. Some of the people in our group thought it was more fun to race thru the country side full tilt but I liked to enjoy the sights and take pictures of the local children who just love the tourists and scream at the top of their lungs 'Hallo!' when they see you and run out to the road to slap hands with you as you whiz by. Sort of feels like being on the Tour De France with all the fans! I only got left behind once.....it's a very strange feeling riding out in the middle of a strange countryside all alone! The locals were cute I keep asking and pointing which way? And they pointed me in the direction that the group went and I soon caught up. I would like to think they would have come looking for me.....
We also toured thru a family compound that consisted of different buildings, one for the kitchen, one for sleeping, a temple, an outdoor bed area that was for any special occasion be it a birth, marriage, death and also in the back their garden and a pen for a mother and baby pig. The whole families (grandparents, children and grandchildren and even siblings) live together here and everyone helps out with everything. It's nice to see, so different than our society.
We checked out a chili pepper farm, the famous rice paddy fields, temples as well along the way. Then the rain started....we took a little break and found cover but finally had to continue on and luckily didn't get too soaked, it was rather refreshing actually, not for wussies!
I also toured a few Art Markets that the Ubud area is famous for, if only I had a huge suitcase and someone to carry it, I could have come home with some amazing painting, wood carvings, jewelry, clothing you name it!
Finally I had to see the Monkey Forest Sanctuary, it was beautiful jungle setting with pathways and loads of grey monkeys who loved bananas! The picture of this particular piggish monkey was taken after he was swinging off my dress with both hands! I was trying to feed the smaller monkeys my bunch of bananas cause they were too timid to come too close but once he got so aggressive I just started throwing them at him and he wouldn't leave me alone until I had none left in my hands! Kinda freaky but amusing at the same time.
I read in a travel magazine that you can't leave without sampling the suckling pig and the place to go was called Oka Ibu so I had a 'taxi' motorcycle guy drive me there only to find out it was closed for the evening. I asked where else I could go, not too expensive as there as some $$$$ places here but some equally good less expensive places too. Next thing I know, hanging on tight to the back of his bike we were headed out of town. I kept asking where we were going, he was a nice kid, talkative and friendly and he kept saying don't worry I know a place. Well we ended up in some local village at an outdoor market for the locals, selling new and used items and he walks me to the back where there are little 'hawker stalls' and all the locals ordering their food. Again I am the only bulea around and all eyes are on me! So Mus ever so kindly orders up my food and they serve it up again with their hands (I've stopped cringing at this sight now and not getting sick yet...knock on wood helps!) and I sit down to eat on the plastic stool they showed me. I didn't know what I was eating and would ask Mus after I ate it often, 'What was that?!', he got quite a laugh out of it and not sure if he told me everything. Not quite the way I was envisioning my last dinner out in Ubud but what an experience again! Headed back into town in the rain. It's very hard to hear and chat on a motorbike but I was trying and being half deaf doesn't help either. We were going along thru one village and I thought he said 'Merry Christmas' and I said Yeah, we celebrate and started to explain how I'll miss my family when he pulls over to the side of the road. I said hold on what are you doing? He said - I asked if I could kiss you! Well I slapped his back and said NO and laughed and then he laughed and apologized over and over! I am getting tired some days of not having a real English person to talk to! The accents and lack of english gets exhausting and can be a little risky at times! haha
All in all the Indonesian people are wonderful, friendly, peaceful, happy people. I love it here and will come back one day and hope to see more!
Next stop Thailand! Sounds all good except they suggest to stay away from demonstrations (really I have better things to do!) and Parliament buildings. Not sure when I'll update again, I'll be joining an adventure group and seeing Northern Thailand until the end of December. Wishing all of you the very best for the holidays and much happiness!
Cheers Ali

Leaving Lombok - December 7th

2008-12-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

Andrew, my friend/guide leading me thru the forest/hills
View of Sengigi, Lombok
Breaky on my veranda
Dee, Ari, Stephan

A few last pictures of my amazing memories of this island, the scenery was incredible and so were the people I met. A family from Singapore who were moving back to France were staying at the Santai as well and little 3 year old, Ari I called my little Lombok boyfriend. He was so intelligent and cute and we were instant friends! I was taken on an exhausting 2 1/2 hour hike up the hills and thru the jungle and Monkey Forest in the 30 degree heat by another so called 'friend' and even though I had moments I thought I might pass out the views were so worth it!
Breakfast one morning consisted of Black rice porridge with coconut milk and bananas. Getting my fill of bananas here for sure I think when Jack Johnson wrote the song Banana Pancakes he must have been in Indonesia! Very hard to be healthy and lose weight here despite all the melting I've been doing! No such thing as whole wheat, white bread, white rice and even if the menu says grilled so much is deep fried! And smoke! So much second hand smoke with the locals and the Europeans, very hard to get used to after our smoking laws. I will have to detox when I get home for sure!

Loving Life in Lombok with my Mie Goreng hair

2008-12-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

Santai- my veranda on my hut by the beach!
My outdoor shower
Dinner is served by lanterns
Sunset on Lombok
Waterfalls
Visitors to see the bulea woman
My pet gecko!
Children at the store, one teenage girl is screaming and hiding and being shy like I am a celebrity or something!
View from our lunch spot

What can I say?! Life is good here, nice country, beautiful scenery and great people! I am so glad I came here, I almost didn't but this is truly my favorite island so far! I have seen some amazing beaches and views, don't know if the pictures will do this justice!
I decided one day I wanted to go off the beaten path and see an area in the centre of the island called Tetebatu. Well for me it was a culture shock of 8/10! I went for a walk thru the village and felt like I was a celebrity. I was the only 'bulea' (white person) in town and the children all screamed 'HELLO' at me and everyone waved and honked at me. I can't even begin to describe how it felt to feel so different and to have so much attention!
Eddy, a worker at my 'hotel' came and rescued an 8" gecko out of my room and then sat down to chat with me as I was the only guest there. Tourism is really lacking in Indonesia still since the bombings in 2006. He proceed to tell me he was first married at 15 to an 11 yr old, then at 17 to a 13 yr old girl who decided she loved him cause he put Black Magic in her cigarette but she cried too much and now he is 34 and married with a baby to a 15 yr old! Apparently here divorce is very easy, you say 'I divorce you' four times and it's done! If you are rich you can have up to 5 wives and if you want a new one you just divorce one of them......odd cause I read they frown upon divorce in Indonesia so it must the different religions which I haven't totally figured out but there is Muslim, Hindu and Christian.
Then Eddy asked me if I would like to come and meet his family so I figured why not not much else going on, so off we went on his motorbike. We got to his little one room home and instantly about a dozen women and children were at the door. They all had to come in and see the bulea. Eddy translated for me as he was the only one who knew english and he told me they love my white teeth, my pointy nose and my hair looks like Mie Goreng!! I laughed out loud cause that was just what I had for lunch, it's an Indonesian dish consisting of a fried egg and vegis and curly brown noodles like ichiban soup! I know my hair has gone wild here with the humidity so that was just a hilarious observation they had made! They were very nice and insisted I had some boiling hot coffee in a juice cup and I was trying to be polite and drink it but it was so hot I had to lick my fingers to grab the glass to drink it......as they looked oddly at me! Another odd thing was when they introduced me to their baby boy, Eddy told me to take my finger and stroke the bottom of my foot and then the babies forehead.....it was meant to bring him good fortune apparently. Hope it works, they all live in poverty but seem so happy there but at the same time one of the ladies was disgusted with me because she wanted to see my lipstick and I told them I had none so she left in a huff shortly after and wouldn't even wave goodbye!
The next day I took a motorcycle tour to the Monkey Forest and we got very lucky and saw about a dozen black monkeys swinging in the trees above, they reminded me of chimpanzees. Then off hiking to Jaktu waterfalls and splashed around and actually saw 2 other buleas! Then San my guide said he'd take me for a really nice lunch in a nearby town, well we ended up at a soup kitchen place where they scooped the food onto plates with their hands and served it to you with a spoon and fork (I can see Mom cringing now....) The meat was tough like beef jerky and in huge hunks so I was trying to be polite and hack it away with my spoon and made my way thru most of it.....again I was the only female and white person there so everyone was watching me! OK time to get out of town! Had San drive me to Sengigi, 4 hours on the back of a bike in a day is too much!
I found a quaint rustic place now to stay at, Santai, that I just love. It has an outdoor bathroom and my shower is a huge urn full of water and you just pull a plug out of the bottom to make it work. It also has a little quiet relaxing veranda with pillows and a hammock. The eating area is a large beruga with pillows and long table for everyone to eat together.

Have met some awesome people here from all over the world who have been great friends and hosts and love to share information, party, eat and just hang out and talk. I am thankful for them all as they have made my trip so much more amazing!

A few more days in Lombok then off to Ubud, Bali. Then next Sunday things are looking good to go to Thailand. I have received information from many sources including my tour company and it looks very safe if not safer than before! Yay!

Til next post!
Ali / Gay

Family and Friends

2008-11-26T01:33:00.000-08:00

cl The only transport besides bicycles on Gili TrawanganPicture above my bed....looks like someone on mushrooms made it but I think it warded off creepy crawlies out of my room so I liked it.

A baruga, comfy resting spot on the north end of the island.

Sign at the bar Rudys.
Perama boat over to Gili, very relaxing and rustic but we made it!

A quote I love and had to share-
"You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world, a world lives in you". :)

Gee I have been a little negligent on here haven't I? Guess I am having too much fun in Gili Islands, Lombok! I will post pictures once I get somewhere with better internet service.
Well you'll be happy to hear I did accomplish something, I read a book called the Shack, by Wm Paul Young, where the above quote came from. I strongly recommend everyone read it, it's an awesome fictional story that will make you laugh, cry and answer some of those unanswered questions you may have.

So to fill you in on my doings for the past week, I ended my time in Candidasa with breakfast on my veranda before hopping the Perama bus to get to Gili Trawangan, on a 4 hour tour....lol Gili / Giligans Island....if you remember that show and it's theme song, makes a person a little apprehensive as the 'maintenance' on machines here isn't as detailed as ours! Then to boot a couple of days after I got here the boat actually did break down half way here and now I am stranded unless I want to blow my budget and go by speedboat, take the ferry which sounds dreadfully painful or wait until Sunday. I was hoping to leave Friday as Island life can get a little tiring.....yes it can! Salt water showers, parties at a different bar every night, not that I attend them all but there's a great little Irish pub that has become my favorite!! It's great here, slow paced, no motorized vehicles only these poor little horses that pull carriages that fit about 3 people swishedly.....I opted out on renting my own bike for the week! I love it and went all around the island today, took almost 2 hours with a couple of stops for amazing views and a drink of water!
Have met some amazing people including my first Canadians, they live in Edmonton! Plus a friend of my daughter's who Kylie had met in Australia and I recognized her from pictures on facebook! It was so surreal, such a small world too and I could have just hugged this young lady, (actually I believe I did). She filled me in on how Kylie is doing and just raved about her and made me miss her even more! Many other people too in so many walks of life, lots of Europeans and a few more Canadians too, we're all so excited to meet up with each other! It's like a family reunion! haha
One thing that they really promote here is their magic mushrooms, they actually make them into mushroom milkshakes! Once I can post pictures I'll include one of a funny sign. It's funny they promote it like crazy even though drugs are illegal here but the killer is there are no cops on the island! I've seen a few 'crazed' people and heard a few stories....so NO I haven't tried them and I'm not just saying that cause my parents/kids are reading this either! lol

OK enough work for now, internet is a bit slow but I will try to write again sooner and let you know how I got off the island! :)

Thanks also to everyone concerned and that have written me about Thailand. I have neglected reading up on my world news since I've left Singapore and now maybe I will do some. I am to fly into Bangkok from Indonesia on December 14th and do a GAP adventure tour in Northern Thailand for 2 weeks and then meet up with a friend, Brian, from the Calgary Outdoor Club on the 30th to see southern Thailand and Malaysia for the month of January. I know GAP will not run a tour if it's not safe and I may have to look at setting up a plan B! I will play it safe and keep my wherabouts posted.

Love and hugs to all :)

More Culture!

2008-11-20T01:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went on a tour with my guide Nehgah, whose name I still can't pronounce after numerous trys and laughs so I call him Ric.

First we went to a little village called Tenganan, the inhabitants live according to their ancient Bali Traditions and ceremonies (which include fighting against each other). They do geringsing (double Ikat) cloth weaving with a wooden machine. It takes about one week to complete one of these shawls and they are hoping to sell them for about $150,000 Rupiahs which is about $15 to us. Makes you feel kinda bad about bartering over the price when you see the work involved in a literal sweatshop!

An earthquake destroyed the village about 6 years ago and they along with neighboring villages all rebuilt it, that is their culture.

Then off to the Kings Palace we went. It's called Puri Agung Karangasem my the town called Amlapura. (are you keeping track of all this? Maybe get a map....) King Anak Agung had 10 wives, 16 sons, 19 daughters and just passed away in 1967.

After that we went to a Water Palace called Tirta Gangga. This is where all the villages get their holy water for any of their ceremonies. It's absolutely beautiful with all the fountains, water lillys and pools and statues of the good gods and the evil gods.

At the end of the day we headed down a bumpy road to Partai Putih (White Sand Beach). Here Ric introduced me to his buddy whose name I love and can actually pronounce, Santa! Santa took me snorkeling and we saw all kinds of colorful fish, coral reefs and one really big turtle! I wouldn't have noticed him cause he was laying on the bottom of the ocean and blended right in but when Santa dove down and nudged him a little he swam away. He was probably about 3 feet long. Maybe I didn't notice cause I was too busy watching Santa with his spear that he asked if I minded if he brought along. I was making sure I wasn't going to be the catch of the day! As a result he didn't catch anything but when we got back to the beach he cooked me up an awesome snapper with vegis and rice (of course). Santa owns his own restaurant business on the beach that he runs all day and then comes and works as a chef at 6pm in the homestay that I am at. The people here work so hard, 7 days a week and 2 jobs. They laughed at me when I said we work 8 hour days.

Well my last night here, I'm off to Gili Islands, Lombek which is like another province in Indonesia but I will be back to Bali soon!

Cheers!

My Home in Candidasa, Bali

2008-11-20T01:23:00.000-08:00

Arrived here about 4 days ago and just love it here. The pictures show my place with the veranda thru the coconut palms. Voted as 2nd best garden in Bali and that even included the 5 star resorts. Very peaceful and very nice people, the owner is Balinese and owned the land and didn't overdevelope it with buildings.

Some observations for Bali now-

Your meals are cheap but your drink (one drink) can cost as much as your meal! :(

Bali is mostly Hindu people so much more relaxed than the rest of Indonesia with what you wear except when you go into temples, must have covered shoulders and knees. The rest of the time you can wear beach wear and even then you are melting!

It doesn't just rain here, when it starts to rain that means you run cause it suddenly downpours and that could go on for 1/2 hour to a couple of hours.

Instead of having flowers on your pillow every night like in Mexico they put fresh flowers in a bowl on my veranda table, not sure when but they're always there first thing and I don't even hear them!

Lots of people, male and female here called Ketut and Made. People name their first born Wayan , second born Made, third born Oman and forth born Ketut. Not sure after that and not sure why I've only met Ketuts and Mades!

They have small geckos here called chechas, kinda white in color.

Til next time, hope you enjoy reading this and that you are all doing well!

Peace in Bali

2008-11-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

In case you are wondering why I haven't written was I wanted to wait until I had something stimulating to tell my readers! Other than the usual, lying on the beach, eating and drinking....I arrived in Bali a few days ago (I can't remember dates, good thing I'm keeping a diary that's the only way I know what day it is!) I went to Sanur, I heard it was a sleepy town and thought that would be a good choice after Singapore to unwind. So being a sleepy town meant no real wild nightlife is all. I found but it was a very busy, noisy, hectic pace with hawkers constantly bothering you and not alot of friendly people other than a Swede family and some people from England I met. So after 2 days and slightly sunburnt I decided to hit the road to Candidasa which is on the east coast. It is a quiet village as well with less hawkers, noise and hussle bussle. I found the most relaxing quiet little hideaway called Kelapa Mas (Golden Coconut) Homestay. It's a beautiful place on the ocean with a coconut palm garden that I look at from my veranda. All this for about $12/night which includes taxes and breakfast!! My neighbor is a girl from NYC who has been here for a month just 'being', she's into meditating. The people here are so friendly and from the heart, they all ask me 'what is my 'program' for the next day?' What I need a program? Sounds like work to me! I told them to sleep and read and that is what I did today on my veranda listening to the ocean waves. Tomorrow I am going on a tour and the next day I plan to get a massage (about $7 for an hour), so now I can tell them I have actual plans if they ask me again tonight. Funny everyone asks me "Are you alone?" It's not usual for people especially women to travel alone here. But they ask more out of caring I think and they seem sad for me but I just smile and say 'Yes' or if it's a guy asking I say 'not for long' I'm meeting my friend. And I have been meeting friends from all over the world, haven't been lonely yet but it's sure nice to have the internet to keep in touch.
Well off for dinner, last nights cost me $5 for a Mahi Mahi meal in a really nice restaurant with Legong dancing. It's an Indonesian dance that is almost like the slow Hawaiian dancing that you see at Luaus.
I will try to add some pictures soon when I find a more modern computer.....Cheers! :)

Singapore Zoo and my Last Night in the Big City

2008-11-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Very beautiful, I can see why it is one of the world's famous! Open and lush with a rain forest atmosphere. Instead of cages they basically have huge moats all covered over with bushes and vines so it feels as though you are walking thru a jungle (only on cement pathways).

Attached is a picture of a Komodo Dragon and of the giraffes only look at the background.

The other pictures are of May, my roommate from Malaysia. We went down to Clarke Quay, the restaurant/party district and then for a cruise down the Singapore River. Also Christmas Lights were strewn all across Orchard Rd, the main shopping street in Singapore.

Getting tired of the hustle bustle of this big city though, it is indeed very Western with all the designer stores/malls and Christmas displays and advertising.

I ready to move onto Bali tomorrow and find a little hut on the beach! :)

Too much culture? I think this is just the beginning.

2008-11-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

So far I have managed to cover alot of Singapore and I think I have seen most of the highlights thanks to a wonderful lady, Margaret who is living here with her husband Dean and are both originally from Scotland. In one day we toured via the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) to a famous shopping plaza Tangs which we only had an ice coffee at the Marriot and then off to the Singapore Botanical Gardens inside of which we also saw the National Orchid Gardens (Singapores flower) and the Ginger Gardens (who knew there were so many types of ginger!) Then off to another coffee house (TCC- The Coffee Connosieur), going to keep using jet lag as an excuse whenever I can! We also managed to get my first Singapore drink in at Raffles Hotel at the Long Bar. Something every tourist has to do apparently is visit this famous hotel and have a $26 Singapore Sling (that really wasn't that tasty but heck it had alcohol!) With being such a prestigious and beautiful old hotel I was kinda surprised that while drinking your expensive drinks in the Long Bar (all booze in Singapore is very expensive $13 for just a vodka, $12 for their beer called Tiger) everyone is quite thrilled that they get to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor.....I said we get to do that in Calgary but usually at dinghy little pubs!

Then we walked and walked some more over to the Singapore Flyer which is like a huge enclosed Ferris Wheel that gave us a great view of the city all lit up at night.

The next day was my real 'culture' day and it actually started out sunny! Walked up Bincoolen Street and off the beaten path and found Sri Krishnan Temple. I could smell that wafts of incense long before I turned the corner and then was amazed by the number of people mid-morning worshipping to the temple and then appearing to turn and bow to the sun all with 5 sticks of lit incense in their hands. Then I carried on to Little India which was very crowded and very smelly with lots of food vendors and shops. Met a very friendly monk who invited me to come and stay in Chang Mai, Thailand at his temple and kept saying free bed free food, all for nothing. He seemed a little too friendly for a monk but he had the right costume....

Then I met up with my tour guide Margaret again and we hopped on the MRT for Chinatown and looked at all the different fruits and stalls.

Saw the most beautiful temple called Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum and must have spent 2 hours there touring the 5 story building, watched part of a service, toured the museum and on the rooftop an amazing orchid garden with a prayer wheel in the middle. We were told the wheel is for people who can't read or don't know how to pray. You walk around it 3 times and the praying is done for you, I walked a little extra.

After that we headed to the hot nightlife spot of Singapore called Clarke Quay along the Singapore River but we had no life left in us once we had dinner and a quenching Tiger beer so headed off home in a taxi! Can I still say I am suffering from jet lag? Or can I use the excuse of walking miles in 30 degree weather? One day I will party again!

We did see a fun place called the Clinic....a restaurant using hospital furniture including wheelchairs....a little creepy but cool at the same time.

Singapore Starbucks Barista thinks I'm Looney!

2008-11-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

Well here I am, day 2 in Singapore and just about over my jet lag I am hoping!
Can't beleive how different and how much the same this country can be as home! Found a Starbucks across the street and got my usual non-fat skinny vanilla latte and asked for loonies back as I need them for the computer! I started to laugh and explain he just looked at me funny as he handed me my change....
Some observations I've made in my first day here is- WOW are the sidewalks slippery! It had been raining and I was wearing my flip flops (in November!!) :) and did some fancy little dance steps but managed to stay upright thank goodness. So then of course I had to go looking at some shoe stores for something with a better grip and.....
Observation #2- they have the most amazing sandal selection here!! Which for a sandal fetish person with only so much room in her backpack can be a scary thing!
Observation #3, english everywhere which is great! Signs, menus, songs playing, but the groups of people are all speaking some type of Asian which makes it very hard to eavesdrop!
Observation #4- it's true, gum is illegal in Singapore, went to 7-11 and they have none but they did have about 30 varieties/types of Mentos! They also had a Caramel Kit Kat bar but they were $2.60 singapore dollars which is about $2.20 CAD, okay so I decided I'm pick the mentos for just over a dollar. Won't be getting fat on chocolate bars here that's for sure!
Another observation is that Christmas over here is huge and they decorate here big time! I will try to get some nighttime pics to post as all of Orchard Rd is doned with streams of lights and decorations.

Meeting some very interesting people along the way so far and fortunately it's been overcast so the slowly getting adjusted to the heat. Off for lunch with a fellow to give him his solar light for the Light Up the World Foundation I've been involved with and then to tour the city with a friend's friend!
That's all for now!
Ali
(In case you haven't heard, my new traveling name. I can say "hi I'm Ali' and people can ask, 'Are you Ali?' without any funny or awkwardness! And in some cultures, 'gay' is not a good thing!)