Well I would just like to congratulate myself on a happy 9 month unemployment anniversary :) Yay! The poorer I get the happier I feel! Anyhoo - just arrived back in Bangkok after an overnight bus from Ko Lanta. Had a very chilled and relaxing 2 days at a Ko Lanta - island in Krabi Province. Stayed at a very reasonable resort, with Ana & her 2 mates. We stayed in cute Bamboo bungalows.. Basically all I did was walk on the beach, drink some beers, read my book, stuff my face with thai food and swim in the pool. The resort was conveniently located right on the beach, so it was just glorius sitting on my deck chair and chilling out. It was just what I needed before the final leg home.
Ana unfortunately is not doing too well and when I left was making her way to Phuket to a larger hospital after visiting the small local one on Ko Lanta. It looks as though the pain in her stomach might actually be a bleeding kidney or something else. I feel pretty guilty, as I was the last person to see her before she met her ill fate! I left her merrily chatting to some Thai dudes at the bar we were at, and then the next morning she looked like she been hit by a bus! It's still a mystery what happened... and she thinks she must have just fallen really hard, or been play fighting with the guys...She kept on harping on about Muay Thai that eve (!?).
Why do bad things happen when people come out with me? Am I a catalyst for trouble?
Saying that though - I was still pretty sober when I left, and the reason I left was because I didnt want to have a crazy night! Oh Ana... poor little gypsey :( here's wishing her a speedy recovery. We had a lovely time together just chatting and chilling out though, so I was very glad to see her none the less.
I am staying in Bangkok for one day, I arrived at 6am this morning and made my way to my hostel by bus - really I am starting to impress myself with my ability to navigate my way around foreign cities. I was the ONLY foreign person on the whole 30 min bus journey...living like a local :) So far my thai vocabulary includes: Hello/Good Bye, check please!, Thank you and NO problem!
My overnight bus journey to Bangkok was pretty cool - I slept pretty much the whole way, as I secured the last row of seats at the back of the bus. I just stretched out and had a nice nap. My nap was encouraged by some codeine laced painkillers which I found with delight in my bag. Yay for narcotics. Today one of my missions is to go and hunt for some valium - you can get it here cheap cheap, yippee! Flights from here onwards are going to be a breeze.
So this is the last of my journeys for a little while! I am going back to SA - hitting Jozi for a 30th birthday and catch up with mates... ZIDE you better be planning a big one. Then I am back in lovely exciting Port Elizabeth, St Francis and Hogsback for a few weeks for Christmas with the family.
I am planning my next destination now...South America! I have plenty to arrange because much has changed about this leg of my trip! I was orginally flying to Sau Paulo at the end of month to re-unite with my now EX Brazilian boyfriend, but that relationship sadly dissolved in the duration of my travels (get out the violins people, get them out). So now I need to go back to the drawing board - check my funds, make some new itinerary plans and set off on my own. A little heavier on the pocket it will be, a little more challenging not having a Portuguese/Spanish speaking partner but I am sure I will be much richer for the experience! I am just travelling until the last of my funds is up... I might not have very long in South America, and I am just going to see how far I can get with what I have left! Thats the PLAN for now - but this might change, God' knows every other plan I have had has changed this trip so far..
They say money cant buy you love, but looking around here in Bangkok - it seems to buy you pretty much close enough... Loving you long time from Bangkok.. Gypsy Regdelp signing out.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Still in Thailand - cant leave!
Well I am supposed to be in Mumbai... but after much thought I decided to give my brief stint in India a miss... I just couldnt face having to deal with big cities, after spending a super relaxing week on the beach! I headed back to Railay and decided to stay...Okay so I lost a flight and rebooked one for nothing, but as my mother always says: "Its just paper - money- its just paper!"...thanks mom :) And it all worked out for the good - because there I was bobbing in the ocean, and I heard my name being called...none other than a friend from London who I used to work with - Ana, who worked at the Hollywood with me! how random!
Anyway, that cemented the deal, and I am now still sitting in Thailand! Ana is travelling with 2 friends of hers, and that night we went out for a "few harmless beers"...
Anyhoo famous last words. Shots were had. Thai Whiskey buckets got drunk. It didnt end well... I left Ana at a bar, as I had booked a rock climbing/ cliff jumping tour the following day... SO the next morning when I saw Ana, she looked like she had been in a bar brawl... its all a bit of a mystery, but she has bruises all over her legs and arms, and we suspect that she has pulled all the muscles along her side! That fateful evening I last saw her chatting to some dudes about Muay Thai Boxing - so it looks like Ana might have tried a bit of boxing with the locals!!! So Ana is a little worse for wear at the moment....
About my rock climbing tour..Well its a day out on a boat and a small group of about 10 of us made out towards some of the smaller islands, where you climb up the rocks and then jump off various ledges 5m, 10m, and even a mind boggling 25m high!! Its all free climbing so no harness or anything because if you fall you just land up in the water.. It was a lovely day, and it was 2 of us girls and 8 very buff looking guys. The jumping bit I wasnt worried about - but rock climbing requires some serious strength!! Us girls gave it a good crack but after about 45mins of clutching onto a rock like a terrified starfish, I had to throw in the towel of attempting the super high climbs! I managed to at least get a little bit high and lept of the cliff gracefully of course. Rock climbing is bloody hard, and you are supposedly meant to use more of your legs than your arms, but I just couldnt trust JUST my legs to propel me up a sheer cliff face! It was still an awesome day though - as we did some snorkelling, had a lovely lunch on the beach AND I got to perve at the super sexy dudes clambering up the rocks... such muscle definition... it brought a tear of joy to my eye. I got busted by the tour guide taking pervy pictures... GUILLLLLTY! Also watching the boat driver climb up and take the 25m jump was hectic... he literally scuttled up the rocks like some kind of freakish rock monkey and lept off with ease. It was even scary to watch!! One of the guys landed badly and had a pretty slapped up back but other than that no one was hurt.
A good day was had by all, and even with an added bit of adventure in the end when we got stuck in some hectic rainy stormy weather on the way home. We had to sit on the boat and drink coffee until the heavy rains subsided.
So today we headed off by boat/ferry/minivan to the island of Ko Lanta - its Ana her 2 friends (a couple) and I and we are here for 2 nights. Then I make my way to bangkok to come back to SA, via a flight to India!
We are staying at a lovely resort with a gorgeous position overlooking the sea, a lovely pool and very cute rustic bungalows...
I just hope that Ana starts feeling better tomorrow and we can have some fun in the sun... NO RAIN please! It rained just about all of today :(
Thats all from Thailand - Gypsy Regdelp signing out x
Anyway, that cemented the deal, and I am now still sitting in Thailand! Ana is travelling with 2 friends of hers, and that night we went out for a "few harmless beers"...
Anyhoo famous last words. Shots were had. Thai Whiskey buckets got drunk. It didnt end well... I left Ana at a bar, as I had booked a rock climbing/ cliff jumping tour the following day... SO the next morning when I saw Ana, she looked like she had been in a bar brawl... its all a bit of a mystery, but she has bruises all over her legs and arms, and we suspect that she has pulled all the muscles along her side! That fateful evening I last saw her chatting to some dudes about Muay Thai Boxing - so it looks like Ana might have tried a bit of boxing with the locals!!! So Ana is a little worse for wear at the moment....
About my rock climbing tour..Well its a day out on a boat and a small group of about 10 of us made out towards some of the smaller islands, where you climb up the rocks and then jump off various ledges 5m, 10m, and even a mind boggling 25m high!! Its all free climbing so no harness or anything because if you fall you just land up in the water.. It was a lovely day, and it was 2 of us girls and 8 very buff looking guys. The jumping bit I wasnt worried about - but rock climbing requires some serious strength!! Us girls gave it a good crack but after about 45mins of clutching onto a rock like a terrified starfish, I had to throw in the towel of attempting the super high climbs! I managed to at least get a little bit high and lept of the cliff gracefully of course. Rock climbing is bloody hard, and you are supposedly meant to use more of your legs than your arms, but I just couldnt trust JUST my legs to propel me up a sheer cliff face! It was still an awesome day though - as we did some snorkelling, had a lovely lunch on the beach AND I got to perve at the super sexy dudes clambering up the rocks... such muscle definition... it brought a tear of joy to my eye. I got busted by the tour guide taking pervy pictures... GUILLLLLTY! Also watching the boat driver climb up and take the 25m jump was hectic... he literally scuttled up the rocks like some kind of freakish rock monkey and lept off with ease. It was even scary to watch!! One of the guys landed badly and had a pretty slapped up back but other than that no one was hurt.
A good day was had by all, and even with an added bit of adventure in the end when we got stuck in some hectic rainy stormy weather on the way home. We had to sit on the boat and drink coffee until the heavy rains subsided.
So today we headed off by boat/ferry/minivan to the island of Ko Lanta - its Ana her 2 friends (a couple) and I and we are here for 2 nights. Then I make my way to bangkok to come back to SA, via a flight to India!
We are staying at a lovely resort with a gorgeous position overlooking the sea, a lovely pool and very cute rustic bungalows...
I just hope that Ana starts feeling better tomorrow and we can have some fun in the sun... NO RAIN please! It rained just about all of today :(
Thats all from Thailand - Gypsy Regdelp signing out x
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Railay & Phi Phi Beach Bliss..
So the last time I wrote I was in Lao - I am now reporting from the stunning Krabi Province..and alot has happened! So in a nutshell: MIssed the border crossing as the slow boat I was on was too bloody slow, had to change all my flights, spend an extra night in the middle of nowhere...Had a massive bout of depression owing to being bed bug bitten, out of pocket, losing a day and just general travel woes... But managed to sort everything out in the end and was on my way to Beautiful Krabi Province, home to some of the most stunning beaches in the world. Sheer luck re-united me with a girl I had met in Chiang Mai previously - Rachel, and she was with a friend Erin - both Americans. Spent an awesome 2 days in Railay with them - sea kayaked, lay on the beach, had some delicious food, had mellow drinks, swam and just chilled out. Had some good quality alone time too and just completely let go of all my stresses! What a nice change from the previous few days. The scenery here is just mind blowing, and on the way here when I first arrived, I got a long tail boat ride for the final leg of the journey - the sun was setting gloriously - bright golden orange, and it was as if every worry I had was setting with the same very sun. Had a bit of a mission trying to find accomodation - literally walked about an hour around in stinking hot heat up and down some serious stairs looking for places that werent going to cost an arm and a leg! Met some nice South Africans on the walk though. Had to settle for a costly but nice place in the end, but managed to move to a cheaper room the second night. Its a resort so its got a pool too which is great. Had some fun nights out - drank a little too much but met some cool people, watched some awesome fire dancing .. Annoyingly loads of couples on romantic getaways- you see them everywhere like vermin...canoodling and all loved up. Makes me hiss... but I suppose it is very romantic after all - heck maybe oneday I'll even come back with some of my cats or something.
The girls had planned a trip to Phi Phi which orginally I wasnt going to do this time, but decided to go with them in the end. It was one of the best decisions I made on my holiday thus far, and I absolutely loved Phi Phi. We booked a ferry to the island and our last morning here was quite eventful. Hungover, running late, we "sprinted" the 20 min walk to the departure point... My Sprinted = shuffled briskly like a odd backpack clad sherpa making alarming wheezing noises and sweating like a pig.. We werent late, and had to still wait another 30 mins before leaving.. The run alomst killed me..
Had a delightful ferry trip and arrived on Phi Phi - my happiness was shortly killed when I realised I had left my entire card wallet tucked under my bed in the last hotel... I kept it there for "safe keeping".. It contained my drivers licence, several important cards and 3 loaded emergency credit/debit cards... GREAT. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME - I literally CANNOT keep things!I was left wondering if I should
A) go back to the hotel which would have taken a day and try luck it was still there or
B) try phone the hotel and explain to the not very fluent receptionist where I had it stashed so they could keep it for me - a little risky, or
C) track down a guy I met who was the only person I knew still staying at railay- he works at a rock climbing place and see if he could try and get it for me and keep it safe?! or finally
D) Just cancel the cards and leave it all.
I then remembered the sheer horror of having to get another drivers licence again in SA, its the 3rd one I would have had to get in less than 2 years so I decided I had to try and make a mission to get it back! Anyway, decided to go with the combination of plans C & D... cancelled all the cards as a first precautionary measure - fortunately I did still have my main bank card... I then had to track down the dude - I knew the name of the rock climbing school, so googled it and made a phone call. Spoke to the boss, and awkwardly asked if there was a guy called Mike working there. He totally thought I was a stalker and when a confused Mike who I barely know eventually called me back, he too thought I was a stalker. Explained the stitch to Mike - lovely Ozzie guy, who went back to the hotel a few times and finally managed to get in the room - and got my wallet!! It was still there! Random... dinner for Mike on me! Funny that I have a strange man runing errands for me - but its travellers comradery for you!
Annoying that I cancelled the cards - but murphy's law!! Anyway - another lesson learn on Sarah's trip - the list is growing...
Back on Phi Phi things were pumping - being one of Thailands top destinations the little island is certainly pumping. Again beautiful scenery but also very touristy. Had to trek a bit for our room - the name UP HILL COTTAGE should have sounded the alarm bells... Again arrived drenched in sweat.. I have sweated so much here, its revolting.. I must honk most of the time too - but I am at least not alone!
We had a wonder around a bit, had a lovely swim and then plonked at a beach bar where we met some lovely English ladies. 3 of them - 2 sisters and a friend of theirs. We all teamed up for the remainder of our time in Phi Phi and we just had such a fun amazing time. Loads of laughs, and just a lovely bunch of girls to hang around with! Phi Phi has a banging night life - there are literally DOZENS of bars in the town and stunning ones on the beach - all with Chill out areas, fire shows, pumping music and lots of sweaty dancing bodies! Its customary to drink Buckets here - these huge drinks which are put into buckets which look like the kids sand buckets. They have like a half jack of booze in them, are often made with super strong Thai Whiskey and all the corner shops sell them CHEAP CHEAP - you can probably have 1 or at a push 2 and be completely blotto. Another thing is that all the places have flourescent UV body paint, so naturally we all painted ourselves up when we went out.. it was great :)
On one of the days we did a day trip around the islands - such an amazing amazing trip. We had a packed lunch on a fantastic little beach, went snorkelling in some lovely dive spots, and saw literally the most jaw dropping beaches/bays/lagoons and karst mountain/rock formations. Just stunning!! Loved it! Our last day - we just lazed on the beach and chilled out. Had a huge party there - we went out every night and got our bucket faces on... We danced like crazies on the beach, met loads of awesome people, laughed, caused trouble, skinny dipped, did the limbo, sang songs, drank horrendous shots and I was within inches of getting a bamboo tattoo on my toes - luckily I didnt have enough money - otherwise apparently I would have got the words "SARAH ROCKS" written on my feet. A letter on each toe. SHEEEW.
There was so much crazy stuff which happened I cant even begin to try and write it. The photos will tell a story when I eventually post them... Summary is: CRAZY MAD FUN. I unfortunately got a little carried away on my second night...and landed up ruining my camera by dropping it in my BUCKET, and if that didnt kill it - I went for a swim (so I could wee in the sea!!) fully clothed and forgot it was in my pocket! ARRRGHHH - 2nd camera, and this one wasnt even a month old. All the photos are fine though - so it could be worse!
I am now chilling out in Railay for a couple of days before making my way to India - Mumbai here I come... More news to follow!
The girls had planned a trip to Phi Phi which orginally I wasnt going to do this time, but decided to go with them in the end. It was one of the best decisions I made on my holiday thus far, and I absolutely loved Phi Phi. We booked a ferry to the island and our last morning here was quite eventful. Hungover, running late, we "sprinted" the 20 min walk to the departure point... My Sprinted = shuffled briskly like a odd backpack clad sherpa making alarming wheezing noises and sweating like a pig.. We werent late, and had to still wait another 30 mins before leaving.. The run alomst killed me..
Had a delightful ferry trip and arrived on Phi Phi - my happiness was shortly killed when I realised I had left my entire card wallet tucked under my bed in the last hotel... I kept it there for "safe keeping".. It contained my drivers licence, several important cards and 3 loaded emergency credit/debit cards... GREAT. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME - I literally CANNOT keep things!I was left wondering if I should
A) go back to the hotel which would have taken a day and try luck it was still there or
B) try phone the hotel and explain to the not very fluent receptionist where I had it stashed so they could keep it for me - a little risky, or
C) track down a guy I met who was the only person I knew still staying at railay- he works at a rock climbing place and see if he could try and get it for me and keep it safe?! or finally
D) Just cancel the cards and leave it all.
I then remembered the sheer horror of having to get another drivers licence again in SA, its the 3rd one I would have had to get in less than 2 years so I decided I had to try and make a mission to get it back! Anyway, decided to go with the combination of plans C & D... cancelled all the cards as a first precautionary measure - fortunately I did still have my main bank card... I then had to track down the dude - I knew the name of the rock climbing school, so googled it and made a phone call. Spoke to the boss, and awkwardly asked if there was a guy called Mike working there. He totally thought I was a stalker and when a confused Mike who I barely know eventually called me back, he too thought I was a stalker. Explained the stitch to Mike - lovely Ozzie guy, who went back to the hotel a few times and finally managed to get in the room - and got my wallet!! It was still there! Random... dinner for Mike on me! Funny that I have a strange man runing errands for me - but its travellers comradery for you!
Annoying that I cancelled the cards - but murphy's law!! Anyway - another lesson learn on Sarah's trip - the list is growing...
Back on Phi Phi things were pumping - being one of Thailands top destinations the little island is certainly pumping. Again beautiful scenery but also very touristy. Had to trek a bit for our room - the name UP HILL COTTAGE should have sounded the alarm bells... Again arrived drenched in sweat.. I have sweated so much here, its revolting.. I must honk most of the time too - but I am at least not alone!
We had a wonder around a bit, had a lovely swim and then plonked at a beach bar where we met some lovely English ladies. 3 of them - 2 sisters and a friend of theirs. We all teamed up for the remainder of our time in Phi Phi and we just had such a fun amazing time. Loads of laughs, and just a lovely bunch of girls to hang around with! Phi Phi has a banging night life - there are literally DOZENS of bars in the town and stunning ones on the beach - all with Chill out areas, fire shows, pumping music and lots of sweaty dancing bodies! Its customary to drink Buckets here - these huge drinks which are put into buckets which look like the kids sand buckets. They have like a half jack of booze in them, are often made with super strong Thai Whiskey and all the corner shops sell them CHEAP CHEAP - you can probably have 1 or at a push 2 and be completely blotto. Another thing is that all the places have flourescent UV body paint, so naturally we all painted ourselves up when we went out.. it was great :)
On one of the days we did a day trip around the islands - such an amazing amazing trip. We had a packed lunch on a fantastic little beach, went snorkelling in some lovely dive spots, and saw literally the most jaw dropping beaches/bays/lagoons and karst mountain/rock formations. Just stunning!! Loved it! Our last day - we just lazed on the beach and chilled out. Had a huge party there - we went out every night and got our bucket faces on... We danced like crazies on the beach, met loads of awesome people, laughed, caused trouble, skinny dipped, did the limbo, sang songs, drank horrendous shots and I was within inches of getting a bamboo tattoo on my toes - luckily I didnt have enough money - otherwise apparently I would have got the words "SARAH ROCKS" written on my feet. A letter on each toe. SHEEEW.
There was so much crazy stuff which happened I cant even begin to try and write it. The photos will tell a story when I eventually post them... Summary is: CRAZY MAD FUN. I unfortunately got a little carried away on my second night...and landed up ruining my camera by dropping it in my BUCKET, and if that didnt kill it - I went for a swim (so I could wee in the sea!!) fully clothed and forgot it was in my pocket! ARRRGHHH - 2nd camera, and this one wasnt even a month old. All the photos are fine though - so it could be worse!
I am now chilling out in Railay for a couple of days before making my way to India - Mumbai here I come... More news to follow!
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Pakbeng
I left Luang Prabang this morning and am making my way back up north where I cross over into Thailand. Yesterday I cycled for 5 hours - just literally hired a bicycle and toured around town then headed out into the countryside until I got bored. I was completely on my own - apart from the odd passing car/bike - then I went passed a rural school at home time - and I had about 5 or 6 children cycling with me for a few kilometres - it was really delightful, they were all laughing and smiling and racing with me. The only English they knew was "GOOD MORNING!" and they said this as both a greeting and a farewell when eventually they went down a different road. The countryside is just lovely here and really a world away. In the evening, I just had some dinner with some fellow travellers and then hit the markets for some night shopping. Stuff here is ridiculously cheap and so lovely - I wish I could spend more money! But I am trying to wash my hands of purchasing things I dont actually need these days so just a few trinket keep sakes will do. I went to bed fairly late after chatting to some people back at the hostel and had to be up early this morning to leave. I left Luang Prabang via the slow boat this morning at 8am.
Had a very chilled day the "slow boat" takes you up the Mekong River and gets you to the most northern border crossing where I orginally entered Huay Xai. You stop off overnight in another dusty little village called Pakbeng which is where I am now. Its a very scenic route - although a little long at 9 hours - but it was quite peaceful and I had a lot of time for deep thought! I am trying to make my way back to Chiang Mai - as I get a my flights down to the islands from there....its all touch and go, because I have realised I didnt leave mysely enough time!!! So I am supposed to be getting another boat tomorrow (travelling through the mountains by road can take even longer, and after my last mountain trip I think I will give THAT a miss!). The boat trip tomorrow is another 9-10 hours, and its pretty comfortable and relaxing, but I need to get through the border before 6pm which is sketchy. Then on top of that I need to get a bus or something for another 5 hour journey from there to Chang Mai!! There are random buses going, but its all a case of rock up and see... Tomorrow I do have an option of getting a "speed boat" but they look dodgy as all hell and there are loads of stories of accidents...gulp. The passengers all wear crash helmets!! Hahahahahah - anyway, I am sure it would be okay but they only leave when they have enough passengers - and if I hang around for a speedboat I might miss the slow boat?! If I do get over the border though I might be faced with another dilemna of trying to get a bus - I might resort to making a sign and sitting on the side of the road... Thai people seem pretty helpful?! All shall be revealed in 24 hrs! My flights leave at 10am... I am cutting it VERY fine. Worst case scenario is I have to pay money to change my flights, or actually, I suppose worst case scenario could be that I die on a speedboat or get abducted on the other side. I am definitely going to be the desperate "farang" (local term for tourist) which makes me vulnerable to being ripped off!
Had a bit of a downer day today (the perils of having 9 hours to do nothing), and filled my time wondering about life - what I am going to do when I finish travelling? what about all the money I have spent in the last 9 months? how can I continue travelling? Will I die a lonely spinster with 50 cats? Do I look old and washed up at 30? Is wondering about all this shit a waste of energy - when there are clearly for more important things going on in this world? Should I just squander my life savings travelling until I stop wondering about anything?! You know - the usual female concerns. Such complex creatures we are.
Anyhoo - Pakbeng is a cute little place with not much to do - but alas they do have an internet cafe so I thought I would kill some time!I teamed up with a canadian girl on the boat and we are sharing a room together to save costs. We just had a lovely meal, but there is not much else do to here apart from drink?! But I am trying to lay off the booze, feeling a little "flu-ey" and considering I am in a malaria area and not on anti-malaria tabs, I suppose I should keep an eye on it! Nice early night in preparation for the adventures the dawn brings!
Gypsy Regdelp signing out xxxx
Had a very chilled day the "slow boat" takes you up the Mekong River and gets you to the most northern border crossing where I orginally entered Huay Xai. You stop off overnight in another dusty little village called Pakbeng which is where I am now. Its a very scenic route - although a little long at 9 hours - but it was quite peaceful and I had a lot of time for deep thought! I am trying to make my way back to Chiang Mai - as I get a my flights down to the islands from there....its all touch and go, because I have realised I didnt leave mysely enough time!!! So I am supposed to be getting another boat tomorrow (travelling through the mountains by road can take even longer, and after my last mountain trip I think I will give THAT a miss!). The boat trip tomorrow is another 9-10 hours, and its pretty comfortable and relaxing, but I need to get through the border before 6pm which is sketchy. Then on top of that I need to get a bus or something for another 5 hour journey from there to Chang Mai!! There are random buses going, but its all a case of rock up and see... Tomorrow I do have an option of getting a "speed boat" but they look dodgy as all hell and there are loads of stories of accidents...gulp. The passengers all wear crash helmets!! Hahahahahah - anyway, I am sure it would be okay but they only leave when they have enough passengers - and if I hang around for a speedboat I might miss the slow boat?! If I do get over the border though I might be faced with another dilemna of trying to get a bus - I might resort to making a sign and sitting on the side of the road... Thai people seem pretty helpful?! All shall be revealed in 24 hrs! My flights leave at 10am... I am cutting it VERY fine. Worst case scenario is I have to pay money to change my flights, or actually, I suppose worst case scenario could be that I die on a speedboat or get abducted on the other side. I am definitely going to be the desperate "farang" (local term for tourist) which makes me vulnerable to being ripped off!
Had a bit of a downer day today (the perils of having 9 hours to do nothing), and filled my time wondering about life - what I am going to do when I finish travelling? what about all the money I have spent in the last 9 months? how can I continue travelling? Will I die a lonely spinster with 50 cats? Do I look old and washed up at 30? Is wondering about all this shit a waste of energy - when there are clearly for more important things going on in this world? Should I just squander my life savings travelling until I stop wondering about anything?! You know - the usual female concerns. Such complex creatures we are.
Anyhoo - Pakbeng is a cute little place with not much to do - but alas they do have an internet cafe so I thought I would kill some time!I teamed up with a canadian girl on the boat and we are sharing a room together to save costs. We just had a lovely meal, but there is not much else do to here apart from drink?! But I am trying to lay off the booze, feeling a little "flu-ey" and considering I am in a malaria area and not on anti-malaria tabs, I suppose I should keep an eye on it! Nice early night in preparation for the adventures the dawn brings!
Gypsy Regdelp signing out xxxx
Monday, 21 November 2011
Luang Prabang
Another day another dollar... Having a swell time here in Luang Prabang - a world heritage city. Yesterday 6 of us from our backpacker chipped in to get a tuk tuk (crazy Asian taxi/motorbike thing)to the 2 local big waterfalls. We drove for about 45 mins to the first one and it was absolutely spectacular. To get to the waterfalls we had to get a long tail boat the rest of the way. That in itself was fantastic - going up the Mekong River past little patches of land being farmed - seeing little ladies tending to their crops. It was truly picturesque and the vegetation here is very lush. We arrived to the waterfalls and were completely blown away - cascades of hazy aqua water flowing over smoothed stone terraces. It was so beautiful so without further a due we stripped from our sweaty clothes and had a fantastic swim. The water comes from the mountains so its pretty cold, but you get used to it. We mucked around for a while - jumping off ledges, using a swing and just doing a bit of exploring around the falls. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We then made our trip to the next waterfall which was about an hour away, and this one was also just gorgeous. A much higher one, but also with loads of terraced cascades coming off a main source, plus a really large sort of natural swimming pool along the way. Such awesome looking water - and really stunning to swim in. We had to trek a little to get to the top, and I did get a little lost because as always I didn't stick to the group because I was impatient! I realized after about 20 mins that the path I was following through pretty dense jungle/swamp was actually a water buffalo path...arrrghhh - anyhoo I got to the right place eventually and was pleased to learn that everyone else up there got lost too..
We swam for a while and played on the swings then headed back to town.
Sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk with 5 strangers, having a laugh talking about crap, I realized how much I love traveling! A world away from anything else, and so so different from the life I was leading a year ago. I am traveling at the moment with JUST a day pack - and have been using just this for 2 weeks! Traveling has made me realize how little you need to actually survive. I have everything I need - a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, money, a couple of books and a camera - DONE! I think I could actually fit all these things into one of my "hang-bags" back home?!
I am staying in places which are so far away from luxury - just basic dorms where you sleep with both guys and girls in rooms of up to like 20 people! Showers are hot if you are lucky, and most of them offer a pathetic trickle of water. Toilets are a whole different kettle of fish, and range from being normal western type ones, to basic holes in the floor! There is usually some family looking after the places, so you often get woken up by screaming kids or crowing chickens - its pretty rustic. The last place I stayed in were actually bamboo huts with hammock type beds... The beds are pretty damn uncomfortable, and being woken up by your neighbor farting/having sex/snoring/talking/crying is not completely endearing... BUT I totally love it! hahahaha - I love roughing it and the last few weeks have taught me alot about how to get the best of traveling.
Last night we all had a BBQ at the hostel about 30-40 people, and everyone just chatted around the fire - drinking cheap whiskey and swapping stories. We then headed off to an awesome bar called Utopia - which is a very bohemian type place which has a volleyball field/sandpit (whatever you call it?!. Everyone played a bit of valley ball, I occasionally snuck off to the bar to have a few sneaky tequila's and it was a pretty fun vibe. My ability to chat to strangers is peaking at an all time best at the moment I must admit and I totally love meeting new people all the time. Especially when some of them are very good looking and have eyes which you want to gauge out and keep in your pocket they are so beautiful. Not that I am thinking of anyone in particular..
The downer of my evening was when I realized someone had stolen my havianas (slip slops)! WHO THE HELL STEALS $1 shoes?!! So I had to continue the night without shoes - which would have been fine, except we were heading to the local "Disco"... a club playing cheesy dance music packed with both locals and foreigners. For our journey there we got a mini-van, and packed 17 people into it..
With my face sandwiched against someone elses, thighs resting on my head, something I can only hope was a mobile phone prodding me in the hip and someones sweaty pit rubbing my shoulder - I thought to myself... Now THIS is why you travel - what a laugh hahahaha.
Anyhoo - I stomped around the club in true hooligan style - no shoes and well oiled by the tequila shots from the last place. I had some pretty funny posed photos taken with some people (maybe they wouldn't be funny today - they would probably be shocking - okay.. they would definitely be shocking) but thankfully the blessing of traveling is that no one knows who you are or even what your name is, so its like the perfect place to be a complete nutcase.. or commit murder, which ever you prefer?
After the club closed all the drunken travelers headed back to the hostel, by this stage we had quite a huge crowd and everyone settled around the fire again for more banter and chit chat. I didn't stay up for too long, and was one of the first off to bed. I am definitely showing my age these days, and to be honest I am pretty comfortable about it - I am 30 after all so I had to grow up sometime!
Its great being social and I love having a good time, but to really get the best out of seeing places, I have to have a healthy balance of being social, and getting away from people too.
I was supposed to hire a bicycle yesterday, but didn't in the end as we had such a blast at the falls - so that is what I am doing today. Just going for a little wonder - I am having an anti-social day, I need some Sarah time.
Forever yours..Gypsy Regdelp xx
We swam for a while and played on the swings then headed back to town.
Sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk with 5 strangers, having a laugh talking about crap, I realized how much I love traveling! A world away from anything else, and so so different from the life I was leading a year ago. I am traveling at the moment with JUST a day pack - and have been using just this for 2 weeks! Traveling has made me realize how little you need to actually survive. I have everything I need - a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, money, a couple of books and a camera - DONE! I think I could actually fit all these things into one of my "hang-bags" back home?!
I am staying in places which are so far away from luxury - just basic dorms where you sleep with both guys and girls in rooms of up to like 20 people! Showers are hot if you are lucky, and most of them offer a pathetic trickle of water. Toilets are a whole different kettle of fish, and range from being normal western type ones, to basic holes in the floor! There is usually some family looking after the places, so you often get woken up by screaming kids or crowing chickens - its pretty rustic. The last place I stayed in were actually bamboo huts with hammock type beds... The beds are pretty damn uncomfortable, and being woken up by your neighbor farting/having sex/snoring/talking/crying is not completely endearing... BUT I totally love it! hahahaha - I love roughing it and the last few weeks have taught me alot about how to get the best of traveling.
Last night we all had a BBQ at the hostel about 30-40 people, and everyone just chatted around the fire - drinking cheap whiskey and swapping stories. We then headed off to an awesome bar called Utopia - which is a very bohemian type place which has a volleyball field/sandpit (whatever you call it?!. Everyone played a bit of valley ball, I occasionally snuck off to the bar to have a few sneaky tequila's and it was a pretty fun vibe. My ability to chat to strangers is peaking at an all time best at the moment I must admit and I totally love meeting new people all the time. Especially when some of them are very good looking and have eyes which you want to gauge out and keep in your pocket they are so beautiful. Not that I am thinking of anyone in particular..
The downer of my evening was when I realized someone had stolen my havianas (slip slops)! WHO THE HELL STEALS $1 shoes?!! So I had to continue the night without shoes - which would have been fine, except we were heading to the local "Disco"... a club playing cheesy dance music packed with both locals and foreigners. For our journey there we got a mini-van, and packed 17 people into it..
With my face sandwiched against someone elses, thighs resting on my head, something I can only hope was a mobile phone prodding me in the hip and someones sweaty pit rubbing my shoulder - I thought to myself... Now THIS is why you travel - what a laugh hahahaha.
Anyhoo - I stomped around the club in true hooligan style - no shoes and well oiled by the tequila shots from the last place. I had some pretty funny posed photos taken with some people (maybe they wouldn't be funny today - they would probably be shocking - okay.. they would definitely be shocking) but thankfully the blessing of traveling is that no one knows who you are or even what your name is, so its like the perfect place to be a complete nutcase.. or commit murder, which ever you prefer?
After the club closed all the drunken travelers headed back to the hostel, by this stage we had quite a huge crowd and everyone settled around the fire again for more banter and chit chat. I didn't stay up for too long, and was one of the first off to bed. I am definitely showing my age these days, and to be honest I am pretty comfortable about it - I am 30 after all so I had to grow up sometime!
Its great being social and I love having a good time, but to really get the best out of seeing places, I have to have a healthy balance of being social, and getting away from people too.
I was supposed to hire a bicycle yesterday, but didn't in the end as we had such a blast at the falls - so that is what I am doing today. Just going for a little wonder - I am having an anti-social day, I need some Sarah time.
Forever yours..Gypsy Regdelp xx
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Love you LOA time... 16th Nov till now!
Well I am writing from the a delightful little city called Luang Prabang in Laos. I left Huay Xai a few days ago with a mate I made on the Gibbon Exp by the name of David (South African) and arrived in Vientiane 5 days ago. After our gibbon exp we had a chilled couple of days just hanging out in Huay Xai - as the only flight leaving the city went on the 16th. All I did in Huay Xai was walk, drink fruit shakes, read and chill out! Its weird how you just meet people when you travel and because you are in the same boat you just kind of get along. It was nice to not have to spend my time alone because boredom would have definitely sky rocketed - Huay xai has like a population of about 100! On the 16th we made our way from Huay Xai Airport. It was an experience...where else do you wait for your flight alongside rogue chickens, sipping on a beer underneath the shelter of a tin shack! I was a little worried about the aeroplance but the flight was fine - just an hr, and Dave was hotfooting it onto another flight to Vietnam from there. I was scheduled to stay in Vientiane for 2 nights but left after the first, as I am a little sick of cities! I also landed up staying in a super dodgy hotel - you know its bad when you take your valuables into the shower with you..Just in case..
I wanted to be in the outdoors - swimming etc so thought I would just make my way further along to Vang Viene - a little city famed for its partying culture and also some pretty incredible sights. Its basically the party capital of Lao - and the major attraction is the "tubing". This involves taking an inner tube and floating down the river and stopping off at the several crazy bars they have dotted along the river. Its an absolute den of eniquity - hence why I thought I must visit :)
I arrived early eve and checked into a cool backpackers - its all open plan, tented and bamboo hut type dormitories.
Well I certainly did the tubing - which involved alot of drinking, but I also did just about every slide/jump/zipline etc along the way which was super fun. One of my favorites was one called the big blob - which is a huge inflated cushion in the water. You have to have 2 people to participate...so person 1 jumps off a pretty high ledge and starfishes onto the cushion (which is wet and slippery, and actually quite damn hard!). Person 1 then precariously balances on top of the cushion, whilst person 2 then jumps onto the cushion - its a massive catapult effect and person 1 gets flung (in not very lady like manner) metres high then into the water. It was hysterical, of course considering we were quite drunk by this stage - I must have just looked like such a twat jumping gingerly off in starfish position then bouncing straight off each time..I had about 3 FAILS before we got it right! Eventually we got it, and I flew through the air "gracefully" whilst everyone applauded...
Its all a bit crazy with all the slides and things, and there are actually quite a few fatalities every year - people just getting too drunk, having accidents and drowning. The flow of the river is quite fast too and I can imagine that people who arent strong swimmers can definitely get caught out. Anyway - as you bob down the river the various bars have people throwing ropes out to you to draw you in. It was a good laugh but to be honest I think the beautiful setting is kind of spoilt by very much "in your face" hedonism. Oh and the place is also riddled with drugs - you get offered a free joint when you buy a bucket - yes you buy BUCKETS of drinks at a time... The place is packed with mostly early twentiesh type folks who are just here purely to party. I spent 3 nights there - did the tubing once, and the other day I did a kayaking/caving trip. Saw some awesome caves and kayaked in some beautiful scenery. I had my fill of partying though and I was pretty much in bed every night before 1am! I have learnt since travelling that having too much of a hangover just kind of spoils the next day - so I didnt go completely nuts! My last night was probably the funnest - and just did a bit of a bar hop and landed up in a fun place dancing like a crazy person.. when I realised I was doing the "one eye closed" thing to focus on who I was speaking to, I decided to call it a night.. I had to be up pretty early this morning..5:40am to be exact! I did a fantastic thing - I got a hot air balloon and floated about the mountains watching the sunrise at 6am! What a sight - the mountains and scenery was just breathtaking... Now I can tick Hot Air Ballooning off my action/bucket list. The ride was about 45 mins and it was beautiful. I must have looked a state though, as I literally went in my pajama's.. I woke up late!
After finishing that I then had to get all my belongings together and get the bus ride from hell to the next city - where I am now - Luang Prabang. I wasnt feeling great - and we packed into a rickety mini van and set off - for the 6 hour journey through the mountains. A very very winding road which meanders through some pretty amazing scenery. Our driver was hell bent on scaring the shit out of all passengers and took every opportunity to swerve dangerously at potholes, overtake cars on blind rises and literally skid around every bend. There were skid sounds every time we did a bend. Not mild skids, loud gut wrenching ones, made more dramatic by the 200-300 metre sheer cliffs on the side of the road. Unfortunately I was unable to appreciate any of the scenery as I was going between praying for my life and focusing really hard (at times using breathing techniques)to will myself out of feeling like I was going to projectile vomit all over the drivers head. It was probably the worst car trip I have ever done. I was horribly ill and the bendy 6 hr road just made it about 300 times more agonising. I have however arrived safely - its a miracle - and am again staying at a rather cheery backpackers. Tomorrow I am hiring a bicycle and going to go for a ride into the rural areas, go see some waterfalls and have a nice swim! I met a lovely local chap and was invited to have some tea with him - Lao people seem so friendly. He gave me some pointers on where to go to get off the tourist beat, plus we also chatted about Lao Culture and religion. When you been in a place for a few days you get intrigued by things, and it was nice to have someone tell more about the place and also about buddhism practices which I am fascinated with.
I am here for 2 nights then I am taking a 2 day slow boat up the Mekong river to another village, where I will spend a night. A little worried about the accomodation there as I met a girl tonight who literally had been eating alive from bed bugs. GROSS. I then go further up river the following day where I will cross the border and come back into Thailand. I then head via flight down south to some beaches! Woohoo!
This is Gypsy Regdelp - signing out.
I wanted to be in the outdoors - swimming etc so thought I would just make my way further along to Vang Viene - a little city famed for its partying culture and also some pretty incredible sights. Its basically the party capital of Lao - and the major attraction is the "tubing". This involves taking an inner tube and floating down the river and stopping off at the several crazy bars they have dotted along the river. Its an absolute den of eniquity - hence why I thought I must visit :)
I arrived early eve and checked into a cool backpackers - its all open plan, tented and bamboo hut type dormitories.
Well I certainly did the tubing - which involved alot of drinking, but I also did just about every slide/jump/zipline etc along the way which was super fun. One of my favorites was one called the big blob - which is a huge inflated cushion in the water. You have to have 2 people to participate...so person 1 jumps off a pretty high ledge and starfishes onto the cushion (which is wet and slippery, and actually quite damn hard!). Person 1 then precariously balances on top of the cushion, whilst person 2 then jumps onto the cushion - its a massive catapult effect and person 1 gets flung (in not very lady like manner) metres high then into the water. It was hysterical, of course considering we were quite drunk by this stage - I must have just looked like such a twat jumping gingerly off in starfish position then bouncing straight off each time..I had about 3 FAILS before we got it right! Eventually we got it, and I flew through the air "gracefully" whilst everyone applauded...
Its all a bit crazy with all the slides and things, and there are actually quite a few fatalities every year - people just getting too drunk, having accidents and drowning. The flow of the river is quite fast too and I can imagine that people who arent strong swimmers can definitely get caught out. Anyway - as you bob down the river the various bars have people throwing ropes out to you to draw you in. It was a good laugh but to be honest I think the beautiful setting is kind of spoilt by very much "in your face" hedonism. Oh and the place is also riddled with drugs - you get offered a free joint when you buy a bucket - yes you buy BUCKETS of drinks at a time... The place is packed with mostly early twentiesh type folks who are just here purely to party. I spent 3 nights there - did the tubing once, and the other day I did a kayaking/caving trip. Saw some awesome caves and kayaked in some beautiful scenery. I had my fill of partying though and I was pretty much in bed every night before 1am! I have learnt since travelling that having too much of a hangover just kind of spoils the next day - so I didnt go completely nuts! My last night was probably the funnest - and just did a bit of a bar hop and landed up in a fun place dancing like a crazy person.. when I realised I was doing the "one eye closed" thing to focus on who I was speaking to, I decided to call it a night.. I had to be up pretty early this morning..5:40am to be exact! I did a fantastic thing - I got a hot air balloon and floated about the mountains watching the sunrise at 6am! What a sight - the mountains and scenery was just breathtaking... Now I can tick Hot Air Ballooning off my action/bucket list. The ride was about 45 mins and it was beautiful. I must have looked a state though, as I literally went in my pajama's.. I woke up late!
After finishing that I then had to get all my belongings together and get the bus ride from hell to the next city - where I am now - Luang Prabang. I wasnt feeling great - and we packed into a rickety mini van and set off - for the 6 hour journey through the mountains. A very very winding road which meanders through some pretty amazing scenery. Our driver was hell bent on scaring the shit out of all passengers and took every opportunity to swerve dangerously at potholes, overtake cars on blind rises and literally skid around every bend. There were skid sounds every time we did a bend. Not mild skids, loud gut wrenching ones, made more dramatic by the 200-300 metre sheer cliffs on the side of the road. Unfortunately I was unable to appreciate any of the scenery as I was going between praying for my life and focusing really hard (at times using breathing techniques)to will myself out of feeling like I was going to projectile vomit all over the drivers head. It was probably the worst car trip I have ever done. I was horribly ill and the bendy 6 hr road just made it about 300 times more agonising. I have however arrived safely - its a miracle - and am again staying at a rather cheery backpackers. Tomorrow I am hiring a bicycle and going to go for a ride into the rural areas, go see some waterfalls and have a nice swim! I met a lovely local chap and was invited to have some tea with him - Lao people seem so friendly. He gave me some pointers on where to go to get off the tourist beat, plus we also chatted about Lao Culture and religion. When you been in a place for a few days you get intrigued by things, and it was nice to have someone tell more about the place and also about buddhism practices which I am fascinated with.
I am here for 2 nights then I am taking a 2 day slow boat up the Mekong river to another village, where I will spend a night. A little worried about the accomodation there as I met a girl tonight who literally had been eating alive from bed bugs. GROSS. I then go further up river the following day where I will cross the border and come back into Thailand. I then head via flight down south to some beaches! Woohoo!
This is Gypsy Regdelp - signing out.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
The Gibbon experience & more of Lao
Well I have not yet mustered up the energy to update photos - maybe in the next day or two! I am writing from dusty Lao village Huay Xai on the Thai/Lao border. I had the most amazing time at the Gibbon experience - we hiked into the heart of the Bokeo National Park with 7 others and 2 guides. The scenery was amazing, and we eventually got to the super fun part - the ziplining. The whole experience is about using the ziplines to scoot around the jungle canopy - and a series of about 30-40 lines connects you to the next part of your trek. You go through the jungle hiking and ziplining until you get to your tree house - which are these fantastically built rustic homes - 150 metres off the ground in these massive jungle trees. The only way in and out of your home is by zipline cable. Some of the ziplines we went on are like 200m off the ground and you whizz past trees and its incredible! I took some videos which I cant wait to show everyone! Once you get to your houses which is usally late afternoon you get to just chill out and enjoy it all. We played cards, chatted, soaked up the most awesome views and where even given a bottle of wine to savor (granted it tasted like vinegar!). You can also go exploring ziplining on your own from the tree house and the guides basically leave you in the tree houses over night, and just bring food to you - so weird! Hot Food being delivered by these guys ziplining into your tree house. We stayed in 2 different tree houses and we were well looked after, very rustic basic accomodation of course - you are in the jungle after all! Everything is open as its so warm, and the "bathroom" which has a toilet and shower - probably is going to be up there with the best bathrooms I have had the pleasure of using in the world. Where else can you shower over looking miles and miles of tree top canopy/jungle & blue hazey mountains in the distance?! It was just fantastic and a once in a lifetime experience. Even better about the whole experience is that its based on the whole "eco-tourism" philosophy so the money is going to a really good cause - to help protect the jungle. We didnt see any gibbons but heard their amazing "singing" in the mornings.
After lots of chatting to my fellow travellers I also decided to completely change up my itinerary and stay a bit longer in Laos. I am now here until the 25th Nov - I am moving down to Vientiane, then Vang Vienne and then Luang Prabang. From there I get a slow boat back here and cross over the border again. Then I head down to enjoy some beach!
I have no accomodation booked, no bus tickets, no boat tickets - just winging it from here! It seems the best way to go...
So this is Gypsy Regdelp - signing out from Lao
:) x
After lots of chatting to my fellow travellers I also decided to completely change up my itinerary and stay a bit longer in Laos. I am now here until the 25th Nov - I am moving down to Vientiane, then Vang Vienne and then Luang Prabang. From there I get a slow boat back here and cross over the border again. Then I head down to enjoy some beach!
I have no accomodation booked, no bus tickets, no boat tickets - just winging it from here! It seems the best way to go...
So this is Gypsy Regdelp - signing out from Lao
:) x
Friday, 11 November 2011
Chiang Mai 5th - 11th Nov
Well writing from Lao, neighbouring country to Thailand. Just got here today - got a bus and then a boat to cross the river. Staying in some dusty little town and tomorrow I go on my trek and ziplining thing for 3 days.
I had a great time in Chiang Mai. Its been a festival called Loy Krathong which is all about making offerings to the river, in the way of little floating bunches of flowers, candles, and incence. The idea is that you are supposed to say thank you to the river for all it provides and then also apologize for all your wrong doings?! Confusing. Also the second part to the festival is about lighting these lanterns and letting them float off into the sky. You make wishes about love and happiness with your lanterns and set them free into the night sky!(I asked if it was bad luck to have more than one lantern...) Its also customary to set firecrackers off - kind of like Guy Fawkes - I think thats just thrown in to entertain the kids. So there is a load of things to see!The festival also involves parades over the course of the week and can be likened to a Thai version of Mardi Gras I suppose! Its very spiritual too, and there are literally candles on all the houses and decorations of flowers everywhere. Too beautiful, the atmosphere is amazing. The first couple of days I was there I just walked a shit load to familiarize myself. Went to some amazing night markets and saw some lovely and very sad things! Unfortunately when you are in areas where there are tourists and poor people, you get begging.I can brush beggars off - but when someone with no eyes/arms/legs etc in a dirt poor country begs - it does break your heart. I saw lots of amazing temples - Chiang Mai is known for them and there is a sense of peace when you spend some time in these beautiful places. Went to a couple of bars in the evening and met some fun people. Booked myself on a hiking and biking day trip in the mountains - I was worried when I heard the other 3 people on the trip talking about the training they were doing for their next "marathon". 26km later - very red in the face, sweating like a pig and with a seriously sore butt,I can honestly say it was probably the best day I have had in 6 months. We walked through some amazing scenery and didnt come across anyone else until the very end of the day. After having spent the time in cities for the last 10 days it was just lovely to get out into the greenery to clear my head. I saw my first rice paddy!! Totally worth it and I realised I have a lot more will power than I thought I did. On another day I went on a trip to an elephant sanctuary - another heart breaking yet also heart warming tale. Back in the day when logging was still being done, the elephants were used to work. A act in itself which I think is awful! Anyway - logging is now illegal, which left quite a few thousand elephants out of work. With the flourishing tourism in thailand this now led them into other ways of exploiting these amazing animals. The park we went to is run by a woman who actually buys the abused elephants from the owners - and lets them live a happy old life on the huge land she has. She also does several other things involving educating people about how to treat them, and getting new laws drawn up to protect them. She gets elephants from people who either were using them to beg in the streets or abusing them in general etc. The day is spent feeding them, having swims in the river with them and having a delicious lunch at the place. A really nice day - however I did feel it was a bit busy with tourists for my liking! But its money that goes to a good cause and all the ellies there seem happy as can be!
In the evenings I went out to some of the social hotspots, and had a blast on the one evening that left me seriously hungover. I met up with different people, and bar hopped to some pretty cool places! Totally random little bars on street corners and of course loads of travellers in them.
I met up with a dude who invited me to go on a bike trip with him out of the city - so the following day we hired a motorbike and headed out. Now I know you might say: A bike trip with a complete stranger - into the mountains.. is this completely safe? Well he seemed nice enough so I thought what the heck!
We left the following day at about 2pm.. what we were aiming to do was just go for a ride for a couple of hours into prettier scenery in the surrounding countryside. We had to be back for the festivities in the evening...WELL. NICE PLAN.
First of all we got caught in a serious thunder storm - were only wearing t-shirts and shorts and riding through the mountains the temp got progressively cooler. We were freezing to death. Fortunately I had a beach towel in my bag, which I wrapped around me! We then got completely lost and were riding on like dirt roads with serious erosion craters in... A tell tale sign that we were heading in the wrong direction might have been that the only person we saw for about 2 hrs was a lonesome tribal looking dude with a hunting rifle. I did have a moment of panic and had visions of hanging above a cauldron with the local villagers rubbing their hands in delight whilst looking at my juicy loins. Luckily he wasnt a cannibal and gave us some directions. It was getting dark by now - oh and the bike was also without a fuel gage - so we had NO idea how much more petrol we had! Worst case scenario we knew it was only about 60kms back, only issue was this is 60km through the mountains on a rickety old bike with basically NO lights. When I say it was pitch dark, I mean PITCH dark.... we had to go about 20kms an hour. I of course had gone past the stage of being worried and just found everything absolutely hysterical. It was such a series of things going bad that it was funny. At one stage I actually had the giggles so bad I almost wet myself. The guy - Dan is British, and has that amazingly super sarcastic sense of humour. He kept a running commentary the whole way home which had me in stitches. Oh and there was one point where I thought I had dropped my camera and in reflex I prodded him in the ribs on a hair pin bend. He skidded to a halt and turned around and looked at me - and was like "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" my response was: "WHERE IS MY CAMERA?!!"... Taking into consideration we hadnt stopped yet, I dont know how in he was supposed to know but it was just a reflex reaction to my panic!! Of course this would be the SECOND camera I would have lost. His response was something along the lines of "WELL, CONSIDERING I HAVE BEEN CONCENTRATING ON NOT KILLING US ON THIS BIKE, I WOULD SAY HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! I suppose at times I can be a little bossy - hahaha. Luckily my camera was safely in my bag as it turns out. We eventually got home about 4 hours later than planned and all is well. A funny experience/adventure.
My last day and night in Chiang mai was pretty cool - went another bike trip to a lake and just chilled for a few hours, had some time in the sun and ate some yummy food. The evening was going absolutely mental with activity and it was the official night to start off the festival celebrations. All over the city and along the river thousands of people letting off crackers, there lanterns and then the little floats for the rivers. There were bands playing everywhere - pop up food stalls and just a really buzzy atmosphere. I bought a special little float/krathong and lit it and made my offering. I then headed to a temple and watched in delight as loads of monks were letting off their lanterns. Such a spiritual sight! I got my little lantern and had a thai lady help me light it - I said my wishes and let it off into the sky. The festival is held in conjunction with the full moon - so you can only imagine the sight of seeing literally THOUSANDS of these lanterns light up the sky. It was sublime. I felt quite emotional about it all and headed off to a local bar to get a drink. Went to this delightful place and had a few beers and something to eat whilst chatting to some fellow travellers.
We then went back down to the river and saw some amazing fire works.
It was lovely, but part of being on your own when you travel means at times like these - which are truly romantic in every sense, you do get a little envious of all the couples enjoying their moments. I was totally drunk by this stage and was just staggering around miserably swearing at anyone looking remotely caught up in the moment - "IT WILL NEVER FUCKING LAST", "YOUR LOVE LANTERNS SUCK", "YOUR MAKING ME WANT TO VOMIT ON MYSELF" and a range of genuine heart felt sentiments. I did also point out to a few people that whilst the lanterns looked glorious and lovely now flying up in the sky all together feeling all smug and pretty, eventually they would run out of steam, float back down to earth and then be left in some remote place. Alone. and used. and dirty. HA HA - look who is laughing now you stupid smug little bastard love lanterns, LOOK WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!
But not that I am bitter or anything. Totally fine.
I think in hindsight I should have stayed at the lantern release area with the monks. The celibate monks made me happy. Hindsight... Hahaha - okay honestly - it was still amazing :)
ANYHOO! I am now getting ready to go into the Lao jungle - wish me luck!
Should touch bases in a few days.
Gypsy Regdelp signing out.
Ps. I will post photos when I can be bothered to download them..arrggh.
xoxoxoxo
I had a great time in Chiang Mai. Its been a festival called Loy Krathong which is all about making offerings to the river, in the way of little floating bunches of flowers, candles, and incence. The idea is that you are supposed to say thank you to the river for all it provides and then also apologize for all your wrong doings?! Confusing. Also the second part to the festival is about lighting these lanterns and letting them float off into the sky. You make wishes about love and happiness with your lanterns and set them free into the night sky!(I asked if it was bad luck to have more than one lantern...) Its also customary to set firecrackers off - kind of like Guy Fawkes - I think thats just thrown in to entertain the kids. So there is a load of things to see!The festival also involves parades over the course of the week and can be likened to a Thai version of Mardi Gras I suppose! Its very spiritual too, and there are literally candles on all the houses and decorations of flowers everywhere. Too beautiful, the atmosphere is amazing. The first couple of days I was there I just walked a shit load to familiarize myself. Went to some amazing night markets and saw some lovely and very sad things! Unfortunately when you are in areas where there are tourists and poor people, you get begging.I can brush beggars off - but when someone with no eyes/arms/legs etc in a dirt poor country begs - it does break your heart. I saw lots of amazing temples - Chiang Mai is known for them and there is a sense of peace when you spend some time in these beautiful places. Went to a couple of bars in the evening and met some fun people. Booked myself on a hiking and biking day trip in the mountains - I was worried when I heard the other 3 people on the trip talking about the training they were doing for their next "marathon". 26km later - very red in the face, sweating like a pig and with a seriously sore butt,I can honestly say it was probably the best day I have had in 6 months. We walked through some amazing scenery and didnt come across anyone else until the very end of the day. After having spent the time in cities for the last 10 days it was just lovely to get out into the greenery to clear my head. I saw my first rice paddy!! Totally worth it and I realised I have a lot more will power than I thought I did. On another day I went on a trip to an elephant sanctuary - another heart breaking yet also heart warming tale. Back in the day when logging was still being done, the elephants were used to work. A act in itself which I think is awful! Anyway - logging is now illegal, which left quite a few thousand elephants out of work. With the flourishing tourism in thailand this now led them into other ways of exploiting these amazing animals. The park we went to is run by a woman who actually buys the abused elephants from the owners - and lets them live a happy old life on the huge land she has. She also does several other things involving educating people about how to treat them, and getting new laws drawn up to protect them. She gets elephants from people who either were using them to beg in the streets or abusing them in general etc. The day is spent feeding them, having swims in the river with them and having a delicious lunch at the place. A really nice day - however I did feel it was a bit busy with tourists for my liking! But its money that goes to a good cause and all the ellies there seem happy as can be!
In the evenings I went out to some of the social hotspots, and had a blast on the one evening that left me seriously hungover. I met up with different people, and bar hopped to some pretty cool places! Totally random little bars on street corners and of course loads of travellers in them.
I met up with a dude who invited me to go on a bike trip with him out of the city - so the following day we hired a motorbike and headed out. Now I know you might say: A bike trip with a complete stranger - into the mountains.. is this completely safe? Well he seemed nice enough so I thought what the heck!
We left the following day at about 2pm.. what we were aiming to do was just go for a ride for a couple of hours into prettier scenery in the surrounding countryside. We had to be back for the festivities in the evening...WELL. NICE PLAN.
First of all we got caught in a serious thunder storm - were only wearing t-shirts and shorts and riding through the mountains the temp got progressively cooler. We were freezing to death. Fortunately I had a beach towel in my bag, which I wrapped around me! We then got completely lost and were riding on like dirt roads with serious erosion craters in... A tell tale sign that we were heading in the wrong direction might have been that the only person we saw for about 2 hrs was a lonesome tribal looking dude with a hunting rifle. I did have a moment of panic and had visions of hanging above a cauldron with the local villagers rubbing their hands in delight whilst looking at my juicy loins. Luckily he wasnt a cannibal and gave us some directions. It was getting dark by now - oh and the bike was also without a fuel gage - so we had NO idea how much more petrol we had! Worst case scenario we knew it was only about 60kms back, only issue was this is 60km through the mountains on a rickety old bike with basically NO lights. When I say it was pitch dark, I mean PITCH dark.... we had to go about 20kms an hour. I of course had gone past the stage of being worried and just found everything absolutely hysterical. It was such a series of things going bad that it was funny. At one stage I actually had the giggles so bad I almost wet myself. The guy - Dan is British, and has that amazingly super sarcastic sense of humour. He kept a running commentary the whole way home which had me in stitches. Oh and there was one point where I thought I had dropped my camera and in reflex I prodded him in the ribs on a hair pin bend. He skidded to a halt and turned around and looked at me - and was like "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" my response was: "WHERE IS MY CAMERA?!!"... Taking into consideration we hadnt stopped yet, I dont know how in he was supposed to know but it was just a reflex reaction to my panic!! Of course this would be the SECOND camera I would have lost. His response was something along the lines of "WELL, CONSIDERING I HAVE BEEN CONCENTRATING ON NOT KILLING US ON THIS BIKE, I WOULD SAY HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! I suppose at times I can be a little bossy - hahaha. Luckily my camera was safely in my bag as it turns out. We eventually got home about 4 hours later than planned and all is well. A funny experience/adventure.
My last day and night in Chiang mai was pretty cool - went another bike trip to a lake and just chilled for a few hours, had some time in the sun and ate some yummy food. The evening was going absolutely mental with activity and it was the official night to start off the festival celebrations. All over the city and along the river thousands of people letting off crackers, there lanterns and then the little floats for the rivers. There were bands playing everywhere - pop up food stalls and just a really buzzy atmosphere. I bought a special little float/krathong and lit it and made my offering. I then headed to a temple and watched in delight as loads of monks were letting off their lanterns. Such a spiritual sight! I got my little lantern and had a thai lady help me light it - I said my wishes and let it off into the sky. The festival is held in conjunction with the full moon - so you can only imagine the sight of seeing literally THOUSANDS of these lanterns light up the sky. It was sublime. I felt quite emotional about it all and headed off to a local bar to get a drink. Went to this delightful place and had a few beers and something to eat whilst chatting to some fellow travellers.
We then went back down to the river and saw some amazing fire works.
It was lovely, but part of being on your own when you travel means at times like these - which are truly romantic in every sense, you do get a little envious of all the couples enjoying their moments. I was totally drunk by this stage and was just staggering around miserably swearing at anyone looking remotely caught up in the moment - "IT WILL NEVER FUCKING LAST", "YOUR LOVE LANTERNS SUCK", "YOUR MAKING ME WANT TO VOMIT ON MYSELF" and a range of genuine heart felt sentiments. I did also point out to a few people that whilst the lanterns looked glorious and lovely now flying up in the sky all together feeling all smug and pretty, eventually they would run out of steam, float back down to earth and then be left in some remote place. Alone. and used. and dirty. HA HA - look who is laughing now you stupid smug little bastard love lanterns, LOOK WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!
But not that I am bitter or anything. Totally fine.
I think in hindsight I should have stayed at the lantern release area with the monks. The celibate monks made me happy. Hindsight... Hahaha - okay honestly - it was still amazing :)
ANYHOO! I am now getting ready to go into the Lao jungle - wish me luck!
Should touch bases in a few days.
Gypsy Regdelp signing out.
Ps. I will post photos when I can be bothered to download them..arrggh.
xoxoxoxo
Monday, 7 November 2011
Singapore & Bangkok 2-5th Nov
Singapore - what a clean and well run place! Sky scrapers and older parts - checked into my second backpackers, which was crammed with people from all walks of life! Old and young.I thoroughly enjoy staying with other people and it really is nice when you are travelling on your own - so easy to meet people.
Mostly walked singapore - did the botanical gardens, in particular the orchid garden. Some of the flowers were breathtaking, and the whole garden itself was a pleasure to walk around in. I did some serious street market exploring and ate some very interesting things.... 1 of which almost made me instantly vomit, the yellow substance floating in the soup was actually a raw egg yolk. It was hideous. In the evenings went to some cool bars - one of which was 75 floors up, and just enjoyed a few quiet beers whilst doing some people watching. One of the highlights of the time in Singapore was going out with my fellow travelers only to discover that the beers where we went were $20 EACH, so we went to the local bottle store, each got a few drinks of our choice and then went and sat in a very lively area on the banks of the river and chatted the night away. We stayed out there till 4am in the morning, having a great laugh and swapping stories etc. We were all hungry so we decided to go and eat some local fare at a 24 hour street side dodgy looking food place. Our whole night out cost us each about $30 and we had a fabulous time! Just goes to show - you dont need to break the bank to have fun!
I bought a great piece of jewellery in Singapore, and walked the markets flat. I can see why the place is a shoppers paradise!
All in all - enjoyed the 2 nights there, and can now tick that off my list!
Bangkok... well quite a contrast from Singapore. I arrived and got some help from a rather gorgeous looking Spanish man, at one stage I was tempted to just follow him home like a stalker... But decided against it in the end. I only arrived at 7pm so got to my hotel via the local train at about 9pm. Having spent time in London, I find train stations pretty unintimidating, and even though I had to change trains a few times I managed to find my way pretty easily. I checked into a good hotel and was luckily for some reason upgraded to a superior room. After having spent my last 5 days in shared accommodation, I was pretty tempted to just lie on my huge bed and watch telly! But I mustered up my adventurous strength and hit the streets of Bangkok. I walked down a well known bustling street which was also a night market, and just soaked up the atmosphere! It was very busy, and I saw some pretty weird looking people. Again I found myself at bar... a street bar which was perfect position for people watching. I had a few drinks and was fascinated with the going on's in the street. I saw so many western men with Thai women on their arms, I reckon there are definitely a bucket load of dirty old men that just come to Bangkok and hire a hooker for the time here... It was weird. I also saw a lot of lady boys, some of which were stunning actually and it was all just super entertaining to watch!!
I headed back to the hotel and got a relatively early night in preparation for my earliesh flight to Chiang Mai. I slept like a baby, had a buffet type breakfast then hit the trains to get to the airport. Despite all the news - I didn't see any of the flooded parts, but obviously this is the controversy. Central Bangkok is being saved at the expense of the outskirts!
In Chiang Mai at the moment, lots to report - had the most AMAZING day today. Despite a couple of low moments due to some quarrels over my trip to Brazil, am really really enjoying it here! Its hard not to be happy - so much to do and see, and I have met some nice people so more news to follow!
Mostly walked singapore - did the botanical gardens, in particular the orchid garden. Some of the flowers were breathtaking, and the whole garden itself was a pleasure to walk around in. I did some serious street market exploring and ate some very interesting things.... 1 of which almost made me instantly vomit, the yellow substance floating in the soup was actually a raw egg yolk. It was hideous. In the evenings went to some cool bars - one of which was 75 floors up, and just enjoyed a few quiet beers whilst doing some people watching. One of the highlights of the time in Singapore was going out with my fellow travelers only to discover that the beers where we went were $20 EACH, so we went to the local bottle store, each got a few drinks of our choice and then went and sat in a very lively area on the banks of the river and chatted the night away. We stayed out there till 4am in the morning, having a great laugh and swapping stories etc. We were all hungry so we decided to go and eat some local fare at a 24 hour street side dodgy looking food place. Our whole night out cost us each about $30 and we had a fabulous time! Just goes to show - you dont need to break the bank to have fun!
I bought a great piece of jewellery in Singapore, and walked the markets flat. I can see why the place is a shoppers paradise!
All in all - enjoyed the 2 nights there, and can now tick that off my list!
Bangkok... well quite a contrast from Singapore. I arrived and got some help from a rather gorgeous looking Spanish man, at one stage I was tempted to just follow him home like a stalker... But decided against it in the end. I only arrived at 7pm so got to my hotel via the local train at about 9pm. Having spent time in London, I find train stations pretty unintimidating, and even though I had to change trains a few times I managed to find my way pretty easily. I checked into a good hotel and was luckily for some reason upgraded to a superior room. After having spent my last 5 days in shared accommodation, I was pretty tempted to just lie on my huge bed and watch telly! But I mustered up my adventurous strength and hit the streets of Bangkok. I walked down a well known bustling street which was also a night market, and just soaked up the atmosphere! It was very busy, and I saw some pretty weird looking people. Again I found myself at bar... a street bar which was perfect position for people watching. I had a few drinks and was fascinated with the going on's in the street. I saw so many western men with Thai women on their arms, I reckon there are definitely a bucket load of dirty old men that just come to Bangkok and hire a hooker for the time here... It was weird. I also saw a lot of lady boys, some of which were stunning actually and it was all just super entertaining to watch!!
I headed back to the hotel and got a relatively early night in preparation for my earliesh flight to Chiang Mai. I slept like a baby, had a buffet type breakfast then hit the trains to get to the airport. Despite all the news - I didn't see any of the flooded parts, but obviously this is the controversy. Central Bangkok is being saved at the expense of the outskirts!
In Chiang Mai at the moment, lots to report - had the most AMAZING day today. Despite a couple of low moments due to some quarrels over my trip to Brazil, am really really enjoying it here! Its hard not to be happy - so much to do and see, and I have met some nice people so more news to follow!
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Kuala Lumpur
So I arrived here late Sunday eve - jumped in a cab and headed for my luxury accomodation... the best BACKPACKERS in town, yes - thats right back to hostel type accomodation, which actually doesnt bother me too much it turns out!? I had to walk the last km or so to the hostel and I was a little worried as I had to navigate my way down some rather shady looking streets and through a Market.... I was like the wide-eyed, fresh-off-the boat tourist, and I am sure there where chuckles as I scampered down the street - looking around me at all times, and holding my possessions so tightly, my knuckles must have been white. What seemed to be a dodgy area at first by night, is actually not too bad at all. Its funny how you get used to something and its not so scary anymore? There are loads of markets - I am staying very close to China Towm, and its a very contrasting city - with huge modern sky scrapers and then run down parts too.
I slept okay my first and second night - staying in a very nice hostel its very clean and has nice comfy BUNK beds.. I am on the top bunk, and its a room with 6 girls in total. Nice because they are all travellers too, and have chatted to a few of them about places to visit etc. Its just like being back at boarding school actually, and as long as its clean - I am completely comfortable. Only annoying thing, is as usual I am one of the last to go to bed - so I have to scuffle around in the dark occasionally. Its also annoying when people wake up at the crack of dawn - I suspect some of them are purposefully trying to get me back for some of my late night scuffling.
I also dropped my mobile phone onto the head of my last bunk mate whilst clambering up the ladder - she was sleeping and so that didnt win me any favours.
My first day here was a little traumatic - it took me approx 4hrs to lose my first valuable item - 1 x very nice camera LOST.. My own fault I left it somewhere in the HUGE botanical gardens. I was walking around and at one point I was feeling so dizzy from the heat and humidity I thought I was going to faint. So in between me feeling dizzy and buying an ice cream - the little slippery thing escaped my clutches. Anyway I had a break down, lay on the floor and thumped the ground with my fists whilst shouting "WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYY" for a few moments... People stopped and stared and I started to feel awkward. So I picked myself up, wiped my mascara streaks from my face and took a deep breath. Okay so I didnt actually lie on the ground, but in my head...it was all VERY dramatic. I had some recent photos which I hadnt yet backed up. I moped around the botanical gardens for a few hours, in the hope that some miracle might re-unite me with my camera but it was not SO. I then moved on, and did some sight seeing, Petronas towers Blah blah blah - jumped on one of those sight seeing buses which conveniently takes you too everything and does a loop of the city. I then hit the shops and in the eve I walked the Chinese markets. This place is a bargainers DREAM and procured a couple of cheap nice things, jewellery mostly! I then decided to try some interesting looking BBQ skewers for dinner- I could have been eating donkey for all I know - but it was a very tasty something! I am now paying the price for my adventurous eating, I have had the runs all day... GREAT. So apparently I dont have a cast iron stomach after all - but I WILL GET BACK ON THAT PONY (or donkey), I think I just need to harden my immune system. I mean surely all these malay people dont get sick right?!
Spent the day bargain hunting for a camera - got a nice canon with 2 memory cards and a case for $150 - not bad! Its not as nice as my old one, but to be honest I think my last one had too many features for what I needed. Chatting to people KL is cheaper than Singapore and I dont have time to shop in Bangkok.
Anyway - I leave for Singapore tomorrow - going out tonight to hit some food markets - wish me luck!
I slept okay my first and second night - staying in a very nice hostel its very clean and has nice comfy BUNK beds.. I am on the top bunk, and its a room with 6 girls in total. Nice because they are all travellers too, and have chatted to a few of them about places to visit etc. Its just like being back at boarding school actually, and as long as its clean - I am completely comfortable. Only annoying thing, is as usual I am one of the last to go to bed - so I have to scuffle around in the dark occasionally. Its also annoying when people wake up at the crack of dawn - I suspect some of them are purposefully trying to get me back for some of my late night scuffling.
I also dropped my mobile phone onto the head of my last bunk mate whilst clambering up the ladder - she was sleeping and so that didnt win me any favours.
My first day here was a little traumatic - it took me approx 4hrs to lose my first valuable item - 1 x very nice camera LOST.. My own fault I left it somewhere in the HUGE botanical gardens. I was walking around and at one point I was feeling so dizzy from the heat and humidity I thought I was going to faint. So in between me feeling dizzy and buying an ice cream - the little slippery thing escaped my clutches. Anyway I had a break down, lay on the floor and thumped the ground with my fists whilst shouting "WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYY" for a few moments... People stopped and stared and I started to feel awkward. So I picked myself up, wiped my mascara streaks from my face and took a deep breath. Okay so I didnt actually lie on the ground, but in my head...it was all VERY dramatic. I had some recent photos which I hadnt yet backed up. I moped around the botanical gardens for a few hours, in the hope that some miracle might re-unite me with my camera but it was not SO. I then moved on, and did some sight seeing, Petronas towers Blah blah blah - jumped on one of those sight seeing buses which conveniently takes you too everything and does a loop of the city. I then hit the shops and in the eve I walked the Chinese markets. This place is a bargainers DREAM and procured a couple of cheap nice things, jewellery mostly! I then decided to try some interesting looking BBQ skewers for dinner- I could have been eating donkey for all I know - but it was a very tasty something! I am now paying the price for my adventurous eating, I have had the runs all day... GREAT. So apparently I dont have a cast iron stomach after all - but I WILL GET BACK ON THAT PONY (or donkey), I think I just need to harden my immune system. I mean surely all these malay people dont get sick right?!
Spent the day bargain hunting for a camera - got a nice canon with 2 memory cards and a case for $150 - not bad! Its not as nice as my old one, but to be honest I think my last one had too many features for what I needed. Chatting to people KL is cheaper than Singapore and I dont have time to shop in Bangkok.
Anyway - I leave for Singapore tomorrow - going out tonight to hit some food markets - wish me luck!
Monday, 31 October 2011
The last of Oz! 13th Oct - 30 Oct
Well after my last post I worked a bit more, and went for a week back in Adelaide with Lara. Had a wonderful time, went out a bit and just relaxed. Saw some fabulous wineries again, and also did a super GLAM photo shoot with Lara - she dolled me up full make up and all and stuck me in some burlesque type corsets etc and I had my first ever proper photo shoot! Lara does professional photography and is a fantastic make up artist.... so all I can say is! WOW I felt like a million bucks :) It did help that we drank constantly through the shoot... towards the end, I think I was getting a little too ambitious...
Anyhoo - left Adelaide and spent one last night in Sydney with Carin and Hilton. They have just moved into a fantastic city centre apartment which overlooks Darling Harbour. Its amazing and its everything you imagine Sydney living to be for the chic and happening! Had a lovely night out, and just got ready for my trip and then the next morning got up, sorted a few things and I was off to Sydney International at 1pm!
It must just be said that I have had some hiccups with flights and my agent has buggered me around a bit... I have been super nice to the guy (its a South African agency I booked my flights with) and have taken all the service with a bit of "African" attitude, meaning: you just shouldn't expect the same level of service as you would get in the UK....
ANYWAY, I found out 2 days before leaving for Asia,that the little bugger changed my flights (due to some apparent "class cancellation" or some rubbish. Had I not just randomly checked shortly before leaving, I would have been waiting around unnecessarily for 9 hours, and then arriving in KL at 3am! Great - arriving in a weird place in the dead of night, checking into a hostel of rooms, with everyone sleeping etc... Having been quite tolerable about his other incompetencies until now(which have been extensive)I completely lost it. In fact its been a while since I have lost my temper in such a way - I think perhaps back in London. I got on the phone to the agent, and literally obliterated him on the phone for about 20 mins. There were hand movements, there was pacing, there were words such as, YOU and WILL, deliberately over enunciated and there was a clearly chosen psychotically threatening voice tone... I used everything in my Pledger handbook of "how to threaten and scare people"... Needless to say, it worked.. and I got on the flight I was supposed to! Even though, on the phone at one point it was "impossible" to change it...hmmpph... anyway - my advice, don't use travel agents! Do the work yourself! Plus - there are definitely times when being a completely scary bitch comes in handy. Nothing quite makes my blood boil as much as when I know I am not at fault, and someone is dicking me around! I am sure all you Pledger's can associate with the fury!
Anyhoo - I am writing from KL - and arrived safe and sound. I am going to write a bit about here in a second - its very exciting!
xoxoxo
Anyhoo - left Adelaide and spent one last night in Sydney with Carin and Hilton. They have just moved into a fantastic city centre apartment which overlooks Darling Harbour. Its amazing and its everything you imagine Sydney living to be for the chic and happening! Had a lovely night out, and just got ready for my trip and then the next morning got up, sorted a few things and I was off to Sydney International at 1pm!
It must just be said that I have had some hiccups with flights and my agent has buggered me around a bit... I have been super nice to the guy (its a South African agency I booked my flights with) and have taken all the service with a bit of "African" attitude, meaning: you just shouldn't expect the same level of service as you would get in the UK....
ANYWAY, I found out 2 days before leaving for Asia,that the little bugger changed my flights (due to some apparent "class cancellation" or some rubbish. Had I not just randomly checked shortly before leaving, I would have been waiting around unnecessarily for 9 hours, and then arriving in KL at 3am! Great - arriving in a weird place in the dead of night, checking into a hostel of rooms, with everyone sleeping etc... Having been quite tolerable about his other incompetencies until now(which have been extensive)I completely lost it. In fact its been a while since I have lost my temper in such a way - I think perhaps back in London. I got on the phone to the agent, and literally obliterated him on the phone for about 20 mins. There were hand movements, there was pacing, there were words such as, YOU and WILL, deliberately over enunciated and there was a clearly chosen psychotically threatening voice tone... I used everything in my Pledger handbook of "how to threaten and scare people"... Needless to say, it worked.. and I got on the flight I was supposed to! Even though, on the phone at one point it was "impossible" to change it...hmmpph... anyway - my advice, don't use travel agents! Do the work yourself! Plus - there are definitely times when being a completely scary bitch comes in handy. Nothing quite makes my blood boil as much as when I know I am not at fault, and someone is dicking me around! I am sure all you Pledger's can associate with the fury!
Anyhoo - I am writing from KL - and arrived safe and sound. I am going to write a bit about here in a second - its very exciting!
xoxoxo
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Still working 13th Oct
So, I am still in Sydney and trying to work as much as I can to save for Asia. I am still working for several agencies, and quite annoyingly I am called up quite last minute to fill in spots of mostly people that have called in sick etc. Its weird when you kind of want to work, but are slightly annoyed when you receive a phone call at 7am in the morning asking if you're available...anyway work is work!
So I leave in approximately 2 weeks for Asia!! Yippeeeeeee... I am so excited, mainly because I will finally get to spend some money - I have gone into the "saving" mindset, and even spending money on a coffee pains me, with everything I do - I ask myself "what could this money buy me in asia?" and more often than not, that dissuades me from the purchase. I have started to develop an immense dislike for Sydney the weather here has been 85% SHIT, and everything is expensive.. plus I am getting bored of the place, I cant really spend money and I just kind of want to move on. I haven't been going out much, as again this is an expensive affair. I did coax Hilton into going out with me a couple of weeks ago.... Carin was staying home as she didn't fancy a night out with us 2 nuts, a but we still had a rip roaring time. Unfortunately - we got home blind drunk at 3am in the morning and Carin was not so impressed. We lost the keys, a jacket and I was scoffing a greasy burger looking all cross eyed and trying in vain to act sober. The following day - feeling a little worse for wear - we headed to a free festival in Darling Harbour which celebrated South American Food, Dance and Music. It was great - we got to watch a few shows, and I got to eat some AMAZING Brazilian food - absolutely delicious! Made me miss Rick :), and look forward to my time in Brazil which is still coming up. YIPEEEE!
Also on the social side, Hilton got us put on the guest list for an awesome South African event hosted by SAA for the SA v Oz rugby game. Sadly we lost and it was a gut wrenching affair watching the game. Luckily the pain of losing was softened by the limitless FREE biltong, FREE droewors and FREE Booze they had on offer!! It's always nice to go to these events which make you feel all, hmpph ahumm I mean...patriotic etc. There was typical South African music playing in the back round, the bar was all decorated and it was just a nice proudly South African atmosphere! The atmosphere did however turn very sour when the final minutes of the game were ticking by..... ANYWAY!!!
I had been invited to a house party after - and after licking my wounds following the game, set out to enjoy an evening with some Brazilians I have met whilst working - a nice couple. Interesting house party - very eclectic mix of people from all corners of the globe. I wasn't in my usual entertaining form, I think I over stepped the "dutch courage" stage of drunkenness, and landed up having to scuttle home in a slightly anti-social drunken state. I know a lot of my social reports have a similar under current which involves alcohol abuse, but I am happy to report that I have alas discovered what my tipping point is... Its taken 16 years of intensive training, but I am learning now what exactly my limit is! At least I have had an epiphany on one subject whilst being on this trip!?
I am here in Sydney until the 22nd, so just 9 more days. I then fly back down to Adelaide to visit Lara for a week, then I fly back up to Sydney and out to Asia.
I am so excited about Asia - I have even added another country to my itinerary, going jungle trekking in LAOS for a few days.... WOOHOOOO! more news to come!
So I leave in approximately 2 weeks for Asia!! Yippeeeeeee... I am so excited, mainly because I will finally get to spend some money - I have gone into the "saving" mindset, and even spending money on a coffee pains me, with everything I do - I ask myself "what could this money buy me in asia?" and more often than not, that dissuades me from the purchase. I have started to develop an immense dislike for Sydney the weather here has been 85% SHIT, and everything is expensive.. plus I am getting bored of the place, I cant really spend money and I just kind of want to move on. I haven't been going out much, as again this is an expensive affair. I did coax Hilton into going out with me a couple of weeks ago.... Carin was staying home as she didn't fancy a night out with us 2 nuts, a but we still had a rip roaring time. Unfortunately - we got home blind drunk at 3am in the morning and Carin was not so impressed. We lost the keys, a jacket and I was scoffing a greasy burger looking all cross eyed and trying in vain to act sober. The following day - feeling a little worse for wear - we headed to a free festival in Darling Harbour which celebrated South American Food, Dance and Music. It was great - we got to watch a few shows, and I got to eat some AMAZING Brazilian food - absolutely delicious! Made me miss Rick :), and look forward to my time in Brazil which is still coming up. YIPEEEE!
Also on the social side, Hilton got us put on the guest list for an awesome South African event hosted by SAA for the SA v Oz rugby game. Sadly we lost and it was a gut wrenching affair watching the game. Luckily the pain of losing was softened by the limitless FREE biltong, FREE droewors and FREE Booze they had on offer!! It's always nice to go to these events which make you feel all
I had been invited to a house party after - and after licking my wounds following the game, set out to enjoy an evening with some Brazilians I have met whilst working - a nice couple. Interesting house party - very eclectic mix of people from all corners of the globe. I wasn't in my usual entertaining form, I think I over stepped the "dutch courage" stage of drunkenness, and landed up having to scuttle home in a slightly anti-social drunken state. I know a lot of my social reports have a similar under current which involves alcohol abuse, but I am happy to report that I have alas discovered what my tipping point is... Its taken 16 years of intensive training, but I am learning now what exactly my limit is! At least I have had an epiphany on one subject whilst being on this trip!?
I am here in Sydney until the 22nd, so just 9 more days. I then fly back down to Adelaide to visit Lara for a week, then I fly back up to Sydney and out to Asia.
I am so excited about Asia - I have even added another country to my itinerary, going jungle trekking in LAOS for a few days.... WOOHOOOO! more news to come!
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Money Money Money and the things it makes us do.... 14th Sept to current day..
Well - Australia is bloody expensive, and my funds are running far lower than I had anticipated! This leaves the only option for me to throw myself at as much work as possible...And whilst I would love to be picky about what I am doing, this is a luxury reserved for people who have a lot more time on their hands - I have been given a month to try and plump up my funds! I have already gone into my “South America Budget” and this part of my trip only starts in Jan!!
Nothing like a bit of desperation to get you firing on all cylinders…
I have signed up with 2 offices agencies which look for office based support roles, 2 hospitality agencies which cater to huge variety of clients and then also a catering company which does private events. Plus I have still managed to keep my bar work at the live music gigs. So I have had variety of variety of colourful jobs which include:
• Data entry for a large international company (name omitted for legal reasons) - so boring the highlight of the day was my coffee expeditions which took me on a walk to the other side of the office to use the "fancy" coffee machine. I can confirm that not only does excessive coffee consumption result in heart palpitations but it also has somewhat of a laxative effect. Something I saw as a plus as it took me away from the shackles on my stark prison like temp desk, for yet a second expedition. This job was for 8 agonising days.
• Working at an event for a leading drinks brand - a lot less exciting than it sounded, I mean what type of a company has one of these during the day, serving alcohol then expecting everyone to go back to work afterwards....? A company that has a legitimate breathalysing machine in their reception, that’s who has these! They were serving a wonderful variety of amazing looking snacks. I disregarded strict company policy and sampled a good amount of these… skilfully cramming the whole bit sized canapés into my mouth whilst turning corners or moving into sneaky spaces where I knew I wouldn’t be spotted. I almost got busted by one of the attendees and was forced to stuff a slightly large mini pie.. it was a lot drier and larger than my eyes told me, and for a second I thought I was going to cough the whole thing out sending splattering pie crumbs and pieces all over the wall I was facing. Fortunately there was half drank glass of Sav Blanc at hand which I washed all down with and narrowly managed to dodge catastrophe…
• Working at a theatre company giving out pensioner’s free tea and cake, those old biddies sure can pack away a bit of cake - and the venom when I ran out cake!!
• My personal favourite and potentially the highlight of my hospitality career - making hotdogs at a huge sports stadium for a massive Ozzie rules footy game. Not just any hotdog – a BIGdog… I think I made about 400 of the fucking things. I also had some 17 year old gay little man bitch snivelling at my inability to fold the hot dog bags correctly once packaging them. He was literally about 17 and thought that being a hotdog supervisor made him VERY important. He kept on coming over to me and kind of cheering “Yeah Sarah, there you go – now you got the hang of it…” I mean really – it’s making a hot dog, not bloody micro surgery…??????????! I had a momentary fantasy of taking a piping HOT BIGdog sausage from its bun and using it to repeatedly slap his greasy little face with it… But alas I held my composure.
• I also worked in the board rooms of this huge Law firm serving fancy big wigs refreshments whilst they either had meetings or soirees with clients... They have a whole catering department of about 20 people employed purely to pamper the employees and occasionally clients! The amount of money that must cost!! Everything was state of the art in their kitchens - and this was actually one of my highest paying jobs...ridiculous, that firm must be robbing people blind!!! They did have one of their employees commit suicide by lobbing himself off the building about a year ago, so clearly the pressures of working there are not light! Money – does crazy things eh?!
• I also worked at the racecourse in their banqueting dept. This was quite a fun day, worked in one of the boxes and served 2 large tables. Unfortunately I learnt by the end of the day that the people I was serving were in fact NOT wealthy folk of the TIPPING varietal and had merely won the tickets to the event or something. So my outrageous flirting, overly attentive service, and borderline psychotic smile I had plastered on my face all day was NOT rewarded with 50 dollar bills being stuffed into my pockets.. A fun day none the less though…
• Working at the live music venue which is still on-going. Possibly the most disorganised venue I have ever worked at in my entire life, alongside one seriously common deranged and nasty crack whore type woman, that delights in trying to make my life difficult. But she just gets into trouble because she fucks up her work and the boss likes me… I just smirk at her which I can see gets right underneath her skin… HAHAAHA. The joys! Anyway - the job pays cash and it’s just for another few weeks, so bring it on lady!
• Covering someone on sick leave at a reception post for a week and a half (doing this right now). Mundane job which involved dealing with the switchboard and also sending and receiving parcels...relatively simple and has the bonus of giving me massive chunks of time to surf the net and muck around on email etc. My favourite job so far woohoo!
And that’s about it so far - still have some work coming up. One job is at a bar set up for a massive Asian Food festival which should be yummy and then a few bits here and there. Getting very much over Australia at the moment - the weather is shit at the moment, and if I had more money in my pocket I would have left weeks ago.
Still have a couple more things I want to do in Sydney - one is going to the Hunter Valley Wine Region on a day tour and the other is going to a Koala sanctuary. I also have a few bars and restaurants I want to sample.... so we shall see. Please DEAR GOD let the weather improve!!!!
I am here in Sydney for just another 2 weeks, then it’s off to South Australia again for a week, then over to ASIA!!! Woohooooo!!!
Nothing like a bit of desperation to get you firing on all cylinders…
I have signed up with 2 offices agencies which look for office based support roles, 2 hospitality agencies which cater to huge variety of clients and then also a catering company which does private events. Plus I have still managed to keep my bar work at the live music gigs. So I have had variety of variety of colourful jobs which include:
• Data entry for a large international company (name omitted for legal reasons) - so boring the highlight of the day was my coffee expeditions which took me on a walk to the other side of the office to use the "fancy" coffee machine. I can confirm that not only does excessive coffee consumption result in heart palpitations but it also has somewhat of a laxative effect. Something I saw as a plus as it took me away from the shackles on my stark prison like temp desk, for yet a second expedition. This job was for 8 agonising days.
• Working at an event for a leading drinks brand - a lot less exciting than it sounded, I mean what type of a company has one of these during the day, serving alcohol then expecting everyone to go back to work afterwards....? A company that has a legitimate breathalysing machine in their reception, that’s who has these! They were serving a wonderful variety of amazing looking snacks. I disregarded strict company policy and sampled a good amount of these… skilfully cramming the whole bit sized canapés into my mouth whilst turning corners or moving into sneaky spaces where I knew I wouldn’t be spotted. I almost got busted by one of the attendees and was forced to stuff a slightly large mini pie.. it was a lot drier and larger than my eyes told me, and for a second I thought I was going to cough the whole thing out sending splattering pie crumbs and pieces all over the wall I was facing. Fortunately there was half drank glass of Sav Blanc at hand which I washed all down with and narrowly managed to dodge catastrophe…
• Working at a theatre company giving out pensioner’s free tea and cake, those old biddies sure can pack away a bit of cake - and the venom when I ran out cake!!
• My personal favourite and potentially the highlight of my hospitality career - making hotdogs at a huge sports stadium for a massive Ozzie rules footy game. Not just any hotdog – a BIGdog… I think I made about 400 of the fucking things. I also had some 17 year old gay little man bitch snivelling at my inability to fold the hot dog bags correctly once packaging them. He was literally about 17 and thought that being a hotdog supervisor made him VERY important. He kept on coming over to me and kind of cheering “Yeah Sarah, there you go – now you got the hang of it…” I mean really – it’s making a hot dog, not bloody micro surgery…??????????! I had a momentary fantasy of taking a piping HOT BIGdog sausage from its bun and using it to repeatedly slap his greasy little face with it… But alas I held my composure.
• I also worked in the board rooms of this huge Law firm serving fancy big wigs refreshments whilst they either had meetings or soirees with clients... They have a whole catering department of about 20 people employed purely to pamper the employees and occasionally clients! The amount of money that must cost!! Everything was state of the art in their kitchens - and this was actually one of my highest paying jobs...ridiculous, that firm must be robbing people blind!!! They did have one of their employees commit suicide by lobbing himself off the building about a year ago, so clearly the pressures of working there are not light! Money – does crazy things eh?!
• I also worked at the racecourse in their banqueting dept. This was quite a fun day, worked in one of the boxes and served 2 large tables. Unfortunately I learnt by the end of the day that the people I was serving were in fact NOT wealthy folk of the TIPPING varietal and had merely won the tickets to the event or something. So my outrageous flirting, overly attentive service, and borderline psychotic smile I had plastered on my face all day was NOT rewarded with 50 dollar bills being stuffed into my pockets.. A fun day none the less though…
• Working at the live music venue which is still on-going. Possibly the most disorganised venue I have ever worked at in my entire life, alongside one seriously common deranged and nasty crack whore type woman, that delights in trying to make my life difficult. But she just gets into trouble because she fucks up her work and the boss likes me… I just smirk at her which I can see gets right underneath her skin… HAHAAHA. The joys! Anyway - the job pays cash and it’s just for another few weeks, so bring it on lady!
• Covering someone on sick leave at a reception post for a week and a half (doing this right now). Mundane job which involved dealing with the switchboard and also sending and receiving parcels...relatively simple and has the bonus of giving me massive chunks of time to surf the net and muck around on email etc. My favourite job so far woohoo!
And that’s about it so far - still have some work coming up. One job is at a bar set up for a massive Asian Food festival which should be yummy and then a few bits here and there. Getting very much over Australia at the moment - the weather is shit at the moment, and if I had more money in my pocket I would have left weeks ago.
Still have a couple more things I want to do in Sydney - one is going to the Hunter Valley Wine Region on a day tour and the other is going to a Koala sanctuary. I also have a few bars and restaurants I want to sample.... so we shall see. Please DEAR GOD let the weather improve!!!!
I am here in Sydney for just another 2 weeks, then it’s off to South Australia again for a week, then over to ASIA!!! Woohooooo!!!
Money Money Money and the things it makes us do.... 14th Sept to current day..
Well - Australia is bloody expensive, and my funds are running far lower than I had anticipated! This leaves the only option for me to throw myself at as much work as possible...And whilst I would love to be picky about what I am doing, this is a luxury reserved for people who have a lot more time on their hands - I have been given a month to try and plump up my funds! I have already gone into my “South America Budget” and this part of my trip only starts in Jan!!
Nothing like a bit of desperation to get you firing on all cylinders…
I have signed up with 2 offices agencies which look for office based support roles, 2 hospitality agencies which cater to huge variety of clients and then also a catering company which does private events. Plus I have still managed to keep my bar work at the live music gigs. So I have had variety of variety of colourful jobs which include:
• Data entry for a large international company (name omitted for legal reasons) - so boring the highlight of the day was my coffee expeditions which took me on a walk to the other side of the office to use the "fancy" coffee machine. I can confirm that not only does excessive coffee consumption result in heart palpitations but it also has somewhat of a laxative effect. Something I saw as a plus as it took me away from the shackles on my stark prison like temp desk, for yet a second expedition. This job was for 8 agonising days.
• Working at an event for a leading drinks brand - a lot less exciting than it sounded, I mean what type of a company has one of these during the day, serving alcohol then expecting everyone to go back to work afterwards....? A company that has a legitimate breathalysing machine in their reception, that’s who has these! They were serving a wonderful variety of amazing looking snacks. I disregarded strict company policy and sampled a good amount of these… skilfully cramming the whole bit sized canapés into my mouth whilst turning corners or moving into sneaky spaces where I knew I wouldn’t be spotted. I almost got busted by one of the attendees and was forced to stuff a slightly large mini pie.. it was a lot drier and larger than my eyes told me, and for a second I thought I was going to cough the whole thing out sending splattering pie crumbs and pieces all over the wall I was facing. Fortunately there was half drank glass of Sav Blanc at hand and I managed to dodge catastrophe…
• Working at a theatre company giving out pensioner’s free tea and cake, those old biddies sure can pack away a bit of cake - and the venom when I ran out cake!!
• My personal favourite and potentially the highlight of my hospitality career - making hotdogs at a huge sports stadium for a massive Ozzie rules footy game. Not just any hotdog – a BIGdog… I think I made about 400 of the fucking things. I also had some 17 year old gay little man bitch snivelling at my inability to fold the hot dog bags correctly once packaging them. He was literally about 17 and thought that being a hotdog supervisor made him VERY important. He kept on coming over to me and kind of cheering “Yeah Sarah, there you go – now you got the hang of it…” I mean really – it’s making a hot dog, not bloody micro surgery…??????????! I had a momentary fantasy of taking a piping HOT BIGdog sausage from its bun and using it to repeatedly slap his greasy little face with it… But alas I held my composure.
• I also worked in the board rooms of this huge Law firm serving fancy big wigs refreshments whilst they either had meetings or soirees with clients... They have a whole catering department of about 20 people employed purely to pamper the employees and occasionally clients! The amount of money that must cost!! Everything was state of the art in their kitchens - and this was actually one of my highest paying jobs...ridiculous, that firm must be robbing people blind!!! They did have one of their employees commit suicide by lobbing himself off the building about a year ago, so clearly the pressures of working there are not light! Money – does crazy things eh?!
• I also worked at the racecourse in their banqueting dept. This was quite a fun day, worked in one of the boxes and served 2 large tables. Unfortunately I learnt by the end of the day that the people I was serving were in fact NOT wealthy folk of the TIPPING varietal and had merely won the tickets to the event or something. So my outrageous flirting, overly attentive service, and borderline psychotic smile I had plastered on my face all day was NOT rewarded with 50 dollar bills being stuffed into my pockets.. A fun day none the less though…
• Working at the live music venue which is still on-going. Possibly the most disorganised venue I have ever worked at in my entire life, alongside one seriously common deranged and nasty crack whore type woman, that delights in trying to make my life difficult. But she just gets into trouble because she fucks up her work and the boss likes me… I just smirk at her which I can see gets right underneath her skin… HAHAAHA. The joys! Anyway - the job pays cash and it’s just for another few weeks, so bring it on lady!
• Covering someone on sick leave at a reception post for a week and a half (doing this right now). Mundane job which involved dealing with the switchboard and also sending and receiving parcels...relatively simple and has the bonus of giving me massive chunks of time to surf the net and muck around on email etc. My favourite job so far woohoo!
And that’s about it so far - still have some work coming up. One job is at a bar set up for a massive Asian Food festival which should be yummy and then a few bits here and there. Getting very much over Australia at the moment - the weather is shit at the moment, and if I had more money in my pocket I would have left weeks ago.
Still have a couple more things I want to do in Sydney - one is going to the Hunter Valley Wine Region on a day tour and the other is going to a Koala sanctuary. I also have a few bars and restaurants I want to sample.... so we shall see. Please DEAR GOD let the weather improve!!!!
I am here in Sydney for just another 2 weeks, then it’s off to South Australia again for a week, then over to ASIA!!! Woohooooo!!!
Nothing like a bit of desperation to get you firing on all cylinders…
I have signed up with 2 offices agencies which look for office based support roles, 2 hospitality agencies which cater to huge variety of clients and then also a catering company which does private events. Plus I have still managed to keep my bar work at the live music gigs. So I have had variety of variety of colourful jobs which include:
• Data entry for a large international company (name omitted for legal reasons) - so boring the highlight of the day was my coffee expeditions which took me on a walk to the other side of the office to use the "fancy" coffee machine. I can confirm that not only does excessive coffee consumption result in heart palpitations but it also has somewhat of a laxative effect. Something I saw as a plus as it took me away from the shackles on my stark prison like temp desk, for yet a second expedition. This job was for 8 agonising days.
• Working at an event for a leading drinks brand - a lot less exciting than it sounded, I mean what type of a company has one of these during the day, serving alcohol then expecting everyone to go back to work afterwards....? A company that has a legitimate breathalysing machine in their reception, that’s who has these! They were serving a wonderful variety of amazing looking snacks. I disregarded strict company policy and sampled a good amount of these… skilfully cramming the whole bit sized canapés into my mouth whilst turning corners or moving into sneaky spaces where I knew I wouldn’t be spotted. I almost got busted by one of the attendees and was forced to stuff a slightly large mini pie.. it was a lot drier and larger than my eyes told me, and for a second I thought I was going to cough the whole thing out sending splattering pie crumbs and pieces all over the wall I was facing. Fortunately there was half drank glass of Sav Blanc at hand and I managed to dodge catastrophe…
• Working at a theatre company giving out pensioner’s free tea and cake, those old biddies sure can pack away a bit of cake - and the venom when I ran out cake!!
• My personal favourite and potentially the highlight of my hospitality career - making hotdogs at a huge sports stadium for a massive Ozzie rules footy game. Not just any hotdog – a BIGdog… I think I made about 400 of the fucking things. I also had some 17 year old gay little man bitch snivelling at my inability to fold the hot dog bags correctly once packaging them. He was literally about 17 and thought that being a hotdog supervisor made him VERY important. He kept on coming over to me and kind of cheering “Yeah Sarah, there you go – now you got the hang of it…” I mean really – it’s making a hot dog, not bloody micro surgery…??????????! I had a momentary fantasy of taking a piping HOT BIGdog sausage from its bun and using it to repeatedly slap his greasy little face with it… But alas I held my composure.
• I also worked in the board rooms of this huge Law firm serving fancy big wigs refreshments whilst they either had meetings or soirees with clients... They have a whole catering department of about 20 people employed purely to pamper the employees and occasionally clients! The amount of money that must cost!! Everything was state of the art in their kitchens - and this was actually one of my highest paying jobs...ridiculous, that firm must be robbing people blind!!! They did have one of their employees commit suicide by lobbing himself off the building about a year ago, so clearly the pressures of working there are not light! Money – does crazy things eh?!
• I also worked at the racecourse in their banqueting dept. This was quite a fun day, worked in one of the boxes and served 2 large tables. Unfortunately I learnt by the end of the day that the people I was serving were in fact NOT wealthy folk of the TIPPING varietal and had merely won the tickets to the event or something. So my outrageous flirting, overly attentive service, and borderline psychotic smile I had plastered on my face all day was NOT rewarded with 50 dollar bills being stuffed into my pockets.. A fun day none the less though…
• Working at the live music venue which is still on-going. Possibly the most disorganised venue I have ever worked at in my entire life, alongside one seriously common deranged and nasty crack whore type woman, that delights in trying to make my life difficult. But she just gets into trouble because she fucks up her work and the boss likes me… I just smirk at her which I can see gets right underneath her skin… HAHAAHA. The joys! Anyway - the job pays cash and it’s just for another few weeks, so bring it on lady!
• Covering someone on sick leave at a reception post for a week and a half (doing this right now). Mundane job which involved dealing with the switchboard and also sending and receiving parcels...relatively simple and has the bonus of giving me massive chunks of time to surf the net and muck around on email etc. My favourite job so far woohoo!
And that’s about it so far - still have some work coming up. One job is at a bar set up for a massive Asian Food festival which should be yummy and then a few bits here and there. Getting very much over Australia at the moment - the weather is shit at the moment, and if I had more money in my pocket I would have left weeks ago.
Still have a couple more things I want to do in Sydney - one is going to the Hunter Valley Wine Region on a day tour and the other is going to a Koala sanctuary. I also have a few bars and restaurants I want to sample.... so we shall see. Please DEAR GOD let the weather improve!!!!
I am here in Sydney for just another 2 weeks, then it’s off to South Australia again for a week, then over to ASIA!!! Woohooooo!!!
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Melbourne & Adelaide 4th Sept - 13th Sept
After my busy couple of weeks in Sydney working my temp job, and the bar job in the evenings - I set off on Sunday morning 4th Sept - a little tired but excited for my trip. Last time I saw Lara was when we had a amazing trip to the States, and she came and spent some time with me in the UK with me back in Sept 2010.
Arrived in Melbourne midday, and got picked up by Renee, one of Lara's school mates who is now a mate of mine too, also having spent some time with us in the UK and states. We went out for a massive lunch (okay it was only me who had the massive lunch), and enjoyed a few glasses of Vino at a delightful little Italian place - catching up a bit on the news. Later that afternoon settled into Renee's place, where we were staying until Wednesday. The 3 days in Melbourne saw us doing general touristy things. Going for light brunches/lunches/dinners, (light- read: Gluttonous), a few drinks here and there (few- read: several) and a tad of sight seeing. Melbourne is super cool with loads of funky bistros, bars, cafes, restaurants etc - and parts of it really reminded me of Cape Town. Whilst in Melbourne having some newly found wealth, I spoilt myself to a smidgen of shopping. Bagged a banging dress (mom and dad dont panic - banging is UK slang for awesome), some delightful heals - which do make me look like a tranny as I am about 6.1ft in them, and a few cosmetic treats. Went to a delightful and very entertaining cabaret show see http://www.draculas.com.au/ and also did a whizz stop tour of the Melbourne museum which was very interesting. Had lots of good laughs, and lots of yummy food and would have loved to have been able to explore more - but time always flies when your having a blast.
Lara and I left for Adelaide on the weds eve, and arrived fairly late. Had an early night in, and finally got to meet Lara's mom - Nina, and prized princess - "Lady Alexis", the grunting little Pug. Smelly little thing though.
In Adelaide I finally managed to get my hair done, and have a manicure and pedicure. What a treat and a reminder of my former luxury days in London! We also went to a fantastic show, which I imagine is much the same as the Rand show in Joburg, with shit loads of amazing food stalls, fun rides and most importantly wine & even cheese tasting stalls. We went on the ferris wheel, wondered around and stuffed our pie holes with decadent treats.. Anything involving gluttonous acts is always a point scorer with me so I absolutely loved it!
On the follwoing evening we also went on a ladies night out, which started off at Lara's cousins house which we were house sitting. We arranged a delicious chacuterie platter and polished off a few bottles of wine and cocktails before even leaving home. We went out to a few bars, and before I knew it we were back at home - but alas the night didnt end there. I woke up the next day with a throbbing headache at 3pm - we had a stonker of a night.. I had an amazing time apparently, pity I dont remember it.
The remaining time in Adelaide was more relaxing, highlight was a trip to the Barossa Valley - which is much like the Franschoek region, huge wine production area and also very foody with amazing farm stalls and quaint guest houses tucked in between rolling hills covered in vines. Stunning. Had Lunch at Maggie Beers - which is a farm named after the lady who founded it. Kind of like a more succesful version of Ina Parman - she produces absolutely delicious pates and terrines, orginally with Pheasants - and has branched out into several other things. See: http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/ Inspirational in terms of having a dream which has evolved into a massive empire! I bought one of her cookbooks - her style of life and cooking completely appeals to me. We also went to some of the wine farms and had some tastings - such a beautiful part of the world! A complete delight was coming across a wine farm which had an enclosure of tame orphaned kangaroos - they were SO cute... see photos.
Had a absolutely lovely time having lunches with Lara's mom Nina, and spending time with my old chum again - great to catch up and as always feels like time never passed.
Had to leave on the Tuesday evening, but have decided I will be going back... The wines in the Barossa region are calling me! I need to go back and see more, plus I didnt get to experience the full fun of RADelaide as its called..
Decided to try and go back before I leave Sydney at the end of this month (Oct).
See below some of the photos:
Arrived in Melbourne midday, and got picked up by Renee, one of Lara's school mates who is now a mate of mine too, also having spent some time with us in the UK and states. We went out for a massive lunch (okay it was only me who had the massive lunch), and enjoyed a few glasses of Vino at a delightful little Italian place - catching up a bit on the news. Later that afternoon settled into Renee's place, where we were staying until Wednesday. The 3 days in Melbourne saw us doing general touristy things. Going for light brunches/lunches/dinners, (light- read: Gluttonous), a few drinks here and there (few- read: several) and a tad of sight seeing. Melbourne is super cool with loads of funky bistros, bars, cafes, restaurants etc - and parts of it really reminded me of Cape Town. Whilst in Melbourne having some newly found wealth, I spoilt myself to a smidgen of shopping. Bagged a banging dress (mom and dad dont panic - banging is UK slang for awesome), some delightful heals - which do make me look like a tranny as I am about 6.1ft in them, and a few cosmetic treats. Went to a delightful and very entertaining cabaret show see http://www.draculas.com.au/ and also did a whizz stop tour of the Melbourne museum which was very interesting. Had lots of good laughs, and lots of yummy food and would have loved to have been able to explore more - but time always flies when your having a blast.
Lara and I left for Adelaide on the weds eve, and arrived fairly late. Had an early night in, and finally got to meet Lara's mom - Nina, and prized princess - "Lady Alexis", the grunting little Pug. Smelly little thing though.
In Adelaide I finally managed to get my hair done, and have a manicure and pedicure. What a treat and a reminder of my former luxury days in London! We also went to a fantastic show, which I imagine is much the same as the Rand show in Joburg, with shit loads of amazing food stalls, fun rides and most importantly wine & even cheese tasting stalls. We went on the ferris wheel, wondered around and stuffed our pie holes with decadent treats.. Anything involving gluttonous acts is always a point scorer with me so I absolutely loved it!
On the follwoing evening we also went on a ladies night out, which started off at Lara's cousins house which we were house sitting. We arranged a delicious chacuterie platter and polished off a few bottles of wine and cocktails before even leaving home. We went out to a few bars, and before I knew it we were back at home - but alas the night didnt end there. I woke up the next day with a throbbing headache at 3pm - we had a stonker of a night.. I had an amazing time apparently, pity I dont remember it.
The remaining time in Adelaide was more relaxing, highlight was a trip to the Barossa Valley - which is much like the Franschoek region, huge wine production area and also very foody with amazing farm stalls and quaint guest houses tucked in between rolling hills covered in vines. Stunning. Had Lunch at Maggie Beers - which is a farm named after the lady who founded it. Kind of like a more succesful version of Ina Parman - she produces absolutely delicious pates and terrines, orginally with Pheasants - and has branched out into several other things. See: http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/ Inspirational in terms of having a dream which has evolved into a massive empire! I bought one of her cookbooks - her style of life and cooking completely appeals to me. We also went to some of the wine farms and had some tastings - such a beautiful part of the world! A complete delight was coming across a wine farm which had an enclosure of tame orphaned kangaroos - they were SO cute... see photos.
Had a absolutely lovely time having lunches with Lara's mom Nina, and spending time with my old chum again - great to catch up and as always feels like time never passed.
Had to leave on the Tuesday evening, but have decided I will be going back... The wines in the Barossa region are calling me! I need to go back and see more, plus I didnt get to experience the full fun of RADelaide as its called..
Decided to try and go back before I leave Sydney at the end of this month (Oct).
See below some of the photos:
Having a nice din din!!
Serious case of crabs...melbourne museum..
Stuffed otter which Lara loved... I totally imagined it had a cockney accent...
Terrifying ghost ride - en route to Dracula's cabaret
Little snack at the Adelaide show...
Loving the ferris wheel...
Our ladies night...starting off with our cocktail pitcher, kylie getting stuck in!
SHOTS!!!
Out and about, Lara creeping on my hair...
Action shot!
Our delicious treats - including the cupcakes I made - it was Kylies birthday earlier that week and all...
Views of the canola flowers on the way to the Barossa
Maggie Beers restaurant and farm stall
Having delicious Lunch with Nina (Lara's mom) and Lara
Buttons the cutest kangaroo!!! Fiesty little fellow...
Getting some love from Buttons!
Winelands!
melbourne city centre
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Working time in Sydney 16th Aug - 4th Sept
Arrived here in Sydney on the 16th Aug, after long-winded journey from Whitsundays! Heartily greeted by faithful longstanding wonderful chum, Carin & her now fiance Hilton. Carin and Hilton now live in the very convenientally located CBD, and had themselves only arrived a few days prior to me. They are now permanently located here in Sydney after emigrating from South Africa. Settled into comfortable one bedroom apartment, where my room is the living room and my bed the sofa couch, its wonderfully comfortable, and after having exhausted my travel funds, very very kindly free!
With all 3 of us having recently arrived, we all hit the ground running - trying to find some work! The little laptop (which I now type from), saw alot of love from us 3 - with all of us scouring the net and various job sites applying for work!
I jumped straight on Gumtree, the site which was hugely used in the UK and after such success has now filtered out globally, and I also signed up with a temp agency. Hit a lucky break and within a few days, procured some work (which is still ongoing) at the live music venue, see http://noteslive.net.au/ and very fortunately this is cash in hand work! Job there is as a general staff member both behind the bar as well as on the floor. Very easy work, and money for jam as they say in the UK. However, the work isnt frequent enough - they are only open for specific nights - when bands have booked the venue. So basically working on average 3 nights a week, sometimes more sometimes just 2 nights.
Another lucky break saw me getting a short 8 day project with the temping agency I signed up for. Job was at Fuji Xerox, doing some admin type work with their accounts. So within a week, I had 2 jobs and was working daytimes and then on some evenings going straight to another job. It was tiring after not having worked for the past 7 months! Everything was perfectly timed, as I had planned a short trip to visit my friend Lara for 10 days, and the work gave me a bit of time to save some money but still allow the freedom to go on the trip, something I was worried about when I initially arrived and started looking for work. The temping work was only a short little project, so I did apply for loads of other jobs, I thought that it would be ideal if I could work both the cash in hand job as well as another more full time job.
I did start feeling guilty telling people I was planning on being here for 6 months, when in reality I was only planning on being here a few weeks. Something I had to do, as I put myself into a employers perspective when applying for jobs, and knew that I wouldnt hire someone if I knew it was only for a month ! I also found that most bars, restaurants, hotels etc want someone that has full availability, which I didnt have. I wanted to keep the cash in hand job , cash in hand is tax free after all, and if you have more than 1 job here in Oz you get taxed massively. So I even did a few interviews and trials at other places - but found that they were dead ends because I couldnt juggle the jobs effectively. Worked a trial shift at this place which served amazing food and was run with militant precision. Really top class fine food, whacky and weird creations, looking like art master peices - tasting amazing! It would have been awesome to work there, but alas what will be will be - after I said I could work the start day they wanted me to - they didnt call me back! Place was http://www.gastropark.com.au/
Anyway, all went well for the 2 weeks of my work. Worked like a dog and saved enough money to fund my entire trip to Melbourne and Adelaide, living comfortably of course!
The work for Fuji was dead boring, but easy enough - and the work at Notes allowed me to see some pretty awesome bands. The only downside of the work at Notes, is that the place has some pretty nutty people working there - wont go too much into it as this is a public blog after all, but had an "interesting" run ins with a staff member... crazy times. But I keep to myself, do my job - work hard and quietly relish in the knowledge that I am moving on a few weeks, and the "interesting" staff members there have shit lives and will probably die miserable and alone. Karma is so rewarding.
So onto the next adventure - on the Sunday 4th Sept, I left Sydney to fly off to Melbourne, where I was meeting Lara and staying with a mutual friend Renee (she spent some time with us in UK, and also the states). Save that trip for the next post! See below some of my Sydney Photos:
With all 3 of us having recently arrived, we all hit the ground running - trying to find some work! The little laptop (which I now type from), saw alot of love from us 3 - with all of us scouring the net and various job sites applying for work!
I jumped straight on Gumtree, the site which was hugely used in the UK and after such success has now filtered out globally, and I also signed up with a temp agency. Hit a lucky break and within a few days, procured some work (which is still ongoing) at the live music venue, see http://noteslive.net.au/ and very fortunately this is cash in hand work! Job there is as a general staff member both behind the bar as well as on the floor. Very easy work, and money for jam as they say in the UK. However, the work isnt frequent enough - they are only open for specific nights - when bands have booked the venue. So basically working on average 3 nights a week, sometimes more sometimes just 2 nights.
Another lucky break saw me getting a short 8 day project with the temping agency I signed up for. Job was at Fuji Xerox, doing some admin type work with their accounts. So within a week, I had 2 jobs and was working daytimes and then on some evenings going straight to another job. It was tiring after not having worked for the past 7 months! Everything was perfectly timed, as I had planned a short trip to visit my friend Lara for 10 days, and the work gave me a bit of time to save some money but still allow the freedom to go on the trip, something I was worried about when I initially arrived and started looking for work. The temping work was only a short little project, so I did apply for loads of other jobs, I thought that it would be ideal if I could work both the cash in hand job as well as another more full time job.
I did start feeling guilty telling people I was planning on being here for 6 months, when in reality I was only planning on being here a few weeks. Something I had to do, as I put myself into a employers perspective when applying for jobs, and knew that I wouldnt hire someone if I knew it was only for a month ! I also found that most bars, restaurants, hotels etc want someone that has full availability, which I didnt have. I wanted to keep the cash in hand job , cash in hand is tax free after all, and if you have more than 1 job here in Oz you get taxed massively. So I even did a few interviews and trials at other places - but found that they were dead ends because I couldnt juggle the jobs effectively. Worked a trial shift at this place which served amazing food and was run with militant precision. Really top class fine food, whacky and weird creations, looking like art master peices - tasting amazing! It would have been awesome to work there, but alas what will be will be - after I said I could work the start day they wanted me to - they didnt call me back! Place was http://www.gastropark.com.au/
Anyway, all went well for the 2 weeks of my work. Worked like a dog and saved enough money to fund my entire trip to Melbourne and Adelaide, living comfortably of course!
The work for Fuji was dead boring, but easy enough - and the work at Notes allowed me to see some pretty awesome bands. The only downside of the work at Notes, is that the place has some pretty nutty people working there - wont go too much into it as this is a public blog after all, but had an "interesting" run ins with a staff member... crazy times. But I keep to myself, do my job - work hard and quietly relish in the knowledge that I am moving on a few weeks, and the "interesting" staff members there have shit lives and will probably die miserable and alone. Karma is so rewarding.
So onto the next adventure - on the Sunday 4th Sept, I left Sydney to fly off to Melbourne, where I was meeting Lara and staying with a mutual friend Renee (she spent some time with us in UK, and also the states). Save that trip for the next post! See below some of my Sydney Photos:
Ordering Sushi - on a touch screen!
Hilton making good use of the chopsticks...
On our way to watch our first Aussie Rugby League Game
Arrived a little early....had to kill time with some hotdog eating
The mascot!
Renee eating some vegemite on toast after a drunk night out!
a little tipsy, thats Ian, Renee's brother - stayed with them my first week in Oz
Iconic Sydney Bridge
An Aborigine!
Cockatoo's flying about everywhere like pigeons
Huge bats calling Flying foxes - just chilling in the trees in the Botanical Gardens
Botanical gardens - huge and lovely but the weather on the day I went was a bit rubbish
Cockatoos in the Botanical gardens just fly onto you if you have food!
Awesome views from the gardens...
Tidal pools on the walk from Bondi Beach to Bronte, again the weather was a bit rubbish!
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