mandy's great adventure

USA Week 1 - Everything is Bigger and Cheaper

2011-12-21T10:38:00.001+11:00

I've been in California, for about 10 days doing my hand-over for my new job. And of course I had to do the obligatory Target stop (OK I actually went there three times, but who is counting. I mean, I needed to stock my pantry, and my freezer, and my chocolate drawer. But I digress.).

Also meeting my new team and co-workers meant that I got to go out to dinner a few times. And my overriding observation from the week is that everything in America is bigger and cheaper. The portion sizes are ridiculous. Certainly every meal I had was enough to share. I need to start ordering Kids meals! But on the very bright side, food is also heaps cheaper. I can actually afford to go out to dinner. I can spend $9 on a meal instead of $20, which is rather nice.

Also, I went up and down a few escalators in the mall, and they are double the width of escalators in New Zealand. So there you go, observation #1, everything is bigger and cheaper.

I also saw something that I know one particular coffee fiend in NZ will appreciate - Starbucks has a drive through. Yes, it's true. You can order your latte, or your grande nonfat caramel mocha with a twist of almond, soy please, from a drive-through. What will they think of next?

You know what they'll think of next? Wi-fi on the bus, which is where I am writing this from. I'm on my way back to New Zealand to do a big trip with my Mama and say goodbye to one of the prettiest countries I've ever been to.

And when I get back, I'll tell you some more observations about America and Americans and I get used to living here again. Happy Holidays everyone!

Big Changes for Mandy for 2012

2011-12-13T14:35:00.001+11:00

Hi Everyone,

Remember me? I guess I stopped blogging when I moved to New Zealand. I wasn't travelling any longer, so didn't really have to much to share I guess.

But lately lots of things have been happening, and I've been getting a lot of "what the...???" emails wondering what on earth I am doing and why I'm suddenly posting on Facebook from California, so I figured it might be time to start blogging again. So ... here you go.

With a New Zealand work visa soon to expire in April 2012, and a less than hospitable work environment at my job in Auckland, I've been hoping something would come up that would be more interesting, exciting, friendly, and with more responsibility so I could start exercising my brain and personality a bit more. Imagine my surprise when the US Sales Manager role for Intrepid Travel came up. I already love and believe in the company, was ready again for a bit more (understatement!) responsibility, and it was in California, a place I'd always wanted to live if I went back to the US.

So ... four interviews later, I was hired. It's a pretty big job, so they understandably took their hiring pretty seriously. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised that they finally picked me (I had been through four interviews after all!!). I'll be working at the US Sales Office in Santa Rosa, California, which is just over an hour north of San Francisco, and managing a team of seven. The office is located on the North America operations base, so there is a lot of activity, and loads of people around, which is really nice. I started my handover today, so am meeting people and learning the ins and outs of my new career.

I'll be here for the next week, then am heading back to New Zealand to finish packing up my life there, and also doing a three week trip around New Zealand with my Mom, which will be a great way to say bye bye to New Zealand.

So that, in a nutshell, is what's going on. Sorry for keeping you all in the dark for so long, this has all just happened very fast!!!

So now that I am going to be readjusting to life in the USA, I think I'll be sharing lots more about my experience as I readjust to this lifestyle. Stay tuned!!

:-)

Mandy

Freelancing, New Zealand Planning, and General Vegetating

2010-02-28T23:33:00.000+11:00

Has it really been since Christmas since I've written a blog update? I guess with everyone's use of Facebook, it seems less necessary to write in order for people to keep track of me. Also, I've been a bit busy doing other writing. I've started writing for a website called Suite 101. It's great because I get to write about what I want, which makes it fun and easy, and is great practice as I gear up to begin writing and editing job searches in New Zealand, and as I get ready to start working on draft #2 of my book. Yes, I still intend to finish my book. I was hoping to have it done by the time I get back to the U.S. in April so I can start shopping it to agents and publishers. Hopefully I'll get a lightening bolt of inspiration to enable me to do so. In the meantime, you can see a list of articles I've recently written for Suite 101 here. It would be great if everyone has a look - tell me what you think.

And yes, I mentioned an upcoming move to New Zealand. I found out I am miraculously still eligible for the working holiday visa, so I am heading back to Florida in April to get the visa, and will be meeting Windsor there at the start of July. I'll be looking for jobs that involve writing and editing, and also travel. We'll see what happens. We'll hope to stay on the North Island (which will be marginally warmer, which is important since we will be arriving in the middle of winter. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.) In the mean time, I'll be in Melbourne trying to enjoy the last rays of summer.

I hope everyone is well, and please check out my articles.

Christmas season in the Southern Hemisphere...

2009-12-17T14:40:00.000+11:00

...is a bit strange. First, I naturally expect it to be cold. Growing up in New Jersey we looked forward to the possibility of a snow day, but at minimum got to go to the tree farm to look for Christmas trees, where we could walk around drinking hot apple cider to keep warm. (Don't get me wrong, I actually can't stand winter, but there is something Christmassy about it, especially the smell of fireplaces and Christmas trees). In Northern Florida, we generally don't get too cold at winter, but still people take to decorating their houses with lights and flamingos and such, which is still quite fun.

But Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is still a novel concept for me, and like I said, a bit strange. People put up Christmas lights, which is nice in theory. But because it is Daylight Savings Time, it stays light until about 9:30 at night, so really, who can ever see the lights? Being without a car, I'm not going to go walking around the neighbourhood at 10:30 at night just to see if anyone has decorated.

And instead of Christmas dinner, because it is usually too damn hot in the summer for roasting and mashed potatoes and all sorts of good heavy treats, it's Christmas lunch, often BBQ style. I do imagine it would be nice to have a beach BBQ for Christmas but we don't live near the beach. Oh well. Instead, it will be salads and fruits and some roasted veggies (okay, we have to get a little roasted goodness in there) and we'll see what else. Ooh, it's only eight days until Santa gets here. Yay!

Plants are good for the soul

2009-12-09T14:26:00.004+11:00

I started my first ever veggie garden this year. It was a bit of an adventure, and yielded the occasional carrot, which got eaten by a bunny in the neighbour's yard (ironic?) and the occasional turnip, which made a surprisingly yummy edition to pumpkin soup. But I am most happy about my thriving parsley plants. They just keep on growing and growing. And I've found it very therapeutic to kneel down by them, give them a little fluff, and say hello. I must be doing something right with them (or maybe they are just naturally very hardy, but I like to think I have something to do with their success), because they have survived winter and are thriving in to summer. What a wonderful feeling to be cooking dinner and say "ooh, parsley would be nice in this ... let me just head out to the garden and cut a few leaves." So nice. I think when we decide to stay in one place for a while we will wind up with a huge veggie and herb garden.

I'd also like to introduce you to my friend Basil the basil. He had a rough start. When I got him from the market, I uncovered him and found his soil to be moldy. Ick! He turned wilty very quickly, but I have persevered, and he's managed to thrive once again. I religiously move him out in to the sun during the day and back inside at night, so he won't freeze and die (I learned my lesson with my first basil plant, who died at the first sign of winter). He also gets lots of water, and again, I say hello and fluff his leaves a little bit with my fingers. I think he likes it.

Koalas and wombats and roos, oh my!

2009-11-03T11:29:00.005+11:00

How can you not love these faces? This weekend we had the most amazing animal encounter experience. On the way to the Great Ocean Road, we stopped off in The Otways to experience the The Otway Fly - a treetop walk through the rainforest. Then, we stayed at the most amazing place. It is called Fauna Australia, and is a small, family-run wildlife park. You can only have access to see the animals if you are a guest at the property. You can hand-feed the animals - wombats and wallabies and other marsupials in the kangaroo/wallaby family. They have over 400 animals there. The owner also took us in to see the koalas up close. You can pet and feed them too. They are the cutest things ever!

This photo is of a mama and baby having their dinner. Koalas need to eat one kilogram (more than 2 pounds) of eucalyptus each day. That's a lot of leaves. They don't drink water, and they aren't always as stoned as they appear to be. It's just that they relax in the trees to conserve energy - and they sleep up to 20 hours per day. They have no natural predators in the wild, but because they eat so much eucalypt, they often run out of food and die (or are culled) in the wild. But these girls were happy and doing just fine.

Later, along the Great Ocean Road, we were surprised to see a koala bounding down the side of the road - they can move fast when they want to.

I wanted to take one home with me, but I don't have any eucalyptus trees in my back yard - oh well.

And, here's a photo of the friendliest wallaby ever!

Back in Home #2

2009-10-02T20:24:00.003+10:00

After two months back in the Good Ol' U.S. of A., I'm back in Australia. Most of you know all this already, but just in case, here's an update. I went back to Florida in July to try to bully my dad in to taking care of himself (and failed miserably) and to visit with my Mom and some friends. I had a brilliant little side trip to Boston to see my good friend Lil G and had a wonderful time. I also took mini-trips to South Florida and Orlando to visit with other friends. But the most of my visit was just spent with family, acting silly with my Mom and just hanging out. Windsor came for a visit as well, which was good fun. It was his first time to "meet the parents" but it ended up being not-so-stressful, or at least I think so.

After a brief visit with Windsor to see some friends and family and a festival in California, we headed back to Melbourne just over a week ago. We had to fly through a massive dust storm in Sydney - which was a bit like flying through orange-colored milk. It was crazy! And a bit scary. Everyone applauded when we finally landed - thank goodness we had an experienced pilot.

So now we are back in Melbourne. Windsor is already back at work. And I am doing some editing and Martha Stewart-ing. I'd forgotten how FREEZING this house is. I think it was built in the 1920s or so, and has no insulation. So I am just (not-so-patiently) waiting for Spring to appear. The plan is to do a TEFL course and apply for English teaching jobs in South Korea. I'll keep you posted. If anyone's ever done that, I'd love some feedback.

Hugs

Lucy, I'm hoooooooooooooooooooome (for now).

2009-07-15T12:11:00.002+10:00

I left Australia on Thursday for the epic trip back to the other side of the world. I did a quick fly-by trip to New Zealand to visit my friends Margot and Dave. I was surprised to find out that New Zealand was actually a bit warmer than Melbourne!!! I still froze my arse off because they had no heat in their house though. It was a quick trip, but I managed to squeeze in some favourite things that Windsor and I had discovered while we were there, like ginger cake and honey.

My trip to LA went through Fiji, and the flight to Fiji was fine but on the connection, the 10-hour one to LA, I sat next to this old old woman with a cane, who started doing that sick old-person's loogie hacking thing where it sounds like they are about to spew. She did that for hours and hours. Later I come to find out that she actually has the flu, has a fever, runny nose, and feels like she is going to spew, so I spent the rest of the flight breathing in to my jumper and holding my ears when she started the coughing thing (because I can't stand spew sound either). Why they ever allowed her to travel in the first place is beyond me. So it was fun, and needless to say I nearly ran off the plane when it was all over! And then I proceeded to overdose on vitamin C and zinc, so my body could fight off whatever cooties she spread throughout the plane.

California was beautiful and warm and dry, my friend Brian picked me up and we rode beach cruiser bikes down by the beach, which was wonderful. It was beautiful and sunny and warm with a nice breeze, and it was so nice to not be cold!!! I also hung out with Brian's family for a zany dinner. Garlic sabotage made me feel a bit sick on my flight to Florida Sunday night, and I couldn't sleep either.But finally last night I slept 15 hours and am feeling just fine today! Florida is freakin' hot and it is like soup outside. My hair is all frizzy. It's funny.

I'll be here for probably two months and am going to try to find some temporary work and also deal with my parents' health issues. That's all for now.

June Update

2009-06-10T16:12:00.002+10:00

Hi. Remember me? Has it really been nearly two months since I wrote anything? Sorry for the delay, but I guess I'm just "living" instead of "traveling" so haven't had all that much to report. We are still living in "the frat house," the boys are still as messy as always, but I am coping, because it is cheap, and I can't work here. So.

I did make a mini-visit back to Alpacaland where, goodness me, they've all been sold. I was very sad. I guess they got an un-refusable offer for the whole lot, so bye bye alpacas. But they did keep three, one of which was my favourite little baby from last year, so at least I got a little bit of quality time with the alpacas. And of course some quality time with my friends there too!

Next stop: Florida. I am heading back in July, via brief visits in Auckland and LA to see friends. I am not sure how long I will be in Florida, perhaps two months? It all depends on too many factors, the most important of which are my parents. I have to see how they are doing, if they are healthy enough and sane enough for me to leave them again :-) We'll see.

So post Florida, it looks like I either:
1) Come back to Melbourne for another few months while Windsor works and does his family thing. If we move out of the frathouse I might actually have enough inspiration to finish my book!
2) Go off to fill-in-the-blank country to teach English. That way we can BOTH work and feel useful. But we are not sure where we would go, if we would like it, and if we would be any good at it. We are open to suggestions!
3) Get a 1-year working holiday visa for NZ. Again, mainly so we can both work, but we have nothing/no one there really.
4) Stay in Florida a bit longer to look after the parentals. But that would mean either Windsor can't work or we are apart. Mom says "No hon, we are fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." But I need to see for myself.

So that's it. I am slowly working through editing my book. Sloooooooooooowly (the aforementioned frathouse is not the ideal place for creative inspiration). I've been going Cuban Salsa dancing every other week or so, which has been wonderful and fun, and I've met some fun people too. And I'm just hanging out with my girlfriends and with Windsor, doing lots of baking to keep the house warm (and maybe fatten ourselves up for winter because it is COLD in Melbourne).

Oh, and if anyone knows of some short-term temp work in Florida, LET ME KNOW!
Hope all is well for whoever is still reading this :-)

The Best Pre-flight Announcement Ever

2009-04-18T13:03:00.001+10:00

Why can't all pre-flight announcements be this entertaining?
This guy is fabulous.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=16920289001

Living with Boys

2009-03-31T21:25:00.003+11:00

I've never lived with boys before, well, other than my dad, and my brothers who moved out of home when I will still a wee little thing. But in my adult life, I have never lived with boys. I've lived with girls, I've lived with my parents and I've lived alone. I have stayed in the same room with boys at numerous hostels around the world, but I have never lived with them.

I came back to Australia to live with my boyfriend (which, in itself, is a whole-nother-huge thing, but it is all going quite fine thank you for asking) and wound up getting two extra boy housemates as a bonus. It's like three for the price of one!

Luckily for me, my boyfriend has been house-broken and potty trained. He does all the things normal people are supposed to do, like clean up after themselves, share work around the house, etc. He's actually even better than that, he cooks too. I lucked out with this one! He's a keeper!

But the others ... well ... they haven't entirely been house-trained.

Let's see if I can give you a few examples.

1: The Shower. I frequently walk in to the bathroom and find myself stepping in puddles. I look down and see that both the bath mats are soaked and there are water puddles all over the floor. It is as if one of them takes a shower and grabs handfuls of water and, with a flourish, says to the world, "here I am," and flings the water all over the bathroom. If we had a detachable shower head, I would assume one of them had a water fight with his shadow. But we don't. So I guess the only logical explanation is that they shower, step on the bathmat with soaking feet, shake themselves off, and then walk to the other side of the bathroom to pick up a towel to finish the drying process. I, on the other hand, hang my towel over the shower rail so that I can get dry without soaking the floor. Logical? Common sense? No? Que?

2. The Smoking. They don't smoke in the house. If they did, I wouldn't live here. But I can't tell you how many times we've asked them to shut the door when they are smoking on the patio so that the smoke doesn't drift inside to the kitchen and then right in to our bedroom. We might have to resort to stuffing hairs in their cigarettes. I wonder how that would go over?

3. Dishes. We've all had roommates that didn't do dishes, but this is a bit ridiculous. I think one day the boyfriend said to one of the guys, "Um, your dishes have been waiting in the sink for you since Friday."

So combine this with drum lessons; shoes left in perfect "trip over me" positions; loogey-hocking sounds emanating from the bathroom; empty milk cartons, empty potato chip packets and glasses lying around; it is sort of like living in a frat house. So this is what living with boys is like. But really, it's not all that bad, I mean, look at the bright sides ...

um ...

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight ...

uh ...

The drumming keeps would-be burglars away.

And ... um ... it's cheaper.

It's kind of like being at University again.

As my dad would say, "Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you."

Working from home?

2009-02-23T17:21:00.002+11:00

Does anyone know about LEGITIMATE work-from-home jobs? Do they actually exist? I've been searching and searching for US-based work-from-home jobs (proofreading, data entry, whatever) and everything on the internet appears to be a scam or requires some start-up fee that will eventually turn in to a scam. Even links from careerbuilder turned out to be "just pay this small fee to sign up" type stuff ... and I'm just not falling for that. But something US-based that I can do remotely is all I can legally do at the moment, so ... calling all home-based workers ... where did you find your job?

Australia, revisited.

2009-02-10T08:02:00.008+11:00

Three months in NZ was coming to a close so it was time to decide where to go next. Back to Australia with Windsor? Back to Florida alone with a failing economy and questionable job opportunities? Somewhere random to teach English? Apply to extend my tourist visa and stay in NZ a bit longer?

I applied for another tourist visa for Australia, because the idea of a 16-time-zone long-distance relationship didn't appeal to us. But given my past immigration interrogation fun, would they grant me another visa? I was on a time crunch, because I had to leave NZ in less than 4 weeks. How long would it take to approve/deny the visa?

It was a bit of a mission to get the crazy thing. I submitted my very lengthy application on line, since that was the quickest way to get it processed, only to have the internet connection I was using die, causing me to lose almost the whole thing. Bad omen? But I pressed on and finished the application.

A few days later I got an email, to my email address, yet addressed to some random person named Silviu something-or-other with a case file number that definitely was not mine. I emailed back saying that person wasn't me, but did they have questions for me, only to realize that they don't actually check the email address these things are sent from (either that or they were embarrassed about using an old form letter and not changing all the relevant bits).

As I re-checked the body of the email sent to Silviu, I realized the questions were actually addressed to my situation, so I then had to answer all their questions. They wanted a detailed description of the activities I planned to undertake, a detailed itinerary of my travel plans, what my intentions were, how I would support myself, and could I back up my assertions that I would return to the US later this year?

Phew! Where to begin? It was a bit hard to do since I haven't booked anything travel-wise, thinking they would reject me, and my activities basically involve hanging out. I have an open-return ticket but of course am not going to set a date until I know the visa outcome. But I persevered and wrote them a novel, explaining my reasons for going back, who I planned to visit (with phone numbers for character references), what I planned to do despite not yet booking anything, and attaching flight itineraries, emails stating the date change policy on said itinerary, bank statements, etc.

It was a fair bit of work for a simple tourist visa, but the work paid off as a few days later, I received an email: VISA APPROVED! Ohmygoodness. I had to sit down. I was surprised to receive a response so quickly, and surprised to be granted a year long tourist visa! I was expecting at best three months. But I got a year! So needless to say I was happy (and scared, I've never lived with a boy before, that is a very grown up thing to do!!!!! But most of all happy!!!)

So after the visa approval it was a mad dash back up to Auckland to try to sell the car, which had acquired a cracked windscreen right after we got our safety inspection done! There was lots of running around, cleaning, organizing, test drives, negotiations, and stress. We ended up selling Subi on to two nice Finnish backpackers, who will hopefully love him as much as we did. It all happened so fast, and we were sad to see him go. Then it was back to our friends' house for some crazy last minute packing (how did we wind up with so much stuff???!!!) and then a quick flight purchase and off we went to Melbourne two days later.

So I am here now, in Melbourne, doing a bit of couch surfing, until we find a place to live. It is strange being back, since I wasn't planning to come back for a while. But it's also business as usual, not too much has changed in the four months I was away. I am excited and nervous about moving in with a boy, but tons of people do it, and I can too! Haha. I will have lots of time to finish my book, so hopefully when I go pick it up again for editing I won't think the first draft is horrible! I just have to do it!

So that is about it from me for now. Wish me a good place to live and some book-writing ispiration.

New Zealand Wanderings, Part 2

2009-01-20T20:53:00.002+11:00

Where oh where to begin ... I've had so little intnernet access, so I am way behind on the "where in the world is Mandy" catch-ups.

New Zealand has been wonderful to travel around, and perhaps one of the most tourist-friendly places I have ever been to. They have (I think) government-run tourist offices called "i-site"s in nearly every tourist center, and generally the people are super genuine and friendly. It would be an easy peasy job for me ... they don't work on commission so just genuinely want to help people! But I am not job-eligible, so that is a moot point. I'm just glad they've been here to provide any and everything tourists need to know.

We've been sleeping in Subi. I think we've spent about 30+ days in the car, and about 15 days in hotels since we left Auckland. We worked out that we're spending less money doing this (and our hotels have been nice ones, not ghetto budget ones) than we would have if we'd just stayed in backpackers the whole time. And after sleeping in the car, we appreciate the creature comforts of the hotels that much more.

We had an uneventful Christmas, just took the ferry to the South Island. Shortly after, we volunteered at a music festival for a week over New Year's. It was a lot of ridiculous work, as we got there about 3 days before the rest of the volunteers. We worked our arses off, building a fence out of tree branches, hauling felled trees from the forest, going on a mission to collect flowers and plants for decorations, creating said decorations, it was madness. We worked a lot. But after we had our fill, and the other volunteers finally showed up, we took off to have some fun. It rained on New Years Eve, but we did have a few rain-free hours, and I got to dance outside under the stars. We also had a good time exploring the area around the festival. It was atop a place called Takaka Hill at Canaan Downs, and was full of sheep pastures, hills, dry river beds, more hills, more grass, the occasional river with a waterfall, just heaps of beautiful scenery, so it was easy to escape the chaos of the festival.

After we left the festival we passed through some highly over-rated areas and some nice surprises too. We've found fantastic places to camp, surrounded by pine trees with the sound of the ocean to wake us up. We got attacked by sand flies near the top of the South Island, so have decided to stay firmly away from the West Coast, where they like to hang out the most. We're in Christchurch now and are pleasantly surprised by this quaint city.

But suddenly, the fact that my visa is up in 4 weeks has crept up on us, so now we need to think about what to do next. We need to sell Subi soon, but are having a few minor issues with him so have to figure out how best to sort that out. We're working on it. And my visa issues are beginning to be a pain in my bottom, but again, we're working on it.

I hope to update again soon. In the mean time, I hope everyone had safe and happy holidays and are so far enjoying 2009. (2009!? Already?! How did that happen?)

Oh by the way, photos are here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205645&l=ade86&id=791230081

and here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=207415&l=1f939&id=791230081

new zealand wanderings - photos ...

2008-12-15T19:38:00.001+11:00

can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190129&l=aeafb&id=791230081

New Zealand Wanderings, Part 1

2008-12-09T17:12:00.002+11:00

It is time for a very overdue New Zealand update. About three weeks ago Dad's continually improving health gave me the all clear to head back off on my trip, so about three weeks ago Windsor and I met in LA and headed off to NZ. We spent about a week in Auckland just hanging out and getting over jetlag and catching up on all the goings on in the 100 days since we'd last seen each other!

We bought a car, a shiny '91 Subaru Legacy Wagon, who we have affectionately named Subarubi, or Subes for short. He is white, and has a Hello Kitty dressed as a koala as his mascot, hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a Samurai In Car sticker in the back window to protect us. We've acquired lots of padding and bedding, and have turned the back in to our sleeping quarters. We've got curtains and everything. It's taken a bit of getting used to, being a bit firmer than a normal mattress, and being a bit cramped with two in the back, when I am used to a double bed by myself. But after a week or so of sleeping in the car, I am getting rather used to it.

After Auckland, we hit the road in Subarubi and went to the Coromandel Peninsula and visited the famous Hot Water Beach, where there is a hot spring directly under the sand in one section that makes it, you guessed it, HOT. When we got there, thankfully about 50 people had already done the digging so we could be lazy and just sit in and enjoy the VERY HOT water. It was crazy. But we've since left the crowds behind and have been finding more peaceful but equally amazing spots to hang out. We found a few great spots right by the water to sleep, and have been cooking and picnicing for most of our meals, with occasional treats when we feel like splurging or are just too plain lazy to cook!

After the Coromandel, we started on what we are affectionately calling our Thermal Tour Of New Zealand. New Zealand is full of active volcanoes and consequently, lots of boiling mud, hot springs and the like. We found a little gem of a town, Te Aroha, and happened upon a spa with a hot soda springs bath, complete with a wooden tub that looked like something out of a movie. It was 45 of the most relaxing minutes of my life, the water was smooth and silky and an amazing place to relax for a while.

After Te Aroha we went to Rotorua, or RotoVegas, which was way too busy and touristy, but where we saw boiling mud and steam vents right at ground level. We went to Hell's Gate and had a thermal mud soak, followed by a sulphur hot pool soak. It was amazingly relaxing, but we smelled of sulphur for about three days afterwards. We met some super nice locals who, upon hearing we were sleeping in our car, offered us the tent in their back yard with a real mattress. Very nice of them!

After checking out a few more sights, we left smelly Rotorua, saw Lake Taupo, which is the same size as Singapore, and Napier, a town that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in true Art Deco style that rivals Miami Beach.

We are now trying to get to Tongariro National Park, but it's a bit rainy so we are going to see what happens.

All in all, things have been fantastic!

Thank goodness for health insurance (don't come to the US without it!)

2008-11-14T01:26:00.004+11:00

So as you may know, if you are a faithful blog reader, I came home to Florida when my dad was in hospital. He went in twice, first with a heart attack, and a few weeks later with congestive heart failure. He's doing well now, by the way. He still has to take lots of medicine and go to cardiac rehab, etc, but hopefully he's on the way to getting better.

So we recently got the hospital bill for the first stay. Just the first. Now, this lovely little bill includes just the hospital stuff, not the doctors. Would anyone like to take a guess at the amount? He was there for about 5 days, and had a stent and pacemaker put in, in addition to all the bells and whistles of medicine, blood tests, etc.

Any guesses? $10K? Nope. $65K? Nope. $85K? Nope.
The total amount was $144,851.30.
Yes, that is ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
I have mentioned that this does not include doctors' fees, right?
Let's see if I can provide you with a little bit of a breakdown:
Pacemaker - $22,000
Emergency Room - $2901
Cardiac Cath Lab - $34,308.50
EKG/ECGs - $4772.50
Room Charges $12,900 (I hope it came with champagne and strawberries!)
Drugs - $1626.25
Sterile Supply $8,877.50 (you didn't know that gauze has gone up to $2000 per box did you?)
There's plenty more, but that just gives you a little idea. And remember this does not include doctors' fees, etc. And this is only for the first visit. We still have yet to receive a bill for the second hospital stay.

So all I have to say is thank goodness for health insurance. Honestly, what would my parents do if they didn't have insurance? I guess the same thing that millions of Americans do, sell everything and/or declare bankruptcy. So long story short, don't live in or visit the US without health insurance. And can we please try to pass some bills and elect some lawmakers that lead us to something resembling universal health care!

And as a side-note, can I please mention again that I heart travel insurance. In FIVE business days, my travel insurance company has reimbursed me for my flight to get home while my dad was in the hospital.

Love List - Australia Edition

2008-10-25T15:34:00.002+11:00

(I started writing this before I knew I would be departing Australia "with a quickness," so this is a belated post.)

Even though I bagged it a few weeks ago when I said I don't have the burning desire to live here any longer, Australia is still one of my favourite places to visit and worthy of a love list. So as I say bye bye to Oz (for now) here is my Love List - Australia Edition:

*The cutest native animals live here - koalas, kangaroos, wombats and more. Really, are any animals cuter? I don't think so.
*Melbourne's $2 sushi rolls everywhere in the city - the perfect anytime snack.
*Tim Tams, Mint Slices, Double Coat Tim Tams and more Tim Tams.
*Thousands of miles of beautiful coastline with white fine powdery sand and beautiful blue/green water.
*The sky. I can't really explain it, but the sky is just BIGGER here, especially in the country.
*The best kitchy/catchy sayings of any English-speaking people I have ever met.
*My friends. They are what makes it a wonderful place, and it is they I will miss the most until something calls me back here

Bye Bye Australia, see you when I see you!

Trip...Interrupted

2008-10-22T12:49:00.004+11:00

Thank goodness for travel insurance, that's all I have to say.

I still have to tell you about my trip up to Queensland and the crazy meditation experience, but first, temporarily, I am trip ... interrupted. Dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago, and then he was supposed to be fine. And then he had problems so they put in a pacemaker, but then he was supposed to be fine. And then fluid filled in his lungs and he had congestive heart failure. Dad was telling Mum not to tell me so I wouldn't worry (um ... REALLY?!?!?) So long story short, I don't want to get the "he's not fine" phone call, so I booked a flight, was on a plane the next day, and 30 hours later, I am back in Florida. He's doing alright but he's a stubborn guy, so I will be the get well Nazi and make him do all the things the doctors say to do but that he doesn't want to listen to. Wish me luck!

My plan is to be here for the next four weeks or so to make sure he is going to be alright. And if so, I will still continue on with my travel plan, which is to head to New Zealand with Windsor in the end of November.

Thankfully, my friend travel insurance (if ever there was reinforcement that travel insurance is NECESSARY, this is it!) told me to just buy a one-way back and submit that along with hospital records for reimbursement. They won't help me get back to NZ to finish my trip, but they will reimburse the cost of my last-minute one-way trip home (which thankfully, was not too crazily expensive, we heart STA in Australia).

Hopefully, more good news to follow soon.
(And thank you already for everyone who has sent well-wishes via facebook!)

PS I forgot to mention, Australian Immigration wanted to "have a chat" with me before I left the country. Lovely. They asked if I was coming back and just wanted to remind me that an electronic visa is not meant to be used for back-to-back three-month stays, because it looks suspicious that I might be working illegally. Well I wasn't! Wah! When I asked if I could apply for a new e-visa to come back for two weddings late next year she said, sure I can apply. Didn't say it would be granted, but I could at least apply ... hm ...

Mandy's Love List - October Edition

2008-10-13T23:30:00.002+11:00

(idea stolen from ali. i would love it if anyone would leave your own in the comments section!)

*slowly waking up from a deep sleepy nap, especially with sun streaming in the room (and then going back to sleep for another 10 minutes!)
*the feel of soft springy grass or cool, dry sand under my bare feet
*a perfect, sunny, jeans and t-shirt weather day
*the smell of jasmine flowers in spring time
*waking up the day after a good workout with sore muscles. it hurts, but you know you've done work!
*being in a foreign country, losing myself in a sea of voices in a language i can't understand
*sitting on a bus in (insert country name here) just watching the world go by
*making stupid, silly faces at my mom, laughing, turning away, then turning back with even sillier faces to see who cracks up first

Adventures in Hostels ...

2008-09-22T17:39:00.006+10:00

I've been traveling again for about a week, and it's time for Mandy's edition of .... Adventures in Hostels.

My first one was above a pokies bar/casino type thing. When I walked in to reception, they said "oh just head in to the gaming area, somoene should be there to check you in ... " Okay ... So I walk in to this casino with my backpack ... imagine walking aroud Vegas like that?! So on one side of the bar you have the casino or "pokies" area, where it's all slot machines, people sitting there drinking at 10am and trying their luck with the one-armed bandit. Cross over to the other side, and it's a gaming bar with betting on greyhound racing and other random things. Not the most logical place to have a backpackers, but there you go. The Backpackers occupied the floor above these bars, and so throughout the night you could hear people sreaming "go go go go go go gooooooooooooo you rippahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. woooooooooooooooooooooooooo" I guess that guy won. They weren't the best nights of sleep, but I survived.

Next I moved on to a place that made question what the Y in YHA stands for. In case you don't know, YHA stands for Youth Hostelling Association. It's a chain of hostels all over the world. You can often find them in small obscure places where other independent hostels don't exist. Such was the case with my next town. But what I've noticed is that these YOUTH hostels tend to attract a ... how shall I say ... more mature crowd. I was the youngest person there by nearly 20 years. And I generally feel old going going in to hostels. In this particular one, there was a 60+ lady who had been there for a month, figuring out her life, etc; a late 40s man also there a month, after a life-change move from Melbourne, staying there whilst waiting to buy a house; a couple in their 70s on a driving holiday; and another guy who was in his 40s-60s (hard to tell with some people) who was just there hanging out. He started to try to impress me with stories then told me how he once "took up with" a German girl and traveled with her for a bit. I thought, "uh-oh, he's trolling for another girlfriend" so I immediately talked about my boyfriend! I made a quick getaway and made sure my door was locked! But long story short, what is it about the YHAs that attract the older crowd? Don't get me wrong, I love me some more mature people, and to be honest prefer them to drunk 19-year-olds, but this was insane! I think everyone had their lights out by 9pm!

And speaking of creepy guys, I wonder if boy travelers have the same problem that us girl travelers have. I guess the idealist in me thinks that usually when people talk to you they are being nice and don't necessarily have ulterior motives. However. The other day I was talking to a guy, friendly enough, as most locals around here are with travelers. But as soon as the conversation turned to "so are you married? have a boyfriend?" with my reply of "married, no; boyfriend, yes" he immediately reponded with "okay well have a good night." WHAT! I guess he wasn't "just being nice." I mean, I am always on guard anyway, but really, can people not just be FRIENDS! So boys, do you have this same problem?

But I digress. We were talking hostels. I moved on to the next town where I was blessed with a roommate who snored like a train. I am not lying. She snored louder than any man I have ever heard. It was so bad that the other girl in the room moved out in to the lounge room and slept on the sofa cushions. I wanted to follow. I had ear-plugs, but really that did nothing. It was one of the only times in my life that I thought suffocation might be a good idea (kidding). I have never had such murderous impulses as I've had the last two nights when all I want to do is sleep and all I can hear in the chainsaw breathing of my neighbour. Thankfully, she left today, so hopefully a good sleep is on the cards.

Aside from my interesting hostel adventures, I am actually having a really good time. It's been nice to get out of cold-winter-still-hanging-on Melbourne and head north. I am in Byron Bay now, where it is just chill, relaxing, and with good vibes. I stumbled upon Peace Day outdoor markets the other day, complete with the world's worst reggae band, followed by a better one, and drum circles and chai tents and lots of cool earthy chill stuff. Later I found a bar with another reggae band, so was the epitome of the happy mandy traveller!

Tomorrow I head off to Rainbow Beach, a 9-hour bus ride north, to get warmer still. It will be nice to get some beach time and reading time and relaxing time to quiet my mind before I head off to 10 days of noble silence on a meditation retreat ... ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Melbourne Update

2008-07-15T15:49:00.005+10:00

Just a little update ...

I left Alpacaland last month and came back to Melbourne. We never did figure out what happened with the missing alpaca. I guess it will forever remain a mystery. It was nice being on the farm, but I was happy to get back home to Melbourne and see my peoples!

Melbourne is getting cold. No, it is cold. I would say it generally hovers between 5-15C (41-60F). Sometimes there's a freak warm day, and others I sniffle and wish I'd remembered to bring my hat when I went out. I've borrowed a variety of long underwear, sweaters, hats, etc from various people, so am managing to stay warm most of the time. And I realize it's not Siberia cold, but hey, I am from Florida, give me a break.

I've noticed that Melbourne is being taken over by Emo kids and people who don't know how to wear skinny jeans properly. Is this a phenomenon everywhere? I have a feeling it is, but I am not sure.

The emo kids and their dark clothing, black make-up, piercings, etc, are everywhere. It's like revenge of The Cure all over again. Heads down, pouty faces, get over it man, be happy! And since all trends seem to be repeating themselves, I predict the next fad will be a reworking of Nirvana grunge.

But in the mean time, it's the skinny jeans phenomenon that perplexes me. I thought the whole silly skinny jeans with ballet flats was just a Melbourne thing, but much to my chagrin I've discovered it's global. The thing I don't get is when some people, especially males, wear skinny jeans, they let them droop a foot down their ass. If you are going to wear baggy, wear baggy. But if you are going to wear skinny jeans, for goodness sake, they are meant to show off your ass, not to droop off your ass. They look like they've done a big poo! People! Goodness!

Other than that, Melbourne is wonderful. We went to see Wicked a few weeks ago, and it was, really, one of the best shows I have seen in years. The music, singing, acting, sets, storyline, everything, was just fantastic. I highly recommend it. I hear the Broadway and London waiting lists are quite long, but it's worth it!

I am about 80% finished with my book. There are more than 70,000 words or 150 pages, so that is really exciting. I never thought I would get such a good chunk of time to get it all done. So I am very happy. Next I have to find an agent or a publisher, so if anyone has any brilliant suggestions (or contacts) I am all ears!

Next month I will go to New Zealand with some friends, and then will be able to come back for one more lot of three months, during which time I will finish up the book and see what on earth to do next ...

I hope everyone, wherever you are, are well. I'd love to hear what you all are up to...

Gimme Samoa ‘Dat

2008-05-16T11:01:00.003+10:00

My three months of playtime in Australia was up, so I had to leave the country to renew my visa. My friend Rachel and I decided to go to Samoa, because, well, why not. I’d never really thought about going there before, but it was an island, it was warm(er than Melbourne), the price was mostly right, so here we go. We stayed on the main island of Upolo and it was a beautiful South Pacific island, just like I expected it to be. You know, lush green trees everywhere, lush greenery-covered mountains running through the center of the island, black volcanic rocks and white sand, beautiful crystal blue water everywhere, and magical sunsets.

Every evening I walked out to the dock or grassy pier to watch the sky put on its magical changing-colors sky show. First the clouds were white and fluffy, then they turned pink, then purple, then finally grey as the sun disappeared behind Savaii, the other island. The sky was a giant blue canvas, with big rainbow streaks of orange, yellow, pink and purple paint. Photos could not do it justice. I sat out there quietly alone, headphones on to provide background music for the show, the volume low enough so I could still hear the lapping waves: THAT was serenity - my favorite part of day.

The first place we stayed was on the south side of the island, and our accommodation was an open air fale, which is basically like a gazebo with a mattress and mosquito net, a kerosene lamp for light, and “walls” made of straw that we could pull up or down like curtains. And when we woke up in the morning, the crystal blue sea literally 20 feet from our door. The fale was really nice and comfortable when the mid-afternoon breeze blew through, but really hot when there was no breeze. We enjoyed the beach at this place, but we were pretty trapped. There was NOTHING near by, no stores (the nearest village was a long walk away), and only one restaurant that, despite the simplicity of this “resort,” was drastically overpriced and lacking in vegetarian fare. Add to that the open air cold showers, the mosquitoes, the lack of space to lock up our stuff, and the lack of ways to escape the heat, we had to go.

After a disasterous second place … okay, correction .... the place was nice, well manicured and beautiful, but the proprietor was a psycho hose beast who fought with us and made us feel both uncomfortable and unwelcome because we only wanted to stay three nights instead of seven . We actually got in to a full-on voices-raised argument about the whole thing. Twice. It was a disaster.

But finally, we ended up at a proper resort, which was our sanctuary. Free 15-minute massage, gym, sauna, big beaches, lounge chairs, friendly staff, free kayaks, pools, air conditioning, 8 different DVD movies in rotation every day in the rooms, several (still overpriced) dining options: it was heaven. Of course the breakfast staff was all friendly and dare I say flirty, bringing us extra juice and tea, coming by every five minutes to see if we needed anything, calling us by our names (well, Rachel was Rachel, but I was Jennifer or Jenny, to the one guy who thought I looked like Jennifer Love Hewitt, don’t ask me why). He always said “Hi Rachel, Hi Jennifer” and walked away giggling. They were never smarmy or over-the-top flirty, just friendly. And the rest of the staff tried to make us feel welcome as well. They were great.

We got a dose of more friendly Samoans on our bus ride in to the main town, Apia. The town itself was not so interesting, but the bus ride, that was a story. We took the public bus because it was both cheaper and more interesting than a taxi. In a car it probably would have taken about a half hour, but in the bus was nearly an hour and a half. When we got on, we were clearly the only tourists, and it was standing room only. The lady in the front seat offered her knee for me to sit on. But I said “no, that’s okay, thanks anyway” and carried on standing, amongst the weed whackers (or whipper snippers, as the Australians call them) and food bins that people left at the front of the bus (because it was certainly easier than carrying them to the back). I spoke to a man also at the front of the bus who turned out to be the resident drug dealer. He asked how we liked where we were staying, mentioned the owners’ names, and when I asked how he knew them, he said, whilst making an unmistakable joint-not-cigarette smoking gesture “I smoke with the bartender.” He went on to tell me how he grew his own, but I didn’t want to get too involved, so I stopped asking questions and went back to looking out the window.

I thought the sweet lady’s lap offering on the way over was just a kind gesture, but it turned out to be the norm. On our way back, I noticed that is just how it goes. When there are no seats left, people just start sitting on each other’s laps. The bigger-than-me girl who got on the crowded bus climbed on to the lap of the bigger-than-her lady-boy who was sitting behind me. I don’t think they knew each other, but hey, there you go. Get closer. As the bus got to standing room only, the man I was sitting next to and chatting with said, “Do you want to sit on my lap?” (to make more room) but I politely declined. I know he wasn’t being sleazy, but still, I just couldn’t go there. Straight male twenty-somethings sat on each other’s laps, arm around the other to hold each other up.( I tried to picture any of my straight American friends doing that and thinking nope, they’d rather run away than sit that close to another dude.) And people just kept on piling in. The seats were hard, wooden and remarkably uncomfortable. And … they were small. I don’t know if you have realized this, but most Samoans are rather large people. And the wooden seats were not quite big enough to accommodate two large Samoans, let alone three sitting on laps, so there were all sorts of half-sat butt cheeks crowding the aisles. It was fantastic. Everyone was comfortable and friendly and chatty and cool, and remarkably un-smelly despite the heat, and the bus even made a convenience store stop so people could get some snacks (which of course, the aforementioned man sitting next to me offered to share). People were really fantastically friendly.

Perhaps Samoa is so chill and friendly because of the degree of seriousness with which Samoans practice their religion. I had no idea how full-on it was. There were a whole lot of churches, and the bus in to town had Jesus stickers covering the speedometer and odometer. I have never before been asked so many times what church I went to, if I believed in God, nor heard the words “my heavenly father” and “our lord savior” in such a short span of time. It bordered on uncomfortable. I was afraid that every time I said “Um … I don’t go to church” that the world would stop spinning as all eyes turned to me with a collective gasp of “WHAT?” followed by a lecture or a sermon or an attempt to save me. That only happened once or twice, until I had to politely say, “Look, I don’t really discuss religion with people I don’t know very well. Sorry.” That put an end to that conversation. But I am sure as that hotel security guard (yes, everyone wanted to talk about religion) walked away he was either cursing or blessing me, depending on how he felt that day.

But aside from the awkward conversations about religion and the fight with the angry Canadian, we found the Samoans to be awesomely friendly and they did a great job of making us feel welcome. It was a great trip, very relaxing.

And I am happy to be “home” in Melbourne.

They DO have koalas in their front yards…

2008-04-16T10:58:00.002+10:00

Over the years, I’ve met several Australians who were amused by the silly questions they are asked about their country:

“Do you have koalas in your back yards?

“Do kangaroos go hopping down the street?”

“Have you found Nemo?”

“Can we ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie?’”

And of course, generally speaking, the answer is no. Some of these Australians get great amusement (or immense frustration) out of the ignorance of people who ask such silly questions. But I’ve gotta tell ya, I’ve seen it. I have seen koalas in the front yard!

Over the weekend, while I was back in Alpacaland, I took an afternoon trip to Raymond Island. This place is known for its abundance of koalas. And they were everywhere. The little fur balls were all over the place. Literally, they lived in people’s front and back yards, wherever there were ample eucalyptus trees to eat. And they were so damn cute! And, after driving for a few minutes, we happened upon a mob of kangaroos as well; there must have been at least thirty of them. It was fabulous. Imprompteau wildlife spotting more or less in the middle of suburbia.

Ahhhhhhhhh Straya Update

2008-03-27T17:27:00.003+11:00

Time for a wee update - it's been a while. I have been in a relatively internet-less abyss. But, Australia has been fabulous. I've so far spent the majority of my time in Melbourne, my favourite city on the planet (if you couldn't tell by my previous post). I went to the Australian Formula One Grand Prix the other weekend - my friend Deano had an extra seat in a corporate box, so it was super nice to be fed and watered whilst watching the action. It was LOUD, and fun. I also went to the first footie game of the season (Aussie Rules Football) and my team (Go Tigers!) won, so that was great. Then on to the Rip Curl pro-surfing competition at Bells Beach (although we just saw the grommets going for it, the pros were off that day) and all in all it's been a very sporty few weeks.

I've also managed to pack in about a dozen park picnics, some dancing, lots of quality time with friends, including some from the US, and lots of time just hanging out and wandering through the city, taking long walks, eating yummy vegetarian food, reading and just being. Of course I can't leave out the alpaca farm adventure, but that's a-whole-nother story for a separate post (coming soon). And of course I have been amusing my Australian friends with my rendition of their accent, saying things like "bur-gah" and "what-iv-ah" and "wa-tah" whilst they try to immitate mine "waturrrrrr" "burrrrrgurrrrrr."

So in other news, I've decided to pack in the job search. Okay I will still look occasionally, but it just might have to wait until I come with a work visa already in hand (I am, sniffle sniffle, too old for the working holiday visa, so have been trying to find a sponsor, to no avail. I keep getting "your qualifications are great but we don't sponsor" as my standard answer). In the meantime, as I have been wanting and needing to do for some time now, I am going to spend the rest of my time (besides playing, of course) writing the book. It is time. It is in my head, and I need to do it. Encouragement is welcome, because it seems like a daunting dask (not the writing it part, the getting it published part). So there you go, that's my update, with an alpaca story coming soon.

PS Long overdue photos from Asia are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92640&l=05073&id=791230081

And Australia photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102753&l=0e14f&id=791230081

Why Melbourne Rocks

2008-03-19T15:18:00.000+11:00

Could there be a more tourist friendly city? Let me tell you why I love Melbourne.

First: the free stuff. There’s the City Circle tram, which goes in a big loop all around the city, and guess what, it’s free. Then there’s the tourist shuttle bus, which goes from Richmond to the Arts Centre and throughout the city, and guess what, that is also free. And if that was not enough, there are tourist helpers on Swanston Street with red caps and shirts and maps in case you get lost. Oh and don’t forget the tourist information substation on Bourke Street. It’s as if the city were designed to make life easier as a tourist.

Then there’s Fed Square with its outdoorsy space and lots of free summer festivals and entertainment (Slow Food, Food and Wine, Thai, Moomba Water Parade, etc) and the tourist information center, which has, wait for it, FREE information on everything going on in town – you couldn’t be bored living here.

Let’s add to that the fact that the CBD is a grid, with easy-to-remember order of streets (King, William, Queen, Elizabeth) – could it get any easier? There’s the half price tickets booth on Swanston Street for same-day bargain theatre. Vegetarian food is everywhere. Good food is everywhere, of every variety. Some of the foods I thought I’d miss when I left Southeast Asia are right around the corner. Then there’s Ackland Street for cake shops, Lygon Street for all things Italian, need I go on? Suzuki Night Market, and Victoria market with a plethora of food and produce and cheap souvenirs and clothes, and any and everything you could imagine.

Oh, and I can’t forget about my favourite bridge, connecting Richmond to the CBD. It has these speakers that play spoken stories or songs from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries. These stories or songs all overlap each other, and make for a nice, distracting, arty walk in to the city. Oh and of course there’s city art and sculpture everywhere in the city.

There are bike paths everywhere, CLEAN public toilets everywhere, water fountains everywhere, it just keeps getting better. And let’s not forget the Royal Botanical Gardens, the perfect picnic spot, or just a place to chill out on a nice summer day. Oh how I love those gardens.

I mean okay Melbourne is not perfect, it’s getting expensive, the real estate is crazier expensive, there are some drunken brawlers in the CBD at night which is getting the police all worked up (justifiably so), and strangely, people don’t really smile or say hello when they pass you on the foot paths, and yes, I have been run over by city people trying to pass me on the street.

But for the most part, damn I love this place. If anyone can find a rival to this fabulous city, I’d like to hear it…

Meeting People

2008-03-05T12:15:00.005+11:00

I meet people in the most random places or circumstances. Some of my best friendships were forged from random meetings, and I just think, wow, how lucky to be there in that exact place and time.

When I was a travel agent, I became good friends with some of my co-workers, of course, and some of my clients who were trying to go to some crazy place that I've never heard of in middle-of-nowhere Africa (Matt) or just to Dallas to buy a motorcycle (Bradley) or just stayed in Gainesville forever (Christos) so I was bound to help them out with very specific travel requests (George, haha) and become their friends.

Then there are the random meetings around town through bizarre hobbies like roller-skating, where you meet someone five times before they finally remember your name but end up becoming an important fixture in your life for years (Gregg) or you just say the word roller-skating and they say “sign me up” and wind up being your pseudo-family ever since (Claudia).

But the most random stories are those that occur on the road:
Paloma = working at Hard Rock Cafe in London in 1997, becoming flatmates for three months in 1999, and somehow managing to stay in touch and travel together to Spain, Peru and Thailand over a span of 10 years.
Tony, Anthony and Fred = on a Nile cruise with my mom in 1997. They were the only other people under the age of 50 on the cruise: "I must talk to them!!!" We stayed in touch, visited, and even went to Tony's wedding in Australia in 2002.
Tim and Dean = Terry's Top Hat Tour of Berlin whilst travelling in 1999. Tim had a fancy camera so I thought, right, he must be the one I ask to take my photo. Again, friends ever since. Tim came to visit when I lived in New Mexico, Dean is my saviour and lets me stay at his place in Melbourne and even cooks for me. Angel!
Windsor = brushing our teeth in a Bangkok guesthouse bathroom. Don't you often strike up conversations with a mouth full of toothpaste???
Laura by way of Sandra = met Sandra on a night train in Eastern Europe in 1999, stayed in touch via email for a little while, both coincidentally moved to New Mexico at the exact same time in 2000, and met her new flatmate Laura. Don’t know what ever happened to Sandra, but Laura and I kept each other sane in NM and even managed to escape at the same time a year later.
And now I am in Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia, on an alpaca and horse farm belonging to Josie and Rick, who I met when they were just passing through New Mexico in 2000. They needed to change their flight, I was their travel agent, heard the Australian accent and told them how I missed Australia and boom, insta-invitation to visit and stay. So this is my second visit (and soon to be next blog post) to hang out with them and then alpacas and horses, a fantastic family whilst mine is so far away.

Why we choose to stay in touch with some of the bazillions of people we meet, I have no idea. But when I look back over my years of travel and the fabulous people I have met and stayed in touch with, it just makes me smile. So ... faithful readers, what is your strangest meeting with someone you are still in touch with? Inquiring minds (well, my mind anyway) would like to know.

And of course, a big THANK YOU to those of you I have since imposed myself on whist travelling. What would I do without you???!!!???!!! :)

Friendly Indonesians

2008-02-29T14:54:00.003+11:00

23jan (yes I know I am posting this a month later, but I've had such limited access!)

I must say, Indonesians are some of the friendliest people I have encountered on this trip. Everyone wants to say hello, ask where you are from and how long you are traveling, etc. Being by myself, I was definitely a bit of an oddity, people were very surprised to find a single woman traveler in Indonesia. But I guess because of that, people were ever more inquisitive and friendly. While I was walking around Prambanan (huge temple complex) by myself several people called out to me to talk to me and shake my hand, including a couple who talked to me for ages.

Ever the adventurer, I was the only foreigner on the public bus (taxi schmaxi, I want to take the bus!), and except for the ticket conductor trying to charge me 4000 rupiah instead of 3000 for the way back (why not pocket an extra 1000 if you can, I guess), people were generally helpful. There was always someone to speak English if I needed help.

And, they took good care of me. My Florida professor friend Heather’s Indonesian student Pulang put me in touch with a few of his friends in Jogja. Silvia helped me find a homestay and arranged for a car and a friend to take me to Borobudor. And Daniel, well, Daniel was my savior when I was sick. He called and text-messaged me to see if he could accompany me while I was in Jogjakarta. I was still sick so I said I’d see how it goes. But he was pleasantly persistent, and while I said I felt horrible, he still asked If he could come by to at least say hi (he wasn’t a stalker, he was being helpful). He even offered to drive me to Solo instead of having me take the train, since I was still unwell. I mean, this guy I don’t even know offers to drive me an hour and a half away just because he told his friend he would look after me. Where else are people this nice? Okay, Australia maybe. But I digress.

So Daniel and his friend Seto picked me up and took me to do a batik painting (they were determined that I at least have a little bit of fun while I was sick in Jogja). Daniel teaches English, and one of his students paints Batik (the traditional painting of Java), so they let me have a go. It was super fun. We picked out a pattern that was drawn in wax on a white background. This fabric (quite like sarong fabric) was then stretched over a wooden frame, and we did something quite like a paint-by-numbers, only we chose the colors. We used a water-based paint with small brushes or q-tip like brushes that we just blotted in to the various sections of the drawing. The wax kept the colors from bleeding from section to section. After we finished painting the picture, we colored the background all in black. After this, we dried the painting so the colors wouldn’t run. Normally it dries in the sun all day, but we were running out of daylight so used the heat from a propane tank (hey, we had to improvise!) After that, we crumpled up the painting and put it in this liquid that melted off the wax borders. It was pretty cool … then again more drying via propane and voila, I have a beautiful batik painting. It was really fun, despite feeling like arse. To get an idea what I am talking about, look at Islandbatik.com or www.indobatiks.com.

Afterwards, we went to Solo and they dropped me off at my hotel, helped me check in and made sure I was okay. They were so helpful and made sure that even though I was unwell, my trip went as smoothly as possible, and with as much help as possible.

All the Indonesians I met were great ambassadors for their country. There are a lot of travel warnings against going there, and yes you hear rumors of how safe it isn't for females, but really, it was fine. People were great. I am so glad I went!

quick update

2008-02-04T21:11:00.000+11:00

hi everyone
just a quick update to let everyone know i am still alive :) mom and i had a great time on our tour, despite some interesting (read:annoying) passengers :) and are just having a last few days in bangkok before she heads home and i head off to australia. i will write again as soon as i have a decent connection, as i have many stories to tell!
hugs

Is it strange to write about toilets in a blog?

2008-01-06T17:31:00.001+11:00

Back when I was in my guesthouse in Bangkok, they had signs in the toilets that said "please don't stand on the toilet seat." I thought to myself, well isn't that obvious. The only reason I'd stand on a toilet seat is if I were trying to hide from some mass murderer and thought maybe he wouldn't see my feet if I were standing on the seat in the stall (do I watch too much tv?)

But I digress. As I've carried on through more of Thailand, and Malaysia and Singapore, and I've gone in to public toilets in various train stations, etc, and I've seen very distinguishable black footprints on various toilets seats, I now understand why the signs are up there. I guess if you are used to only seeing squat toilets, then all of a sudden there's this big white thing up off the ground, you'd be confused as far as what to do as well. The same way I wasn't quite sure how to manually flush the squatters when I first saw them.

But more about toilets another time.

I am supposed to fly to Bali in a few hours, but there appears to be a monsoon outside - it's just white with rain. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

more photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82584&l=449f1&id=791230081
and i've added some to the ones that were already here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76270&l=f8c11&id=791230081

I Like Singapore

2008-01-05T01:55:00.000+11:00

Imagine my surprise. Everyone told me all there is to do here is shop, and that three days was more than plenty to see everything. And while that last bit is pretty true, this city is actually really liveable. Streets are clean, public transport is efficient, bus maps actually exist and are easy to read, people want to help and talk to you, not in a two-legged shark kind of way, but just to be nice.
Yesterday I found the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, one of the nicest Buddhist Temples I have been in to, including 100s of gold Buddhas lining the walls, a photography exhibition, a museum showcasing the life of Buddha and a roof-top garden with gorgeous flowers and a giant prayer wheel.

Chinatown is clean and has plentiful food options. Little India is somethin'. The river is nice, the Durian (the performing arts center) has lots of stuff to see; there are tons of restaurants, shopping, or just places to duck inside from the heat or rain, etc, etc etc. It's a good place. I am pleasantly surprised.

Just thought I'd share.

The Curse Is Lifted

2008-01-03T23:46:00.000+11:00

It's hard to figure out where to start a blog post when I haven't properly updated for weeks. Oops. Well first, the Mandy and Paloma's Travel Curse is lifted, finally. After her nearly-not-making-it-to-Thailand debauchle and aside from the minor mouse incident, we had a brilliant time. Her delay in the beginning allowed me to explore the finer points of Bangkok vegetarian cuisine (including overdoses of fresh pineapple and fruit shakes) with my new vegetarian friend!!! Then the three of us cried laughing over silly faces and fruit shakes for three days, while exploring new bits of Bangkok together (Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, was very cool, for those who have not yet been and are not templed-out).

Paloma and I then went to Ayuttaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, and cycled around the old ruins (What's a little heatstroke amongst friends? Don't all smart people hire bicycles in 100 degree heat?) including some temple climbing and than a (much cooler) evening night cruise arund the city. Then we had the best pizza in Thailand courtesy of an Italian man who spoke English with a Thai accent.

Then, as you know, it was on to the islands for Christmas. After the islands we flew to Kuala Lumpur, which, I gotta say, was ... disappointing. The Petronas Towers were amazingly beautiful and the Orchid Garden was nice too, but the rest ... what is there to see? Chinatown was a poopoo hole and the smell of durian permeated our noses in the most unsettling way. If you've never heard of nor smelled durian, it's a ... how shall i say ... FRAGRANT fruit. Some people say it smells like shit but tastes like heaven. I agree with the first part. It smells like rotting fruit mixed with a sewer. Not so nice. Lots of hotels/hostels designate themselves as durian-free zones because the stuff is so powerful (mom, remember the rotting noni fruit in my bag, yeah, similar to that).

But I digress.

Other than the aforementioned, there's not a whole lot going on. We went to Batu caves (after asking at least 6 different people and getting 10 different answers as to which public bus to take and where to get it). The caves were okay but not well-maintained. But we saw lots of monkeys - they were cute, but relentless; I saw one take a drink box out of a girls' hand. Crazy! There were 272 steps to the top, and lots of Hindu shrines inside. Afterwards we ate authentic (and strange) Indian food. We were the only ones not using our hands, but I just couldn't work out how to not make a mess, so ... oh well.

The planetarium was nice and cool (as in, freezing, but a nice way to escape the heat). I was chased down the markets by people wanting to sell me everything, and we were constantly stared at because we were white tourists -Which I don't quite get, because there were a fair few tourists, and ex-pats living there as well, so white skin is not such a rarity. I even had to look at one guy in the train station and say "what!?" because he wouldn't go away.

But we did encounter a lot of nice people who went out of our way to help us, like the Indian man who walked us to the hard-to-find bus stop after prolaiming "I like white people. I always try to talk to them because they are nice." And another lady who chased us down to tell us some bus information she had forgotten. Everyone wanted to talk to us. I was glad to have helpful locals. So KL was interesting, but not a place I need to go back to. I would like to see other bits of Malaysia that I missed, but we ran out of time.

And now, after saying bye bye to Paloma and taking a night train, I am in Singapore, where I spent a very religious afternoon (no I am not searching) - I have been inside Buddhist and Hindu temples and a mosque as well. The new Buddhist temple was amazing with hundreds of buddhas inside and great exhibits. And another nice person I met outside (whilst escaping the rain) tole me about the FREE vegetarian food inside the temple. Apparently all the Chinese temples in Singapore offer free vegetarian food - that's a goldmine find for a shoestring traveller!!! I only have a few days here and was expecting to be bored, as I'd been told all there is to do is shop, but I was pleasantly surprised today. Tomorrow, a night safari at the zoo!

So that's me. I think that covers everything. Phew! Sorry if I bored some of you.

Oh, and mom will be here this month - yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T16:08:00.000+11:00

Hi Everyone
I know I haven't written in a while, not much internet time these days. I am fine and safe and sound. I spent New Year's Eve in Kuala Lumpur (not the most exciting city on the planet, but they put on a nice fireworks show right behind the Petronas Towers). Paloma leaves today and I am off to Singapore for a few days before flying to Indonesia. I will write more soon. Happy New Year, I hope everyone had a great time!
Mandy

Adventures in Thailand

2007-12-24T22:30:00.000+11:00

Greetings. I meant to send this a week ago, but time has escaped me...here are some bangkok stories.

the normal cost of a tuk tuk ride from point a to b in bangkok can be anywhere from 40 baht to 200. and it's a well-knows scam that tuk tuk drivers will offer to take you somewhere for 10baht, but when you get in the tuk tuk they instead take you to gem shops that sell what appear to be real but probably are fakel gems. So if anyone offers you a 10baht ride, it's too good to be true.

(the reason being, the drivers get gasoline vouchers from the shops they take the tourists to, whether or not the tourists buy anything, it's like backsheesh or a kickback).

but the other day, we wanted to go somewhere, and our driver first said 150 baht, to which we said no way, so he said okay okay 80 baht, one stop, so we said sure why not. it will be an adventure! so ... as we are riding along, getting to know each other (my name is manDEE and paloma is pa-lo-MAH) and having a good chuckle with our driver, he tells us we have to pretend to be interested, and just stay 10 to 15 minutes, but he tells us we have to do a good job. okay. so we rock up to the gem shop and practice our acting skills. it was hilarious. i mean, i knew paloma didn't want to buy that 880euro ring, but she had me giong there for a second.

we stayed our obligatory 15-20 minutes then said thanks, we'll think about it and maybe come back. of course they protested and said that these special promotions were for "today only" but alas ... we left.

as we got back in the tuk tuk our driver said, 1 more stop, and total price 40 instead of 80. wait a minute ... did our tuk tuk ride just get CHEAPER? sure why not, all we had to do was go in to the suit shop and pretend to be interested for another 10 minutes, and magically, our tuk tuk fare was cut in half. so we did, we spent another 15 minutes or so walking around and eventually got back in our tuk tuk to go see asia's largest christmas tree, an afternoon's worth of adventure for 40 baht, or about $1.20.

paloma deserves an academy award for her role in pretending to be interested in gems and suits. classic.

after bangkok, we saved 12 hours on a bus and took a $50 flight to krabi, where we then took an epic ferry to (disappointing) ko lanta. our accommodation was ... interesting. we awoke in the middle of the night to a rustling in a plastic bag hanging on our wall. it was a mouse! eeeeeeeeeeeeek. we were safely tucked away in our mosquito net covered bed, but still, a mouse! so ... needless to say we moved accommodation the next day after a bad night'ssleep.

then, after a rainy day, we came back to krabi and are staying at ao nang, which is full of scandanavians, but a good place to base ourselves since we only have a few days.

and today ... i rode on the head of an elephant. yes, it's true. we did a half-day kayaking trip followed by an elephant ride in the jungle. and for some reason, our guide decided to let us sit on the head of the elephant instead of on the seat on its back. it was fantastic! what an adventure. she had rubbery floppy ears which she swung back and forth to keep cool, and she had a rough, powerful and surprisingly hairy back. but wow what an experience! then, rounding out the day with a nice massage, i am ready to go explore some islands tomorrow.

for some reason my christmas message didn't go through, but i hope everyone had a great day and santa was good to you all!

Tingly/numb pinky fingers, hands and arms, anyone?

2007-12-17T04:26:00.001+11:00

Clearly this post has nothing to do with travel, but I have not much access to doctors or nurses to ask these questions, and webmd and google are only so helpful ... so ... has anyone had this problem? It's usually when I am asleep (the numbness or tinglyness wakes me up, so I have to shake my arm to wake it up, then roll over and go back to sleep), and sometimes when I am laying in a chair. It's usually my pinky fingers and the outside of my hands (the side where my pinky fingers are, not the thumb side) and sometimes travels up my arm. Of course this happens to everyone once in a while, but it's been happening to me a lot the past few weeks, and more often than not the past few days especially. And well, it's starting to annoy and somewhat worry me. So, doctors, nurses, friends of those out there, any suggestions?
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
PS these are the only symptoms. There's no weakness, fevers, headaches, no issues with legs or anything else, just the arms/hands/little fingers.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It's not everyday...

2007-12-16T02:42:00.000+11:00

... that you are walking down the beach and see a baby elephant walking toward you. But that is exactly what happened. Seriously, a baby ELEPHANT. With a trunk, big ol' footprints and everything. But after a few seconds of staring at it in awe, this “oh my god” wonder was quickly dispelled when I saw the man walking next to the elephant with some treats he wanted to sell me so I could feed it. Poor elephant. Where did it come from? Where are its parents? Where does someone even get a baby elephant, and then convince it to walk the beach with you to get some money from the tourists?

Am I in the twilight zone?

And don’t even get me started on the stray dogs. Seriously, can’t something be done about it? Anything? I guess people feed them, so they become quasi-pet-like, but they are everywhere. Everywhere. One stole my water bottle the other day, after first ripping apart my garbage, and then it tried to steal my bag and sarong. "Oh you mean that big dog, brownish, who likes to steal all the tourists' shoes?" Yes, that one. "Oh he's just playing." Um, yeah, but those teeth could still bite me. Sonofa…

So yes, while all of you are shoveling snow, turning up the heaters, and preparing for Christmas, I am getting my belongings stolen by a stray dog whilst supposedly enjoying Thai beachy paradise. Have I mentioned that my fancy-schmancy (NOT) guesthouse has intermittent water problems (which is leaving me quite salty and sandy at the moment), and questionable toilet-flushing? Oh, and a raging karaoke bar around the corner (and good god these people cannot sing!) Note to self, next time, do a bit more research before deciding where to stay.

But hey, what can I expect for $6 per night?

I am just being melodramatic. It is fiiiiiiiiine, fine, really. Fine. I wanted to write and read and walk and relax and sit on the beach, so that is what I am doing. All this other stuff just makes it more ... interesting.

Long Live the King

2007-12-14T01:21:00.001+11:00

I left Vietnam and flew to Thailand and December 5th, the king's birthday. I am not sure who knows what about Thailand, but (understatement coming) the king is very popular.

All Thais love the king. It is blasphemy not to. In fact, I hear it is illegal to step on the paper money because the king’s image is on the bills.

And when I say they love the king, I mean they go all out in support of him. They ask me, “What do you think of my king, what do you hear about our king in your country?” Not the king, but my king. They take ownership of him, treat him as their one of their family, respect and revere him, like nothing I have ever seen before. And with good reason. He is a great man who has done a lot of great things for Thailand in his 60 years on the throne, including helping it remain the only Southeast Asian country that has never been colonized by the west.

(I won’t dare talk about the government here, that’s a-whole-nother-story, we are just talking about the king). He is a great unifying presence in Thailand. And his 80th birthday was on December 5th, so there was a week's worth of celebrations going on to support him. I met my friend Pauline in Bangkok; she had the yellow shirt waiting for me (remember the king’s color is yellow, so on Mondays (and several other days) people wear yellow “long live the king” shirts to show support). Anyway, there were parades, fireworks, candle-lighting ceremonies, and hundreds of thousands of Thais, and a few farang (foreigners) waiting anxiously to see the king ride by in his car. It was so exciting to be a part of this festive atmosphere. Free candles, flags, water, food, etc, were passed out to the revelers, and people cheered when his car finally drove by. I got to see him too! And yes, this is me, marching with the military down the street to the next parade site. So cool! What a world away from the (ick) backpacker scene on Khao San Road.

I next went to visit Pauline’s family up north for a few days – it was fun to be part of a Thai family for a day or two. They are so cute! We went to MK for hotpot, where you cook a big family-style soup at your table. I know some of you think what’s the point if you have to cook it yourself, but I promise, this is fun. We also went around the night markets in search of my favourite desert, mango and sticky rice. Yum. Yes, this has been a food-filled holiday. I need to get back in the gym. Haha.

Then, after a few days back in Bangkok, I came to a quiet beach to do some reading, writing, dvd-watching, relaxing, and basically, nothing. I needed a bit of down time. So here I am. More from me in a few days.

But in case I am a slacker and don’t write for a while, Happy Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, New Year and any other holidays I might be missing.

PS My phone number whilst in Thailand the next few weeks is +66 814 555 027. Incoming calls are free (hint hint)

ps photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76270&l=f8c11&id=791230081

one more Vietnam posting

2007-12-13T23:49:00.001+11:00

Sorry, sorry, I haven't fallen off the planet. Just been on the road a bit. Here's the rest of my Vietnam story.

This photo is of me going in to one of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were used by the Viet Cong in the Vietnam/American War. Yes, you can see how small the hole is - I am not sure how I fit in there. Only three of us could fit, everyone else was too big! And yes, it was dark and scary inside. This is just one of several dozens of holes that were all connected underground, used quite efficiently to outsmart the Americans in the war. The VC dug these holes and used the dirt to make fake termite mounds, which, placed near to the holes, acted as signs that the tunnels were near by. They had an intricate system of of tunnels with trap doors, multi-levels, ways to cook without producing smoke, underground wells, etc. It was ... amazing, to be honest. But I am not sure how, physically and mentally, these men were able to live in these holes for months at a time. The whole open-air museum was really informative. If anyone is interested in history, have a read about these tunnels, it was really quite amazing. And sad. And disturbing. And all those things we don't like to think about when it comes to war.

I saw a man at my hotel wearing an "I survived Ho Chi Minh City" shirt. Quite funny. The traffic and street crossing were about as harrowing as Hanoi, if not more, but luckily, I was only there for a few days. I went on a cyclo tour (one of those things where the guys peddle you around on a bike with a seat in the front) and my driver kept telling me to hang on to my bag, my phone, my anything that was not immediately attached to my body, because apparently the motorbike thieves are the best and most cunning on the planet. Luckily, I (and my belongings) escaped unscathed.

A lot of you have asked me, and no, I never felt any residual resentment towards Americans, or French, or anyone else that Vietnam has had wars with in the past. The people seemed to be open minded toward all visitors, but I also found most people to be friendly only if they thought they could sell you something. I can't speak for the whole country; this was just my experience.

So ... what else to say. You can probably tell by my Vietnam postings that it was not my favourite place on my itinerary. In fact, I liked it the least. I am glad it was part of a bigger journey, otherwise I would have been too disappointed to go all that way. It's just ... different. And tiring. I understand all the hustlers are just trying to make a living, and their country's unfortunate situation of being in war for most of it's existence hasn't helped any. But still, it just took all my energy to exist in those cities and towns without pulling my hair out. I just wanted ... peace.

yay, visitors

2007-12-01T04:05:00.000+11:00

I just got off a 10-hour train through the middle of Vietnam, and am not quite ready for sleep, so time for a wee blog post.

I am so excited because I've been making plans. Even though my Thanksgiving was spent sans-family in Hanoi (I had sweet and sour tofu instead of Tofurkey, in case you were wondering), I will have friends and/or family to spend Christmas, New Years AND my birthday with. I know -- so exciting!!! Traveling solo for an extended period of time makes you THOROUGHLY appreciate things like that.

My friend Paloma from Spain is meeting me in Thailand on December 18th and we are going to have an adventure for a few weeks through Thailand and Malaysia.

And then, wait for it, MOM will meet me in Thailand in the end of January and we will have an adventure. I am so excited that she is going to step (actually LEAP) out of her comfort zone and have an adventure in Thailand. So exciting. I can't wait to share the places I've loved visiting and experience some new ones with her too. How cool!!!

Oh so in case anyone is wondering where I've been ... Hue for a few days, then Hoi An. We rented bikes and went to the beach yesterday. I stuck my toes in the South China Sea and then spent the afternoon people-watching, sipping on a mango shake, from the balcony of a restaurant. Echos of "Helooooooooo. You want boat-ride? You buy something?" will echo in my head for days to come.

Tomorrow, a boat ride from Nha Trang to some of the islands, and maybe a bit of snorkelling.

Oh and, my exhaust-pipe burn is getting much better. Nasty scar, but at least it is healing.

Okay people, send me emails. I've talked to some of you but have no idea what some of you are up to these days...

Hit on at the border, and assaulted by the only fat lady in Vietnam

2007-11-27T21:01:00.000+11:00

In my hatred of Hanoi I forgot to recount a funny story that happened to me on my border crossing from Laos. We crossed by foot, and the procedure is to fill out your forms and hand over your passports, then wait for some amount of time until they call your name. Then you give them one US dollar to get your passport back. This not "official," mind you. I already paid my $65 plus shipping and handling visa fee to be allowed in the country, thank you very much. This is just a little extra, um, how shall I say, bribe, to keep the wheels turning.

So our group was waiting, and finally they called my name. The immigration official looked at my picture, and then at me, and said, “Oooooooooh, beautiful.” I kind of smiled and did a little curtsey and asked how to say thank you in Vietnamese. I figured hey, if they are being nice, the least I can do is be polite back. Then the guy said something else that I didn’t quite catch, so he took out a spare entry form and wrote “you are so cool” on it. Where do you think they learned that one from? Oh my goodness are the border officials actually hitting on me? Somehow I can’t see our friends at the Department of Homeland Security doing the same.

So that was funny.

But anyone planning to come to Vietnam should be warned; the hard sell is more aggressive here than in the Caribbean. I mean everywhere people are trying to get you to buy something, anything from them. We were warned as we were going to get out of our bus today at a little scenic stop/rest area, that some pushy ladies would try to sell us everything the minute we got out of the bus. It was not a lie.

Of course we were swarmed like ants to candy the second we stepped off the bus. So I decided to get away from them and use the bathroom. In some countries you have to pay for the privilege to use the public toilet, which I begrudgingly accept, but this particular “happy house” (Vietnamese for toilet) was not such a place. This was a free toilet. But sure enough, I came out, and three different ladies tried to chase after me to get me to pay them (even though it was not their toilet, they were not cleaning it, they were just there, hoping some ignorant tourist would give them money because they thought they were supposed to). One even grabbed my arm and pushed me a little.

Right, I’ve had enough, so I joined my friends in a circle (to keep out the pestering) while we waited for our driver to open the bus back up. Up pulls a car with some tourists inside. I’m standing relatively close to the car door, but with enough room for the person in the back seat to open and get out. But up comes head honcho pushy lady and tries to move me out of the way, so she can open the door for the lady inside and try to sell her something. So I don’t move. I figure, this woman inside the car doesn’t want you to sell her anything any more than I want to move away from where I’m standing, so there. I stay. But the lady, the only fat lady in Vietnam, literally pushes me out of the way with her body so she can open the door (and sure enough the woman getting out mutters how sick she is of all the selling).

After a few minutes, fattie comes back and, I am not kidding, bum-bumps me. She walked up to me, turned around, and in one swift motion, stuck her butt out, in to me, in a defiant motion to push me again. You know how people jokingly bump butts in a club when a funny song comes one. That's what she did, but in a mean and stupid way, literally pushing me with her arse. And this was a grown woman, not a 5-year-old. Where do people learn to behave this way?

I am trying to be culturally sensitive, or whatever, but this is ridiculous!

(and does make for a funny story)

Finally ... a good day in Vietnam

2007-11-26T19:48:00.000+11:00

I haven't written in a while cause, frankly, I haven't had anything good to say. I didn't want to use the word "hate" to describe Hanoi, but it was pretty damn close. There was just a constant cacaphony of sounds of motorscooters and horns and people pressuring you to buy anything and everything, or take a ride of a motorscooter or a cyclo (bicycle taxi). It was just too "in-your-face" all the time. I had a headache for a week, from all the pollution and noise, and I couldn't wait to leave.

When we got to Hue, I thought it would be better and quieter, but um ... a little, but not truly peaceful.

But today, finally, I had a good day. We went on a motor-scooter trip (don't worry mom, they were experienced drivers and provided helmets; we all booked together through the company we are traveling with). Anyway, we went around the countryside and got pretty well off the busy track, only saw a handful of tourists (at the unfortunately obligatory insense-making place and other touristy bits). But we also saw a really pretty pagoda and emporers tomb and had vegetarian lunch at a monastery. It was yummy and garlic free :) We also took a dragon boat trip down the Perfume River.

The best part though was just being away from the rest of the traffic and the beep beeps, and cruising through the back streets on the back of a bike. It wasn't as exciting as my Cyprus bikeride and not as harrowing as my wee quick accident in Laos, but it was just nice, feeling the breeze in my face, and the raindrops, but that wasn't a deterrent. It was a good day.

If anyone has tried to call/text, will you email me and let me know, my phone does not seem to be receiving. Or my mom can't figure it out, one or the other :) And thank you Rocky, Cathy, Marilyn, Harch and Ken for the insta-hugs after my last posting.

Next stop, Hoi An, another world heritage site, and hopefully a little bit quieter than my other cities. Photos will be up as soon as I can.

phone number in vietnam until 5DEC

2007-11-20T22:50:00.000+11:00

If anyone is bored, or has free international long distance, or texting, or something, my phone number in Vietnam is 84 94 891 9296. (if calling from the US you have to add 011 before the number, and I'm mandymorrissey on skype if you prefer). I have free incoming calls, so ... call me, I need a hug (PS I'm 12 hours ahead of East Coast US time)

Should I elaborate? I'm not dying or anything, and life is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just having a less-than-great time at the moment (and this is my blog so I can whine if I want to).

I'm still stuck in Hanoi for a few days, and IT SUCKS. Seriously, I can't quite put to words how annoying the constant "beep beep" of all the horns and people-getting-in-your-face is. There. Is. No. Peace. The fact that my window doesn't shut all the way doesn't make things much better. Thank god for earplugs. Add to that the fact that I'm getting stuffed around by my hotels, I'm just over it. Two more days.

In addition, I've caught a cold, AGAIN.

And, I am still nursing my motorbike/scooter exhaust burn from a week ago. I don't think I actually mentioned this in the blog yet, but I had a small accident last week. I was going very slow, literally about one mile per hour, but down a very rocky hill with less-than-perfect brakes, and the bike just slipped. It would have been fine except for my leg landing on the exhaust pipe. I'd never had a burn like that before and didn't quite realize what happened. As I was looking at my bloody left knee (which is fine now and sporting a NICE bruise) I'm thinking, "why does my right leg sting like that?"And then I looked at it. Ouch. Not so pretty. On the bright side, I didn't break anything (not a bone nor a camera) and the burn is not on my face! But now I'm stuck with a burn covering a third of my calf, and it's really painful. I went to a doctor today and got lots of supplies, and it will be fine, it just sucks for now. And, thank god for travel insurance!

So, blah blah blah, like I said earlier, it can't all be sunshine and roses. I am having my poo poo time now. I should be happier as soon as I leave this damn town!!!

And more about my happier adventures coming soon.

photo update

2007-11-18T21:33:00.000+11:00

next batch of photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70110&l=a57e6&id=791230081

here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70288&l=3aa74&id=791230081 (more added to this link soon)

and here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70285&l=37038&id=791230081

Goooooooooooooooooood morning Vietnam. Or something.

2007-11-18T03:29:00.000+11:00

I wrote the following on my trip from Laos in to Vietnam yesterday:

I am in Vietnam, on the long highway from the Laos border. We are on our way to Hanoi, and I half-jokingly wonder whether we will actually get there. It’s definitely much safer, and saner, to not look at the highway, because if you do, you see a myriad of cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and cows (yes cows, big ones, little ones, babies, ones with bells, hairy ones, lazy ones, COWS!) coming straight at you. And you see these things coming at you, of course, because your diver is driving on the wrong side of the road. He’s trying to pass a slow(er) this or a slow(er) that, all the while merrily honking his horn to let the drivers know he is passing them (isn’t that what rear and side-view mirrors and blinkers are for?) I am starting to think that driver’s licenses are optional in Vietnam. I have yet to see a police car, or a traffic light, or a speed limit sign, and am surprised for not having seen twenty accidents by now.

On a quaint side note, some of the bicyclists are wearing the pointy cone shaped Vietnamese hats that you see in all the movies or books about Vietnam. Yep, they really wear them. And they are carrying anything and everything on their bikes: small children, ladies in stilettos, baskets, livestock. I even saw one guy with a microwave as a back seat passenger.

In my short time in Vietnam, we’re going on about 5 hours driving now, I have feeling it is going to be quite a shock to the system after coming from sleepy Laos.

HA! Was that the understatement of the year or what? I've been in Hanoi for one day, and really all I'd love to do is curl up in my hotel room then teleport myself to the beach. Has anyone been here in the past year? A co-traveler was here 6 years ago and said it was nothing like this. Let me see if I can paint you a beautiful picture:

"beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. beep, beep beep, beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. vroom. beep. moto. hey lady, motorbike. moto. taxi. moto. you want postcard? beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.vroom. beep beep. postcard? photo?"

you get the picture?

Not quite? Okay, let's try this. Start with New York City. Take out half the cars. Turn them in to motorbikes. Now multiply those motorbikes by 6. Oh, and, take away the subways. Keep the buses, but make them smellier and older. Add in an equal number of bicycles. And you know that cute little "no honking" law that New York has. Yeah, take that away too. Replace it with the "if I honk louder than you, maybe people will like me better than you" mentality. Oh, and sprinkle in a little bit of "red lights? whatever" and you might get an idea of what Hanoi is like.

You do, literally, take your life in to your hands when you walk out of your hotel. there are crosswalks, and the little green man does appear, but that doesn't mean anything. Sidewalks don't mean much either, as they are filled with parked motorbikes, or women preparing chicken feet for sale, or makeshift restaurants springing up on the corner, etc, etc etc. We were told that the best method for crossing the street is just to do it, walk slowly but do not stop, and they will go around you. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Well, I'm still here, so it's worked so far.

And all that street crossing has zapped my energy, so more from me tomorrow (while I am hiding in my hotel room with free wifi)

sri lanka anyone?

2007-11-12T02:13:00.000+11:00

just trolling about for what to do after my bali trip ends in january, was originally heading to oz but then i found a brilliant-sounding and great-priced trip round sri lanka. anyone been, know anyone who has been or have any advice? email me if you do please!

i want to hug asia

2007-11-11T14:07:00.000+11:00

waking up in asia makes me want to hug someone.

i can't really explain it, but there's just something about being where i am (specifically luang prabang, laos) that makes me want to hug the world.

no, i haven't been taking drugs, or dragged in to a cult. it's just ... let me see if i can describe it to you. you walk down the street, seeing beautiful mountains and palm trees in the background. you decide to walk along the mekong, and happen on a group of men playing that game where you bowl small silver balls and the one who gets closest to the red ball in the middle wins. not sure what it is called, it's like a form of lawn bowling. patonk, maybe? you say "saibadee" to them and they say hi back, looking at you curiously that you've stopped to watch their game, but also welcoming you with their smiles. so you watch as they hoot and hollar and use a straw or a stick to see who got closest to the ball. the old man with workman's hands, dressed in what looks like his sunday best is crouching down with a look of intense concentration, then jumps up and yells when his ball reaches the target.

after a while, you pop in to a nice restaurant to have a delicious snack of sticky rice sweetened wtih coconut milk, with sliced bananas on top. for a dollar. while you sit there, you watch the monks with their saffron-colored robes walking from the temple.

then, you see brightly painted tuk tuks scooting around,waiting to whisk you away to your next destination so you don't have to walk in the heat. (for the un-asia-initiated, tuk tuks are modified motorcycles turned in to taxis. the front part is a motorcycle. but the back part now has a covered bench. these are the cheapest (and sometimes only) means of transport around some of the smaller towns.)

but you prefer to walk, because you like seeing the sights. big temples with lovely golden buddha images inside. monks do their laundry outside and hang their bright robes in the sun to dry. another brightly robed monk sits in the internet cafe typing away, or kids shouting "saibadee" (hello) at you as you pass by.

then you decide to grab a mango shake because it's quite warm outside. again, for a dollar.

and then, to round out the day, you pop in to the red cross to have a specially trained masseuse get the kinks out, for less than four dollars.

seriously, i want to hug asia.

(okay okay, disclaimer time, it's not all sun and roses, there are of course the encounters with squat toilets and questionable water, people wanting to sell you everything and anything, etc etc but we'll get to those parts later. for now, i have to walk back to my guest house, as we are going to take a trip to the waterfalls with natural minerals that make the water milky blue. i've seen photos, and i can't wait)

PS photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70110&l=a57e6&id=791230081

ouch

2007-11-08T02:17:00.000+11:00

i just got beat up by a 98-pound thai woman.

okay they call it massage, but really? ouch. i mean, those are some strong hands, elbows, feet and thumbs. she literally walked on me! and stretched me in ways i did not know i could be stretched. have i mentioned that i have bruises?!?!

seriously, these chicks could take on the toughest gangsters in hand-to-hand combat!

Cities and massages and monks and things.

2007-11-07T21:19:00.000+11:00

Bangkok = assault on the senses. Tuk tuks, smog, traffic, people EVERYWHERE. But also intriguing with it's canals (the Venice of the East) and temples and palaces and monks. Wat Po, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha was just as amazing the second time around. Photos will be up soon. Oh, and really good (and painful) Thai Massages at the Wat Po Massage School (I actually have the bruises to prove it). Not relaxing per se, but definitely something to get the kinks out.

People are obsessed (in a good way) with the king. Yellow is his color, because he was born on a Monday, which is yellow day, so on Mondays, everyone (okay not everyone, but at least 60%) of people in the city wear yellow! There are Thai flags and yellow flags everywhere. The king is sick, in hospital, and has been getting bazillions visitors outside the hospital per day. (He is expected to get well soon, by the way). And everyone loves the king. Don't dare say anything bad about him. It is so nice and refreshing and different to be in a country where the leader is an icon, respectable (no jokes a la Leno or Letterman). It's a nice change. (Granted the government is corrupt, but that's a-whole-nother story)

Chiang Mai = also city-like and busy, but with a somewhat less frenetic pace. We took a 30km bike ride yesterday around busy city streets then villages and rice paddies, etc. Saw some temples, and the way village life used to be, and even (this was a bit strange) a crematorium. Buddhists believe that the soul lives in the body. So when you die, you have to burn the body to let the soul escape. So most Thais are cremated. And for some bizarre reason we went to this outdoor crematorium and our guide told us all about the rituals. Interesting.

Afterwards, time for another Thai massage :) Feet this time, nice and relaxing. I could get used to this. At $10 per hour, how can I resist?

The best part of yesterday was Doi Suthep, a temple about 12km uphill, outside of town. You can see all of Chiang Mai from up there (after climbing 300 steps to get to the top). The best part was a ceremony. We got to hear monks chanting, you know, that magic, deep, harmonious sound you hear advertised on new age infomercials. But this was the real deal - so magical. Our group leader is Thai, so explains anything to us that we ask, and we went in to the temple with her, just to sit and listen and be. It was fantastic.

And, I was blessed by a monk. A few of us went in to a temple and talked to a monk. He said a prayer for us in Bali (sp?) an ancient language (like Catholics might pray in Latin, the monk prayed in this ancient language). Then (since we are women, we are not allowed to touch monks) his assistant tied a white string on our wrists for luck and happiness and safe journey. It was really nice.

(Sorry if this is sounding a bit hokie to a few of you, but hey, it was pretty special).

And now I am in a sleepy border town, and tomorrow we go to Laos on the Mekong.

Life is good.
Now if I could just find some stronger insect repellent for tomorrow's journey down the river...

sawasdee ka ... and my phone number

2007-11-06T17:45:00.000+11:00

just a quick note because i need to go get a thai massage!

i have free incoming calls and can receive texts cheaply. my number is +66 814 555 027 until tomorrow and then from december 5-17 or so.

i'll try to get another SIM card in vietnam so i can be reached there too.

more soon(ish)

:)

Dubai = Construction

2007-11-06T17:09:00.000+11:00

greetings from thailand.

but first, a bit about dubai. i went to visit my friend george, who has been there for about two months. he is overworked! :) and i met a ton of other foreigners also working there. there seems to be a ton of money in dubai, but things are quite expensive as well, and people either loved it or found it a necessary evil.

the burj al arab, the world's only 7 or 8 star hotel, was pretty impressive from the outside. (it's that giant building that looks like the sail of a ship) but it was $50 just to go in, and would have been at least $100 to have a coffee or a snack, so we stuck to the outside. and i got to stick my toes in the arabian sea as well, which was nice and warm. and would you believe that i spend most of my time by the pool or in the gym or just hanging out. i know, terrible, new place and all i wanted to do was chil. i just knew though, that once i got to asia, chill tme was over for a while, so i had to relax while i could. but aside from having heaps of fun just hanging out, these are my obervations:

dubai = construction.
construction is everwhere. all you can see, no matter where you go, are cranes, and half-built buildings. it is CRAZY the amount of construction. someone told me 1/2 the world's cranes are in dubai. not sure if that is true, but it sure seems like it. Okay, Cathy just clarified for me; here are the official stats on the # of cranes (and$) in dubai:
"Dubai: About 30,000, or 24 per cent of the world's 125,000 construction cranes, are currently operating in Dubai, according to the organisers of the Conmex construction machinery exhibition. As of last April, there was almost $300 billion worth of projects underway in the UAE, according to a recently published report." if you work in construction and want to make some $$, go there.

dubai = traffic.
the construction and roadworks make the traffic TERRIBLE. i don't know how people have the patience to drive there. there's no public transport, so you have to take taxis everywhere if you don't have a car.

dubai = this bizarre blend of locals vs. westerb expats (british, american, etc). i am only using my observations, not anything anyone said, but it seems that the locals and the expats (and there are tons of them) don't really blend together. was that just the understatement of the year? i'm not sure if it's quite the us vs them syndrome, but it's just ... odd. i never really saw people mixing together. it's easy to tell the locals, the men all had the traditional dress of the long white, well, dress, and either the red and while checkered headscarf, or the white one with black bands on the crown of the head. and the women all had headscarves, and in MANY cases, full coverings. the expats were dressed like, well, what we're used to seeing. so yeah, never really saw those two types of people sitting together in a cafe or eating in a restaurant or anything. there seems to be a bit of tension. again, just my observations. of course the the third group in dubai are the indians and africans working construction or driving taxis so they can send money home to their families. they don't blend with the other two because they are always working!

enough about that. on to something FUN.

the coolest thing i got to do in dubai, besides hanging out with mi amigo, was go SNOWBOARDING! yes, snowboarding in the middle of the desert. ski dubai has both ski and snowboard, and it is freakin' cold in there, and authentic. it was really cool. of course i fell every five seconds, but i did make it to the bottom of the baby slope once or twice still standing, so that was fun.

thanks g for looking after me and again, spoiling me. MY FRIENDS ROCK!!!!

photos part 1

2007-10-26T19:28:00.000+10:00

for some reason this website is showing up in greek at the moment so i can't quite work out how to upload my photos. but they are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64012&l=a28bc&id=791230081
and here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64026&l=495ea&id=791230081

the cosmos does not want me to go to stonehenge

2007-10-24T01:00:00.000+10:00

the ONE touristy THING i booked to do in england was a bath and stonehenge tour. even though i've spent over a year in the UK, i never managed to get to either place. when i was here two years ago, we showed up at the tour office on the off chance that there would be space on a bus tour last minute, but alas, they were not running that day due to low numbers.

so i said right, this time i will do it right and book in advance. so i did. for today. and day before yesterday i called to reconfirm and they said yep, we've got you confirmed.

so i show up today and the people in the office look at me all funny and one says to the other "are these the passengers you tried to contact?" and the other says "oh yeah, that tour is not running today." WHAT!?!?!? wasn't that the point of me reconfirming?

they said they'd be quite happy to reschedule me for tomorrow, but seeing as i'll be on a plane to cyprus tomorrow, that won't exactly work.

damnit.

(note to STA staff, tell passengers to reconfirm the day before AND the day of their tours, just in case the idiots at the reservations number forget to tell you there's a chance that even though you are confirmed, there's a chance the tour still might not run. sort of reminds me of that seinfeld episode where he reserved himself a rental car that wasn't there when he went to pick it up. oh joy. it's always good when you sell yourself a product that turns out to be crap.)

how albanian boys try to pick up chicks

2007-10-24T00:51:00.000+10:00

so the other week when i had the flu, our bus did a wee stop in tirana just to let everyone walk around for an hour. but seeing as i had a fever and felt like poo, i just decided to sit in the square and watch the world go by. i saw those dear old ladies with head scarves, hunched over, walking with canes; and those crazy 20-somethings with albanian versions of just-offthe-catwalk european fashions, and some strange man with several cameras just walking around. and of course there were the gypsy women trying to throw their babies at you (not literally) so you would give them money.

so there i sat, minding my own business, when this boy, probably aged 18 or so, sat down a few feet away from me. he said something to me which could have been anything from "you're a hot chick" to "yankee go home." i have no idea. i just said "sorry, i only speak english" and turned back to being sick and miserable in my own little world.

a few minutes later, i felt something hit my knee. i looked in his direction, because that was where it came from, but he was just sitting there. i looked around, it wasn't a giant bug, nor a bee, nor a errant nut falling from a tree. i couldn't see anything, so i just sat there again, minding my own business. a few minutes later, the same. i looked at him again and he looked away. a few minutes later, the same. when i looked at him, i noticed he had little pebbles in his hand. this dumb boy was throwing rocks at me to get my attention! when i looked at him, he winked at me and made that icky kissy, smoochy "hey baby" face thing, and winked again. EW!

i wanted to run away. but i was sick and had a fever, so i just turned around in shock and thankfully, someone else from my tour came along and sat next to me.

so that, my friends, is how albanian men (unsuccessfully) try to pick up women.

ahhhhhh ... sanctuary

2007-10-22T06:42:00.000+10:00

sanctuary is probably not the first word that would come to mind when describing london, a city of who-knows-how-many-million people, but for me, that is exactly what it is. i have just spent two weeks with the absolute worst group of people imaginable. toward the end of the trip, i just counted down the days until i got to london, to be able to spend time with a sane friend who has known me for 10 years, and not a group of drunk 18-year-olds with hickies. yes hickies. do people really still do that to each other? these kids did. if i had never been to australia, i wouldn't want to go - that's how bad they were. loud, drunk, obnoxious, did i memtion drunk, and did i mention obnoxious? one tiny example then i promise i'll stop talking about it. my seat-mate got on the bus early and put her bag on the front seat so we could see out the front window. she then went outside for 5 minutes. when she got back inside, two of the not-so-nice-girls had moved her stuff so they could sit there. nice girls, hey?

on the bright side, i did get to see some interesting things. driving from greece through albania was an adventure. the entire country, and i mean the ENTIRE country is undergoing road construction. when i can, i'll upload some photos. it was quite an interesting road trip. lots of donkeys out and about. old communist style buildings that have been painted bright colors or checkered, or with flowrers or leaves, to freshen up the city of tirana.

after that was montenegro. the country only has 600,000 people and only split off from serbia a few years ago. they are already trying to make improvements to get in to the EU and already accept euro. we stayed in an old communist government hotel complete with old hard beds and furniture. it was neat though ... a different experience. and a surprisingly beautiful country. the whole drive was gorgeous.

dubrovnik, croatia, was probably my favourite place on the trip. there's a giant wall around the city that you can walk around in a few hours (including ample time for picture taking). the roofs were all orangey red, kind of like venice, buildings were narrow, washing hung on the lines, flower pots in the windows, it was beautiful. and the coastline was gorgeous again.

unfortunately, somewhere in there i got a bit of food poisoning or gastro-ickiness, which was good fun on a 10-hour bus ride, but i got through it. hopefully that's my one fun sickness out of the way. and on a strange side note, mom had food poisining just after i did ... sympathy sickness? poor gurl.

but i digress.

after croatia was venice, still one of my favourite european cities. it's just so fascinating how there are no roads with cars - the only vehicles are the boats in the canals. i got to take a gondola ride this time around, which was just beautiful. a bit strange to cruise down the grande canal with boats twice your size. watching all the gondoliers navigate their way through the canals with just the one long pole in the water, or using their leg to push off a buiding in the narrow canalway was just magic. it would be a great place to go with a boy one day. any takers? haha.

so now, i am back in london. i am sitting in a flat, drinking tea and watching a dvd with my good friend tim. we've walked the streets of (cold) london, visited all my favourte landmarks like big ben, and are now just hanging out. doing nothing. and i couldn't be happier. i've had tea and biscuits, a cornish pasty, mince pie, and more tea! i've walked miles, and i've relaxed, which was just what i needed after my two weeks of hell :)

next up ... cyprus on wednesday.

(ps thanks everyone for all your comments - i love to read them, and i'm glad you are enjoying the stories!)

sailng and silly drama, oh my

2007-10-14T05:20:00.000+10:00

Note to self: no more trips designed for 18 - 30somethings. I picked this trip because it went to some of the places I have always wanted to go, like Croatia, and also included Greek sailing, and some unique places like Albania. HOWEVER. I forgot that 18-30somethings meant drunken hook-up fest. Oh how I'd forgotten. I've been on the trip for about a week, and am amazed at how some people have managed to keep the same level of drunkenness throughout the entire time - you know that glazed-eyed look (on the boys) or the squeely, screaming eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee voice (on the girls). And it's also fun to observe the drunken hook-ups, where the parites involved pretend they don't know each other the next day. Classic.

Damn I feel old.

But let me tell you about what I actually did. We've just been sailing around Corfu and antoher small place for three days. The boats were these cute little sailboats that to my surprise, WE sailed! I'd never been sailing before so had no clue what to do. But after a 10 minute lesson for the first mates and a 30 minute lesson for the skippers, off we went, with our crew of an additional four. We had 7 boats in all, and it was quite an adventure.

The first night, THUNDERSTORM. And when I say thunderstorm, I mean boats smacking in to each other (we were all tied up together), crashes of thunder, skies lit up with lightening, a leaky roof dripping on my head. And of course, all six of us cramped in to the boat, me sleeping on a converted table with a cusion on top. Not the best sleep of my life! But it was an adventure.

The second day I got in to a full on yelling match with the jerk that was hired to take us around. He even said (amongst other niceties),"when I say pull the anchor, I mean pull the f-ing anchor" only he filled in the blanks in that word. Did I mention that when I was yelling at us for not doing the job (that we were trained on for 10 minutes) properly, he was wearing a woman's thong under his board shorts (which his "stuff" had slipped out of earlier while he was on someone else's boat) and had residual eyeliner on from when one of the drunkies painted him the night before, and red spray paint in his hair. Yeah, classic character. Oh the stories. This is great book material.

I know those of you that know me are sitting there saying "what the hell has she gotten herself in to?!?!?" But I am coping! Haha!

Anyway, it's our last night sailing, and we are about to go watch the rugby (it's mostly Aussies on this trip, and I am hanging out with the sane ones). Tomorrow we are off to Albania, so that should be good.

The trip has had its high points. Rome was amazing. I had gelati for dinner the other day. Today the weather was beautiful. I've eaten lots of yummy Greek food and walked around quaint little towns. And last night in our wandering we stumbled upon a building with a full brass band practicing inside, magical sound so close up! And more fun is to come. I just couldn't resist sharing the dramas so far...

leaving, and beginning

2007-10-10T05:35:00.000+10:00

Hello friends. As I prepared to leave, I thought my emotions would range from excitement to apprehension to elation to happiness and anticipation. But imagine my surprise when in the week before I began my adventure I was depressed! I know, crazy right? But I was just overwhelmed with saying goodbye to everyone and trying to fit everything in my stupid too-heavy bag, I was just a mess. I knew as soon as I started I would be fine, but still, that week before was so strange and difficult. Those who saw me, did I do a good job of pretending I had it all together?

But alas, as I had hoped, once I got to Rome, all was well in my noggin once again (mom and dad you should be relieved, I know yo were worried). So I am at the start of a Top Deck trip from Rome to Venice via 3 days sailing around Corfu and working our way up through Croatia, Albania, etc. Top Deck is for 18 to 30somethngs, and guess who is the oldest ....

But, my non-hard-partying self has found a partner in crime already, by the name of Jane. Very happy to have someone like me to hang with for the next two weeks. And today, Claudia and Paloma you would be so proud, we spent the day with a nice guy from Argentina who spoke NO English. So somehow, SOMEHOW my Spanish came flooding back to me. I know my grammar was poor and still I can only speak in the present, but I think I impressed a lot of the Aussies and Kiwis who were in line for the Vatican with us. Yay! I was so proud.

So Rome, as usual, was lovely. We saw all the sights and walked until our legs would fall off.

But I must go now, internet time is up

getting ready ... revisited

2007-10-05T16:56:00.000+10:00

So I said I was going to have my bag packed by Friday. And it is ... BUT IT IS TOO HEAVY AND OVERSTUFFED. Bugger! But I'm a good packer! How did this happen? Where oh where have I gone wrong?? It's much easier to pack for 10 days than it is for 10 months ... hm. I guess tomorrow I will try backpack-packing version 2.0 and see how that goes...

getting ready

2007-09-27T12:41:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my very first blog. Woo hoo. This is where I will post updates and photos about my travel adventure. It's T - minus less than two weeks until the adventure begins.

Stay tuned for details ... and feel free to leave me messages.