Vrindavan was nice...i guess hahaha
I had to take a bus into Mathura which was where all the hotels and shops and what not were, so i was situated there and had to communte the 10kms to Vrindavan, I tried hiring a bike rickshaw, but to my demise no one around me spoke ANY english (this is the first time in 2 months of travelling this country that this has occured)...anyways, I ended up seeing only 2 or 3 main temples in Vrindavan, but they were well worth travelling through the monsoon like rain with the whirlwinds preceeding them (seriously, i could barely see my hand in front of me so dusty).
I saw the birthplace of Krsna, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness (aka the Hare Krishna temple, and it was even a special day, they had a special guru there and everything!). Some of the things in the Hare Krsna place were a bit weird, alot of white ppl, and there was this one murial with the Guru who started it all surrounded by a bunch of hippies and pray circles, kinda intense, but it made me giggle haha.
Anyways, so the rest of Vrindavan and Mathura were fine, the hotel was crappy, but ive finished alice in wonderland and i finished Running with Scissors on the bus today, so 2 more books down!
Just waiting around in delhi for a few hours before heading to the airport, hopefully ill get some more pictures up soon!
SLASH! PPL BETTER READ THIS ONE! JUST CUZ IM HOME TOMORROW DOESNT MAKE IT A PASS!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Taj Mahal
The trip from Varanasi was nice, just an overnight train, but i was able to meet some new friend! Upon arriving in Agra we chilled out at the hotel for most of the day because its so freakin hot here! Nothing too special to do in Agra aside from the taj, which was breath taking, so it was worth the 750Rs it cost to get in. There is also an emptied out spot on the opposite side of the river where the Raj was going to build another Taj Mahal (I named it the Laham Jat) for his tomb, but he was locked away before he could really get it started cuz it would have cost too much...anyways i was reading alice in wonderland while i was sitting in its presence, always a wonderful way to read. Me and the 2 guys i met went dow to the taj for sunset and chilled out there for most of the later afternoon/early night.
I'm so happy i finished Shataram while i was in Varanasi, that book took me AGES!!!!! I had been on a large book reading spree as of late, I started with Pillars of the Earth by Kem Follet, which was about 1000pgs, then i read The Tailsman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, which was over 900pgs, then i read Shantaram which was just over 900pgs as well. So it was nice to read some short books now! Ive already finished The Alchemist, which only took me about 24hrs, and now im already over half way done Alice in Wonderland which i only started this morning! WOO PowerReading! Anyways, next is Frankenstein, so Im hoping I can finish that before my flight on Tuesday early AM. Off to Vrindavan tomorrow then onto Delhi for home!
I'm so happy i finished Shataram while i was in Varanasi, that book took me AGES!!!!! I had been on a large book reading spree as of late, I started with Pillars of the Earth by Kem Follet, which was about 1000pgs, then i read The Tailsman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, which was over 900pgs, then i read Shantaram which was just over 900pgs as well. So it was nice to read some short books now! Ive already finished The Alchemist, which only took me about 24hrs, and now im already over half way done Alice in Wonderland which i only started this morning! WOO PowerReading! Anyways, next is Frankenstein, so Im hoping I can finish that before my flight on Tuesday early AM. Off to Vrindavan tomorrow then onto Delhi for home!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Watching the Pyres
So Varanasi has been interesting, leaving tonight I can look back on the past few days and see the differences between north and south india, and boy do i miss south india hahaha. Its just so much more calm there, ppl are still bugging you asking to buy stuff, but in the north they harass, and the begging is soo much worse here...
Anyways, i got here in the morning after my crazy long train ride, which wasnt horrible, but its was 36hrs on the train, its not going to be good. I had breakfast after checking in and then went down to the ghats, the stairs that lead down into the ganges river. Now if you've been following along, I saw the Ganges river when i first arrived in India 2mths ago, it was in Rishikesh, and the difference is vast. There the water was pure and fresh and clean, but here its black and yellow and green, yet people carry on to use the river as their life souce, washing, drinking and learning to swim in it too! there were swimming lessons going on while i did my boat tour.
So within my first hour of being around the ghat, I saw 3 cremations, these pyres are lit to release the soul from the body and hopefully into nirvana creating the act of moksha and escaping the wheel of samsara (sorry, now im just showing off haha), but a side note, people love travelling with me here cuz im like a tour guide for all the temples and religion! its kinda cool!
Anyways, wondered the dirty streets, found some internet, wanted to put up my pictures but Varanasi hates facebook, so ce la vie.
I met an american who was kinda cool, but he wasnt jiving with india at all, so it kinda bugged me and there was something else about him that i just couldnt pin point...and it turned out that he was a nickelback fan. Really that just explained it all, no wonder he bugged me hahaha. But really, he was so against india, all the honking, and the litter, and i even tried telling him, you just need to let india take you where it wants, dont fight india, you cant win, and he just copntinued to want india to be america, not happening.
So i did a sunrise boat tour of the ghat, i got on this little boat at like 5:30 (although the sun was already up, lame for them not telling me to be there sooner). But being on the boat and seeing all the activity even that early in the morning, its no wonder theres no night life, they were all at the ganges at 5am! But it was neat, i saw the muslim men bathing area, i saw where they were prepareing more fires, i saw the swimming lessons, the kids playing in the bateria infest water, i saw the laundry, i saw the yoga (it was a bunch of kids and one western guy in his mid to late 20s all indianed out, kinda funny), and i saw the prayers.
It was very apparent that the Ganges was the life of the city and a very holy place, i sent a few lotus flower candles down the river in memory of the people I've lost and a few for the ones i love. Varanasi has been good, got me back into north india and the crazy shuffle it is. Off to Agra tonight, so the Taj Mahal is on my list of things to do tomorrow. You can finally stop complaining Kelly. Then one night in agra, bus to Vrindivan to become a HareKrishna, one night there then to delhi for the afternoon before catching my flight! I'll be home in a flash! see ya then!!
Anyways, i got here in the morning after my crazy long train ride, which wasnt horrible, but its was 36hrs on the train, its not going to be good. I had breakfast after checking in and then went down to the ghats, the stairs that lead down into the ganges river. Now if you've been following along, I saw the Ganges river when i first arrived in India 2mths ago, it was in Rishikesh, and the difference is vast. There the water was pure and fresh and clean, but here its black and yellow and green, yet people carry on to use the river as their life souce, washing, drinking and learning to swim in it too! there were swimming lessons going on while i did my boat tour.
So within my first hour of being around the ghat, I saw 3 cremations, these pyres are lit to release the soul from the body and hopefully into nirvana creating the act of moksha and escaping the wheel of samsara (sorry, now im just showing off haha), but a side note, people love travelling with me here cuz im like a tour guide for all the temples and religion! its kinda cool!
Anyways, wondered the dirty streets, found some internet, wanted to put up my pictures but Varanasi hates facebook, so ce la vie.
I met an american who was kinda cool, but he wasnt jiving with india at all, so it kinda bugged me and there was something else about him that i just couldnt pin point...and it turned out that he was a nickelback fan. Really that just explained it all, no wonder he bugged me hahaha. But really, he was so against india, all the honking, and the litter, and i even tried telling him, you just need to let india take you where it wants, dont fight india, you cant win, and he just copntinued to want india to be america, not happening.
So i did a sunrise boat tour of the ghat, i got on this little boat at like 5:30 (although the sun was already up, lame for them not telling me to be there sooner). But being on the boat and seeing all the activity even that early in the morning, its no wonder theres no night life, they were all at the ganges at 5am! But it was neat, i saw the muslim men bathing area, i saw where they were prepareing more fires, i saw the swimming lessons, the kids playing in the bateria infest water, i saw the laundry, i saw the yoga (it was a bunch of kids and one western guy in his mid to late 20s all indianed out, kinda funny), and i saw the prayers.
It was very apparent that the Ganges was the life of the city and a very holy place, i sent a few lotus flower candles down the river in memory of the people I've lost and a few for the ones i love. Varanasi has been good, got me back into north india and the crazy shuffle it is. Off to Agra tonight, so the Taj Mahal is on my list of things to do tomorrow. You can finally stop complaining Kelly. Then one night in agra, bus to Vrindivan to become a HareKrishna, one night there then to delhi for the afternoon before catching my flight! I'll be home in a flash! see ya then!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Lessons in Time Management
I arrived in Pundicherry at 4:30 in the morning, after leaving my friends in Kumily, I got on the bus to Pundicherry and met this guy named Prabraker who was an indian break dancer, it was pretty cool, he showed me some of his videos...im sure in india hes good, but he would hvae been nothing too special back at home, BUT he did start going through ringtones, and he gave me the ring tone for BLACK OR WHITE by Michael Jackson, so thats my new alarm clock, pretty ballin!
So upon arriving in Pundicherry, it was 430, i couldnt sleep but my hotel had a tv, so i showered and watched top chef before heading out and exploring the town. Its an old french colony, so theres french all over the place and alot of french tourists. I was in the park reading (after being attacked by fire ants) and i met this one creepy guy from france but indian decent and he sid it was his birthday, and after having such a crappy birthday in india myself, i went and bought him a beer.
But he was tres creepy, so i ditched him pretty fast. That night i found myself lounging around and recovering from the bus trip, so i got some street food and it might have been some of the best food ivbe had so far (and there has been ALOT of good food here, definitely going to be the thing i miss the most about india)
Day 2 started late as i finally got to sleep in, but i founbd myself with a heat rash!!! buhhhhh and it still hasnt gone away, im not sure if its becasue my clothes are all gross or just that i was sweating so much, but its tres itchy. I went on the internet once i got moving around and while there a guy asked me in french if i spoke french and and said i speak tres tres petite francse, and he asked if the computer had msn, i said yes and that i was leaving soon (in french!!) and he actually understood me!!
so i started wondering around the sunday market and found 2 americans that hadnt met anyone so i hung out with them the rest of the day as they hadnt had any other non frnech tourist contact, it was sweet!!
So back to their AC hotel we went that night and tried some indian red wine (one of which tasted like soya sauce) and watched Step Up, it was pretty awesome! Becasue my hotel was 24hr check-in/check out, i needed to be out of the room by 5 and the guy wouldnt cut good deal with me so i said eff this and went to the girls hotel at 5 in the morning and slept on their extra chairs until 10am, where we then proceeded for breakfast.
Now my train left chennai at 5:30pm, and i was in Pundicherry until about 1 (thats when my bus left) its a 3 1/2hr bus ride to chennai and i gave myself an hour leway...apparently not enough. I arrived in chennai at 5:00 and was told it took a half hour more to get to the train station and obviously with my luck there was major traffic because of a commie march! So after yelling at the rickshaw driver to go faster and chanting prayers to shiva to destroy the traffic, Ganesha to open routes for me to pass through, and Visnu to allow my train to be running late, i arrived at the train station at 5:40...i ran through the station with my massive bag and somehow found my train still at the platform. I didnt even look at the car and hoped onto the train at which point it started to move, lucily it was also my car, so by the com,bination of hindu miracles i managed to make the most important train of my trip from chennai to varanasi.
So 6 more days until my triumphant return to the great white north and civility. Varanasi is typical north indian so far, lots of honking and yelling and dirt and cows, ive already seen 3 funerals on the ghats where they burn the bodies.
I doubt i can get any photos up here as facebook is BARELY working, so y'all might have to wait for me to get home for the end of my trip pics.
but im almost there!!!!!
So upon arriving in Pundicherry, it was 430, i couldnt sleep but my hotel had a tv, so i showered and watched top chef before heading out and exploring the town. Its an old french colony, so theres french all over the place and alot of french tourists. I was in the park reading (after being attacked by fire ants) and i met this one creepy guy from france but indian decent and he sid it was his birthday, and after having such a crappy birthday in india myself, i went and bought him a beer.
But he was tres creepy, so i ditched him pretty fast. That night i found myself lounging around and recovering from the bus trip, so i got some street food and it might have been some of the best food ivbe had so far (and there has been ALOT of good food here, definitely going to be the thing i miss the most about india)
Day 2 started late as i finally got to sleep in, but i founbd myself with a heat rash!!! buhhhhh and it still hasnt gone away, im not sure if its becasue my clothes are all gross or just that i was sweating so much, but its tres itchy. I went on the internet once i got moving around and while there a guy asked me in french if i spoke french and and said i speak tres tres petite francse, and he asked if the computer had msn, i said yes and that i was leaving soon (in french!!) and he actually understood me!!
so i started wondering around the sunday market and found 2 americans that hadnt met anyone so i hung out with them the rest of the day as they hadnt had any other non frnech tourist contact, it was sweet!!
So back to their AC hotel we went that night and tried some indian red wine (one of which tasted like soya sauce) and watched Step Up, it was pretty awesome! Becasue my hotel was 24hr check-in/check out, i needed to be out of the room by 5 and the guy wouldnt cut good deal with me so i said eff this and went to the girls hotel at 5 in the morning and slept on their extra chairs until 10am, where we then proceeded for breakfast.
Now my train left chennai at 5:30pm, and i was in Pundicherry until about 1 (thats when my bus left) its a 3 1/2hr bus ride to chennai and i gave myself an hour leway...apparently not enough. I arrived in chennai at 5:00 and was told it took a half hour more to get to the train station and obviously with my luck there was major traffic because of a commie march! So after yelling at the rickshaw driver to go faster and chanting prayers to shiva to destroy the traffic, Ganesha to open routes for me to pass through, and Visnu to allow my train to be running late, i arrived at the train station at 5:40...i ran through the station with my massive bag and somehow found my train still at the platform. I didnt even look at the car and hoped onto the train at which point it started to move, lucily it was also my car, so by the com,bination of hindu miracles i managed to make the most important train of my trip from chennai to varanasi.
So 6 more days until my triumphant return to the great white north and civility. Varanasi is typical north indian so far, lots of honking and yelling and dirt and cows, ive already seen 3 funerals on the ghats where they burn the bodies.
I doubt i can get any photos up here as facebook is BARELY working, so y'all might have to wait for me to get home for the end of my trip pics.
but im almost there!!!!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
FINALLY! a computer that works!
Holla!
I found a computer to put my pictures up on!
So here are my photos from Fort Cochi, Alleppey and the Backwaters:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201568&id=90401387&l=eba04d7359
My photos from Kumily part 1 (the spice plantations, elephant ride)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202155&id=90401387&l=4075a888a9
Kumily part 2 (tea factory, Periyar Wildlife Park)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202157&id=90401387&l=b16f0406a7
theres a few photos of Pundicherry (like an old indian lady carrying a fully feathered dead chicken along the side of the busy street), but those will be put up when i get to chennai or Varanasi. It doesnt look like I'll be able to see the new Xmen in chennai like i was hoping, but I might be able to see the assassination of Jesse James, which i heard was ok, if not then i might try for a bollywood movie, but i should have done that in Mumbai as here all the movies will be in Tamil, but who knows! but yahoo for a 36hr train ride starting tomorrow! back to the north I go! Everyones up to date on photos, enjoy!
I found a computer to put my pictures up on!
So here are my photos from Fort Cochi, Alleppey and the Backwaters:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201568&id=90401387&l=eba04d7359
My photos from Kumily part 1 (the spice plantations, elephant ride)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202155&id=90401387&l=4075a888a9
Kumily part 2 (tea factory, Periyar Wildlife Park)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202157&id=90401387&l=b16f0406a7
theres a few photos of Pundicherry (like an old indian lady carrying a fully feathered dead chicken along the side of the busy street), but those will be put up when i get to chennai or Varanasi. It doesnt look like I'll be able to see the new Xmen in chennai like i was hoping, but I might be able to see the assassination of Jesse James, which i heard was ok, if not then i might try for a bollywood movie, but i should have done that in Mumbai as here all the movies will be in Tamil, but who knows! but yahoo for a 36hr train ride starting tomorrow! back to the north I go! Everyones up to date on photos, enjoy!
Friday, May 1, 2009
After the War of 1812, Canada invented everything, eh
**Sorry this is so stupid long, Ive been busy!!!**
it was a joke that went too far, but apparently after canada won the war of 1812, elieshava believes that we created/incented EVERYTHING, all because i could have sworn the hells angels were from mtl or hamilton or something, and they also didnt believe me when i said that canada helped the dutch out huge in WW2!
so starting with the details i left out from Alleppey, we left for Kumily a few days ago, leaving Antonia and the sweet sweet digusting rooms behind. Now i say they were sweet because it was a bamboo hut on the roof with 3 rooms, enough for the 5 of us. So off Danny, Jonny, Elie, and I went for a 6hr bus ride through the Western Ghats of Kerala up and down and around the mountains as we finally made it to Kumily.
Now Danny had a friend who stayed in Kumily for about 6 wks, so we figured it was safe to go to the place he was at. Safe, yes. Clean, NO! The hotel was dank and the bathrooms barely worked, but again, the company was good, so it made up for it. Upon arriving, we noticed that Kumily is literally on the boarder of Communist Kerala and normal Tamil Nadu (although its just an elected commie party that runs the state, it seems to work as the ppl were the some of the only ones i was able to carry on full conversations without feeling the need to dumb it down or have trouble translating. So after recovering from the long local bus ride (at least this one wasnt as bad as the trip to manali, although my tail bone is injured again), we started out the next morning in full swing.
Day 1 covered alot of ground as we wondered up to this nutso view point that over say the entire valley and over the boreder to Tamil Nadu, after that we arrived at a spice plantation and had a guided tour through the spices. We saw vanilla, nutmeg, pepper, curry leaves (which smelled amazing!) cinnomon sapota (which i tried in amritsar, it was that weird fruit that tasted like butternut squash with brown sugar), italian lemons, jamacian pepper (aka, all spice, also tres cool), PINEAPPLE!, jackfruit, which were just nuts to look at, spinich, cloves (although they werent producing any because of global warming), cardomine, giant aloe vera plants, mint, coffee plants, and guava! Its a big list, but the spice gardens were really cool.
We headed off for our elephant ride after the spices and rode them around for about 1/2hr, got some neat pictures, and there was a pregnent elephant there as well, she was 13mths in and apparently had 9 more mths to go...and she was already huge! So the 4 of us bought a basket of fruit and fed the preggers elephant, it was pretty awesome.
Still our day was not over and we headed to the tea factory and saw how they produced the tea and the grinding it and roasting it and the final packaging and all that stuff, it was really really cool, especially becuase the tea plantations were up and down all the mountains around us.
So finishing off the day i started teasing Elie and she got upset up then started laughing when i said, I'm sorry, but i dont think anyones gonna believe you that a canadian was making fun of you when you tell them about it eh. all the O and the eh's played against her better judgement and made her laugh, so it was all good haha.
Day 2 brought the return of Marco, a swiss guy we had met in Hampi, and with him the 5 of us went to the Periyar Wildlife park to try and see tigers and elephants and all the other cool wildlife! We started the day by doing a 3 hr hike through the woods which resulted in Danny and I being attacked by leeches, and now i have some weird purple marks on my feet, killllerrrr
After getting the leeches off we waited around fro 3hrs to get the boat ride tickets which sold out tres fast and because its indian tourist season, there was no sense of line, so within a matter of seconds the line that i was sitting in broke out into full fledge roit as a group of ppl butted into line ahead of me, there was pushing and shoving and sratching, this was worse then the crowd at paul mccartney in Quebec city, AND WE NEEDED TO PAY FOR THE TICKETS, its not like it was FREE like the concert was! Either way, the boat ride was a bust, they sent like 9 boats out at once and all we saw were some deer and river otters.
We left the park b/c I needed to catch my bus at 5:30 and as we were walking to the bus stand the bus that Jonny, Danny, and Elie had to catch back to Kottayam was just leaving, so there wasnt really any good bye as much as a "Ahh my bus, gotta run, catch you later!!!" So off like a Band-Aid they went and I found myself alone once again.
On the bus I befriended an Indian guy my age that sent me a few ringtones from his phone, so now I have black or white by MJ on my phone! I KNOW!! And he sent me the theme for John Cena, as I said before, Indians Love their wrestling hahaha.
So ive spent the morning wondering pondicherry, Im gonna try and see if I can catch a movie at some point today, already had a massive breakfast (it was a buffet, I figure if im by myself, I miught as well live it up! haha)
The computer here stink, so no updates on photos, and theres so many of them!!! But as soon as I find a computer thats willing to take my pics, "Greetings from Communist India" and "Photos were invented by Canada" will be up and running in no time!
10 more days left in India!! In pundicherry for the weekend, then leave for Varanasi Monday night, arrive wednesday morning. Varanassi for 2 nights, then Agra for a night, Then Vrindivan for a night, spending the 11th in Vrindivan, so I can get to Delhi in the afternoon and head straight to the airport!
it was a joke that went too far, but apparently after canada won the war of 1812, elieshava believes that we created/incented EVERYTHING, all because i could have sworn the hells angels were from mtl or hamilton or something, and they also didnt believe me when i said that canada helped the dutch out huge in WW2!
so starting with the details i left out from Alleppey, we left for Kumily a few days ago, leaving Antonia and the sweet sweet digusting rooms behind. Now i say they were sweet because it was a bamboo hut on the roof with 3 rooms, enough for the 5 of us. So off Danny, Jonny, Elie, and I went for a 6hr bus ride through the Western Ghats of Kerala up and down and around the mountains as we finally made it to Kumily.
Now Danny had a friend who stayed in Kumily for about 6 wks, so we figured it was safe to go to the place he was at. Safe, yes. Clean, NO! The hotel was dank and the bathrooms barely worked, but again, the company was good, so it made up for it. Upon arriving, we noticed that Kumily is literally on the boarder of Communist Kerala and normal Tamil Nadu (although its just an elected commie party that runs the state, it seems to work as the ppl were the some of the only ones i was able to carry on full conversations without feeling the need to dumb it down or have trouble translating. So after recovering from the long local bus ride (at least this one wasnt as bad as the trip to manali, although my tail bone is injured again), we started out the next morning in full swing.
Day 1 covered alot of ground as we wondered up to this nutso view point that over say the entire valley and over the boreder to Tamil Nadu, after that we arrived at a spice plantation and had a guided tour through the spices. We saw vanilla, nutmeg, pepper, curry leaves (which smelled amazing!) cinnomon sapota (which i tried in amritsar, it was that weird fruit that tasted like butternut squash with brown sugar), italian lemons, jamacian pepper (aka, all spice, also tres cool), PINEAPPLE!, jackfruit, which were just nuts to look at, spinich, cloves (although they werent producing any because of global warming), cardomine, giant aloe vera plants, mint, coffee plants, and guava! Its a big list, but the spice gardens were really cool.
We headed off for our elephant ride after the spices and rode them around for about 1/2hr, got some neat pictures, and there was a pregnent elephant there as well, she was 13mths in and apparently had 9 more mths to go...and she was already huge! So the 4 of us bought a basket of fruit and fed the preggers elephant, it was pretty awesome.
Still our day was not over and we headed to the tea factory and saw how they produced the tea and the grinding it and roasting it and the final packaging and all that stuff, it was really really cool, especially becuase the tea plantations were up and down all the mountains around us.
So finishing off the day i started teasing Elie and she got upset up then started laughing when i said, I'm sorry, but i dont think anyones gonna believe you that a canadian was making fun of you when you tell them about it eh. all the O and the eh's played against her better judgement and made her laugh, so it was all good haha.
Day 2 brought the return of Marco, a swiss guy we had met in Hampi, and with him the 5 of us went to the Periyar Wildlife park to try and see tigers and elephants and all the other cool wildlife! We started the day by doing a 3 hr hike through the woods which resulted in Danny and I being attacked by leeches, and now i have some weird purple marks on my feet, killllerrrr
After getting the leeches off we waited around fro 3hrs to get the boat ride tickets which sold out tres fast and because its indian tourist season, there was no sense of line, so within a matter of seconds the line that i was sitting in broke out into full fledge roit as a group of ppl butted into line ahead of me, there was pushing and shoving and sratching, this was worse then the crowd at paul mccartney in Quebec city, AND WE NEEDED TO PAY FOR THE TICKETS, its not like it was FREE like the concert was! Either way, the boat ride was a bust, they sent like 9 boats out at once and all we saw were some deer and river otters.
We left the park b/c I needed to catch my bus at 5:30 and as we were walking to the bus stand the bus that Jonny, Danny, and Elie had to catch back to Kottayam was just leaving, so there wasnt really any good bye as much as a "Ahh my bus, gotta run, catch you later!!!" So off like a Band-Aid they went and I found myself alone once again.
On the bus I befriended an Indian guy my age that sent me a few ringtones from his phone, so now I have black or white by MJ on my phone! I KNOW!! And he sent me the theme for John Cena, as I said before, Indians Love their wrestling hahaha.
So ive spent the morning wondering pondicherry, Im gonna try and see if I can catch a movie at some point today, already had a massive breakfast (it was a buffet, I figure if im by myself, I miught as well live it up! haha)
The computer here stink, so no updates on photos, and theres so many of them!!! But as soon as I find a computer thats willing to take my pics, "Greetings from Communist India" and "Photos were invented by Canada" will be up and running in no time!
10 more days left in India!! In pundicherry for the weekend, then leave for Varanasi Monday night, arrive wednesday morning. Varanassi for 2 nights, then Agra for a night, Then Vrindivan for a night, spending the 11th in Vrindivan, so I can get to Delhi in the afternoon and head straight to the airport!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Price of Good Company
Back from the backwaters!
Hopefully I can get my pictures up, but the boat trip was crazy good! Alleppey has been really nice, very chill, and GREAT tomato fry! So the 5 of us (Jon, Antonia, Danny, and Elie) got to the boat around 11ish and spent the entire afternoon cruising along the backwaters of Alleppey. The houseboats are massive, ours was 3 bedrooms with a giant area for us to hang out all day, so it wasn’t like it was cramped together at all. We brought a bunch of beer with us as well as some whiskey and rum, but the crew got into the rum before we did, but they seemed happy with us the rest of the trip so all was not lost.
Been having a great time with all the new ppl ive been meeting, the ones im hanging out with now are especially cool tho, my original plan was to head to Kumily (where theres all the tea plantations and spice feilds as well as a wildlife sanctuary to see the elephants in) i was going to head there tonight, but everyone else is sticking around alleppey for one more night before moving on, so ive decided to stay here with them and party it up one more night before heading off on my own again, unless i can convince them all to come with me, which may be a possibility
So another night in Alleppey, losing a night in Pundicherry and a night in Kumily it seems, but so is the price of good company! but ill be on my own soon enough! not even jon's gonna come with me to Pundicherry, and im missing a HUGE festival in kerala that starts may 3rd, just another reason to come back.
no updates in pics today, but i got some good pirate ones!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Yea, But I've never met a guy with such a Jewish soundin' surname
Thats thanks to Jonny this afternoon, my response was that I wasnt even Jewish.
sorry to hold out for so long, I was tres busy in Hampi.
My first day in Hampi, Jonny and I met up with antonia and some friends she had met on the bus (we also met Shelby on the bus, who came along with us as well) So the 6 of us got a coconut boat accross the river so we could climb up this big hill to a temple to the Monkey God was built, it was his birth place. At the top we had chai with the gurus that lived there, one of them was called Baba, which made me think of home but laught at the same time haha. So from the top you could see pretty far, and the landscape in Hampi is just hundreds of boulders just piled on top of one another all over the place creating these huge hills or mountains. To get to the top it took 601 steps. On the way down the Guru took us into this crazy cave, and then we walked about 5km before getting a Rickshaw back for some food.
The next day after antonia, Elie, and Danny left, the 3 of us remaining took an all day tour of the city and all of the ruins and temples. We started at 5:45am so we could catch the sunrise from the top of another mountain, it was tough, but it was really nice, the sun rose over all the hills and banana plantations, the whole area seemed consfused at weather with wanted to be paradise or a desert. In the afternoon after seeing everything, Shelby Jonny and I went and found the waterfall and went swimming in the river above it. The water was really nice and clean and the waterfall was really cool as it ran though all the boulders and kinda carved its way around.
My final day in Hampi was spent relaxing around town to recover from the sunrise start the morning before.
I left for Cochi (or Kochin) that night taking an over night sleeper train to Bangalore, where I then spent a day there wondering around, seeing how much it would cost to fix my camera (the screen is lighting up but not working so im shooting blind right now) Anyways we went bowling, looked around and went to the botanical gardens in the city. On our way back to Jo and Simons hotel (2 ppl we met in Hampi) the sky opened up and just POURED, way more then Ive seen in florida or anywhere else, it was NUTS. SO another over night train, a ferry, and now im in the Fort Cochi area of Cochi(Kochin). Jonny and I have met up again with Antonia, Danny, and Elia. Tomorrow the 5 of us will head to Appolly where we can get a houseboat for 24hrs and cruise along the backwaters and lagoons of Kerala.
When I was in Hampi, I also booked my train ticket from Chennai to Varanasi, so im now taking a 36hr train rise from the south to the north so I can make my flight home (this will also giver me enough time to go from Varanasi to Agra, to Vrindavan and then to Delhi to come home!) So after the backwaters I'm headed to Kumily to see the tea plantations and where they grow all the spices, and also while im there I'll go to the wildlife sanctuary to try and see tigers and wild elephants. From there to Pundicherry for a few nights then to chennai then onwards!
I have a plan i just gotta stick to the timeline! so much to do!!
Here are my pics of Hampi and Bangalore, you might need to see part II later cause this computer is being really slow
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201080&id=90401387&l=f53460555f
part II
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201112&id=90401387&l=75e36148ad
sorry to hold out for so long, I was tres busy in Hampi.
My first day in Hampi, Jonny and I met up with antonia and some friends she had met on the bus (we also met Shelby on the bus, who came along with us as well) So the 6 of us got a coconut boat accross the river so we could climb up this big hill to a temple to the Monkey God was built, it was his birth place. At the top we had chai with the gurus that lived there, one of them was called Baba, which made me think of home but laught at the same time haha. So from the top you could see pretty far, and the landscape in Hampi is just hundreds of boulders just piled on top of one another all over the place creating these huge hills or mountains. To get to the top it took 601 steps. On the way down the Guru took us into this crazy cave, and then we walked about 5km before getting a Rickshaw back for some food.
The next day after antonia, Elie, and Danny left, the 3 of us remaining took an all day tour of the city and all of the ruins and temples. We started at 5:45am so we could catch the sunrise from the top of another mountain, it was tough, but it was really nice, the sun rose over all the hills and banana plantations, the whole area seemed consfused at weather with wanted to be paradise or a desert. In the afternoon after seeing everything, Shelby Jonny and I went and found the waterfall and went swimming in the river above it. The water was really nice and clean and the waterfall was really cool as it ran though all the boulders and kinda carved its way around.
My final day in Hampi was spent relaxing around town to recover from the sunrise start the morning before.
I left for Cochi (or Kochin) that night taking an over night sleeper train to Bangalore, where I then spent a day there wondering around, seeing how much it would cost to fix my camera (the screen is lighting up but not working so im shooting blind right now) Anyways we went bowling, looked around and went to the botanical gardens in the city. On our way back to Jo and Simons hotel (2 ppl we met in Hampi) the sky opened up and just POURED, way more then Ive seen in florida or anywhere else, it was NUTS. SO another over night train, a ferry, and now im in the Fort Cochi area of Cochi(Kochin). Jonny and I have met up again with Antonia, Danny, and Elia. Tomorrow the 5 of us will head to Appolly where we can get a houseboat for 24hrs and cruise along the backwaters and lagoons of Kerala.
When I was in Hampi, I also booked my train ticket from Chennai to Varanasi, so im now taking a 36hr train rise from the south to the north so I can make my flight home (this will also giver me enough time to go from Varanasi to Agra, to Vrindavan and then to Delhi to come home!) So after the backwaters I'm headed to Kumily to see the tea plantations and where they grow all the spices, and also while im there I'll go to the wildlife sanctuary to try and see tigers and wild elephants. From there to Pundicherry for a few nights then to chennai then onwards!
I have a plan i just gotta stick to the timeline! so much to do!!
Here are my pics of Hampi and Bangalore, you might need to see part II later cause this computer is being really slow
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201080&id=90401387&l=f53460555f
part II
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2201112&id=90401387&l=75e36148ad
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fade to White
Leaving paradise is probally one of the hardest parts of my trip. Although my wallet will be happy with the end of Polelem, my head is gonna be stuck here for a while. I was telling John the other day, I feel like my vacation is over already because i need to start travelling around and thinking again! With my flight booked for May 12th, I have a limited amount of time I can see the rest of india with.
My plan as of now is to head to hampi tonight for probally 2 nights then head down to kerala and spend 5 nights there, wondering around teh back waters and the coast. ive alloted myself 12 days to go from Pundicherry to Delhi, Im gonna fly from Chennai to Kolkata and then hit up Bodhgaya, Varanassi, Agra, and Vrindivan before headed back to delhi. The good thing of the plan is that Im aiming to get into Delhi mid-late afternoon on the 11th, allowing my to go straight to the airport for my 2:25am flight! which means i wont need to spend any more time in the del-hole then i have too! WOOOO
Also, when my camera got wet, it dried out and started working again, but now, its starting to mess up again, i need to blow into the lens for the screen to work! luckily it still takes pictures regardless, so things could be wrose.
As for my return, I fly back to TO on the 12th, but fly out to florida on the 14th and arrive back on the 18th, so lets save the party til then, florida will be nice to recover from the jet lag, a nice post-vacation vacation
Back to "work" for me!
Here are the rest of the Mumbai pictures,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199814&id=90401387&l=66a28f24ba
my pictures from Arambol and the train ride to Polelem,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200499&id=90401387&l=1f2c973569
And my pictures of Polelem, and now your literally up to date! (slash get aload of the yoga pics, dont be too jealous (of the spot and my abailities hahaha)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200503&id=90401387&l=53ec178c1d
My plan as of now is to head to hampi tonight for probally 2 nights then head down to kerala and spend 5 nights there, wondering around teh back waters and the coast. ive alloted myself 12 days to go from Pundicherry to Delhi, Im gonna fly from Chennai to Kolkata and then hit up Bodhgaya, Varanassi, Agra, and Vrindivan before headed back to delhi. The good thing of the plan is that Im aiming to get into Delhi mid-late afternoon on the 11th, allowing my to go straight to the airport for my 2:25am flight! which means i wont need to spend any more time in the del-hole then i have too! WOOOO
Also, when my camera got wet, it dried out and started working again, but now, its starting to mess up again, i need to blow into the lens for the screen to work! luckily it still takes pictures regardless, so things could be wrose.
As for my return, I fly back to TO on the 12th, but fly out to florida on the 14th and arrive back on the 18th, so lets save the party til then, florida will be nice to recover from the jet lag, a nice post-vacation vacation
Back to "work" for me!
Here are the rest of the Mumbai pictures,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199814&id=90401387&l=66a28f24ba
my pictures from Arambol and the train ride to Polelem,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200499&id=90401387&l=1f2c973569
And my pictures of Polelem, and now your literally up to date! (slash get aload of the yoga pics, dont be too jealous (of the spot and my abailities hahaha)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2200503&id=90401387&l=53ec178c1d
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The revival
i knows its been a few days, but its tough trying to find the energy to blog when youre some where this nice!
im down in Polelem now, so southern Goa, the beach is palm tree lined and theres tons of restaurants and all that good stuff, so lots of options, but mostly just alot of time spent on the beach! If I had died in Arambol, this is definitely my revival, fitting that I arrived here on easter....
so since ive been here ive done alot of relaxing, and alot of partying, the beer is just as cheap here as it was in arambol so i went to a party a few nights ago and because the tide came in we were stuck there until 3am because the tide flooded the rivier, o darn. What did suck though is that my camera fell into a puddle on the beach at the party! luckily its starting to come to, the screen wasnt working, but as of this morning it was back to normal, so im still gonna take it slow with the picture taking regardless.
Im doing yoga while im here, the place where the classes are is at the top of a hill with the ocean on 3 sides of it, so its reallllly nice, and i made a deal with the guy that i get 6 yoga classes and 4 massages for just over 60$ canadian, which is awesome! i already had my auverdic massage (i spelt that wrong) and today i had a "four-hand" massage, which was 2 ppl massaging me at once. it was awesome.
my beach hut is costing me about $1.50 a day, so im happy about that and its ridiculously close to the water, no more then 30m at the most, i just dont know what to do with myself.
anyways, im trying to get some photos up, but the computers here are being silly.
booking my plane ticket home tomorrow! ill be back on home soil may 20th, so mark your calenders!
im down in Polelem now, so southern Goa, the beach is palm tree lined and theres tons of restaurants and all that good stuff, so lots of options, but mostly just alot of time spent on the beach! If I had died in Arambol, this is definitely my revival, fitting that I arrived here on easter....
so since ive been here ive done alot of relaxing, and alot of partying, the beer is just as cheap here as it was in arambol so i went to a party a few nights ago and because the tide came in we were stuck there until 3am because the tide flooded the rivier, o darn. What did suck though is that my camera fell into a puddle on the beach at the party! luckily its starting to come to, the screen wasnt working, but as of this morning it was back to normal, so im still gonna take it slow with the picture taking regardless.
Im doing yoga while im here, the place where the classes are is at the top of a hill with the ocean on 3 sides of it, so its reallllly nice, and i made a deal with the guy that i get 6 yoga classes and 4 massages for just over 60$ canadian, which is awesome! i already had my auverdic massage (i spelt that wrong) and today i had a "four-hand" massage, which was 2 ppl massaging me at once. it was awesome.
my beach hut is costing me about $1.50 a day, so im happy about that and its ridiculously close to the water, no more then 30m at the most, i just dont know what to do with myself.
anyways, im trying to get some photos up, but the computers here are being silly.
booking my plane ticket home tomorrow! ill be back on home soil may 20th, so mark your calenders!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
I think I'm dead
Mumbai was pretty sweet, i've been hanging out with thses 2 guys i met on the bollywood set, dave from Oz and Rob from the UK, so we've been walking around the city and all that stuff, its been nice to meet ppl! the first night we went to chowpatty beach adn watched the sunset after wondering around all day and watching some random cricket games in the parks. then the next day when dave and rob did a slum tour i went and shopped around, got myself some lacoste polos (theyre half the price of the ones back at home so i got 2 to make it worth while haha). We also hung out with some girls from Iceland and Holland and went for a few drinks a Leopolds a cafe where there was some shoots a few months ago, i have some pictures of that too. The next day the 3 of us went on a huge tour of the city and saw the hanging gardens, Gondhi's house, a mosque in the bay and a whole bunch of stuff, it was pretty sweet. That night before Dave and I headed off to the train we met up with the german girls i was hanging out with in Udiapur and went for dinner and then found a Hooka bar and went there before catching the train to Goa.
Which is why i now question my mortality. Im in Arambol right now and im not sure ive been to a nice place. The room is 125Rs and im sharinf with with dave and a guy named john that we met on the train and its a 3 second walk from the beach and the beer is only 55Rs!!! (thats like $1.05 Can for a 650ml beer! its amazing i gave the hotel guy a hug when he told us haha) So i spent yesterday on the beach and im going to rent a scooter tody and head down to arjuna to take a look at that and then spend more time on teh beach! probally heading down to Polelem in a few days and then parking there for a week. WHICH MEANS POSTCARDS i know im doing them late, so let me know if your address has changes/will change in a month or so, i think that how long it takes to get there. And if you havent sent me your address dont expect a postcard, althought i bought 20 and i think i have 2 extras, so first come first served. Anyways, the weather is far too nice to be on a computer all day, below is more pictures from Udiapur and my first batch of Mumbai (please note my shoes on the bollywood set, my feet are too big and they didnt have my size, so they put me in sandels and then put black socks over top of them...the magic of movies)
Udiapur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199123&id=90401387&l=0c69e3171e
Mumbai (part 1)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199423&id=90401387&l=265d6cdf5d
Which is why i now question my mortality. Im in Arambol right now and im not sure ive been to a nice place. The room is 125Rs and im sharinf with with dave and a guy named john that we met on the train and its a 3 second walk from the beach and the beer is only 55Rs!!! (thats like $1.05 Can for a 650ml beer! its amazing i gave the hotel guy a hug when he told us haha) So i spent yesterday on the beach and im going to rent a scooter tody and head down to arjuna to take a look at that and then spend more time on teh beach! probally heading down to Polelem in a few days and then parking there for a week. WHICH MEANS POSTCARDS i know im doing them late, so let me know if your address has changes/will change in a month or so, i think that how long it takes to get there. And if you havent sent me your address dont expect a postcard, althought i bought 20 and i think i have 2 extras, so first come first served. Anyways, the weather is far too nice to be on a computer all day, below is more pictures from Udiapur and my first batch of Mumbai (please note my shoes on the bollywood set, my feet are too big and they didnt have my size, so they put me in sandels and then put black socks over top of them...the magic of movies)
Udiapur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199123&id=90401387&l=0c69e3171e
Mumbai (part 1)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2199423&id=90401387&l=265d6cdf5d
Monday, April 6, 2009
Mike takes Bollywood
Finishing up Udiapur, i hung out with the german girls for the rest of the day and ended up watching Octopussy on the roof top of a restaurant over looking the lake palace, which is where parts of the movie were filmed, so it was pretty cool enjoying some James Bond in India. The rest of Udiapur was fine, just kinda wondered around, have some nice pictures if i can ever find a place to put them up.
The trip from Udiapur to Mumbai was LONG, it took about 18hrs total, and the traffice was insane! Ive seen Toronto, New York, LA, and Miami rush hour traffic, but this was NUTS, there are sooo many ppl here that the traffic is just crazy. HOWEVER, i am throuoghly enjoying Mumbai! Its like a "civilized" oasis within india, the city is almost developed and aside from the hundreds of ppl sleeping on the streets every night, theres lots of big buildings and sidewalks! its almost like being at home!
Upon arriving at the Salvation Army Hostel in Mumbai, we (me, a dutch girl and a girl from Iceland) were asked to be extras in a Bollywood movie! so I made an extra 500Rs last night! The movie is titled "BLUE" starrig Kylie Minogue and Katrina Kaif, it was a evening restaurant scene and im totally in the shot! at least twice! hahaha so im going to have to watch the movie when it comes out and you all should too! im gonna be famous ya'll!
so we ended up shooting until about 230 and got back to the hostel around 430 so it was a late night.
Cant get into my online banking, hopfully i wont starve, probally heading to Goa on thursday, met a bunch of ppl here in Mumbai headed down that way, so yay for company!
The trip from Udiapur to Mumbai was LONG, it took about 18hrs total, and the traffice was insane! Ive seen Toronto, New York, LA, and Miami rush hour traffic, but this was NUTS, there are sooo many ppl here that the traffic is just crazy. HOWEVER, i am throuoghly enjoying Mumbai! Its like a "civilized" oasis within india, the city is almost developed and aside from the hundreds of ppl sleeping on the streets every night, theres lots of big buildings and sidewalks! its almost like being at home!
Upon arriving at the Salvation Army Hostel in Mumbai, we (me, a dutch girl and a girl from Iceland) were asked to be extras in a Bollywood movie! so I made an extra 500Rs last night! The movie is titled "BLUE" starrig Kylie Minogue and Katrina Kaif, it was a evening restaurant scene and im totally in the shot! at least twice! hahaha so im going to have to watch the movie when it comes out and you all should too! im gonna be famous ya'll!
so we ended up shooting until about 230 and got back to the hostel around 430 so it was a late night.
Cant get into my online banking, hopfully i wont starve, probally heading to Goa on thursday, met a bunch of ppl here in Mumbai headed down that way, so yay for company!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
What lake palace?
Udiapur has been really nice so far. The hotel im staying at is about 20mins walk outside of the city, but its really nice, and tres cheap! so yesterday i got lost within the city and had to take a rikshaw to get to the lake, and even then it was a bit of a wlk through the market to find the actual lake...which turned out was dried up!! So theres this really pretty palace in the middle of the "lake" with minimal water surrounding it. I walked along the lake bed and took a bunch of pictures and read my book while sitting on a rock in the lake, it was nice, and on that note, ive finished pillars of the earth, another good one, very captivating, but on to the tailsman!
On my way to Udiapur i met some German girls on the bus from Jaisalmer to Udiapur so ive been hanging out with them a bit which is nice to have some company for a change. And so far, i think Udiapur might be in competition with Rishikesh for my favourite spot so far, although Jaisalmer was really nice too.
Pics from Jaisalmer and here in Udiapur are ready to be put up, but the computers arent cooperating, maybe tomorrow before i leave for the bus, if not then it'll hvae to wait til Mumbai
On my way to Udiapur i met some German girls on the bus from Jaisalmer to Udiapur so ive been hanging out with them a bit which is nice to have some company for a change. And so far, i think Udiapur might be in competition with Rishikesh for my favourite spot so far, although Jaisalmer was really nice too.
Pics from Jaisalmer and here in Udiapur are ready to be put up, but the computers arent cooperating, maybe tomorrow before i leave for the bus, if not then it'll hvae to wait til Mumbai
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The end of the safari...
I forgot the end! When i got back to the hotel, they kid who sold me the safari had told me that if i was going by myself i could get my money back, so i bartered with the hotel to clean my clothes for free instead, so i stil hvaent had to pay for laundry yet, woooo
putting up some pictures now
Heres Amritsar:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197647&id=90401387&l=a780d47809
Delhi part 2 with sheila and kathryn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198471&id=90401387&l=9c16c63371
Jaipur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198473&id=90401387&l=6ab82482ef
Just the desert and Udiapur to go then im up to day!
putting up some pictures now
Heres Amritsar:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197647&id=90401387&l=a780d47809
Delhi part 2 with sheila and kathryn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198471&id=90401387&l=9c16c63371
Jaipur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198473&id=90401387&l=6ab82482ef
Just the desert and Udiapur to go then im up to day!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
And this is my camel Papu
A few notes before getting into my adventure. Im starting to think as a narrative...i find myself think, he said, or describing my emotions and what im thinking as if im reading it, its awkward and i think it means ive been reading too much, i blame dawn and the book list she gave me.
Jaipur was sweet, i ended up seeing the jewel guy again and he wanted to meet me for lunch, but i bailed and hafiz was a little pissed, but whatever. The train ride to jaisalmer was nice, other then the fact that i payed 690Rs for my ticket and then when i got on the train, i was told it was for the night before, so the guy i bought my ticket frm at the counter messed up bad and i was pissed. So the conductor had me buy a new ticket, which was tech 2 tickets, and pay the "no ticket fee" so i ended up paying 1025Rs PLUS the 690, not impressed.
Jaisalmer has been sweet, the city is really nice and i havent been asked for a rikshaw yet! its wonderful! I just got back from a 2night 3day camel safari into the desert which was really cool, but not as good as the fraiser island trip haha
there was me and the sarfari guide, and that was it, there were suppose to be 2 others (from vancouver too) but they never showed up. ill get to that soon. The sarfari was cool, papu (my camel) was really awesome, and Rupe the other camel had a sagging lip because he got in a camel fight and tore the part that connects the lip to the gum so his lip was always open. We stopped at some villages on our way to the big sand dune and in the villages the kids were nuts! they were all asking me for pens and rupees and chocolate, and when i said i didnt have anything they started to pat me down to look! a little invasive and creepy haha.
so that night we slpet in the open air in the middle of the desert (although not alot of sand dunes, just barren waste land sorta desert) from the dune you could see the boarder lights of pakistan which was cool. the stars were nice, but you could see them better in australia because of all the dust and pollution over the country.
during the days i saw tons of jets flying over head, and was a lil skeptical until i FINALLY met some other and concluded that they were training which made sense (india and pakistan both had military bases other there, and the states does all there testing over the desert as well, so it makes sense) also there were 100s of wind terbines other there, like a massive wind farm, but apparently it doesnt make that much energy.
the sleeps were bad, the sand doenst do good things to the back, nor does 5 hours on a camel each day. Ill probally put more pictures up tomorrow, internet is pretty cheap here, but i want dinner!
headed to Udipur tomorrow night, yay adventure!
Jaipur was sweet, i ended up seeing the jewel guy again and he wanted to meet me for lunch, but i bailed and hafiz was a little pissed, but whatever. The train ride to jaisalmer was nice, other then the fact that i payed 690Rs for my ticket and then when i got on the train, i was told it was for the night before, so the guy i bought my ticket frm at the counter messed up bad and i was pissed. So the conductor had me buy a new ticket, which was tech 2 tickets, and pay the "no ticket fee" so i ended up paying 1025Rs PLUS the 690, not impressed.
Jaisalmer has been sweet, the city is really nice and i havent been asked for a rikshaw yet! its wonderful! I just got back from a 2night 3day camel safari into the desert which was really cool, but not as good as the fraiser island trip haha
there was me and the sarfari guide, and that was it, there were suppose to be 2 others (from vancouver too) but they never showed up. ill get to that soon. The sarfari was cool, papu (my camel) was really awesome, and Rupe the other camel had a sagging lip because he got in a camel fight and tore the part that connects the lip to the gum so his lip was always open. We stopped at some villages on our way to the big sand dune and in the villages the kids were nuts! they were all asking me for pens and rupees and chocolate, and when i said i didnt have anything they started to pat me down to look! a little invasive and creepy haha.
so that night we slpet in the open air in the middle of the desert (although not alot of sand dunes, just barren waste land sorta desert) from the dune you could see the boarder lights of pakistan which was cool. the stars were nice, but you could see them better in australia because of all the dust and pollution over the country.
during the days i saw tons of jets flying over head, and was a lil skeptical until i FINALLY met some other and concluded that they were training which made sense (india and pakistan both had military bases other there, and the states does all there testing over the desert as well, so it makes sense) also there were 100s of wind terbines other there, like a massive wind farm, but apparently it doesnt make that much energy.
the sleeps were bad, the sand doenst do good things to the back, nor does 5 hours on a camel each day. Ill probally put more pictures up tomorrow, internet is pretty cheap here, but i want dinner!
headed to Udipur tomorrow night, yay adventure!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
More Pictures!
So i have all my pics from australia up now, below is the end of my trip in Oz, Sailing on the GBR and Cairns, Brisbane
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197630&id=90401387&l=469d811974
and here is my first day in Delhi! Dont i look happy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197632&id=90401387&l=ab419a579a
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197630&id=90401387&l=469d811974
and here is my first day in Delhi! Dont i look happy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197632&id=90401387&l=ab419a579a
Friday, March 27, 2009
Jaipur
Hey! So i made it out of Delhi!!!!
it sucks that Sheila and Kathryn are gone, but now im traveling without a deadline, which is liberating almost! In Oz i new i had to be out by March 12th, so i had to rush through everything and keep on the move to see everything, adn travelling through northern india i had to do the same knowing i needed to be in delhi by march 23rd, but now! theres nothing constricting me! so ive spent a few days here in Jaipur now and im headed to Jailsimer tomorrow night where ill be able to do a camel ride and camping trip out to the desert, so that should be ballin.
Jaipur has been really good, the people here are nice to the point of guilty, so even being the dick i am, its still hard to say no! I got a tour of the city yesterday and saw the elephants all painted up and the camels all dressed up too, i saw the water palace (although the good one is in udipur, where im headed after Jailsimer). The guy showing me around even let me drive the rickshaw!! it was pretty cool and everyone was staring, its not everyday theres a white boy driving a cab hahaha
Last time, the guys who drove me from the train station to the hotel came and took me out for some drinks, which was nice, sketchy, but nice...i left my wallet and the majority of my money at the hotel just incase, same with my Trav Cheqs, but it was good, i tried the Indian whiskey, which is actually produced by Seagrams, so who knew!
While i was there though, his friend told me about how hes a jewellery dealer and that to import ot canada cost 250% tax, and that if i was willing to forge selling documents and have the parcels mailed to me in canada, only to give them to his cousin who would then write up papers claiming that my family didnt like them and i would hand them over to his cousin for about 5000pounds he said, so about 10,000$ canadian! it was a little too good to be true, and the lonely planet book warned me about it, and that i would end up paying massive taxes and all that stuff, so im gonna try to avoid the guy if i can, but if not im gonna have to let him down, its nuts either way, hahaha
im not sure if i mentioned it before, but sheila has been kinda enough to lend me her memory card converter, so im finally posting pictures!! i have the pics from byron bay and surfers finally up and im starting on my rainbow beach and fraier island pics, i think ill only get the 2 done today, ill have to wait on the others, otherwise the internet is gonna get a bit expensive today hahaha, so here are the links below!
Byron Bay and Surfers
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197538&id=90401387&l=edacf5427c
Rainbow Beach and Fraiser Island (Part I)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197539&id=90401387&l=8f8b86a665
Rainbow Beach and Fraiser Island (Part II)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197540&id=90401387&l=7abdc9285f
it sucks that Sheila and Kathryn are gone, but now im traveling without a deadline, which is liberating almost! In Oz i new i had to be out by March 12th, so i had to rush through everything and keep on the move to see everything, adn travelling through northern india i had to do the same knowing i needed to be in delhi by march 23rd, but now! theres nothing constricting me! so ive spent a few days here in Jaipur now and im headed to Jailsimer tomorrow night where ill be able to do a camel ride and camping trip out to the desert, so that should be ballin.
Jaipur has been really good, the people here are nice to the point of guilty, so even being the dick i am, its still hard to say no! I got a tour of the city yesterday and saw the elephants all painted up and the camels all dressed up too, i saw the water palace (although the good one is in udipur, where im headed after Jailsimer). The guy showing me around even let me drive the rickshaw!! it was pretty cool and everyone was staring, its not everyday theres a white boy driving a cab hahaha
Last time, the guys who drove me from the train station to the hotel came and took me out for some drinks, which was nice, sketchy, but nice...i left my wallet and the majority of my money at the hotel just incase, same with my Trav Cheqs, but it was good, i tried the Indian whiskey, which is actually produced by Seagrams, so who knew!
While i was there though, his friend told me about how hes a jewellery dealer and that to import ot canada cost 250% tax, and that if i was willing to forge selling documents and have the parcels mailed to me in canada, only to give them to his cousin who would then write up papers claiming that my family didnt like them and i would hand them over to his cousin for about 5000pounds he said, so about 10,000$ canadian! it was a little too good to be true, and the lonely planet book warned me about it, and that i would end up paying massive taxes and all that stuff, so im gonna try to avoid the guy if i can, but if not im gonna have to let him down, its nuts either way, hahaha
im not sure if i mentioned it before, but sheila has been kinda enough to lend me her memory card converter, so im finally posting pictures!! i have the pics from byron bay and surfers finally up and im starting on my rainbow beach and fraier island pics, i think ill only get the 2 done today, ill have to wait on the others, otherwise the internet is gonna get a bit expensive today hahaha, so here are the links below!
Byron Bay and Surfers
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197538&id=90401387&l=edacf5427c
Rainbow Beach and Fraiser Island (Part I)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197539&id=90401387&l=8f8b86a665
Rainbow Beach and Fraiser Island (Part II)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197540&id=90401387&l=7abdc9285f
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Del-hole
Were we left off...
I had just been to amritsar, which was 100% better then jammu, where i saw a whole bunch of muesums and then went to some funky temples and saw the silver temple and the golden temple, so tres cool. I took a "sleeper" bus to delhi from Amritsar, which was ballin! i had a cabin all to myself and could just lie down and stretch out, so it was really nice.
Arriving in Delhi was fine, the hotel the girls booked was really fancy, and expensive, but Kathryn talked the price down. We wondered around Connaught Palce, which was actually somewhat developed and seemed like somewhere i could coexist compared to other places in the city. So we went to some fancy resturants and bought a cake to celebrate my birthday for real! it was really good and i had a great day.
Today we went to the zoo and saw a bunch of places around town, i tryed to convince Sheila and Kathryn to go to the Canadian Embassy, but they werte a bunch of debbie downers. The zoo was good, but definitely not up to snuff with any other nice zoo in the world, but i saw a baby rhino!
Anyways, im headed to Jaipur tonight and then will be going around Rajistan until heading to Mumbai, then i want to spend a week or 2 in Goa and just relax and regroup on the beach, ive been going everywhere and i want a break (or to go home! im not sure which yet)
also...i forgot about st pattys day, i hope ya'll pounded a few extra green beers for me!!
I had just been to amritsar, which was 100% better then jammu, where i saw a whole bunch of muesums and then went to some funky temples and saw the silver temple and the golden temple, so tres cool. I took a "sleeper" bus to delhi from Amritsar, which was ballin! i had a cabin all to myself and could just lie down and stretch out, so it was really nice.
Arriving in Delhi was fine, the hotel the girls booked was really fancy, and expensive, but Kathryn talked the price down. We wondered around Connaught Palce, which was actually somewhat developed and seemed like somewhere i could coexist compared to other places in the city. So we went to some fancy resturants and bought a cake to celebrate my birthday for real! it was really good and i had a great day.
Today we went to the zoo and saw a bunch of places around town, i tryed to convince Sheila and Kathryn to go to the Canadian Embassy, but they werte a bunch of debbie downers. The zoo was good, but definitely not up to snuff with any other nice zoo in the world, but i saw a baby rhino!
Anyways, im headed to Jaipur tonight and then will be going around Rajistan until heading to Mumbai, then i want to spend a week or 2 in Goa and just relax and regroup on the beach, ive been going everywhere and i want a break (or to go home! im not sure which yet)
also...i forgot about st pattys day, i hope ya'll pounded a few extra green beers for me!!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
My Birthday in Jammu
I left Manali thusday night at 5 in preparation for the 12hr bus ride that turned into 14hrs. Upon arriving into Jammu I was greeted with a bag search by the local police, obviously I didnt get into any trouble. When i finally got off the bus the autorickshaw tried charging me 50Rs for a 2min drive and then he couldnt find me a hotel and the one he did find was 500Rs a night and CRAP, and we had to walk there! I talked them down to 400/night and the thing was alot of hotels wouldnt take me because i was North American and Jammu is located in Kashmir which is still kinda hostile...which didnt result in a very good birthday, crappy room, dirty dirty city, although there were some good temples, the city was just too intense with all the military around and ppl acting shady. So i passed out at 4:30 and accidently slept til 11:30 so everything was closed when i woke up, then I watched some cricket and fell back asleep. Overall, crappy day, but the Birthday celebration will be in Delhi when I finally meet up with Sheila and Catherine.
In Amritsar now, home of the golden temple, so ill go see that and some of the other things in town then head to Delhi on the 23rd!
thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!
In Amritsar now, home of the golden temple, so ill go see that and some of the other things in town then head to Delhi on the 23rd!
thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Himalayas
So after relazing for the past 2 days in Rishikesh, ive moves north to Manali!
Rishikesh was cool, did alot of sight seeing and saw a ceremony on the Ganges river, got some good pics too. Took an early morning yoga class, which wasnt bad, but ive had better...over all Rishikesh was really relaxiong and exactly what i needed after 2 days in delhi hahaha
The 16hr bus ride to Manali was something else tho, they crammed as many ppl into the bus as possible so all our luggage had to be put on the roof as we were driving along the cliffs at night. The bus was filled with ~90% buddhist monks who kept getting off and untieing the roof rack to get their stuff but then not tieing other ppls things back on! so the last leg of the trip i think my bag was a bit loose but it survived hahaha.
So I only got into Manali this morning and wanted to get on the internet because ive been computer free for 3 days now! (its a feat, believe me haha) So I probally wont be back online until I head back to Delhi, so ill aim for the 21st/22nd, just so I can hear all the birthday wishes from the otherside of the world. Its gonna be weird not being around anyone for my birthday this year, but Ive saved the cards my family gave me to open on my birthday, cuz i figured I wanted SOMETHING to do on it.
So the 23rd ill be back in Delhi (buh) to see Sheila and Catherine until they head back to Canada and I head south, which is the complete opposite of what I'm experiencing right now! (I can see snow! its on the top of the mountains, but it still counts)
Rishikesh was cool, did alot of sight seeing and saw a ceremony on the Ganges river, got some good pics too. Took an early morning yoga class, which wasnt bad, but ive had better...over all Rishikesh was really relaxiong and exactly what i needed after 2 days in delhi hahaha
The 16hr bus ride to Manali was something else tho, they crammed as many ppl into the bus as possible so all our luggage had to be put on the roof as we were driving along the cliffs at night. The bus was filled with ~90% buddhist monks who kept getting off and untieing the roof rack to get their stuff but then not tieing other ppls things back on! so the last leg of the trip i think my bag was a bit loose but it survived hahaha.
So I only got into Manali this morning and wanted to get on the internet because ive been computer free for 3 days now! (its a feat, believe me haha) So I probally wont be back online until I head back to Delhi, so ill aim for the 21st/22nd, just so I can hear all the birthday wishes from the otherside of the world. Its gonna be weird not being around anyone for my birthday this year, but Ive saved the cards my family gave me to open on my birthday, cuz i figured I wanted SOMETHING to do on it.
So the 23rd ill be back in Delhi (buh) to see Sheila and Catherine until they head back to Canada and I head south, which is the complete opposite of what I'm experiencing right now! (I can see snow! its on the top of the mountains, but it still counts)
Friday, March 13, 2009
My 1st thoughts in India... I WANT TO GO HOME
seriously, its a zoo here, it took 3hrs for me to get from the airport to the hotel (if you can call it that, its tres sketchy) but its not too bad...the noise doesnt stop so im glad i hvae earplugs, and the flight from brisbane to Kuala Lumpur was good, they had movies on demand, so i watched Twilight and fell asleep watching Dead Poets Society, but who knew it was possible for a 2yr old to cry for 6hrs straight! Already ive been brought to 2 scams, and ive also killed presents for my mum and sister (i hope you guys like them) now i just need to figure out what to get the rest of the family!
The hotel im at has internet, hense the blog, but i think im gonna go pass out cuz im friggin exhausted!
Headed to Rishikesh tomorrow night, its where the beatles visited when they came to india, and ill slowly be making my way north to Manali and Jammu which is suppose to have some wicked temples. I also bought myself a painting of the Rasa Lila (only Jen Marvin will understand, but i dont know if shes reading the blog or not...hmmm)
anyways, im safe, have a room, have a personal driver within the city named Sham, so Delhis just a bit much and im ready to leave and not come back until sheila gets here hahaha
The hotel im at has internet, hense the blog, but i think im gonna go pass out cuz im friggin exhausted!
Headed to Rishikesh tomorrow night, its where the beatles visited when they came to india, and ill slowly be making my way north to Manali and Jammu which is suppose to have some wicked temples. I also bought myself a painting of the Rasa Lila (only Jen Marvin will understand, but i dont know if shes reading the blog or not...hmmm)
anyways, im safe, have a room, have a personal driver within the city named Sham, so Delhis just a bit much and im ready to leave and not come back until sheila gets here hahaha
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Animals I forgot about...
So i realized there was a bunch of stuff about all the cool animals i saw and forgot about so bare with me...
So in Sydney, I saw wild cockatoos, those giant bats (apparently theyre flying foxes, thank you vero) and Ibis' (weird looking birds, i think theyre like Oz's canadian goose, cuz theyre EVERYWHERE)
In Byron when i arrived i walked down to the beach and as I was reading I saw a pod of Pasific Bottlenosed Dolphins swimming along the shore, about 25 of them, it was really cool, but the surfers moved in not to distrub them...
On Fraiser Island I saw Dingos (i have pictures of that) and a bald eagle on the beach, it flew away before I could run over it hahaha, and TONS of Osprey
AND when i was on the bus going to Harveys Bay after fraiser island, i was looking out the window and saw a bunch of Kangaroo standing in a feild watching the bus go by!
And then I saw everyfish ever in the Whitsundays, clown fish, parrot fish, sunfish, angel fish, blowfish, and i think i already told you all about how i swam in the middle of a school of bait fish, and i saw a starfish and sea anemie and a sea turtle!
hopefully ill see a tiger and elephants in india!!
So in Sydney, I saw wild cockatoos, those giant bats (apparently theyre flying foxes, thank you vero) and Ibis' (weird looking birds, i think theyre like Oz's canadian goose, cuz theyre EVERYWHERE)
In Byron when i arrived i walked down to the beach and as I was reading I saw a pod of Pasific Bottlenosed Dolphins swimming along the shore, about 25 of them, it was really cool, but the surfers moved in not to distrub them...
On Fraiser Island I saw Dingos (i have pictures of that) and a bald eagle on the beach, it flew away before I could run over it hahaha, and TONS of Osprey
AND when i was on the bus going to Harveys Bay after fraiser island, i was looking out the window and saw a bunch of Kangaroo standing in a feild watching the bus go by!
And then I saw everyfish ever in the Whitsundays, clown fish, parrot fish, sunfish, angel fish, blowfish, and i think i already told you all about how i swam in the middle of a school of bait fish, and i saw a starfish and sea anemie and a sea turtle!
hopefully ill see a tiger and elephants in india!!
Off to India!
So I know I havent updated this in a while, I've been busy chillin out (mostly just reading eclipse and breaking dawn hahaha, but they were both sooo good!!) and its been raining all week here in brisbane so i havent been able to get into too much trouble...Laura and BJ have been awesome, I tried Kangaroo last night, it wasnt too bad it was just a tenderer beef really, i doubt i would have tasted the difference...
Im not sure if ill find anywhere in India to load my pictures, so there might be a mad rush of photos when i come back in may, so be prepared hahaha. I hvae Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, Rainbow beach and fraisers island, Airlie Beach and Whitsundays, im not sure if i got any photos in Cairns (was a bit preoccupied with the whole lost my debit card thing) and i dont know if i got any here in Brisbane (ill see what i can do walking back to powells)
My flight leaves tonight for India...Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur at 11:25pm then Kuala Lumpur to Delhi at 8:05am arr. at 11:15am in Delhi (flying with Malaysia Airlines flights 140 and 184) Im staying in Delhi at the Swagat Palace (570247060) (all that was really more to ease my parents so they know what the deal is haha)
thats really about it, got my misquito net and malaria pills the other day, so really brisbane hasnt been too wild! got 2 more books after selling some back, so things are moving along, now to just get ready for india!!
Im not sure if ill find anywhere in India to load my pictures, so there might be a mad rush of photos when i come back in may, so be prepared hahaha. I hvae Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, Rainbow beach and fraisers island, Airlie Beach and Whitsundays, im not sure if i got any photos in Cairns (was a bit preoccupied with the whole lost my debit card thing) and i dont know if i got any here in Brisbane (ill see what i can do walking back to powells)
My flight leaves tonight for India...Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur at 11:25pm then Kuala Lumpur to Delhi at 8:05am arr. at 11:15am in Delhi (flying with Malaysia Airlines flights 140 and 184) Im staying in Delhi at the Swagat Palace (570247060) (all that was really more to ease my parents so they know what the deal is haha)
thats really about it, got my misquito net and malaria pills the other day, so really brisbane hasnt been too wild! got 2 more books after selling some back, so things are moving along, now to just get ready for india!!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Here comes the story 'bout the Hurricane
So as I mentioned the other day I was headed into the Hurricane in Cairns, well the Hurricane missed us, but i ended up in a totally different type of Hurricane...
I got some books at the used book store (finally found a used copy of Breaking Dawn and To Kill a Mockingbird) and I ran out of cash, so I went to the Westpac ATM (so i dont get any service fees of anything like that) . As I finished withdrawling 150$AUS it tells me to remove my card to get the cash, and low and behold, it refused to spit out the card, so i never got the cash and it kept my card, so now im stuck in Cairns with now money, and no debit card... Westpac told me to call scotia or to wait until monday morning to go get my card from the Branch, but my flight leaves for Brisbane sunday morning at 6am.
So now i have a few options, im going to call my flight and see how much it will cost me to delay it until monday afternoon, or I can take my chances and try to get Scotia to fedex me a new card to Brisbane before I leave for India on thursday.
Quite the pickle, but ive left the panic behind me, i have options and now its just getting around them buh
other then that though I bought a wicked pair of Volcom shorts this morning for 35$ which is like 25-30$ canadian! wohoo!
I got some books at the used book store (finally found a used copy of Breaking Dawn and To Kill a Mockingbird) and I ran out of cash, so I went to the Westpac ATM (so i dont get any service fees of anything like that) . As I finished withdrawling 150$AUS it tells me to remove my card to get the cash, and low and behold, it refused to spit out the card, so i never got the cash and it kept my card, so now im stuck in Cairns with now money, and no debit card... Westpac told me to call scotia or to wait until monday morning to go get my card from the Branch, but my flight leaves for Brisbane sunday morning at 6am.
So now i have a few options, im going to call my flight and see how much it will cost me to delay it until monday afternoon, or I can take my chances and try to get Scotia to fedex me a new card to Brisbane before I leave for India on thursday.
Quite the pickle, but ive left the panic behind me, i have options and now its just getting around them buh
other then that though I bought a wicked pair of Volcom shorts this morning for 35$ which is like 25-30$ canadian! wohoo!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Snokling the Great Barrier Reef and Sailing the Whitsundays
Hey everyone!
So tuesday night i left for the sailing trip with 27 others through the whitsundays and up to the great barrier reef. It was pretty awesome, i may have liked fraiser island a bit better, but thats more because of the people (although dont get me wrong, the ppl i actually hung out with on the boat with awesome and I had a great great time with them)
So we left late at night and arrived at Whitsunday island that night and got to spend some time on the beach (Whitehaven Beach) the next day...the sand was ERXACTLY like the sand in seista key, if not more white and lighter, it was pretty surreal. On the beach we had our introductory scuba dive lesson, which was pretty cool, the instructor was impressed with the 4 of us (myself, Tobias (Gerany) Mark (UK) and Andrew (also UK)). And obvously encouraged us to go diving with him at the other reefs.
So that afternoon we headed off to Hook Island, and I scuba dived in Luncheon bay...the catch was that if i wanted to scuba on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) I had to go then as well, so it ended up costing me an extra $125 for 2 dives, but when the heck else am i going to have an oppourtunity to do something like this! (and think of how jealous elliot would be!! hahaha)
So I weent scuba diving at Hook Island and saw some pretty awesome coral and some really really cool fish
We sailed through the night and got to the GBR, bait reef to be exact, around midnightish and set up shop there. In the morning I went scuba diving again and it was BALLIN!! we went right down into these deep caverns and was just surrounded by coral and saw some clown fish and everything! (I saw so many fish that i have no idea the names of half of them)... so we kept scuba-ing around there then headed deeper into the GBR and went to Hardy Reef...so i had already spent 125 on 2 dives and a 3rd would have been 180, but it kept getting cheaper the more dives you do, so it was a slippery slope and i had to resist. So at Hardy Reef I snokled and saw just as much IF NOT MORE then i would have diving. When I was snokling around i was diving all over the place and saw some massssssiiivvve fish, like at least 4ft long, it was nuts, saw some blow fish and parrot fish and just some massive angel fish and some that were neon blue, and then i found a school of bait fish (you know the ones that make a big fish and an arrow in finding nemo, them) and swam right in the middle of them!! just i looked down, left right and in front and they were everywhere, it was really really cool. Saw a star fish too! BASICALLY, if it was in planet earth/blue planet I saw it...David Attenbourogh doesnt have shit on me hahaha...
So then this morning we left the GBR and went to Hayman Island and snorkled a bunch there and there were tons of fish there, but i had seen most of them and there was a ton of jellyfish there, so even in my stinger suit i think one still managed to sting my ankle.
Spent alot of time on the boat sailing from place to place, but I managed to finish The Colour Purple, which started slow, but i REALLY enjoied by the end of it, so now im on to memoirs of a geisha, which is shaping up to be really good, i didnt realize it was an actual memoir, i just thought that was the title, hahaha...
So im on the 8:15pm bus to Cairns tonight (where there apparently is going to be a cyclone hitting soon, so pray that it will hit after my flight to brisbane sunday morning!!), 24hrs in Cairns tomorrow and off to Brisbane at 6am sunday, then India on THURSDAY!!!! buh! where has the time gone!!
Also, life doesnt stop with me here hahaha, Jew (Zach haha) got TV on the Radio tickets for June 3rd for which I will have made my gloriouos return by then hahaha, so thats exciting! I already have plans in Canada!! hahaha
So tuesday night i left for the sailing trip with 27 others through the whitsundays and up to the great barrier reef. It was pretty awesome, i may have liked fraiser island a bit better, but thats more because of the people (although dont get me wrong, the ppl i actually hung out with on the boat with awesome and I had a great great time with them)
So we left late at night and arrived at Whitsunday island that night and got to spend some time on the beach (Whitehaven Beach) the next day...the sand was ERXACTLY like the sand in seista key, if not more white and lighter, it was pretty surreal. On the beach we had our introductory scuba dive lesson, which was pretty cool, the instructor was impressed with the 4 of us (myself, Tobias (Gerany) Mark (UK) and Andrew (also UK)). And obvously encouraged us to go diving with him at the other reefs.
So that afternoon we headed off to Hook Island, and I scuba dived in Luncheon bay...the catch was that if i wanted to scuba on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) I had to go then as well, so it ended up costing me an extra $125 for 2 dives, but when the heck else am i going to have an oppourtunity to do something like this! (and think of how jealous elliot would be!! hahaha)
So I weent scuba diving at Hook Island and saw some pretty awesome coral and some really really cool fish
We sailed through the night and got to the GBR, bait reef to be exact, around midnightish and set up shop there. In the morning I went scuba diving again and it was BALLIN!! we went right down into these deep caverns and was just surrounded by coral and saw some clown fish and everything! (I saw so many fish that i have no idea the names of half of them)... so we kept scuba-ing around there then headed deeper into the GBR and went to Hardy Reef...so i had already spent 125 on 2 dives and a 3rd would have been 180, but it kept getting cheaper the more dives you do, so it was a slippery slope and i had to resist. So at Hardy Reef I snokled and saw just as much IF NOT MORE then i would have diving. When I was snokling around i was diving all over the place and saw some massssssiiivvve fish, like at least 4ft long, it was nuts, saw some blow fish and parrot fish and just some massive angel fish and some that were neon blue, and then i found a school of bait fish (you know the ones that make a big fish and an arrow in finding nemo, them) and swam right in the middle of them!! just i looked down, left right and in front and they were everywhere, it was really really cool. Saw a star fish too! BASICALLY, if it was in planet earth/blue planet I saw it...David Attenbourogh doesnt have shit on me hahaha...
So then this morning we left the GBR and went to Hayman Island and snorkled a bunch there and there were tons of fish there, but i had seen most of them and there was a ton of jellyfish there, so even in my stinger suit i think one still managed to sting my ankle.
Spent alot of time on the boat sailing from place to place, but I managed to finish The Colour Purple, which started slow, but i REALLY enjoied by the end of it, so now im on to memoirs of a geisha, which is shaping up to be really good, i didnt realize it was an actual memoir, i just thought that was the title, hahaha...
So im on the 8:15pm bus to Cairns tonight (where there apparently is going to be a cyclone hitting soon, so pray that it will hit after my flight to brisbane sunday morning!!), 24hrs in Cairns tomorrow and off to Brisbane at 6am sunday, then India on THURSDAY!!!! buh! where has the time gone!!
Also, life doesnt stop with me here hahaha, Jew (Zach haha) got TV on the Radio tickets for June 3rd for which I will have made my gloriouos return by then hahaha, so thats exciting! I already have plans in Canada!! hahaha
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Fraiser Island
This might be long...im sorry, but its worth it i promise!
So a couple of nights ago we met our groups, there was 16 of us total, but we were in 2 cars so 8 in each, my car was composed of myself, silvano (but was soon dubbed silvy, hes irish) and a group of 6 german 19yr old girls travelling together...buh. The other group was pretty awesome, 3 ppl from ireland (marty, james, and mary), 2 girls from england (Zoe and Angela), 2 girls from sweden (Sanna and Jenny), and another guy from england (Chris). So we grocery shopped the night before to prep for the morning, and got going the next day around 830 (up at 730 for the free breakfast tho).
After packing up our 4x4s the our 2 trucks headed off to fraiser island. Obviously, i chose to drive, so Silvy and I were the only drivers in our car, therefore we had the front seats and the german girls had the back. Leaving the hostel, I drove first, and immediately drove made a right turn into the rightside lane, unfortunately, they drive on the left in Australia, so we were off to a good start hahaha.
Fraiser is a national park, so there werent really any roads there, the one road that we had to start on was crazy bumpy and the german girls in the back were flying all over the place. The first day had us driving along the beach towards the village Eroug and then towards lake McKenzie...driving on the beach was AMAZING, going 80-90km next to the surf was definitely something ill be forgetting quickly. We werent allowed to swim in the ocean because there are alot of sharks and jellyfish around the island, so the lake was somewhat inland, but that was still really sweet to drive along. Lake McKenzie itself was GORGEOUS. WHITE WHITE sand, just like Seista Key, if not whiter, and the water was turquoise, just beautiful...and while were were there the next morning a dingo came wondering along the beach and started steal ppls food, they were actually pretty ballsy coming that close to ppl, but the park ranger said they wont bite unless theres pups around.
So the first night we camped out and the 2 groups stayed together, it was really sweet. The original intention was that because silvy and I drove and packed/unpacked the top of the van, the girls would do the cooking and cleaning, sounds fair...but that DEFINITELY did not happen. On top of driving all day, unloading and loading the roof of the truck, I made the hamburgers the first night (which were awesome), and the pasta the next night, and on top of it all, We had to tell them to clean up and every little thing...they werent all bad, there were a few who would help out, but overall, im glad the other group was there, cuz there would have been at leat 1 or 2 germans remaining on the island.
The next day we went to the lake again and then drove up the beach to the champange pools, theyre some shallow spots along the beach that the waves flow over and makes it look like bubbling champange. The beach was about 75km long, so there was alot of beach driving, so it was really sweet. That night we camped at K'Gari, which was an aboriginal site, so I learned how to play the didgeridoo, and actually got some sound out of it!! Nick (the guy who ran teh campsite) was showing us the spirits and ghosts that appear in our photos, so once i find somewhere to upload everything look out for the ghosts, theyll getcha.
We had to wake up at 530 the next morning to drive along the beach before the tide came up and washed out the parts we could drive on, so I drove us to Lake Wabby (or at least as close as we could get) were we had some breakfast, then hiked the 2.5km to get to the lake through the forrest.
Lake Wabby is this tiny little lake at the bottom of this MASSIVE sand dune. Like huge, huge sand dune, and when i climbed to the top, it was just a massive desert, kinda nuts especially with all the forrest around it. They said the lake will be gone within the next 100yrs or something like that because the dune slowly rolls into the lake. The flies were pretty bad at the lake, but we were feeding the dead flies to the cat fish in the lake, and the minnows were eating all the dirt and dead skin off the bottom of my feet, so now theyre nice and soft again hahaha
So overall the camping trip was really really really awesome, made alot of friends for when i head to the UK in the fall, so thats even better! The pictures are pretty sweet too, I just need to find somewhere to put them up.
Had a good alst night in the hostel, finished off the goon we didnt get to on the trip with some girls from Toronto and a guy from the UK, so even more new friends! And obviously continued to hang out with the group that I was camping with, so good times all round! Its about 1:30pm here right now (march 1st, 20 more days til my birthday!!) and im catching the 3:30 up to airlie, so ill be arriving there around 915 tomorrow morning, then headed off to sail the Whitsundays and go snorkeling at the great barrier reef on tuesday, so there will be another big gap in blogs.
My ipod finally made it to Brisbane!! so just 8 more days until i finally have music again (THANKS AGAIN PARENTS!!!) then off to india!!
SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG, ALOT TO GET IN
So a couple of nights ago we met our groups, there was 16 of us total, but we were in 2 cars so 8 in each, my car was composed of myself, silvano (but was soon dubbed silvy, hes irish) and a group of 6 german 19yr old girls travelling together...buh. The other group was pretty awesome, 3 ppl from ireland (marty, james, and mary), 2 girls from england (Zoe and Angela), 2 girls from sweden (Sanna and Jenny), and another guy from england (Chris). So we grocery shopped the night before to prep for the morning, and got going the next day around 830 (up at 730 for the free breakfast tho).
After packing up our 4x4s the our 2 trucks headed off to fraiser island. Obviously, i chose to drive, so Silvy and I were the only drivers in our car, therefore we had the front seats and the german girls had the back. Leaving the hostel, I drove first, and immediately drove made a right turn into the rightside lane, unfortunately, they drive on the left in Australia, so we were off to a good start hahaha.
Fraiser is a national park, so there werent really any roads there, the one road that we had to start on was crazy bumpy and the german girls in the back were flying all over the place. The first day had us driving along the beach towards the village Eroug and then towards lake McKenzie...driving on the beach was AMAZING, going 80-90km next to the surf was definitely something ill be forgetting quickly. We werent allowed to swim in the ocean because there are alot of sharks and jellyfish around the island, so the lake was somewhat inland, but that was still really sweet to drive along. Lake McKenzie itself was GORGEOUS. WHITE WHITE sand, just like Seista Key, if not whiter, and the water was turquoise, just beautiful...and while were were there the next morning a dingo came wondering along the beach and started steal ppls food, they were actually pretty ballsy coming that close to ppl, but the park ranger said they wont bite unless theres pups around.
So the first night we camped out and the 2 groups stayed together, it was really sweet. The original intention was that because silvy and I drove and packed/unpacked the top of the van, the girls would do the cooking and cleaning, sounds fair...but that DEFINITELY did not happen. On top of driving all day, unloading and loading the roof of the truck, I made the hamburgers the first night (which were awesome), and the pasta the next night, and on top of it all, We had to tell them to clean up and every little thing...they werent all bad, there were a few who would help out, but overall, im glad the other group was there, cuz there would have been at leat 1 or 2 germans remaining on the island.
The next day we went to the lake again and then drove up the beach to the champange pools, theyre some shallow spots along the beach that the waves flow over and makes it look like bubbling champange. The beach was about 75km long, so there was alot of beach driving, so it was really sweet. That night we camped at K'Gari, which was an aboriginal site, so I learned how to play the didgeridoo, and actually got some sound out of it!! Nick (the guy who ran teh campsite) was showing us the spirits and ghosts that appear in our photos, so once i find somewhere to upload everything look out for the ghosts, theyll getcha.
We had to wake up at 530 the next morning to drive along the beach before the tide came up and washed out the parts we could drive on, so I drove us to Lake Wabby (or at least as close as we could get) were we had some breakfast, then hiked the 2.5km to get to the lake through the forrest.
Lake Wabby is this tiny little lake at the bottom of this MASSIVE sand dune. Like huge, huge sand dune, and when i climbed to the top, it was just a massive desert, kinda nuts especially with all the forrest around it. They said the lake will be gone within the next 100yrs or something like that because the dune slowly rolls into the lake. The flies were pretty bad at the lake, but we were feeding the dead flies to the cat fish in the lake, and the minnows were eating all the dirt and dead skin off the bottom of my feet, so now theyre nice and soft again hahaha
So overall the camping trip was really really really awesome, made alot of friends for when i head to the UK in the fall, so thats even better! The pictures are pretty sweet too, I just need to find somewhere to put them up.
Had a good alst night in the hostel, finished off the goon we didnt get to on the trip with some girls from Toronto and a guy from the UK, so even more new friends! And obviously continued to hang out with the group that I was camping with, so good times all round! Its about 1:30pm here right now (march 1st, 20 more days til my birthday!!) and im catching the 3:30 up to airlie, so ill be arriving there around 915 tomorrow morning, then headed off to sail the Whitsundays and go snorkeling at the great barrier reef on tuesday, so there will be another big gap in blogs.
My ipod finally made it to Brisbane!! so just 8 more days until i finally have music again (THANKS AGAIN PARENTS!!!) then off to india!!
SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG, ALOT TO GET IN
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rainbow Beach
So ive made it to rainbow beach now!
My bus left this morning from Surfers at 4:30, so im functioning on very little sleep. Tomorrow im headed off to fraiser island for a self guided 4x4 tour, and i over heard someone saying thats there are only 2 drivers for 2 tours (one driver being me, classic) so hopefully ill get something comped! hahaha
Finished the Black Dalhia, not to bad, kinda drags on a little too long tho...now to decide which of the 5 other books to start on next, i picked up cider house rules and the talisman in surfers, so between those 2 and memoirs of a geisha, the colour purple and water for elephants, im thinking elephants will be next...
the fraier island tour starts tomorrow and goes for 3 days, so ill be radio silent for a bit
see you on the flip side!
My bus left this morning from Surfers at 4:30, so im functioning on very little sleep. Tomorrow im headed off to fraiser island for a self guided 4x4 tour, and i over heard someone saying thats there are only 2 drivers for 2 tours (one driver being me, classic) so hopefully ill get something comped! hahaha
Finished the Black Dalhia, not to bad, kinda drags on a little too long tho...now to decide which of the 5 other books to start on next, i picked up cider house rules and the talisman in surfers, so between those 2 and memoirs of a geisha, the colour purple and water for elephants, im thinking elephants will be next...
the fraier island tour starts tomorrow and goes for 3 days, so ill be radio silent for a bit
see you on the flip side!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Byron and Surfers
So ive made it to Surfers Paradise safe and sound. Last night found another 5$ dinner adn just hung out with natalie jono and brianna again, it was a good day, the 4 of us went to the beach, i could actually go into the water finally b/c there was more then just me there to watch my stuff!! so it was a good day overall, still spending too much, but i only have 2 more weeks in australia then ill be able to live like a king!! wahahaha
Surfers Paradise is pretty awesome, its a fairly big city (at least it has all the fancy shops and tall buildings) but its build directly along the beach, so its really awesome, kinda of my 2 favourite things at once (beach and city) so im pretty happy here hahaha.
Surfers Paradise is pretty awesome, its a fairly big city (at least it has all the fancy shops and tall buildings) but its build directly along the beach, so its really awesome, kinda of my 2 favourite things at once (beach and city) so im pretty happy here hahaha.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
How Byron got better
SO as i was on facebook, i got a message from natalie, the girl from sydney from winnipeg, SHES IN BYRON TOO! so i met her for dinner at the cheeky monkey for 5$ dinner (fish and chips, it was massive and aweeesome), while we were there we met these 2 other ppl from BC, so we decided to hang out with them all night, it was sweet, we bought a box of goon to split amoungst ourselves and went to the pool at one of their hostels, once we got kicked out of there we headed to the beach to finish off the goon and partied there for the night, it was killer.
anyways, im headed to the beach while the rain holds off!
off to surfers paradise tomorrow morning, booked my bus today, so im outta byron by 830, it was nice and i wish i could have stayed longer, its such a cool little beach town, very similar to seista key (about the same size too), BUT if i want to see the rest of australia before i head to india, i gotta keep moving
anyways, im headed to the beach while the rain holds off!
off to surfers paradise tomorrow morning, booked my bus today, so im outta byron by 830, it was nice and i wish i could have stayed longer, its such a cool little beach town, very similar to seista key (about the same size too), BUT if i want to see the rest of australia before i head to india, i gotta keep moving
Friday, February 20, 2009
Byron Bay
So the free internet follows me around! yahoo!
Made it to byron bay, the bus ride wasnt too bad, they played step up and step up 2, and then i slept from 12-6ish, waking up every few hours. I tried making myself as tired as possible for the bus ride (waking up early, running, walking everywhere with my giant kanpsack) but i just tired myself out for today instead, typical. So i went to the beach already this morning, and im headed up to the lighthouse on the eastern most point of australia now, but thats only b/c ive already had a 2 hour nap. Hopefully I'll meet some friends in the hostel so i dont need to drink by myself tonight hahaha (kidding, i would just read tonight instead...awesome)
Made it to byron bay, the bus ride wasnt too bad, they played step up and step up 2, and then i slept from 12-6ish, waking up every few hours. I tried making myself as tired as possible for the bus ride (waking up early, running, walking everywhere with my giant kanpsack) but i just tired myself out for today instead, typical. So i went to the beach already this morning, and im headed up to the lighthouse on the eastern most point of australia now, but thats only b/c ive already had a 2 hour nap. Hopefully I'll meet some friends in the hostel so i dont need to drink by myself tonight hahaha (kidding, i would just read tonight instead...awesome)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
THANK YOU PAULA, DAWN, MEG, AND EVERYONE ELSE AT THE BANK
To start...my thank yous
PAULA!!! thank you so much for getting my ipod sent to australia
thank you mum and dad for getting my ipod ready and paying for it to be sent to australia!!!
thank you meg and dawn (and anyone else who helped at the bank!) for unfreezing my funds and transfering my visa payment so i can go to india!! and frankly! THANK YOU dawn for the amazing book list thats keeping me occupied and sane with out my ipod, i may have to keep reading even once my ipod comes back
thank you pete for letting me stay at your place for the last few nights and for letting me use your ipod while running, on the beach, and everywhere else i could possibly think of, and also allowing me to do my laundry.
and now its my last day in sydney (finally! maybe my money will go a lil further up the coast) so my bus leaves at 7 tonight, so ill be in byron bay by 7 tomorrow morning. Im not sure when ill get to the internet next, so you all might have to wait until i get to lauras house in brisbane (so march 8th-ish?). I went for one last run today before i dont have an ipod at my expense and i saw a tree leaking sap that was BLOOD RED, it was weird, thought you should know hahaha.
alright well have a good couple of weeks, there will be a whole crap load of pictures to put up once i get to brisbane so hopefully laura will allow me to use her computer haha
talk to you all soon!!
PAULA!!! thank you so much for getting my ipod sent to australia
thank you mum and dad for getting my ipod ready and paying for it to be sent to australia!!!
thank you meg and dawn (and anyone else who helped at the bank!) for unfreezing my funds and transfering my visa payment so i can go to india!! and frankly! THANK YOU dawn for the amazing book list thats keeping me occupied and sane with out my ipod, i may have to keep reading even once my ipod comes back
thank you pete for letting me stay at your place for the last few nights and for letting me use your ipod while running, on the beach, and everywhere else i could possibly think of, and also allowing me to do my laundry.
and now its my last day in sydney (finally! maybe my money will go a lil further up the coast) so my bus leaves at 7 tonight, so ill be in byron bay by 7 tomorrow morning. Im not sure when ill get to the internet next, so you all might have to wait until i get to lauras house in brisbane (so march 8th-ish?). I went for one last run today before i dont have an ipod at my expense and i saw a tree leaking sap that was BLOOD RED, it was weird, thought you should know hahaha.
alright well have a good couple of weeks, there will be a whole crap load of pictures to put up once i get to brisbane so hopefully laura will allow me to use her computer haha
talk to you all soon!!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Barmalow Beach
So i woke up this morning and it was another sunny day! Pete had suggested I head to Barmalow Beach, and it was awesome, of a bus ride away, but totally worth it, definatly not a touristy beach, i dont think i heard anyone with an accent other then Australian. It was really awesome. I walked the whole beach, there was one spot where the rocks made a lil wading pool, which was really neat. And there was an island that had a bridge to it, so i went and read on the island for an hour or so after i lied around in the sand. On the island there was the remains of a shark net that use to protect the beach, it was really neat. But the island itself was really cool, i climbed down the side for a bit and found this cave that I read in for a bit, then i watched the windsufers and sailing lessons, and laughed when the kids capsized their boats, it was a good afternoon
Anyways, follow the link to the pics i took...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191906&id=90401387&l=bb33e
Anyways, follow the link to the pics i took...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191906&id=90401387&l=bb33e
Travel Plans
SOOOOOOooooo, Ive finally booked something!
Im going to be headed to Byron Bay on friday night, staying there for 2 nights then headinig up to Fraiser Island where ill be doing a 4x4 tour...I get paired into a group of about 10 others and we each take turns driving around the island, they give us a map and all the camping gear we'll need, it should be neat...then im headed to rainbow beach for a couple of nights, then heading to whitsunday (a group of islands i believe), where ill be taking a sail boat on a 4day 3night tour of the isalnds and it will take me up to the great barrier reef as well. So then, from there I'll be catching another greyhound up to Cairns where Ill probally have a day to wonder around for the day and then ill get to the airport to catch a cheap flight back to brisbane (probally around the 8th of march i think) but from there ill catch a flight to india on the 12th (it was 200$ cheaper then leaving at anyother time) and go from there!
So after tomorrow night im not really sure when ill be making it to a computer, so ill be sure to post again before i leave
but now a bit about my day...Went downtown to book my tours, and then after realizing how much money i had just sepnt and figuring out how much money im going to have left I decided to run. So i went out for about an hour, and little did i know, SYDNEY IS BUILT ON HILLS!! I was running uphill for about 75% of the time, it was horrible, definatly cursed the city as i was going up a stupid steep hill. Overall though, it was a good run, got lost but some how managed to find my way back.
I stopped at the used book store again, so now i have a collection of 4 books with me, currently on the Black Delhia, but i also have memoriors of a geisha, the colour purple, and Water for elephants lined up, so i should be good for a while, but i did just go through 3 books in the last few weeks. So hopefully im able to find another book store or go through these a bit slower so i have something for india
Im going to be headed to Byron Bay on friday night, staying there for 2 nights then headinig up to Fraiser Island where ill be doing a 4x4 tour...I get paired into a group of about 10 others and we each take turns driving around the island, they give us a map and all the camping gear we'll need, it should be neat...then im headed to rainbow beach for a couple of nights, then heading to whitsunday (a group of islands i believe), where ill be taking a sail boat on a 4day 3night tour of the isalnds and it will take me up to the great barrier reef as well. So then, from there I'll be catching another greyhound up to Cairns where Ill probally have a day to wonder around for the day and then ill get to the airport to catch a cheap flight back to brisbane (probally around the 8th of march i think) but from there ill catch a flight to india on the 12th (it was 200$ cheaper then leaving at anyother time) and go from there!
So after tomorrow night im not really sure when ill be making it to a computer, so ill be sure to post again before i leave
but now a bit about my day...Went downtown to book my tours, and then after realizing how much money i had just sepnt and figuring out how much money im going to have left I decided to run. So i went out for about an hour, and little did i know, SYDNEY IS BUILT ON HILLS!! I was running uphill for about 75% of the time, it was horrible, definatly cursed the city as i was going up a stupid steep hill. Overall though, it was a good run, got lost but some how managed to find my way back.
I stopped at the used book store again, so now i have a collection of 4 books with me, currently on the Black Delhia, but i also have memoriors of a geisha, the colour purple, and Water for elephants lined up, so i should be good for a while, but i did just go through 3 books in the last few weeks. So hopefully im able to find another book store or go through these a bit slower so i have something for india
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
testing...
Let me know if this works. ive posted my photos on facebook, buuuutttt theres a link below, if you cant see them ill try something else...
West Coast photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191500&id=90401387&l=6fd09
Sydney Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191594&id=90401387&l=e0d38
West Coast photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191500&id=90401387&l=6fd09
Sydney Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191594&id=90401387&l=e0d38
Monday, February 16, 2009
North Syd
So right after I left the free internet place last night, I got a call from Julians friend Peter, good timing too! Last night was the last night in the hostel for me, so when Pete called, he told me I could stay at his place for a few nights, so here I am! Its a bit further from downtown, but it was neat taking the train over the Habour Bridge this morning getting here!
So no I have a REAL bed to sleep in (its a double too! hahaha) and a computer at my disposal, so im gonna try and figure out how to get my photos on this thing, and once i can work the memory card in the slot theyll all be up on facebook too
So no I have a REAL bed to sleep in (its a double too! hahaha) and a computer at my disposal, so im gonna try and figure out how to get my photos on this thing, and once i can work the memory card in the slot theyll all be up on facebook too
Sunday, February 15, 2009
GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!!
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So i was awoken by the italian in my room this morning cuz he was trying to get a flight back to milan today but there was nothing availible, and his english isnt very good, so i had to talk to the guy at the flight counter for him over the phone, long story short, he cant go home until march 11. Anyways, so as i was turning over in my bed (this was around 9:45, my alarm was set for 11:30) i saw something that made me jump, BLUE SKY!! so with that i hopped out of bed, threw on my board shorts and an undershirt and headed out the door (only after applying alot of sunscreen, i aint gonna be no raccoon!).
So i stoped at the travel place and tried to figure out my plan, and it looks like i can get up the east coast (85% of expenses included) for around 800$ (thats bus, room, tours, etc) and it would be a hope on and off bus so should i want to stay a few nights in a city, i can just get on the bus when it comes back, so thats looking like the plan now, and the bus would take me all the way up to carines (and would include the reef tour too). Then i would just fly out of Carines to India instead (possibly cheaper as its closer to the mainland, thats next on my list after i finish this).
So after i talked to the guy, i went and spent the day on the beach, it was soooooo nice, a little overcast, but over all it was really nice, defiantly scored a good tan
Overall tho, im a little disappointed in myself today, i was doing SO WELL!! Along the walk to the beach, the path forces you through a string of shops and stores and food, and there to my dimise was Element, Billabong, and Quiksilver! It was horrible, i managaed to make it in and out of element and billabong without hurting myself (everything here is sooo expensive, $45 for a t-shirt! are you kidding!!!). But in Quiksilver i found a stupid amount of things i wanted. It came down to a pair of board shorts, they looked like they were from the 50s, yellow with black trim and tiki sharks all over them, they were ballin, once i can find somewhere to upload my pictures ill show you all! The other piece was a greeny-bluey shirt, plaid with black, yellow, red, purple, it was realllllly nice, and on sale. So i settled on the shirt, it was only 50 (compared to 70 for the shorts) but its gonna be worth sleeping on the streets for a night or 2 (as long as it doesnt rain, im golden).
Anyways, that was my day, its only starting to get darker now (more due to the on coming rain tho) so im off to shower and change into my new shirt, probally go hang out with the germans and norweigians on the floor below me for a bit (getting a ton of reading done too)
O and because i had to take the ferry to get to the beach, i was able to finally get some good shots of the opera house and the bridge
On to the next day, hopefully ill book my trip tomorrow and be able to get out of the money pit that is sydney before the weekend!
So i was awoken by the italian in my room this morning cuz he was trying to get a flight back to milan today but there was nothing availible, and his english isnt very good, so i had to talk to the guy at the flight counter for him over the phone, long story short, he cant go home until march 11. Anyways, so as i was turning over in my bed (this was around 9:45, my alarm was set for 11:30) i saw something that made me jump, BLUE SKY!! so with that i hopped out of bed, threw on my board shorts and an undershirt and headed out the door (only after applying alot of sunscreen, i aint gonna be no raccoon!).
So i stoped at the travel place and tried to figure out my plan, and it looks like i can get up the east coast (85% of expenses included) for around 800$ (thats bus, room, tours, etc) and it would be a hope on and off bus so should i want to stay a few nights in a city, i can just get on the bus when it comes back, so thats looking like the plan now, and the bus would take me all the way up to carines (and would include the reef tour too). Then i would just fly out of Carines to India instead (possibly cheaper as its closer to the mainland, thats next on my list after i finish this).
So after i talked to the guy, i went and spent the day on the beach, it was soooooo nice, a little overcast, but over all it was really nice, defiantly scored a good tan
Overall tho, im a little disappointed in myself today, i was doing SO WELL!! Along the walk to the beach, the path forces you through a string of shops and stores and food, and there to my dimise was Element, Billabong, and Quiksilver! It was horrible, i managaed to make it in and out of element and billabong without hurting myself (everything here is sooo expensive, $45 for a t-shirt! are you kidding!!!). But in Quiksilver i found a stupid amount of things i wanted. It came down to a pair of board shorts, they looked like they were from the 50s, yellow with black trim and tiki sharks all over them, they were ballin, once i can find somewhere to upload my pictures ill show you all! The other piece was a greeny-bluey shirt, plaid with black, yellow, red, purple, it was realllllly nice, and on sale. So i settled on the shirt, it was only 50 (compared to 70 for the shorts) but its gonna be worth sleeping on the streets for a night or 2 (as long as it doesnt rain, im golden).
Anyways, that was my day, its only starting to get darker now (more due to the on coming rain tho) so im off to shower and change into my new shirt, probally go hang out with the germans and norweigians on the floor below me for a bit (getting a ton of reading done too)
O and because i had to take the ferry to get to the beach, i was able to finally get some good shots of the opera house and the bridge
On to the next day, hopefully ill book my trip tomorrow and be able to get out of the money pit that is sydney before the weekend!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Rain, rain and more rain!
Well i realized i hadnt really said what ive been up to, so in short, went to the museum with Kelsey the other day (the girl from San Fransisco) which was interesting, lots of skeletons of everything you could think of, that was pretty neat. There was also a miassive rock and mineral display, so many different things, it was cool to think that all of it was natural because the colours and combinations of colours were just spectacular. That night i headed to strawberry hills with her a girl from winnipeg and a guy from ireland for $5 steaks, which were actually really awesome! especially for 5 bucks! im totally going back because their 5$ menu also had fish and chips and a bunch of other good stuff, so ill probally end up there again at some point. After dinner we went down to Darling Harbour, which was really nice at night, minus the rain that we kept trying to avoid!
Yesterday I went to Paddys Market with Kelsey and Natalie (shes the girl from Winnipeg) which was really cool, it was just a giant asian market place and everything was pretty cheap (both in price and quality) so i didnt buy anything. Then last night just chilled out, free bbq (luckily nothing was stolen this time while i was there) but i ended up just vegging out and watched oceans 13 and 27 dresses before heading off to hang with some swiss and german guys then i went and read for a bit.
nothing too fancy, but the weather wasnt anything i really wanted to go party in, so whatever, i needed a chillout night anyways.
hope everything is going well back at home!
Yesterday I went to Paddys Market with Kelsey and Natalie (shes the girl from Winnipeg) which was really cool, it was just a giant asian market place and everything was pretty cheap (both in price and quality) so i didnt buy anything. Then last night just chilled out, free bbq (luckily nothing was stolen this time while i was there) but i ended up just vegging out and watched oceans 13 and 27 dresses before heading off to hang with some swiss and german guys then i went and read for a bit.
nothing too fancy, but the weather wasnt anything i really wanted to go party in, so whatever, i needed a chillout night anyways.
hope everything is going well back at home!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Buh, Stupid Rain!
So its been raining since monday, and apparently wont be stopping until Thursday. Convenient, that happens to be when I plan to head off to the next city, i just gotta figure out if i want to go north to the floods (Brisbane, Carines) or south to the forest fires (Melbourne)...im thinking south first, for like a week, then back to syd for a few days then head up the coast to Sufers Paradise, Bryon Bay, and Brisbane. Hopefully I can go to Carines, but other backpackers and saying the greyhounds arent going up there because the roads are flooded...thoughts?!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
GOON!!
So, for the ill-informed, goon is the cheapest, dirtiest wine in Oz, it actually says on the box, made with the assistance of milk, eggs and fish products (apparently fish eggs), BUT it does the trick, and helps me make new friends! I hung out with a guy from ireland, a girl from Winnipeg (FINALLY ANOTHER CANADIAN!), and a girl from San Fransisco (who im headed to the museum with today!). The art gallery was awesome yesterday, way better to do it by myself. I ended up taking a tour of the aboriginal works which was really really awesome. Im not going to bore you with all the details, but this one piece up close just looked like a bunch of lines making squares with white dots in the squares, but from further back it transformed into an image of the clouds reflecting on the water, it was amazing, like, buh, awesome.
I also picked up a new book yesterday, so ive started reading the diving bell and the butterfly, which seems really cool, and Dawn (my old boss) just sent me a MASSIVE list of other books to read in liu of my iPod (THANKS DAWN!!!!!), so ill be getting started on that too!
I grabbed a little note book, which is already slowly being filled with names to add to facebook, the books i need to read and a list of songs that i need to get put onto my ipod shuffle (my parents said they would mail it over to me (thank youuuuuu)), i just need to figure out where im going to be in 2 weeks hahaha, which is a task on its own.
also in this book are addresses for post cards, so if you want one, start emailing me your address (and tell me if you want one from india or australia, im holding out for india for most ppl i think), so ZINKIE@GMAIL.COM, but i cant guarentee that ill send one to everyone, i only have so much money, and most of it needs to go to the goon hahahaha
so im off to the museum and other fun filled day of learning! yay!!
I also picked up a new book yesterday, so ive started reading the diving bell and the butterfly, which seems really cool, and Dawn (my old boss) just sent me a MASSIVE list of other books to read in liu of my iPod (THANKS DAWN!!!!!), so ill be getting started on that too!
I grabbed a little note book, which is already slowly being filled with names to add to facebook, the books i need to read and a list of songs that i need to get put onto my ipod shuffle (my parents said they would mail it over to me (thank youuuuuu)), i just need to figure out where im going to be in 2 weeks hahaha, which is a task on its own.
also in this book are addresses for post cards, so if you want one, start emailing me your address (and tell me if you want one from india or australia, im holding out for india for most ppl i think), so ZINKIE@GMAIL.COM, but i cant guarentee that ill send one to everyone, i only have so much money, and most of it needs to go to the goon hahahaha
so im off to the museum and other fun filled day of learning! yay!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
CARLA WHERE ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU!!!
So my day was a bit different then i expected, i ended up finishing my book, so tomorrow Im going to try selling it to a used book store and get a few in return, but thats besides the point. It was really really nice out this morning, but ended up getting cloudy by the time i was done my book, so i didnt end up going to the opera house, but i got alot of reading done in the botanical gardens.
Anyways, I ended up going to the NSW Art Gallery this aft instead (This is where you come in Carla), it was reallllly good (FREE TOO!!!), but i went with some friends from the hostel that didnt appreicate it as much as I did and I could tell they were getting bored, so Im gonna go back tomorrow so I can read everything they ghave next to all the paintings and take photos of a few that I like, but the aboriginal art and art work by australians was really something, I kinda wished that they offered some sort of course back at home for it, because some of the compositions and stylings of the works were really nice (thats why I wished you were with me Carla, no one else had the patients to follow along the gallery with me) OH! they also had a bunch of oriental works that were really neat as well, got me all excited for India!
Another day down, almost time for me to figure out my next move, I might try and stay at the hostel for a bit longer, but i was also thinking of going to a hostel closer to Bondi Beach, the only con is that its not within walking distance from downtown, so thats the biggest problem im facing right now (its a tough life, but someones gotta live it)
Anyways, I ended up going to the NSW Art Gallery this aft instead (This is where you come in Carla), it was reallllly good (FREE TOO!!!), but i went with some friends from the hostel that didnt appreicate it as much as I did and I could tell they were getting bored, so Im gonna go back tomorrow so I can read everything they ghave next to all the paintings and take photos of a few that I like, but the aboriginal art and art work by australians was really something, I kinda wished that they offered some sort of course back at home for it, because some of the compositions and stylings of the works were really nice (thats why I wished you were with me Carla, no one else had the patients to follow along the gallery with me) OH! they also had a bunch of oriental works that were really neat as well, got me all excited for India!
Another day down, almost time for me to figure out my next move, I might try and stay at the hostel for a bit longer, but i was also thinking of going to a hostel closer to Bondi Beach, the only con is that its not within walking distance from downtown, so thats the biggest problem im facing right now (its a tough life, but someones gotta live it)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Wednesday!
So its gorgeous out today! After the past two days have rained, its finally sunny, although ive decioded to stay off of the beach (let my eyes cool down a bit), I am going to be out and about! So im off to the botanical gardens and the opera house (to get a NICE picture of it, its far too yellow when its gross out).
The zoo yesterday was awesome, we saw mother nature continue its work in the form of 2 "bearcats" some endangered spieces from mylasia. I got a video too (obvy). Anyways off to enjoy the weather! (im getting better with the shorter posts, eh?!)
The zoo yesterday was awesome, we saw mother nature continue its work in the form of 2 "bearcats" some endangered spieces from mylasia. I got a video too (obvy). Anyways off to enjoy the weather! (im getting better with the shorter posts, eh?!)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Phone number
so to call out of canada, apparently you need to dial....
011-614-1593-0453
call, text whatever, im happy to hear a bit of home every once in a while!
011-614-1593-0453
call, text whatever, im happy to hear a bit of home every once in a while!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Michael the Raccoon
So the beach was awesome yesterday, Bondi was gorgeous, but there was a stupid amount of ppl there, so I've been told to try manly beach instead. Anyways, i got ALOT of sun, and seemed to put sunscreen everywhere but my feet and my eye sockets, so now i looke like mother nature punched me in the face.
thank goodness for sunglass to cover up my mistakes hahaha
anyways, just a short note today, off to the zoo with some guys i met last night from the UK
thank goodness for sunglass to cover up my mistakes hahaha
anyways, just a short note today, off to the zoo with some guys i met last night from the UK
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Saturday Night
So i know I said I was gonna try to stay away from the computer today, but i needed it to make me feel better.
Last night was really really good, I meet a whole bunch of ppl at the roof top bbq the hostel throws every weekend, so I hung out with this swiss guy and a bunch of germans (aparently 60% of the backpackers are german). Anyways, it was really good, I met this one german who knew who classified was, so that was crazy exciting.
BUT When i returned to my room, my iPod was not where I put it. And its so bizarre too, my camera was still there, the head phones (both pairs) were still there, my sunglasses were still there, just so frustrating and crazy! I'm praying that it wasnt stolen and that im just an idiot and put it somewhere else, but I dont know why the headphones wouldnt be with it and I tore my knapscak apart and I couldnt find it anywhere, AND ITS ONLY THE 2ND NIGHT! WTF!!!!
very frustrating, im obviously gonna keep looking for it, and i already told the ppl at the front desk, so hopefully it turns up (i think i might go crazy if it doesnt).
Anyways, im determined for this not to ruin my trip, i need to expect the good and the bad, but this just blows.
Phone is a lil messed up, I had to register the phone, which i did yesterday, but when i call to upload the mins, it just asks me to register again, tres frusterating.
anyways, im off to the beach
pray for my ipod (read sanity)
Last night was really really good, I meet a whole bunch of ppl at the roof top bbq the hostel throws every weekend, so I hung out with this swiss guy and a bunch of germans (aparently 60% of the backpackers are german). Anyways, it was really good, I met this one german who knew who classified was, so that was crazy exciting.
BUT When i returned to my room, my iPod was not where I put it. And its so bizarre too, my camera was still there, the head phones (both pairs) were still there, my sunglasses were still there, just so frustrating and crazy! I'm praying that it wasnt stolen and that im just an idiot and put it somewhere else, but I dont know why the headphones wouldnt be with it and I tore my knapscak apart and I couldnt find it anywhere, AND ITS ONLY THE 2ND NIGHT! WTF!!!!
very frustrating, im obviously gonna keep looking for it, and i already told the ppl at the front desk, so hopefully it turns up (i think i might go crazy if it doesnt).
Anyways, im determined for this not to ruin my trip, i need to expect the good and the bad, but this just blows.
Phone is a lil messed up, I had to register the phone, which i did yesterday, but when i call to upload the mins, it just asks me to register again, tres frusterating.
anyways, im off to the beach
pray for my ipod (read sanity)
Friday, February 6, 2009
PHONE
So i got my phone working!! Incoming calls and text messages are free, so send as many texts that dont require a response as possible! Once I got my phone unlocked everything turned out pretty well, so yahoo! My first day in sydney was pretty exciting, wondered around everywhere, did a LOT of walking, downtown is really nice and theres so many parks everywhere. LUCKILY, theres a free internet cafe (for backpackers) across from my hostel, so I've been here a bit, but im noticing my addiction to the internet alot more here hahaha, so im gonna try and not be here everyday.
I still havent figured out how to upload any of my pics yet, so no one gets to see the GIANT bats that were just chilling out in the park yesterday, i was convinced they were going to try and eat me, but they just hung there (seriosuly tho, theyre massive, like the size of my head massive, probally bigger).
Started to meet a few ppl, a guy from england sleeps above me, and theres a couple from germany who are on the top bunks of the other 2 beds (I was suppose to be in a 12 bed room, but they were full, so im getting the 6 bed room for the same price, holla!). Didnt meet the british guy until this morning, but the germans I met yesterday afternoon, and theyve already told me i speak to fast (apparently common amoung canadians). Anyways, i went out and wondered the streets last night, just stopping in random pubs to try the local beers, a few good ones, I think i only found one that wasnt that great, but Id still drink it again. I mostly wondered around by myself last night as the germans were out hobo hunting, they had rented a camper and it got broken into and all of their things were stolen by the homeless ppl, they saw them wearing their clothes and decided to stalk them until they broke into another camper so they could call the cops on them. Funny stuff either way (but apparetnly typical for the area I'm in, Kings cross in a nice mix between strip clubs, hole in the wall bars, and fancy upscale dining).
Anyways, just being lazy today, woke up to late to get to the beach to make it worth it, so I decided to come down here and update you all while my iPod charges. Anyways I'm off to sit in the sun in the park and probally read for a bit
And now for my phone number:
+61415930453
61 is the country code, and had you been calling me in australia, the (0)4 would mean its a cell phone, so my number (incase you find yourself in oz) is 04-5193-0453. Like I said, incoming calls and text messages are free, so call away! (the + is suppose to be there as well, but if it doesnt work try using 00?)
I still havent figured out how to upload any of my pics yet, so no one gets to see the GIANT bats that were just chilling out in the park yesterday, i was convinced they were going to try and eat me, but they just hung there (seriosuly tho, theyre massive, like the size of my head massive, probally bigger).
Started to meet a few ppl, a guy from england sleeps above me, and theres a couple from germany who are on the top bunks of the other 2 beds (I was suppose to be in a 12 bed room, but they were full, so im getting the 6 bed room for the same price, holla!). Didnt meet the british guy until this morning, but the germans I met yesterday afternoon, and theyve already told me i speak to fast (apparently common amoung canadians). Anyways, i went out and wondered the streets last night, just stopping in random pubs to try the local beers, a few good ones, I think i only found one that wasnt that great, but Id still drink it again. I mostly wondered around by myself last night as the germans were out hobo hunting, they had rented a camper and it got broken into and all of their things were stolen by the homeless ppl, they saw them wearing their clothes and decided to stalk them until they broke into another camper so they could call the cops on them. Funny stuff either way (but apparetnly typical for the area I'm in, Kings cross in a nice mix between strip clubs, hole in the wall bars, and fancy upscale dining).
Anyways, just being lazy today, woke up to late to get to the beach to make it worth it, so I decided to come down here and update you all while my iPod charges. Anyways I'm off to sit in the sun in the park and probally read for a bit
And now for my phone number:
+61415930453
61 is the country code, and had you been calling me in australia, the (0)4 would mean its a cell phone, so my number (incase you find yourself in oz) is 04-5193-0453. Like I said, incoming calls and text messages are free, so call away! (the + is suppose to be there as well, but if it doesnt work try using 00?)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hello from the future!
So its friday morning, and its thursday back at home!! The future is wonderful, good weather and lots of sun! Longest flight ever, and the movies were no good at all!! But i got a bit of sleep in, minus the kid screaming at 4 in the morning (vancouver time, i guess?). Anyways, just killing some time prior to checking in, thought Id let you all know I arrived safe, already having problems with my phone and trying to get the new SIM Card to work, so ya'll will get my number once I know it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Whistler and Van-City!
So on Jan 28th I left for whistler, which was incredible, the alpines were awesome to ski through, and contrary to Allans pessimism, the cliffs werent nearly as scary as he made them out to be. Will and I went down a few cliff, followed by will falling off a ledge, which may have been one of the funniest things I've seen in a while (hes fine, I'm not that horrible for watching my brother fall 5 ft!) Skiing in the clouds and the views were killer, but the best part was when the runs would break into the middle of the pine trees and all you could smell was the moisture of the clouds mixing in the with trees, ppl pay alot of money for that scent and never have I experienced something smelling so awesome and powerful.
The bus ride to and from whistler was pretty cool too, cliff face on one side and a massive drop on the other, I'm just glad I didnt need to drive, but it provided some pretty awesome views.
As for vancouver!!
Lauren and Kate were very gracious hosts providing me with an air mattress that puts Veros to shame (thanks anyways tho vero, it was better then the floor hahaha), and wondering around vancouver when lauren was working resulted in some interesting things. Particularly when I accidental wondered into East Van where I got to see all the wonderful homeless ppl, crackheads, heroine addicts, and prostitutes. I very quickly moved my wallet out of my back pocket and into the front where i proceeded to keep my hands on my phone and wallet just in case hahaha, and that was also around the same time that I found the signs all around me really interesting and started avoiding eye contact. Luckily it was only 630ish so the action was just getting started and I got out of there after I saw the dirty old white guys following the asian prostitutes up the stairs, good times.
The next day was pretty sweet too, once Lauren got off work we headed to the aquarium! But with my luck we got there at 430, when the place closed at 5! We still decided to go for it tho, half price entry allowed us for run through the whole place quickly watching the otters, seals, turtles and TONS of other fish and such. The belugas were defiantly the most enticing, the baby was adorable and the grandma was preggers so we were trying to see the bump, which was VERY prominent. Other then the lack of time we were able to spend there, the only other thing that sucked was that I got the song "Baby Beluga" stuck in my head until we started drinking hahaha.
Once we left the aquarium we wondered around stanely park for a while and eventually walked ourselves back into town where we had the genius idea of trying to find tickets for the Canucks game! After stopping at the liquor store to get some predrinks we downed those and hopped into a cab to get to the GM place. We were hesitant to buy from scalpers, but once we discovered that a pair of tickets for the game would cost us 135$ each, we decided to by from the guy who looked homeless 2 tickets together for 50$ a pop. Lauren and I both made mental notes in case the tickets were bad and we could come back and jump his ass to get out money back. THANKFULLY the tickets were legit and we got pretty good seats in the upper balcony.
The game itself was awesome, the canucks finally won a home game, which i accredit to us being there, but ppl could argue that. Little did i know how different the spectators were here then they are back out east, making a comment about the leafs and dropping the F-bomb resulted in the first 3 rows ahead of me shooting me evil, evil looks, but it was worth it cause I got to chirp Sundin all night. Again tho, karma turned against me and Sundin scored, got an assist and some how got the games 1st star, whats with that! Luckily Jew informed me that Sundin has a personal vendetta against me, so he probably played harder after he heard me yelling at him (this is probably why they won, again, as a result of our presence). So as the game ended, we continued to drink and be belligerent (mostly me, laurens a lady and doesnt do those things haha) and headed back to the bar, and then eventually back to the sweet sweet apartment and partied to some S Club 7 (just a bit of a throw back).
Anyways, that was Whistler and Vancouver, good times had by all, and now I must prepare for my flight tonight! 2 1/2hrs to San Fran, connect and 14hrs to Sydney!
The bus ride to and from whistler was pretty cool too, cliff face on one side and a massive drop on the other, I'm just glad I didnt need to drive, but it provided some pretty awesome views.
As for vancouver!!
Lauren and Kate were very gracious hosts providing me with an air mattress that puts Veros to shame (thanks anyways tho vero, it was better then the floor hahaha), and wondering around vancouver when lauren was working resulted in some interesting things. Particularly when I accidental wondered into East Van where I got to see all the wonderful homeless ppl, crackheads, heroine addicts, and prostitutes. I very quickly moved my wallet out of my back pocket and into the front where i proceeded to keep my hands on my phone and wallet just in case hahaha, and that was also around the same time that I found the signs all around me really interesting and started avoiding eye contact. Luckily it was only 630ish so the action was just getting started and I got out of there after I saw the dirty old white guys following the asian prostitutes up the stairs, good times.
The next day was pretty sweet too, once Lauren got off work we headed to the aquarium! But with my luck we got there at 430, when the place closed at 5! We still decided to go for it tho, half price entry allowed us for run through the whole place quickly watching the otters, seals, turtles and TONS of other fish and such. The belugas were defiantly the most enticing, the baby was adorable and the grandma was preggers so we were trying to see the bump, which was VERY prominent. Other then the lack of time we were able to spend there, the only other thing that sucked was that I got the song "Baby Beluga" stuck in my head until we started drinking hahaha.
Once we left the aquarium we wondered around stanely park for a while and eventually walked ourselves back into town where we had the genius idea of trying to find tickets for the Canucks game! After stopping at the liquor store to get some predrinks we downed those and hopped into a cab to get to the GM place. We were hesitant to buy from scalpers, but once we discovered that a pair of tickets for the game would cost us 135$ each, we decided to by from the guy who looked homeless 2 tickets together for 50$ a pop. Lauren and I both made mental notes in case the tickets were bad and we could come back and jump his ass to get out money back. THANKFULLY the tickets were legit and we got pretty good seats in the upper balcony.
The game itself was awesome, the canucks finally won a home game, which i accredit to us being there, but ppl could argue that. Little did i know how different the spectators were here then they are back out east, making a comment about the leafs and dropping the F-bomb resulted in the first 3 rows ahead of me shooting me evil, evil looks, but it was worth it cause I got to chirp Sundin all night. Again tho, karma turned against me and Sundin scored, got an assist and some how got the games 1st star, whats with that! Luckily Jew informed me that Sundin has a personal vendetta against me, so he probably played harder after he heard me yelling at him (this is probably why they won, again, as a result of our presence). So as the game ended, we continued to drink and be belligerent (mostly me, laurens a lady and doesnt do those things haha) and headed back to the bar, and then eventually back to the sweet sweet apartment and partied to some S Club 7 (just a bit of a throw back).
Anyways, that was Whistler and Vancouver, good times had by all, and now I must prepare for my flight tonight! 2 1/2hrs to San Fran, connect and 14hrs to Sydney!
The story so far...
So for those who need to catch up...
Leaving ottawa was tough, alot of good times where had up there between work and school and friends and what not, so that was hard, but it was all worth it. Florida was pretty awesome, got a new pair of shorts which are pretty ballin, and some white frame oakleys, also tres ballin. Florida acted as a great base tan, although it starting to fade already (i'm not terribly worried tho b/c ill be arriving in sydney where they are having a heat wave like no other) and was overall really good, kelly, eryn, tony (kellys boyfriend) and I had quite the drive down, and although we aruged a bit, it was all worth the sun and the beach.
Leaving nice weather like that for the bitter cold of canada was not fun, but needed to happen! so back to toronto I went and spent the rest of the time between seeing as many ppl as I could while I had a car hahaha. So to those of you I got to see, thanks! and for those of you who I missed, im sorry, but I should be back by june, so all is not lost!
Leaving ottawa was tough, alot of good times where had up there between work and school and friends and what not, so that was hard, but it was all worth it. Florida was pretty awesome, got a new pair of shorts which are pretty ballin, and some white frame oakleys, also tres ballin. Florida acted as a great base tan, although it starting to fade already (i'm not terribly worried tho b/c ill be arriving in sydney where they are having a heat wave like no other) and was overall really good, kelly, eryn, tony (kellys boyfriend) and I had quite the drive down, and although we aruged a bit, it was all worth the sun and the beach.
Leaving nice weather like that for the bitter cold of canada was not fun, but needed to happen! so back to toronto I went and spent the rest of the time between seeing as many ppl as I could while I had a car hahaha. So to those of you I got to see, thanks! and for those of you who I missed, im sorry, but I should be back by june, so all is not lost!
Welcome!
So i've decided to blog about my adventures rather then email everyone all the time, this way you can check whenever you feel like it and you dont keep getting stupid long emails from me as I move around! So I hope you enjoy it!
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