First couple thoughts about Australia: WOW what a beautiful country and it feels so much like home!
After being on the road in Thailand and Cambodia by myself for a month, coming to Australia to two great friends feels almost like coming home! At first I was having trouble finding any differences or even hearing the accents, since I was so much back into the familiar.
Then....SICK AGAIN :(... possibly from extreme exhaustion from all of the traveling or the fumes that I had to consume when my buses tire blew out at 3am on the ride to Bangkok. Either way, for the first 3 days in Australia, my body recognized the familiar and had no trouble letting go. At least this time I was amongst friends and had a really nice bed (leant to me by a lovely 9 year old who teaches me great Ozzie slang like "pass me the dead horse" which means "pass me the ketchup (or tomato sauce in their case)")
Although sick, that didn't mean lazy! Thanks to Warren and Dave's excellent itinerary, I have already tried many new exciting Australian foods including 2 BBQ's, spent lots of time with the family, and camped all down the Great Ocean Road (a gorgeous road that winds down the coast of Victoria).
The food: boy do they love their meat!!! Coming right off the back of being in southeast Asia where I was mostly vegetarian, I am sure making up for the lack of meat here! From meat pies to snags to lamb roast...and of course the occasional vegemite and toast to get in the greens :) The food experience has definitely been a good one, but I better be careful or I might come back quite large!
The beauty: There is no doubt about it, Australia is a beautiful country. The city of Melbourne has a feel much like Seattle, in that it is a beautiful city by the water that is known for its wonderful restaurants. Melbourne is surrounded on one side by a river and the other the harbor with heaps of beautiful, green parks sprawled all over the city. (Don't worry mom, I am going to come home, I promise).
Then there is the coast, which I saw via the Great Ocean Road. The limestone cliffs, crystal blue water, and sandy beaches are really breathtaking! And the water (once you get over the freezing part) is really beautiful and great for a morning swim and some body boarding!ANNNNd I saw koalas in the wild!!!! They are soooo cute and sooooo lazy lol.
AND THE SOUTHERN STARS!! One of my favorite parts about being in Australia! I have never seen so many stars before in my life...it is just absolutely incredible...the milky way, the southern cross..I could just get lost in them...
The country life: One of the real treats that I have done so far is visit Australia's country...not quite the outback, but definitely not Seattle!! After our camping venture down the Great Ocean Road, we went to visit Warren's family at his sister's dairy farm. With 5 kids and lots of animals running around, this was quite the opposite of the quiet nights under the stars we had been having and I LOVED IT! I was put to work (full cow poop guard suit and all) milking the cows. Cow poop splattered on my face, milk ready for the milk man and the cows in the pasture...I was definitely ready for some Aussie BBQ! What fun!!!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Rolling with the punches!
Thinking that my trip to Thailand had come to a close and that it was all downhill from here, I hung out in Ao Nang a nice beach town yesterday afternoon, waiting until 3:00 when I was to meet my bus to Bangkok. I arrived early just to make sure that I could get a boat over in time and happily checked out the town, big bag and all. I got some nice lunch, caught up on emails, had a beer...things couldn't possibly go any better...or so I thought.
Three o'clock rolls around...waiting...3:30...still waiting....4:00...ok it is "Thai time", I thought to myself, but I don't think they are coming. I went to the tourist travel help and they said they didn't know. Unfortunately, I bought my ticket in Krabi town before I left for Tonsai and there was no one I could talk to. Frustrated, sweaty, and feeling a bit helpless I had to suck it all up and decide what to do. No matter what I did, I was definitely out the 500 Bhat that I paid for the ticket in the first place and I also definitely had no easy way to get to Bangkok. I had to realize that I am the only one who can do anything about the situation and that crying or being angry (although I did do a bit of both) won't get me anywhere. I also had to realize that there will be no one around to feel sorry for me so there is no use in feeling sorry for myself. Man were these all VERY hard things to do, but I thought about my situation and weighed my options. It was Tuesday and I fly out on Thursday. It takes a day to get to Bangkok.
Option one: I could take a taxi for 400 Bhat and go to the bus station, which still might not be in time to get a bus that night and then I might not know where to stay...
Option two: I find a hotel for the night in Ao Nang for the night and buy another ticket from a agency in Ao Nang for the next night and as long as all goes well I arrive in Bangkok the morning of my flight with enough time to get to the airport.
I decide on option two and take all of my bags down the street looking for an affordable hostel. By this time it is already around 5pm and most everything is full. Not giving up (because I can't) I find a nice room for 500 Bhat. A bit pricy, but ended up being very nice with really wonderful, friendly staff who didn't speak much English, but somehow made me feel much better. The town itself was also very nice and probably the best place for this crappy situation.
I will now try again and hopefully, especially for the sake of my flight arrive in Bangkok by tomorrow morning. Just when you forget that it can be very hard to travel....you are thrown another curve ball...but, hey, that's the fun of it :)
Three o'clock rolls around...waiting...3:30...still waiting....4:00...ok it is "Thai time", I thought to myself, but I don't think they are coming. I went to the tourist travel help and they said they didn't know. Unfortunately, I bought my ticket in Krabi town before I left for Tonsai and there was no one I could talk to. Frustrated, sweaty, and feeling a bit helpless I had to suck it all up and decide what to do. No matter what I did, I was definitely out the 500 Bhat that I paid for the ticket in the first place and I also definitely had no easy way to get to Bangkok. I had to realize that I am the only one who can do anything about the situation and that crying or being angry (although I did do a bit of both) won't get me anywhere. I also had to realize that there will be no one around to feel sorry for me so there is no use in feeling sorry for myself. Man were these all VERY hard things to do, but I thought about my situation and weighed my options. It was Tuesday and I fly out on Thursday. It takes a day to get to Bangkok.
Option one: I could take a taxi for 400 Bhat and go to the bus station, which still might not be in time to get a bus that night and then I might not know where to stay...
Option two: I find a hotel for the night in Ao Nang for the night and buy another ticket from a agency in Ao Nang for the next night and as long as all goes well I arrive in Bangkok the morning of my flight with enough time to get to the airport.
I decide on option two and take all of my bags down the street looking for an affordable hostel. By this time it is already around 5pm and most everything is full. Not giving up (because I can't) I find a nice room for 500 Bhat. A bit pricy, but ended up being very nice with really wonderful, friendly staff who didn't speak much English, but somehow made me feel much better. The town itself was also very nice and probably the best place for this crappy situation.
I will now try again and hopefully, especially for the sake of my flight arrive in Bangkok by tomorrow morning. Just when you forget that it can be very hard to travel....you are thrown another curve ball...but, hey, that's the fun of it :)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tonsai- OH MY BUddHA!!
Wow, what a beautiful, laid back, amazing place. I definitely want to return to this beach when I come back to Thailand in the future. As I left Tonsai beach this morning, I got an overwhelmingly accomplished and content feeling with my entire experience there. I felt truly sad to leave and very connected to the place, which is the first time that this has happened to me on this trip so far. It helped a lot that I was not sick anymore (traveling sick is definitely a whole different beast that I hope I don't have to come across again)!
On the first day that I arrived to Tonsai from Krabi, I met a couple of guys on the boat who were traveling together. They wanted to check out Railey and offered to share a triple with me. As luck had it, even though this was very tempting for my pocket, I was still sick and didn't want to keep them up coughing all night. Here we parted ways and I continued my journey to Tonsai, taking the long tail boat over. On the long tail I met another guy who had been there just the month before, which was perfect since he suggested a great place to stay. They were a collection of simple but very functional bungalows a short hike from the beach. I had only been there 20 minutes and I already knew the time I was going to have here was not going to be enough.
I decided to explore a bit and stopped by a sign that read "Deep water solo climbing" with a picture of a guy falling into the ocean from a large stalactite and I thought, WHY NOT and signed up to go the next day..having not really climbed much in my life, I didn't really know if I was prepared for such a thing, but it was worth a try...after all, it did say all experience levels.
The next day I set out on my latest crazy adventure, a little nervous, but how bad could it be. Although I was definitely the least experienced of the group, it was still fun! I climbed, I jumped, and I watched others do crazy things that I hope to do when I return someday with a little more experience. The best part about the whole experience was the group of friends that I made. Seven of us from the deep water solo-ing group decided to go climbing the next day. There were four very experienced climbers, one semi experienced, and two with no experience (me included).
This worked out so perfectly because I was going to sign up for a climbing class the next day that not only would have been more expensive, but also would have not been as much fun as with this group of amazing and interesting people from many different places around the world..it is so nice how people from everywhere with different experiences and different climbing levels can hang out and learn from each other and I feel so blessed to have been part of that.
We rented equipment and climbed from 7:30am - 6pm. Tired, sore, proud, and VERY impressed with the skillful climbers I not only climbed with, but saw climbing around us, we all went for our well deserved dinner and beer! What fun, full, and amazing two days we had!
The next day I had a "rest day" if you can call it that. I started my morning with Vinyessa yoga..not really a beginner friendly class so it was very hard for me, but VERY worth it in the end. I will definitely be spending some time after Australia doing intensive yoga and I hope to continue it at home. Then a friend from the group, Veronica, and I hiked through the jungle (no simple task) to get to Reiley west, which is the very nice beach out of the three. There I relaxed, snorkeled, and swam.
My trip to Tonsai ended with a Thai massage and relaxing island music at the sunset bar by the beach. Thank you Tonsai for such a memorable, amazing time! Now....Australia!!!!!!
On the first day that I arrived to Tonsai from Krabi, I met a couple of guys on the boat who were traveling together. They wanted to check out Railey and offered to share a triple with me. As luck had it, even though this was very tempting for my pocket, I was still sick and didn't want to keep them up coughing all night. Here we parted ways and I continued my journey to Tonsai, taking the long tail boat over. On the long tail I met another guy who had been there just the month before, which was perfect since he suggested a great place to stay. They were a collection of simple but very functional bungalows a short hike from the beach. I had only been there 20 minutes and I already knew the time I was going to have here was not going to be enough.
I decided to explore a bit and stopped by a sign that read "Deep water solo climbing" with a picture of a guy falling into the ocean from a large stalactite and I thought, WHY NOT and signed up to go the next day..having not really climbed much in my life, I didn't really know if I was prepared for such a thing, but it was worth a try...after all, it did say all experience levels.
The next day I set out on my latest crazy adventure, a little nervous, but how bad could it be. Although I was definitely the least experienced of the group, it was still fun! I climbed, I jumped, and I watched others do crazy things that I hope to do when I return someday with a little more experience. The best part about the whole experience was the group of friends that I made. Seven of us from the deep water solo-ing group decided to go climbing the next day. There were four very experienced climbers, one semi experienced, and two with no experience (me included).
This worked out so perfectly because I was going to sign up for a climbing class the next day that not only would have been more expensive, but also would have not been as much fun as with this group of amazing and interesting people from many different places around the world..it is so nice how people from everywhere with different experiences and different climbing levels can hang out and learn from each other and I feel so blessed to have been part of that.
We rented equipment and climbed from 7:30am - 6pm. Tired, sore, proud, and VERY impressed with the skillful climbers I not only climbed with, but saw climbing around us, we all went for our well deserved dinner and beer! What fun, full, and amazing two days we had!
The next day I had a "rest day" if you can call it that. I started my morning with Vinyessa yoga..not really a beginner friendly class so it was very hard for me, but VERY worth it in the end. I will definitely be spending some time after Australia doing intensive yoga and I hope to continue it at home. Then a friend from the group, Veronica, and I hiked through the jungle (no simple task) to get to Reiley west, which is the very nice beach out of the three. There I relaxed, snorkeled, and swam.
My trip to Tonsai ended with a Thai massage and relaxing island music at the sunset bar by the beach. Thank you Tonsai for such a memorable, amazing time! Now....Australia!!!!!!
Cambodia...strength in the time of tragedy
Cambodia; what a beautiful, strong, amazing country. First to be able to appreciate the Cambodian people to the extent that they should be appreciated, you have to know a little about the recent history. In April of 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge communist army, began the mass genocide of any Cambodian who lived in the cities, held jobs of intelligence (doctor, teacher, politician...), and those who questioned the Khmer rule. By mass murder, disease, exhaustion, and starvation, the Khmer Rouge claimed the lives of one forth of the Cambodian population and destroyed all of its cities. With this in mind, seeing how far Cambodia has come in and how much has been rebuilt in the last 40 years is quite amazing.
My first stop across the border was a small city called Siem Reap, the city closest to Angkor Wat, a gigantic and fascinating set of ruins. Originally Hindu, then Buddhist, these old temples (300 of them), are so intricate and beautiful in their structure and wall reliefs. A few people that I met on the bus and I traveled around for the whole day looking at each of these massive ruins. About 8 hours later, we were only able to get to 3 out of the 300 temples!
My next stop in Cambodia was Phnom Phen. On the bus ride from Siem Reap, I met a very nice Philipeano woman. When we arrived in Phnom Phen, it was very late and she was waiting for her ride (her business partner was already in the city and coming to pick her up). There were a lot of men in the area and it was quite dark and remote so I stayed and waited with her so that she was not alone. When her friend arrived, they were nice enough to bring me to my hotel.
Since I knew that I was coming into the city very late and it wwas quite big, I decided it would be smart to book a hotel ahead. However, since I decided too late, there were only fancy hotels avaliable. So, that night I splerged and spent a night in luxery for 25 US dollars. I even got to watch Glee and have a real shower!
The next day I found myself a hostel and since I was in a dorm room of 8, I also very quickly found a nice group of friends. We hung out, ate, partied, and all went to the killing fields and S-21 together (the two things that brought me to Phnom Phen in the first place).
The killing fields were very, very sad. This was just one of many killing fields that existed during the time of the Khmer Rouge. It was an area the the Khmer soldiers would bring people from the cities and kill them. Honestly some of the ways they would do this are so upsetting that I cannot even bring myself to write them in this blog. At this site you see hundreds of holes in the ground where thousands were burried....a really difficult and devistating place to experience, but very worth going to, to understand the complete devistation and tragety so many Cabodians had to go through and the weight that those who survived still have to carry with them. After that we went to S-21, a highschool in Phnom Phen that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge rule. This was also very difficult to see. The small cells, the lack of light, the torture devices....how can people be so horrible and inhumane....
A very sombering and difficult day ended my trip to Cambodia, but it really allowed me to appreciate the people of Cambodia, their spirit, their courage, and their strength. Although it has only been 40 years since the atrocities that destroyed the country, they are not only pushing on and rebuilding, but they are genuine and doing it all with smiles on their faces.
Overall, a very wonderful, fulfilling Cambodian experience!
My first stop across the border was a small city called Siem Reap, the city closest to Angkor Wat, a gigantic and fascinating set of ruins. Originally Hindu, then Buddhist, these old temples (300 of them), are so intricate and beautiful in their structure and wall reliefs. A few people that I met on the bus and I traveled around for the whole day looking at each of these massive ruins. About 8 hours later, we were only able to get to 3 out of the 300 temples!
My next stop in Cambodia was Phnom Phen. On the bus ride from Siem Reap, I met a very nice Philipeano woman. When we arrived in Phnom Phen, it was very late and she was waiting for her ride (her business partner was already in the city and coming to pick her up). There were a lot of men in the area and it was quite dark and remote so I stayed and waited with her so that she was not alone. When her friend arrived, they were nice enough to bring me to my hotel.
Since I knew that I was coming into the city very late and it wwas quite big, I decided it would be smart to book a hotel ahead. However, since I decided too late, there were only fancy hotels avaliable. So, that night I splerged and spent a night in luxery for 25 US dollars. I even got to watch Glee and have a real shower!
The next day I found myself a hostel and since I was in a dorm room of 8, I also very quickly found a nice group of friends. We hung out, ate, partied, and all went to the killing fields and S-21 together (the two things that brought me to Phnom Phen in the first place).
The killing fields were very, very sad. This was just one of many killing fields that existed during the time of the Khmer Rouge. It was an area the the Khmer soldiers would bring people from the cities and kill them. Honestly some of the ways they would do this are so upsetting that I cannot even bring myself to write them in this blog. At this site you see hundreds of holes in the ground where thousands were burried....a really difficult and devistating place to experience, but very worth going to, to understand the complete devistation and tragety so many Cabodians had to go through and the weight that those who survived still have to carry with them. After that we went to S-21, a highschool in Phnom Phen that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge rule. This was also very difficult to see. The small cells, the lack of light, the torture devices....how can people be so horrible and inhumane....
A very sombering and difficult day ended my trip to Cambodia, but it really allowed me to appreciate the people of Cambodia, their spirit, their courage, and their strength. Although it has only been 40 years since the atrocities that destroyed the country, they are not only pushing on and rebuilding, but they are genuine and doing it all with smiles on their faces.
Overall, a very wonderful, fulfilling Cambodian experience!
Friday, February 10, 2012
definitely living up to the name...clumsy nomad...
It's kind of a which came first question...am I slowly (actually, quite quickly) falling apart because of how I titled my blog, or did I just title my blog spot on? I already know the answer...I was definitely clumsy BEFORE the blog title, but I sure am doing really well living up to it!!
It is (haha I actually don't know what day of the week it is) morning and I am just about to leave a small town called Krabi on my way to Tonsai beach, which Dani and Morgan suggested to me and that is known for its awesome rock climbing. Although I am quite sick and banged up...I will explain..I am super excited to try my hand at rock climbing!
So I know that there are a lot of holes in my travels and I plan on (hopefully) filling those gaps in about a week. In Cambodia I was busy day after day seeing the beautiful ruins of Angkor Wat and learning about the horrible history of the Khmer Rouge. Then in my small stop over in Battenbang, Cambodia I began to get sick. I was so bummed because I was on my way to scuba dive, an activity where it is really important that you are healthy, especially in the ear and sinus area. Low and behold, I was developing an ear infection!!!
However, I was in Koh Tao and by golly I was going to scuba dive if it killed me! So the first day I got there I went to the doctor and got antibiotics and took it easy. I had an amazing package at Big Blue Scuba Resort (I definitely suggest it!) where I got 12 dives and 5 nights accommodation for about 240 US dollars!! So the next day it was time to suck it up and dive. In the next 3 days I did 11 dives, 9 of them I felt great, the last two I should not have done...from there I felt worse than when I started. But, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!
Time to leave Koh Tao and super sick, I took the night boat out. Just before I was about to get on the boat I realized I didn't buy more toilet paper. I took all my bags and headed to 7 11. Thats when it happened...I slid on a dirt patch, my bags flew everywhere...sick, tired, and hurt...I just sat there and BALLED!!!! Man, I have never wanted to be home and around familiar people more than I did at that moment!
But, in all this I have seen how incredibly nice people genuinely are. As I sat there crying and bleeding, a nice woman gave me all of her Ibuprofen and two Thai men and two Thai women rushed over and sat me down, carried my bags over, cleaned my wounds, and bandaged me up. Even though I was alone, I was really not alone after all. I was able to make the best of the situation, get onto the night boat, and fall asleep knowing tomorrow would be another day.
And it is! Clumsy and silly, bandaged and sick, I am rock climbing if it kills me!!! :)
(Don't worry mom, it won't actually kill me. I promise!!)
It is (haha I actually don't know what day of the week it is) morning and I am just about to leave a small town called Krabi on my way to Tonsai beach, which Dani and Morgan suggested to me and that is known for its awesome rock climbing. Although I am quite sick and banged up...I will explain..I am super excited to try my hand at rock climbing!
So I know that there are a lot of holes in my travels and I plan on (hopefully) filling those gaps in about a week. In Cambodia I was busy day after day seeing the beautiful ruins of Angkor Wat and learning about the horrible history of the Khmer Rouge. Then in my small stop over in Battenbang, Cambodia I began to get sick. I was so bummed because I was on my way to scuba dive, an activity where it is really important that you are healthy, especially in the ear and sinus area. Low and behold, I was developing an ear infection!!!
However, I was in Koh Tao and by golly I was going to scuba dive if it killed me! So the first day I got there I went to the doctor and got antibiotics and took it easy. I had an amazing package at Big Blue Scuba Resort (I definitely suggest it!) where I got 12 dives and 5 nights accommodation for about 240 US dollars!! So the next day it was time to suck it up and dive. In the next 3 days I did 11 dives, 9 of them I felt great, the last two I should not have done...from there I felt worse than when I started. But, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!
Time to leave Koh Tao and super sick, I took the night boat out. Just before I was about to get on the boat I realized I didn't buy more toilet paper. I took all my bags and headed to 7 11. Thats when it happened...I slid on a dirt patch, my bags flew everywhere...sick, tired, and hurt...I just sat there and BALLED!!!! Man, I have never wanted to be home and around familiar people more than I did at that moment!
But, in all this I have seen how incredibly nice people genuinely are. As I sat there crying and bleeding, a nice woman gave me all of her Ibuprofen and two Thai men and two Thai women rushed over and sat me down, carried my bags over, cleaned my wounds, and bandaged me up. Even though I was alone, I was really not alone after all. I was able to make the best of the situation, get onto the night boat, and fall asleep knowing tomorrow would be another day.
And it is! Clumsy and silly, bandaged and sick, I am rock climbing if it kills me!!! :)
(Don't worry mom, it won't actually kill me. I promise!!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)