Olá Lisboa- heart full of love and a belly full of custard tarts

Well, a few years later (roughly 13!) and I’m back on this blog! Although, travelling now is not just me, but us: I have Jonathan, 9 (very nearly 10) and Joanna, 7 to enjoy it with.

41 is a different time of life to 28. With far less free time, a last minute 3 night / 4 day jolly to Portugal’s capital squeezed between shared parenting, half term and annual leave from full time work, feels like a dream. My first time in the country! 

Portugal has always seemed completely unfamiliar and somehow unrelated to any part of my life. Is it the uniqueness of the language? Unsure of a single word in Portugeuse, we diligently dowloaded Duoloingo to give it a go! On the bus from Old Harlow to Stansted, we seem to make quick progress: we show strong skills in translating sentences about the cat and the dog and who drinks milk and who eats bread and is a menino or a menina. 

Normally I feel uncomfortable without a sound grasp of the basics, so now I have that sorted – I can relax. 😉

 Flights in the middle of the day made the journey less of a chore and more of a pleasure: a) I because can’t manage getting kids up at 4 a.m. for an early flight by myself and b) travelling in the day, makes travelling the activity. A lunchtime flight is very comfortable given we live a bus ride from the airport. Uncompromised by being stupidly tired before we start, we can cruise through the airport processes and spend our time people watching and more Duolingo. In comparison to our half term dash to France last year by car/ferry, the journey itself was relaxing without the fear of having to drive on the right when we disembarked looming over me.

Equipped with a pocket Lonely Planet: Lisbon, we have good intentions to navigate to our hotel by public transport – something I feel internally confident about having a good skillset in! But intentions were dashed when, on arrival, what had sounded like a breeze became a bit overwhelming with bus routes cancelled and just the 9 Euros cash I had found in the garage. Now was the time to play the Uber card and we buzzed off in our lift, soaking up the cityscape at rush hour as the evening came alive. 

 

The booking was 4-star hotel tucked behind the Avenida da Liberdade, a grand, tree lined avenue leading to the heart of Lisbon. Our room, on the 4^thfloor, overlooked a suitably ‘you booked this online last minute’ view of disused offices and workmen smoking and shouting at each other. Nonetheless, a room in a hotel is always exciting to kids: what is not to love about a mini bar, free bottles of shampoo, a shower cap in a box (who actually uses those?) and TV playing channels and channels of news and Portuguese cartoons? That evening, excited and wired from a day in transit, we ate late in a busy local Italian, enjoying the first taste of Lisbon’s friendliness and affordability.

Knowing a city has lots to offer and keen to not waste out time here, I did proper research this time and had pencilled out an at least vague itinerary, punctuated by a booking for each day.

 

Booking 1 = aquarium. On each day I allowed ample time for us to enjoy breakfast, and because you should never rush on holiday. A full continental breakfast will NEVER fail to bring me joy. Especially when actually delivered continentally. A variety of bread and cheese and salami for breakfast? Mortadella and little tubs of butter? YES! Every time! The kids were delighted by endless pastries, sweet cereals, big dispensers of juice and bowls of giant juicy raisins. 

 

Lisbon is compact for a capital city and the 4 metro lines (creatively named yellow, green, blue and red) make for a quick and comfortable blast of subterranean transit. The aquarium is situated near to Orinete station, in a modern district which contrasts to the winding and steep oldness of the Lisbon you picture in your mind. The aquarium was, like most things we did, not expensive. It was also pleasantly uncrowded. Joanna has long been known for her compassion for all things animal related and the marine life in the aquarium brought out her best: Penguins, sea otters, rays and sharks – all amazing. 

 

With the afternoon to play for, we rode the telefrico and traversed the city to iconic Belem – birth place of the famous custard tarts. Belem did not disappoint. We soaked up the history exhibited in imposing stonework and the striking Belem tower jutting out into the Tagur. I told the kids that the way Lisbon is situated at the mouth of a river is like where I currently work on the Thames estuary, careful to emphasise the contrasting levels of beauty. October in Lisbon is like an early English summer; sunny and warm but with regular downpours. We meandered and hid from showers until our feet were finished. 

 

Booking 2: Walking tour. Suitably fuelled by a second session at the buffet of dreams, we navigate ourselves to the start of a tour such of the like I am acquainted to from my days in Berlin. ‘Free’ but you leave a big tip – the point being it is delivered by locals who care and who are passionate. In our case – Jose; slightly fierce in his beliefs yet keen to engage us in the stories he tells. The children were captivated from beginning to end. A highlight was the vivid recounting of the 1755 Earthquake, tsunami and fire; its aftermath and resultant impact on the course of Lisbon’s history. Together with our rabble of German, Australian, American, Canadian counterparts also on the tour, the kids and I stepped over 20K steps that day, without really realising. One of Jonathan’s shoes even fell apart! Despite the discomfort, he saw the whole thing out with minimal grumbling. The rest of the afternoon we spent shoe shopping for him, eating sardines, taking pictures of trams and tiles and drinking a beer (me not the kids) looking out from one of many of the miradouro (view points).

 

Booking 3: Having a 5 pm flight we were able to squeeze in a final activity. Jonathan has been into football for a few months so, with us being in Cristiano Ronaldo’s home country, I took it as an excuse to do something football themed. I would never randomly visit a football stadium in the UK but at just 30 Euros, I couldn’t see what wasn’t cool about taking Jonathan for a squiz of the Benfica stadium. The 2-hour tour of this 65,000 capacity stadium in north Lisbon, certainly had an impact and gave a different view of the city. Definitely unforgettable.

 

Unsurprisingly, the flight back was less relaxing than the outward one – we were tired. Sunday evening flights, while appealing for time maximisation, test people’s patience. But a medical emergency on the plane was an experience I had never had! When the cabin crew announced, ‘can we ask that if there are any doctors or nurses on the plane to please make themselves known’, the whole plane gasped and a mood of panic felt not too far away. However, when two medics sitting with their families near us jump into action, I find myself in awe of them and watch gratefully as the situation is brought under control.

On re-entering the UK, despite feeling exhausted, it felt like an achievement to have walked nearly 80,000 steps through Lisbon with two under 10s. A fantastic place and I was proud of how much the kids got out of it. The language lessons with Duolingo are now a firm feature in our house but for now, we are left with only one word: Obrigado!!

Kia Ora to Kiwi Land

Its long long overdue but finally after nearly 3 months on the green green shores of Nuovo Zeelandia, I have made myself a temporary home, packed up my back pack and found time to write the blog! Ahh New Zealand....land of the Kiwi, the most delicious honey in the world, tasty lamb, rugby and err Rachel Hunter? Flight of the Conchords perhaps?

I realised early on that I had planned everything badly and would be arriving in NZ almost exactly for the onset of winter, so knew it was going to be cold when I got here in May. Thats fine, I know about cold, I can deal with rain and wind too, infact after 5 months of having no job and the best tan of my life I almost felt I deserved some bracing conditions. But cold, rain and wind with nothing but glorified wendy houses heated by powerful hairdryers to live in? errrr call me a winging pom but thats just plain stooopid! I'm almost adjusted now but seriously there is a gap in the market for central heating and double glazing specialits round these parts.

Ok winging over. New zealand is spectacular. The people are welcoming and friendly, the culture is diverse and bilingual and there is loads to do, mainly outdoors.

I arrived in Aukland in mid-may and stayed with cousin Katie and Ben for a few days. Visited Sinead in Hobbiton, Enjoyed Ben's great 21st bday party and started developing my Kiwi vocab; 'Sweet as bro'.However, sorry to all Auklanders but I didn't feel it was a special place, at least for me. NZ is not reallly about the cities and Aukland, a sprawling region of suburbs with a terrible traffic problem rather than an actual city, is testament to this. Having heard so much about New Zealand's stunning landscape, I presumed one just needed to get out of the city. Before doing so However, I started the investigation into the English teaching situation here. There is a considerable market of private language schools in NZ, catering to Koreans, Japanese and Chinese students who come to learn the language in the cheapest English speaking country around. And at the north of the North Island Aukland is the first big city they come to.I was offered a couple of jobs but still with a little bit of budget left in my back pocket I decided I would travel the country on a quickish tour, checking out the teaching jobs in the two other main cities - Wellington and Christchurch - before deciding where to settle. Heading south I stopped off in Mount Manganui with friends and found out why the surrounding area is called the Bay of Plenty. Why? because it is so very plentiful!!! I have never seen so much fresh fruit, so many brightly coloured delectibles, in my life. By then it was the end of May, so nearing the end of the feijoa season, but there was still mountains of these amazing little fruits around. Kiwi fruit galore, fresh guacamole made from fresh avacados every night, percimons, pears, apples, tangerines. Glorious.













Down to Taupo(pronounced toe-paw) which is situated on New Zealand's largest lake. Here I had my first taste of the majestic splendour that New Zealand's landscape had to offer. So inspired was I, I decided to Bungeeeeeee. O yes. Not a very big one mind ( a mere 47 metres) but that doesn't detract from the fact that I jumped into thin air. Truly amazing experience, I honesltly never thought I would do it, but am extremely glad I did and with such an amazing bakdrop!I sped on to Wellington from here, New Zealands capital. Which, to give you an idea of how sparelsy populated NZ is, is about the size of Brighton. I immeadiately felt that Wellington was the place for me. A few friends live here and one of them, Faith - who I worked with in Berlin, lives here with James her boyfriend and they allowed me to stay in thier shared house (since become my home) for a few days while I checked out the city.

So it was nice to have people to catch up with but also Wellington is a much more attractive place than Aukland. Its right at the bottom of the north island and is located on the harbour and surrounded by green hills to the north. So on a good day Wellington is stunning, with some beautiful bays and harbour views. However, its geopgraphy means that Wellington is also known for its gale force winds blowing both northerly and southerly and it has quite dramatic weather as a result! O yeah and it is on a mahoosive fault line which means Earthquakes are possible at any time. Just the other night we had 5.2 quake. Tsunamis are also a risk aparently!!! Wooop!

That aside, the city also has a nice feel about it beacuse it is hilly and you can see out over the city which together with the wooden and colourful houses give it a lot of character. It felt like a combination of San Fransisco (not that I have been, but what I imagine it to be like), Berlin and Melbourne.

However, the job market for English teachers is less vibrant in Welly than in Aukland, so after just one interview which left me with no firm job offer I made tracks for the South Island to check out Christchurch.

The ferry journey to the South Island at 7 am was unforgettable and is something that everybody should do if they come here even though the arrival of cheap airlines doesnt nescersarily make it the quickest or most economical way to travel. The sun rising over The Cook Strait (the waters that separate the two parts of the country) was so spectacular that I spent the entire 3 hour trip on the viewing deck in spite of the temperature.

The minimal size of New Zealand's population is something that people from the UK living over here never stop talking about. That is because the country is a similar size to the UK and yet inhabited by just over 4 million people. That compares to the 61 million or so who live in Great Britain! Where do they all fit? To boot, the vast majority of New zealand's population live on the North Island making the South Island breathtakingly sparse and unspoiled. The landscape down south is unquestionably more dramatic than that of the North's, with bigger mountains, more snow, cliffs, fjords, lakes, forests, just a lot more eye-candy really!

Eager to finalize my decisoon about where to settle I headed straight down the the South Island's main city, Christchurch, for a few more interviews at language schools. I am not sure why but Christchurch is also much more of a hub for English learning than Wellington and I had 4 or 5 positive interviews here and also ended up doing a weeks relief (supply) work while staying with cousin Esme and her son's family who have recently moved to NZ from Hong Kong. Although Christchurch is very well situated for discovering the South Island's beauty, I again didnt feel like I could settle here long term. It is flat and somewhat characterless and moreover felt very very English and strangely like Cambridge just without any of my friend and not as good pubs. It even has punts!!!!

Luckily while I was waiting in Christchurch for Timo to arrive from OZ, an offer of work came through in Wellington so I was relieved to know I had work where I wanted to be and was able to kick back and enjoy my last couple of weeks of travelling. Who better to do that with than Tim!

We departed Camchurch, Christbridge whatever and headed for the central lakes. Jaw droppingly stunning - we enjoyed thermal spas and lake views galore in Tekapo before hitting Wanaka and getting caught up in the pre-season preprations at the ski fields. I briefly regretted not having looked for work down there for the season but remebering I can't ski or snowboard thought best that I stuck to what I can do and which also pays better. We enjoyed the buzz for a few days in Queenstown and then I went up to the glaciers at Franz Josef and Fox while Tim snowboarded.

I did one last bit of box ticking and went to see an All Blacks game in Christchurch before heading back to Welly and get settled in for the start of work. Awesome to be amoung friends and to have an income again albeit in kiwi dollars that is not exactly gonna keep me in diamonds and pearls! But am also now doing some bar work to put some extra away for the summer!














So am now living in Wellington with housemates Faith, Jmaes, Jonothan and Alex and generally just enjoying all that life in the NZ capital has to offer. My work is actually about 15 km out of Wellington so I am up at 6.30 to catch a train but I have been cycling back on my brand new mountain bike which is ace fun when the wind is in my favour, less so when not! (btw - helmets are a compulsory legality here which has been a bit hard to get used to having avoided them my entire life.)













The work is fun, trying to explain the past perfect and 2nd conditional to Korean 20 somethings has its moments but is really rewarding as they are such a sweet bunch!! Seriously adorable and certainly beats teaching middle-aged German civil servants.
My contract has been extended and have been able to blag an extention on my return ticket until April thus avoiding the depressing situation of leaving here as the weather gets good and returning to a European winter. I want to travel some more in this beautiful country in the summer, there is so much more to see (Abel Tasman, Bay of Islands, Queenstown in the sun!) but for now I am glad to be working and have a roof over my head for the winter!

So, hope everyone as enjoyed the summer in the northern hemisphere....I am missing it but mainly missing people, I am looking forward to next year already!

Lots of Kiwi love

x x x x x

Aussie Rules! 3 months in Australia!

I ended up spending 2 months longer than expected in Oz, as the place is somewhat addictive, so there is obviously a lot I have had to leave out about my time spent on the rock....so this is mainly a summary of the highlights....

So arrive in Sydney and it is quite a shock to be back around western world ways. My first reaction is inevitably: OMG the price of everything! In Asia 2 dollars would buy a night’s accommodation or a seafood feast, here you can barely get a cup of tea. Regrettably it doesn’t take long to get back into the swing of consumer society and I start getting excited about things I recognise from home: bakeries with fresh bread (and banana cake everywhere...wow!), cheese, wine and other such treats!

(yes 'Australia's favourite cheese' really is called COON!)

Australia is known for its proximity to the sun (about 45 minutes away?) and although autumn is fast approaching, the summer has been an exceptionally hot one here. I had heard about the bush fire devastation in areas of Victoria while I was still in Indonesia and as soon as we landed there was evidence of how seriously it had effected and mobilised the country. Melbourne had experienced an unprecedented and uncomfortable heat wave similar in its extremeness to the news of a recordbreakingly cold winter in Europe! The climes they are a’changin!

Australia is a truly awesome entity; a continent, country and island all in one! It is a massive great big place with just 28 million inhabitants. The phenomenon of Europe seems quite alien when you imagine that 80 million people live in Germany alone!

Sydney is blessed with some of the most amazing beaches in the world (eh em, I should expect, not really having seen a huge amount of them) and I totally get into the coastal life vibe. Coming from Cambridge, England, my idea of coastal living is the Norfolk coast wearing big yellow raincoats and hats, gails and walking into the wind on shingle beach. Here you are in a international city and a just a bus ride from the centre there are white sand beaches with clear blue water, wonderfully maintained and facilitated, clean and safe (although there was a buzz in the news about recent shark attacks but don’t let that put you off). Maybe it is just a refreshing break from not having to constantly refuse the offer of a pedicure or Sarong, but I am truly taken with the beaches in Sydney.

Bondi Beach!!!

The shift in cost of living in comparison to Asia is most obvious in accommodation prices. That is why on the recommendation of others I had arranged to try ‘couch surfing’ (www.couchsurfing.com) and start my career as a global freeloader. It didn’t last long as it soon became clear that making networks with existing friends and family is much easier! Although you do get to meet cool people through the project!
It was so much fun catching up with Hayley who, as a dental nurse, is up there on the list of skilled migrants granted resident status in Oz and as a result has been living there for 2 years. We had a ball and celebrated our birthdays at the Hawaiian party and dressing up for Mardi Gras was a blast. To get out of the city and get my first taste of Australian natural wonders I went to the nearby Blue Mountains which were stunning and where I enjoyed a few days of bush walking.

The Blue Mountains.

After another few nights in Sydney I headed up by Greyhound to the Mecca of the chilled East coast wy of life; Byron Bay. Unfortunately my hostel experience in Byron wasn’t great. The dorm life firstly seemed like a brutal reminder that it is now nearly 10 years since was 18, secondaly proved how drinking something called ‘Goon’ is never gonna be pretty and thirdly taught me how much I hate the term ‘backpacker’. I have since vowed that my hostelling days are over. Well in Australia at least. Despite badly selected accommodation, Byron Bay is beautiful. Australia’s most easterly point, some coastal rainforest, great beaches and primetime surfing and surf watching! Hippies and getting high to boost! Also caught the annual nude cycle ride! Awesome.

Nude Cycling in Byron Bay

After 4 days in Byron, I spent a night at Brisbane airport (quite comfy, see http://www.sleepinginairports.com/) before flying to Adelaide. Step-uncle and cousins Mark, Milly and Josh pick me up from the airport and take me back to their lovely home just outside Adelaide. It is nice to be in a home rather than a hostel and they are very accommodating to me while I stay there. They live 5 mins from Maslin beach which is a totally different landscape, much redder geology, and which is west facing so has fabulous sunsets every night. The secluded beach is good for walking and the water is so clear and really cold so I increased my life by 5 mins a day by going for a dip in the mornings!

Sunset at Maslin Beach

On my grampa’s recommendation, I arrange a shared car ride to the Flinders ranges with Regis and Laurent. 2 French guys staying in Adelaide, Regis is a geophysicist (he knows his rocks) living and working in Adelaide and Laurent is a photographer on a working holiday visa. We drove for 5 days to the outback (well they drove as I still haven’t replaced my stolen licence ; ) and the remoteness of some of the towns and the grand scale of the landscape was an amazing to experience. To an English person who would rarely drive for over 3 hours without an overnight stop, the driving to be done in Australia is epic! We camped in some great campsites and I enjoyed the immensity of the night skies. We climbed to the top of the tallest peak in South Australia, St Mary’s Peak and saw the interesting geographical formation that is Wilpena Pound. The experience was really refreshing and rewarding, thanks for the recommendation gramps!

On Top: St Mary's Peak

After another few days in the smoke I arrange a car with a friend to drive along the Great Ocean Road to the promised land: Melbourne. The weather is getting colder now and this is the tail end of summer, but again some beautiful coastal landscapes and features such as the Twelve Apostles and London Bridge along this beautiful stretch of coastal road.

The Twelve Apostles

With much excitement about the fortune we will seek in our new temporary home, we arrive in Melbourne! City of lights, city of friends, city of so many things and currently as host to The International Comedy Festival, city of laughs.
On prior arrangement Melbournite Mr. Rodney Sinclair picks me up after breakfast and takes me back to his place in Richmond, a lovely area of the city, where he lives with his lovely girlfriend Lani. Rod is a close friend of Timo’s from their days spent as reprobates in Aya Napa and who I met over 10 years ago in a Japanese restaurant in the Cypriot party town. We reminisce about old times and laugh about my brother! They are so welcoming and helpful and agree to allow me to stay for as long as I need, which in the travelling game is obviously golden.

Rod and Lani!

I find some casual work in a restaurant to keep me out of trouble and to give me a few pennies to make another road trip before going to New Zealand. I hook up with another old friend from school Josh aka Ishwar the Bold and get more than a taste of what there is to do in the Victorian capital. Melbourne has a lot going for it and is more European in character to rival sibling Sydney and frustrated cousins Adelaide and Brisbane. This is mainly due to the many art and cultural things happening, its interesting pub-scene, sub-cuture and street art all of which reminds me of both Berlin and London in different ways.

Melbourne street art

In terms of comedy, I make a point of getting tickets for Dylan Moran, my all time favourite brand of Irish cynicism, and pick up a few other tickets along the way including for the darling of the Australian (and indeed international) comedy circuit; Tim Minchin. I also go to some of the other more low-key ad free gigs going on in the city and am spoilt for quality stand-up!

Dylan Moran

After the comedy festival I developed a taste for top notch events! I reconnect with a friend from Bangkok and we go on a holiday within a holiday to Melbourne’s premier nightspot and coastal suburb; St. Kilda. The reason for our trip is based around having tickets to see De La Soul and Cut Chemist at legendary venue the Esplanade Hotel. An amazing place and an amazing gig!

De La Soul @ The Esplanade Hotel

Following this I get the chance to see an Aussie rules football match at the home of AFL, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. AFL is a unique sport that was originally intended to keep cricketers fit in the winter. The rules seems crazily complicated (circular pitch, 4 goal posts?) but there are lots of men in tight shorts so all good in my books! Every true Melbournian will tell you that seeing at least one match at the MCG (also known as the 'G' in true aussie tradition of shortening everything!) is a must while in Melbourne and I am not disappointed as the match I see (Hawthorn v Carlton) turns out to be ‘the best it gets’. The atmosphere is infectious and there is none of the agro you would expect at a ‘soccer’ match in the UK. Sad but true!

Aussie rules football: Carlton v Hawthorn!!

Another unique Aussie experience was getting up at 5am to go to the dawn service on ANZAC day and stand with 30,000 people while they remembered Australia and New Zealand’s collective effort in the world wars and current conflicts. Moving and testement to the strength of ride in Australian national identity.

ANZAC day: dawn parade

Timo arrived in Australia a week or so before my visa expires so it was off to Sydney for one last blast. Brilliant to catch up with him finally and to meet Lauren. Also great to see Hayley, Gary, the boys from Frames, Flores and Fran again!

Tim and Lauren @ Darling Harbour

A lot of my time in Melbourne was spent trying to replace my wardrobe of sarongs and flip flops with a wardrobe fit for city life, in the winter! All the while considering baggage allowance restrictions and backpacker budget, hmm, not easy despite the quality of Melbourne shopping! But with that task finally complete, it’s off to New Zealand and the cold (only 2 months later than expected)!

I can honestly say I was nowhere near ready to enjoy Australia quite as much as I did! But what a truly great place! With 3 years left before I’m 30, the likelihood of me coming back for a working holiday visa is high! So much more to see and do!

Again, missing everybody loads and hope you Europeans are enjoying the weather in Europe!
I haven’t been reading nearly as much as while I was in Asia but one book I did read and can recommend for a summary of Australian heritage is:

-Wild Colonial Boys by Frank Clune. Australian history from the point of view of bushrangers such as Ned Kelly and Ben Hall!

Also heard some great Aussie tunes worth checking out:

-The Cat Empire

-The Presets

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Cambridge to Bali via Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore

So, after nearly 2 months at sea, i finally find time to write an entry for any of you who are interested in where I have been and what I have been doing.

Arriving at Heathrow at 6am after a heavy red wine night (the last for some time I would later realise as there is litle wine in Asia, red or white...o except Lukes make-shift wine and cheese evening in the back of our taxi to Colombo airport with a sweating Asda cheese board selection left over from xmas) I was thoroughly dreading the 24 hour flight (inc transit...in Singapore!!!) to Sri Lanka. However, having spoken to other travellers, it appears almost unanimous that Singapore Airlines are possibly the best carrier in Asia, if not the world. Movies, music, food and drink on demand, I honestly didnt want the flight to end!

Arriving in Sri Lanka, it was great to be greeted by lovely Luke and Emily and the next 7 days were absolute paradise in Sri Lanka which truly is 'a land like no other'. Staying with close friends of the Gillow clan, we were treated as family and enjoyed some of the tastiest curry I have ever tasted. Fresh fish galore, rice, fresh exotic fruits and veg all beautifully prepared.
We saw in the New Year with smiles and fireworks on the beach. Hard to believe that only 5 years ago the region was devastated by the Tsunami, the people are truly resilient and the coastal town of Hikkaduwa bustles with life and colour.



















My first introduction to the world of the surf was cool too. The waves were great and watching some of the surfers you could really see their hypnotic power and understand how people dedicate thier lives to chasing the thrill. Although my attempts at surfing were pretty pathetic and I could not even manage to get balance lying down! I am hoping Timo will give the Bates name a better reputation on the waves while he is there now!

























Unfortunately I lost my bank card and drivers license a mere 5 days into my trip, stolen sadly, which was to become a bit of a headache in terms of getting a new card and access to my bank account, but it only temporarily affected my enjoyment of Sri Lanka.
So after far too short a time in Lanka, we all head off to the airport to go our separate ways (Luke to Japan, Emily to Bangkok, Mark to Phuket and me to Singapore to get an onward flight to Bangkok to re-meet Emily).

In Bangkok, I have my first taste of Thailand and the teeming metropolis that is Bangkok. On this trip however, keen to get back to the beach, we only spend enough time to get an entertaining glimpse of Bangkoks famous sex industry (mainly in the form of fat old western men with bored looking Thai girs and many many lady boys working the streets) and a fantastic green curry.

After barely any sleep we catch a bus south to Trat and catch the ferry Koh Chang. Not having been to Thailand before, but having heard much, I guess it is the standard Thai Island drill. Fullmoon parties, buckets and sunburn. But pleasant enough and we enjoy some days on the beach, swimming, walking, laughing o yeah and drinking gin. While I nurse the last of many Bombay Saphire hangovers, Emily has by now finished reading 3 lonely planet books almost cover to cover, furnishing us kindly with the knowledge for onward travel to Cambodia.




















Passing through Trat again and into Cambodia, this was my first taste of Asian border economy. We were there early enough for it to be not too stressful but even so it was pretty full on, bustling, shoving and people trying to make a quick dollar by any means possible (U.S dollar is king in Cambodia where the local currency is Riel and is absolutely tiny). But surviving that we were into Cambodia and together with Joan, Taryn and Dave from the states we head to the beach at Shinoukville, a coatal resort home to a new and quickly developing tourist trade; its known as 'the Costa del Cambodia'. Not really a very nice place in my humble opinion, and was keen to move on to somewhere with less bars competing for cheesey beats and less touts trying to sell me snorkelling tours. We did one however, and it was gorgeous.


Tourism in Cambodia is a relatively new phenomenon and the country has a very fresh history of a bloody past under the Khmer Rouge, war and colonial rule before that. The country is riddled with crime; from people trafficking to Happy Pizza (mmm) and the tourism here is prone to corruption, scamming and so on. You need to be alert in other words, we survived with only a few bus scams and losing some dollars to the tuk tuk/hotel mafia in Siam Reap. Apart from having to keep an eye on such things, the people we met were charming, helpful and beautiful.
On to Kampot, a beautiful old fishing town, which has hundreds of streets with old French Colonial style buildings, which are now quite run down and which give the town an eery kind of feel. I enjoyed our day and a bit greatly here, we hired bikes and had much fun beetling about and eating the tastiest crab I have ever tasted, flavoured with the peppercorns that Kampot is famous for.
















Next we go to Phnom Pehn, the capital and are not quite ready for niether the hilariously dangerous journey nor the filth and size of the city that awaits. Sprawling markets with meat being sold in the blazing heat without any concept of refrigeration, fish, poultry the works. Elephants, chained and made to walk through the city's pollution without water and begging on a scale I had never witnessed. We visit the museum to the genocide under Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime which is a very well maintained museum housed in the former torture prison. Its harrowing but provides a useful context for appreciating the country we are visiting.























We really enjoy Phnom Pehn but are now faced with the agonising issue of where to go next. We are running out of time as Emily will be leaving on the 23rd of Jan. We feel we have to go to the temples at Angkor Wat as we are in Cambodia and its quite an essential box to be ticked...but we also have visas for Vietnam and dont want to to waste them or miss the opportunity to have some authentic vietnamese pho for breakfast at least once. I am convinced we do not have time to do both as going to Angkor Wat will require us to come back down through Phnom Pehn to get to Saigon, which I feel is excessive travel. Emily's determination is admirable and in the end well worth it. We decide to indeed go to the temples.


We stay just a day in Siam Reap and pay 20 dollars to see the Angkor Wat temples for a day. The whole city of temples, built in the 12th century, is truly impressive and we are glad we made the mission, but both agree more than one day and we would have been 'templed out'. Some people do it for a week. I personally enjoyed the crazy trees that eat the stone work of the temples the most; like nature reclaiming man's attempt to dominate etc etc. Tomb Raider was also filmed here.






















On to Vietnam for the last leg of Emily's stint in Asia and my time with a companion before onward tarvel to Indonesia alone. Again taken with the bustle of a huge metropolis, we love Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We eat beef noodle soup (Pho) almost continuously for 4 days. Apart from that we enjoy the markets, meet some fun people and watch while the Vietnamese manically prepare for Tet which is their New Year that corresponds with the Chinese New Year elsewhere. Celebrations promise to be immense, and although slightly dissapointed that I have already booked my flight back to Bangkok for just before the festival itself, I realise that its probably for the best as everything shuts down for 4 or 5 days over Tet, and travelling to Singapore would have been tricky. I decide that enjoying the Chinese New Year festivities in Bangkok will be party enough.


















So, back to Bangkok and bye bye Emily. We end the 3 weeks together is style on the Koh San Road. By getting wasted of course. Luckily we manage to get back to the hotel safely and Emily makes her flight, albeit with a stinking hangover. So, alone now, I check into the nicest hostel in central Bangkok (cozybangkok place...cannot recommend it enough), from where I discover the ginourmous city by foot, boat and skytrain over the next 4 days before 3 days of train travel to Singapore to collect my much stressed about new bank card. Chinese New Year in China Town was mindblowing....in a sea of red for 2 nights, eating eating (not nearly enough drinking much to the dismay of Europeans, apparently Asian's have a different genetic make-up making them less able to take thier drink...gutted) and dragon fights galore. Even the princess made a royal visit, a big thing in Thailand where the royal family are mortal-gods.
















Down to Hat Yai on the overnight train, very comforatble sleeper and only 10 pounds for 16 hours (imagine that on British Rail or DB?). Then straight through to Kualar Lumpar on another overnight train, similarly priced and even more comforatble. Not stopping in Kualar Lumpar long due to the pressing concern of getting to Singapore for the bank by friday, I take an 8 hour train to Singapore. Here my ipod was stolen and I lose the soundtrack of my life as all cds now lost or broken. Only part of it is backed up on my comp back home and therefore gone gone gone. I guess I will finally have to stop listening to Jagged Little Pill ; )

So, not too impressed with Malaysian hospitality, I arrive in Singapore tired, pissed off and tuneless. O well. Singapore turns out to be a lot less sterile than expected and actually has a lot more character than the ban on chewing gum and homosexuality would lead you to believe. Meet some lovely people in a tiny hostel in China Town, where there are also still celebrations for the new year in progress. Singapore is however very expensive, limiting the fun to be had on a shoestring budget, mainly drinking. Food however is still cheap and I keep my chewing gum deprived mouth busy with oooodles of noodles. yum. The next day I wake with dread at the thought of arriving at the HSBC branch mum has sent my new card to and them telling me it hasnt arrived and me having to postpone my flight to Bali. But no, its there and I am so overjoyed I treat myself and new friend Anenken to a steak lunch at the waterfront.


















On to Indonesia, and following Emily's departure, and the pressing need to get to Singapore now having been dealt with...I am for the first time without any real plan. I bought a photocopy of the Indonesia Lonely Planet in Vietnam for 8 dollars and had thumbed through some of the pages, but I was 95% unprepared. I didnt even realise until I got on the plane that I would have to pay 25 $ for a visa on arrival!

Before I left Europe I honestly thought a month would be a decent amount of time to explore at least 4 or 5 of the over 17,000 island that make up the worlds largest Archipelago. I am flying to Oz on Monday and I haven't even left Bali. Indonesia is massive. Massive. Its the longest country in the world and it is also the 7th most corrupt nation on the planet (according to someone ;). Travel alone in most of the other (mainly Muslim) islands is not recommended for women, and this coupled with it being rainy season (the ferrys and small airlines that connect the islands are generally hand-me-downs from Greece or China and therfore, old, rusting and generally not very safe, especially in bad weather) leads me to focus my time here on just the one island. . Bali.


















Bali is a holiday island, no doubt. After Indonesian independence from the Japanese and then finally ridding themselves of the Dutch in 1949, Bali was developed as a tourist resort because of its beautiful and varied landscape but also because the population are majority Hindu and it was therfore believed that they would be more hospitible to tourists. Despite having some very developed, holiday brochure style resorts (more than a fewof which I am sure I translated texts for at GIATA), it retains a lot of its native character, charm and traditions as well as striking natural beauty. The bomb attacks on Bali in 2002 and 2005 had a devastating effect; a lot of the island people abandonend rice farming and other agrricuture to build hotels and work the thriving tourist industry instead...after the bombs hit, the hotels saw occupancy drop from 80% to 20% thus leaving a lot of the people desparate. The situiation has improved somewhat but in some areas there remains a visable impact with ghost town resorts, where hotels stand rotting and unoccupied. Quite sad.

I left Kuta, the main tourist resort, after one night and headed for Padangbai in the east as I intended to catch the ferry to Lombok and the famous Gili islands. But here I meet a group of dutch guys (as a former dutch colony there are many Dutch on the island, much to my joy. I like the Dutch ; ) and ended up spending a few days aquainting myself with the local brew, Arak (rice or palm 'wine' but 40% proof, lethal). Tom, also dutch, staying in the same homestay as me, was on his way round the island by car and I hitched a ride, thus never making it to Lombok. We travelled together further up the east and north coasts of the island to Amed and Lovina where the weather limited the activities in the region (diving and snorkelling mainly) but where we still managed to do some of the other non-beach based things that Bali offers; waterfalls (especially impressive with big rains), hot springs, lakes and rice paddy walks.

















Down to Ubud on a hot and tiresome journey on roads designed for mopeds mainly, but finally arriving in the charming town that offers a lot of arts and crafts-type tourism. Tom heads on after a few days but I stay to rest for a while. Here I meet Andre, a french former air-ballonist who works in Indonesia building wells and helping local communities in Alor and Sumba islands further to the west. More Arak at the very hospitible guesthouse run by lovely Wayan and then with Andre back up north to visit a friend of his in the mountains in a village where they are currently all preparing for a cremation ceremony. The whole village is busy prepraing for the Hindu ceremony and it is an amazing thing to witness. Where we stay the whole village stay up all night, firstly slaughtering the pig and then preparing every last inch of the meat for traditional offerings. The next day we are invited to attend part of the ceremony and the complexity of what is involved is mindboggling and a bit full on. I wont forget it in a hurry.
















After returning to Ubud and a farewell Arak session, I travel on to Sanur in the south where I was hoping to hook up with the Americans from Cambodia but alas, due to bad weather they have already moved on to try and get to Lombok. With less than a week left I decide not to follow them as have found a GORGEOUS homestay for 3 pounds a night, where there is a kitchen I can use and cheap Internet so can prepare for Australia. There is also an English school run by the manager and he has let me do a few lessons for a couple of nights rent. So thats the first 6 pounds I have made back on the grand I paid for CELTA training hehehe.

Anyway, I am glad to have somewhere to rest and save pennies as am quite aware of the increase in price of everything when reentering Western life on tuesday when I land in Sydney!!! Am very very excited. Have decided to try couchsurfing on the recommendation of other travellers and friends and have managed to arrange for a couch with a guy called 'FattyFatFat' so I guess that is me throwing myself head first into the sewer that is the Australian sense of humour. Bring it on!

So, thats the outline so far. Miss everybody loads but be assured I am having a great time and feel very very lucky at this opportunity to see at least part of the world. Much love to all and I want to hear as much news from you all as you have time to give me. I will write of my exploits in Oz once I arrive and settle in New Zealand (beginning april) in the hope of actually getting a job ; )


xxxxx

Books:
The Luminous Life of Nelly Aphrodite - Beatrice Collins
Had to buy it at the airport when read the first line: 'Berlin, a word that chimes in your chest like a bell. Berlin, a place so bright it pulls down the stars and wears them around its neck.' So yes a winner, strange reading of war torn, freezing Europe on the beach, but loved every minute


The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
So, for those who have not read this book. DO IT. amazing.


Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash
Wouldn't normally find me reading about the history of Dutch trade vessels in the 1600s, but this has been turned into an amazing, true, horror story. Exactly like it says on the tin 'utterly compelling'.


The Spice Garden - Micheal Vatikiotis
Well writtten, touching story of recent Indonesian history.