Posts with tag 'Travel'

Travel Route

Just as a general idea of where we might be in the next 2 months...

Arrive in Bangkok for a couple of days
Fly to Chang Mai
Head to Hanoi through Laos
Travel through Vietnam to Saigon (or whatever its called now)
Into Cambodia
Back to Bangkok where hopefully we'll meet the Leprechauns
Down to the islands, Ko Tao and Ko Phangang for a beach party and some scuba
A little bit of time in Malaysia before flying out from Singapore

The above may or may not happen. It depends on how me and Jonny feel about the whole thing

Farewell

This is the last chance I will have to post before I go. Was thinking it would be a great time to say goodbye to the rain but apparently I'll be seeing more of it in South East Asia!! So much for chasing the summer!

Anyway, I hope all of you will keep on eye on my blog to see how we are getting on. And leave loads of comments, except for Ketch, I will be sensoring yours!!

Anywho, the next post will be from a land far far away and hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon too... and maybe some travel insurance :-o

Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arriba derchi, slan leat agus goodbye...

Brian

Arrived in Bangkok

Got into to Thailand today at around 3:30 and you can only imagine my disgust when I looked out the window and saw the exact same conditions that I left behind in Dublin! Not impressed. The only difference is though that here when you walk out side you just get smashed by a wall o heat. There are some funky smells here too. Some bad some good.

Bangkok is at times the exact same as Dublin or any other Western place and then at other times exactly like you see it in films with guys on bikes flying every where and just a mass of foot traffic. We got driven around in a tuk tuk earlier too. Those things can move. They are great fun. Its just a pitty I don't have a charger for my camera yet. When I do I'll get some pics together fairly fast I'd say.

Anyway we went down to TAT, although didn't ask for Gap. They pretty much just sorted out the next 2 weeks of our lives. First we head from Bangkok in 2 days and head north to Changmai. There we are doing a 3 day trek with elephant ride! Sounds like alot of fun. The we get a bus to a town on the border with Laos to stay a night. From there we are getting a slow boat into Laos. After that we are on our own again. They sorted out our Vietnam visas too as well as the hotel in Bangkok. All for about 250 and that includes most of our meals too.

Going to go now and try to get some food and some drink and a lady-boy... :)

Later

Brian

Bangkok Day 2

Day 2 in Bangkok is over and a lot has happened since arriving. I finally got a charger for my camera so I should have some pics in a while.

We went to an Irish bar on Khaosan road last night. Although I normally hate doing that when you go traveling but it was recommended to us by a friend of Jonny's who he randomly met. We stayed there drinking and playing pool (well I didn't play, didn't want to make a show of myself) until about 7 this morning. Met a few Irish, English, Dutch, German, Algerian etc. Was good craic. Especially when me and Jonny invested in a tower of Heineken. The girls we met then bought a tower of vodka and 7up and kindly shared with us. Was a fairly hectic night including a sing-along at the end.

Finally woke up this afternoon and all I could here was rain and the loudest thunder storm I've ever heard in my life. So we stayed around for a bit in the hotel room watching crap sports on tv. Then we got up and got a tuk tuk around for the day. The tuk tuk then brought us to a suit maker to get him some commission. I didn't mind though, no skin off my nose. When we got in there they tried to sell me 2 suits for about 450 euro. I laughed at him. He didn't like that. Got him down to about 200 euro but it was still way too expensive. He was an awful prick though. He started getting thick then so we just walked out.

Went down and got some food then and here we are in an internet cafe. Much cheaper here than in the hotel. We have a 10 hour bus journey ahead of us tomorrow so we are going to take it easy for tonight. Looking forward to sleeping actually. It'll be the first decent nights sleep in since the weekend.

Have fun and talk soon

Brian

Last Day in Bangkok

Finally today we get to leave Bangkok. The longer we stay here, the more I really don't like this city. Today though we saw the sun for the first time. Man is it hot. So we are hiding from it now.

Had my first red curry too, it was hot and probably a mistake on a day like today. Pad Thai is great though. Hopefully I still think that in a few hours. The curry was so strange. Basically it comes to you in a massive soup bowl. I fished out most of the meat then and left a huge amount of curry sauce behind. No way was I drinking that.

We took a few videos of a tuk tuk ride last night...

http://www.jealousofjonny.com/site_me...

The vidoes don't give you the whole experience though. You have to be able to hear it too. Plus the part of the Tuk Tuk ride we shot was not the best part. Its when you build up speed that it gets good. Not sure if I mentioned before about the tuk tuk drive who started doing wheelies with us in the back. Was great fun.

Anyway, will talk more later.

Brian

Chang Mai

What a savage last 4 days I've had. So much to say so will start from the beginning....

First we went from Bangkok to Chang Mai on a massive pimped out dubble decker bus. We were sitting at the very front and had loads of leg room. Good thing too coz the journey was 10 hours.

We got to Chang Mai at around 4 in the morning and went to our hotel/hostel place called BMP (Backpackers Meeting Place). Our room was ok but a come down from Bangkok. The place does have a swimming pool though so plus points there. I couldn't sleep when we got in so when it was light I walked around. Saw a few temples and got barings a bit.

Later in the morning me and Jonny went for a walk. Ended up in the scorching heat at midday so legged it back to BMP and had a nap. I like siestas. We had a meeting then to go to at 6 for the trek the next day. After that, we went to the night market with a dutch couple on their honey moon and a couple of an Irish guy and a kiwi girl. They are really nice and lots of fun. On the trek with us too. Had a few beers then and had an early night. Up for the trek in the morning then for 3 days. That was soo goog though it deserves its own post....

A wim bo wa a wim bo wa... in the jungle

Trekking in the jungle north of Chan Mai for 3 days and it was unbelievable.

DAY 1:

The first day we got a bus that dropped us off somewhere in the jungle. There were 12 of us I think and 2 guides (Tarzan and Promise). We trekked through fields, rivers and jungle pathways to some huts about an hour or 2 in where we stopped for lunch. The heat was incredible but the walk was flat so we were ok... for a while. After lunch we trekked again for hours through the jungle again but this time for hours. It was much harder. With many hills (we were on a mountain!!) Our destination was a tribal village of the White Karin people. Sweating was not the word. Although it was never too hard or hellish it was tough. The last part of the trek was up a very steep muddy slope to the village and of course the heavens opened!!!! I've never seen rain like it. Rivers flowing down as we tried to slip our way up. Saturated by the time we reached the top. We then settled into our hut, all 12 of us in the one place. There was only little running water and electricity was from a government supplied solar panel. Not to be wasted on us :)

After getting into dry clothes we sat down for food and drink by candle light. The craic was mighty. All laughing and joking. The 4 Irish girls brought a bottle of vodka with them and kindly shared. The tribes people sold us beer at a fairly high price, but it was still only 1 euro. It gets so dark so early up there that at half 9 we thought it was about 12! It was nice and cool there though so that when we got to bed air con wasn't missed. (When I saw bed... bamboo with a sleeping bag. Very hard to sleep in maybe rocks would be as comfortable :) )

DAY 2:

Because of 2 English girls who thought a trek would be more like a stroll we didn't walk too far on day two. The people only staying one night left before us and then 4 of us started off towards the waterfall where we were staying the second night.

The water fall was unreal. We swam and had a shower under the water fall, just generally relaxed and took it handy. So easy going. Not much I can say about that place though. Have plenty of pics, they speak for themselves. Main point is though that I cannot speak highly enough of it.

DAY 3:

Today we left the waterfall and headed to the elephants. After a short walk we got into the back of a pick-up truck when again the heavens opened. I was wearing a poncho which was useless. I was still soaked so just took the thing off. When we got to the elephants it was still lashing. They took one look at me and called in the biggest elephant they had. It was huge. We got on that then and went for a ride. I tell you, the knackers should ditch the horses, these things rule. Not very comfortable but these things were going up and down mad steep slopes, no bother. Me and Jonny holding on for dear life.

After that it was back into the truck for some bamboo rafting. That was so much fun. We didn't go terriblely fast but we nearly fell off a couple of times. We then started throwing what looked like crab apples at each other. What a laugh.

When we got back to BMP we had a hot shower. Its amazing how much we take them for granted. Was nice to be clean again. Alhtough if I could have had a shower in the waterfall again I'd take that any day.

So we are all heading out now tonight and off to the Laos border tomorrow. Bring on the good times.

A night in Spicy

So we left Chiang Mai yesterday with a massive hangover. When we came back from trekking the 8 of us that were still in Chiang Mai (all Irish) brought our tour guide to an Irish bar. He'd never been to one before. He wanted to know what it was like. Unfortunately for him though, he only started drinking 2 months ago so he just couldn't handle drinking with 8 Irish people!

When the Irish bar closed, we asked around to see if there was a disco. We went to a place called Spicy. As soon as we walked in the door we knew it was a bad idea. So sleazy. There were young western guys thinking they were hot shit because there were about 5 Thai girls around each of them, grinding away. When you walked around the place if there were a group of Thai girls standing around talking, they would start dancing if you got anywhere near them. There were plenty of old dirty bastards there too!!

I went in to use the bathroom once, a mistake I made sure not to repeat. I was standing at the urinal doing my business when two Thai guys came over. Kind of like the guys in the jacks in Irish night clubs. Only they started to try and give me a Thai massage, when I was pissing. The first guy came over and craked my neck while in the mean time the other started at my legs. I started telling them to go away but they didn't. I walked out of the place in agony.

Jonny ended upkissing one of the Irish girls. But when the bouncer saw this he started whipping Jonny. Kind of like a school teacher with a bold kid. Jonny moved somewhere else, started kissing the girl again but the bouncer guy just followed them around! We took our leave and cut our loses.

Me, Jonny and the 4 Irish girls from the trek then hopped into the same tuk tuk! The driver could barely take the corners and I'm nearly sure we broke the thing. We were in there singing Ride On and the Rathlan bog. Wish we had a photo!

The next day after 3 hours sleep we got a bus to Chiang Kong and in an hour we get the slow boat to Laos.

Until next time

Brian

Laos - Slow Boats

For all the warnings I got about slow boats and how uncomfortable they are etc, I had a great time on it! The first day was cramped enough but there was people I knew spread out across the boat, so I could get up, walk around and stretch my legs.

Had a few beers on the boat, read my book and just chatted away. Cant beat it. We arrived that night in Pakbeng and got ourselves a nice room. The room cost about 2.50 each. Although in the town there is no electricity after 10:30. Everywhere runs on generators. There is a curfew in Laos also which means that in Pakbeng you have to be back in your place by 10:30. Its not as strict in the rest of the country and we have had no problems so far.

The second day we got a group of 15 people and rented our own slow boat, which the Dutch guys organised. It cost about 10 euro each but was so worth it. It was luxury. We loaded up with beers, played card games and just had a laugh. Got a little bit sunburnt but its all good in the hood.

Vang Vieng - Tubing

Yesterday we went tubing in Vang Vieng. It was great fun. Basically we went to the reception of our bungalows and organised it. Its a fixed price but not sure what we paid. We then got a bus/tuk tuk to the river and floated down in our tubes. You come to little bars on the side at first with little guys selling beer from a cooler box (that isnt very cool)! When you want to go in, they throw you out a rope or a piece of bamboo and pull you in. The current on the river was firly strong but you can swim to the banks easily enough.

When we stopped at the first bar there was a zip line that you can hold on to that and splash into the water. I did that a couple of times and was good fun. When we got bored there we headed down river again where the bars got bigger and we met more and more people. At some of the bars there were swings that again you just go on and let go over the water. What a laugh.

One of the girls missed the last bar so I went down after her. When we got to the end we were the only 2 in our group who stopped where we had. Although it was brilliant. THere was a bar there, with an open fire and loads of huts. In each of the huts there were 2 hammocks. It was so cool. My fist hammock and I have a hunger now for more. Bring it on .com.

Off to get breeakfast now and head to the Laos capital, Vientiane or something like that. I hear the weather has gotten better? And whats this crap about Meath being in an All-Ireland semi-final and Monaghan in a 1/4 final. Things are really messed up over there.

Vientiane

In the Vientiane, the Capital of Laos. Its like most large towns/cities over here (except for Bangkok - thats unique) only this place is noticibly poorer and dirtier than other countries. Its a communist country I think, although from the looks of things the idea is very loosely enforced. There is wealth, although not much, and poverty side by side, and I've only really seen the tourist area. Haven't had a chance to wander around the city and wont get to either because we have to head for the airport soon.

Its strange how your idea of expensive changes. I would be very sceptical now of paying a euro for a beer. Think I'd walk out of the place if it was any more than a euro. And thats for a 640ml bottle! The currency over here is a nightmare. There are so many notes and on one side they have random numbers where on the other they have the value of the note, eg. the 1000 kip note has 1000 on one side and 9000 on the other!! Just so confusing.

Since tubing we just got a bus to here and spent the nice in a reasonable guest house. Was expensive enough but was clean and comfortable so am happy. I think it was about 15 US dollars to for 3 people in the room. So that works out at about 4 euro each for the night with air con.

We leave for Hanoi in a bit and have looked in to getting a place. I think the plan is to stay in Hanoi for 2 nights then get a train to the coast. From there we'll pan out on a beach for a couple of days and make our way down the coast to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). Should be fun.

Until next time,

Brian

pre trek in chiang mai

Ok, I've gotten some pictures from the trip and will put them up here coz the galleries don't seem to want to work. Will have to sort that in Oz. Any way have a look and comment if you like. will post about hanoi when i get to a keyboard that works properly....

Brian

trekking pics day 1

pictures from trekking in chiang mai

me and the gang take a deserved break

rice fields

jonny and john before the last leg of the trek

panned out in a random hut

me and jonny boozing in the jungle

that german (really dutch)

me and mr. promise

trekking day 2 images

Day 2 of trekking

me and jonny sweating

view from a small tribal village

promise and jonny

me and jonny beside river

waterfall where we stayed for night

pic from behind the fall

trekking day 3 pictures

Pics from day 3 trekking and the night out after... although camera went dead before we left the BMP

waterfall on the morning

flower

me and jonny put on a show... a gun show

puppy that hung out at our hut

me, jonny and promise

nothing like giving an elephant a good ride

the fun begins!

the demise of promise

Hanoi

Hanoi is again like any city here. A bit more westernised than Vientiane though. The first thing you notice about Hanoi though is the traffic. Hundreds of mopeds on narrow streets zipping past you, with blatant disregard for the rules of the road. Red lights mean nothing in Hanoi and the green man means target practice for the mopeds. If you want to cross the road, you just walk out and let them swerve to avoid you! Its crazy. Apparently Ho Chi Min is worse, although I don't see how it could be.

When me and Jonny arrived at the airport in Hanoi we got ourselves a bargained down taxi driver. He was leading us to the car park when a security gaurd stopped us, mentioned something about the mafia and showed us to the taxi rank. It was 2 dollars more than the mafia dude but probably worth it.

We didn't do a whole lot in Hanoi. It was very humid and with the traffic, getting around was a burden. We did get a new camera though, for a very reasonable price, because my charger still wont work. Not happy.

Another thing worth mentioning about Vietnam is that the women are stunning. The one at reception in our guesthouse looked like Tia Carrera! They are definitely much better looking than the Thai's. The people here are much friendlier too and their English is excellent. Will be looking in the lonely planet though to see if I can pick up a few phrases. The one good thing here though is that we can read the letters. In Thailand and Laos letters look like a drunk man had a piss in the snow!

The Irish girls that had made up our group in Laos met us on the second day in Hanoi and we went to dinner where a mouse ran across one girls foot and then on to a jazz club, where a rat hopped up onto the stage. It really is a filthy city. There are bags of rubbish thrown on the street. Its still a nice city though, but again I think 2 nights is enough. There are tours around Hanoi but all the travelling lately is starting to take its toll.

We went to the same Irish bar both nights we were in Hanoi, for a very simple reason, lock-in. Most of the places aeem to shut at 11:30 but we walked up to this place and they opened the shutters to let us in for a few. Not too shabby. Apparently they do a great fuck off fry too but we didn't bother going for that.

At the moment we are in Hue on the way to Hoi An. It took us about 12 hours to get here and we have another 4 to go I think. Its a quiet town but big enough, although again, I doubt we'll wonder it. We have big bags with us while we wait for the next bus. We are in a place that has free internet, and free pool. Will keep us occupied for a bit.

Looking forward to Hoi An. There are 30km of white sandy beaches there. Should be good. ALthough the weather is meant to be really bad down there. Will have to see how it goes.

Talk soon

Brian

Just had to try one!!

Us and the Irish girls at a Jazz club

Jonny and Mary

A little something I forgot to mention

With all that was going on there are a few things that I never posted that I'd like to add. I'll start with the White Karin tribe who we stayed with trekking.

These guys came originally from Burma and settled in the mountains in North Thailand. They used to grow opium and marijuana but the police came and told them to stop it. So now there are rice fields everywhere. Most of their huts don't have electricity but the government had given them some solar panels for the villages which makes life a little easier.

The people go to school at around 12 years of age I think, both boys and girls. They are thought in their own schools, where they learn Thai and English, more too I'd imagine but thats all I was told about.

Girls usually marry then by 19 and guys by 25. I don't know what happens after that. One of our guides had been asked twice but said no.... playa. If your younger sisters marries before her older brother, she has to make him a tshirt to say sorry. Also, if you sleep with a girl before marraige you have to go to everybody in the village and apologise and plow their fields for them, when I think they stand around and throw abuse at you or mock you or something. Not really sure about that either

The thing that surprised me most about the tribe was that about half of them are Catholic. I wasn't expecting to see our guide with rosary beads around his neck! The other half then are Budhist. I assume the Catholic Church was introduced to them by the French but I don't know.

These people are extremely self sufficient and live off the land very well. They get money then from tourists coming through and buying some of their handicrafts. They also supplied us with beer and water which again we paid for but it was pittance. Some of their crafts were amazing. I'm sure they have other sources of income too though. For example our guides were obviously getting paid to bring us trekking.

Bus Journey and Hoi An

So we left Hanoi about 4 days ago now, not really sure, it all kind of just blurs into one. We got a bus from Hanoi to Hoi An, on the Vietnamese coast. The bus was meant to take 16 hours but we left Hanoi at 8 and didn't get here til 6 the following evening. Jonny wasn't too bad on the bus, but it was agony for me. I had no leg room and was just in bits the whole way down. Not pleasant.

When we got to Hoi An we quickly found out that most of the accommodation was full. We ended up spending 15 dollars a night for a dive, so we said we'd get somewhere else. The place we are in now is 18 dollars a night, but its really nice with a pool. Its probably way too much and we shouldn't splurging on it but its nice and comfortable and I don't care, I just wanted a place with a pool :)

Of course on the the first full day here I managed to get sick. Had to spend the whole day in bed. Was not happy at all. Took a load of Vitamin C though and yesterday I felt a lot better.

Hoi An is about half way down the Vietnamese coast and has about 34km of white sand beaches. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to them, yet. It also has a tailors on every street, multiple tailors in fact. Everywhere you go, you pass loads of them. Jonny bartered one shop to 200 euro for 3 suits, 3 extra pairs of pants, 3 shirts, and 3 ties... All tailor made. I am still debating if I want to get a suit, although I doubt I will. I hate shopping too much, plus I have absolutely no need for a suit. The one I have is fine! Don't know if its worth the money, I could be spending it on fancy hotels :)

Hoi An seems to be Vietnams version of the Costa Del Sol. There are a lot of families here and couples and there seems to be less young people here. This serves to make everything more expensive, especially food and drink. There is apparently some festival on here but I haven't seen anything to do with it. Supposedly there is a sticky rice pudding festival! Wierd.

Till next time

Brian

Some pictures from Laos

Here are a few pictures we got off one of the dutch guys in Laos

The river as seen from a slow boat. River looks like something from Charlie and Cholcolate Factory

The cramped slow boat. Jonny in his Irish Jersey in the middle

When it rained on the slow boat, the covers came down

A hut beside the river

The lads on the fancy slow boat. The beer is Beer Lao... piss

Nobody told me and Will that the photo was being taken

A hot plate in luang parbang... second best meal of the trip

The hot plate was basically a bucket of fire in the middle of the table

First Day at the Beach

Before I get to the beach part, the picture is one we see saw in a bar here. I want to burn the picture, I hate that prick although I do think its very funny. Definitely in the "the world is broken Bono make it better" mould.

We went to the beach today, it was hot. I was kind of dissapointed though. It wasn't the pristine white sands I'd been promised. It was the same sand you get at home. The water was nice though. I was kind enough to share my cold with Jonny so he just panned out at the beach, which bored me to tears. I'd nobody to play with :'(

Was cool though, ate a crab although it was very hard work, there is a pic below. Not really all that much else to say, we're not doing much. I opted against a suit, Jonny got his.

Later

Brian

First night in Hoi An

Jonny sunning himself at the beach

My crab... Lets not stoop to make that joke

The beach

Off To Nha Trang

So today we leave Hoi An and head further south to Nha Trang. Jonny keeps reffering to it as a party place but to be honest I don't really fancy partying at the moment. Maybe when I get there I'll feel a little differently. All depends I supppose on the kind of people you meet there.

Last night we met the kind of English people you hate to meet, which is a real pity because all the other English people we met were such good fun and really sound. The ones last night were loud, drunk, annoying, full of themselves and insulting. They came down and sat beside us, 2 more Irish teachers and another English girl, completely univited. As soon as they sat down, there was no craic. The atmosphere completely changed so me and Jonny bailed fairly soon after. On the way home Jonny was saying he didn't even like the 2 Irish teachers, I thought they were great craic. They were just taking the piss, was quite funny (until those pricks sat down beside. Wish they'd stick to Aya Napa or Ibiza).

Looking at places in Nha Trang to stay and thankfully its back to places for $6 a night. Hoi An is so wierd, I really was expecting more backpackers and lower prices. Backpackers generally tend to just collect there suits and go, but it has been nice to just relax a bit here. Although it serves to just delay yet another 12 hour bus journey. All these over night journeys eat into the time you can spend in places without you ever realising. We now have 10 days before we are due to meet the lads, which will probably be broken down like so...

1 night - bus to Nha Trang
2 nights - stay in Nha Trang
1 night - bus to Dalat including stopping in Dalat (don't think we have an option but to stay)
1 night - bus to Ho Chi Minh
3 nights - stay in Ho Chi Minh

After that it looks like we need to take out the big money and fly Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok and from there to Ko Samui in the same day. Both flights are about an hour.

Will have to wait and see what Nha Trang brings

Last Pictures from Hoi An

These are the last few pics from Hoi An, one from last night, the rest for today. All we did today really was rent a couple of bikes and just cycled around a little bit with Cat who we met yesterday. Was good fun

Jonny, Cat and Me

Iker, Isa... I put up this sign looking for a friend. You think it'll work?

The Perfume river

Nha Trang

We arrived at 6 in the morning in Nha Trang 2 days ago, after an over night bus from Hoi An. The bus wasn't too bad this time though. Half the people on with were Vietnamese and they hopped off at early stage on the journey. So that left us with two seats each. When we got to Nha Trang, we went about trying to get somewhere to sleep. The general price we were being quoted was $10 but we eventually got the place down to 8. 2 girls from the bus had seen us do this and tried to get $8 too but they were hopeless. They asked if they could have the room for $8 where as we told them we're only paying $8. Getting the hang of this bartering lark though.

My "not in the mood to party" didnt last long. Went out on the first night. Jonny went home early and met a few random Irish punters in the sailing club on the beach, stayed out til about 3. That was good enough craic. We met a few Dutch guys earlier in the night and played a bit of Jenga. Great craic. Turned it into a drinking game, but I never lost... or won.... basically I never got to drink any of the cocktail we were using as the forefit. Probably turned out to be a good thing in the end.

Yesterday then we met 2 more Irish guys from Mayo and Tipp. Saw them again at the sailing club. The sailing club tries to charge in at night but I've bee there twice and never paid. I just walked along the beach and in through the back, where everyone is anyone. They're not very clever. Had a good night again went to a late night spot after the Sailing club. There was a nasty vibe outside though. A couple of fights broke out and I saw a western guy in a van with what looked like a load of sceurity guards. So we pretty much got out of there asap. Which was wierd though coz inside the place was fine. You get muppets everywhere I guess.

Nearly forgot....
I got robbed on the first night! Nobody came up to me, or approached me at least that made me think something dodgy. So I have no idea how, where or when this happened. All I know is that I looked in my wallet, I had money, I looked again later I had no money. They didn't take my cards or anything, just my cash. Considerate like that. I didn't lose all that much money though so I'm not too bothered by. Though I'd pop it in to the post though.

Later

Brian

The crowd from the first night... Jenga!!!!

The security guy got in on the fun too

Night 2.

For some unkown reason, even to him, Jonny kept sticking his tongue out!

Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

We left Ho Chi Min yesterday after 2 nights. Its a really nice city, but again very similar to Hanoi. We arrived after an over night bus and got somewhere to stay. It was about $12. Not too bad but probably could have gone cheaper. After arriving we did the usual thing and had a nap to recover from the bus. After we woke up we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was fairly cool and interesting but a bit scatty. There was no real flow to the display. I don't really like museums though and I struggle to keep attention in them. This museum was very small though, much smaller than I had expected. Was interesting though. Some of the pictures, especially of the after effects of Agent Orange were quite horrific and I did start to get angry about it.

After the museum we did the usual Sunday thing and found somewhere to watch the soccer. They show pretty much every game in Vietnam. I assume its the same in Thailand too. So we sat in a bar, had a couple of drinks, watched united lose, watch Liverpool get raped by a referee and headed to bed by around 12. All in all, a good night.

On the second day we did a half day tour to the tunnels. Our guide was an ex Veteran who fought for the Americans during the war. He spoke a lot on the bus and I was glued to his every word. After a while he started repeating himself but first time round it was hugely interesting. He talked to us about reunification camp after the war but he didn't get into much detail about that. I would have loved to have gotten him on his own so I could have found out more. The tunnels themselves were again interesting but its extremely touristy so its hard to get a proper feel for it. While there we went shooting too. I fired a pistol, an AK-47 and an M-16. It again was disappointing because the guns are kind of strapped to a wall. You don't really get a proper feel for it. Got no where near hitting a target, but then again the targets were about 200 yards away. Would have been doing well. Everyone can feel safe in the knowledge though that if I try to shoot you, I'll miss... by a long way :)

Yesterday then, we arrived back in Bangkok and finally met those pesky wicked leprechauns. It was so great to see them. We are staying near Khaosan Road now, and there is a much nicer feeling here than the last place we stayed. There is no bad smell and we are getting much less hassle. Maybe I've just gotten used to it though. We went out then last night but I'll put up a post with pictures of that soon.

I have pictures of Ho Chi Min too which I'll add to here too when I get the chance.

Until then...

Brian

Bangkok again, train, boat beach

I haven't posted in a while so this will possibly be a long one...

Met the lads in Bangkok as I said early. It was so good to see them again. We hit Khaosan road that night with Will who we had traveled through Laos with. That man is probably one of the funniest guys you can meet. A true hero. We basically just went out drank and talked. Had an awful lot of fun. After a while the lads, all bar me and Ian, to go to a ping pong show. Suppose, "when in rome..." I didn't quite see the attraction so me and Ian stayed in a bar and just talked a lot of shite about a lot of things. It was so much fun.

The next day I bought a fake student card, mainly so I can get a discount to matched and stuff. Unfortunately the clown that made it put me down as being in college in TKINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN. Oh well, might work in Oz. Not too pushed if it doesn't. After that we caught a train from Bangkok to Chumporn (or something to that effect) on the way to the islands. We just played 25 and Ian started to teach me a little about photography. He's letting me use his other SLR camera. started to get the hang of it on the boat to Ko Phangan.

So here I am in Ko Phangan. Been here for 2 nights now. The full moon party is coming up soon so each day the place gets noticeably busier. Have spent most of the time eating toasties and sleeping. Went to beach parties the last 2 nights. The first night I got quite drunk, last night I didn't drink all that much but had loads of fun. You can pretty much just wander around talking to random people. I'm really one for the dancing to the kind of music they play. Spent yesterday and most of today panned out in the bar at our bungalows. Hammocks rule the world :)

The beach we are staying on, Sunset beach, is fairly horribly. Its dirty and the water is murky and the sand is gritty. Still enjoying it though. Its too hot to go out in the day too. From 11 to 3 I pretty much have to stay in the shade. Not that its a problem. It was 4:30 by the time I got up today. Its a nice change of pace though to have 7 nights in one place. I don't have to think or worry about trains or buses, can just relax and gather myself a little.

Till next time,

Brian

Spur of the moment

So yesterday things took an unexpected twist and I leave for Kuala Lumpur in a couple of hours. From there, me and Ian fly to Jakarta. Just decided yesterday that it'd be a good thing to do. Means though that I'll be missing out on the Full Moon Party tomorrow and diving after in Ko Tao. THe diving I would like to do too but I've been on a tourist track the whole time so this is my last chance to deviate from that. Should be a lot of fun...

I know this sad but its something I have to do..........
I'm going to Java and staying in Jakarta. After that we might rent an Apache bike and head to the C. I hope there are no Pythons! We dont want to cause a stir so we have to remain very PC.

For those who get that... sorry, I know its sad. But when again will I ever have the chance to do that. Haha.

The last couple of nights have been fun. Again its just been more of the same. Relaxing all day and heading out at night. We went on a boat trip around the island yesterday which was good. Did a bit of snorkling and played some volleyball. Not exactly the sexy image normally portrayed of beach volleyball!

Last night was the first night not at the beach. Instead we went to a pool party. That was lots of fun. Jumping in water that I'm fairly sure was mainly piss by the end of the night. Met a few of the people we've seen for the last few days. Never got to say bye to some of them though which is a pity. THey were a good bunch. Its kinda taken me by surprise leaving so early. Can't wait though.

Will keep y'all informed

Brian

Kuala Lumpur, First Impressions

After about 26 hours of traveling, me and Ian have finally made it to Kuala Lumpur. The journey was long but fine. We spent the night in a boat which was mad choppy but we had beds so we could sleep. When I say beds though, the whole floor was like one big mattress with loads of pillows along it. If the boat was full it might have been slightly uncomfortable but it was fine. I slept nearly all the night. From the mainland then we got a mini bus and a bus. Both were nearly empty so we had loads of room and again slept loads. I reckon of the 26 hours I might have been awake for 4 of them.

The first thing I noticed about Kuala Lumpur is how amazing it is. Massive buildings that normally you would be in sheer awe of but for the spectacular Petronas Twin Towers. We arrived at 1 in the morning and these things were lit up like Christmas trees. So amazing. They are 1,482.9 feet tall and were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004 when Taipei 101 beat it. Me and Ian went down to take some photos of them when they were lit up but of course they turned off all the lights and we lost them! We eventually saw them again but will have to wait until the next time we come back to take night photos. Will take some day time ones tomorrow though.

Its hard not to be impressed by the city as well although so far we have only have gotten a very small taste of it. Its fairly nice to walk around and is probably my favourite city so far. Will have to see what the day brings but hopefully it wont disappoint. It seems so relaxed and apart from being asked if we'd like a taxi, whilst looking at a map, we have gotten absolutely no hassle. Some lady boys did try to entice Ian though. Think my red pants scared them off! I'm definitely glad I left the islands though because if missing this would be a pity. I hope Jonny and Joe have time to get here and give themselves some time. Our plan now is to try and come back to spend another night here on the way back. Will have to see how it goes though. Anybody who is traveling through SE Asia, if you don't see this city at night, you're missing out. Completely different to every other city.

Jakarta - Nerdy jokes aside

We arrived in Jakarta late last night. This was a whole new experience for us. We arrived at the airport with no knowledge what so ever of the city. We had no idea where to go, what to expect or what price to pay. When we got our bags to leave the airport there was the usual barrage of taxis trying to extort us to get into the city center. But we asked a few guys the best thing to do and they said a bus to the train station in the city center, called Gambir. While walking to the bus some taxi drivers kept mentioning the name of a place called Jacksa (thats phonetically, not sure of the spelling). Ian talked to a few of the bus guys and got his bearings a bit so we got the bus into town and headed to Jacksa from the station on a local tuk tuk type thing.

Nearly as soon as we got out we met 3 people (German, Austrian and Macedonian) who pointed us in the direction of accommodation and food. Later we had a beer with them and they gave us advice on where to see and where to avoid. So on their word we woke up this morning and are now heading to Sumatra at 10 tomorrow. We have no travel guide or anything so we are just talking to people to see where is best to go. Will see how it works out.

In other news, I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D50 slr camera with a 18-135mm lens and plenty of accessories. Its my new toy and I love it. Hopefully I'll get some quality photos up soon. Have one or 2 nice ones already but I'd image the real good ones will come from Sumatra. I can see Mam shaking her at me spending money on a camera, but its only money, will just have to spend less elsewhere.

I leave nerd joke heaven tomorrow so will keep updating with hopefully lots of fun and adventure@

Later

Brian

Berastagi

So we left Berastagi today and flew to Batam. Berastagi is a great place. There are 2 volcanoes there but unfortunately the weather was terrible. When I say terrible, it was the same as every summers day in Ireland I experienced this year. Ian got to climb one of the volcanoes but unfortunately I've been struggling with a stomach bug so I only made it up a tiny it of the way before coming down.

The town itself is really nice. Everybody was so friendly and would smile and say hello, etc. The first day me and Ian arrived there we got shouted at, a lot, by the local girls. Apparently westerners have a good reputation.

A really strange thing about that town is that they have a monument to a cabbage! You'll see for yourself from the pictures. Speaking about pictures, I have a put up a couple I have taken the last few days. There are more from Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta but I don't have them with me. Remember, I'm only learning and absolutely no post processing was done. So some pics are over exposed, some under exposed.

The food in Berastagi was amazing too. We walk into places and ask for vegetarian snd they gave us a little bit of everything. We ate like kings for about 1.50 between us. So good. And really nice accommodation cost us about 7 euro between us. Amazing.

Anywho, time for some western food, off to Pizza Hut

Later

Brian

Berastagi at night

Ian with one of the kids from the guesthouse

Trikora Beach

Hello... just so you know I am still alive and finally in Oz. The first thing you notice is the temperature here. Its cold. Maybe 19 degrees. I have no jumper either so need to get one quick. Since the last post though I did find a little piece of heaven on earth. After our night in Batam, the worst place in possibly the world (well not really but it was horrible), we went to the internet and came across a place called Trikora beach. So we got a boat to Bintan 2 hours later. Trikora beach is on the east side of teh island. The only thing we knew about it was the name of a place called Shady Shacks.

We set off looking for this place and on the road in a taxi/hi-ace with our lunatic driver (he talked to himself the whole time) we drove past some bungalows which Ian mistook for Shady Shacks. We got out anyway and had a look at the rooms and prices. For the whole time I have been travelling I have wanted a hut on the beach. This wasn't quite on the beach though. This was more... in the Ocean. For about 12 euro the 2 of us stayed in this amazing place. Pretty much, it was just us there. We got to know the staff, one of the guys was teaching us how to count and important things like ordering beer. We stayed there then for 6 nights. It was amazing. We did pretty much nothing. Just chilled out, relaxed, played 25 and chess, ate and drank. We'd sit out at night, eat the most amazing prawns and fish (well I did, Ian is a vegetarian for a while) and chat. It was perfect way to end the traveling.

One of the days we went fish. Not a sign of a fish anywhere near us but still we struggled on standing in water up to our waste with fishing rods. When I say fishing rods, I mean bamboo sticks with fishing line tied to the top. We used bait of squid which probably wouldn't help either. Still it was good fun. On the last day we went to white sand island. That was great until we realised that we were really close to the equator in the mid-day sun and not much shade. I got a little burnt but not too bad. Not sure about Ian.

Leaving that place was rock hard to do. Could have stayed for ages more. Everything about the place is amazing. Hopefully at some point I'll have time to sort out pictures to give people an idea but anyone who is traveling go to Bintan and stay in Nostalgia Yasin Bungalows. Its two hours on a boat from Singapore to get there and then 45 minutes to the bungalows.

If you are in Singapore though, don't bother trying to head out. I payed 7 euro for a whisky. I couldn't believe it. Especially sine in the Duty Free I got a bottle of 12 year Jameson for 20 euro. Singapore is a nice city though but after everywhere else it seems soooo expensive. Mad westernised too.

Anyway, it was a long flight and I've been awake 25 hours now so its off to bed for me.

Adios

Brian

Upside Down

Hello from Australia

Yes the land down under and to be honest its a bit disappointing that everything isn't upside down. Although the usual difference in other countries apply. The ads on tv for example are the worst I've ever seen and I've seen ads in Asia. Some of them are funny, like the one that encourages kids to asks for crisps at dinner time!

At the moment we are in St. Kilda. Its a nice area that seems to be where most of the backpackers hang out. This will probably be our base for the next couple of months. At the moment I'm settling down to applying for jobs and looking for accommodation. Thats a depressing task. The weather is still cold but at the moment it is warmer than it has been. Today you might even get away without a jumper which I think puts it at about 20 degrees. Since I've gotten here I have pretty much spent the weekend heading out. I even got to watch the All-Ireland final. Despite what anyone says, that was a good game of football. Not tremendously exciting but watching Kerry in that sort of form is always a treat. Especially seeing as the last game I saw was Galway Sligo. Have been to a few good night spots but will wait til the weekend before I venture out again I think.

Today I have to go and get tax and visa sorted out. Which means queuing in stupid offices. After that, I don't really know what I want to do. We aren't very far from Albert Park which is where the Grand Prix circuit is so I will wander down some day and get a picture of that. The grand prix itself isn't until March but if I'm not in Melbourne then and can afford to, I might come back. There are plenty of other events in Melbourne though, including the AFL grand final which is on here on the 29th. There is a team from Melbourne (Collingwood) in the semi-final so that should be a good one. Might try to get tickets for that but not sure if I'll be able to. They are playing Geelong who are also a team from the Victoria state.

Other than that I have no real news. The sense of adventure has died down and I feel a lot more settled here. At some point I'll put up a post with a review of SE Asia, places we stayed, prices, etc. for anyone who is doing that kind of thing in the future.

Until later....

Brian

Gallery

I have put up some pictures on the gallery. Its decent quality but we'll be changing it to make the pics bigger. All the pics are either from berastagi or Trikora Beach.

Enjoy

Brian

SE Asia, A quick guide

Right here is my guide/advice/review for SE Asia....

We arrived in Bangkok and spent 2 nights there. We stayed ages away from Khoasan road the first time we were there which was a huge mistake. You're stuck in traffic for hours then if you want to get there and it's where most of the stuff is happening too. We went into T.A.T to book our hotel the first time round and while we were there we booked trekking in Chiang Mai and our trip into Lao. If you wanna do it that way then thats fine but they will over quote you so haggle with them. I would advise not booking a place until you've seen it first. You can book something when you get to a place. We got the Vietnam visa sorted there too which is a must because you need it before you go to Vietnam. The second time round, we stayed on Rambuttri in a place called the Orchid Guesthouse. It was reasonably priced quiet location and near to everything (parallel to Khoasan).

In Chiang Mai, we stayed in BMP Residential which was nice, had a pool, was close to town, and organised the trekking. We got a VIP bus up there which was savage. Talking to other people who've been trekking I'd recommend going with the BMP Residential, they're the only crowd who spend a night at a waterfall, from what I gather (thats the 3 days 2 nights option). That for me was one of the highlights of the trip. Outside of Chiang Mai there are other places to see but I'm not sure of where or when.

From there we went to Chiang Kong to catch the slow boat. No matter what anyone tells you, you get you're visa at the border. If you do get the slow boat bring cushions the seats are uncomfortable. Lao is a gorgeous country but we spent the time on the tourist track. Tubing in Vang Vieng is decent but to really experience Lao I think you might need to get off the tourist track a little, I'm not sure how easy that is though.

Vietnam was the same as Lao, we just stayed on the tourist track. Around Hanoi there's Hao Lon bay (check spelling) and Sampa which we didn't see and are meant to be good. You can buy a bus ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh for US$34 which lets you stop off in a few places. You can get suits in Hoi An but apart from a decent beach there is nothing else there. Hue looked nice but we only spent a couple of hours there. There are plenty of tours available but it might be best to see how much of the time you spend in a bus though. We didn't do anything. There is nothing in Nha Trang, maybe diving but Kho Tao is meant to be better.Stay a night or 2 and get drunk but don't waste too much time. The islands off the coast are meant to be nice, again we never made it there. Ho Chi Minh is cool. Its a good city and the tunnels are worth a visit along with the war remnants museum.

Kho Phangan is Ibiza but 10 years later. Full of English and Irish with nothing to do but get rotten drunk on a beach. Its good for a couple of nights but you need to be there long before the full moon to get anywhere. We were there 5 or 6 nights before. We stayed on the sunset beach which I think is close enough and far enough away from the action. Need to ask Jonny though.

Indonesia for me was the best place and the only thing that comes near it was trekking. The people there are amazing. We stayed away from Bali but there are the Gilli islands and Lombark in that general direction that we wanted to go to. We went to Sumatera, stayed as little as possible in Jakarta. If you only have a short period of time then Sumatera is you're best bet. If you want to climb a volcano the go to Berastagi. That place is amazing, the food, the people, everything. Around there as well is Lake Toba and Ketambe which we didn't get to see but heard great things about. From Sumatera we went to Bintan island. This place is a 2 hour boat journey from Singapore so you should make time for it. We stayed on Trikora beach in Yasin Bungalows, which is easy to get to. I would recommend going there during the week because a lot of people from Singapore go there for the weekend. I really recommend making time for the place.

KL is a really nice city and worth a visit but we didn't spend long enough there so I can't tell you completely what I make of it. I did like it though. Singapore is only good if you want to shop. After everywhere else in Asia it'll seem made expensive and drink is extortionate, even compared to Irish prices.

Any questions about anywhere, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer....

Brian

Melbourne Update

SO we have settled into Melbourne. We have moved into the new place and I'm looking for a job. Had my first interview today, which was no fun. That was with a recruitment agency. They made me do a test in MS Word and a typing test and a data entry test. Now as much as I hate doing tests in the first place you have to understand how impossible it is to moivate yourself to do one on something you have no interest in. One of the questions was how to copy and paste. Turns out though that I can type at 40 words per minute. Although I think that I normally type faster than that.

Other than that, there hasn't been a whole lot happening here. The AFL Grand final was on at the weekend, which was a complete disappointment. Geelong won by 119 points, and some thought the All-Ireland final was one sided. Stayed up last night too to watch the Irish game. Now I know why I haven't bothered until now. Would hate to have seen what would happen against New Zealand if we did get through. Would be nice if O'Gara hadn't forgotten how to kick a ball, and Murphy should just go now and hang himself. He's not even good enough to be a Pirate Hooker!

Its Jonny's birthday on Sunday so we are having a few people around on Saturday night for a few beers. That should be a good laugh. Not that we know many people to invite around but there might be one or 2 who are interested. Joe had a date last night so I went in to the casino with him to run interference on the girls friend who was there. Never seen a place like it. Slot machines everywhere. Pokies or whatever they're called over here. Also they had bars, restaurants and shops in the place. It was massive. Its a huge complex.

We have been renting out loads of DVDs too. Never watched so many films. Got a few gems out tonight too, including Ace Ventura, pet detective. Have to love that!!

Brian

Perth

On a bit of a whim, me and Joe went on a 5 day trip to meet up with Erica and Suzie. I think Suz might have pulled a guilt trip on Joe. Well worth it though. Before we went to Oz people were saying that Perth wasn't great. Shame on them. Perth is a wonderful city. So relaxed. Its more like a town that a city erupted in. The city centre is tiny. Only a couple of skyscrapers. There is just a lovely feel to it. A lot more open.

We got there on Thursday and went out every night after that. I went home early Thursday night but I was up for it every other night. f anyone does go to Perth, don't go to a club called the Rock. It is shocking. Although was worth going there just to see a woman snot herself on some stairs.

We didn't do a whole lot during the day. There was only one day that I went around taking pictures. Was really good though. Was especially good to see the girls, who are gone now to Bali. Don't know when I'd have gotten to see them again if we didn't go then.

Neighbours, Penguins and Goodbye Melbourne

Its been a couple of weeks since my last update and a fair bit has happened since then. Firstly the landlord we have here threw a bbq for all his tenants. That was a great laugh. He brought all the food and everything so all we had to do was to pick up some beers. Got to meet up with a few people and got invited then to a party on Saturday... which I arrived home after at 10 the following morning. Sound bunch of people though.

Last Monday I met up with fellow Pirate Hooker, Claire and went to neighbours night. That was a great laugh. The two of us were but at a table with about 8 or 9 others and we all had a laugh. Some of the cast were there but I'd no idea who most of them were. Joe went on a hot date and met us at the end of neighbours night. Then we all headed to a gay bar, because it was the only place nearby that was open. A transvestite bought me a shot. Very funny. Oh, and Claire was kinda shoved on stage during a drag show. That was very funny.

On Philip island there is the penguin parade which we went to on Wednesday. They used to be called Fairy Penguins but thats not pc so the changed the name, I assume coz other penguins took the piss out of them. We were sitting to far from where they came in though so I didn't know if I was seeing a penguin or a seagull with its arse in the air.

Then on Thursday we went to Quazar. Haven't done that since Conor Twomey's birthday party when we were younger. 7 of us spent an hour in there. It was great fun. Two girls from the neighbours night went with us as well.

The party on Saturday night pretty much brings us to now. We are off to Sydney tomorrow. Renting a car and driving up. Staying overnight along the way in a town with a funny name (its a very long drive). Hopefully I'll be able to get a job there and a place to live and we'll be sorted. Melbourne is a nice city but there isn't a whole lot of stuff happening here. Although in saying that, the Melbourne cup is next week. Oh well, couldn't afford to go there anyway! With any luck, Sydney will be a bit better but all in all I kind of want to get a bit of money together and get out of Australia. Still though, until then, I'll be making the most of it.

Brian

The Melbourne Cup Fiasco

Jonny and Joe headed off for the Melbourne Cup today. They flew to Melbourne this morning, taking in Neighbours night tonight and then off to the races tomorrow... Hopefully.

I say hopefully because the lads have made extremely hard work of this trip. It started during the week when Joe had problems with his credit card. After a lot of phone calls he had his card unblocked, but he still can't use it on atms.

Yesterday though it got very funny. The lads went to the internet to check the time of their flight. Unfortunately for them they booked it for Sunday morning instead of Monday morning so they had to book a new flight. They were a bit pissed off but in fairness, they could see the funny side. Which is good seeing as I broke myself laughing when they told me.

The drama did not stop there though. I rang the lads this morning and they forgot their tickets for the Melbourne cup and can't afford to buy new ones. Its all very funny really. I now have to try to go in to ticketmaster to see if they will cancel the lads tickets that are in my pocket and then have the lads collect new ones in Melbourne. Hopefully they'll be able to sort things out but until then I'll be laughing a lot.

Other than that, there is not much news here. I have gotten a job and start work next Monday working on some kind of roll-out/migration on a 2-3 week contract. We still can't find a place to stay but are looking.

Finally some pics

Here are some pictures of neighbours night!

Claire with Doctor Carl

Claire with Random Neighbours character. Not an idea what her name is

This is the Irish guy who used to be on it. I'd to stand up for this pic coz he didn't like "shadow"

Me and Joe thought that claire could use a rest

Claire on Stage with the drag queen.

Me, Joe and the Donegal Sisters

The queen just had to get in there

You can tell this is early in the night... no drink in my hand!

They obviously don't have blue steel in Donegal.

Joe lets his hair down

See look, drinks in hand

Eventually blue steel was left up to me

Claire had to strip or do a sexy dance at the drag show... this is sexy dancing

Joe was getting really into "So you think you can dance?"... this is vintage Joe though

Sydney Goings On

We have been in Sydney for just over a week now and so far it has been successful. The only thing we are really missing is somewhere a bit more permanent to live. All our stuff is in a dorm room with us so its hard to keep everything clean. Plus its crazy expensive.

As for work, me and Ian both start work on Monday morning. I'm working as a Rollout Engineer or something like that. It sounds fairly easy. Its a 2-3 week contract but when that's up I think the agency will be fairly quick about getting me more work. So all is good. Jonny has an interview on Tuesday probably and Joe then just has to get himself together.

I have spent the week playing Football Manager 2007 and editing photographs. There hasn't really been much else to do. It has rained most of the week. So below you can see some of the fruits of my labour...

Taken on Mornington Peninsula with Claire and Ian

From Trikora Beach. This one was is in the gallery too but I've tinkered with it this time

This is under the bridge beside Flinders Station in Melbourne

This is where we lived in Trikora beach for a week. Again has already been in the gallery

Ian taking a pic on a beach on the way out of Melbourne. Claire got a parking ticket for the stop!!

This is from Mornington again. I think the place is called Ocean beach or something. First real waves I'd seen though since I was in Kerry!!

One of the guys in Trikora beach brought me up here to see the new resort they were building. Nice pool in fairness

A spoon in Trikora Beach.... not much more I can say really

I love this picture. Ian took it I think but I did all the editing. Its my first time to make a HDR

This is a tyre from Trikora beach. Again, nothing to say about it

Here is another photo of the island. I have to admit, that place was close to paradise

More from Sydney

Right so I started my first job since July. I hate working already. My title is an IT Rollout Engineer but my job is to change settings... wait a while and change them back again. Not really a whole lot to it. At the moment I'm based in a company who bought the wine division from Fosters. This place is gas. There are wine bottles everywhere. Full ones at that. Everyday so far somebody has pulled out a drink by 5 o'clock. Drinking at their desks during work. I'm interested to see what Friday will be like so. I couldn't imagine what Ammeon would be like if similar things happened. Would be a jollier place I suppose.

I made it to see the Opera house and Harbour bridge on Saturday. Got some great photos too. I'll add some to this post soon. The Opera House is a class building and the bridge is massive too. I was however very dissapointed to find out that the Opera House is not actually white! Its a yellowy browny whitey colour. Maybe it just needs to be cleaned.

After doing that we headed out on Saturday night and I ended up staying up til 8 o'clock drinking coffee. That was good fun. Then after 3 hours sleep, me and Matt (who is I think going to add a post with those pictures) headed to a festival in Newtown, just outside Sydney central. That was cool. It was a free thing with loads of bands and we just sat around having a laugh and drinking a few beers. There was one really great band called Dead Letter Chorus playing there, who I'm going to try and see play again. Basically though we just spent the whole day lying out on grass or sitting in a beer garden enjoying the sun. It was really hot. Somehow I didn't get burnt though... happy days.

We still haven't managed to find a house yet. We have figured out that we can get an unfurnished place and rent furniture for the same price as a furnished place, so at least we have options. For now we just keep looking. Well the lads are doing most of it in fairness coz I'm in work when they are viewing places. Hopefully we'll have something by the time they get jobs or we'll really be in trouble.

Until next time

Brian

Harbour bridge at night

ladies and gentlemen... the Sydney Opera House

Saturday at a Gig

I'll first go into a bit more detail about my job. I am presently an IT Rollout Engineer. What that basically means is that during the day I uninstall software and change some settings and then in the evening I change those settings back again. It's an awful job and to be honest it really doesn't pay well. From the look of things too the contract will be extended until another week. Good because that means I still have a job but bad because that means I still have this job. In saying that its money, which I need so its not the worst thing in the world.

Anyway, on Saturday me and Matt went to see Dead Letter Chorus. This was the band we saw last Sunday at the Newtown Festival. They are a really good band and they put on a good show. We were talking to them a bit afterwards... well I was, Matt was a bit starstruck. Matt got his picture taken with them too. What I found really funny was that the band are all mad Frames fans. Its so strange, in Ireland if you say do you like the Frames you get a fairly calm yes, however these guys... "Oh my God, I love the Frames!" I found that strange. The lead singer of the band does look like Glen Hansard though, its quite funny. Apparently when they went to see the Frames he got asked a couple of times if he was Glen Hansard. I also found out that Bic Runga is from New Zealand... I never knew that.

Ok, so the pictures below have nothing to do with this post really. I took them the same day as the Opera House photos but only really got to sort them out last night. Enjoy...

2 anchors at darling harbour.

This ship is constantly moored in darling harbour. There is a sub beside it too

The lighthouse at darling harbour

The same lighthouse

Sydney by Night

The pedestrian bridge at Darling Harbour which opened to let a boat through. I couldn't really get a good pic of it though

Matt all starstruck apparantly....

New House, New Job

Finally we have moved in to our new house. Its in Ashfield which is a suburb about 20mins by train outside the city centre, which is handy enough. At the moment there is just the four of us living there at the moment but Jonny's brother and two friends are moving in in 2 weeks so that will make 7 of us. There is only one bathroom which will make things awkward in the mornings but I'm sure we'll survive. The house is nice and fairly big with a bit of a garden out the back so we can have bbq's or whatever. There are 3 single rooms, which the lads have named the Japanese Room (Jonny's), the India Room (Ian's) and the Madonna Room (Joe's). Joe fought valiantly to have his room named the white room but thats not happening. We still have no kitchen yet because they are still working on it, although I did manage to make my first home cooked dinner since Melbourne last night. Pork chops, carrot, spuds and gravy. The spuds weren't great and the pork was a but dry but I loved every last bit of it. Bring it on.

Other than that, I have gotten a new contract with Ericsson. I'll be working as a Network Fault Analyst. Either way, its a job that will look good on the CV when I get home. I'm not the only one starting on Monday thought. Both Ian and Joe will be working with me. That should be good fun.

Yesterday, me and Ian went to the Blue Mountains. Wandered around a path after a 2 hour train Journey. It was nice with some great views but I don't know that I would go mad about it. It was nice to see. There is a scenic railway and cable cart there that we didn't go on but if we go back up with the lads, we will probably go on that. It was a nice day though and good to get out of the house and have a wander. Legs were slightly stiff.

The lads sitting outside on the front porch

The hall in our house. The red light shines into my room at night and makes it look like a brothel

If I had a wide angled lense, I could show the rest of the room. But thats my bed. Sitting room and kitchen are still upside down at the moment.

Christmas in Sydney

Ok, it has been a long time now since I posted. Mainly because I've been lazy and partially because I've been working a lot lately. So what has been happening I hear you scream? Well, I met my aunt Beda when she was over. That was great to see family again. We went out to dinner and a few drinks. Just a bit of craic in general. Me and the lads started our new jobs with Ericsson. Its going well. It is fairly interesting and we are getting exposure to lots of the mobile network which we might not have gotten otherwise. Our contract finishes in January but at the moment it looks like we will have it extended. They seem to be pretty impressed with us in here.

The house is now full. Jonny's brother Ray, along with the other DubsDownUnder.net people, Dec and Fitz, have joined us. Ian's friend Paddy is also staying with us for a while sothe house is good and busy and good craic. We have the house all pimped out now, along with the tackiest Christmas tree. Bling ***. Looks like someone vomited tinsel on it. The lads met the "Three C's" in Thailand so they have been around a couple of times too and been out with us a couple of times. Its good to have a bit of a group now. 2 more of their friends then spent a couple of nights with us. We tried to do a 12 Pubs of Christmas but we got lazy and just stayed in one pub.

As for Christmas, unfortunately I was working Christmas day. I missed out on the savage dinner the lads cooked. They kept me some though which was savage. Christmas day itself didn't seem like too bad of a one to miss. There is no hype here like home. The Aussies are not a festive bunch. We did go out to PJ O'Briens for Christmas Eve and St. Stephen's night. 2 very good nights out.

In the lead up to Christmas the weather has been shocking. I've been told its the wettest December they have had, in Sydney anyway, for about 30 years. Because one wet summer a year isn't good enough for me. Thankfully in the last week the weather has gotten really good. Its crazy hot here. So 2 days ago, we went to Bondi beach. It was mental. I've never seen so many people on a beach before. It was mobbed. Was nice though to get to the beach. It was actually the first time I've been on Bondi beach since I've gotten here, unusual for an Irish person.

So the New Years Eve Celebrations are starting soon which should be great. The fireworks this year are set to be the biggest yet. Should be good. If I can get somewhere to see it from. I'm in work until 9. Also, just heard that there is a massive storm heading this way too. Frazer Island is being evacuated but hopefully it wont hit us before New Years.

Until next time...

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(ASCII translation :- Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Just because I haven't made a nerdy joke in a while)

The tree is in Queen Victoria Building. Its 3 stories high. This was taken from the second floor. Monster of a thing

One of hundreds maybe thousands of Swvorsky Crystals... or howver you spell it

We spent one of the days after Christmas on Bondi Beach. It was mental busy and really hot

Jonny's brother Ray has joined us with 2 of his friends. He was also at Bondi.

Paddy is a friend of Ian's from home who is with us now. He's relaxing on the beach after surfing

Dec travelled with Ray. He's the senior gentleman of the house

The lads met the "Three C's" in Thailand, who are also in Sydney. This is Claire.

Clionadh makes it 2 of the C's. Catherine is the third but the only nice pic I took of her, she deleted... spoil sport

Jill and John stayed with us for 2 days after Christmas. I love the reflection in this but the focus is a bit off. Would have been great otherwise

John doing his Johnny Bravo impression!

Since Christmas - Its just not cricket

So Christmas was a month ago now and New Years Eve has come and gone. I have to hand it to people in Sydney, they really know how to do New Years. I'm not sure if anybody saw the fireworks on tv, but they were amazing. I was working that night until 9 o'clock so after work I bailed in to town as quick as possible to meet the lads who had been in there most of the day.

After getting off the train the first thing you notice is the atmosphere. There is a definite buzz around and then you notice the sheer numbers of people. It was mental. I eventually found the lads and we rang in the new year. It was crazy though. Everybody had brought drink with them and it was pretty much one massive street party with music been played from pubs out on to the street. Like nothing I have ever experienced before. Australia Day is meant to be similar and that falls on Saturday so that hopefully will be more of the same.

Since then I went to see a cricket match. I was told that at cricket match you sit around drinking beer, enjoying the sun and that there would be plenty of beer. That was meant to be the entertainment... not the actual cricket. The beer was mid-strength, it rained (although not all the time) and there were no hot chicks. Cricket by the way is as boring live as it is on tv, well actually it is more boring. To make matters worse, when it wasn't raining, it was roasting hot and I got some bad sun burn too. That'll be my last live cricketing event I feel.

Other than all that my only other news is that I am moving out of the house, 8 lads under one roof is just a little too much for me :) I'm moving in with Matt at the start of next month. Not sure if I'll be going in to Matt's place now or if we'll just get a place on our own. If I do move in with Matt, it will mean that I'll have a gym, swimming pool and jacuzzi at my disposal :) Obviously I won't be using the gym.

So for now, I'm working away and saving for my trip to South America. I do have pictures from New Year's Eve but they aren't great. I'll put them up as soon as I get my ass in gear.

Later

Brian

I call this one the Paul Snr. I didn't stick with it. Looks good though

Matt, Ian and Paddy. I think somebody has done something nasty to Ian, he looks violated!!

This was one of the Croatian girls we were talking to on New Years Eve. Her name is Iwanna - I nearly split myself laughing. She was sound though

Not a great picture...

The Long Delay

Yet again it has been a while since I have updated the blog, but in fairness this time I was kind of forced into it. I moved house about 5 weeks ago and I am living with Matt now but only just got internet sorted. There is no swimming pool etc but its ok because I probably wouldn't have used it enough and would have felt guilty. We are living in Kings Cross which means we are beside the wondrous O'Malley's. $6 for a jug of beer, can't beat that with a really big stick. When we moved in there was a girl from Manchester that Matt knew and 2 Northern Irish girls living across the hall. It was really cool living beside them because they were great fun and always up for a night out. Unfortunately these nights always ended up in the courthouse until 6/7 in the morning. The courthouse is an awful place, it's like a bookies with a bar but its not actually a bookies! Alas, the girls left 2 weeks ago and we have nobody to call into for a chat.

They are not the only friends I made over here that have gone on their way back home. The same weekend they left, Brian and Fiona, who I met in Melbourne left too. However, Elaine who I met in Nha Trang just arrived so there are still plenty of people around, and Kieran O'Callaghan who used to work in Ammeon is over now too. The best news I've heard recently though is that Robbie is coming over next week. Will be great to see him again.

So not much has really been happening here. Australia Day wasn't as big as people told me it was, although I did enjoy it. We panned out in the sun in Hyde Park listening to live music and then headed to a pub afterwards. Strangely I was home by 2:30 that night. That seems so early now. It was a good aul laugh and everyone was out. I have also been to a couple more Dead Letter Chorus gigs. There is a festival on in a week that I wanted to go to but I had to pull out due to financial constraints.

Work was going well. Joe one the Hutchison Desire award. Its for public relations skills or something like that. It was fun teasing him for a few days. They really loved us in there but obviously not enough because 2 days ago we were given our week's notice. Bit of a kick in the teeth but it will be fine. We'll just have to look for new jobs now and hope to get better money. Joe is working on getting us in doing the same thing in Vodafone. That would be handy. Ideally I'd love to get a job developing in the CBD but that doesn't look likely. The one thing I do know is that since getting to Sydney, the only time I didn't have a job was the first day I got here so I think we will be fine.

I am getting some pictures off Matt to attach to this post, So hope fully they'll be up soon. They are more than likely just of nights out and stuff that we had with the Manchester girls (I know there are 2 NI and 1 Manc but when first I met them there were more mancs and a girl from Belmullet. Plus they were Matts friends from home so they got dubbed the Manc girls).

This was the first night in O'Malleys. Marian and I think Heather are the 2 girls.

Me and Matt with our neighbours. From left -> right the girls are Aine, Lauren and Mairead. Great fun with them

Me Matt and Mairead... "Don't tell the other 2, but she's our favourite" :)

Mardi Gras

This Saturday, Sydney celebrated it's 30th Mardi Gras. 300,000 people lined the streets for the biggest parade I've ever seen. This was no Mullingar St. Paddy's parade that lasts for 30mins. The parade went on for about 3 hours. We spent the night drinking on the streets followed by dancing Samba (badly I'll have you know) on a street corner.

It was an eventful night but so much fun. I brought my camera out with me but didn't get to take many pictures... but Matt had his fun with it. He shouted at 2 English girls "Girls! Girls! For a magazine!" and they started posing for him. After a while one of the girls came back over with her boyfriend and he said to Matt "Oh this is her dream!" and the 2 of them started posing for pictures, him posing more than her. After another picture, she asked Matt "Where are you from?" to which he replied "Manchester.... This isn't even my camera" and he handed me back the camera. Later on in the night, Matt joined in on the parade. Dancing along with one of the marching groups. It was hilarious.

I have to point out that there is no way you could do this at home. First of all, you'd have gay bashing scumbags hanging around O"Connell bridge. All the public services, Police, Fire, etc., had their part in the parade. Could you imagine the Gardai taking part in a gay parade? You should try to for a second... its a funny thought.

There was a strange gathering of people at the parade. Some things you'd look at and laugh, some things would make you grimmace and say "No thanks" and some things, mainly girls in bunny suits, made you drop your jaw. It really was an experience although, because most people were standing on milk crates and I didn't fancy paying $10 for one, I didn't get to see a whole lot of the parade until the end. Of course there were also fireworks. I think people in Sydney will use any excuse to get out the pyro-technics! The whole thing was a huge spectical. It was just one massive street party and I have to class it as probably the best night out I've had in Sydney. The atmosphere was class.

I particular liked the Samba at the end. There was a guy with drums, a guy with a bongo, a guy with a trumpet and one with a sax. Me Joe Ian and Dec just messing around. I have to point out though, that why we all danced very badly, Joe was the worst, which is a surprise cause we are really abd and Joe is generally a decent dancer.

Rounding off a great weekend... Westmeath beat Meath. Can't ask for much better than this really!!

Ray gets on Fitzy's shoulders to have a better look.

The 3 lads at the start of the night... Ray was a bit sun burnt

Ray and Fitz get in on the action.

Ali, Matt and Jes. Ali is staying with us a couple of nights. He's a funny Scottish man

In fairness the fireworks weren't too spectacular.

St Patricks Day

We all went out to Hyde park for St Patrick's Day. I was going to do a story board for this post but I had to edit the photo's :) The ones I have put up tell the story pretty well though. All that needs to be said is that it was a savage day in gorgeous heat. Quite possibly the best Paddy's day I ever spent...

The parade itself was fairly poor... definitely compared to Mardi Gras

This guy was in the parade but looked a bit out of place

Matt knows style when he sees it. Somebody should tell him that Mullingar is not that good

We had a few pints. The Guinness there was the closest thing to a nice pint I've had since leaving

The six Mary's came in after a while (None of them are called Mary!)

Fitzy wasn't impressed by Ray's guns...

Ian and Joe came in to join the party

Then followed the 3 C's

I don't know most of these people... this was just after I got soaked with water!

Ian picked up a wig and I got a sparkly hat!

I then met one of my cousin's neighbours from home

I upgraded my hat for a bit

Joe spent some time chatting up girls. In fairness not these ones, but other ones

Some Randomness

A month or so since Paddy's Day and I have actually done a few things, despite what Matt and Gareth say. I've been to Summer Bay, the V festival, the Red Bull Flutag and the aquarium. Not the most exciting life ever but at least I did get to see some things. More so that I can say I have done them. I also have a new job working for Telstra. Its the same thing as last time, so I'll spend 3 months doing that until we leave Sydney and Australia for good.

A few weeks back I went to Summer with the 3 c's. It was a decent day out although "star" spotting is not really my thing. They were shooting the outdoor scenes and a few of the cast members were there but I only recognised one or two. The girls were mad after the dude that plays Jack. The place where they shoot is amazing. We were there in the evening and I got some really good pictures. I'll put them up in a bit when I get a chance to do some post-processing.

2 weeks ago we went to the V Festival. Smashing Pumpkins the were headline band. They were a real let down. I got to see most of Queens of the Stone Age. They were class. I really wanted to see CSS but they changed the time so missed them. Dec recommended them and normally he is spot on with bands. I got a tshirt anyway, afterall they are called CSS... nerdy jokes galore. That night ended up like most nights lately, calling around to the 6 (but now 5) Mary's house for a few drinks with them and Kieran.

Yesterday was the Flutag. That was really boring. I went down there with Matt and Gareth, the Welsh guy we have living with us for a couple of weeks. He's good craic to have around. We stayed at the Red Bull thing for about 20 minutes and then headed down to Darling Harbour. There was a bit of a brass band with some Sinatra like music playing. We sat there, had a coffee and met up with 4 of the Marys. The lads headed off and I went with the girls in to the aquarium. I've been trying to get there for ages. It was interesting in places but after a while all the fish kept looking the same.

The best weekend is yet to come though. Declan O'Rourke plays next weekend. Can't wait to see that. There will be more to come when I get some better pics. For the moment I'm distracted watching the 40 Year Old Virgin.

Shooting a scene on Home & Away. Not sure who the people are!

The "stars" were out. I think this one is the doctor

All the lads at the festival

Me the lads and Collette (she's friends of the girls that lived across the hall)

Paddy was taunting the crowd

Joe was up to his usual tricks

For seniors week 2008 there was a band

Sharks at the aquarium

Seals

I found Nemo

Hunter Valley

Last weekend 7 of us rented 2 cars and headed to Hunter Valley, the wine area north of Sydney. We left after work on Friday. I had Niamh and Linda in the car with me. It was really funny because they were really giddy. Even when we got a bit lost, proving the theory that people who are lost have a natural tendency to go around in circles. It took us about 3/4 hours to get there, less than 2 to get back.

When we finally got into the hostel on Friday night it was fairly late so it was off to bed. Up early on Saturday for our day of activities. First was kayaking. That was about an hour or so on a creek (to use the local lingo). It was 2 per kayak but because there were 7 of us, I was on my own. I've been canoing a few times and never had a problem before but this time I spent most of the early part of the outing in a ditch or going in zig-zags instead of straight ahead.

After that we went horse riding. I've been once before definitely, I've been told about the time I went down the neighbours hill on a pedal horse and trap straight across the road, down our drive way and into a wall... sitting the wrong way! This experience was worse than I imagine that was. I was given the angriest bloody horse. This thing tried to eat other horses and even at one point started kicking other horses... all with me on top. At one point I wanted to get off and walk back. Then horses more kind of walked around with us on top rather than us riding them. When we finally got off I was in bits and delighted to get back to the car. Thats the only type of horses I want to be near from now on. At the same time though I'm glad I did it because there are some funny stories.

That night we headed for dinner and drinks but I took it handy enough because I knew I'd to drive on Sunday. The next morning we went off to visit some vineyards. After 2 of them we headed to Hunter Gardens. There we played Aqua golf. This was fairly cool. Its hitting golf balls from a driving rang into a lake. Then there was targets in the water and if you got the ball in a net you win a prize. Kieran and Aine both won stuff. Then it was back to Sydney to face Monday morning.

On traveling news I have BOOKED MY SOUTH AMERICA TICKETS!!!!!!!!!! Wohoooo.

The plan is this:

June 29th - Sydney to Christchurch
Make our own way to Auckland
July 10th - Auckland to Buenos Aires
July 14th - Buenos Aires to Rio
make our own way to Quito
Sept 30th - Quito to Madrid

After that we will try to spend some time in Spain but that will depend on cash. The ideal thing would be to travel to Barcelona and hopefully meet Isa when I'm there. So I still don't know when I'll be back in Ireland.

All 7 happy travellers at the Glenworth Valley place. We're smiling so its obviously before the horse riding!

Linda and Niamh in the car boot... should have left them in there

Niamh fell on her arse when dragging the canoe back in!

Night Photos From Bondi

More photos.... no stories to tell!

Swimming pool getting battered by waves. The mist is from the spray with a long exposure

Not sure who that guy is but I liked the graffitti on either side framing it

With a wide angle lens, this would be really cool.

There is a moving light on the horizon of possible a boat. Planes kept ruining my photos most of the night

The steps were being battered... until I went to take a photo. Couldn't stay there too long either because the tide was coming in fairly fast!

The fountain in Hyde park with St. Mary's Cathedral behind. We took this on a timer. Matt has his eyes glued to the camera but hid it well :)

Didn't get this one right at all. In fact, I'm not wild on most of these photos. Will try to get more practice taking photos at night.

Forever Delayed

Yes, I robbed the post title from the Manic Street Preachers. It's a good title. Anywho, here are some pictures from Perth back in October. I thought I had put them up but obviously not.

Really quick update on things here. BBQ last weekend for Joe's brithday. Was a really good day and night. That was followed by my first AFL game. The Swans won but Kennely dislocated his knee.

The weekend ahead is the Rugby Union semi-final which we are going to. Manly finally too and watching the Munster match.

I like this one. Playing with lines in a photo. It keeps me interested

The Dancing Man

Have a look at this video. Class

www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=B1EUhc

Cold and Cheery

Me and Matt have arrived in New Zealand!!

After a good last night in Sydney which entailed drinking on the balcony in Bondi and listening to music, we headed off to the airport for our flight to Christchurch. Walking out of the airport it felt for a moment that we were back in Dublin. It was wet, overcast and cold. Not too bad though. It was a change from Sydney and after 7+ months there, any change was a welcome one.

We booked into the hostel and I tried to sleep off the night before. A few quick pictures in Christchurch, and a little walk around brought us to the first proper pub I've been in since leaving home, called the Bard. They had a SUnday lunch which was Roast Lamb, Roast spuds and roast and boiled veg. They even threw in a yorkshire pudding, which we gladly munched beside the fireplace. That night we went into the hostel bar for a quiet few as we couldn't find a tv with the Westmeath match on. Devastated the next morning when I heard the score. Though we had a chance.

Day 2 was the start of the camper van. We picked it up and me not being able to fit behind the wheel of the cool Jim Morrisson one, we had to take the only other one. Its a little bit girly but still cool nonetheless.

When we finally got out of Christchurch (I got good at U-turns at hunter valley), we headed through Arthurs pass. For the 3 hours or so we were on that road we were stunned by what we saw. Amazing scenery, snow capped mountains, streams and lakes. I have to admit it was quiet hard to concentrate on the road ahead. With all those distractions

When we got to Hokitika we were going to stop there for the night and then head to Franz Josef. We had time so drove the extra 2 hours or so. After food we pulled up in a picnic area outside the town for the night. It was cold at times in the van sleeping but not too bad. When we woke we were at a lake with another stunning view. Everywhere here is really relaxed and we are loving it so far. Sitting back and enjoying the ride. All 3 of us, Me, Matt and the van :)

Today its glacier hiking and filing tax returns. We are having fun and being productive. Efficiency!

Until next time,

Brian

This is when we first saw the mountains as we left Christchurch

I have more, some even with me in them. My camera just died so and with our lack of electricity I'm not using my last battery to upload photos :)

Glacier Hiking

The posts are coming thick and fast now but its because I'm dossing on the net while Matt is sorting tax out. When he has that done, I'll just get him to show me :)

Yesterday was glacier hiking! We took the half day option which was probably enough time. The Franz Josef Glacier is massive. When we were a 40 min walk from it, it looked only a 10 min walk away. Was huge. Its an unusual glacier because it pushes down into a valley that has forests with trees and plants that you would associate with a climate that a glacier would not survive in.

It was good fun and really enjoyable to hike on it. Even if the boots and the ice spikes took a while to get used to. When we put back on our runners they felt so light and flimsy. At one point we were walking through a gap in the ice that was so narrow I could barely squeeze through. Matt tried to take a picture but he didn't have enough room to reach into his pocket to take out his camera!

The pictures below are probably better than a description....

Today its off to Wanaka and to Queenstown tomorrow. Bring on the good times!

Later

Brian

Touring, Snowboarding and Other Such Things

After leaving Franz Josef we hit the road again for the drive to Wanaka. We didn't do a lot there. Mainly sorting out our tax returns and just dossing around. When we got there we sussed out a place for us to camp for the night, eventually deciding to stay beside the savage looking lake Wanaka. Like fools we parked on a slant though and it wasn't a very comfortable nights sleep.

The next morning we went to the Puzzle World place outside Wanaka. That was cool. They have a 1.5km outdoor maze and 2 rooms that are cool and disorientating. Sort of like what you get in a Dali painting. From there we spotted a place on the way to Queenstown where I stopped off to practice my swing. Also took in some Archery and I am a dab hand with the aul bow! :)

Yesterday we arrived in Queenstown and got settled. Up this morning to do some snowboarding. It was great fun. A few quick pointers and off we went... well, sort of. The first time down I couldn't stand up. When I did stand up I cam strainght back down in spectacular fashion. Falling while stuck to a snowboard leads to one of 3 things: smack on the kneecaps, back on your arse or a twisting tumbling thing! I did the latter first time. Then was a mixture of the first 2, followed by another of the twisty thing. All in all though was a great day. I got the hang of straight lines, pretty much. Turning and stopping were hit and miss and going in the direction I wanted to was mainly down to luck! Matt was better at it than me. He managed to go down most of tthe big hill onhis board. For me, after I nearly killed Matt (missing by millimeters as Dessie Dolan would say) and then couldnt get the board to go anywhere, I walked most of it and stayed on the training "slope". Funny though.

Until the next great adventure.

Brian

The view of the glacier from about a mile away!

Tales from a Campervan and Beyond

First of all I have two things to mention before I start the post:

1. Thanks a million to Paula and John who showed us around Auckland and let us stay with them. We had a great a time

2. Hello to Mrs. Meecham who I believe is now a viewer of the blog.

Ok so, we left Queenstown to drive to Lake Tekapo for our second last night in the camper. As we got on the road we were confronted by signs that said "Snow chains essential". Unfortunately, we didn't have snow chains and no other choice but to chance our luck and hope that the god morning had cleared the roads enough. When we got to the bad area, there was a bit of snow on the road but apart from a couple of hairy patches the road wasn't too bad. One little tiny wobble at the back was the worst effect it had on us and the van marched on!

When we got to Lake Tekapo however we quickly realised that there was nothing there worth seeing so we glanced at our map and decided that Akaroa would be an alright place to stop. That was a wierd town with all the street names and most of the shop names written in French. We were too cheap to pay for a campsite that night so went in search of a picnic area to park up for the night. That proved harder than it had in other places. We ended up half way up a mountain on a lane going into somebodies farm and nowhere to turn around because the road was too narrow and there was a substnacial drop to one side! Eventually thought we got down and found a picnic area on the opposite side of the town.

After that and 2 days of mainly reading books we dropped the van back in Christchurch. Was a pity to be finishing up the road-trip but I was looking forward to a bed and a bit of space :) Another night in X-Base in Christchurch and then we flew to Auckland where John and Paula, two people that me and Jonny met trekking in Thailand, collect us from the airport. They showed us around the city including a tour of the Lion Brewery, the crowd that brew Guinness in New Zealand, but they had no answers as to why it tastes like piss over here! In the evening we out to dinner and then had a few beers before hitting the hay.

From here we leave for Buenos aires and strangely, we'll be there in about 2 hours! Well at least it will 2 hours later in the day. For us this is the seemingly never-ending Thursday which I think will be about 40 hours long or there abouts due to us crossing the international date line. Technically it means my birthday changes too but we wont worry about technicalities :)

Will update soon with pictures from South America, until then.... Hast luego!

Brian

One Year On...

So a year ago today, me and Jonny touched down in Bangkok. 365 days later I´m most of the way around the world in Paraty in Brazil. People at home have gotten themselves into a recession so I´ll have to go home and sort that out in a couple of months :)

As I mentioned we are in Paraty now. A little town between Rio and Sao Paulo. We are staying a couple of days here mainly to just chill out and to say goodbye to beaches for a while (well Matt is, I´m loving having a hammock again).

Since the last post we´ve been out in Lapa which is the part of Rio that has the street party at the weekends. We had locals showing us how to samba and I think at one point Alison broke out some of her Riverdance moves, had to be done! We had a good night there and then left copacobana to go back to Ipanema. A bit more time playing football on the beach there too. The Brazilians must have thought we had never played football before.

On Sunday we did the favela tour. It was interesting to see what goes on there and to be honest, the sense of community is class. Something that is lacking a bit now in most other places. It did feel a bit uncomfortable for me doing it as part of the tour, but I think I was the only one so it is a good thing to do if you are in Rio. That evening then was off to the Maracana to watch Flamengo lose 1-0 to Vitoria. The game itself was a dour affair but the atmosphere before the game and when Flamengo actually had a couple of chances, it was unreal. They had a goal disallowed for offside which went down like a fart in a spacesuit and the female assistant got all sorts of abuse from 41,000 fans for most of the second half. In fairness, she was having a shocker of a game.

After Rio we went to Ilha Grande. We stayed in a place called Che Lagorota or something like that anyway. Was a good place and the island itself has a great feel to it. We trekked to a beach and just lazed about all day so was fairly good.

Now we are staying in Serra do Mar in Paraty. Its a class hostel here. Somehow we managed to be given a private room and I got a double bed!! For the same price of a dorm too! Excellent!

On Sunday Ipanema beach was very busy, lots of people and Umbrellas

One of the streets was closed off and used as a pedestrian street

The beach had bars along the top. Mmmm... Coconuts

Rochina is Rios biggest favela and was the biggest in South America but apparently one in Venezuala is now competing for the honour

Me Pete Alison Matt and Henry on the way into the Maracana

Me and Matt in the Maracana before kick off

As the atmosphere hotted up, the Roman Candels were lit

The waves on Ipanema beach were scary at times. The broke so close to shore and were fairly violent. The current was really strong too.

Big signs told you the temperature and time. That day got up to 28 degrees

A boat in a bay on our way to the beach

No Paraty!

So yesterday we left Paraty and due to 2 full buses we are now hanging aroung the bus station in Sao Paulo. Its and hour into the city and apparently there is nothing to do when you get there so I´m taking this time to put up some pictures.

The name of the place we stayed in Paraty was called Sereia do Mar which is one of endless spelling mistakes and typos I noticed in that last post. Too lazy to fix them so ignore them :) Anywho, Paraty is a great little town. We made an effort to go out one night there but we were back early. Went to a place in the Old Town called Dinho. It was a small place with a good crowd and live music. Would have been a good night I think if we were up for it but in our heads we had a long bus journey the next day, which was cut substancially short by the bus being full.

A piece of info for anybody going from Sao Paulo to Iguazu, its an expensive bus journey. Works out at about 90 euro I think but havent bothered to work out an exact price. You can fly but I think that is an extra US$150 again (from an overheard conversation).

Anyway, I have little enough to say right now and only really wanted to put up some more photos.

Enjoy...

Brian

Me and Matt missed the bus to the waterfalls and figured we´d be ok walking, judging by the map it looked ok. After 3 hours of a walk we saw no waterfalls. Not to worry, Iguazu is the next stop

One of the streets in the old part of Paraty. Town became a big port with the Portuguese after the found gold nearby.

Another street, with a tree this time!

There was buntin on some of the streets but I´m still not sure what for

Not just any church... an old church!

From what I know. ¨Oi¨ means ¨hi¨

For those who cant speak Portuguese, it says Coca-Cola

Flowers in our hostel

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu falls was the latest outting we have had. When Elanor Roosevelt saw the falls she said, "poor Niagra". Now I have never seen the Niagra falls but Iguazu is amazing. The devil´s throat being the main waterfall there, dividing Argentina and Brazil. At 150m wide and 700m long it the devil´s throat is the largest of 275 waterfalls in the system. Iguazu falls is smaller only than Victoria falls in Africa and in terms of the size of the "curtain of water" is vastly bigger than Niagra!

We arrived yesterday in Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinian side. Our first place to try was Hostel Inn as we have heard good things but it was full so we wandered around til we found a room in Las Palmeiras (I think thats the name anyway).

Today we headed to the falls early to avoid the rush. We got the 8.30 bus to the falls and if we had gone any later it would have been a nightmare because its high season and the crowd build up fast. After a walk to the side of the Devil´s Throat we went to go on the boat trip. This was 20 minutes that brought you right up to the water falls and needless to say, got you very wet! It was well worth doing but if you are doing it, bring some spare clothes.

After that with the bad weather and considering the crowds and bad weather we called an end to our Iguazu trip. In fairness all we didn´t do was go to the top of some waterfalls but I feel that we havent missed out on anything we didn´t see already.

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Tomorrow, if the weather is good, we are doing a helicopter ride on the Brazilian side and then to Paraguy where I want to buy an iPod to replace mine. 3 countries in one day! Will finish the post then ;)
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So today is the tomorrow mentioned above. No flights because of poor weather so we just went to Paraguy where we bought a few things... like a razor to get that thing off my face!

Later

Brian

Matt on our way to the Devil´s Throat

The Devil´s Throat

The Devil´s Throat again. Cooudlnt see all of it from the top. I think the spray goes up about 200m!

Can´t remember the name of this fall but was able to get a low shutter speed which gives the effect of curtain of water

Other of the water falls. Our boat brought us right beside on of them!

Dry... for now!

Now for a few pics of me!! I´m not photoshopped into this one.

Signs warned us to beware of snakes the size of men!!!

Salta

So after a 23hr bus journey we arrived in Salta looking for the 3rd of Keirans Hostel recommendations, we never did find the first two but im happy to say it was third time lucky on this occasion!

Salta itself is clean, well kept and orientated like most Argentinian towns around the main plaza that's overlooked by lots of Spanish-style colonial architecture.

We only stayed the two nights in Salta and on the first we had an all you can eat BBQ for 25 peso´s about 4 pound or 7 Euro´s with the other members of the Hostel, this gave us a great excuse to practice our Spanish or for me especially realise how bad i actually am! this will change once we take lessons in Bolivia i hope! after the BBQ we headed into town with some new friends and the night ended at around breakfast on Sunday morning, needless to say Sunday was spent rehydrating and feeling sorry for ourselves.

On our final day we headed into town to check out the local neighbourhood take some snaps and seek out a little resteraunt we visited to get some Empananda´s(the local delicacy) only to find it closes on a monday! oh well another excuse to revisit Argentina in the future.

Later were heading to watch Batman and then get the night bus to Bolivia so tune back in, in a few days for some pics of the salt flats.

Caio for now amigo´s

View at the police stop

Me Bri and Rita

Brian, Rita, Sue and Gráinne

The Gang night out

Water feature in the Town Park

Local means of transport

Malvinas/Faulklands are obviously a touchy subject around here

Matt takes a rest on the bridge in the park

This is one of those buildings you see a lot in postcards.

It's Life Jim, But Not as We Know It

We left Salta and headed for the border with Bolivia. After a 7 hour bus journey the first thing you notice is the freezing cold. After that the border with Bolivia doesnt open til 8, not that we had a clue how to get from the bus station to the border. When we finally walked there, the difference between Argentina and Bolivia was obvious. Much more Indigenous people and much poorer. The bus from Villazon to Tupiza showed some of the country side, barren and as one of the lads put it, like the moon. Nonetheless, it was amazing to see and the scenery was class.

One night in Tupiza then and it was off on a tour of the salt flats, Salar de Uyuni. This was a 4 day 3 night tour which we spent most of in a jeep, starting in Tupiza and ending in Uyuni. we were in a group with a French couple on their honeymoon. They were a good laugh but I think Anna wanted some nicer places than the ones we stayed in! On the trip we saw geezers, boiling mud, giant cactai, red lakes, green lakes, white lakes, flamengos and some of the most amazing views you could imagine.

On the first night we stayed in a small village up in the mountains. The altitude was about 4200m and the town had a population of about 250 people. The temperature we were told was about -7 that night, with the second night promising to be colder again, staying at an altitude of 5000m. Our room for the first night had no glass on the window, concrete floors and a corragated iron roof. Insulation obviously not a concern here :) Thankfully on the second night there was a more sturdy structure so the extra few degrees didnt harm us too much. It was said to be -15 degrees but it was cloudy that night so not sure if it got down that far.

On night 3 we stayed in a hotel made of salt. Basically it was blocks of salt carved into the shape of bricks, with salt on the floor. Chairs and tables also made of salt blocks. It was much warmer there as we were back down to about 4000m and the hotel itself was kept warm.

The final day was the highlight of the trip. Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world, containing 10 billion tonnes of salt! It is a flat and white and after that, there is not much else that can describe it apart from pictures.

After finishing the tour, we arrived in Uyuni. General advise was get the f*** out of there as soon as you can. It didnt take long to see why. It really is not a nice place. There is nothing to do or see there apart from the salt flats and train cemetry which we had already seen. The only problem, no buses leaving to Sucre for 3 days because of elections! After some asking around we managed to get a guy with a jeep to bring us to Potosi which is where we are now. Its only 3 hours from Sucre where we hope to get to tomorrow. The jeep journey started off eventful with the driver crashing 2 minutes into the trip. Thankfully it was only a small tip and no damage was done. After that, it was plain sailing.

Potosi itself is a mining town and is also the world's highest city. Think it is about 4800m. The main attraction here are the mines but after hearing that they are full of asbestos we will be giving them a miss.

One last little thing, altitude makes it near impossible to climb small hills and you get sunburnt when it is 2 degrees!

Til Next time

Brian

I have over 200 pictures from this trip so I have only quickly took a small sample

The women all wear bowler hats here and are very aged. The cook on the trip was 32, looked 52!

Evo Morales has a lot of support in small towns for the up coming elections

On the second day we were up at 5:30

At this point we are higher than Mt. Blanc, Europes highest mountain. Higher to go!

Mud boils at 200 degrees

The smoke is full of sulphur. Basically, the place stank of rotten eggs!

Unfortunately it wasnt particularly nice weather. The lake was red. From algae and sediment apparently

Me at a big rock thing

the big rock thing on its own

Candles light the room in the salt hotel. Electricty is off at 9:30

This train has died!

Spanish, Biking and San Pedro

So it has been a while now since the last post and a lot has been going on. Well not a whole not but enough. There was Spanish lessons, a graduation party, blockades, the Worlds Most Dangerous Road and San Pedro prison.

Spanish lessons is probably the place to start. Me and Matt got to Sucre and the next day started Spanish lessons. We had a class of just us with Aida Rojas. If anybody is doing Spanish in Sucre then I would definitely recommend doing it with her. I have her details so if anybody wants it, send me an email. She has the coolest parrot too by the way. It talks... a lot! She is good teacher and does a lot of grammar too so it basically gives us a basis to start off.

In Sucre we stayed in hostel Cruz de Popyan which is a great hostel. There was a cool common courtyard where people sat out, talked and studied Spanish most of the day. There was always a good group of people to go out with. Niamh, who is a friend of the girls living across the hall from us in Sydney, came and stayed a week too. We had a real good laugh with her. After 2 weeks of Spanish then we had a graduation party. 8 of us rented out graduation robes and had a night on the town. Sucre is a really good place to go out and by the end of my time there I was a fan of the Shisha bar.

After the graduation party we were meant to head to La Paz but because of blockades we had to wait there another week. Blockades are common around Sucre but it was hard enough to fill the days without having Spanish classes.

Finally on Friday we arrived in La Paz. Then Saturday we went cycling on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. It got its names in the 90's after a study on the amount of deaths on a road per km. Nowadays there is very little traffic on it though. The road is 3m wide at the narrowest point with cliffs of 60m to 600m normally inches away from you as hurtle down hill. It was really enjoyable though.

Today then was San Pedro prison. It costs 300bs (€30) to do the tour. After reading the book Marching Powder, it was somewhere that me and Matt both had to see. It is an actually prison and the tour is given by one of the inmates. The tour is in the Posta section of the prison. To understand this you have to realise that there are 8 sections in the prison. When a prisoner is arrested they have to pay an entrance fee into the prison. After that they have to buy their own cell!! They actually own the deeds to the cell. When I say cell, they have cable tv, mobile phones, and pretty much anything you can buy outside the prison. There are shops take-aways recreation rooms all available to the inmates. Even the prisoners families live in the prison. In fairness, the tour was only ok but it was worth a look.

Tomorrow, we head to Cusco so the Bolivian adventure is almost over.

Spanish lessons with Aida

Graduation night in Sucre

Jamie Matt Carolyn and Catherine

A few squares didnt dress up! ;)

Aida came for a drink and drank of her own accord!

Behind the bar in Joy Ride

Some people were better than others at drinking games!

The important thing is that everyone was having fun

Mick was a great a laugh and always up for one! Una mas!!

La Paz has taken a more literal meaning to a zebra crossing

Me, Matt and Jamie get ready to tackle the worlds most dangerous road

The Universitario mask gets an outing at midget wrestling!

Christchuch and Dunedin

Just a quick summary of what we've been up to so far.

Arrived in Christchurch last friday, no hiccups on the journey but was ridiculously tired. Journey took about 38 hours from start to finish. We spent the day on Saturday on the Christchurch Gondola, which has really nice views over the city and also over Lyttleton and the harbour there (photos should follow shortly). We did a lot of walking there which was enjoyable but tough beacuse of the heat (30C). One positive effect is that the walk seemed to get rid of any jetlag.

On Sunday we drove to Dunedin. It seems to be a lot nicer than Christchurch, which felt like a overly planned city without a proper centre. Today we did a tour of the Cadbury's factory and myself and Dec watched the superbowl. I wore my Steelers jersey which got me some unwanted attention in the pub we were in.

Anyway, we are off to Te Anau in the morning which is our base for Milford Sound. It'll be the first trip where ill be driving.