week seven

happy hallowe'en everybody! more pictures are up.


Oct 16th.

a great night of sleep.. danielle opts to do a half-day of rock climbing and i tag along as photographer, still favouring a foot injury from the jungle hike in malaysia.


Oct 17th.

lazy day trying to fix our burn tans between beers and end up playing cards with some other travellers.


Oct 18th.

headed to ko phi phi to see what all the fuss is about. a beautiful island packed to the teeth with tourism industry. danielle and i took in what we could while we awaited our afternoon ferry back to phuket.


Oct 19th.

grabbed our free breakfast and hit the town in search of board shorts, hiking shoes and some other items. we have mild success and decide to spoil ourselves for lunch with a pizza hut knock off restaurant.

danielle investigates possible scuba diving lesson and decides to go ahead with it once she finds a price she can live with. since i have chosen against, i will fly to bangkok earlier in the day tomorrow and arrange accomodation before she arrives later in the evening.


Oct 20th.

my super slow, super cheap airport bus barely gets me there on time and i catch my flight. stumbled my way through various modes of transport to get to my destination in bangkok. danielle has emailed me that the nitrogen in her blood from diving prevents her from flying so she'll come tomorrow. i provide a treacherously difficult set of directions and go for a walk at dusk.

many shops had already closed their heavy steel shutters and cages until tomorrow. stray cats feed on scraps laid out at doorsteps; homeless dogs wander in the streets and lie across the sidewalk. scarce is a section of concrete without a permanent dark stain and tuk tuk drivers don breath masks to deal with the harsh air.

car repair shops are busy and wholesale garage workers load unmarked boxes on small trucks. the space at the edge of the sidewalk not occupied by either garbage bins or parked motorbikes hosts streetside vendors of all sorts of authentic thai fare. it smells great but often looks drudged up from the back of the bottom drawer of some unseen rancid refrigerator.


Oct 21st.

a twin room to myself last night, i watched a couple of movies on hbo asia and read till i passed out. woke up and took a sterilizingly hot shower before heading out for a walk. i aimed myself toward the main river through bangkok and was there in no time. on the way back, stopped at a beautiful bhuddist monastery and documented the brilliantly decorated structures and statues.

having booked a ticket at 6pm, i await danielle's arrival patiently until panic sets in roughly 10 minutes after 5 and i was about to go back and exchange it when she appeared.

jumped on our train with 5 minutes to spare and we were on our way to chiang mai overnight. it was dark early but as we left bangkok some lights along the railway revealed massive flooding that had yet to recede since the monsoon rains had slowed. it was evident that even in many of the submerged homes, people had made due and continued living in flooded homes, possibly for a long while.


Oct 22nd.

6:30am we roll into chiang mai and bypass the army of tuk tuk drivers in favour of following our inaccurate map on foot. had no trouble finding a nice room on moonmuang rd. soi 9 which is lined with guesthouses, internet cafes and laundry services.

chiang mai is a beautiful ancient city with a square centre outlined by a moat and a fortress style brick wall that is now in ruin.

we attend the sunday market in the afternoon and between us spend almost 1000 baht, or $35 CAD. also arranged to switch hostels to a nicer, cheaper place and signed up for their thai cooking class. a few drinks at a mobile bar downtown knock us right out despite our ironing board style beds.

week six

nearly up to speed. we are in phuket tonight looking into tickets to fly north. as ever, more pictures now available.


Oct 9th.

we spend the day mostly in transit and arrive at our destination just too late to catch a boat to our desired hostel. we are in a tiny town built on a river that is a border to malaysia's largest national park. dropped our bags in our empty 6 bed dorm room and went to sample the local cuisine at one of the floating restaurants on the river and watched the rush of the muslims breaking their fasts since dawn.

Oct 10th.

woken up by sun and jungle sounds. get ourselves together to take on a huge day that we have no plan for yet. i realize my mountain equip co-op shoes are at the hostel back in singapore. after a greasy breakfast we make an arduous but successful search for rental jungle boots and head straight for the famed canopy walk back in the jungle. afterward we added another km hike to our tally up to 3 and doubled the total heading back to where we started.

since there was still time when we returned, we decided to try to fit in a cave exploration recommended by our book. most people pay 45 ringgits to take a boat down the river to a path very near the cave and do a short hike before being guided swiftly through the cave by an experienced malaysian. not us. armed with weak flashlights, a caffiene bolstered will of steel, only eating a handful of tiny peanuts for lunch, we hiked another difficult 3km to the cave and attempted it amateur style.

BATS.

obviously, right? but can anyone say they genuinely enjoy flashing a light ahead to reveal hundreds of bats at every turn? the cave didn't involve any major drops or climbing, but was tricky, wet and slippery.

our minds clouded by exhaustion, we marched back to the village at the same high speed we entered despite the terrain and at least 4 angry-sounding wild boars along the jungle trail. the last place we wanted to be at dusk or worse, nightfall, was on that jungle trail.

near the river there is a small village that the path runs through. the shacks house families, are mostly in disrepair and feature new mini satellite dishes for their large screen tvs. there is a confusing zig-zag on the path through the village and the local children are willing to point the way through.

stinking of sweat and bat shit, we arrive back at our hostel for a well deserved and appreciated cold shower.


Oct 11th.

much to our surprise, we had no trouble exiting the jungle village of kuala tahan early in the morning. a 2 hour ferry ride with views of water buffalo and monkeys shuttled us out to a nearby town with buses to KL.

wasting no time, we caught the first bus to the malaysian capitol, arriving late in the steaming hot afternoon.

it was decided after we found accomodation that we should make a trip to gather provisions before dinner. returning with some fresh fruit, 1 small bottle of local rum and 1 small bottle of local whiskey, the night turned into a card game fiasco with the obvious end result; hangover.

Oct 12th.

our exit strategy well in hand, hangovers weighing us down, we try to make some use of our single day in kuala lumpur. first stop, petronas twin towers. and what an unlikely source of hilarity...

upon our arrival we are issued free tickets with a one hour wait and we spent most of the time watching an info-video of the towers' construction. the second time through the short film provided us enough confidence that we now knew what there was to be known (ie. each tower has 20 escalators!). when our group was finally called, we were ushered into a cinema style room showing none other than the same info-video which we watched painstakingly once more for good measure, and then the start again, which provoked fits of laughter as we would rather have been in bed.

our fifteen minutes in the skybridge was barely worth the effort and the air conditioning had me in shivers so we took a nap in a shady park backing the towers.

doggedly, we made our way to a malaysian history museum containing some very interesting material and artifacts especially in the prehistoric section.

and then it was time to say goodbye to malaysia and on to thailand! krabi here we come.

Oct 13th. (friday 13th.. spooky)

our room in krabi is one of the nicest we've seen and at 350baht ($10CAD) it's a bargain too. a king bed, huge high speed fan, table and vanity, armoire, full western style bathroom. today we had the first real thai pad thai (phat thai) of the trip.

Oct 14th.

much deliberation. unsure about seasonal weather conditions, ie. end of monsoon weather.. we go ahead with a visit to the highly recommended beaches around krabi. it turns out to be a great idea.

south thailand, much like malaysia, has these rugged hills and mountains that shoot straight up hundreds of feet from level ground or ocean with sheer cliffs on all sides, trees growing on top and wherever else they can cling. our beach, hat ton sai is encased within a U shape of rock cliffs that face mostly south to the ocean, and the cliffs are such that the area is a rock climber's haven.

in awe of the scenery, we arrange accomodation and go seek out some beer. as we sip, we watch advanced climbers work their way up and across a popular inverted section of rock and their comrades cheer them on as they reach the highest and most difficult points. the sun begins to set and provides stunning views around the cliffs that i try to capture on camera. as night falls we notice a bit of rain falling, but it's not... looking up, the overhanging rocks more than 300ft high are dripping on us.

darkness sets in and some locals set off fireworks. working on our second chang beers, a loud swoosh above us materializes in the lights as a parachute. a guy has just base jumped at night from the same cliff dripping on our heads. everyone cheers and then yell out a countdown. sure enough, jumper no. 2 spirals in and lands on the beach to more applause.

already amazed, we decided to switch venues to eat. next stop, reggae bar on the beach. feeling adventurous, i order the waitor's suggestion of "spicy seafood" and a beer to wash it down with. the squid and shrimp and the spicy soup were alright. but i mistook green thai chillies as green beans. never has my face poured quite like that. after i recovered and finished we moved out onto loungers on the beach and slipped into a daze watching three fire dancers take turns with chains and a staff.

Oct 15th.

last night was a nightmare. danielle and i were tormented throughout by mosquitos and god knows what else. both our bodies are now covered in bites. first order of business is agreed to be a hostel change to one with mosquito nets.

we head out kayaking for the afternoon to other beaches and rock islands. as we approach the rock islands, some of them are so eroded and undercut by the water that they have the illusion of floating. there is a cave at one of the popular beaches with a large shrine with flowers, incense and large carvings. a plaque explains the symbolism of the cave as a holy womb and upon inspection.. all the carvings are phalluses offered to the cave for fertility.

as before the huge cliffs towering over us drip continuously and the stream of droplets can be seen against the crisp blue sky.

week five

for lack of an adapter, i have had to conserve battery power and take fewer pictures. i intend to rectify this soon.

Oct 1st.

mistaken for a couple, danielle and i had been upgraded to our own cabin which made it all-too-tempting to sleep in. finally rented bikes before noon and spent the afternoon rideing around french island in search of danielle's first wild koala. wound up seeing 3 of the cuddlies and one echnida (look it up).

Oct 2nd.

learning from past mistakes, we caught the proper bus and were back in melbourne by the early afternoon. our packs weighed down with beer and some extra food, we found ourselves hiking all over the fitroy region of melbourne in search of accomodation. eventually found "the nunnery" and called it a night after a late dinner at blue chillies of singapore mee hoon and a veggie dish named gado gado.

Oct 3rd.

day of debacles. failed to find an internet place to upload pictures. misread showtimes for an art show. was unable to locate an entire venue for another show. bought tickets to a show where a guy was strumming his guitar with a doll and a woman screeching as if the apocalypse was upon us (separate acts of course). we took off and capped the night with a pitcher at another bar.

Oct 4th.

lazy morning. grabbed our free breakfast and headed out to run a few errands prior to our flight at 3:30, which would of course, be delayed by an hour. some 6 hours later, the humidity of singapore hit us right in the lungs. our home for two days would be a cheap hostel in little india while we suss out a route through malaysia.

Oct 5th.

day of decisions. spent the morning trying to sort out issues with danielle's cash flow and me updating my blog. the afternoon was spent choosing a route through malaysia based on our travel book and some great advise from a friendly young british couple.

had my first taste of nestle's milo (on ice), which, as a chocolate fiend, i would highly recommend.

the air outside is so thick here, it sticks to you like that film from an ocean swim. it stifled our lungs and drained our energy in no time at all.

Oct 6th.

travelling to an ancient spice trade city named melacca on our way through to some islands. we have been promised incredible beaches and a backpacker's paradise, so we're eager to move along.

in melacca we snap pictures of a few historic relics and grab a bottle of thai spice song (33%) before our second authentic indian meal. when our food comes, the waiter watches us to see whether we need forks, or if we eat with only our right hand like normal people.

toilets are interesting as well. plumbing is either a plastic or porcelain basin in the floor sometimes with a flush and a hose for your ass (no TP).

Oct 7th.

9:30am. we slide onto the white sand beach in a water taxi. the kilometre long bay is lightly littered with tropical debris and evidence of partying. it has been a hard night on the bus from across the country with full force A/C chilling us to the bone. it staves us off from the steaming heat but is no more comfortable in shorts & tshirt.

in a stroll out on the edge of the beach i climb across a rock outcrop and find some crabs and a white-sand camoflauged fish in pools of water from the south china sea. the sand here is so fine and soft that the forgotten sandals outnumber the starfish. while in the water, it's not clear whether its warmer or colder in the air.

Oct 8th.

day of snorkel. danielle and i caught a small boat (think bass boat) with 4 other backpackers that took us around the island to spots that were very aptly named turtle point, shark point, coral bay, etc. our guide was smiley and helpful keeping us on pace for our hard earned rest on what he called "romantic beach" which left us speechless. we viewed millions of tiny fish in the nearby coral and and lounged in the shallows chatting with our comrades.

in the process, danielle and a few others battled their fear of being surrounded by fish and our guide seemed pitiless, tossing bread at our heads to make them swarm into one collective beast devouring the food.

many varieties of coral and colourful fish were on display and the guide had to pull me back when i tried to go ahead of him to take a better look at a barracuda. (oops.)

that night we met up again with roy, an aussie from perth and had a good yarn on the last night of our malaysian island getaway. tomorrow we head for the jungle.

week four ++

coming to you from muggy singapore:

here lies my last week or so of the 35 days i totalled in australia.

last time i left off in tropical Cairns...

Sept 21st.

found it difficult to make our way to the beach with the sketchy bus system and bad directions from the hostel's reception crew. arrived at palm cove at about 4pm and tried to enjoy some sun before it quickly was lost in the palms behind us.

Sept 22nd.

disappointed with our beach experience of the previous day, we headed to another beach in the same stretch of coast, this time earlier in the day. it was picturesque tropical beach, though the sand was more coarse than some, and the water picked up silt in the surf giving it a brown tint. we "sun baked" as the aussies call it and floated in the waves until we were forced by hunger to return to the city.

caught the semi-final footy game on tv where sydney's swans advanced to their second straight grand final appearance.

Sept 23rd.

hot, lazy day. booked another trip to the reef for the 25th; destination green island. left on the agenda for today, second footy semi-final and some drinks.

Sept 24th.

our second-last day in cairns.... it has been the holiday spot of the trip. so why not another lazy day sitting around at the pool, soaking up sun, reading and writing these journal entries. plans for later are to head downtown and catch a showing of al gore's 'an inconvenient truth' which just came out here.

Sept 25th.

back to the reef for one more view of the largest national park in the world. this time we took a larger boat (less sickness) to an island surrounded by coral reef (or so we thought). the island was pleasant but overrun by tourists and on our first two attempts to snorkel from the beach, we weren't able to find any significant or live pieces of coral. it seemed like it once was filled with coral which died off due to the volume of tourists kicking around sand and whatever else.

fortunately, we saw lots on the glass bottom boat tour included in the tour and then asked where the coral was. poeli and i spent another hour in the water viewing some great coral and fish. i spotted what i'm sure was an octopus (but only the top half) and a friendly bloke showed me a huge cod that he spotted deep under the dock. had asian buffet for dinner and did some last minute gift shopping with poeli and prepared for the obscenely early flight back to melbourne at 5:45am...

Sept 26th.

exhausted from the flight which was delayed by 45 mins and then the luggage was late by 30 mins, we checked into our hostel, grabbed some fish and chips nearby and caught a nap. not hungry when we awoke, we hitched a free ride on one melbourne's many trams (honour system payment) to the casino and wandered around before finally playing $10 each on the very confusing 'pokies' and losing it all in a blaze of unsatisfying button pushing!

Sept 27th.

met up with danielle at about 10am. grabbed some brekkie and walked around melbourne for a while. caught some live music at our hostel's bar after having a classy dinner on the acclaimed but oddly named, hardware lane. called it a night at around 11pm because poeli had to fly out at 6am back to ottawa.

Sept 28th.

said goodbye to poeli at 4:30am. not fun. likely would have been harder had we both been fully awake. checked out after a few hours and met danielle again at a cafe nearby. we bought tickets to some arts shows which were part of the fringe festival here and headed to the library to do some research for our upcoming trip to SE asia.

after dinner we proceeded to chat, causing us to be late getting to the first show (acrobat) that we had tickets for, and were stiffly denied entry. there is an off chance we could catch the next show but waiting on an email and seems very unlikely to fit with our plans. working our way to the bottom of a jug of draught helped ease our sorrows.

Sept 29th.

a day of entertainment. we caught a couple of comedy shows on for fringe festival and had a healthy laugh. one guy was a small-time comic/songwriter called the bedroom philosopher. his timing and wit were just right and he was more than prepared to sacrifice his ego for a chuckle.

the second show was a famous uk stand-up comic, stephen k amos. much more traditional and really cut up the people in the front row.

later we made a 45 min hike across the city and caught some music at two bars in fitzroy; some modern rock and some trancy live jazz.

Sept 30th.

a day of transit. up at the crack of 8:30, assuring ourselves we would catch the 10:05am bus to phillip island home of the little penguin parade. arriving just in time, we learned that the internet schedule was wrong, and had to take an alternate route. oops.

jump on a metro train and get delayed 1.5hrs on our first transfer. got off at stony point and found we had to wait another 3.5hrs for the ferry to the island. 8hrs from departure, we arrive at our destination, no more than 100km from where we started.

on the positive side, i got my ass handed to me at cribbage, rummy and crazy eights consecutively while we waited. oh, and we arrived barely in time to see the penguin parade. cute little bastards. smallest ones in the world - and they walk right up under the boardwalk no more than a foot from viewers.