jd's blogspot

up early and its absolutely teaming down with rain, but have to brave the elements as have to get the bus back to the airport. get to the airport and check in with Air China - going to Chengdu today. i cant wait to see what mainland china is like.  potter around the airport for a bit and eventually get to board. not a great flight, very turbulent. i dont like turbulence, so it makes for a very nervous and long 2.5hrs. arrive and joke about the "health form" that we have to fill in, along wiht the usual immigration forma. one question is what is your temperature. so we joke saying that if a chinese immigration officer appears with a rectal thermometre, we will have to just run for it!! get through immigration with no issues what so ever. luggage arrives and out through customs. i have to say, its one of the quickest exits out of an airport ever!  get a taxi to the hostel. driver tries to do us out of Y20 for a toll bridge - but we dont actually go through one! Chengdu is chinas 5th most populous city and the traffic is the first give away. they are pure maniacs. i thought the south amnericans were nuts, but this takes the biscuit. there is noe of this wing mirror business, just honk your horn and the car behind can avoid you as you swerve in front of him!  chill out in the hostel for the evening, need to get my bearings and decide what to do. the hostel does western food, so cheat a bit and have a burger!! first impressions of china - its all grey and made of concrete, its what i imagine Russia to look like!

11th June 2007

up early, as we are going on a tour to the famous Giant Panda Research Base. I cant wait, its the only reason we cam eto Chengdu and ive wanted to come here for years. the hostel arranges tours, which makes it nice and easy. the base has about 50 giant pandas and red pandas and breeding is the focus here. there are only about 12-15 bears out to see and we arrive at breakfast time. so we can see them munching on the bamboo shoots. its really cool to watch them throw away the harder outer bamboo an d eat the softer inner section. they eat quickly and soon after return to their other favourite activity - sleeping! they are really cute - you just want to cuddle them. then we go to see teh babies, they are in the "nursery" and are even cuter. there is also the panda maternity wing with incubators and everything!! the red pandas are seriously weird looking creatures. they are like a cross breed between a panda and a racoon, but with the colouring of a fox. they look quite vicious actually. the whole base is laid out very well, its all very natural with lots of trees and bamboo everywhere. there is a small museum with exhibits wiht small english translations. there is also a short film about conservation, reproduction, which goes into great detail and shows you a panda giving birth. its weird, the baby literally flies out of the mum and looks like a tiny pink alien with no eyes!   all in all, a very good tour and head back to the hostel. have some food and tehn wander around the corner to the Wenshu Temple. the Tang dynasty monastery is Chengdus larsgest and best preserved buddhist temple. it smells of inscence and if you are lucky enough you can hear the low murmer of chanting. there are exquisite carvings all over the buildings and despite being in the middle of a very large city, there is a rela sense of serenity and solitude. the archetecture is beautiful and the insides of teh temples have gold everywhere. there is also a teahouse with in the grounds.  its quite funny, cos once you go into the teahous, teh volume increases dramatically. maybe its just me, but it sounds like teh chinese just shout at each other all the time!!  the alleyways surrounding teh temple are great and are almost an attraction in themselves. they are filled with joss-stick vendors, foot callous removers, blind fortune tellers and of course more teahouses. some of the traditional buildings are in total contrast to the massive communist concrete blocks that are all over the place. most of the city is grey. wander down town and take in some more tower blocks - some complete maniacs on the road. so its an interesting challenge when i have to cross the road! the trick is to just keep moving - its really a game of chicken!!  the heavens open and the torrential rain begins, so i splash out on the taxi back to the hostel. have some food and get chatting to some others over a beer for the evening.  

get up and head for a last wander around town. end up buying a few bits. have some more boiled rice - yum!! but its safe, as I dont want any incidents on the plane!!taxi has arrived a bit early, so its off to the airport. check in and pay departure tax. board and its off to hong kong. its an interesting flight!! most people recline their seats on airplanes, so you should expect the person in front of you to put their seat back. well, Emer reclines her seat and the woman behind pushes it back up. so Emer leaves its in the upright positoin. but about 1hr later, after dinner, Emer puts her seat back down and the woman behind goes absolutley nuts. She is at least 50yrs old and she actually starts kicking and punching Emers seat and starts screaming "you didnt ask my permission" - she is an complete nut job. We have to call teh trolley doley down as she gets so out of hand. so teh trolley dolley tells her to stop it and that she is entitled to recline her seat. so she stops, but spends the entire flight (4.5hrs) bitching about us. Stupid cow, at one stage I turned around to her and said that if she wanted a bigger seat she should have paid for first class" - she wasnt impressed!! anyway, flight is fine after that except for one incident of turbulence. without warning the plane just dropped. the whole plane went silent, you could have heard a pin drop.  have to say it was a bit scarey. but arrive in hong kong and hop on the bus into city centre where we have a place booked.  so get off the bus and instantly we get surrounded by a load of men wanted to offer us accommodation. telling them we have somewhere booked doesnt get rid of them either!!  im not in great form after mrs airrage woman and having "bali belly" for two days, so am really getting ticked off with these guys in my face.  we get into the building and its utter chaos. there are people everywhere, all immigrants and everyone is all talkiing at each other - mental. finally find reception of where we are staying and the guy shows us to our room. well, its not what we reserved or paid for. I have had enough and loose my temper. say we are not staying here, its not what we reserved, so show me another room now. he says that they dont have anything else, so thats it. well, i say no, give us our money back and we will go elsewhere. well, her gets a bit aggressive and says that he has other guesthouses in the building that we can go there and come back here tom night. i tell him that thats utter bullshit and its just not going to happen - he doesnt like that!!  he then says well, you never said on the booking what time you would arrive at. so we said that we ticked the option of dont know what time, so hold the room until midnight.  he then says that thats not the way he does business. so i clearly point out thats what is on the internet, so if he has a problem with it, why is associated with that reservations website. at this point he brings in his "manager", which is actually one of his mates and we have the same arguement all over again!!  so now he is getting concerned, as we have said that we will go online tom and write a really rubbish review of his guesthouse and how they took our money but didnt reserve the room for us. he is really pissed off now. but I dont care, so i pick up his phone and call another place and make another reservation right in front of him.  we end up walking out of there, without our money, after argueing for 30mins while he continues to shout after us about how unco-operative we are being. so we get to the place I called and they guy shows us a really tiny room, so we get him to show us another bigger one. so he knocks on some door and a poor old chinese guy, about 75 yrs old, opens the door in his Y-fronts and lets us have a look at the nice rooms!! we finally get a room about midnight and flop into bed. its been an eventful day!!

6th June 2007

 get up at our leisure. go in search of a coffee and am quite surprised that its quite hard to find a coffee shop around where we are.  eventually find one. go for a wander around Kowloon and the Tsim sha Tsui area. wander into some fo the shops and decide to leave pretty quickly - cant afford the stuff!!  then head down towards teh hong kong space museum and theatre. its a nice museum. there are some pretty cool interactive exhibits, including an anti-gravity chamber.  there is an IMAX theatre, but the show is in cantonese, so dont bother paying for that.  its boiling hot outside and is showering heavily, so taday turns into an indoor activities day!  head over to the cultural centre next. bit disappointed, its more of a theatre complex rather than an exhibition centre.  decide after that that we should go for a pedicure - so go to a nice enough place and relax for a while. when the bill comes, one is HK$100 more, so the woman says its because Emer had some buffing done!!  so we say , well isnt that the whole point to a pedicure!! she takes it off the bill, but begining to see a pattern here!  head back to the hostel and then go for dinner. it has stopped raining so we check out the "Symphony of Light" show. its the light show around the harbour , where all the buildings and skyscrapers have various flashing lights to the music. its pretty cool. its very hard to describe - its so well timed and all the buildings participate.   it lasts baout 10-15 mins and is teh worlds largest permanent light show, which is projected atop the buildings of hong kong island. wander around the shops a bit more, but the humidity is a bit much so head back to the hostel and watch tele and go to sleep.

7th June 2007

get up and wander around Kowloon some more. its raining out of the heavens again so dont do too much. decide to go to the cinema to see pirates of the carribean 3. well, they dont make it easy to find the cinema. wander about and eventaully find it, to be told that the cinema with pirates is way down the far end of the street. so we have a look for that one, which is equally as well hidden. get there just in time for a bit of johnny Depp - yum!!  we are absolutely freezing by the time we come out, but the stinky humidity soon resolves that one!!  go for dinner and as we are heading back we notice that there is a queue to get into the Louis Vutton shop. so for the laugh, we join and take photos. we get some very dirty looks for all the rich people queueing in their fancy clothes!! head back to the hostel and bridget jones is on the tele, so watch that for the evening.

8th June 2007 - DISNEYLAND

up early and head off to the metro station to go to Disneyland - yipee! set off and cant buy a return ticket!! off we go. the train to disneyland has mickey mouse shaped windows!! its pretty cool. and has disney music playing over the PA system. get there and as we are walking down towards the entrance it begins to rain. and boyu does it rain - it turns into an absolute torrential downpour quickly followed by hugh craks of thunder - excellent, will be spending most of the day in the gift shop!!  It doesnt open until 10.30, so everyone is huddled in under teh gazebos in front of the ticket desks.  its almost dark, thats how bad the weather is. so in a brief lightening of rain, we make a dash for the ticket desk and then a mad dash for the entrance queue. manage to get a spot under the roof. its quite funny to see, the place is almost deserted except for groups of people squished in under any section of roof/shelter!! so 10.30 comes and the rain has eased considerably and we are allowed in. go down main street and check out the gift shops. the teddy bears are so cuddley - its a shame they wont fit in my rucksack. its quite a small disneyland. both of us have been in other disneys and were expecting something a bit bigger. its still really cool and has the usual disney stuff but with a few chinese twists.  we meet winnie the pooh, mickey and minnie and see goofey and buzz lightyear and some pirates. as we are ther early, there a re no queues for the rides, so we literally walk straight onto them. its great. although, I have to say, its very much geared for kids. all the rides, except for space mountain, are really built for kids. there are none of the massive roller coasters like thunder mountain etc. its still really good and we go on everything. its still a bit miserable from the humidity and rain and as a result all the parades and fireworks are cancelled. one of the highlights is the lion king show/performance. its really good, the costumes and sets are fantastic - all extremely colourful and vibrant. all teh narration is done in english, cantonese and japanese. so by about 3.30, we have done everything in the whole park - not something we would ever say about disneyland. so we go back to the mickey mouse train and head back to city centre. play on the internet for a while and then go out for dinner. pretty knackered after walking around all day, so just end up falling asleep.

9th June 2007

get up and try to book a train from hong kong to chengdu in mainland china - not as easy as you would think! damn Chinese are a bit difficult. they dont do train tickets. we meet an english couple, who are trying to get their visas for china and are having a load of difficulty. and they are being charged at least twice what we paid for them.  so off to anoter travel agants to see what we can do about trains.  they will only book tickets to beijing or shanghai. not allowed to go anywhere else!  so i try to say that i understand that there are no direct trains to chengdu from hong kong, but could we connect somewhere in china - NO, you can go to beijing or shanghai. this is not open for discussion!  so end result, we end up having to buy plane tickets to fly to Chengdu, otherwise we can forget about it.  anyway, after that we head down to the star ferry terminal to go across to the hong kong island. ferry costs a grand total of E0.22c! its a really old boat, but only takes 5 mins to go across. its really interesting to see how the old traditional boats mix in with all the new, modern ships and cruiseliners. its a bit humid and looks like its about to rain again. decide to check out teh town hall. its actually a bit dull - a very modern grey building. pass connaught house and garden along the way - quite a nice building right in the middle of everything. surprise, surprise the heavens have opened again and there is some more torrential rain!! as its a completely miserable day, weather wise, we decide to skip going to Victoria park and going on the peak tram - you wouldnt be able to see anythign anyway, so we go to the shopping centre and potter around there for a while. get lunch and check out all teh shops that we cant buy anything in!! head back across on the ferry, back to kowloon. go for dinner and then head up to the Temple Street night market. its a lively place to bargain for cheap clothes, pirate DVDs and knock off designer gear. its got a great atmosphere adn the smells of teh food stalls are delicious. its threatening to rain again, so head back to the hostel, sort out our stuff and are all set to leave in the morning.

up early and check out. being picked up as we are heading back to Bali. minivan arrives and there are already a couple of germans aboard. they are quite funny, they are stoned and are just talking utter jibberish. they get off and then its just the 2 of us back to the ferry. pass through some nice countryside. there are quite a few paddy fields. around. its weird, everything seems so dry and arid and then, obviously the paddy fields are totally saturated. get to the ferry - really looking forward to the return trip!!  so after ignoring dozens of me selling all sorts of crap, we get aboard and up to the passenger deck. well, its just lovely!!  its another russian donation, that im pretty sure is not water safe!! but anyway, plonk myself down an a tiny plastci seat. there are dozens of hawkers on board selling everything from water to rice and hats - begining to think being the last onto the boat like last ime was a secret blessing!  we a re sitting behind 6 english guys , who are also very annoyed by the hawkers and who are overheating just as much as we are.  so we finally get moving. after a few mins, one of them goes wandering and comes back saying that  there is a VIP area wiht air conditioning up the front.  so check it out and decide to splash out on the E0.80c upgrade!!  so we have all moved in to the VIP area, so we now have a much bigger plastic seat, but it does have air con. so then the tv comes on , and to my delight the start playing Spiderman 3 - I hate spiderman, its the dullest film ever made. im considering going back outside to poor peoples class!!  after a while, my bladder takes the controlling decision that i need to go to the loo. well, its definately not something i wish to repeat or recall! lets just say that its noit easy to use a squat toilet with a daypack on your back, cos you are too afraid to put it on the floor as there is a bit of a hygiene deficency!  back to the vip class and after 4.5hrs of films, the music channell comes on. at this point, one of the english guys and I are convinced that the boat has stopped moving. so we go to check it out, and guess what, we have stopped moving!! and then, amid our questioning looks, they start playing titanic over the PA system. seriously, the ship has stopped moving and titanic is blaring out over the speakers!! then to add more spice, they play Dido's White Flag, whose lyrics consist of "I will go down with this ship"!! now, we are all looking at each other and nervous laughter wondering if we should be getting teh message and also does this piece of junk have any lifejackets!!  but after about 45mins we are allowed to dock. it definately goes down as an interesting journey!  so we are all collected and heading towards kuta. we go with 2 english girsl and some other guy and the english guys go in another van. then the real fun begins - my stomach hasnt been in good shape all day and as soon as the van starts to move, i know  i am going ot have to get the guy to stop so i can go to hte loo. Bali belly has finally struck!  so get him to stop and literally fall out of the van and start shouting at the woman "toilet, quick please". thankfully, she is nice and runs with me, and make it just in time to teh nearest delightful squat loo!!  driver is not impressed, and quite frankly neither am i!!  anway get to kuta and check into hostel and bed.

4th June 2007

easy day, just do some cheap shopping and wander about town. have still got a dodgy tummy, so food all day consists of boiled rice - yum!! am really feeling rubbish, so just go back to bed for the afternoon. i forgot to mention that our en suite is kind of outside! yes, it was an ensuite, but the walls dont quite meet the ceiling - there is broken glass stuck in the cement and barbed wire there instead!! its expecially lovely when some leaves blow in and join you in the shower!!  as im trying to sleep there is a rehearsal for a performance, so all day i have to listen to some woman wailing and gongs and simbols being bonged the whole time!!  anyway, after a few hours go for more boiled rice and then back to bed for the night.

checking out of the hotel this morning, but have breakkie on the balcony first.  minivan collects us about 10.45 and its off to Lombok, a neighbouring island. it takes about 1hr to get to the ferry.  driver drives like a maniac, overtaking 4 vehicles at a time. go through some beautiful countryside.  however, you do begin to see some more poverty as you drive through small communities. get to the port and have to go to office to get the ferry ticket. so i go to the loo and when i come out Emer and all the luggage is gone. ah, but wait, there is a guy on a moped telling me to hop on. so climb on and grab hold of a very skinny amn driving the moped. get dropped off at teh ferry and walk onto the ferry.  Emer is surrounded by 3 angry men who are looking for money cos they carried our luggage. so i produce Rp2,000 and they are shouting thats its not enough. them Emer produces Rp20,000 and i say they can share it between them. they are really pissed off, so I tell them no thats all they are getting so tell emer to get her back and move. so leave them shouting after us, cos they want more money - i dont htink so!  up to the passenger deck - well, its just a trat.  Im guessing that the russians donated it as scrap metal after WW1. its actually rusty - im not sure we are going to make it!! the ceiling is coming in and the lino floor is missing sections, cos its worn so much!!there is no air con or even a fan and its30 degrees. so we are stuck on nasty plastci seats with some guy behind me hocking up massive doses of phlem and spitting them on to the floor - very attractive!! and to my delight, this pleasure boat journey lasts for 6hrs!!  Im afrain to go to the loo, considering the passenger deck is so beautiful!! then the spitting guy starts to sing at us, to which this is greeted with bursts of laughter - seriously mate, what are your chances!! anyway, we finally arrive in Lombok and its lashing out of the heavens. so we have to walk to the terminal in torrential rain and find the guy who is supposed to be driving us to Sengigi. find him and by now, its too wet and dark to see out the windows - not quite sure the driver can see either!!  but I learned in SOuth America not to question maniacs who are driving me anywhere!!  get to Sengigi and check in and just go for dinner - its been a long day!  but no, a peaceful dinner is asking too much - some guy stands over us and proceeds to tell us that he has the best rates for tours in Lombok blah, blah, blah. decide its time for another drink after that! go back to the hotel and flop into bed.

1st june 2007

sleep in today. have breakkie and head to the beach. literally lie on the beach all day and read a book. its a gorgeous beach and virtually empty. there is one posh resort that backs onto the beach. but most of those people just stay by the pool. there are tons of hawkers though. they are saying things like "sexy bum, you want pearls" or " what can I do for you" etc. it tends to get on your nerves after a while. the beach has lots of small wooden fishing boats on it and a few of teh locals are out fishing in the sea. its boilding hot and successfully manage to burn my bum - so now have half lobster red, half white cheeks!! and I had factor 30 on! after a few hours head back to the hostel. there is a mosque behind it and it blasts out its wailing prayers five times a day - sounds like someone strangling a cat at full volume to me!  go for dinner, read for a while and go to bed.

2nd June 2007

another stressful day of lying on the beach!! try ignoring the irritating hawkers - I do not want pearls at a special price just for me!! beach is very quiet again. only downside is that when the tide goes out a bit, there is quite a bit of rubbish in the water. so not that pleasant when bits of litter get caught up in your feet! there really isnt much in sengigi, other than the beach, which is exactly what we wanted. return to the hotel to the wonderful wailing mosque noise!!  just go for dinner and go to sleep.

up early and have breakfast on the balcony. then wander up to the restaurant for 9am to have a traditional cooking class. meet our "chef" for the morning. he goes through all the different ingredients, especially all teh different spices that we will be using. then its off to teh market to have a look at all teh fresh ingredients. the food market is bigger than I thought, there is another level downstairs. teh smells are delicious. its packed with fruits, veg, poultry, meat, spices - you could cook up a storm in here!! the chef talks us through all the different ingredients and if they are used in traditional indonesian or balinese foods. of course they are all saying "we give cheap price just for you" - so just say we will be back later. seriously, what am I going to do with a bad of saffron in my rucksack!!  go back to teh restaurant and start cooking. so on with the apron - havent worn an apron in years!!  we get a little receipe booklet as well. the basic indgreients in most of teh dishes is a spice paste. basically a paste made from oil, ginger, tumeric, pepper, chillies etc. we make a total of 6 dishes and better still we get to eat them all !! make traditional sate using pork, then a really delicious tofu/tempe dish, then tuna steak, then a chicken curry then a scrumptous prawn one and also a vegetable stir fry. wow, they are all just devine, the flavours and spices are melt in your mouth delicious. of course, we get to help to make them. then afteer eating all that, we get desert. thenkfully its mostly fruit, so not too bad. it was really worth while - a great mornings effert.  am seriously stuffed so head back to the hotel for a nap!!  the heat just saps your energy completely. get up and go for a wander around town and hten just sit in a restaurant and have a beer and update some stuff. i decide to order something small, so i order garlic bread. well, its definately a new one for me!! its literally a toasted garlic sandwich! Im not messing, it comes with 2 slices of toasted bread stuck together with an enormous anout of garlic in the middle!!  I nibble at it, but it really is a bit much!  I could kill vampires with my breath!  relax and veg in the hotel for the evening.

30th May 2007

again have breakkie on the balcony. then walk over ot the monkey forest park.  its just down the road from the hotel and it definately lives up to its name. its a grand total of E1 to get in!  its a small forest/park with hundreds of wild monkeys just all over the place. they clearly have just had lots of babies as there are lots of tiny monkeys clinging to their mothers. they are so small, you could literally put them in the palm of your hand. so cute, but not at all cuddley. they are everywhere and get quite aggressive and growl at each other when argueing over food. some of the males are quite big.  they would scratch your eyes out. there are signs saying "dont grab a monkey" and "if a monkey goes for you, drop all your food and walk away slowly". its incredible to see, they are just jumping in the trees and wandering around in amongst teh people. its really cool to watch. you know its true love when you see them picking each others nits and eating them!!  there are two temples in the park as well. one main one is beautiful, the details are amazing.  we cant go in as our shoulders arent covered. and woman are not allowed in if they are menstruating!  there is a small pond where the smaller monkeys are cannon balling themselves into it!! its quite funny to watch - its exactly like small children would behave on a boiling hot day with a pool nearby!! on the way out there are enormous statues at the gates - their eyes are really piercing  and they are made of stone - weird! head back to the hotel for a rest as we are going to a dance performance tonight. the dance show is a combination of the traditional styles, Barong & Legong and is being performed in the Ubud Palace. get there about 7 to get a good seat. there are quite a few people here and i have to say the couples that are western man and asian woman just look really odd.  you cant help but wonder, how much do you cost for the evening!!  the palace is truely beautiful all lit up. the show starts and the story is about a couple who challenge two giants in order to live in harmony. the music is mostly gongs ans simbol type instruments being played by about 20 men.  there is one guy doing a song/narration thing, but cant understand it. the costumes are fabulous, seriously colourful. there are mixes of blues, yellows, reds, greens, oranges, golds, pinks and they just go so well together. the women are just stunning, so pteite and beautifully presented. they move so elegantly and with such grace, even the male dancers. its lasts about 1.5hrs and is just pure exceleence. wander homke and go to bed.  

sleep in and then go for a wander about. first impressions are good. nice place. lots of tiny little streets and alleyways. its definitely different. there are mopeds going in all directions!  its a chil out day, so just go for lunch ( some really good food) and then off for a full body massage and facial. Heaven, I cant wait. its so relaxing, life is good!! there are hawkers all over the streets trying to sell you all sorts of crap. then go for a pedicure, well, not quite as good as the massage. she literally uses , what im convinced is tipex and a compass to put flowers on my nails! its was an interesting pedicure, Ill say that much!

26rh May 2007

get up and go for a proper wander around town. my god, Ive died and gone to heaven - there are shops everywhere selling beads and designer handbags (knockoffs, I know!).  so wandering around and this guy comes up to us and is "promoting bali tourism with westereners" ok, so we get these free scratchcard things and guess what, I am one of the "lucky star prize winners". Emer has won a free tshirt.  I have won one of teh following AU$1,000, a camcorder, US200 or an exotic holiday - super!!  So all we have to do is to go with this strange man to his office and claim our prize! anyway, curiosity gets the better of  us and we get into the back of this jeep. Emer is sitting there mumbling that we will never be seen again! so we get to his office, but there a re a few conditions to our prozes. we need to pretend that we are a lesbain couple that have been liviong together for 3 yrs - fine!  so we get to the office and this aussie guys appears. he is really slimey and dodgy. so in order to get our prize, we need to sit through an hour of a "timeshare" presentation - brilliant!!  so he proceeds to tell us how its such a great deal, and you can go on such wonderful holidays blah, blah bullshit etc. uts easy to see how stupid people get all confused about it. so i say jokingly that im about to get out my chequebook and his eyes nearly popped out of his head! did he really think i was going to just write him a cheque for $4,500 on the spot! but it did provide us with a good laugh and a free taxi to the beach! oh, I won a free weeks exotic holiday in Bali - all i hav to do is return!  anyway, spend a few hours on teh beach. its quite nice, but there a tons of hawkers trying to sell you stuff the whole time. so peace and quite isnt really going to happen.  there are little "offerings" all  over the place - they are pretty much outside every door.  I have begun to notice that loads of shops and restuarants are playing Westlife and teh Corrs CDs - whats that about??  potter about for the evening and have dinner and head to bed.

27th May 2007

get up adn go for breakkie. its back to teh beach today. spend a few hours lying on the beach and then wander around the shops again. end up buying a erally nice bag. pick up a few other bits as well - it could be dangerous on my wallet!!  go for dinner and its more Westlife and the Corrs!! but really good food.

28th May 2007

going to Ubud today. its a small town closer to the centre of teh island. get picked up and head off. there are some beautiful temples and buildings just dotted about the place. pass some paddy fields - soem even have ducks swimming in them!!  there seems to be more tourists in ubud than kuta. i am actually quite surprised at how few westerners there are here. i guess two bombings and in teh general area of the tsunami puts a lot of people off.  get to teh hostel. its quite nice, all little bungalows set in a lovely blooming garden.  there are coconuts growing just outside our balcony.  the sink isnt plumbed into the wall, so when you wash your hands it just falls out teh bottom and makes its way across teh florr to the drain!! but at least it works and for E2 a night, who can complain!  go for a wander around Ubud. Monkey forest road is the main part of town - quite nice.  it has tons of shops, restaurants adn bars.  some gorgeous clothes and jewellery - not good for my backpackers budget!  potter up to teh market. its got everything from fruit and meat to clothes and jewellery and lots of other stuff. am resisting to go on a spending frenzy, everything is so cheap.  check out the palace next. you can wander about freely. its really beautiful. each romo seems to be a different building. teh designs and archetecture are really amazing - the details are so intricate.  there is heaps of  godl everywhere. its all built around a central courtyard. there are people playing simble type instruments in teh corner. i think they are practising for the dance performances that they do in the evenings here. go for dinner in a place where my wine cost more than my whole dinner!!  and teh wine was only E2!!

get up and have arranged to meet some of teh group for breakfast. Go to a nice cafe, but its a bit expensive for a backpacker.  end up chatting for about 2hrs. then its off to do practical jobs around town. head off to the chemist - need to stock up on Immodium before heading into Aisa!!  then to teh post office and then a wander around town. play on the internet for a while. you cant help but get a bad impression of teh Aboriginies. there are just so many of them just hanging around the street, doing nothing and drinking. I know thats a sweeping generalisation, but thats what stands out here. anyway, go for dinner and back to teh hostel  to watch some tele for the night.  there is a hall on the premises and  which seems to be used by teh aboriginies and at 7 o'clock loads of them come into teh hostel kitchen. there are about 30 kids and a few adults and a few white adults with them. they seem to be organising it all. then a massive KFC delivery appears and all teh kids get a snack box each - they a re making me hungry!!  some of the boys are playing pool and are asking for money from us to pay for it.  just head to bed shortly afterwards.

24th May 2007

up early and check out. spend most of teh day on the internet uploading my photos. it takes about 2.5hrs.  grab lunch and head back to the hostel to be picked up for the airport.  get to teh airport about 4om and there is a very dim woman on the check in desk.  she keeps asking us for our tickets, even though we have given them to her!  she has them in her hand!! but no, we must detach them from teh rest of our tickets. she clearly has issues reading them and cant figure out which ine is which.  I ask her to check us and our bags all teh way through to Bali - which seriously confuses here. she says but you are going to darwin. yes, we are going to darwin to connect with a flight top bali. eventually she gets it!!  I love Qantas security, you dont even need a boarding card to get through departures!  get to Darwin and have a few hours to kill in the dullest airport ever. time to board, and call me stupid, but as far as i was aware you go through customs when you arrive into a country, not when you leave it??? well, not in Oz. we have to go through customs on teh way out.  and they produced little plastic bags so you could put all your liquids in them and wont be allowed to keep anything over 200ml. well, this causes a bit of consternation as we and the others behind us object to this. we have all got off another Qantas flight and brought all our liquids on board with us. so we a re all saying this to the security woman. now, yes, we a re all aware of the whole liquids on airplanes issue, but when you just got off the same airlines flight, it begins to piss passengers off.  plus, they are clearly up to date with the rest of the world, who have been taking liquids off people for over 12 months now!!  end up loosing a brand new sunblock, hand sanitiser and new toothpaste.  Not a happy bunny! anyway, arrive in Bali about 11pm and queue for our visas and then get our luggage. head outside and jump in a cab to Kuta Beach.

up early and check out. head off to the airport. flying to Uluru today. flight is practically empty. i can see now why the middle of Oz is called the red centre - its pure red dessert and nothingness.  there is nothing to see out the window but red sand!  as we are coming into land, I can see Ayers rock out the window, so jump over to the right side of the plane and get some great shots of Uluru from the air.  She is just enormous. I know that sounds stupid, but I wasnt expecting her to be so big. the colours are truely spectacular - a relal deep rich burnt ochre, gorgeous.  land and disembark onthe runway. the heats hits you first and then the flys dome in for attack. the flys are everywhere. i would hate to see them in summer when it gets really hot. they are seriously annoying.  anyway, get the complimentary bus to the resort. its all resorts out here and they are really expensive. so we had to take the cheapest we could get, which was $28 each per night in a room with 20 people! great!  so we arrive and its very posh, a far cry from some of the things we have stayed in recently!!  so this sends us off in to a fit of giggles. so we are told to leave our bags outside and the porter will take them to our room fo rus. so we do and go inside to check in.  so get to teh desk and I have the booking reference in my bag. but its buried under a few bits. so I have to take the toilet roll out of my bag, and out it on the counter so i can get the paper. well, Emer is in knots laughing and the receptionist  is not impressed that I have left a loo roll on hte counter!! oh well, its a travellers best friend!!  anyway, get our dorm key and head outside. the porter says "ladies, what room are you staying in" so we say " ph, in block 1 womens dorm". and he just walks off! yes we are aware we are in the poor poeples accommodation, so I guess we will carry our own luggage!!  find the dorm, and its not too bad, nice and cool.  the resort is very expensive - sausages at teh BBQ are $17 and you have to cook them yourself! so its off to the supermarket for us.  the flys are everywhere.  get some food and head back to hostel for the night. relax and watch pirates of the carribean. manage to get bitten on my foot on the way over to the toilet block, so will see how itchy that gets over night!!

20th May 2007

check out and kill time watching tele and then head into teh "town centre" . we are being picked up at for our three day safari tour around teh area. it gets quite hot during the day, but boy does the temperature plunge at night. you definately need a few blankets. i stole another one from the bed above me. we get picked up and  and brought to meet the rest of our group. they started in Alice Springs at 6.30 this morning. first stop is to the Olgas or Kata Tjuta. they are beautiful. they are like a mountain range out in the middle of the outback. my foot is begining to swell up and i have 7 bites between my ankle and toes! they are bleeding and leaking yellow oozey stuff - so not looking too good! learn some interesting facts and secrets of teh ancient landform.  then its time for a hike through the valley of the wind.  but its quite busy, so our guide takes us to another spot instead.  its equally as beautiful, but less crowded.  it does get quite windy - i suppose there is nothing out here to protect you from the elements.  go through the different rock peaks. the colours are brilliant - the rust orange is fab.  teh views are just too hard to describe. back to the bus and its off teh Uluru for sunset. there are loads of buses here, so find a quiet spot and we all have champaigne and crackers as we watch the sunset over Ayers  Rock. wow, its absolutely stunning. watching teh colours change is just mesmorising.  teh vibrant reds/ochres/oranges are a definite visual delight - so stunning. Again, very hard to put into words, just something that you have to see at least once in you r life.  head off to ur campsite for the night. its gone very cold and we are sleeping outside in swags! should be interesting! we have a BBQ and a good laugh around the fire. teh sky is great - absolutely no clouds, so just sparkling stars and the moon above you.  we get a demo onhow the swags work - described as tight tents, which leads to hysterics of laughter. it basically a matress in a tarpauline tent/body bag thing that zips up around you.  with a few layers of clothes and all zipped up, they are surprisingly cosy. my foot is now swelling at a great rate and is like elephant skin - excellent!!

21st May 2007

up at 5am - super. my foot has gone nuts during the night and has swolen to great proportions. after we roll up our swags and have breakkie, there are two japanese girls on the tour, who are actually putting on full makeup in the toilet block!!  seriously, the rest of us rolled out of our swags, after sleeping in our clothes and will be wearing them again today and they are concerned with how pretty they look!!  better than the rest of us, i can tell you that much!  so after i look at my foot - its really bad. I have to ask the guide about it. she takes one look and says there is no way i can go on teh base walk around Uluru for sunrise. but on the up side, if it was a fatal snake bite, i would be dead by now!! Great! so apply lots of antisceptic and strap it all up. its so swollen that I cant tie my laces!  it really isnt doing much for my cankles!! soo we all pile into the bus and its off to the  Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park. the guide drops everyone off at the base walk entrance and we drive over to the sunset viewing point. the walk is about 9.5km, so we have about 2hrs before we have to go back for them.  get a nice viewing spot and end up having a good laugh about the state of my foot!  the sunset over Ayers Rock is really amazing. the changes in the colours are fantastic. its really hard to give justice to teh variety of of vibrant colours that literally glow from the rock. two of teh girls did want to climb it, but it was closed. plus, they do encourage you not to climb it as it is a sacred site. so after sunset, guide and I head off to the cultural centre for coffee. the painkillers have begun to kick in , so at least my foot isnt throbbing anymore!  back off to collect the others. we had intedned to meet them before they had finished, but as I said its amazing how fast you can move when its absolutely freezing outside!! I have two jumpers on - i know, its hard to believe it gets that cold out in the outback.  there are 4 missing from the group. but we find them further down the road. they overshot the track!! Then its back to the cultural centre to see it properly. its fascinating and gives you a deeper understanding of the land and its stories. it introduces you to the Anangu culture in its natural environment and about Tjukurpa, the traditipional law guiding Anangu and the foundation of their culture. its a really cool building, its made from local mud bricks. its shaped like two ancestral snakes that embrace in the central courtyard.  there are some beautiful handmade arts and crafts, but they are seriosuly expensive. afterwards, we head back to Uluru to do the Mala Walk.  its only 2km, so i can do this one. its just one particular section of Ayers Rock and the guide goes in toe the stories and history about teh importance of teh Mala walk. it goes to teh Mutijulu waterhole. there are different sections for men and women and they werent allowed into each others areas.  they were different areas where the women prepared the food before ceremonies.  there are some pictures drwan in to the rock - leaves and animals  etc.  head back to the bus and its a long drive to Kings Canyon. it takes about 2.5hrs, so nap for soem of it.  get to a tiny place for petrol where you can also have a camel ride. I do want to do it, but decide that the state my foot is in, it would be just my luck to get a worse infection from the camel bugs!!  back on th eroad adn our guide says that we need to stop for firewood. ok, fine. except when she stops just randomly on the side of the desserted road and say get out and collect some chunky pieces of wood, im left a bit tumped (no pun intended)!! I presumed we would be stopping at a petrol staion and buying some firewood. Clearly, I have been living in a big city far too long!!  anyway, get my first lesson in gathering firewood and we tie them to the roof of the luggage trailer and away we go for the campsite in Kings Canyon.  campsite is up a really windy, bumpy track. start making dinner and its done in massive pots which are then put into teh fire outside. its done kind of like the Maori Hangi in new zealand.  i make the Damper - its like bread but you can really put whatever you want into it. This one consist of  flour, cheese, herbs, garlic and 1 can of beer (for its yeast!!).  so wait a while for everything to cook but have a great game of charades , almost in darkness, out at the fire whiel we wait.  dinner is finally cooked, and if I dare say so myself, my damper is pretty good. and everyone eats it. so not bad! after dinner, we have marshmallows toasted over the fire. they are a little hard to get out of the packet, as they melted on the dashboard during the day!! early night, as its a 5 am start again - yipee!

22nd May 2007

up at 5am and the two japanese girls have been in the loo for ages already, and have a full face of make up on!! im still in the clothes i had on two days ago!! my teeth get washed and thats about as much effert that im putting in!  go for a hike up through kings canyon. the rock formations are just breathtaking - literally, by the sheer beauty and their size. we hike up through to the amphitheatre and the lost city and then arrive at teh lush and ancient garden of eden. its a total contrast to the rest of the place. its got a little lake/stream and some beautiful trees. its really nice. kings canyon is where the famous scene from Prescilla Queen of teh Desert was filmed. the scene where on of teh guys stands up and says "Im a cock, in a frock, on a rock". so teh guide is joking about this and i say messing that I have forgotten my tiara and feather boa. well, she produces a plastic tiara and a feather scarf thing from her day pak. so I end up posing as one of teh transvestites and reciting the line!!  thats pretty much it for all our activities so its now an incredibly long drive back to Alive Springs. stop at a place, that is literally in the middle of nowhere. have a BBQ amid thousands of flys. on the wy back we pass a herd of wild camels. they a re really coll and are just wandering about in the outback. the ladnscape is amazing. there is nothing out here and its pretty much flat as far as the eye can see. it pure red sand with trees and bushes all over the place. its so dry. i dont how anyone could live out here. its just so arid and isolated. its incredible, you drive for hours and nothing changes. then its time to have a quiz on the way back. Emer and I are the two captains. so the 2 of us are standing in the aisle of a minibus and some of teh questions a re regular music/film/general knowlegde ones, but there are also ones where teh winner is the first person to the front of the bus with certain objects.  its pure mayhem, both of us are trying to run up and down a bus collecting things to win points. we have to get flip flops, a $20 bill, a left hiking boot - its hilarious. at one point she says she wants a womans watch. Emer is busy taking hers off her wrist, meanwhile I just lunge at the guy who is keeping score and drop my arm onto his lap!! its so much fun. at one point the object in question just gets thrown up from the back of teh bus.  we also have to make a lizard from pipecleaners, with our eyes closed, just from directions from our team mates!! brilliant! anyway, time passes really quickly and we get to Alice Springs about 6ish. we have all arranged to go for dinner together later on. so meet up and I have kangaroo curry for dinner. its actually really good. its kinf of like beef ish.  have a great nite adn a goo d nights sleep is next on the agenda. 

Its another practical day, so spend most of it doing jobs like sorting emails, get my hair cut, banking, internet stuff and need to get a guide book on China. that take sup most of the day and then just veg infront of the tele for the night.

18th May 2007

head out to Freemantle for the day. catch the train, from practically in the building!!  wander around teh town centre of freemantle, its quite nice. go for lunch and decide to check out the prison (now a muweum!!).  its where a lot of the irish and british convicts were sent.  go on a proper tour of it and the guide asks where everyone is from,and shock horror, most of the group are Irish!!  move into teh room where the convicts were "processed" ie,  strip searched, showered and given a uniform!  then move out in to the courtyard. the convicts actually built the prison - a bit ironic, but that was part of their punishment!!  then head into teh actual prison itself - its quite creepy and eery.  the cells are so tiny, there is literally a hammock and a bucket and thats all that can fit.  you begin to understand why people go nuts inside.  the prison is divided into 4 sections, depending on how serious your crime was.  check out the courtyard, where the prisoners had outdoor time.  its a really small area for so many people.  there is a tennis court, but apparently when the convicts got bored with tennis, they used to play " who can get their racket onto teh roof"!!  rumour has it that they were quite good at that game!  move into the flogging area next - not pretty. then move into teh worst area - the solitary confimement cells. my god, you would seriously go insane in there. its a tiny cell, with just a bucket. teh 12 inch square window can be fully blackened out with shutters controlled by the guards and there a re double doors to completely blocj out all sounds. so you are basically in a tiny room with no noise or light at all - no wonder they want to commit suicide and kill each other! then we go to see the gallows, where they have executed 44 people through out the prisons history (43 men and 1 woman).  it has a replica of a noose, and the floor section is open to show you where they actually hung!  all very primitive and very creepy. move into the churh and its very different. its bright and ariy with hugh windows.  apparently, attendance was always very good until they moved the womens prison to another location!! it was the only place the male prisoners saw women, so when they left, attendance dropped to just a handful!!  finish up and it was a really good tour. they do a night tour where you go through the prison with candles - that would just creep me out too much!  back into city centre and relax for the day. 

get up and go for coffee and a wander around adelaide. its more like a big town thatn a city, but its quite nice. today is a practical day - go to Qantas and change some flights. need to get out of Oz asap, cant afford to stay much longer!!  then off to the oz expeirence office to book our Uluru trip for a few days. relax for the day and meet the girls for dinner. as we are heading downtown, we run into the rest of the girls from the trip, so all 9 of us end up going for dinner togethre. have a great evening. its one of the girls birthday, so we all embarrass her by singing in front of everyone. we all get free pancakes - excellent!!

16th May 2007

Up early and check out. then head straight out to the airport. flying to perth today. flight is about 2.5hrs.  arrive in perth about 6.30 and get shuttle bus to hostel. its was an old St Johns Ambulance building. its only drawback is that is that it backs on to the train station, but thanks to the joys of earplugs, it doesnt bother me to much.