Still alive and kicking!

OK, so I'm *ahem* a tad bit behind the blog at this point... And way behind in my emails as well. I've traveled through 4 other countries since the last post and I'm in a whole new continent, with just 10 days left before I head back to Montreal!!!

I'm currently in Turkey with Johanne, enjoying a 3-week holiday with my sister. I'm honestly trying to make the most of the time that's left, so the blog will just have to wait a little bit longer... In the meantime, you can check out Johanne's blog at johannel.blogspot.com. She's been a bit better than me with the updates.

More later!

Safari part 3 - Chobe and Victoria Falls (woohoo!!!)

Last but by no means least on the safari agenda was the final trip through Botswana to the mighty Victoria Falls in Zambia. Before starting the final leg of our trip, our tiny group of 3 was joined by 7 more people. The new group was an excellent one, one of the best of my trip so far. 1 American, 1 French, 3 Irish and 2 Spanish, added to our Danish and Canadian trio, made for an interesting mix! Never a boring moment!

We made our way through Botswana and headed for a final game drive in Chobe National Park, way up in the north. Chobe was gorgeous, filled with amazing scenery and TONS of elephants! It was a quick stop, only a few hours or so, but I loved it and would recommend it for sure. The scenery was prettier than Kruger, with views of the Zambezi river and animals wading on its shores. But the 'main event' of this safari was the trip to Victoria Falls, and it certainly didn't disappoint!

Besides the actual falls, Livingstone is all about adventure activities. Bungee jumping, canyon swings, white-water rafting, you name it, they do it here. Since bungee jumping is something I now felt I had to do (as you certainly know if you've read the blog up until now), this is were it was finally going to happen. So I've got to admit that while I was thrilled with seeing the actual Victoria Falls (the widest falls in the world, at more than 1700 meters wide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls), I was a tiny bit distracted by the events planned for the next day...

We had 2 full days in Livingstone to do with as we pleased, and activities galore to fill the hours, so I decided to make the most of it. When I heard that it was possible to do a sky dive in Livingstone, I jumped at the chance. Unlike the bungee, this was something I'd wanted to try for a long time (even prior to my trip) but was too scared to do anything about it. Since I was in a courageous mood, I decided now was the time and I'd go for it! Added bonus, the Irish lads and Susannah were doing it as well, so I wouldn't be going through it alone.

Same deal with white-water rafting. Although it's a popular activity back at home, I'd never tried it (the thought of getting into a wetsuit on a freezing cold river in Quebec or Ontario, yuck!) and thought what the hell, may as well go for it now that I'm here.

First up, the sky dive. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to adequately put into words how absolutely fantastic it was, but I'll try! I can sum it up by saying it was Fucking class!!! (thanks to the Irish guys for the nice language...) I was feeling a little bit nauseous all that morning (OK, a lot actually), but was very determined about going through with it. I'd alternate between being so excited I couldn't stand it, to being so petrified and thinking 'what the hell am I doing?'. This was definitely a big deal for me, more than just a sky dive. It was proving to myself that even if I'm not in the best shape nor as young as I'd like, I CAN push myself beyond my limits and fears. Bearing all this in mind, it didn't start out so well for me...

We met the sky dive guy at 1PM at our camp. The guy meets us, goes away for a few minutes, then comes back and pulls me aside. A bit of hemming and hawing and he cuts to the chase. He's concerned I'm too fat/unfit for the jump and do I really want to do this? Now, being who I am, this came as quite a blow. I spend so much time doubting myself because of this same reason and it took a lot to convince myself that I could do this, and now this guy is telling me I shouldn't??? I'd already asked if there was a weight limit for the jump and was told no. The guy said there is actually, but when he said what it was, it was OK, it was more than what I weigh now. He looked like he didn't believe me and said he'd have to weigh me at the airport just to be sure (as if I'd lie to the guy who'd literally hold my life in his hands!!!). Then he says it's not just about the weight, but I have to be fit enough to lift my legs high when landing, or else I could break my ankles. Lift my legs? I mean, I'd never sky dived before, but it seemed to me that I'd be able to lift my bloody legs. It's all well and good for ME to doubt myself, as I do again and again, but for someone else to do it? Piss off. I told him that yes, I was confident I could lift my legs, but he was the expert and if he thought I was to heavy to jump out of a plane, I'd respect his decision. He said he'd weigh me at the airport and we'll see from there, but he wanted to give me a chance to back down now so as to not be embarassed in front of my friends. Thanks but no thanks, I'm going (as if it wouldn't have been embarassing to turn back then anyways). And besided, I'm mostly beyond being embarassed about my size at this point. I am who I am.

So, not the greatest start to this adventure. All the way to the airport and then to the airfield, I'm pissed off and stressed all at once. The others are excited about the jump, but I'm not even sure yet that I'll be able to do it, until I get weighed. We filled in all the paperwork, signing our lives away, and then he starts getting the first guys ready for the jump. At this point, I'm a bunch of nerves and just want to know if I'm going to jump or not, so I ask him when I'll be weighed on the damn scale. He then says: 'Oh, never mind. I believe you, you probably look heavier because you're so short. You'll be fine.' Charming man, isn't he? ;-) He could work on his social skills a bit, but luckily, I'd be paired up with another fellow. You see, this guy is fat himself, and weighs more than I do, so I'll be paired up with the lighter guy. Happy days!

Now, all done with the negative stuff, I'm back to just being SOOOO EXCITED about the jump! Don and Ruairi are up first and it was fun to watch them be so cool and scared all at once. The whole thing took probably around 30 minutes or so, so it was a tortuous 30 minutes for me, waiting to go next... Their jumps went very well, the both had excellent landings and the hugest smiles on their faces when they landed. I couldn't wait! Up next was Rob and myself. Gulp. My instructor was great, very friendly, upbeat and encouraging. He hooked me up into my harness and we went through a run-through of the jump. Even from the ground, I was absolutely petrified when I had to practice geeting out of the plane onto the wheel shaft, to get into position for the jump. Crazy! Why was I doing this? Is this supposed to be fun? Arghhh!

And then it was the real thing! Up in the plane, we started off nice and easily with a fly over Victoria Falls. The views from up there were breathtaking. From way up above, I could now see what made Victoria Falls so special. Higher and higher we flew, until we were at 8000 ft (2400 meters or so). Rob was sitting by the 'door' of the plane and would be the first to jump. One look at his face and I was backed to being scared shitless. But once you get starting, there is no turning back. The instructor was very good, talking me through every step. At the critical point, when I had to STEP OUT OF THE AIRPLANE ONTO THE WHEEL SHAFT AT 8000 FEET (!!!), my mind was screaming 'NO! NO! NO!' but my body was actually doing it. I tell you, just writing about it now has got me shaking. It was by far the scariest thing ever. And then, we did it, we just jumped and started the 20 second freefall. The first few seconds had me screaming madly with my eyes closed, but then I realised I wanted to see this and continued screaming my head off, but with my eyes opened ;-) It was absolutely fantastic. Amazing. The best.

The whole jump took about 5 minutes, but the adrenaline lasted hours more (I swear I can still feel it today, more than a month after the jump!). Once the freefall was over, my instructor started in right away with strap adjusting, arm pulling (he had to pull my hands free as I didn't want to let go of my harness straps) and practising lifting my legs. Before I knew it, I was on the ground after a 'perfect' butt landing. No standing up landing for me, but who cares? I made it and my ankles were perfectly fine. I couldn't ask for better!

To say I was happy and excited after the jump would be an understatement. I was on top of the world and felt strong and courageous. I could do anything! Or so I thought...

The next day was the white-water rafting. After the high of the sky dive, I was a bit tired but ready for it nonetheless. Once again, a bit of a rough start to the day, with the first part being a walk down the canyon to where the rafts were. Easy enough you'd think, but it was a hell of a walk down. A slippery sand slop with a rickety branch ladder-type thing to help you down. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time I got to the bottom of the canyon. I don't recall ever sweating so much going DOWN a hill, so you can imagine it was a bit of a workout. Plus, I passed at least 2 people who got injured on the way down, plus witnessed countless of slips and spills than scared the crap out of me. Huh. Here we go again.

Our group of 8 (the Irish lads, Susannah & Anders, another Irish guy, the instructor and myself) parked ourselves into the raft and started practising our rafting skills. I was sitting at the back, next to the instructor. From the look our instructor was giving us, I don't think we were naturals, but we sort of got the hang of it after a while. We were finally ready for the real thing. We had 15 rapids to go through that day, one of the last days of the season where you could raft down only part of the river. Thank God for small favors, cause had it been the full 25 rapids, I don't know if I would have made it...

The first rapid was fine, a bit of fun jostling, nothing major. The next rapids on our list were called the Three Sisters, which should have been a good sign, my own three sisters being my favorite people in the world. Unfortunately, they weren't much help to me that day ;-) Our instructor warned us that a lot of boats flip at this section, so just follow his instructions and hold on for dear life if he yells 'Get down'. Not 5 seconds into the rapid it seems and he's already yelling 'Get down', so that's what I did. What followed was (un)fortunately captured on both video and pictures, so still have it fresh in my memory. The boat tilted, tilted and tilted some more, until I finally slipped right out of the boat into the rapid. Luckily, I was serious about holding on for dear life, so I was still holding on to the 'Oh shit!' roap attached to the raft. I thought we'd all flipped, but no, it was just little ole lucky me. The instructor grabbed my lifejacket to pull me up into the raft, but not before I was dunked 3 more times by the churning waters in the rapid. Lucky for me there wasn't a 4th time, cause I was done. By the time the 3rd dunking came along, I felt like I was drowning. I'd never been terribly afraid of water up until then, thinking I could swim or float myself out of anything. I suddenly realised you can't float yourself out of a rapid, and didn't like the feeling so much. Finally, I was back on the raft, a little bit the worse for the wear, but happy to be alive :-)

Our raft turned into a rescue boat in that same section of river, since a few boats actually flipped and people were floating/swimming/drowning down the rapids. We (i.e. everyone but me) picked up another girl along the way, who looked like she was in shock. She was fine, but looked about as scared and shook up as I felt. Good times for all.

Since the 'Three Sisters' rapids were to be quickly followed by 'The Mother', I spent the next few minutes absolutely petrified, waiting for the next beating. Little did I know that we'd passed 'The Mother' while on our rescue mission, so in theory, the worst was over with. In practice, even the 'freebies', the white-water sections too small to be considered rapids, were trouble enough for me. Now, I don't know if it was my placement at the back of the boat or my not-so-low center of gravity, but my butt seemed to be stuck on an auto-eject setting that day. The minute we'd hit white-water of any kind, I would either quite ungracefully fall INTO the boat or head straight for the river OUTSIDE the boat. Luckily, I was sitting next to the instructor who noticed my unfortunate auto-eject predicament and he kept grabbing me just before I hit the water. He saved me no less than 3 other times that day, for which I will forever be grateful. I had no interest of going back into the water, ever again.

Did I like the white-water rafting experience? Hum, not so much. Am I happy I did it? Of course, another 'check' in the list of things to do in my life :-) But can I just say that I was completely exhausted, shattered, pooped at the end of those 2 days??? You'll understand if my date with destiny and the oft-talked about bungee jump would have to wait for another day, if ever. I am quite happy with the sky dive I did and I think I proved to myself want I wanted to. I now just needed to take a little nap after all this adventure :-)

Safari part 2 - Okavango Delta

It was now time to part ways with my first group and say goodbye to South Africa. I was a bit nervous about this part of the trip, cause someone from the safari company had mentioned that I may be alone with a guide for this part. Being by myself with a guide for the better part of a week would not be my idea of a good time, so I was greatly relieved when I met Susannah and Anders, a Danish couple who were doing the same trip through Botswana to Victoria Falls.

I was picked up at 6:15AM in a small 4-door car that would be our transportation for the next week or so. A bit suprising, since this was not my idea of a rough and tumble safari vehicle, but then again, this is Africa. Expect anything. The first couple of days were very quiet and entailed a lot (A LOT) of driving. Our guide David had said we'd be on the road for no less than 10 hours on the first day, and he wasn't wrong. Even if everything went smoothly at the border crossing into Botswana and the only traffic on the roads were animals of all sorts, we still managed to take close to 13 hours for the first leg of our trip. David, a very sweet man and good guide as well, has a method to his madness that only he understands. Let's just say our pit stops and shopping breaks were far from efficient and the concept of a 'critical path' was a foreign one. (Slap slap, listen to me going on about efficiency and critical paths. Have I not been traveling long enough?)

The first day ended with the 2nd vehicle accident of my trip (1st=bus in China), when our car hit a horse as it was crossing the road after sunset. So many animals were using the road as their own personal playground, it was just a matter of time before we hit something. Thankfully we were fine and the car was only slighly damaged, but who knows what happened to the horse, since we never stopped to check on it. It's just not done in this part of the world. Susannah mentioned that this was the 3rd time they'd been involved in an accident of the first days of their vacations. Good luck charms they were not! ;-)

The next day was more of the same, with more driving through the flat sandy landscape of Botswana. The scenery was pretty enough, but it honestly gets wearing hour after hour. By the time we got near our campsite for the day, I was almost at the 'Are we almost there?' stage but barely managed to keep it in check. And when our Toyota Corolla type 'safari' vehicle got caught in the sand in the 'driveway' to the campsite, I almost lost it. My newfound zen-like patience left me, big time. (PMS might have had something to do with it, but seriously, I was about ready to punch someone).

All this driving was to get us close to the real fun, the 2-day bush camping safari in the Okavango Delta. This would be 'extreme' camping for me, with no running water, no electricity, no toilets, ... Just getting there was half the adventure, with a 2-hour drive in an open truck, half of it 'off-road' on the sand and over waterways, followed by another 2-hour or so ride in a mokoro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoro). The mokoro ride was amazingly beautiful. A poler stood at the back of the canoe and pushed us around the shallow waterways filled with reeds, water lillies, birds, butterflies, ... I don't think I've ever felt so far away from home than after that journey into the middle of the Delta.

Once at our camp (basically a shady area amongst the trees by the water), we set up our tents, had lunch and rested before our first afternoon gamewalk. It started off in an interesting way, with us witnessing a baboon murder/manslaughter. A younger male baboon was chasing an older male around the trees next to our camps, and the older one eventually ended up way high up in a tree, waiting the young guy out. The young one left and the older one decided to make a move, only to end up falling out of the tree from very high up above. Our guide walked us close to the baboon, who just managed to limp away and hide under some bushes. He was still there the next morning but wasn't in good shape. He wouldn't last more than a few days for sure. All this was witnessed with the greatest enjoyment by our guide, who laughed so hard at the baboon falling out of the tree I thought he'd pee himself. Obviously humour is subjective, but none of the rest of us thought it was funny. Go figure.

As usual, I was a bit worried at how I'd manage the game walks accompanied by much fitter people than I. I shouldn't have worried about the pace of the walk, you can't really race around when you're looking for animals (unless you're running away from them, I guess). I still managed to get blisters though, which hadn't happened in ages. All this because my feet were so dirty (seriously, who needs showers?) and got overheated wearing running shoes walking around in the sand. I wasn't too pleased, since we had another 4-hour walk planned the next day, but I'd survive. The walk was cool, with some zebra, giraffe and hippo sightings. It's definitely a different feeling to see the animals away from the comfort of a safari truck, with nothing between you and them but a bit of space. Cool.

The next morning's walk was a bit more of a struggle, my blisters becoming bigger by the minute. Walking was OK, but the minute we'd stop I'd feel the pain shoot up. And starting again was hell, I'd have to grit my teeth to get through the first 100 paces (trust me, I counted every step). In between my mentally cursing my stupid feet, I saw some more amazing animals, with giraffes and elephants again being the highlight for me. No lions or leopards, but honestly, who wants to come across these when you're WALKING. Not me, that's for sure.

The walks were much like the game drives, with lots of time to yourself to daydream and relax. At one point, I was so involved in my imaginary tale of being chased be an elephant, being pushed down by people running away screaming from the beast, that I almost stopped walking altogether. I 'came to' and started walking again, only to start mentally writting out my last will and testament, in case my daydream turned real. For the record, the gist of my will is that I love you all and if this is my time to go, well, what a way to do it! You'll have to trust me when I say it wasn't as morbid as it sounds...

That afternoon, we went on a sunset mokoro trip to a hippo pool nearby. It was extremely cool to watch hippos pop up and down in the water every few minutes. Hippos are supposedly the most dangerous animals in Africa, killing more humans than any other animal. During our game walks in St. Lucia, we were constantly reminded to always keep a barrier of some sort between us and the hippos, being a trench, trees or a very good distance. This time, not so many warnings and our polers brought us close to the hippos in the water. It was thrilling, maybe a bit too thrilling...

I was calmly sitting in my mokoro while my poler was edging us closer to a group of hippos, all to get a better view of them. All of a sudden, the mokoro starts wobbling and moving around like crazy as we flip directions and head for the shore. Now this a tiny bit unnerving cause it felt like we were going to tip (mokoros don't feel all that stable in the first place), so I turn around to look at my poler and ask him what the hell was going on. He was laughing, so I assumed it was just a bit of fun on his part (must be fun to scare the tourists every once in a while), but then I saw Susannah looking at me all worried. She asked me if I was OK, and was I shaking as much as she was? It turns out that a hippo charged my mokoro and I didn't even see it! We came too close and it decided to show us who's boss, but I guess it was all a bit beyond me. My closest call with Africa's most dangerous animal, and I missed it!!!

There was more hippo action that night, while I was lying in my tent trying to go to sleep. I kept hearing some chomping and splashing very nearby, just on the shore next to our tents. I heard the guys outside saying that it was a hippo, but being the closest tent to the shore and already having had one close call that day, I decided to stay put in my tent and wait the hippo out. I fell asleep shortly and awoke the next day alive and well, so it all turned out great in the end :-)

The Okavango Delta was an overall amazing experience, the closest I've felt to nature and being 'in the wild'. Living up close with elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos, ... is probably not something I'm going to get to do that often in my lifetime, so I won't soon forget it.

Little baby steps

So, I've just managed to post 2 items about the first part of my safari that happened one month ago. The other parts will eventually follow, hopefully before I get back home in October :-) By the way, I've completely given up on even trying to upload pictures, it's just too slow and frustrating. You'll have to wait until I get home to see all my pictures starting from China all the way through Africa.

I'm now heading to my final destination in Africa: Egypt! I'm flying into Cairo today and will spend the next 3 weeks visiting Egypt and maybe Jordan before meeting Johanne in Turkey for the last month of my trip. I'm enjoying my last few weeks to the fullest, but am now really starting to look forward to coming home and seeing all my friends and family. I can't wait!!!

Again, read the posts in the opposite order if you want to get the right sequence. Bye for now.

Safari part 1 - Kruger National Park

The 2-week safari I'd booked was in actual fact a combination of 3 different tours. A sort of 'a la carte' safari that meant I wouldn't be with the same group over the next 2 weeks. The first group was on the smallish side, with just Phil the Aussie, Monia the Italian and myself. We started off a bit weary after our late night expedition, but there was a lot of driving involved in the first day, so plenty of time to rest in the van...

The weather was crappy, so much so that we skipped out on viewing "God's window", since visibility wasn't good enough to see it. Since I've no idea what "God's window" is, I've no idea if I should have been disappointed or not. We did stop along the way at Blyde River Canyon, which had pretty amazing scenery, so I was happy.

After a longer than expected (expected by me, anyways) drive, we finally arrived at the tribal village that would be our stop for the night. As I got out of the van, I was hoping that the bored looking people dressed in skimpy tribal outfits weren't there to great us, but no such luck. They were. I was horrified when these very bored looking people started singing to our tiny little group as we approached the entrance. No eye-contact, no smiling, just some unenthusiastic singing on their part. How awkward.

Things didn't immediately get better as we were shown around the village by a young man claiming to be the tribe leader's grandchild. He explained to us some of the tribe's traditions and how they lived. He brought us around the different buildings and would occasionally call upon a tired and put-out looking woman to show us some of the daily chores like the grinding of maize or making grass mats. Oouf. I'd seen enough of this 'in real life' to feel how fake this was. I know I sound like I'm complaining, but I've been brought on tours to see 'traditional village life' enough times to last me a lifetime on this trip. Definitely not my favorite.

Things did get a bit better after dinner, when the village boys were called around the bonfire to dance for us. The reason it was better was because the boys finally looked like they were having fun, and weren't so much dancing for us as they were for themselves. We later found out they hadn't danced together for a while, so they really were having genuine fun. Of course, all 3 of us had to join in and dance a little, which was fine, but things got dicey when we were asked to sign a song from our country. Phil started us off with the Aussie classic 'Waltzing Mathilda', but was soon thrown off by the fact that the boys knew the words to the song. Pretty funny. I of course couldn't think of a single Canadian song I could sing and I certainly wasn't about to start belting out a Celine tune, was I? I decided to go with 'Frere Jacques', which yes, I know is not Canadian per se, so sue me. At least I knew it would be a laugh to hear the boys sing the same tune in their own language, cause of course 'Frere Jacques' is translated in every language known to man. I wasn't disappointed.

By 8 o'clock that night, every single person in the village was in bed except our tiny little group of 3. I managed to stretch the evening out until 10PM (woohoo) by chatting and staring at the slowly diminishing camp fire, before going to sleep in my mummy sleeping bag on what would be the first of many early nights of camping.

We woke up bright and early (or should I say dark and early) the next morning to head out to Kruger for our very first game drive. I'd slept well enough, if a bit uncomfortable in my mummy sleeping bag, not realising that you weren't supposed to try to turn around IN the sleeping bag but WITH it. Lesson learned. There was also evidence of a creature (most probably a rat) having visited us during the night, since Phil's cough drops were no longer in his pocket but now lay near my sleeping bag in a tattered chewed up mess. Lovely.

Once at Kruger, we met 3 more people who'd started their safari the day before, so our group was now doubled from 3 to 6. One of the girls warned us that it might be *ahem* a tad cold on the truck, so be prepared. Understatement of the year. Have you ever been sitting on an open vehicle going 50 km/h when it was 5C outside? It may not sound like much, but remember, this is Africa, not Canada, where I would be appropriately dressed. I was wearing all of my layers plus the new fleece I'd bought (thank god), a scarf and wrapped in 2 blankets and still I froze. I spent the morning alternating between states of frozen misery and absolute wonderment at what I saw.

Setting aside the weather for a minute (did I mention it also rained a little? While sitting on an open truck?), it was pretty freaking cool to be there on a safari in South Africa's biggest game reserve. Between the time we left at around 6:30 AM and breakfast a few hours later, I saw: guinea fowls, water bucks, hyenas, impalas, giraffes (yay!), buffalo's, zebras, elephants (yay again!) and vultures. A bit later on in the day, and you can add to that list hippos, crocs, kudzu, bush bucks, a white rhino (sort of. even with binoculars, it was only a black spot on the horizon), warthogs, a wild cat and a baby zebra less than a few hours old.

After the first full day of game drives on safari, I've discovered that it's much like I imagine fishing to be. You sit around waiting and doing nothing much for many hours and have brief moments of excitement along the way. OK, the major difference between fishing and a game drive is that there aren't any beers on the truck, those only come after.

The moments of excitement for that day: watching a herd of elephants cross the road in front of our truck, seeing tons of giraffes, graceful yet geeky all at once, and seeing vultures pick off the rest of a lions meal. And the quiet moments were very 'zen' like for me. Very relaxing and peaceful, with lots of time for thinking and just taking it all in. If I could have recorded my thoughts during those quiet hours, my blog would now be a 500-page novel.

Another evening spent by the campfire before settling into our freezing tents for the night. I slept fully clothes, with jeans and all of my layers, but stupidly used the blanket provided to me as a pillow. I really can be dumb sometimes. :-(

The next few days were very much similar, but in a very good way. We were on a hunt for lions and leopards, and were halfway successful. We saw a lion walking around, looking for prey to stalk, and later saw 3 lions resting after having gorged themselves on a poor unsuspecting zebra. Lots more animal watching (love those giraffe and elephants!), taking pictures and daydreaming the rest of the time. The camping was comfortable, regardless of the weather, and the food was very good considering this was a budget safari.

Safari prep

When I first 'planned' (I use the term very loosely) the Africa part of my journey with Melissa, we'd decided on doing at least 1 safari, if not 2, during our 2 trip. The first one that caught my eye was a safari that went from South Africa, in Kruger National Park, all the way to Zambia at Victoria Falls. By the time I got my act together and tried to book the safari, the 7-day trip was not an option, so I threw all budget thoughts out the window and booked the 14-day trip instead. It was basically the same trip, with the added bonus of going to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Sounded good to me.

My safari would begin on the Saturday from Nelspruit, South Africa. I arrived there from Swaziland on Thursday morning and was set up in an empty dorm room in a quiet looking hostel. I went shopping that afternoon for some last minute safari stuff (ex: sunglasses-mine are broken, extra batteries for my camera-too cheap to buy an adapter for my charger so they hadn't been charged in a while, baby/face wipes-invaluable when you can't shower on a regular basis). I came back later that day to a now busier dorm and met up with 2 Dutch sisters I'd already met in St. Lucia, an Aussie guy who just happened to be booked on the same Kruger safari as me, and a slightly annoying American man who kept asking pushy questions about politics.

More 'chores' the next day, including a 5-hour blog updating marathon and some more last minute shopping. I initially went shopping with the intention of buying a few summer type items like shorts and a t-shirt or 2 (mine are now too big-yay! and very decrepit-boo!), but was quickly brought back to reality once I got to the stores. Ever try buying summer clothes in winter in Canada? Well, the same thing applies in South Africa, even if winter here isn't as harsh. Tuques (woolly hats for the non-Canadians out there), winter jackets, gloves, fleeces, all these were easy to find. It's amazing that they sell basically the same winter clothes in South Africa than in Canada, minus the winter boots and the jackets don't look so much like the Michelin man over here.

The winter days in South Africa have been pretty amazing, with sunny daytime temperatures ranging from 15-25 C. The nights, as I believe I've mentioned before (and most probably will mention many many times again), are freaking cold. Nothing compared to our winter you might say, but I still manage to freeze my ass off cause I insist on wearing flip-flops and still only have my disgusting grey-now-turning-slightly-pink hoodie with me. I FINALLY caved on that final day before my safari and bought myself a fleece. I was all set for camping!

That night, a small group of us from the hostel decided to go out to see what Nelspruit's nightlife had to offer. We were guided on our expedition by JP, the guy working at the backpackers that night. It ended up being a very surreal experience and felt like the wildlife-viewing part of the safari had started early...

The first stop was at the Irish pub down the street. Standard fare, quiet crowd, not an Irish person in sight ;-) We then went off to a place called 'The Barn', but not before JP gave us stern warnings to 'stick with him' and try not to attract too much attention. I took all of this in with a grain of salt, another seemingly paranoid warning from local maybe? But once we got there, it was a sight to behold: The place literally looks like a barn and upon entering, we were greeted by the sight of 20 or so Afrikaans couples (white South Africans) dancing together 'cowboy style' to a Bryan Adams song. Talk about surreal. I felt like I'd been transported right into a barn dance in America's Bible-belt, or how I'd imagine it to be, since I've never been there (nor do I have plans on going any time soon).

From the warnings that JP had given us, I wouldn't have been surprised if someone from our group got their asses kicked before the night was over. One of the joys of traveling on your own is meeting different people, and this night was no exception. These people were 'different'. There was an over-the-top Frenchman who'd spent so many months mute because he doesn't speak English very well that I think he was now a bit 'loco', if you know what I mean (we hadn't even gotten into the supposedly 'dangerous' club and he was already mooning people in the parking lot). Then there was the very flamboyantly gay American who was dancing like a madman amongst the Afrikaans cowboys and his very blond and bubbly English med student friend. Rounding out our group was the Aussie, who appeared fairly normal ;-) Luckily, no one got their asses handed to them that night, but we did pick up a stray along the way. JP overheard some guys talking about beating the crap out of some guy who was a 'Fall Out Boy' lookalike, so he grabbed the guy and lead us back to 'safety'. I still don't know if it was real or paranoia on JP's part (he himself was a bit bizarre if you ask me), but it was an interesting start to my 'safari' time for sure.

Quick update

Hi all,

Just to let you know that yes, I'm still alive, and am enjoying myself in Africa. Since I last posted, I've been through Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and am now in Tanzania. I have a ton of updates to the blog to do, but Internet has up until now been frustratingly expensive (in Zambia), unavailable (Botswana) or too slow (Malawi).

I'll try to update you soon! I hope you're enjoying the last month of summer back at home, even if it's been crappy I hear...

Bye for now

Safari time!!!

Listen up friends and family! I've just made a monumental effort and posted 3 different items about my time in South Africa so far. Make sure you read them in order...

I'm still not quite up-to-date, I still have the last week or so to blog about. I'm off tomorrow morning on a 2-week safari that takes me into South Africa's Kruger National Park (cross my fingers that I'll see lions, leopards and giraffes), Botswana's Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park and finally Victoria Falls, on the Zambia side. It should be very cool, so hopefully I'll have some amazing pictures to show you some day...

In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful summer days in Montreal, or wherever in the World you are!

Vacation time!!!

While in Storms River, Mairead raved about a place called Port St. Johns, a place she'd gone to 3 times already and spent 11 weeks earlier this year. Since my time was my own and I had no plans per se, I decided to join her there in time for her favorite backpackers' 3rd year anniversary. We booked ourselves onto the Baz Bus (a hop-on, hop-off backpacker bus), as all the other 'normal' buses were sold out and wouldn't allow us to get to Port St. Johns in time for the party. We had a 1 night pit-stop in Port Elizabeth (uneventful) and rode the bus the next day to get to PSJ.

This place is fairly remote, 1.5 hours away from the largest town in the area called Mthatha. It's in a region called the Transkei, which interestingly enough is the birthplace of Nelson Mandela and was its own country during the apartheid era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transkei). Just the journey to PSJ was amazing to me and somehow felt like the 'Africa' I'd imagined before I arrived in South Africa. Mairead and I took a minibus taxi/shuttle from Mthatha, and while we were the only 2 passengers to start off with, we kept picking-up and dropping off people along the way. Very Asia-like, all packed in the minibus, but with the major difference of having dark faces and beautiful smiles. I loved it already!

Once in PSJ at the Jungle Monkey, I was horrified to learn that it was a 'dress' party for Friday the 13th that night ('dress' party meaning costume party for us North Americans). Yuck. At best of times, with all sorts of stuff at my disposal to dress up, I would find a way to get out of a costume party. But with just a backpack full of ratty clothes I've been wearing since October? Like I said, Yuck. But I was here to have fun if it killed me, so I made an effort. Mairead knew a lot of people there already from her previous stays, and I met one of the managers/owners daughter within minutes of our arrival. A very lovely girl, Angelea organised both Mairead and I's 'costumes' and did my hair and make-up. Mine was to be the 'morning after' look, wearing pyjamas, smudged make-up and freaky hair.

I have to say, it's a good thing I was there with a friend, cause had I been on my own, I'd have probably hid in my room for the night. It was a crazy party, with literally hundreds of people around, mostly all drunk. Plus, there was a bit of drama as some guy was caught stealing from tents and the dorm, and as per the South African way, the guys who caught him were trying to bash his head in... My stay in PSJ was off to an exciting start, that's for sure.

I obviously wasn't scared off too much, since I did end up spending a total of 3 weeks there, more than any other place on my trip so far. What did I do while there, you ask? Nothing much, I say. It was a weird time of sleeping until noon, lazing around in the afternoons, having dinner and then dancing/drinking/chatting at the bar all night. Literally all night, as I'd go to bed anywhere from 2AM to 8AM most days, with an exceptionally late/early day of going to bed at 2PM in the afternoon!

It wasn't all drunken debauchery though, I did get in some of the most amazing scenery while in the area. The Jungle Monkey crew would every once in a while bring people around to see some of the area, with a barge trip down the river, trips to a nearby airstrip up top a mountain that overlooks the whole area, trips to the beach, mini-hikes to a blowhole and trips to a shebeen (informal bar in the 'townships' of South Africa). It really is a beautiful place, and regardless of the drama of my first night there, I always felt safe.

Another trip I took while there was an overnighter to a traditional Xhosa village. The initial draw was to see the mighty Magwa Falls, a beautiful waterfall that would be overflowing after the couple of days of rain we'd just had. Because of my night owl schedule, it was a very hard thing for me to get up at 7 AM to meet the group to leave for Magwa Falls, but boy am I glad I did. We bought food at the supermarket, used minibus taxis to get to the village and started wandering around. Louie, the guy who organises these trips, is actually building his own traditional house in the village, so it didn't feel as much like an intrusion as in some villages I'd been to before. The waterfall was spectacular (you'll see eventually when I post photos), but the highlight was visiting the children at school, having them sing and dance for us, then having a traditional meal of pap and veg by the fire. More kids came by the fire that night to sing and dance some more. Amazing. The Xhosa people are very friendly, if a bit shy, and have THE most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. I felt energised by the trip, that's for sure.

After 2 weeks of 'relaxing' in PSJ, I was slowly getting ready to move on. Because there was no Internet at the Jungle Monkey, I'd been out of touch for awhile and only found out a week and a half into my stay that Visa had been trying to reach me about some fraudulent transactions on my credit card. Long story short, my credit card was somehow cloned and had about 10 ooo$ worth of transactions on it for the past 2 weeks. Visa was great in that all the transactions were cancelled, but I still had to wait to receive a new credit card. Because I was in such a remote area, it started out that I'd have it in 3-4 business days, then 5, then finally 6. This is basically the reason I ended up staying a 3rd week at the Jungle Monkey, but honestly, it wasn't a chore...

Adventureland continued...

After our 2 days in Hermanus, Melissa and I then stopped in very quiet little towns along the Garden Route, the first called Swellendam and the other called Knysna. Beautiful places, both of them, but very very quiet. We were 2 of 6 guests at the backpackers in Swellendam and the only 2 guest at the one in Knysna. The highlights of my time there: a nice hike to a dried up waterfall in the forest near Swellendam and a cruise around the harbour in Knysna. Knysna is also where Melissa and I parted ways. She desperately wanted to go back to Hermanus (her story to tell, not mine), so we went our separate ways after 10 days of travelling together. I was back to my solo-traveling ways.

I went off to Storms River, home of the world's highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters. The only reason for me stopping there was to watch the bungee jump, not do it. As I've said before, it's just not my thing. It so happened that a Canadian girl arrived the following morning to do the jump, so I was joined by Mairead, a lovely Irish girl I'd previously met on the bus to/from Hermanus, to watch her jump. We payed an extra 50 rand (approx. 7$) to walk under the bridge and watch from the platform. Now honestly, the walk to the platform was scary enough for me, as it's done on a wobbly grill and you can see straight down to the valley/river below. I made it to the jump site without looking down once. Once there, it was thrilling to see how the jumpers reacted before and after their jumps. Lots of adrenaline, for sure.

While there, the bungee crew were working hard on getting Mairead and I (i.e. the watchers) to do the jump. Actually, they didn't waste a lot of time on me, since I looked very determined that I wouldn't be jumping. But Mairead was wavering between doing it and not. Long story short (actually, a very loooong story ;-) ), she decided to do it, then spent about 20 minutes on the edge of the platform trying to jump, while constantly being reassured by the excellent crew that she could do it. She finally gave up and we walked off the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, we met 2 English lads who had bet on her jumping or not. Nicely enough, both guys, including the one who had bet against her jumping, convinced Mairead to join them and try again. So back under the bridge we went, and this time she jumped (helpfully shoved by the crew) without hesitation. It was amazing to see her overcome her fears.

The next day, I went on my own version of an adventure activity, a zip line tour above a waterfall in the Tsitsikamma National Park. There are 8 zip lines to cross in all, and the first couple of them were a bit scary, getting the hang of it and feeling confident that the damn things will be able to hold me up :-) But all in all, it was a fun thing to do, but not very adrenaline-inducing. The scenery was nice, what I actually got to see of it. You see, the guide would tell us for some of the zip lines where we should start braking. For example, start braking when you get to that big tree over there. So what would I do? Just focus on the tree and nothing else. Didn't see much of the scenery on those lines...

After the waterfall zip line tour, I headed out yet again to the bungee jump. This time to watch 2 other guys from my hostel who were doing it. Noticing a trend yet? This was now the 4th time in my trip (twice in NZ, twice in SA) that I've watched others do the bungee jump. And of course, on my last day in Storms River, sitting in the sun just hanging around and waiting for my bus to bring me to my next destination, I started regretting not doing it. Somewhere along the line, the bungee jump has become something of a symbol to me, overcoming fears, yes, but more than that, proving that it isn't too late for me to 'live' a little. Do something adventurous, exciting. Things I didn't do in my 20's and have thought I'd never get around to doing. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I think 37 is old, but still, not being fit for most of my life has left me with a body that does feel older than my age most of the time. I left Storms River with a definite sense of disappointment. Hopefully, next time I come across a bungee jump, I won't hesitate & I'll just do it.

Janie in Adventureland

So far, South Africa comes in a close second to New Zealand for being the adventure capital of the world. Tons of adventure activities on offer, but it's all a bit of a waste for the non-adventure type like me, isn't it?

The first time I'd heard about shark diving, I didn't just think 'no', I thought 'Hell no!'. But as Melissa and I started the next leg of our trip down something called the Garden Route (roughly the south coast of South Africa, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth), more & more people were talking about shark diving and how great it was. We arrived in Hermanus, our first stop after Cape Town, on a rainy cold morning. At this point, I was intrigued by the shark dive so I thought 'what the hell, I'm doing it' and booked myself into the next available trip the following day. Melissa and I spent the rest of the day in lazy style, having a nice lunch in a restaurant by the sea and walking around town, and then a not-so-lazy evening playing drinking games with the gang from the hostel. Ahem, might not have been the best idea to do that before going out to sea shark diving, but live and learn, I say.

Surprisingly enough, I was feeling fine the next morning and the weather was gorgeous, so we were good to go on the shark dive. How it works is like this: we drive to Gansbaai and take a boat out to 'Shark Alley', where more than 80% of all documentaries on Great White sharks are filmed. Winter is the perfect time to see Great White sharks, as the water is cold enough for the sharks and they just hang around near an island covered in seals, their favorite food. Once anchored in 'Shark Alley', a smelly oily mixture is thrown into the water to attract the sharks. Once one is sighted, everyone slips into a wetsuit and waits for their turn in the cage hanging off the side of the boat. Speaking of the cage, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought it would be completely covered in mesh, totally protected, but no, the metal bars are far enough apart for you to stick out arms, legs and head if you were feeling suicidal...

The water that day was fairly calm, but even so, our guide from the shark diving place warned us that at least some of us would be seasick, there is almost always at least a few. Until we anchored in Shark Alley, I was smugly confident that I wouldn't be one of 'those', since I hadn't ever really been seasick and I'd had a good breakfast that morning (supposedly one of the tricks against being seasick is to have something in your stomach). One of the girls from the hostel who'd also played drinking games the night before was already puking her guts out on the side of the boat before we even anchored, and I was still feeling fine, so all was good. Once the sharks arrived, I 'slipped' into my wetsuit (Huh. Wasn't easy, nor fun) and waited for my turn in the cage. I was in the 2nd group to go in the cage, packed in with 4 other people. The water was pretty cold (13-14C) but no too bad so far. When the crew sighted a shark, they'd yell "Go under! Go under!" and you'd take a deep breath, grab the bars of the cage and go down to see the shark. Crazy, but not as scary as I thought. The first time I went under, I barely lasted 5 seconds. The combination of nerves and cold water made me lose my breath in no time at all, but I got the hang of it after a few tries. The sharks we saw seemed huge to me, but really not aggressive at all. All they seemed interested in was the bait and only got close to the cage when the bait was brought there to attract them. The scariest bit for me was actually when I was floating above water and saw the shark fin floating by. Now that was scary, and all I could hear was the doo-doo, doo-doo, ... of the Jaws theme song.

Halfway through my 1st time in the cage, things went a bit awry for me. We were just bopping up and down in the cage, not having sighted a shark in a few minutes. I was cold and the queasiness I had started to feel instantly turned into full fledged nausea. I had about 30 seconds or so to warn the others stuck in the cage with me that I was about to hurl, and I tried climbing above the bars to puke over the side of the cage. The guy next to me was nice enough to drag me back inside the cage and tell me that maybe it wasn't really a good idea to have body parts hanging outside the cage while adding chum to the water... For lack of a better option, I just went under water to throw up there. Charming, isn't it? Lovely. Throwing up in a cage, stuck with 4 other people while a boat load of people are watching above me. What fun ;-)

By the time my 2nd turn in the cage came around, I could care less about seeing another shark. I was done. Fini. Finito. But still, it was a really great experience and made you realise that sharks aren't that scary... And it did make me a little bit infamous for a while there. The rest of the week, while traveling further down the Garden Route, I kept meeting people who said: "Oh! You're the girl who was sick in the cage while shark diving!" :-)

Howzit - part 2

OK, so I've been requested to republish this post in the correct order, since it originally showed up after an older message. Got a bit confusing and I'm not sure anyone besides Johanne actually read this thing. I posted it a week or so ago, so I've moved on since then. Watch out for more posts in the next day or so, before I head out on a 2-week safari. Yay!!!

*I'm taking a little time out from my current 'vacation' to finally update my blog a little. I'm amazed that I've been in South Africa a month already. Better update now in case I start forgetting stuff...

My first few days in South Africa were spent in some sort of 'reverse' culture shock. My first impressions were so different from what I was expecting, I realise I was pretty clueless about what South Africa would be like in the first place. The first thing that surprised me was how expensive it was compared to Asia. Now, compared to home, South Africa is still a bargain in many ways (accommodation, some food), but after having spent around 5 months in Asia where everything is dirt cheap, I spent the first week absolutely obsessing about the cost of everything. The other thing that surprised me was that South Africa wasn't at all what I thought 'Africa' would be like. Not all wild nature, safaris and black faces. Lots of cities with rich areas and plenty of white folk around.

The first stop was a short stay near Johannesburg, where I met up with Melissa. It was pretty cool to see her after 7 months away, and I really appreciated the hugs she gave me on behalf of my sisters. Now, for everyone who was worried about us being in Jo'burg (supposedly THE most dangerous city in Africa), we didn't actually stay there. We were staying in a suburb nearby. I'll admit to being intimidated to being in South Africa, especially with all the recent news about the xenophobic attacks happening here. And it didn't help my nerves any when the hostel people urged us not to walk outside at night and also liked to keep track of our whereabouts, even in the daytime. I walked to the grocery store with a young American couple my first day there and I was so stressed and paranoid, I felt I would be mugged at any minute. Thankfully, that feeling has lessened over time. There are still plenty of precautions you need to take and sometimes the advice you get from the locals seem a bit exaggerated (ex: taking a taxi to go 2 blocks at night, don't take the train that arrives in Cape Town at 6:00 PM, take the one that arrives at 5:30 PM at the latest...). It's hard to say if it's all really necessary or if there is a little paranoia involved, but whatever advice we were given, we followed, so no worries.

While near Jo'burg, we visited a lion and rhino park where we did a mini-safari. We were driven around the park trying to spot some animals (we did see an adult male lion, pretty cool) and afterwards were brought to a 'creche', where we could play with lion and tiger cubs. I thought by 'cubs', they meant small little kitty cat sized animals, but no, these cubs were already pretty big at around 4 months old. A little scary to play with, but wow, what an experience. Melissa now has a bite mark on her t-shirt as proof of our thrilling afternoon :-)

We also spent a day visiting the cultural highlights of Jo'burg. We had a driver and guide take us to Soweto, short for South West Townships, where most of Jo'burg's population reside. It was an interesting glimpse into an area that came to exist because of apartheid and how it has changed since the official end it. Our guide explained to us that Soweto is now one of the safest places to be in Jo'burg, with 'rich' and poor living side by side. We followed this up by a trip to the Apartheid museum. Even if I'm not usually a fan of museums, this one was definitely worthwhile and very interesting.

Up next was Cape Town, a city with the most impressive scenery around. The sight of the sea and Table Mountain makes Cape Town a very pretty place to visit. We were lucky enough to have excellent weather the day we went up Table Mountain, so the views were breathtaking. Can't wait to show you all some pictures, but it's going to have to, since the Internet connections here aren't up to it. We capped off our time in Cape Town by visiting Boulders Beach, where a huge penguin colony lives. Penguins, penguins everywhere, we even followed one for a while on the walkway meant for the humans. Melissa got to help a woman who worked there to catch the penguin and put him back on the beach.

That's it for now. I'll post more updates about our shark dive and what I've been up to the past 3 weeks. As of now, I'm still in a small place on the Wild Coast of South Africa called Port St Johns. I've been here already 2.5 weeks and it will have been my longest stay in a single place during all of my trip. I've been having a great time sleeping all day and dancing all night, but am feeling ready to move on again. I'm sort of 'stuck' here for the time being, waiting to receive a new credit card that was shipped to me after mine was duplicated somewhere and used to buy around 10K$ worth of stuff...

Howzit!!!

A quick hello from South Africa!

It's amazing that it's been more than 2 weeks already since I've arrived here. I've been having an amazing time, maybe a bit too much since I haven't had a lot of time for Internet lately. To make matters worse on the Internet front, the last few places I've stayed didn't have Internet access, so I'm way behind again on both the blog and emails. Too bad, so sad.

I'll hopefully post something later on with a bit more details, but for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that I was safe and sound and having a blast. Quick highlights of what I've been up to: met Melissa, played with lion cubs, visited Soweto & the Apartheid Museum, hiked on Table Mountain in Cape Town, saw yet more penguins, dove with Great White Sharks (!!!), separated from Melissa, chickened out of the longest bungy jump in the world, ziplined over waterfalls and have been having way too much beer ;-) That's it for now!

China wrap-up

(*I've posted 2 entries today. Make sure you read the previous one first)

Beijing was a surprise to me, much more 'Western' than I'd imagined. Maybe it's because I'd had a whole month in China already before arriving there and was now 'used to' China, but Beijing seemed very much like another big city that could have been anywhere. Lots of designer shops, western food and huge shopping malls. That being said, it still was pretty cool to see the city a few months before the Olympics. They are still very much at work getting the place 'spruced up', with tons of renovations and construction going on all around. There are so many flowers and greenery around, that you can *almost* forget that you are choking on smog all day. ;-)

I spent the first 2 days sightseeing with my friend Jennifer, who'd already been in Beijing a while when I got there. We saw the Summer Palace (the highlight was the 'pedalo' around the lake), the Temple of Heaven (lots of Chinese doing ballroom dancing around the park in the morning) and the Olympic Stadium (aka The Bird's Nest). After she left, I spread out my sightseeing over the next few days, visiting Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City and last but certainly not least, the Great Wall.

I chose to do a 10km hike on the Great Wall, that brought you to a less busy and less restored part of the Wall. I'd heard about this hike from a lot of travellers along the way, with everyone saying that it was a hard day, but definitely worth it. As usual with anything requiring a certain level of fitness and being done in a group, I was nervous about doing it, but thought if I'd managed Mt. Huashan the week before, I could probably handle the Great Wall.

In a group of 20 or so, we were driven more than 3 hours away to the start of our hike of the Great Wall. Just so you know, the Wall is NOT a flat surface. It goes along the tops of hills and valleys, and is separated by towers every few hundred meters or so. It rises and falls before and after each tower and there were 32 towers to cross on our 10km walk. I was completely out of breath, heart pumping away and sweat drenched before even arriving at the first tower. Man, this was going to be hard, I thought. But honestly, once you get into the groove of climbing up a tower, than going down on the other side, it wasn't that bad. It was definitely hard, but I thought it was easier than the constant climbing of steps at Mt. Huashan. A lot of people were passing me on the uphill parts, but then I would pass them as they were taking breaks once up top. I was happily settled somewhere in the middle of our group and really enjoying myself.

At just about the halfway point of our hike, the wall starts sloping downwards a little bit, so the climbing is not as hard but the downhill parts are still very rocky and a bit dangerous. I was merrily walking along on one of the very rare flat surfaces of the Wall when my right ankle twisted a bit and I fell down. Those who know me well know that I ofter fall down, so I didn't think anything of it at first. I started to get up, but felt something wet on my left leg. I lifted up my pant leg to see BLOOD GUSHING OUT OF A HOLE in my knee!!! I stared dumbfounded for a few seconds, watching the blood pour out and puddle on the Wall below me. I couldn't understand it, cause 1) it didn't really hurt 2) I had no clue how it had happened 3) it wasn't a scratch, it was an honest to goodness hole in my knee! After a minute or so, the blood stopped pouring out and it was only just leaking, but I still really didn't know what to do. I just sat there and looked at it.

Finally, a group of French that I'd been passing and being passed by during the first half of the Wall came along and helped me. Out came the antiseptic wipes and tissues, and they did a good job of cleaning my knee up. They looked a bit anxious, and their tour leader ask me if I wanted her to go get my tour leader, but really, there was no point as there was nothing he could do. By this time, the very last person of my group had caught up with me, and it turns out she is a nurse. She supervised a bit more cleaning of the wound, slapped on a few bandaids and helped me up.

I can safely say that the 2nd half of the Wall was all a blur to me. Once I started walking back, the adrenaline left my body and the knee started hurting. I just kept repeating to myself: Keep going, don't stop, keep going, don't stop... At one point, I was at the back of the pack with an English family, with 2 girls in their early 20's. One girl was such a complainer, whinging the whole time, that she actually made me feel better. I was pleased with myself that I was being quite stoic, not like her, I could just hold it in now and complain later on in my blog :-) My little 'accident' also helped me get over my fear of zip lines. At the end of this portion of the Wall, you had a choice of walking another 40 minutes or so, or taking a 30 second zip line across the river. Needless to say, I chose the zip line. I was petrified the whole time, didn't really enjoy it I must admit, but I did it. There, another first for me.

So, like my sister Johanne said when I told her my story, I left my mark on the Great Wall of China that day (in the form of a nice puddle of blood), and gained a new souvenir as well. I just wish my souvenirs would take a different form than scars, I'm getting quite the collection now...

So, that wraps up my time in mainland China. I'm now in Hong Kong, getting ready for my African adventure with Melissa. I've taken it easy the past few days, read through all my Harry Potter books (sniff, sniff), and have had time to update the blog (yay!) and reflect a little bit on my time in China. All in all, China wasn't nearly as hard as I had expected it to be. My favorite part was the Yunnan province in the south, where it was a bit more rural and looked a bit more like what I expected of China. But still, I'm not saying it was a complete breeze. Not a day went by that I didn't have a communication related challenge, or I wasn't left scratching my head wondering if we all live on the same planet. Here are a few of my favorite stories:

- The spitting: you sort of get used to it after a while, hearing men AND women spitting like they were hacking up their lungs, but still, it's no fun... I was sitting in a restaurant in Lijiang with my Dutch friends, when we all heard that familiar sound, that hrrrraaaa sort of sound that precedes the spitting. A look of horror crossed all 3 of our faces when we realised it was going on just a bit too long, longer than usual. I turned around to look at the source of the noise, only to realise it was a cappuccino machine!!!

- Chinese helpfulness: Because we don't speak the same language, a lot of the Chinese look a bit panicked when you approach them for anything. They're worried you'll ask them something and that they won't be able to help you, I think. That's why I always brought along directions in Chinese wherever I went. But sometimes, you get people that can't help themselves but wanting to 'help' you, even if you don't need it. Case in point: I managed quite well to get myself to the Emperor's tomb in Xi'an via public transportation, with a few directions written in Chinese and instructions from my hostel. After visiting the museum and site, I expected to get back the same way I came and got on the bus that had dropped me off at the museum. The ticket seller didn't speak any English and panicked when I pointed to where I was going (the tickets are sold based on your destination, so you have to tell them where you are going). Knowing I came from there just that morning, I knew I was on the right bus and didn't need any help to go back, but the girl seemed worried I'd get lost or didn't know what I was doing. The whole bus started speaking Chinese, all looking at me worriedly. One guy spoke both Chinese and English, so he tried to reassure the ticket seller after I told him I knew what I was doing. She charged me a random price (cheaper than that morning), but I thought nothing of it. Off we went. No more than 10 minutes later, still very far outside the city walls, the bus stopped and a few passengers got off. Both the bus driver and the ticket seller looked at me, waiting. I shook my head no, this is not my stop, but they were insistent. Another Chinese man intervened, said he'd 'help' me to get where I wanted to go. Even after insisting to them that I didn't need help, I knew quite well where I was going, they wouldn't hear any of it. I eventually had to get off the bus, only to be 'helped' by a man who really didn't know any better than me how to get back to my hostel. Every time a bus came by, he'd look at the sign to see if it went anywhere near where I was going, but he was so slow, the bus would leave before he could be sure. I finally just pointed to a big double-decker bus packed with people and asked him if it went to the city center. It did, so I hopped on and figured it would get me close enough that I could walk the rest of the way from there. I was so happy to be 'helped' that day!

- Picture taking: I really still don't understand why some folks just HAVE TO get a picture of Westerners. I've had quite a few camera phone pictures taken of me, and some people just walk up to you and ask to have their picture taken with you. At Mt. Huashan, this girl just grabbed my arm, dragged my away to a nice viewpoint where a professional photographer stood, sat me down and had our photo taken. Why did she want a picture of us so badly she was willing to pay for it? Who knows...

- Being clueless: Because all the signs are in Chinese, you get used to being a bit clueless wherever you go. I just go about my business in my own little bubble, unaware of all the rules, explanations, history lessons, given by either tour guides or the little signs hanging everywhere. The same thing applies to restaurants, and the food they bring you. Having dinner at a renowned Xi'an restaurant with Michelle and Pierre after our day at Mt. Huashan, I was so starved that I instantly grabbed the bread-like hard cookie/cake thing they put on the table when we arrived. Halfway through the bread thingy, I see that I've caused a bit of an uproar with a few of the waitresses, all pointing at me eating and shyly laughing. They went to get the headwaiter, who then came and explained to us that what I was eating was in fact a raw bread cake, that is usually cut up in tiny pieces into a soup at the end of the meal. Who knew?

Killing time in Xi'an

So, even though Xi'an wouldn't have been my first choice to spend an extra week in China, I still managed to occupy my time and enjoy myself.

I first amused myself by catching the 4th cold of my trip. Yes, that's right, the 4th one. It was loads of fun, I assure you. I can safely say that I wasn't a very popular dorm mate for the first few days, what with all the nose blowing, coughing fits and cold-induced snoring that even woke me up...

I also took advantage of this break to get started on a Harry Potter obsession that has only just finished today. Since I was going to be in Xi'an a while, I decided to visit the English language book store for some books. I haven't been reading much lately, too busy I guess :-), but a nice book would be a good way to pass some time I thought. I first bought book #3 in the series, thinking that I'd only read the first 2, only to discover after the first 2 chapters that not only had I already read the book, but seen the movie as well! I guess the title just wasn't memorable to me. It was an interesting challenge to return the book and try to explain all of this to the Chinese clerk, but I managed and left the shop with book #4 with me. Books #5 and #6 were bought and read in Beijing, while book #7 I bought 2 days ago on my arrival in Hong Kong. I'm feeling a bit bereft this morning, as I just finished the last book. I now can't wait to see the movies...

Between a lot of reading and blowing my nose, I also managed to get in a bit more sightseeing in the area. I spent one entertaining day visiting another Emperor's tomb in the area. This Emperor was not quite as 'grandiose' as Qin #1 of the Terracotta Warrior fame, as he had himself buried with an army of 2-foot tall soldiers instead of the life size version. The museum and archaeological site surrounding the tomb was very interesting and a lot quieter to visit than the Terracotta Warriors.

But my favorite day-trip of all was visiting one of China's 'Sacred Mountains' called Mt. Huashan. I went there with a couple from Montreal (Michelle and Pierre) that I met at the hostel in Xi'an. By the way, I had the most 'Quebecer sightings' while in Xi'an, by far. At my hostel only, I met 3 different couples as well as 1 solo guy, all from Quebec, which is more than the whole of South East Asia I think! But back to Mt. Huashan. I had seen some incredible pictures of the mountain at the hostel and was looking forward to going there. I knew there was a cable car that brought you to the top of the mountain, so I thought my day would be spent slowly and gently walking around the top of the mountain, taking a few pictures and then heading back. I was sooo wrong. It turns out that yes, there is a cable car that brings you to the top of the mountain, but then there are many different peaks you can walk to, all with amazing views of the mountain and surrounding area. Being a very popular sacred mountain with the Chinese, they've built stone and concrete steps to every peak for the tourists to use. As I got off the cable car, we saw a path to one of the peaks and started climbing the steps. It's a good thing that I didn't know how many steps were involved before I started out that morning, cause I don't think I would have been able to face it. Around 2000 steps later (!!!) and I was done in. I managed to climb to the West Peak and South Peak and got to see some very impressive views. Made even more impressive by the effort it me took to get my butt up there!

I visited Mount Huashan on the day of the earthquake. I've told everyone that I didn't really feel it on that day, but I got a weird feeling on the mountain at one point, that I've come to realise was the earthquake. As Michelle and I were coming down the steps heading back to the cable car, at one point my legs got very wobbly and I had trouble standing straight. I thought I was dizzy from the exertion, so I stopped for a few seconds to stabilize, but the feeling continued a few more seconds after that. Nothing dramatic, but I now realise this was the earthquake going through Huashan, more than 1000km away and 1600m up from the epicenter. I still feel very lucky to have missed it, after all the devastation and bad news coming out since it happened.

I did finally get my passport back, a whole 8 days after I arrived in Xi'an. Once I got it, I booked myself on the next train out of there, heading to Beijing...

Guardian angels working overtime

I've said before that my guardian angels I got before leaving on my trip were working out very well for me, keeping me safe throughout my trip, but I think they have been working overtime lately.

As I'm sure you are all well aware by now, a major earthquake hit China earlier this week. The epicenter was near Chengdu, which I'd left just a few days before. I was staying in Xi'an when it hit, which is a 1000 km or so away from Chengdu, and still the earthquake could be felt and even damaged buildings in the area. Robyn, the American woman I saw the pandas and Giant Buddha with, was actually at the Chengdu airport at the time of the earthquake, and while she didn't see anyone get hurt and she herself was fine, it seemed like a very chaotic and scary situation that I'm glad I didn't have to go through. My luck hasn't run out yet.

I ended up spending 8 days in Xi'an, which is way longer than I'd planned to. A bit of bad planning and a minor dose of bad luck left me somewhat stranded there without really wanting to. All this because I needed to extend my Chinese visa by 2 weeks, so that I could make the most of my time before heading off to South-Africa to meet my niece Melissa at the end of May. To extend your visa, you need to visit a Public Safety Bureau (PSB) and fill-out a form. The processing of your visa extension is variable, from same-day to 5 days, depending on which city you apply for it. Without my Lonely Planet (yeah, that again), I didn't really have all the information I needed to make a good choice as to where to apply for the visa extension. I could have done it in Lijiang for example, I've now read that that is a good, fast place to do it in. I knew I had to do it before Beijing, as processing delays would be longer there (why? I don't really know. Something to do with the Olympics, as with everything in China these days). Why didn't I do it in Chengdu, when I was taking that nice long break? Umm, maybe because I'm a procrastinator? Yeah, that's probably why. No other good reason.

I got to Xi'an on Tuesday May 6 after taking a cheap flight, the same one my new friend Jennifer was taking. She was scheduled to be in Xi'an for a day and a half, so I changed my plans from taking a train to taking a plane to be there the same time as she. We walked around the town on that very hot first day, and I made a point of looking for the PSB office as soon as we got there. The PSB office was very clearly located on my map of Xi'an, so it should have been an easy place to find. But no, even after asking a few people, we could not find it anywhere near where it was supposed to be, so I gave up. I figured I'd ask for clearer directions at the hostels.

The next day was my 'Terracotta warriors' day (more on that later), so I couldn't go to the PSB. Finally, on Thursday morning I ask for directions to the PSB at the travel desk at my hostel, only to find out that it has only just recently moved to a totally different area of the city, which explained why I couldn't find it on that first day. I amazingly managed to get there without getting lost, which is quite surprising with all the mistake possibilities that ensue from taking a bus to go somewhere in China. First of all, I was told I could take bus #6 or #311 to get there, and was pointed in the general direction of the bus stop. As soon as I got to the bus stop, I saw a bus #6 stop, so I got on and showed the driver the name of the street I wanted to stop at. At first he didn't even want me to show him my paper, cause he assumed it would be in English and he couldn't help me, but when I insisted, he eventually took a look at it and shook his head no. He used the hand signal for the number 6 and kept pointing it at my face until I somehow understood that he was telling my that there was another bus #6 and this wasn't the right one. Ooookay, that makes things simple. Same number buses that go different places? (It turns out one #6 bus has a Chinese character after the number. So it's something like bus '6b' or 'tourist bus 6' instead of just plain 6)

With some good luck and a little bit of help from a Chinese lady in my bus, I eventually got off at the right stop. But it's amazing how every little thing become difficult when you can't read the signs around you or you don't have references to help you find your way. The directions I got at the hostel said: "Get off the bus, turn right, walk 2 minutes and you will see a large building on your left. That's where you want to go." So I got off the bus, turned right and walked a few minutes until I decided that something was not quite right. I went back to the bus stop and started over. I will save you the long boring details, but about 45 minutes later I found the place. The actual directions I should have gotten are this: Get off the bus, turn left, walk to the next street corner, cross the street, turn right and it's the first building on your left". It sounds close, but it's not quite the same thing.

The visa extension application process was really an entertaining look into Chinese bureaucracy. I first had to fill in a form (in Chinese, but with an English translation posted on the wall that you could refer to) and give them 1 passport-sized photo. I then had to get my passport id page and visa photocopied, so that meant braving the hordes of Chinese fighting for the next chance at the photocopy machine. It's an amazing site to see and the pushing and shoving these relatively small men and woman can do is almost scary. When I first saw the 'line' at the photocopier, I actually laughed out loud. In this very small area no bigger than a toilet stall, a dozen or so people were coming dangerously close to trampling each other. I took a deep breath, figuratively rolled up my sleeves and dove right in. I used my size and my elbows to make sure that no one would cut in from behind me, and made it out alive only to realise after leaving the room that the girl didn't photocopy the right pages. Doh. I turned around, went back in and lo and behold! there was now an actual line, with people standing respectfully one behind the other! I could not believe it, as I was there 2 minutes before and it was chaos! I get in line to wait my turn, and after a few minutes, chaos starts up again. I realised that the ladies working the photocopier try very hard to get people to respect a line, but that it is a constant struggle and if they stop yelling at people for 2 seconds, the pushing and shoving starts again. The concept of lines, or queuing as it's known elsewhere in the world, is very new to the Chinese and will definitely take some time before it becomes common practice.

After the photocopies, I go back to the lady taking my visa extension application and she then takes my picture. Why did I have to give them a photo if they are only going to take another one anyways? Who knows. And why the photocopies when they have the original passport? Again, who knows. Next up: go back to another scary 'line' to pay for my visa extension. Once that is all done, I sit in front of the lady while she types away at her keyboard for what seems like 10 minutes, thinking 'Wow! This is cool, she's probably processing my visa extension right away'. It's taking so long and she seems to be working hard, so she must be getting everything done then and there, right? Wrong. I only get a little receipt that says I can pick up my passport on the 14th, a whole WEEK later. I simply couldn't believe that I'd have to stay in Xi'an a whole week just waiting for my passport. I sat there in shock for 5 minutes, with the lady just ignoring me while I absorbed the news...

It's not to say the Xi'an wasn't a nice place to stay, but still, a whole week seemed a bit much, especially since I had already seen the main thing I wanted to in Xi'an, which was the Terracotta warriors. And doesn't it defeat the purpose, getting a 2-week extension only to have to spend 1 of them waiting for the passport? Whatever, these things happen and there are worse things then spending a week in a Chinese city, like actually working for example ;-)

Like I said, my main reason for going to Xi'an was to see the Terracotta warriors. Since my friend Jennifer only had 1 day to see all the sights, we decided to make the most of it by booking a day tour. Even if I hesitated a bit before booking (it would have been cheaper to do on our own), I was sooo not disappointed with the tour, as we had an excellent guide and a nice gang of people. Our guide gave us a bit of the history of Xi'an before we started seeing the sights, so we actually understood what we were seeing for a change. We saw the ruins of a prehistoric village (pretty cool), a replica of the 1st Qing Emperor's tomb (a bit cheesy, but still OK), and then the piece de resistance, the Terracotta Warriors. Now some people say they are disappointed when they actually get to see them, because you can't really see them up close, but I don't get the disappointment. It was a very cool moment for me, one of the moments I get chills just thinking how amazing it is for me to actually be there, seeing these warriors that I'd heard about back home, just sitting on my butt, watching TV. Are the warriors themselves worth traveling half-way across the world to see them? It's hard to say, but probably not. But for me, it reminded me that what I'm doing this year is very special and exciting. And the story behind the actual warriors is pretty cool too. To think that a human being (the Emperor) is believed to be so important and has such a huge ego that he built an actual life size army to protect him in his afterlife, and then buried them and the real people who made them at his death, is unbelievable. Gives my goosebumps.

I will eventually post the pictures I took of the warriors, but as usual, they don't really do the moment justice. At least they'll help remind me of that great day I spent in Xi'an.

Pandas, Buddhas and Opera

The last time I posted something, I was getting ready for a 2-day travel extravaganza to get from Lijiang to Chengdu.

The traveling went well, with just a few minor hiccups, as can be expected. My trip from Lijiang to Kunming was an overnighter, by sleeper bus. Now the sleeper bus was a new one for me, having thus far avoided taking one since I don't like traveling at night. I was a bit, I don't know, skeptical I guess is the word, that it would be comfortable or a good way to travel, but it really was pretty OK. The sleeper bus consist of many rows of bunk beds, both lower and upper ones. The beds are very narrow, short and have somewhat of a slope to them, the head area being higher than the feet area. I of course had a top bunk (is there really any other one available for a plus-size non Asian person???), but was very (very very) thankful that I had a 'single' bunk instead of the 'triple' or even 'quadruple' ones at the back of the bus. They still are individual spots for each person, but in some cases there are no separations between the beds, so you are in fact just basically lying 3 (or 4) people in the same small area. Case in point: the 2 Chinese girls in the row next to me were not impressed when they ended up sharing a bed with a middle-aged man. They giggled for 5 minutes, then tried everything to avoid touching him for the rest of the night. Good luck with that, even for skinny Chinese girls...

The bus left at 7PM and by 7:05PM it seems everyone on the bus was already asleep, save for me. I haven't quite learned to condition myself to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, so by 2AM I was wondering if I ever was going to sleep that night. I did eventually fall asleep, but then the bus stops every so often to let you pee or buy food, like at 10PM, 12AM, 3AM, so you never sleep for very long. At least the girl I bought my ticket from said that they let you sleep on the bus until about 7AM, even if they arrive at the destination before that. Not so for this bus! At 5:45 AM, just as I had fallen asleep for a 2nd time that night, the bus stopped and the driver started going up and down the aisles, poking people in their sides and screaming like a banshee. Even if I don't understand Chinese, I somehow figured out he wanted us off his bus, and NOW.

Off I get, grabbing all my stuff and sort of stumbling in the dark at the bus station. My next goal was to get to the train station so that I could drop off my big backpack in storage for the day, allowing me to walk around Kunming unencumbered until my train that night. I had my map of Kunming in my hands, knew where the train station was but it's all pointless if you don't know where you are at the moment. There are a few bus stations in the city, all of them identified on my map, but who knew which one I was at? And since my sleep-deprived brain wasn't up to trying to figure it all out, and since it was still pitch black outside and I'd read the bus and train stations in Kunming are generally not good areas at night, I decided to take a taxi. I quickly found a taxi driver, a woman, and pointed out the train station on my map. Luckily, it was also in Chinese, so she understood where I wanted to go, but she was still looking at me funny, as if to say: you want to go THERE? really? I was in no mood to figure out what was wrong with going to the train station, so I just kept pointing at it on my map and nodding yes yes yes. She finally relented and nodded yes, she'd take me there. No sooner had I closed the door and the meter been started that I looked out the window and saw that we had arrived at the train station. No, I did not fall asleep or pass out, we had not driven more than 100 meters from the bus station exit to the drop-off at the train station. Now I understood her reluctance to bring me there! I could have walked it in 2 minutes flat!

I wasn't upset at her, since she'd obviously tried to convey SOMETHING to me, I just couldn't understand what it was. So I quickly paid her my 10-yuan fare (about 1.25$) and got off the taxi. By this time, it is maybe 5:48AM, so I have roughly 14 hours or so to kill... Yay. I'll spare you the tedious details of how I killed 14 hours in a city I'd already visited and didn't really have any enthusiasm for seeing again, but let's just say it involved a lot of walking and many hours in one of the MEGA internet cafes they have in China.

The overnight train from Kunming to Chengdu was good as well, maybe not as comfortable as the sleeper bus, but still OK. I had the top bunk again (but of course), but I have to say this time it did end up being a bit hard to get down from, since there are 3 superimposed beds and it is quite high. Getting up there wasn't a problem, but I almost had vertigo trying to get down. No problems sleeping though, but I think that had more to do with the fact I'd just spent a sleepless night.

It's a weird experience being the only westerner in a whole bus or a train carriage. You get a lot of attention, as people are very curious as to what the hell you are doing there amongst them. I felt a bit like a star in the train, with one group of elderly Chinese men trying to 'talk' to me (1 of them spoke some English), and their wives trying to feed me constantly. We managed to talk a little bit after I took out my Mandarin phrasebook, and Mr. Wu tried teaching me to count to 10 in Chinese, but I'm hopeless. I can't for the life of me get the tones right, as was proved when I tried telling them I was going to Xi'an next. Xi'an, to my western ears, is pronounced Shi-Ann. I said it 5 times, all with a blank look, but then found it in my phrasebook. Mr. Wu took out his glasses, read what I was pointing at and said: "Ah yes! Shi-Ann! Right!". It all sounded the same to me, but obviously it mustn't have been. I am in no danger of changing careers to become an interpreter, that's for sure.

I stayed at an amazing hostel in Chengdu, so I took advantage of it and spent the first 3 days doing nothing much at all. On my first day, I met an American girl and we had ourselves a 'western' day: a mocha-choca-whacka-whatsit at Starbucks, tacos and burritos at a Tex-Mex restaurant (good food, even if her taco was identical to my burrito...) and finally 2 pints each of Guinness at the local Irish pub! Each pint cost almost 10 dollars, a third of my daily budget for China, but what the hell! It was excellent and worth every penny!

The next day my western-themed break continued, as I had dinner at KFC and went to a movie. I saw 'Forbidden Kingdom', the movie with Jet Li and Jackie Chan. In it's original form, this movie is in English with some subtitles on the rare occasions they speak Chinese. Here in China, it was dubbed in Chinese and had Chinese subtitles as well. I had to go to a 'special' viewing to get to see it with English subtitles!

The last day of my break was spent reading not 1 but 2 books borrowed from the hostel's library. Excellent.

Having just spent 3 days doing nothing, I then crammed in all the Chengdu sites during the following 2 days. I went to see the pandas at the breeding center near by, and really enjoyed that. They 'look' cute and cuddly, but they are still big enough to remind you they are from the bear family. And even if I'd have loved to have a picture of me hugging a panda, I'm just too cheap for that. Can you imagine that it cost 1200 yuan, ie about 170 USD to hug a Giant panda?Isn't that crazy? Next up was a night at the Sichuan opera, which isn't anything like I'd have imagined an opera to be. A bit of singing, a bit of dancing, some comedy, acrobatics and the piece the resistance: 'changing faces'. The performers have masks on their faces that can change in a blink of an eye. My analytical mind didn't really enjoy that part of the show cause I spent all my time trying to figure out how they do it. I didn't come close to figuring it out, so I still ended up impressed.

The final 'must-do' for the Chengdu area was to visit the Giant Buddha in Leshan. Now after more than 6 months, I've seen my fair share of Buddhas, so my enthusiasm would have been so-so had I gone on my own, but luckily I had met 2 other American girls (there everywhere these days! :-) ) and went with them. We had a fun day figuring out the local transportation, walking countless steps, wandering around without ever getting lost once, and making our way back safe and sound. Oh, and the Buddha was nice too. ;-)

I wish I were home, if only for this day!

As some of you know, at this time of the year I'm usually in full 'fund-raising' mode for the Canadian Cancer Society. Every year following my sister Julie's diagnosis of leukemia, my family and I have participated in the Relay for Life event that takes place in June.

This year, I will be far away from Chambly and thus will not be able to participate in the Relay. I am still a 'virtual' member of the 'Inseparables' team however, and am taking this opportunity to let you know about the event, and how you can pledge our team if you so wish.


Below are links to my sister Johanne's personal pledge page, as well as a link to the team's page. Take a look and see if you want to pledge anything.

Johanne's personal page:
http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFL_QC_Chambly_?p=1280581&pg=personal&fr_id=2397&fl=en_CA&et=7AwKgcf8lyQXa2b_5pgBig..&s_tafId=13921


Les Inseparable's page:

http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFL_QC_Chambly_?team_id=11520&pg=team&fr_id=2397&fl=en_CA&et=3FPu5DBsZxDVUlbA2hVZZQ..&s_tafId=13921


Thanks for your support!

Shangrila-di-da

Here I am on a rainy Sunday afternoon, sitting on my bed in my very noisy guesthouse, writing notes for my blog. It's not something I do often, spend an afternoon in my room, but right now, it's feeling right. I've been mostly lucky with the weather these past months, so much so that I've lost the habit gained in New Zealand of walking around in the rain. Besides, it's a good thing to try and keep up with the blog, n'est-ce pas?


The past week in China has been great. More than great actually. The places I've seen and people I've met made me thankful for my decision to come to China, but it's been more than that that has made this week excellent.


If you've read my last entry, you'll know that I somehow dreaded making the change from South East Asia to China. Leaving the relative comfort of somewhere you've come to know and heading into the unknown. But once that step was taken, it really helped me to realise how far I've come in the past 6 months. In terms of traveling savy, I'm very different from the girl who stepped off the plane in Auckland with a too heavy backpack and no idea how I was going to travel around the world. And in terms of personal growth, the changes are huge. Now, I haven't gone all 'hippy', started growing dreads (although you might think it if you saw me today, but more on that later) and go around talking about world peace all the time, but you can't help but be changed by seeing more of the world, how people live, how we are all 'same same but different'. And add the fact that, while I've met tons of people on the road, I do spend most of my time on my own, and spend most of that time thinking about different things than I do when I'm at home working, you've got the perfect recipe for change. When I think back to this time last year, when I first decided to take this trip, and the anxiety-filled months that followed, I'm just amazed at the change. But enough introspection for now...


The past week was spent exploring more of the Yunnan province, in south-west China. Dali was absolutely crazy, a tourist town filled to capacity with Chinese tourists. Think le Vieux-Montreal on the busiest summer day * 1000. That's how crazy it was. It so happens I was there during their Spring festival, so I guess that explained it. After a few hours walking around the walled city, with it's cobblestone streets and hundreds of souvenir shops, I decided to get the hell out of town and head for the mountain. There is a mountain just outside the town itself, that is quite easy to walk to, and you can get a chairlift up to the top. To give you an idea of the crowds, the 3 km walk from my guesthouse to the chairlift took my more than 1.5 hours, simply because I could walk no faster than the mass of Chinese surrounding me. And for those who think/know that I usually walk quite slowly, well, you ain't seen nothing till you've come to China. There is one speed and that is SLOW!


Once I actually made it to the chairlift, I then spent the best afternoon I'd had in a while, just walking on the mountain, appreciating the sunny day. The crowds were non-existent, with only a handful of Chinese actually venturing up the mountain. The paths were great and the views spectacular. I had an excellent day.


I have to mention that the guardian angels and lucky charms I was given as going-away presents before I left home seem to be working really well. I was walking down the street that morning on my way to the chairlift, in a less crowded part of town, when I just happened to pass by some friends I'd had drinks with the night before (the Dutch couple whom I'd crossed the border to China with). I stopped to say Hi, and just then the guy walked right passed me and started talking to a little girl. I thought it was odd, cause he was sort of talking loudly to her and was holding on to her hand, but I had no clue what was going on. It turns out the little girl was walking right next to me and had her hand inside my bag. I checked it and nothing was gone, but my camera was sort of sitting at the top of the bag, not where it usually is. If we hadn't crossed paths when we did, I would almost certainly be out of a camera right now! As for my pickpocket, she was a little Chinese girl of no more than 8 years old. She just about crapped her pants when she got caught, but I guess that come with the territory when your job is being a pickpocket...


The next day, I left my charming 1.25$/day dorm in Dali and headed to Lijiang, the next tourist destination on my path. There are buses that leave every hour from Dali to Lijiang, and it so happened that my new Dutch friends got on the same one as I. The ride from Dali to Lijiang is only about 3 hours and is usually quite uneventful, but not ours. As our bus was going up one of the numerous hills in the area, I saw that a truck was stopped about 100m in front of us (changing gears to go up the hill, I think). Our bus driver started to brake, but he must have been going too fast, cause it was obvious he was not going to stop in time. I braced myself, and sure enough, he rammed the truck pretty hard. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, only 1 guy with a bloody finger (he was sleeping, so he didn't see it coming) and the bus driver's legs smashed up enough to be bloody. The bus was out of commission, since the steering wheel was almost outside of the bus, so we waited a little while to get another bus. It didn't take too long, they were suprisingly organised in getting us new transportation. I wonder if this happens a lot...
As for myself, I was fine, just another little bruise and scratch to add to my growing collection on my knees.


Lijiang is another little cobblestone old town, much like Dali but with more charm in my opinion. It is called the Venice of China, because of the canals and bridges running through it. It's maze-like streets make it impossible to get your bearings, and if I hadn't been with the Dutch couple that first day, I would probably still be wandering the streets looking for my guesthouse right about now. It was a nice place to visit for a day or so, with still a lot of tourists (all Chinese), but much less than in Dali.


From Lijiang, I did a day trip to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. As usual, I was stressed about the hike down and back up the gorge, mostly because it is with a group and I feel pressured to go faster. I shouldn't have worried, as I was not the slowest of the group (Yay!). The scheduled 3-4 hour walk took more like 5 hours, cause the Mom half of an Australian mother/daughter duo hadn't realised that the hike was not an easy one. The way down was fine, but we had to stop very often on the way back up, which suited me just fine. Day trips are really hit-or-miss, you sometimes get a very ordinary group and/or guide. This day trip was one of the best I've had, with a great group of people. We were 6 westerners and 3 Chinese, and it was fun to see us bond without really being able to communicate clearly. I spent most of the hike back up the gorge in the middle of the pack along with a 20-something Chinese girl, who huffed and puffed just as badly as I. These Chinese girls may be thin, but it doesn't mean they are all fit! The group was treated for lunch by an American ex-pat living in China for the past 7 years, while I was treated to dinner by 2 French women who were impressed that I was traveling on my own for a whole year. Pretty good day!


My final destination in the Yunnan province is a place called Zhondian, also know as Shangri-La. I'd heard the name Shangri-La before, but besides sounding exotic, I had no clue what it was supposed to be. It turns out there's this guy who wrote a book in the 1930's describing a place called Shangri-La, a supposed Tibetan paradise in the foothills of the Himilayas. 'They' (whoever 'they' are) have debated it's actual location for years, and decided that Zhondian is it. I'll admit the name of the place intrigued me, but I decided to take the 6-hour bus to get there because it is as close as you can get to Tibet these days, and I was curious. It is a very calm, quiet place compared to Lijiang and Dali, so I liked it a lot. I visited the largest Tibetan monastery outside of Tibet and walked around in the FREEZING cold. At somewhere around 5C, it's the coldest I've felt in a while. I was the only guest in the youth hostel (no kidding!), so I had an 8-bed dorm room all to myself. And even though they advertise 24-hour hot water showers, the whole place is unheated, so it was unthinkable of taking a shower while I was there. I spent 3 days wearing the same clothes (jeans, long-sleeved t-shirt, short-sleeved t-shirt, scarf, hoodie), even at nightime, cause they were the warmest things I have. That may explain the new 'dreadlock' look I was sporting by the time I got back from Shangrila, not having washed my hair in 6 days. May be too much information to share with all of you, but whatever :-)


I am now back in Lijiang, spending another rainy afternoon in the only Internet cafe I've found in a while. I'm a bit disappointed that I have to backtrack all the way to Kunming to take the train to my next destination, but there didn't seem to be a simpler way of doing things. I now have an overnight bus to Kunming to look forward to (not!), followed by a day of aimlessly wandering the streets of Kunming before taking a 19-hour overnight train to Chengdu. Wish me luck!


PS. For some reason, the Internet in China allows me to publish posts to my blog, but not too actually see my blog. Keep this in mind if you see weird formatting or errors... Isn't censorship fun?

6 months down!

I am officially more than halfway through my big adventure now. It's unbelievable how the past months have gone by fast, but also unbelievable all the amazing places I've been to and people I've met. Let's hope the next 6 months will be just as great!

I'm pretty much always 1 month behind on my blog nowadays. Just when I think I'll get it under control, I'm distracted or don't have easy Internet access for awhile and get even more behind. Because of this, I've decided to skip (for now) a post on my month spent in Vietnam. Not because it wasn't wonderful or I don't have that much to say about it, it's pretty much the opposite. My time in Vietnam includes some of my best times ever on my trip, thanks to a motorcycle tour I did for 11 days. I'd have a lot to say about it, so I'll just have to get back to it a bit later.

I've now been in China for almost 1 week, and it's been filled with ups and downs. You'd think that after 6 months of traveling I'd be somewhat more confident about coming to a new country, but honestly, China scared the crap out of me. It intimidated me for a number of reasons: 1) the language barrier 2) I'd heard from others that people could be unfriendly 3) I knew almost nothing about the country. Even now, I'd be hard pressed to name 5 cities in China 4) because of 3), I wasn't even sure why I wanted to go there. Are the Great Wall and the Terracotta warriors reasons enough to go through the hassles that awaited me? But in the end, after many weeks of going back and forth, I'd finally made my decision to come here. China, here I come!

My journey into China started painlessly enough, but I'd built up such a case of nerves beforehand that I was a complete wreck. I was in now in Sapa, in the north of Vietnam, and planned to make my way into China overland by crossing the border in nearby Lao Cai. But even before leaving Sapa, things were a bit more complicated than usual. So far, I've always booked my buses ahead of time and knew the exact departure time as well as little details such as how much the bus cost and where to catch it. Not so for my first bus in China. I basically had to make my way across the border on foot, and figure out the rest once in there, since no one in Sapa or Hanoi knew anything about my destination in China. Needless to say, this added to my stress. Plus, border crossings are always stressful to me. You never know what they are going to ask you, and I'd heard that the land crossing between Vietnam and China is a bit more challenging than flying into the country. I'd also read that they can confiscate your guidebooks for political reasons, so I made sure to pack mine far away in the bottom of my big backpack...

The bus from Sapa to Lao Cai was easy-peasy (organised by the hotel) and I met a couple also headed to China, albeit the major town of Kunming, not the same place I was going. The bus driver dropped us off at the border and we went through the Vietnam exit procedures, to then cross a bridge on foot to get to the China border. Once there, we filled in a few forms, waited a few minutes and were allowed entry to China. Our luggage went threw the x-ray machines and sure enough, the guard asked me if I had any books. I tried to play dumb and took out the books I had in my small backpack, but no, he was a smart cookie. He pointed to my big backpack and asked: "Any books in there?". I first took out a small paperback, then my East Africa Lonely Planet book, hoping he would be satisfied with that. No such luck. "More books?" he asked. I reluctantly took out my China guidebook and he quickly took it away. He explained in very basic English that he was taking the book away for political reasons, something having to do with the map showing Taiwan in a different color to mainland China (huh???). He was very apologetic and said he was just doing his job, but I was a bit devastated all the same. I even asked if I could tear out a few pages, but the answer was no. I was already having trouble dealing with the fact that China would be harder, and now I have to go about it without a guidebook???

We found the bus station a few minutes away from the border and I managed to convey to someone where I wanted to go. I was pointed to a claptrap bus and was told it would leave in 30 minutes and cost 55 yuan (about 8$). Excellent, with just a minor hiccup. I have no yuan (the currency exchange in Sapa would not change Vietnamese dong for Chinese yuan). Off to an ATM that a nice gentleman said was only 5 minutes away, "in that direction" (vaguely pointing to the right). I huffed and puffed down the street with all my bags and finally found a bank at the very edge of town. I was happy that the ATM worked its magic and spat out money at me, but disappointed that the bank would not exchange my dong for yuan. I am still a multi-millionaire (in dong) as we speak. The same guy who gave me directions to the ATM was the one to point me to the (hopefully) right bus. On board were 3 people besides me: the driver, the ticket seller and 1 Chinese girl. None of these people spoke any English, nor do I speak any mandarin. It was not a chatty bus ride :-)

5 hours later, I was dropped off in the middle of a town/village, without being sure of where I was. I had the name of a guesthouse in my little notebook, but alas, all the signs are in Chinese! I went up to the only hotel I could see, and even that was hard to do. I could see the hotel but could not find the entrance anywhere. It is unbelievably hard not to be able to understand any of the signs!!! After a few minutes of fumbling, I finally found the hotel entrance (up a set of stairs and behind another building...). The hotel looked fancy, and undoubtedly above my budget, but I was close to being past the point of caring. I was warmly greeted by the front desk and told that it was 180 yuan/night (about 25$/night). I told them thanks but no thanks, it's a bit too expensive, and they offered to bring me to their cheaper sister hotel. Pretty good service for supposedly unfriendly people!

The other hotel turned out to be a very new, clean and nice looking proper hotel. It even had an elevator, which impressed the hell out of me after spending the whole of Vietnam staying on the 4th or 5th floor of guesthouses with a gazillion stairs. And as a bonus, the room was even cheaper than they had told me (80 yuan, about 11$), and I got a fancy new hotel room all to myself for the same price I was paying for very ordinary places in Vietnam. Excellent start!

I was feeling a bit better when I was settled into my room, so I decided to go for a little walk around town and get the lay of the land. 1 hour later, I was back in my room, balling my eyes out. Seriously. I'd walked around for a bit, constantly stared at, as usual. I saw a few restaurants around the village, but honestly nothing that looked remotely appetizing or even clean. I'd tried to find out how to go about visiting the rice terraces the next day (they are all spread out over 40 km or so), without any success. Even in my nice hotel, the girls at the reception desk didn't speak any English. I was tired, hungry and overwhelmed and wanted my mommy!!! After 20 minutes of my pity party, I knew I had to go down and face the world again. I hadn't eaten or drunk a thing all day (bad planning + the inconvenience of being on a bus all day), so I at least needed a bottle of water or something.

And as it so often happens, things changed in an instant. I headed to the lobby armed with a map of the terraces I picked up during my walk, ready to play charades with the girls at the reception desk. Once in the lobby, I pounced on a Swedish couple who looked friendly and competent, and started asking all sorts of questions. Within minutes, I had a clear idea of what I was going to do the next day and how to do it. I was also invited to dinner with them and other tourists they'd met earlier in the day. We had a great time and my mood was now very upbeat.

I laughed at myself a few hours later as I was going to bed. I'd survived my first day in China, which was true to form for me. I've mentioned before how I've learned to realise that the first 24 hours in a new environment is usually hard for me. I know this about myself, but I sometimes forget...

The next day was my visit of the rice terraces, which are Yuanyang's claim to fame. I lucked out weather-wise, since it was an absolutely beautiful day, without much clouds, fog or mist. The rice terraces are worthy of being a wonder of the world in my opinion. It's an amazing sight to see, and quite hard to describe. I got a few nice pictures of them, but you'd probably find some nicer ones on the Internet. But I was extremely happy I'd decided to make this detour and change my itinerary to include Yuanyang.

Since then, I've moved from Yuanyang to Kunming (the capital of Yunnan province) and Kunming to Dali (a mountain resorty type place). During this time, little events like buying a bus ticket or getting from the bus station to a hostel, have felt like the biggest accomplishments. It's hard to convey how difficult it feels for me not to be able to communicate with most people, and not to understand what's going on around you! But you do manage, even if you feel sometimes clueless.

My first impressions of China? It really feels like a different world. Yuanyang is very rural, is inhabited by mostly ethnic minorities and feels quite poor, while Kunming is a very large city that looks somewhat like any western city. Construction is in full swing almost everywhere you go, and places look like they are booming. And the Chinese are also very different from us, in many ways. The way they stare at you so intently when you walk passed looks unfriendly, but is actually not so bad. If you smile, they usually smile and laugh back, and if you don't, they just look at you until they get bored with it. Some things in China will take getting used to: - the spitting, which is very noisy, constant and done everywhere, by both men AND women - it really is quite dirty. They don't seem to care about cleanliness all that much, and the toilets are absolutely revolting. I thought I was getting used to squat toilets after being in South East Asia for a while, but they were nothing compared to China. In most places, the toilets are just holes in the cement, separated by a short wall, if you're lucky. So as you are squatting there doing your business, someone can just walk by and see everything. And since they like to stare at Westerners, it makes for a very interesting experience...

AFT (Another f***ing temple)

Just kidding, of course, but that's what we started saying after an intense few days visiting the temples of Siem Reap :-)

The temples of Angkor near Siem Reap, Cambodia, were one of my "must see's" when I started planning this trip. I'd heard about this place for the 1st time in a "Making of Lara Croft" type show of all places, since part of the movie was filmed here. I then saw a documentary about Angkor and my fate was sealed! I would go there one day!

Since I was traveling to Siem Reap with Silke and Hanna, my plan was to spend the first 3 days seeing whatever they wanted to see, then take a break and go back to see more temples further afield on my own. They were only staying here 3-4 days, while I had a whole week I could give to this place (I love not having a schedule!!!).

The only way to get to the temples is to hire a tuk-tuk or motorcycle taxi, or to bike there yourself. Since there were 3 of us, it was cheaper and more practical to share the costs of a tuk-tuk. Not too mention that you'd have to pay me a lot of money to ride a bike in this chaotic traffic anyways. Our first evening in Siem Reap, after our *interesting* bus trip, we hopped in our tuk-tuk and went to view the sunset from atop a small mountain/hill temple. The 3 of us, plus a cast of THOUSANDS (mostly Japanese tourists, it seemed) watched the sun go down without much fanfare. As a side note, let me just say this: I seem to be doomed to see the most boring sunrises/sunsets at all the most interesting places. The more 'famous' the place, the crappier the sunrise/sunset. The most exciting this to happen at this sunset was me falling flat on my face yet again, just walking up the mountain...

The next day we attempted the 'small circuit', which we couldn't even finish. The temples are huge and you could spend hours at each. I took hundreds and hundreds of photos, and I've been told to keep only the 3 best of each temple. This seemed a bit harsh to me, but when you consider that I saw more than 20 temples, 60 photos of temples does seem a bit much. You'll see, you'll be saying AFT yourself after seeing the pictures. ;-)

It took 2 more days to complete the 'small circuit' and the 'grand circuit', with lots of stair climbing and Japanese tourist dodging. Of note: I yet again fell flat on my face (YES, AGAIN!!!) walking down from a temple this time. The same knee that got scraped the first day got scraped worse this time, with the added joy of a huge bruise. Anyone think I may be clumsy???

I won't really go into specifics about which temple was my favorite or what is a must see. That's left for everyone to see for themselves, cause this is definitely a place worth coming to. As I'm writing this almost a month after being in Siem Reap, I'm already wishing I could go back. I was feeling a bit 'off' when in Siem Reap, not in the best of traveling moods, so it would be good to go back again and see if I enjoy more. I'm sure I would...

Once the girls had gone, I did go back to see remote temples on my own. To do so, I had to bite the bullet and go for a new first for me: a motorcycle taxi. As you all probably know by now, I am the furthest thing from an adrenaline junkie. Just the opposite really (aka a big wuss). So it'll come as no suprise that I'd never ridden on a motorcycle, not even a scooter. The closest I came was when I was 7 or 8 and tried to drive a neighbor's moped. That ended with me dropping the moped and dragging half my body and the moped in gravel. No wonder I haven't been fond of 2-wheeled vehicules...

But when in Rome... There are about 6 billion motorcycles in South East Asia it seems, and Cambodia does have it's fair share. I couldn't bike to the temple I wanted to see (too far, too hot, too bloody dangerous, ...) and a tuk-tuk for 1 person is more expensive. So it's my cheapness that got me to hire a motorcycle taxi from my guesthouse. When I did so, I didn't expect the driver to be the owner's son, as he didn't really inspire confidence in me. He looked to be about 16 and the size of the average Canadian 11-year old, if that. That, plus the fact that the only road rules around here is that there are no rules, I wasn't really feeling great about the whole thing.

With all this in mind, I reluctantly got on the back of the motorbike and we headed off. No less than 5 times in the first 2 minutes did I almost ask the driver to stop. I was completely petrified, in actual mortal fear. Having nothing to hold on to, it felt like I would spontaneously eject from the motorbike and die a horrible death amidst the chaos of Cambodian traffic. I didn't know if grabbing on to the driver for dear life would be well received, so I tried to hold on to the seat beneath me. Besides, the driver was so tiny, I would have probably crushed him had I tried to hold on to him.

45 death-defying minutes later, I arrived safely at the temple. Never have I come so close to getting on all fours and kissing the ground. I was that happy to have stopped. As it was, my legs could barely hold me up once the adrenaline left my body. I needed a nap, or a drink, but preferably both. I got neither.

The temple was gorgeous, one of the more beautiful ones, but not big enough by half. I stretched my visit to a whole hour, and I'd been around the place twice already when my driver (aka the kid) asked me if I was ready to go. I wasn't, but didn't really have a choice.

Needless to say, since I've lived long enough to write about it :-), I survived the way back, but not without incident. The poor skinny little man/boy almost dropped the bike in front of his friends when I got on again (yes, I know, a very funny visual). He was very embarassed, so he in turn made fun of me to his other friends once we got back to the guesthouse. It's funny how easy it is sometimes to recognize that you're being laughed at, even when you don't speak the language. I said as much to the little man/boy and he at least had the decency to be embarassed. All-in-all, this hadn't been my favorite day so far, but like they say, it still beats going to work :-)

I spent the rest of my time in Cambodia visiting the capital, Phnom Penh. It's a big, sprawling place, with many tourist attractions revolving around the horrible years of war and genocide that happened in the 70's. While in Siem Reap, I'd read a book about a girl who'd survived the Khmer Rouge years, so I learned a bit about what happened and learned a lot more by visiting places like the S-21 prison as well as the Killing Fields (so called because it was the place were all but a dozen of the prisoners of S-21 were executed, plus thousands more). It's all heavy stuff, and people are still recovering from that time, so I can't really say Phnom Penh is a beautiful place in my eyes, but it is certainly very interesting. I learned a lot there.

And on a lighter note, I survived a few more motorcycle taxi rides, as well as got better at killing 3-inch long cockroaches and bedbugs in my less than stellar guesthouse. Gross.

Mini-bus ride from Hell?

After 10 days or so on Don Khon, I was starting to get antsy and felt it was time to go. I now had a choice to make, either 1) slowly make my way across Cambodia, stopping at a few places here and there before going to Siem Reap, or 2) heading straight there. Both had their pros & cons:
1) shorter bus rides, seeing more of Cambodia, going at my own pace
2) finally getting to see the Temples of Ankor, which I've been looking forward to for a good while, traveling with someone and sharing the costs.
I decided on option 2, the main factor being my friend Silke was also heading there and it would be more fun to see the Temples with someone. The biggest 'con' for this option was a biggie for me, a 1.5 day mini-bus ride to get from Laos to Siem Reap. Uggh.

Let me give you a feel for transportation in this part of the world, by recalling for you the 9 part journey. Be patient, it's a long post. But trust me, the trip was even longer....

1. Boat from Don Know to the mainland at Ban Nakassang (about 30 minutes). A lovely journey in Papa's boat, on a gloriously sunny morning. Made the trip along with a French couple heading to Thailand and Hanna, a Dutch girl also heading to Siem Reap. This part of the journey was preceded by more laos-Laos and blessings. Not bad for 8 o'clock in the morning!
2. Mini-bus to the Cambodian border (about 1.5 hours). Hanna and I met up with Silke at the mainland departure point. A lot of people were there already, all heading to different places in Cambodia (the border, Stung Treng, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh). We were none to quickly randomly dispatched into different mini-buses. Nothing so sophisticated as filling up mini-buses based on the destination, just a mad dash to fill them all up. And to paint you a better picture, the mini-buses in this part of the world are a van-type vehicule that usuallyhas seats for 11 passengers plus the driver (3 rows of 3, plus 2 in the front seat). The tour companies usually like to jam in a few extra people where they can, but that day I was to witness a new level of being jammed. But back to my story: Once comfortably seated in our 3 person row, in come more people so that we end up sitting 4 per row. Oh well, at least it's not far to the border...
3. Crossing the border (1 hour or so). The mini-bus stopped by a shack on the side of the dirt road. To be fair, they seem to be working on a new road, so a few years from now it should be nice. But for now, it was bumpy going. After a painless exit from Laos, we walk 200m down the road to get to the Cambodian border. This is officially no-man's-land, since we are no longer in Laos but not yet in Cambodia. All went well on the Cambodian side as well, except that I was a bit pissed off to learn that I could have just gotten my visa here for 20$ cheaper and in 5 minutes, instead of 3 days.
4. Border to Stung Treng (about 2 hours). We grabbed our luggage that had been unceremoniously dumped from the mini-van on the Cambodian side of the border, pushed it atop a new mini-van and hit the road. We are still cramped 4 to a row, but the mini-buses are getting more decrepit it seems...
5. Ferry crossing at Stung Treng (around 1 hour). Get off the bus, grab you luggage, pack it into yet another mini-bus, then walk to the ferry. Cross the river by ferry, standing along side the mini-bus with the luggage as well as the mini-bus we arrived in, now quite empty. Why? Good question. I couldn't figure it out, and no one would really explain it to us. But I just kept repeating my new mantra: Just go with the flow baby.
6. Stung Treng to Kratie (2 hours). Now were starting to talk about being seriously cramped. Yet another different, older mini-bus, that is already half-filled with cargo of some sort. Obviously the driver has a sideline in the shipping business or something... We are packed in, starting with the skinny people first, who are loaded into the back row. Since I've yet to be in the priviledged category of the skinny people of this world, I am quite happily sitting my fat-self in the middle row, with only 2 other people, albeit not skinny ones. For once, I am happy that my fatness gets me an advantage! But wait! Now that there are 4 skinny people jammed into the last row and 1 not-so-skinny person left to jam into the mini-bus, guess where he ends up? Of course, with the other not-so-skinny people in the middle row. That, plus the cargo piled up at our feet and the skinny ladies trying to push even more of it forward, made for a truly enjoyable ride. Oh joy!
7. Kratie to Kampong Cham (3.5 hours that felt like a lifetime...). Now by this time, you may imagine that my happy-go-lucky, go-with-the-flow attitude is starting to wear thin. You'd be right. I am tired, smelly and cranky, but thankfully this is the last part of the journey for today. Deep breath. Almost there. As I stand there waiting for the next mini-bus to arrive (why do we have to change buses at each stop?), I am wondering what could be in store for us next. The horribly decrepit van pulls up and we start piling in. Hanna, Silke and 1 snag the coveted first row, since they don't always pile in a 4th person there. Too narrow because of the door. Once we're well and truly packed, we notice that a group of 5 Japanese that were traveling with us all day are still hanging around, yet to be seated in a mini-bus. The driver points them in the direction of our mini-bus and a mini-revolt ensues. There is no-effin-way that we are fitting in 5 more people, say the rest of us, already seated. No way. The driver nods, smiles, and shoves 3 people in anyways. The only place available is a little foot ledge at the back of the front seats, facing the first row where the girls and I are seated. 5 minutes of fitting the puzzle pieces together, and we are now seated with our legs intertwined with the Japanese. I am basically doing the 'lambada' with an older Japanese man. Once on the road, all 6 of us shift our legs around every hour or so, to get circulation flowing again. Can I just say: thank god for my iPod? I zone out to the music and try to meditate my way through it. Not easy. And the other amazing part? Once at our destination, I see that 2 people are climbing off the top of the mini-van! One Cambodian man and one Westerner. They spent the 3+ hour trip hanging out with the luggage up top!
8. Day 2: Taxi to the bus station (5 minutes). After a restful night's sleep, sharing a room with the girls, we are rudely awoken at 6:30 AM by the tour operator who had met us at our last stop last night. He knocked on our door to tell us that the bus is leaving an hour earlier, so we need to take a taxi ($$$) with him in 30 minutes at the latest. We get ready, haul ass and get into the 'taxi', which just happens to be his car. We get to the bus station only to learn that no, the bus does not leave an hour earlier than expected. The best we could figure is that he needed more time to do the taxi service for everyone, so he got us to leave an hour earlier. The more taxi service he could do, the more money he made. Gotta love capitalism, right?
9. Final leg: A real bus, from Kampong Cham to Siem Reap (around 7 hours). The least noteworthy part of the journey was the last one, where we simply took a public bus to get to Siem Reap. Comfortable bus, not overfull. What a joy! We even had some Cambodian entertainment on TV. I couldn't understand a thing, but the Cambodians seem to love it! It kind of reminded me of 'La Petite Vie' from home. Not the type of humour that is easily translated in foreign languages...

Lazy in Laos

The remainder of my time in Laos was excellent, if uneventful. I spent 5 days in the capital Vientiane, not doing much at all. I spent 1 day doing intensive sightseeing and the other days just hanging around waiting for my Cambodian visa to come through. I also learned 2 more valuable lessons for the long term traveller: 1) Try to keep track of which day it is. That way, you can get things done a lot more efficiently if you pay attention to silly little things like business hours. I applied for my Cambodian visa on Friday afternoon, and while it usually takes 24 hours to get, that doesn't include the weekend. I finally got it Monday afternoon, which explains why I stayed so long in Vientiane. 2) Try to stay vigilant about your personal belongings. At first, I was slightly paranoid about losing my stuff, but ater a while, you get a bit complacent. Case in point: I left my wallet at the ATM. I only realised it an hour or so later (when paying for my visa application), and ran back to the ATM. Obviously, it wasn't there anymore. After 10 minutes of scrambling, emptying my daypack on the street to be sure my wallet wasn't hiding somewhere in there and generally trying to avoid full-out panic, I finally calmed down long enough to notice a note stuck to the ATM door that said: 'Janie, I've got it. Please call me at xxx xxxx'. Some nice person had found it and kept it for me! I called the guy up and met him nearby. My wallet was intact and my day was redeemed! I should add another lesson learned to the list: 3) People are generally great and very helpful. And they don't expect anything more than a thank you.

Once I had my Cambodian visa in my hand, I was ready to head south and eventually cross the border into Cambodia. I took an overnight bus to Pakse, the largest town in Southern Laos. In theory, the overnight bus is a great idea. You get to sleep away a long boring bus ride and you save money on accomodation. In practice however, for me, it is less than ideal. I can never sleep more than 20 minutes at a time on the bus and since it's nighttime and I'm overtired, I get twitchy (aka 'jimmy legs'). Plus, spending 8 hours in subzero temperatures with some random German guy sleeping on my shoulder is not as exciting as it sounds :-)

My reason for stopping in Pakse was to visit a nearby temple, Wat Phu, the most impressive ruins that Laos has to offer. It just so happens that my visit coincided with the yearly festival going on at the temple, where thousands of Laotians head to Champasak (where the Wat Phu temple is) and book out all the rooms in town. Since I couldn't stay in Champasak, Pakse it was.

The day after my arrival in Pakse, after recovering from my sleepless night, I got up early-ish and started a wild goose chase to find the 'bus' to Champasak. I got a tuk-tuk to the morning market where the bus station is reported to be. Now, at this point in my travels, I should have realised that a bus station in Laos would not quite be what you would expect back home, but for some reason, that morning my brain was a little slow to catch on. I spent 30 minutes wandering around looking for buses, any bus, before I broke down and started asking for help. After perhaps the 5th person I asked, I finally was pointed in the direction of a songthaew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songthaew) headed in the direction of Champasak. I sat in the already full truck, the only tourist amongt villagers of all types. There were 2 older ladies with blackened teeth and blood-red gums that come from chewing betel leaves, a fashionably-dressed young mother with her baby, men with no intention of taking up less than double the space they needed,.... As we waited to cram yet even more people on the 'bus', another tourist got on next to me. It so happened to be a girl I crossed paths with the previous day in Pakse. As it happens when you're traveling, we quickly became friends and spent the day visiting the temple ruins together.

Once at Wat Phu, we couldn't quite figure out what was going on with the festival. It was supposed to be the last day, so you would expect it to be very busy, but there was more garbage lying around than people. Tents were up but no music was playing, the market was opened but no people were shopping, ... We'd spoken to people who'd been the day before and they'd said it was crazy-packed. Regardless, it was a beautiful day and I got a few good pictures in. The ride back was a surprise, as transportation usually is around South East Asia. We grabbed a songthaew to Champasak, this time a smaller one meant for 8 people. It was already full when Silke and I hopped on, so we were a bit crowded, as usual. But the driver still stopped along the way to pick up more people. At one point, a whole horde of children and 2 more adults got on, so I ended up having a child sitting on each lap. I stopped counting at 19 heads since I couldn't see further, but I know there were more people hanging out the back. It was hilarious!

After spending another day sightseeing around the region, I headed to Si Phan Don, the 4000 islands region in Southern Laos, for a little rest and relaxation. I'd planned on staying there 2 days and ended up staying 9, so you can imagine how restful and relaxed the place really was! I couldn't leave!

I stayed on Don Khon, the quieter of the tourist islands. A beautiful island amidst the Mekong river, it had a magical feel to it. I stayed in a guesthouse on stilts, with a huge balcony overlooking the Mekong. It had no electricity during the day, only a generator for a fan and light in my room from 6:30-10 PM each night. What's even more amazing is that you wouldn't even notice the lack of electricity. You know what it's like when you're at home and there's a power outage? You keep trying to turn stuff on, as if you can't remember or even adapt to the lack of electricity? Well, the opposite happens here. You forget that they don't have electricity because daily life just keeps on going, no problem. I'd been eating at local restaurants for a few days before it dawned on my to question how they make the meals without electricity (gas & wood stoves). Things are kept cold(ish) in coolers filled with ice. The locals go to the mainland each day by boat to get their supplies (including ice, food, beer, ...). The generators only work during the evening, with one exception: Sunday afternoon thai boxing. All the locals get together then and watch thai boxing on their TVs, drink lao-Lao (rice whiskey) and Beerlao, and cheer on their favorites.

The place I was staying at was a huge factor in my staying much longer than I expected. While the accomodation was basic, with shared bathroom and cold Mekong water showers, and yes, even the occasional cockroach in my room, the ambiance more than made up for it. I met quite a few interesting people and enjoyed just chilling out. The guesthouse owner, known to everyone as 'Papa', was a bit of a lush. I'm being diplomatic really, he was more than a little bit too fond of lao-Lao . Any occasion, at any time of the day, was a good occasion for a shot of lao-Lao. I only realised this my 3rd day, when I went on a trip to the 'Big waterfall' with 2 other guys from the guesthouse, with papa leading the way. He was already looking a bit the worse for the wear when we got in the boat to go to the waterfall, but he thankfully navigated us there and back safely. Once there, we had to climb and clamber over rocks to get to see the waterfalls. Papa served us more lao-Lao to help us out with the exercice. I was exhausted by the end of it!

To better understand how special this place was, there was a French couple staying in the attached bungalows who'd been here last year and had now come back to stay a month. It was interesting and very beautiful to see, as they were now part of papa's family. Though papa and his family spoke no English or French, and the French couple spoke only a few words of Laos, they still managed to communicated quite well. The French couple spent all their time with the family, eating their meals together, going fishing, ... It was quite cool to see. One of the highlights of my stay on the island was an impromptu going away party held for Guillaume and Lina (the French couple). I say impromptu, since I was invited only 5 minutes before it was about to start :-) Papa did the rounds of the guesthouse trying to assemble the guests, even going so far as calling over David, a fellow Canadian staying at the guesthouse, as he was taking a swim in the Mekong!

The party started with a ceremony sitting on Guillaume and Lina's balcony. A man was there to give them a blessing as we all sat and listened. Then the fun really started, with the family and friends giving some sort of blessing to us tourists, by tying a piece of string around our wrists. I believe in the Boudhist faith, this helps keep our friendly spirits attached to us as we go traipsing around the world. Otherwise, they could just fly away, lost (this is my interpretation of the Budhist ceremony, so take it with a grain of salt ;-)) The tying of the string was accompanied by a blessing in Laos (who knows what they were saying?) and of course, the obligatory shot of lao-Lao. Thankfully, as a girl, my shots were often smaller and could sometimes be substituted for beer. Cause I counted 18 bracelets on my wrists the next morning. If that had all been lao-Lao, I don't know how I would have made it. Just ask David, the Canadian guy, who needed 2 days to recuperate :-)

At the ceremony, there were also a few older ladies part of papa's extended family. These women took a liking to me it seems, as they were quite impressed with my size. They started discreetly enough, by touching their bellies, pointing at mine and smiling. Since I smiled back, they grew bolder and started gently poking at me and touching me here, there and everywhere. I was already nicely warmed up from the lao-Lao by then, so I didn't object. We then started 'talking' as it were, them telling me they wanted some of my meat for their bones, and me telling them I would gladly part with some if I could. I would pretend to put some fat on them and we'd laugh and laugh. It was quite the bonding experience!

The rest of my time in Don Khon was spent in the most relaxing way. Every 2 days or so, I would rent a bike and cycle around the islands. On other days, I'd just go for a walk, or sit and do nothing more than reading my book. Lost of lazing around, chatting with the other guests, writing my journal, napping, ...

Sounds like paradise, doesn't it?

Side trip in Northern Laos

(*** I've made 2 new entries today, so make sure you've read the previous one before hitting this one! I'm trying to catch up!)

My trip to the Plain of Jars was even better than I'd imagined. I started off with a vague interest in seeing the archaeological sites (more about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars) , and ended up with a better feel for the country I was so clueless about.

Always interested in ruins of any kind, I was curious about the Plain of Jars and thought the detour would be worthwhile. And while I'm quite happy to have seen them and would recommend the side-trip to anyone visiting Laos (I know there are a few of you out there!), the Jars themselves were not the best part of the journey.

The first day was simply to be a travel day from Luang Prabang to Phonsavanh, so again, I wasn't expecting much. Our group consisted of an English couple in their 40's, 2 Swedish girls in their early 20's, another solo traveller about my age from Netherlands and myself. The 2 Swedish girls giggled the whole way, and kept to themselves, the girl from the Netherlands was very very shy and the English couple were car sick for most of the journey. Interesting. But I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, as you got a lot of glimpses into rural Laos life. Whole villages are set up along the only paved road in the region. The road was built around the mountains, so to say the ride was curvy is an understatement. The not-quite 9-hour mini-bus journey almost did me in too, so I am soooo happy I didn't take the public bus! (to give you an idea, they pass out plastic bags to everyone at the beginning of the trip on the public bus).

The villages are made out of wood sheds built on stilts on the hills along the highway. The only "playground" the kids have is the highway itself, so our driver has to honk his way along the road, to alert the kids and make sure they get out of the way. I should say it's not only for kids, but also for chickens/dogs/pigs/motorbikes/buses. I was annoyed with the constant honking at first, but once I realised this was just how it was, I relaxed. And since the driver and his wife spoke no English, we had to use hand signals to convey things like: "Stop now! I am going to puke!" (from the English couple), "Can you please stop at the next available toilet?" (Every 2 hours, from 1 of the Swedish girls) or "When are we stopping for lunch?" (again, from the Swedish girls who were somehow expecting to be catered to at every step). I have to admit it wasn't much of a success, as the driver just started stopping on the side of the road every time we had a request. Peeing by the side of the highway while hanging on to a bush to avoid rolling down the mountain, and holding on to your pants for obvious reasons, is a talent I still haven't quite mastered, but got a bit of practice during this trip. Thankfully, I wasn't the one puking my guts out every 30 minutes or so, so I was a happy camper.

We arrived in Phonsavanh in late afternoon and decided to go to dinner as a group, minus the English couple who weren't quite done feeling car sick. This group dinner was one of the moments that makes me soooo happy to be traveling on my own. Without going into all the gory details, the 2 Swedish girls were the most unpleasant travelers I've come across yet, going on and on about how awful Thai and Laos people are, how everyone is just out to get their money, how everything is so different than in Sweden (duh!) and they would just for once like to have a good breakfast like they do at home (snif, snif). All this, after only 2 weeks of their 5-month 'round the world journey! I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they will get better as they go along, but somehow I doubt it. But moving on...

The next day was the tour of the Plain of Jars (3 different sites), the old Capital and a minority village known as "Bomb village". Our tour guide was great, giving us a lot of information about the area and how they live. The day started off a bit rough, witnessing the result of an unfortunately frequent event in Laos, a bike/motorbike accident. Just as we were starting our touring day, we passed by a dead body in the middle of the road. The accident had happened not long ago, and they'd only just thrown a sheet over the person. Our guide said that they have fatal accidents weekly, with some weeks having 2-3. And what is even more surprising to me is that the roads here are much less congested than in Thailand, so I can't imagine what the statistics are like there.

The Plain of Jars sites were quite spectacular, made even more so by the evidence of war that surrounds them. I learned a lot that day about the 'Secret War' waged on Laos by the Americans back in the 60's and 70's. And while this was all new to me, it was made even more shocking by the fact that the daily lives of the Laos are still impacted by that war, even 40 years later. There are so many unexploded artillery lying around that they can't use the land to farm without risking their lives. And without farming, they live at an astonishing poverty level, so they try to make some money by salvaging and selling scrap metal, by locating said artillery and further risking their lives. You can see evidence of this in the 'Bomb Village' we visited later in the day, where they use old bomb casings as stilts for their homes, cooking utensils, decorations, ...

It wasn't all depressing news however, as the next day we visited an orphanage and a school for victims of UXO's (unexploded ordnance). The orphanage was very modern, and children are cared for by a mom in families of 6-8. The director of the orphanage and school was very proud (and rightly so, I thought) to show us around and you could tell they cared about the children, who all looked healthy and well cared for.

After these great few days, it was somewhat of a letdown for me to arrive in Vang Vieng. This place is known as a backpacker haven, but seemed more like a backpacker hell to me. It's little more than 1 road village set up for backpackers to get drunk and/or high watching reruns of Friends and The Simpsons. Lots of fun for some, but definitely not my style. Although I will guiltily admit to having dinner in a 'Friends' cafe the 2 nights I was there. Damn that show is funny!

Sabadee!!!

Arggg! I can't believe I'm more than a month behind in my blog! Things are going from bad to worse on that front...

I arrived in Laos a little more than a month ago, not at all sure what to expect. Laos is one those countries like Bhutan or Albania that most people, including myself until last year, couldn't even place on the map. No disrespect meant to Bhutanese or Albanians, it's just a fact that a lot of Canadians don't now much about them. The same can be said for Laos, so imagine my surprise when I get on the small Laos Airlines flight and end up sitting in the same row as 3 other Quebecois!

It turns out that Laos is quite a popular destination for the French (and maybe spilling over to Quebecois), being an ex-French colony and all. Supposedly, many Laos still speak French, although I certainly can't vouch for that. I only heard one Laos speak French in all of my time there, and this was a quite affluent lady who had worked and lived for years in Paris. As for speaking English, it is almost as rare as French it seems. I spent my time in Laos using hand signals, very basic English and making the most of the 2 Laos words I know: Sabadee!!! (Hello) and Kawp Jai (Thank you). It makes for very interesting conversations.

My first stop in Laos was Luang Prabang, a very pretty city in the north, on the shores of the mighty Mekong river. It was back to budget living for me, after having indulged in my way-too-expensive-yet-still-shabby-and-depressing hotel room in Bangkok for so long. It was also my first foray in completely winging it, i.e. not researching and booking a room before hand. I usually like to read reviews and find a room that is supposedly clean and safe before showing up somewhere, but the reviews on Laos accommodation being limited, it was time to start winging it. I was a bit surprised however to find that rooms in Luang Prabang were not as cheap as I expected (damn you, outdated Lonely Planet!), and quite full, to boot. I ended up staying in a 9-bed dorm room in the basement of a guesthouse. For the 4 nights I ended up sleeping there, it was me and 8 Asian tourists (mostly Korean and Japanese). They were all very nice, and I even managed to follow some of the Japanese conversations. How, I don't know, but I managed!

I quickly realised that travel in Laos would be much sloooooower than my previous destinations. My first hint was when I tried to book a sawngtwe (converted pick-up truck with benches in the back) to go to a nearby waterfall one afternoon. All the trucks advertise if they go to the waterfall, but it's not as simple as flagging one down. They need to have a minimum number of people for the 1-hour trip to be worthwhile for them. After asking around for a while, I finally found one that said he had enough people, and would be leaving in 20 minutes. So I park my butt on the back of his truck and wait. And wait. And wait some more. It seems that the people who'd said they'd go with him bailed, so we were back to where we started. By this time, 1 other guy joined me in the waiting game, and we starting riding up and down the street trying to pick-up more customers. Felt vaguely like prostitution, but whatever works. Lo and behold, almost 2 hours after I started out on this quest, we are packed to the gills and ready to go! And all's well that ends well, since we got to the waterfall at the end of the afternoon, when the masses were all heading back to town. We had the place almost to ourselves, so it was great. Got a few nice pictures, that, one day when I'll have a passable Internet connection, I'll be able to upload. Until then, use your imagination ;-)

Another example of the slow pace in Laos was when I tried to book a trip to my next destination. I'd read about an archaeological site called the Plain of Jars and was curious to go there. I could go either by public bus to the city of Phonsavanh where the Plains are located, and then book a day-tour to visit the Plains themselves, or book a private mini-bus and tour from Luang Prabang. Since the public buses are supposed to be much slower than the mini-buses, and not being a fan of buses in general, I chose the 2nd option. The problem is, they logically work on the same principle as the earlier trip to the waterfall, i.e. have to have a minimum number of people for a tour to happen. And since there were 15 or so travel agencies in town offering the tour, each of them seemed to only have 1 or 2 names down for the next trip, and had no settled date. I spent half a day just going to every one of them and leaving my name, hoping for the best. I did the same thing the next day, and hit the jackpot at the 5th travel agency. I ended up leaving 2 days later than I'd hoped, but it wasn't really a hardship to be "stuck" in Luang Prabang.

Among the highlights in LP: beautiful sunset view along the Mekong, with all the slow boats traveling to and fro; the daily 'alms' ceremony, where hundreds of orange-robe clad monks walk down the street to collect their daily food from villagers and tourists alike; the view from atop Phu Si (mountain temple) and last, but not least, the bakeries ;-D Thanks to the French, bakeries are more popular in Laos than the other Asian countries I've been to. And while I've surprisingly (for me) enjoyed the food since I've been in South East Asia, it was nice to be able to eat something other than rice or noodles for a change.

And I'm happy to report that while sad to have seen my sister go, I'm comfortably back to my solo travel ways. I think I needed a little time and a change of scenery to get me back on track...

Thailand wrap-up

Up next on our Thailand itinerary was the northern city of Chiang Mai. The trip started of with an overnight train ride from Bangkok. I'd booked 2 tickets just before Johanne arrived, but all they had left were an upper and lower bunk on the sleeper train, not 2 lower bunks like we'd prefer. Johanne of course insisted on taking the upper bunk, which I'd already had the pleasure of trying out on my train from Hat Yai to Bangkok. Actually, the upper bunk really isn't that bad, just a little "snug" and brings out a bit of claustrophobia to those inclined (me included).

So, Johanne hauls herself up there and proceeds to have a mini-meltdown, while I'm laughing so hard I'm almost crying. She seemed to be having, umm, shall we say a bit of difficulty turning around on the bunk bed, which just made it even funnier. You had to be there, but trust me, it was hilarious!

We'd booked ourselves a room at the 3 sis (short for sisters, who could resist with a name like that!) bed & breakfast and ended up upgrading to their newer rooms in the "lodge" part of the place. My budget was definitely blown on this trip, but boy was it great to have a little luxury & not have to double/triple check the room & bed for bugs everyday!

We had a few things planned while in Chiang Mai, like a cooking class and a day trip in the surrounding area. The cooking class was great fun and made us discover some excellent Thai food. Although, I have to say that after that day, I will be staying away from spicy papaya salad. The "medium" spicy version our teacher suggested we make almost had me in tears, and I wasn't convinced I was going to survive ;-) I am not going to risk that again! Johanne and I were dubbed good Thai wife material because of our strong arms and ability to pound the crap out of ingredients in the mortar & pestle (merci MWM!).

Our 1-day excursion was completely disorganized & probably way overpriced for what we ended up doing, but we still had fun. It's amazing what a stress-free life will do for your attitude :-). I think Johanne enjoyed watching me freak out while riding an elephant. I was completely petrified, more so than for anything else I've done on this trip so far. For the first 15 minutes of the ride, I was convinced that the only thing keeping me from falling off the elephant and plunging to my death (OK, so I may not be stressed but I'm still dramatic) was holding on to the back bar of the "seat". It doesn't sound scary, I know, but trust me. When the elephant is trudging up and down hills on a narrow path, it becomes very very scary. For me anyways, since Johanne was cool as a cucumber and laughing at me the whole time.

The day included other activities such as riding a bamboo raft down the river and trekking to a waterfall. "Trekking" to a "waterfall" must be taken with a grain of salt. It was a 10-minute walk (uphill, but still) to a little trickle of water over some rocks. I think the waterfall only appears during the rainy season, but for some reason, the tour guides still think it is worthwhile to go there. It was funny to see them proudly point out the waterfall, with all of us just scratching our heads wondering what we were looking at.

We also visited a few hill tribes, including the "long neck" Karen tribe, where the women wear multiple brass rings around their neck to make it longer. Although I'm curious to see the villages and see how the locals really live, it just feels wrong somehow. It feels like gawking and somewhat like being at a zoo. It goes both ways for sure, as the tribe "villages" are mostly markets aimed at getting the tourists to buy stuff. Still, I find it uncomfortable.

The rest of our time in Chiang Mai was spent walking around town and visiting temples, shopping and getting foot massages. The best of all worlds!

After booking a few flights and scrambling to find accommodation, we set off for the beaches of south Thailand. Our first stop was in Phuket, more specifically on Patong Beach. After an initial "mishap" of being switched hotels on arrival, we settled into a beachside hotel on the very busy Patong Beach. It was no busier than an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, Cuba or the Dominican Republic, but there were supposedly more quiet beaches around, so 2 days there was plenty for us. Also given the fact that Patong Beach is very popular with the sex tourist crowds, with men young and old "renting" themselves Thai girlfriends for their holidays, we felt a little out of place. Even while trying to adopt a "live and let live" attitude, it was disturbing to see a whole family of men (father, 2 sons in their late teens, early twenties, 1 young son under 5), each with their own "girlfriend". When not taking care of their respective men, the Thai girls would play with the little kid. Sets a great example, doesn't it?

We left Patong Beach and headed 10 km south for another beautiful stretch of sand called Karon Beach. We stayed at a nice resort a bit further away from the beach, but it was quite worth it for the extra luxury it afforded us. My days of "lifestyles of the rich and famous" were quickly running out... The beach was nicer, less busy and a few more waves in the crystal clear water. We did nothing more than spend the day at the beach sleeping (Jo), reading (Janie) and swimming (both). Paradise! After 3 more days of this, it was time to move on & get moving! We took a cheap mini-bus to Krabi, a few hundred km away. Here is were we planned a few excursions, like going to Ko Phi-Phi, made famous in the movie "The Beach". We stayed in Krabi town and made 2 days trips from there: the first was to Ko Phi-Phi and surrounding islands for some sun & snorkeling. Johanne and I both being slightly scared of fish, I was really impressed how well we took to snorkeling. After initial "panicky" moments, we both settled into it quite well. I saw one of the fish from Finding Nemo, so I was happy :-)

The next day trip was a snorkeling/kayaking trip around Hong Island, another beautiful spot in the area. I was really nervous about the kayaking aspect of the trip, since my previous experience with it many years back did not go well (fell in the sea, couldn't get back on & had lifeguards sent after me. Quite unnecessarily I might add. Very embarrassing). We started the day off with snorkeling, which wasn't half as nice as the previous day, since the water was choppy and unclear. The kayak tour involved kayaking around Hong Island. Johanne and I were paired off and pushed into the sea with no instructions whatsoever. Whatever, we're both smart girls, so we could figure it out. After only a few minutes, it was very obvious that something wasn't quite right, since we kept veering to the right. After a few more minutes of experimenting, I determined that it was Johanne's fault ;-) She was obviously paddling way harder on one side than the other. The woman doesn't know her own strength! 10 minutes into it, Johanne already had a burst blister, we were both exhausted and I had no clue how we'd make it around the whole damn island! But at one point you just get over it and keep moving. An hour or so later and we were done. I was again impressed at how we both mostly kept our cool and didn't yell at each other (too much). We may make a good "Amazing Race" team after all!

And after our short stay in Krabi, it was sadly time to head back to Bangkok and say goodbye to Johanne. I was already feeling bummed, even before leaving Krabi, but I was fairly miserable by the time we got to Bangkok. We spent our last day shopping at the weekend market buying last-minute souvenirs, enjoying one last movie at the amazing Siam Paragon cinemas, and a nice meal in a proper restaurant.

I won't dwell on it too much, but saying goodbye the next morning was no fun at all. For the first 3 months of my trip, I always had this nice little break with Johanne to look forward to whenever I got homesick. Now that the trip is over, it's going to be a long while before I see Johanne again, or any of my family & friends from home (next up: traveling with Melissa through Africa!!!) Plus, even if I enjoy traveling on my own, it was nice to have a compatible traveling partner for a while.

The next 4 days were spent feeling low and holing up in my way-too-expensive-yet-still-shabby-and-depressing hotel room in Bangkok. I watched at least 10 movies on cable, I do not exaggerate. But since my visa expired on Feb 7th, I had to get my ass in gear and start moving again. By the time I got around to making travel plans again, the worst of my blues had passed and I was ready to move on. Next stop: Laos!

I'm back!!!

So, now that my "vacation" with Johanne is over (snif, snif), I should be back to a regular schedule of blogging. I'll hopefully be caught up by the end of the week, if my access to OK Internet connections continues.

I can sum up our vacation in 1 word: Fantastic! But of course, it wouldn't be a very interesting blog if I left it at that, so yes, I will go into a bit more detail...

Johanne's & my reunion was held at close to 2AM on January 7th. It was so great to see her, after more than 2 1/2 months away! She looked great, especially considering she'd had such long flights. And it made me laugh to see her arrive with 2 Canadian backpackers in tow, having corraled them into a little group earlier on during one of their layovers. Leave it to Johanne! Still the social butterfly my sister!

The next day started bright and early. We had 4 days planned inBangkok, and a whole list of places to go/things to do. And admittidely, I was eager to impress Johanne with my new found travelling skills and my stamina. However, my pride would take a little beating that day, as things didn't really go as planned...

First of all, I wasn't in the best shape that day, having managed to catch a cold somewhere between Malaysia and Thailand. I'd just been joking with a fellow traveller the week before that ever since I hit Asia, everytime I hear someone caugh or sneeze, I automatically think: Oh!oh! Bird flu alert! Kind of ironic that I'm the one now getting the cold, sneezing, coughing, blowing my nose, all the symptoms you'd expect from a good old fashion winter cold in Quebec! And of course, having just travelled half-way across the world, Johanne was in perfect health, with no signs of jet lag at all! So much for showing off to my sister :-)

The next blow to my pride came later that same day just after we'd left the Royal Palace. Before getting into that, I need to give you a bit of background: One of the things the Lonely Planet guide books are good for are describing the potential scams you may run into while travelling. One thing they tell you clearly, frequently and in BOLD flashing letters, is never to believe anyone who tells you that the attraction or place you want to go to is closed. This is almost always a scam to get you someplace else of their choosing, where you'll be encouraged to spend your money and for which the driver will get a commission. So back to my story: There we are on the corner of a main road, just outside the gate of the Royal Palace. Our next destination was Wat Po (aka Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and were just checking the map to see which way to go, when a nice gentleman offers up his help. He says he work for tourist information and he keeps saying: "just information, free free, no money". So I end up showing him our map and asking for directions to Wat Po, which he quickly gives us. He goes on to say that we should switch the order of our sightseeing, since Wat Po is closed this afternoon until 3:30 (it was around 12:30) because of a special ceremony for the King's sister, who'd just passed away the week before. I had heard about the Princess, so it all seemed logical to me (duh!). He also told us that we could take a tuk-tuk (motorcycle rickshaw) to go see the Giant Buddha and maybe stop off at a tourist information office to help plan the rest of our trip. He is so helpful that he even points out which tuk-tuks we can trust, telling us to take only the one's with drivers wearing an official looking shirt, with a collar and badge. How nice of him! And before we knew it, he had stopped a "good" tuk-tuk and even negociated a good price for us. It would cost us only 20 baht (about 65 cents) for our own chartered tuk-tuk that would bring us to 3 different places and wait for us while we visited. Sounds too good to be true? Of course it is, but still, it didn't ring any alarm bells for me yet.

After our perfectly nice stop at the Giant Buddha, we then stopped at the tourist information office, which ended up being just another travel agency. We were being pressure-sold a package for the rest of our trip, everything from flights, hotels and taxi transfers to/from the airport. We declined and I left feeling stressed about booking our time down south. By the sound of it, we would be lucky to find a flight at all. Now at this point, I still had no clue that I had fallen prey to a textbook example of a tuk-tuk scam, but the lightbulb finally came on when the driver suddenly stopped by the side of the road shortly after we'd left the tourist information/travel agent, and proposed to bring us to another one. We said "no", he said "OK. I bring you to a tailor where you can look to get clothes. You only need to look, no need to buy". Since I'd already been there, done that, just the day before (scammed by yet another tuk-tuk), I was not interested. After a bit of "chatting" with the driver, we ended up getting off then and there, without paying. Since we had no clue where we were, we started looking for a taxi and were lucky enough to get one before it started to rain. All's well that ends well.

Overall, our luck wasn't great that week, with little misshaps like trying to go to the museum on the one day a week it was closed, or showing up at the Teak Palace only to be turned away by the guards at the entrance because the Prince & Princess of Monaco were there visiting. But the misshaps didn't amount to much, considering I was having a great time traveling with my big sister.

One of the better moments of the week was an "Amazing" one. When we finally ended up at Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Johanne and I were both quick to realise that we'd seen this before on the "Amazing Race", as part of a "Fast forward" in season 1. Of course, Johanne even remembered who won the challenge (team Guido). She's a freak ;-) We did our own reproduction of the challenge (dropping coins into a bowl. not Olympic-event material).

All in all, our time in Bangkok was well filled with sightseeing and catching up. I'd say 4 days in Bangkok is enough for anyone who isn't completely enthralled with big cities. It's big, takes forever to get anywhere, but you can do so cheaply. It's also hot, humid & very smogy. It has nice attractions and the best cinema I've been to yet (Siam Paragon, a must-see!).

Welcome to Thailand!

My time in Thailand did not exactly start off the best way. I'd booked a cheap mini-bus from my guesthouse in Penang to get me to Hat Yai, Thailand. Even if Hat Yai is NOT renowned as being a great place to stay, I'd decided on 1 or 2 nights there as a pit stop before taking the train to Bangkok.

I spent the 4+ hour drive litterally sitting on the edge of my seat, watching our driver trying to stay awake. He would blink at least 100 times/minute, and would even close his eyes for a few milliseconds too many. And he eventually did fall asleep, while I wasn't paying attention, and drifted a little onto the side of the highway. Luckily there was no harm done, and the adrenaline kept him (and me) awake for the rest of the journey.

Once in Hat Yai, I was kind of shocked to see that all the signs were in some unreadable script that I now know as being Thai. A little naive of me, but I thought english would be much more prevalent than it was, and it was unsettling to realise I couldn't even read street signs! At least in Malaysia, they use the same alphabet as we do, so even if I didn't know the meaning of the words, I could recognise them easily enough. Not so in Thailand!

As for Hat Yai itself, I don't have many positive things to say about it, so I'll be brief. I had done my research and knew enough about Thailand to stay away from the south-eastern provinces, where fighting and terrorist attacks still go on each day. My research wasn't that thourough though, since I didn't know that Hat Yai was also considered somewhat dangerous, with recent bombings targetting shopping malls and the train station. I found this out once already in Hat Yai, and I freely admit that it spooked me. Let's just say I didn't spend much time there, and booked my train ticket out of there for the next day.

I took the overnight train from Hat Yai to Bangkok, and had a lovely time. It was my first time on a sleeper train, but I was relatively comfortable on the top bunk, if a little claustrophobic, but I managed to sleep well. I met a Malay couple going to visit family, and they gave me plenty of tips and things to see while in Thailand. I think they were worried about me travelling on my own, so they tried to "take care" of me while on their watch. They were very nice and helpful.

I arrived in Bangkok at around noon on Friday. Johanne was scheduled to arrive very late Sunday night, so I had a good 2 days to kill without doing any of the obvious touristy stuff, since I would be doing it with Johanne in a few days. I just walked around the backpacker ghetto known as Khao san road, and people-watched for a while. A very interesting bunch of tourists, lots of hippy types too. And I was suprised by the number of Canadians in Bangkok. It's obviously quite a popular destination.

And as further proof of how small the world really is: as I was sitting there having dinner on Friday night in a little restaurant next to my guesthouse, I noticed a girl I thought I recognized heading for the reception desk. I quickly paid my bill and went to check, and yes, it really was someone I knew. I had met this Swiss girl in my dorm room at my very first hostel in New Zealand, on the 2nd day of my trip! And here she was again in the same guesthouse in Bangkok! Very small world indeed!

I spent the weekend wandering around, getting the lay of the land. Regula, the Swiss girl, having been in Bangkok before, showed me around the River boat and SkyTrain transport systems, so I would (hopefully) be a pro by the time Johanne arrived. I enjoyed myself a bit, but I have to admit I was mostly just really looking forward to seeing Johanne on Sunday night. It was a loooong weekend for me....

So, my first post about Thailand is a bit of a downer, but I promise it gets better after this! I was just off to a slow start, and really excited about seeing Johanne and starting my own little "mini-vacation" from travelling solo. More on that in the next post (and on Johanne's blog - johannel.blogspot.com)

And for those interested (yes, I mean you Dad!), I added a link to my travel map that I keep up to date in TripAdvisor. The link is at the bottom-right of the page, in the Links section. I usually add the cities that I've been to a few times a month, but I will also try to add the places I am planning on going to, so you can get an idea of my itinerary.

And lastly, don't be shy about posting a comment or just saying hi! I'm now back to travelling on my own, and would love some company, even if just "virtual"!!!

Malaysia whirlwind - Part 2

Hey all! I'm still backtracking, trying to catch up on my blog entries. Not bad, after this one, I'll only be about 2 1/2 weeks behind... In the meantime, I'm having a great time with my sister in Thailand. I'm sure I'll have more free time to update the blog when she leaves, so for now, bear with me!

My only plan for the first few weeks in January were to somehow make my way through Malaysia & into Thailand, in time to meet with my sister Johanne on the 13th. Without any previous planning or researching, I realised while in KL that it is very easy to find the best spots, since people seem to travel in almost set itineraries. As I quickly discovered and was recommended by most people I met, my next obvious destination was the Cameron Highlands, up in the mountains near the middle of Malaysia. It would be a nice break from the heat and pollution of KL, as well as being on my way to Thailand.

I took another VIP bus, this one not as luxurious as the previous, but still better than our own "Voyageur" type buses at home. I got to Tanah Rata, my destination, late in the afternoon, so my only activity on my first day was to watch a movie in the common room and luxuriate in my 3$/night dorm. I took pictures of the room for you all, it looks like barracks made out of tole. Still, for that price, I got a bed, blankets & no bugs, so I am not complaining.

Being in the mountains, it was much colder than it had been for me for the past month and a half. I actually took out my hoodie from the bottom of my backpack and made good use of the blankets they supplied.

The next day, I booked a sightseeing tour to visit the surrounding area. I had a great time, seeing the most beautiful landscape, with terraced farms and tea plantations. I don't recall ever seeing such beautiful shades of green! The tour also brought us to the highest point in peninsular Malaysia (which means excluding Borneo and the islands), on a mini-trek through a mossy forest and to visit a local tribe of orang Asli (meaning original people) who still live in very basic conditions in traditional Malay homes.

It was a full, fun day. I loved the mini-trek through the mossy forest, and felt like a jungle explorer when the guide brought us through trails that barely looked wide enough for a monkey, let alone me! I'm not sure about visiting tribes or local people in their homes though. It felt very odd to me, and somewhat like an intrusion into their lives. The kids put on a show for the tourists, but it feels "off" to me. I'm not sure I'd do that again...

Of the 8 people on the tour that day, every single one of them was planning on going to Pulau Penang the very next day (see what I mean about set itineraries?). That's where I was off to next, along with a couple from the tour. The others decided to take an earlier bus, but now being very lazy in the mornings, as well as not being in any rush to get to Pulau Penang, I decided to sleep in a little, in as much as you can sleep in in a barrack with 11 other people...

Pulau Penang is an island off the northwest coast of Malaysia. Georgetown, the most popular destination on the island, is a colonial town built in the early shipping days. It has a worn-out English feel. I spent 2 days sightseeing, one of which I spent with a fellow traveller from the Netherlands. We did all the touristy stuff, such as visiting the museum, the fort and going up on the lookout hill. It was good, and definitely gave me a bit of the feel of smaller Malaysian towns. The roads are packed with motorcycles, buses, tuktuks and cars and there are no sidewalks to speak of. Crossing the street remained a challenge for me, and I mostly managed by taking my cue from other people. I am getting quite good at directions, even managing to direct my taxi driver to my hostel on my very first moments in Penang. And although I'm still not the most adventurous eater there is, I've managed quite well. I've had good (and very cheap) meals at food stalls on the street, and has no regrets!

That's all for my time in Malaysia. I only spent 9 days here, but I think it was a great way to continue on my journey in Asia. It felt more foreign than Singapore, with different sights, sounds and smells, but at least I could read street signs and menus, as they are written in our own alphabet. Next stop: Thailand!

Malaysia whirlwind - Part 1

Hi all,

Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated the blog, but I've been boycotting it for the last week. You see, I spent at least 1.5 hours last week writing the most spectacular post ever (of course!), and just as I was finishing the spellcheck, I lost everything. Don't know how it happened and could not retrieve it no matter how I tried. I was too pissed off to start over again right then, so I gave myself a little break. But for those interested in more up-to-date travel news, you can check out my sister Johanne's blog at johannel.blogspot.com. We are now travelling together through Thailand (yay!) and she is much better/faster at updating her blog. In the meantime, I will backtrack and post over the next few days details about my time in Malaysia. Hope you enjoy.

After spending New Year's Eve in Singapore, I was off to Kuala Lumpur (KL, as known by the locals). I took a bus from Singapore bright and early on New Year's Day. It was a luxury VIP double-decker coach, complete with assigned seats, massage chairs & my own personal video player. The bus even has an attendant, who serves water, coffee and sandwiches. And all this for less than 15$ CDN!

I arrived in KL a little anxious and very much overwhelmed, as I was still feeling some culture shock since my arrival in Singapore. Adapting to Asia was taking a few days, not as fast as I'd hoped, so my arrival in KL, the largest city in Malaysia, was not without trepidation.

The bus dropped my off at a bus depot, which was pretty much just a big parking lot somewhere in the city. Luckily, I had traded my remaining Singapore dollars for Malaysian Ringgits with a girl at my hostel, cause there were no ATM's to be found on site. My first challenge was to get to the hostel. OK, fairly easily done since there were a dozen or so taxis (or teksi, in Malaysian) drivers looking for a willing sucker, oops sorry, I mean customer. This driver comes to me, I show him where I want to go, he grabs the paper (my reservation confirmation) out of my hands and heads to a group of drivers to ask them directions. There was a lot of eye rolling from the other drivers, cause my guy was just not getting it. This is not reassuring, since as it turns out, my hostel was on a main road in the most touristy area of KL. But lo and behold, after maybe 5 minutes, the light seems to go on over this guy's head! Now all that was left to do was to decide on a price, since of course, he and all of the other drivers refused to use the taxi meter. Not being in the best frame of mind, I accepted the first price quoted to me. I didn't even try to negotiate (doh!) but as it turned out, I didn't get fleeced to badly. Only by about 10 RM, which is 3# CDN.

The rest of the day was spent walking around, trying to get accustomed to the sights and sounds of KL. This city is just as Singapore, but way dirtier and stinkier. But the prices! I was completely amazed by how cheap everything is. A few examples: a 1.5L bottle of water costs 1 RM = 0.30$ CDN, A KFC trio (cause KFC is EVERYWHERE in Malaysia) is 8.60 RM i.e. less than 2.70$ CDN. And KL has lots of western shops and restaurants, with the obligatory Starbucks popping up on every street corner.

The next day I was up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM to meet with 2 girls from my hostel to get free tickets to the Petronas Towers. After a 30-minute jog (one of the girls was a very fast walker), I was in line for the daily ticket giveaway. 1400 tickets are dispensed every day for a tour of the SkyBridge that links both towers, and we were told to show up at 7:30AM at the latest or risk missing out. This may have been an exaggeration, but regardless, we were there early so no worries. We got our tickets and were given a 10-minute window to view the SkyBridge. Now, for anyone planning on visiting Kuala Lumpur one day, please skip the SkyBridge and head out to the KL Tower instead. The tickets are more expensive (as in, not free), but you get a much better view of the city, and you actually get to see the Petronas Towers, which are quite beautiful in my opinion.

Now my favorite part of my time in KL was actually about 15 km outside the city. On the list of "must see's" in my Lonely Planet (aka Traveller's Bible), was the Batu caves. So like a good little tourist, I set off to see what it was all about. Part of the adventure was finding the bus that went there, cause even though the direction in my Lonely Planet were quite precise, I still couldn't find the darn bus. After a bit of scrambling and asking 5 different people to get 5 variations on the answer, I spotted a group of tourists (i.e. western looking people) just standing around waiting and looking uncertain. When in doubt, assemble like sheep with other tourists and hope for the best! It usually ends up we are all going to the same place, and this time was no exception. The bus arrived a few minutes later and I was on my way.

Now my arrival at the Batu caves was one of those moments that gave me chills. I didn't know what to except, not really having any idea of what the caves were about, but I was quite amazed when I got there. The sight of the huge gold statue next to the 272 steps leading to the caves was very impressive. Plus, TV junkie that I am, I instantly recognized the place from one of my favorite shows ever, The Amazing Race! I absolutely love it when that happens!

I walked up the steps and enjoyed the great view in the caves. Monkeys were amusing themselves trying to steal food from tourists and getting the last sips of beer in cans thrown in the rubbish bins. Plus, I got to learn about the disturbing Thaipusam, a huge Hindu festival that happens here every Jan/Feb. 1 million devotees make the trek from the city to the caves, many taking part in gruesome and masochistic acts. Piercing their cheeks with steel rods, placing hooks down their backs and hanging thing on them, all to show their devotion.

As per my new pattern it seems, by the 2nd day in KL I was feeling much better and getting into the groove of things. I met a lot of nice people at the hostel, and I find that generally speaking, my fellow travellers through Asia are more sociable than those in NZ or Australia. I haven't spent a day fully on my own since I started my tour in OZ more than 1 month ago. So all in all, a good start to my time in Malaysia!

Asia first impressions

There's something I feel I should admit to everyone. You see, the thing is, if someone had told me last year that I would be ringing in 2008 in Asia, as part of a 1 year round-the-world trip, I would have said they were absolutely, certifiably nuts. Crazy, no doubt about it. I've never had a burning desire to visit Asia. The opposite actually if I want to be truthful. I even remember discussing travelling to Asia with someone and saying it sounded like my worst nightmare. Way too crowded and too many people for someone not 100% comfortable in crowds. Plus being a picky eater, Asian food is not my favorite. Yet here I am, 1 year later and I'm travelling on my own through South East Asia. Crazy!

Then why am I here, you may ask yourself? Basically this trip has been my opportunity to push myself a little bit (or a lot), to get out there and live life a whole lot differently than my usual 9 to 5 (or in my case 7 to 5) job + watching TV. I want to see exotic places than I might not feel up to seeing when I'm retired, if ever.

All that being said, I was a bit anxious and worried about starting the Asian part of my trip. Hoping that I would adapt well and enjoy this part of my itinerary, since it does represent a huge chunk of my time, in theory. I arrived in Singapore, dubbed "Asia for Dummies" in the Lonely Planet, a bit nervous, exhausted and somewhat overwhelmed.

I definitely felt odd and out of place during my first few hours of walking around. Being a visible minority and not understanding the language being spoken around you is quite the change for me. Then I realised that Singapore is basically just another big city with 1 very clear passion: shopping. The malls are absolutely everywhere, and were very crowded while I was there. I can't say if this is because of an After-Xmas shopping blitz, but whatever the reason, they were packed. Some Singaporean call shopping their hobby or favorite sport, while most tourists seem very happy to spend all their time shopping.

Since shopping ISN'T one of my passions, it seemed to me like there wasn't much to do. I visited/shopped in Little India, visited/shopped on Orchard St., went to the Night Safari (basically a night zoo), visited a museum, and made an aborted attempt at visiting Sentosa Island, Singapore's version of an amusement park/beach resort. I was just so exhausted and hot, I ended up going to the movies instead (yay!!!).

Still, I ended up being happy about my time in Singapore. It gave me a chance to adapt slowly to being a visible minority, and being stared at for some other reason than just my weight. I got the chance to rest a bit as well, taking it easy and recuperate from my time in hot & sweaty Australia.

That's it for now. More on my time in Malaysia later, I've got to go catch a bus!

Australia wrap-up

The second part of my Outback tour was touted as being the most boring tour in all of Australia by our tour guide. He said this because there just isn't that much to see or do between Alice Springs and Darwin, just a whole lot of red sand, bushes and a few rocks. But luckily for us, he was a really good tour guide who made an effort to keep it interesting, even if there was a lot of driving involved.

The best stop of the tour was at Devil's Marbles, basically a bunch of huge rocks sitting in the Outback as if they had been placed there by some unknown giants. We scrambled around the rocks, taking amazing pictures at all the best photo ops. It's at one of these photo ops that I had my latest mishap that of course, I'd love to share with you.

Carl, our tour guide, proposed that we take a group photo on top of a big rock. He then looked at me and amended that, hum, maybe we'd be better off taking the photo in front of the rock, not on top of it. You see, the thing was that you actually had to leap onto the rock from a lower rock a few feet away. Imagine, to think he actually doubted my ability to get on the rock! The cheek of him! So of course, I say no, no, I can do it. Or at least try to do it. And of course, what was bound to happen happened. I didn't quite make it far enough, went "splat" onto the rock, lost my shoe somehow (???) and was flat on the rock desperately trying not to fall off like my shoe did. I basically had to scrape myself up onto my knee and then scramble safely onto the rock. I survived, but managed to scrape my knee pretty good. But someone was kind enough to retrieve my shoe from down between 2 rocks, so all was well. Hopefully the pictures will be worth it...

The third and final part of my tour was a 3-day sprint around Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, way up top near Darwin. I say near Darwin, but really, nothing in Australia is really near anything else, so again, there was a lot of driving involved. This is also where I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Here are some highlights:

• Dragged my ass on an what should have been an easy 3.5 km walk to get to a swimming hole, wearing my fly net the whole time and still getting freaked out by the amount of flies around my face.
• Cooled down in the swimming hole for a while, then dragged my a** back from the swimming hole, this time twisting my ankle, falling and scraping the other knee that had so far been intact.
• Went on a guided night walk through the forest on Xmas Eve, looking for snakes, spiders and crocodiles. Found 2 out of 3 (no snakes) but as an added bonus had my first experience with leeches!
• Had a huge traditional Xmas lunch on our tour, with ham, turkey, chicken, salads, ... all the while fighting off the biting ants and coping with heat.
• Went to another swimming hole after Xmas lunch to cool down again, only to be nibbled on 3 times by biting fish! On my disgusting wounded knee that still won't heal in all this heat and humidity! Arggg!
• Finished off Xmas day by going out to dinner in Darwin with the gang from our tour. Somehow, we didn't get the memo that most restaurants would be closed on Christmas Day. Who knew! ;-) Ended up having an excellent (not) Chinese/Italian take-away meal with the gang.

So, all in all I had a great time in the Australian Outback and a good Christmas as well. I have to admit that my comfort level was severely tested during these 2 weeks, and I'm surprised that I managed as well as I did. But now, I am honestly quite pooped. It was great, and I would recommend it to anyone, but I also find that 2 weeks is a long time to be on a tour. I've realised that tours are great for meeting people, but the downside is that I don't have as much independence as I'd like. You have to pace yourself with the group, which in my case is way faster than what I'm comfortable with. A bit tiring for me, but also worth it in the end.

So as I'm writing this, I have now made my way to my first stop in Asia: Singapore! Free Internet at the hostel (cool!) and still hot & humid weather (oh well).

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Hopefully, 2008 will bring you all the best!

An update from the middle of nowhere!

I had a great week on my tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs. This is exactly what I wanted to see of Australia, and I have not been disappointed. It's vast, empty, harsh, hot and so very different from anyplace I've ever seen. From the news I get from home about the snow piling up non-stop in Montreal, I really can't think of anyplace more different than where I am now! By the way, I hope you are all surviving winter so far. I feel for ya! :-)

The first part of my tour covered the trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs, the aforementioned "middle of nowhere". For 6 days, we drove anywhere from 3 to 7 hours a day through the desert, stopping at interesting places along the way for walks or for taking pictures. The highlights for me were Uluru (amazing!) and Kata Tjuta (even prettier than Uluru).

It was also quite the experience for me, with firsts like camping under the stars and sharing duties with 24 strangers for 6 days straight. The group was actually really good, and I met some really nice people. The camping was OK, although I can't say that I'm a fan of feeling dirty all the time (red sand & dust from the desert that covers you from head to toe) nor of sleeping without a pillow. And the showers, well, I'll just leave that to your imagination. Let's just say I am becoming an expert at scanning for bugs like centipedes and cockroaches while rinsing the shampoo from my hair. And I now know to look under the bed for dead mice before going to sleep in an underground cave. Loads of fun! :-)

I promised my sister Julie that I wouldn't complain of the heat, since she is freezing her butt off in Quebec and is not loving the early start to winter you've been getting this year. So this is not a complaint, I swear, it is simply a statement of fact: The Outback is HOT! On the few days where the sun was shinning full blast, you felt like you were baking in the sun. To give you an idea of how hot and dry it gets, when I washed my hands at one of our rest stops, I left the toilet without drying my hands (no towels or dryer) and within 5-10 seconds, my hands were bone dry! I was so amazed, I wet them again just to count how long it took to dry them, and didn't make it to 10 seconds. A bit geeky of me, but I thought it was so cool! And we were quite lucky with the weather, since it wasn't that sunny all the time. We had a few days of clouds, and some rain, and without them, I don't know how I would have managed not to get heat or sunstroke. It's also why most days on the trip start out really early (like as early as 3:45 AM!), so that you can get activities done early in the day before it gets to hot. The hottest parts of the day were spent sitting on a very old, uncomfortable but luckily air-conditioned bus.

I am now in Alice Springs until tomorrow, when the 2nd part of my tour starts. I will probably not be in contact until the day after Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! Enjoy this time with your respective families, and stay safe!

As for me, I will probably be missing home a bit next week, but I still appreciate every minute of this trip I'm doing. No regrets or complaints from me!

Merry Christmas!!!

Road trip!

My last week started off on a bit of a low, having arrived in Melbourne to find that the hostel I managed to book myself into the day before was a bit scuzzy and sooo not my style. Added to that was me worrying about my plans (i.e. didn't have any yet) for the rest of my time in Australia. This planning as I go along will get some getting used to, but hopefully I'll be an expert at it by the time my trip ends.

I ended up spending my time in Melbourne going to the movies twice ("Death at a funeral" - very funny English movie, "Into the Wild" - liked it a lot) and spending hours on the Internet getting some stuff settled. So don't ask me what I thought of Melbourne, I can't really form an opinion based on what I did or saw... Just don't stay at the Nomads Industry hostel if you come here, although to be fair I've heard that most hostels in Melbourne are of the same quality.

So, once I made some plans, I was ready to move on. I spent a couple of days in Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. This is where the world-famous (at least now it is!) Penguin Parade happens every night. Those of you who've read my previous post about penguins realise that this would be a draw to me, having the chance to some again. This time, the "penguin parade" was a very touristy attraction, with hundreds of people paying good money to sit in a stand on the beach waiting for the penguins to return from the sea at nightfall. It looked more like a "tourist parade" at one point... But when the sun sets, hundreds upon hundreds of penguins make there way from the sea to their little nests on the beach. It really was an amazing site, these cute little 30-cm penguins waddling up from the ocean!

Phillip Island is also where I was introduced to the joys of summer in Australia. No, I'm not talking about the beautiful beaches, although there were plenty, nor the hot weather or blue ocean. No, I'm talking about the bloody Australian flies. You see, there is this well kept secret about Australia that I learned only once I got here. I was warned about the snakes, spiders, killer jellyfish, crocodiles, ... before my arrival, but no one ever mentioned anything about the flies. What's so bad about flies, you ask? Let me tell you, these are not your typical Quebec black flies that buzz in your ear once in a while and move on. These are disgusting, sticky little black flies that Will. Not. Leave. You. Alone. They fly around your face, trying to get into any orifice they can. These charming flies particularly enjoy the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, and nothing will deter them in their quest to drive you absolutely crazy. The only thing that keeps them somewhat away from your face is doing the Aussie wave, also known as the Aussie salute. A constant "whoosh-whooshing" movement in front of your face.

So there I was on Phillip Island, ready for a nice day at the beach. I had packed myself a little picnic lunch, a good book and had big plans for snoozing the afternoon away. I got to the beach, sat down and lasted 30 minutes before I realised I couldn't take it anymore. My hands were cramping up from waving all the time, I couldn't get a bite of my lunch without having 10 flies hovering around my mouth and when I tried to lay down and ignore them, they just had a field day trying to get to my brain through my ears (or so it felt like to me). I gave up and headed to the shops were at least the number of flies would be a bit more manageable, but not before I managed to make a complete fool of myself by having a meltdown right on the main street. As I was waving my hand frantically in front of my face, one fly got to my eye, even behind my sunglasses. I freaked and threw off the sunglasses, which also sent my hat and hairband flying. I was not a happy camper. Then I noticed I had attracted a bit of an audience, so I started laughing. Better that than going absolutely nuts, which is what I felt like doing. The flies have not gotten any better since then, but I think I've adapted now. The Aussie wave is now an automatic thing when I'm outside, so much so I think I may be waving in my sleep...

Next up after Phillip Island was a 3-day road trip from Melbourne to Adelaide, via the Great Ocean Road. I was very excited to drive in Australia, to see if driving on the left-hand side would come back to me quickly (I'd done it before when I worked in the UK for 6 months). It did, and it sure felt good to be behind the wheel of a car, that much I can say! Driving on the left didn't prove to be to much of a challenge, and shifting gears with my left hand is actually more natural to me than the right. What did prove to be a challenge was using the "flicker" to signal a turn instead of using the windshield wipers all the time (the windshield wipers are on the left of the steering wheel, where my "flicker" would be at home). I think I started getting the hang of it on my 3rd day. The drive on the Great Ocean Road is absolutely beautiful. I took so many pictures, it'll take me hours to upload them. Very much worth the while!

I had to upgrade my living arrangements for those few days on the road, since I was travelling during "schoolies" week. "Schoolies" is the Australian version of Spring break for the recent high school graduates. They head "en masse" to the beach, taking up every budget accommodation possible. So I had to upgrade to motels, or else sleep in the car. Not a difficult decision to make! Especially since next up for me is a 2-week tour of the Outback, including 6 nights of camping under the stars!

I hope all of you are enjoying Xmas time at home. I have to admit it is just not the same being so far away and being in a warm climate for Christmastime. Hearing "Jingle Bells" on the radio whilst sweating in 30C weather is just too bizarre for me...

In the land Down Under

So I've been getting some subtle and not so subtle hints to update my blog more often. Sorry about that, but I do my best...

I've been in Australia for the past week, enjoying the sights and melting in the humidity. I am shocked to see how unfortunately and digustingly sweaty I get in this weather, and it's only been in the low to mid 20's since I've arrived. I simply cannot (I repeat, I cannot) fathom what 39C with 100% humidity feels like! I'm not sure I want to know, but I suspect I'll find out in the next few weeks when travelling up north into the tropical Top End of Australia. But enough about the weather for now.

I arrived in Sydney last Friday, and have been living the high life since then. I've been staying at my cousin Doug's & his wife Beth's place in Sydney, located right in the middle of things in Darling Harbour. Doug & Beth have been very welcoming, and I've been treated like a royal visitor. A personal tour guide, amazing home cooked meals, a room to myself, a nice reprieve from my current backpacking lifestyle!

My days in Sydney have been somewhat lazy, since I have been mostly enjoying the above. I did get the chance to visit the central business district, see the Opera House and walk for what seems like miles around various Sydney neighborhoods. The highlight of my sightseeing in Sydney was the BridgeClimb, where, as the name suggest, you climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge up to the very top (see picture below). It wasn't too difficult, even for little old me. The worse bit may have been my half-jog to get to the BridgeClimb in time for my 1:15PM climb, having misjudged the time it would take me to walk there and having lazed around all morning doing my laundry and talking on Skype. I was red-faced and sweaty even before starting the climb. Charming. :-)

I left Tuesday morning for a 2-day getaway to the Blue Mountains, where I had my first chance to partake in the very typical Australian pastime of bushwalking. Now for those of you who aren't very up on their Aussie lingo, the "bush" is a very general term used for what we Canucks would call "woods" or "forest". I didn't know this before getting here by the way, I thought the bush referred to the Outback. But no, those are 2 different and separate things...

My first bushwalk started on a cloudy afternoon, in walking distance from the hostel I was staying at in Katoomba (cool name, isn't it?). The scenery is gorgeous, and I was really enjoying myself, walking on a trail high on the cliff surrounding the most amazingly green canyon far below. I was quite thrilled that there I was, "bushwalking" in Australia, all the way across the world from my home. I enjoyed myself for a full 10 minutes, until it hit me. There I was, in the bush in Australia, land of the killer snakes and spiders. The country that has the most ways you can die an ugly death at the hands of reptiles and arachnids. I kind of froze for a minute there as I remembered this, but started moving again, slowly and with a little less enjoyment than I was having a few minutes before. I also remembered what Beth told me, that even though you hear all these scary things about Australia, you probably won't ever see any of the things that can kill you. But still, "probably" isn't all that reassuring when you're on your own in the bush.

I did manage to enjoy the rest of my walk, but I can't say that I saw much of the scenery as I was walking. I was too busy looking out for snakes and spiders. And I did see quite a few spiders, but they were smallish and I'm pretty sure they weren't of the killer variety. I didn't see snakes but I did see a small iguana/lizard/some kind of reptile.

The next day I had more bushwalking planned. There is this one walk that involves the "Giant Stairway", with 800 or so steps leading into the bottom of the canyon from high on the cliff above. This is where a few years ago Doug & Beth saw a girl puking near the top of the steps, after her climb up. Puking not being high on my list of things to do while in Australia, I decided to go down the steps and back up further along the trail in a 10$ gondola ride. Call me lazy if you want, but it was still quite the workout just going down the bloody steps. My legs certainly feel it today as a result of my walk yesterday.

I'm heading off to Melbourne this Sunday. I am doing it the "flashpacker" way, i.e. I am going to Melbourne on a 2-hour flight instead of taking the 12-hour overnight bus. For an extra 30$ AUD, I got myself a cheap flight and I am very happy about it. For those following on Google Earth, the rest of my time in Australia should be spent visiting Melbourne, going from Melbourne to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road, from Adelaide to Alice Springs via Coober Peddy, then an organized tour of Outback highlights (Uluru, Kings Canyon, the Olgas) from Alice Springs to Darwin, which should be my final destination in Australia. There are so many places to see and the country is so big that you really can't do it all in 5-6 weeks. You have to make choices, and those are mine, even if they involve some of the hottest places on earth at this time of the year. Anyone want to join me? :-)

My last week in New Zealand

OK, so I don't want to rub it in, really I don't. I know that it snowed this week in Montreal, and more snow is expected in the forecast, but the weather here in New Zealand has been seriously great these past few days! I've just spent the better part of today working on my farmer's tan and maybe a little bit of sunburn as well. It was 28C and not a white cloud to be seen. Pretty good for the end of November, hey?

I've continued to enjoy my time in New Zealand since the last post. I'd say the pace has definitely slowed down a lot from the first weeks of the Magic trip, when I was on the move to a new destination almost every day. I've had the chance to relax a bit more in a few places, and it's been great.

For those non-adventure lovers out there (there are bound to be a few!) , I did 2 excursions you might be interested in if you ever make your way to New Zealand. The first started from Dunedin, NZ's very-own Scottish town. The weather was not the best when I was there, and I had my coldest days since being in NZ (min 1C, max 8C. Brrrr!), which is saying a lot. I decided to do an "Animal safari", since it sounded good and was a nice way to spend my day in Dunedin instead of doing nothing but avoid the cold and wet weather. First off on the Animal safari was a stop to see some Royal Albatross, the largest sea birds around. Now if you're anything like me, you're thinking at this point: ooh, big deal, birds... I'm not into birds too much, so even if I did see a Royal Albatross, I could barely tell the difference between this and a normal "mouette", at least not from afar. But our guides were really excited that we got to see one, so I guess that means I'm lucky, right? Next up the guides brought us to a farm by the sea where we got to watch my new favorite animal (or bird?): the penguin. We walked through farmland to the beach to see the tiny little penguins return from a hard day at sea. Some of the older penguins are used to seeing humans, so they don't mind you so much, but the younger ones are a bit nervous. They would swim out of the sea, start waddling up the beach, then stop dead in their tracks. They'd look up at us to where we were standing still more than a 100 meters away and do a u-turn and head right back to the sea. Or stand very still and pretend to be invisible. Too cute! We were also brought to a shelter on a hill by the beach, where we could watch the penguins moving around without them seeing us. We saw some newly hatched penguins being protected by their parent, and other eggs just starting to hatch. Very cool!

The other non-adventurous activity I did took place in Lake Tekapo, this very small village that has a summer camp/cottage feel to it. Reminded me of the Laurentians. Anyway, the weather was so nice and a great change from the cold and wet weather of Dunedin, that I decided to stay 2 nights instead of just one. On my first night there, I did a star-gazing tour. Since I never get to see the stars even at home, being so close to all those lights emanating from Montreal, star-gazing is something I really wanted to do while in NZ. I was lucky enough to arrive in Lake Tekapo to great weather and cloudless skies. There is also an observatory up on a hill close by, so now was my chance to see the Southern sky at its best, plus get close-ups of the Moon and constellations via a huge telescope. The "tour" began at 11:30PM and lasted until close to 2AM. I got to see literally thousands of stars in a sky so bright and lit up that it looked fake. Brilliant!

Aside from that, I enjoyed spending a relaxing day sitting on the beach by Lake Tekapo, with nothing more pressing on my agenda then doing my washing and calling home. Since then, I have moved on to Christchurch, my last destination in New Zealand. I've spent a couple of days walking around and visiting, as well as thinking about my next destination: Australia. Even if I've enjoyed New Zealand tremendously and I think it was the best place to start my trip, I'm looking forward to moving on to a new country now. It's kind of like starting over on a new trip, but with a bit more "backpacking" experience under my belt. Not much, since NZ was so easy, but I don't have the same worries I did when I started my trip in October. I now know I can do this, and enjoy every challenge along the way. It has now been more than a month since I've stopped work, and I must say I am in no rush to get back. I have plenty of other things to do, places to see, people to meet, new "favorites" to discover...

Cruising in the southland...

I had already decided earlier on during my trip that I would treat myself to an overnight trip to either Milford or Doubtful Sound when I was in the South Island. A day-trip to Milford Sound, part of NZ's famous "fiordland", is almost mandatory for any visitor to New Zealand, but I had met a few people who had mentioned that the day trips are really long days and there is a lot of sitting on a bus involved. If you can afford an extra 100$ or so, you can do an overnight cruise and that breaks up the long bus ride and gives you an extra special place to sleep that night! Since I'm not spending thousands on bungies and etc..., I decided to go for it. I also had to choose between Milford & Doubtful Sounds, both beautiful fiords but each with their own "cachet". I chose the lesser travelled Doubtful Sound, simply because it is usually more expensive than Milford Sound but was on special the day I booked it. By a "poule de luxe" standard, if it was more expensive, it had to be better, right? Sorry, I'm not really that shallow. It's really the cute guy at the hostel reception desk that convinced me to go the Doubtful instead of Milford ;-)

So bright and early Monday morning I was off to catch a coach (bus, for us Canadians) for the first part of my journey to Doubtful Sound. The bus brings you as far as it can, then you hop on a boat to cross a lake (Lake Manganui) and take another bus that finally brings you to your final destination, a 70-passenger boat waiting for you on Doubtful Sound.

I had heard somewhere that "fiordland" is the wettest place in NZ, and thought that it rained there something like 350 days out of every 365. It turns out I was misinformed, it only rains about 200 days a year, but it does get the most rainfall in all of NZ. Everywhere else measures rainfall in millimeters, but there they measure it in meters. Seriously. Some parts get more than 6 meters of rain a year! All this to say that I was really expecting it to be rainy, and I was not disappointed. The ship's crew make a really big effort to make sure the passengers don't let the weather influence their experience. The fact that is was raining hard is actually a bonus, as you get to see dozens of "temporary" waterfalls falling from the cliffs. One of these waterfalls is actually higher than Victoria Falls in Africa, but it doesn't "count" as it is temporary. Meaning when the rain stops, so does the waterfall... Actually, I'll have to look that up. The guides on coaches and boats can basically tell you anything and you'll believe it. I must learn a bit more skepticism. (side note: my first "Magic" coach driver told us to look out the window at the new breed of animal they are raising in NZ. A sort of sheep, but with a long neck like a giraffe. it's called the "shiraffe". I actually believed it for maybe 10 seconds until I saw some lamas grazing in a field. I called the bus driver on it later that night in the bar, and he just laughed and told me they make up stuff all the time...)

Back to the cruise: It was a beautiful trip, in an almost mystical looking place. Because it is so remote and in a protected 3million square km park, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere and are the only people there. With all the mist and rain and waterfalls, there is an eerie mystical feeling to the place. It's not to be missed if you ever decide to visit NZ!

The ship was nice, my shared cabin the smallest room I have ever slept in. It's no bigger than a train sleeping car, with 4 bunk beds. I met 2 Scottish girls and 2 Kiwi guys and spent most of my time with them. On the trip back to Queenstown, the sun poked out of the clouds, but not for long. It has been raining off and on since then, so I've attended to the mundane tasks of laundry, shopping and Blog instead of freezing my butt outside in cold wet weather! (another side note: really, if you ever decide to come to NZ, make sure you pack a jacket or fleece or something more than a cotton hoodie!)

And one last thing, thanks to my sister Johanne for reminding me to update my profile with my new age. That was really nice of you ;-)

Birthday blast-off!

First of all, thanks to all of you for your birthday wishes, emails and videos. It was good to feel so close to all of you on what could have been a tough day far from home... Thanks again!

My "New Zealand" birthday started off bright and early to the sounds of helicopters buzzing in the sky. A good sign for my own helicopter trip planned for 10AM! But then a glance out the window got me worried, as it was very cloudy and visibility seemed low. And even if some companies take their helicopters out for tours and heli-hikes, it didn't necessarily mean that my company would...

I left for the helicopter place at 9:30, just to be sure I wouldn't be late. The village is so small, it literally takes 5 minutes to get from one end to the other. So I left my hostel at 9:30 and was at the helicopter place at 9:32, only to be told that all flights were cancelled for this morning and I was rescheduled for 2 PM. I wasn't exactly pleased about this, even though only fickle Mother Nature was to blame. This meant I had to be back at the helicopter place at 1:30PM, which also meant I didn't have much time for walking around the glacier as I had planned. The next bus available for the actual glacier area was in 1 hour, and I would only have 2 hours there before I had to get back on the next bus. Oh well. What can you do.

So after killing 1 hour waiting for the bus and honestly feeling a bit sorry for myself, (yeah, poor little me, I know) off I went to the glacier. It was really something special to see and I thoroughly enjoyed the walk through the rain forest to get to the glacier itself. Kind of weird thinking of glaciers and rain forests in the same context, but there you go, that's NZ for you. The glacier itself is impressive, with spots of blue ice visible even from the ground. And for once I wasn't the slowest walker on the planet, as I made it to the glacier and back in plenty of time to do another walk, that brought you to a lake with a reflection of the glacier in the water. Spectacular, but you'll have to take my word for it, since I only had a disposable camera with me. Forget trying to buy a digital camera in Franz Josef, they only sell disposable cameras at the gas station and one tourist shop. Still, the view of the lake and the glacier was excellent.

I then rushed back to the village and kept my fingers crossed that my scenic flight would happen. The day was clearing up, but not that fast and there were still lots of clouds around. I was at the office at 1PM and was told that no flights had left yet, but to come back in 30 minutes. At this point, I'm already resigned to the fact that I won't be going but that at least I got to see the glacier up close and I enjoyed it. So, back to the office at 1:30 after a 30-minute, 90 cent call home, only to be told to wait again. 1:35, 1:40, 1:45, ... and finally, at 2 PM I was told it was a go! Woo hoo! Off I went accompanied by 3 Americans (1 older couple and 1 guy my age) across the street to the helipad. We were briefed on what to do and not do around the helicopter (i.e. don't raise your arms around the back of the helicopter like that Dr. did on ER) and settled into the helicopter. I was sitting up front, right next to the gorgeous helicopter pilot (something about pilots and firemen. It must be in their job descriptions...) and off we went!!! It was amazing, not scary at all. It just kind of floats up, up and away! The clouds were still heavy around the base of the glacier, but we quickly got above them and saw the glacier up close. You could see the crevasses and blue ice really well. The helicopter flew around both the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, as then brought us close to Mt Cook, NZ highest mountain. The scenery was unbelievable and the 40-minute helicopter ride worth every penny! We even got to land on one of the glaciers and kick around in the snow. I have to admit the snow part was not too impressive coming from a Quebecois who dislikes winter, but the landing on a glacier part was worth it! I took 20 or so pictures with my disposable camera. I have no clue how they'll come out, but I'll sure remember my *gasp* 37th birthday for a long while!

My birthday then got even better since I spoke to all my sisters at once after my flight. I think I was still giddy from the experience, so I doubt I was really coherent... I was told to make sure I checked my email today, so off I went to the Internet cafe, funnily enough located inside an old red bus. My family had had a dinner party the previous weekend since my parents are off to Florida for the winter, and they had all taped little messages for me and posted them on YouTube. They even sang me Happy birthday and had a birthday cake for me as well! It was great, and I didn't shed more than 2 tears, so that was good to.

That's it for today! I am now in Queenstown, a.k.a. Adventure capital of the world. It's a beautiful place, but I was kind of at a loss today as to what to do when you're not into bungy, white-water rafting, sky-diving, jet boating, ... I ended up going shopping in a local shopping area to get myself a better deal on a digital camera than in all the tourist shops in Queenstown. I think I got an excellent deal for NZ. The camera I bought here is exactly the same price as I found on FutureShop, and a girl I met in my hostel dorm has the same one and paid more than 100$ extra in Australia for hers. So not bad.

For those following me on Google Earth, I'm off tomorrow on an overnight cruise to Doubtful Sound. Hasta luego!

A rainy day update

So, I've only been gone 3 weeks and already I'm slacking off in the blog department. Sorry about that... My days are usually pretty filled and although I do have time to check my emails, I haven't really had that much time to update the blog. But it's poring rain right now in Franz Josef and I've just bought a 2-hour Internet card, so here I go!

The past week has continued to be very busy and beautiful. I really have been lucky in the weather department, with little rain and when it has, it didn't really matter. I've also continued to be a wuss, spending a couple of hours last Friday watching people do bungy. In this case, I actually take back the wuss thing and just say that I've been really smart. Throwing yourself off a bridge with a rubber band tied around your ankle just seems silly to me :-) But watching other people do it sure is entertaining!

After Taupo, a nice little village somewhere in the middle of the North Island, the bus headed for Wellington. It was a long day's drive with lots of stops here and there. One stop will be interesting to Lord of the Ring fans: the drive goes through a desert road where you get this amazing view of 3 mountains, one of which being Mt. Doom in the Lord of The Rings movies. It was really cool, even though I have to admit to not being a real fan of the movies (blasphemy here in NZ). I hope to post a few nice pictures of it soon.

Speaking of The Lord of the Rings, guess what movie is played in almost every single hostel TV room here in NZ? You guessed it, LOTR. I guess people like to watch it again after seeing the locations "in real life".

A had a short stay in Wellington, only 2 nights - 1 day, as I was in a rush to get to the South Island. Wellington was OK, basically another big city but with a nice seaside location. In really lives up to its nickname of "Windy Wellington", or at least it did for the time I was there. Visited another museum (probably my last in NZ, since they are not my favorite places), walked around the city, took the Cable car up to the Botanical Gardens and walked back to the city center. I also caved in and went to my first movie of my trip. It had been at least 3 weeks after all since I'd been to the movies! I saw "Atonement", a British movie that may have played at home a few months back, but I'm not sure. All the other movies playing were at least 2-3 months behind what we get at home, so I'm assuming this was the same. It was a good movie, or at least a good way to spend 2 hours out of the wind and resting my feet!

I was up and early on Monday to take the ferry across the Cook Strait to the South Island. The ferry was huge, has a movie theater among other things to keep people quiet during the 2.5 hour journey. I was really surprised that the crossing is actually from west to east and not north to south as you would assume. It seems that Wellington on the North Island is actually lower south than Picton, the ferry terminal on the South Island. Who knew!

Next stop was Nelson, another very quaint village. I checked out the town for a couple of hours and got ready for the next day's "Seal safari". Nelson is close to Abel Tasman national park, an amazing area with lots of secluded bays, beaches and a really famous tramping (i.e. walking) path. I'd booked myself a "Seal safari", which was basically a combination of bus to get you to Abel Tasman, a boat to cruise along a few bays and visit the seal colony and a 1.5 hour walk back to a bay to finally be picked up by a water taxi to do the trip in reverse. It was a gorgeous day, with a beautiful blue sky, but still pretty damn cold. I had 4 layers up top and spent most of the day with all of them on. The only time I took my hoodie off was after huffing and puffing my way uphill for a while. But the kicker was the visit to the seal "colony". The boat stops for 5 minutes across from an island where I counted 5 seals. Supposedly they are all off somewhere busy mating or something. I saw another 3 more swimming in the sea, so grand total for the "Seal Safari" was 8! Still, I had a really good time. I walked back with 2 other girls, and even though I huffed and puffed uphill, it was a relatively easy walk. At the very end of the trail, we had to choose between the low tide trail and the high tide trail. When in doubt, you would think that we'd have chosen the high tide trail, but no, we went with the other obvious choice of following the group ahead of you and assuming they know what they are doing. Just as obviously, they didn't. We ended up having to roll up our pants, take our shoes and socks off to wade across a little stream or pond to get to the beach. Cold, but it was pretty funny, especially watching other more complainy type of people get all worried about getting their feet wet... Funnier still were the stories one of the girls shared with us about her time spent in Australia. Can't really repeat them here though ;-)

Next up was another looooong bus day to get from Nelson to Greymouth. The only claim to fame of Greymouth, besides being a mandatory overnight stop on the Magic bus, is the Monteiths brewery tour. For 25 NZD you get a tour of the brewery, a taste test of all 7 of their brews as well as an all-you-can-eat sausage diner with a free pint of your favorite brew. It's a good opportunity to meet more people (as if you don't meet enough already every day on the bus and sleeping in dorms all the time!). I spent awhile talking to a couple of American girls who had just come from India, Thailand and Australia. I left with a couple of notes on what to do and where to go, and I am already looking forward to the next destinations!

So it's still going really well, if a little rushed sometimes. I'm looking forward to sleeping somewhere more than 2 nights in a row. Like I said, I've been meeting a lot of people, mostly from the hostels and the bus. Have I mentioned though that it seems that mostly girls/women travel to NZ on their own? There have to be guys/men somewhere, but they certainly aren't on the Magic bus or in the hostels I've stayed in. On most days, our bus is filled with lets say 20 girls and 1 guy travelling with his girlfriend. And most of those 20 girls are English or Irish. Bizarre...

Off to do some camera shopping as mine bit the dust a couple of days ago. I hope to find one today since tomorrow is (hopefully) my helicopter tour of NZ's 2 glaciers and highest mountain! It's my birthday gift to myself! I say hopefully, because it is weather dependant. So please send good weather vibes down to NZ for me tomorrow!