Friday, June 12, 2009
Koh Phangan and beyond...
Hello, after Koh Samui I caight a ferry to Koh phangan..and it all gets a bit hazy from here....just kidding. I stayed for 6 nights in a bungalow on a hill in haad rin beach, which is where the full moon parties are. I went on a snoop dogg cruise one day which was cool, met some nice people and went to a waterfall and climbed through this cave thing to come out on the other side of the waterfall. we also had lunch at bottle beach and went snorkelling. on the 5th of june i met up with about 7 other friends from home and hung out with them for the last couple of days. some of us hired scooters and rode up to thongsala - me and sophie both crashed our bikes... i only got some minor cuts on my knees. we went out one night to the reggae bar and then to the beach dance party thing and had a midnight swim in the sea. the full moon party was ok but i had heaps more fun the other nights. bit of a letdown. the next day after the full moon party (8th) Jarryd and I caught the ferry back to Koh Samui at 2.30pm and then got a cab to the airport, i flew to bangkok and then stayed near the airport for a night. my flight to canada left at 8.15am on the 9th so had to be at the airport very early and then flew to Tokyo, stopped for 2 hours then straight to vancouver. it was weird arriving at midnight canadian time. i went straight to a hotel and slept most of the night. i think im still a bit jetlagged though. i spent 2 nights in vancouver just sightseeing and sorting myself out, got a cell phone etc. went to a stand up comedy gig the 2nd night with people from the hostel which was so funny! i then caught the greyhound bus up to whistler yesterday and stayed last night at a hostel in creekside. today im looking for a room to rent and i think ive got a good one lined up in a sharehouse. then i just need to get a job! will update soon!! nat
Monday, June 1, 2009
The Islands
Hi all, I spent 3 nights in Phi Phi and it was very beautiful, despite the fact it rained for 2 of those days. On the second night there was a crazy storm, it was so windy. I stayed in a fairly dodgy place for the first 2 nights and got sick of it and moved to a nicer one for the last night. I went on a boat tour to see 'The Beach' and went snorkelling and kayaking and had dinner on the boat at sunset. I met some cool people, and hung around with some english guys and aussie girls I met for some of the time. I had a beautiful seafood dinner at one of the restaurants near the beach one night and another night stayed up until the sun rose at the Ibiza bar. I think I liked it so much because the island doesn't have roads, just paths. You could walk around the island in a couple of hours. A lot of the buildings are still being rebuilt after the Tsunami in 2004, which is quite devastating that its taken them 5 years. I then caught a boat to Phuket for 1 night. I knew I wouldn't really like it there because I'd heard it was really busy and touristy. And I was right. Patong Beach is like Surfers Paradise but crazier and stinkier. I caught a bus the next morning to Suratthani and then a barge to Koh Samui, where I am at the moment. It is more island-like, and I'm staying in a beautiful little bungalow right on the beach in Lamai. The water is really nice and warm and it isn't very busy or crowded being low season. Tomorrow I am off to Koh Phangan where I will stay for a week until the Full Moon Party on the 7th and then back to Bangkok!
Natalie
Natalie
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Land of Smiles
Hello!
Im in Thailand at the moment. After Singapore I flew into Bangkok and spent one night there. Stayed just off Khoa San Rd which is Backpacker central and met 4 English girls on their gap year. I really wanted to go North to Chang Mai and that's what they were doing so I tagged along. We caught an overnight bus (hell) and stayed at SpicyThai backpackers for 1 night and then myself and Yvette (one of the girls) did a 1 night trek into the hill tribes. We did elephant riding on the first day and stayed overnight in a village. I had a stomach bug so the trekking part wasn't that much fun. i didn;'t eat anything for about 4 days there! The 2nd day we went white water rafting and bamboo rafting which was really fun. The next 2 nights we stayed at Banana Guest house in Chiang Mai and went to the night markets a couple of times. I saw 2 really bad motorbike accidents happen in the rain! Myself and 2 of the english girls then caught a slow boat down the mekong into Laos. The boat was pretty cool, but very packed and uncomfortable. but the scenery was unbelieveable! the second day of it we had to sit packed like sardines next to the engine and when we got off my ears were ringing. but everyone just has a few changs and plays cards. halfway down the river we stayed at a remote little town where they only have generators for power and it goes off at ten - just when i was getting into my book. haha. The boat ride ends in Laung Prabang which is my favourite place so far! it is a picturesque relaxed little town on the edge of the Mekong and we stayed at a guesthouse right next to the river for 2 nights with 3 english guys we met on the boat. the first night we all went out for dinner and drinks and the 2nd we did the same but afterwards went to a ten pin bowling alley where all the tourists go after midnight because its the only place that stays open. they have a curfew of 12pm so as to respect the monks in the town. and all the police patrol the town at midnight on the dot with rifles..?!! Luang Prabang was colonised by the French (like most of Laos i think) so there are some beautiful old french buildings and bakeries. and croissants and baugettes everywhere!
During the day we looked at markets, i had the best crepes ive ever had in my life, and we took a tuk-tuk for 45 mins and went to these amazing waterfalls! i will put pictures up soon. it was so beautiful to swim in but really cold. The girls wanted to stay longer in Luang Prabang as they had more time but I decided to catch a bus down to Vang Vieng with the boys, there were some beautiful mountains along the way but the road was so windey I felt sick :( It was only 5 hours though. Vang Vieng is a funny little town. its literally just set up for tourists to go tubing. If tubing never became popular it would be a town you wouldn't really stop in. all the restauarnts in the main street play friends or family guy reruns. the first night we went and had pasta for dinner at one and watched family guy non-stop for 3 hours. We had an early night to have energy for tubing. We ended up meeting up with a lot of people from the slow boat and the trek. Tubing was pretty fun - for those of you who don't know what it is, its basically a tractor tire inner blown up and you float along down the river and theres about 20 bars along the way and they throw you a rope and pull you in! most give out free whiskey shots and theres different attractions at each one like zipline things into the water, a big slide into the water (that one hurt, i have a few bruises) and mud pools where you play tug-o-war. We went back to town at around 7pm and had dinner at the Aussie pub and then went out till about 3. all the bars sell cheap buckets and opium joints (but are usually working with the police) At one of the bars they played lots of aussie stuff like presets etc so that was pretty fun. i still haven't met that many aussies though. mostly canadians and english.
The next day i just rested and got a massage and looked around the town. the day after that i caught a bus with the boys to vientiane (the capital of Laos) they went on to Cambodia and I caught an overnight bus by myself back to Bangkok. I spent last night at a guesthouse off Khoa San rd again and went to the night markets and to the MBK shopping centre and looked around. I don';t like bangkok much. there are just too many people and its so noisy and smelly and too full-on for my liking. Today i caught the mini bus to the airport and caught a flight to Krabi where I am now. I will probably head to Phi Phi tomorrow as theres not much going on here, and i cant wait to go to the beach!
well goodbye for now!
Im in Thailand at the moment. After Singapore I flew into Bangkok and spent one night there. Stayed just off Khoa San Rd which is Backpacker central and met 4 English girls on their gap year. I really wanted to go North to Chang Mai and that's what they were doing so I tagged along. We caught an overnight bus (hell) and stayed at SpicyThai backpackers for 1 night and then myself and Yvette (one of the girls) did a 1 night trek into the hill tribes. We did elephant riding on the first day and stayed overnight in a village. I had a stomach bug so the trekking part wasn't that much fun. i didn;'t eat anything for about 4 days there! The 2nd day we went white water rafting and bamboo rafting which was really fun. The next 2 nights we stayed at Banana Guest house in Chiang Mai and went to the night markets a couple of times. I saw 2 really bad motorbike accidents happen in the rain! Myself and 2 of the english girls then caught a slow boat down the mekong into Laos. The boat was pretty cool, but very packed and uncomfortable. but the scenery was unbelieveable! the second day of it we had to sit packed like sardines next to the engine and when we got off my ears were ringing. but everyone just has a few changs and plays cards. halfway down the river we stayed at a remote little town where they only have generators for power and it goes off at ten - just when i was getting into my book. haha. The boat ride ends in Laung Prabang which is my favourite place so far! it is a picturesque relaxed little town on the edge of the Mekong and we stayed at a guesthouse right next to the river for 2 nights with 3 english guys we met on the boat. the first night we all went out for dinner and drinks and the 2nd we did the same but afterwards went to a ten pin bowling alley where all the tourists go after midnight because its the only place that stays open. they have a curfew of 12pm so as to respect the monks in the town. and all the police patrol the town at midnight on the dot with rifles..?!! Luang Prabang was colonised by the French (like most of Laos i think) so there are some beautiful old french buildings and bakeries. and croissants and baugettes everywhere!
During the day we looked at markets, i had the best crepes ive ever had in my life, and we took a tuk-tuk for 45 mins and went to these amazing waterfalls! i will put pictures up soon. it was so beautiful to swim in but really cold. The girls wanted to stay longer in Luang Prabang as they had more time but I decided to catch a bus down to Vang Vieng with the boys, there were some beautiful mountains along the way but the road was so windey I felt sick :( It was only 5 hours though. Vang Vieng is a funny little town. its literally just set up for tourists to go tubing. If tubing never became popular it would be a town you wouldn't really stop in. all the restauarnts in the main street play friends or family guy reruns. the first night we went and had pasta for dinner at one and watched family guy non-stop for 3 hours. We had an early night to have energy for tubing. We ended up meeting up with a lot of people from the slow boat and the trek. Tubing was pretty fun - for those of you who don't know what it is, its basically a tractor tire inner blown up and you float along down the river and theres about 20 bars along the way and they throw you a rope and pull you in! most give out free whiskey shots and theres different attractions at each one like zipline things into the water, a big slide into the water (that one hurt, i have a few bruises) and mud pools where you play tug-o-war. We went back to town at around 7pm and had dinner at the Aussie pub and then went out till about 3. all the bars sell cheap buckets and opium joints (but are usually working with the police) At one of the bars they played lots of aussie stuff like presets etc so that was pretty fun. i still haven't met that many aussies though. mostly canadians and english.
The next day i just rested and got a massage and looked around the town. the day after that i caught a bus with the boys to vientiane (the capital of Laos) they went on to Cambodia and I caught an overnight bus by myself back to Bangkok. I spent last night at a guesthouse off Khoa San rd again and went to the night markets and to the MBK shopping centre and looked around. I don';t like bangkok much. there are just too many people and its so noisy and smelly and too full-on for my liking. Today i caught the mini bus to the airport and caught a flight to Krabi where I am now. I will probably head to Phi Phi tomorrow as theres not much going on here, and i cant wait to go to the beach!
well goodbye for now!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
BORNEO etc
Hi all, I'm in Singapore now, have been here since Friday night. It is a really nice city, very clean and moderm, with a great train system! went to the zoo yesterday which was really great - they even had an aussie section with kangaroos etc. the flamingos and warthogs were my favourite! also went to the museum last night and went to see the famous raffles hotel which is beautiful - like something out of a movie! It was Vesak Day yesterday (Buddhas birthday) so also visited a few Hindu temples seeing as im staying in Little India - which is really interesting. Im flying to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon.
The trip in Borneo was lots of fun but also very adventurous. When we first arrived in KK we stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria for 3 nights and it was so amazing! I've never stayed in a resort that nice, and the staff were very friendly, We had Teppanyaki for dinner one night and met a very nice chef Juraidah, she was lovely. While at the resort we rode a catamaran, saw baby orangutans and just swam in the pools lots. On the fourth day in KK we started out tour. Met up with the other people Becky, James, Steph and Sharnie. It was a good little group of 8 (me, mum, dad and tania as well) Our first night we stayed in the Jungle and had to set up our own hammocks! the second night we stayed with some local people (Miso Walai Homestay programme) which was very interesting. We had a cooking lesson and saw some dancing performances. We then went to Sepilok Orangutan Park and stayed at the B & B. Only saw about 3 Orangutans but lots of long tail macaques. Also when to Labuk Bay Proboscis monkey sanctuary. Then we climbed Mt Kinabalu which is by far the hardest physical thing i;ve done in my whole life! I didn't make it to the Summit because of bad weather - (only 3 out of our group made it but said it wasn't worth it because they could only see a metre in front of them!), we stayed about 3/4 of the way up for the night at a lodge. I think i got a bit of altitude sickness it was horrible. Then climbed all the way back down the next day and stayed at a lodge at the bottom of the mountain. Had very sore legs from going down! Then at the end of the trip we stayed at Seaside Travellers Inn for 3 nights, right on the beach it was beautiful. Went shopping in KK, had dinner at Pizza Hut one night, and went out to Lapi Island one day for snorkelling and trekking. Mum , Dad and Tania went home on Friday Morning at 5.30am, it was sad to say goodbye because i probably won't see them for a year. I'll write more when i get to thailand.
Natalie
The trip in Borneo was lots of fun but also very adventurous. When we first arrived in KK we stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria for 3 nights and it was so amazing! I've never stayed in a resort that nice, and the staff were very friendly, We had Teppanyaki for dinner one night and met a very nice chef Juraidah, she was lovely. While at the resort we rode a catamaran, saw baby orangutans and just swam in the pools lots. On the fourth day in KK we started out tour. Met up with the other people Becky, James, Steph and Sharnie. It was a good little group of 8 (me, mum, dad and tania as well) Our first night we stayed in the Jungle and had to set up our own hammocks! the second night we stayed with some local people (Miso Walai Homestay programme) which was very interesting. We had a cooking lesson and saw some dancing performances. We then went to Sepilok Orangutan Park and stayed at the B & B. Only saw about 3 Orangutans but lots of long tail macaques. Also when to Labuk Bay Proboscis monkey sanctuary. Then we climbed Mt Kinabalu which is by far the hardest physical thing i;ve done in my whole life! I didn't make it to the Summit because of bad weather - (only 3 out of our group made it but said it wasn't worth it because they could only see a metre in front of them!), we stayed about 3/4 of the way up for the night at a lodge. I think i got a bit of altitude sickness it was horrible. Then climbed all the way back down the next day and stayed at a lodge at the bottom of the mountain. Had very sore legs from going down! Then at the end of the trip we stayed at Seaside Travellers Inn for 3 nights, right on the beach it was beautiful. Went shopping in KK, had dinner at Pizza Hut one night, and went out to Lapi Island one day for snorkelling and trekking. Mum , Dad and Tania went home on Friday Morning at 5.30am, it was sad to say goodbye because i probably won't see them for a year. I'll write more when i get to thailand.
Natalie
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Hello! It's a rainy day on the Sunshine Coast, and i can't wait to get out of here! 3 weeks to go now - I'm so excited that everytime I think about it I get butterflies. I'm off to Sydney this weekend to say goodbye to my good friends Kate and Steph. I'll be partying in Bondi all weekend and catching up with some other friends. Steph has just come back from Sweden to live in Bondi with her boyfriend again. When I'm away overseas I'll be missing out on my best friend Amanda's 21st so before I leave I have arranged a surprise day for her which should be fun. Sent away my canadian Visa application about a week ago so that should be all good to go in another 3 weeks, not that I'll need it for about 4 months though. I have booked a flight from Borneo to Singapore, (air asia - so cheap!) where I'll stay for a few days/a week then probably to Bangkok. Not going to book things too much in advance, but I do know that I'm going to the Full Moon party in June on Koh Pha-Ngan! I'm probably going to have a going away BBQ with family and close friends the week before I leave. So still got a few things to organise, but nothing too stressful. I've actually never felt so de-stressed in my life - wonder what I'll be like in thailand where I can get cheap massages every day! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. As some of you might know, and some might not, I am beginning a year round the world trip in exactly 43 days. I am starting off with a 2 week trip to Malaysian Borneo with my parents and beloved cousin Tan. We are doing a tour with Intrepid (http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/BSS) which should be interesting as we have a two day trek up Mt. KotaKinaBalu, and none of us have ever climbed anything higher than Mount Coolum... Mum has been obsessed with Orangutans for a while now, and has even adopted an orphan one over there somewhere. His name is Carlos. So we are going to visit them, but not get too close!
This will be my first big trip overseas and I have been waiting a long time for it. For the last 6 months I've been working for Terrex Seismic, a mining exploration company, to save up the cash for this trip. It's been a long hard slog working in extreme temperatures and doing physical labour, but I made some really good friends. So anyway after the Borneo trip I will be flying to Thailand (Bangkok probably) by myself and checking into the biggest backpackers I can find! I then want to do Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (which I still have to sort out my Visa for). I will be looking for travelling buddies, but hopefully it won't be too hard to meet people (hopefully fellow aussies) once I'm there..
I also want to visit my cousins who live in Hong Kong, if they'll have me hehe. After South-East Asia I want to go to Canada to work in a resort over their Summer because it's fairly easy to work in Canada for Aussies and I want to experience working overseas. Once I've saved enough money in Canada I will do 3 months in America just doing the main sights - New York, Vegas, Grand Canyon etc.. I would really love to buy or hire a cheap van and drive down the whole West Coast, and I want to stay in Venice Beach for a while and meet a hot skater hahah.
I would also love to go down to Central America after that, (possibly with said skater) and do Mexico, Panama etc.
Hopefully it all works out for me - My philosophy is that I'm not going to plan anything too much and go with the flow, so I don't miss out on any possible great opportunities! I will of course be taking PLENTY of photos along the way with my Nikon. I honestly can't wait to broaden my photography skills with all the amazing sights I'm going to see!
Blog ya later,
Nat xoxo
This will be my first big trip overseas and I have been waiting a long time for it. For the last 6 months I've been working for Terrex Seismic, a mining exploration company, to save up the cash for this trip. It's been a long hard slog working in extreme temperatures and doing physical labour, but I made some really good friends. So anyway after the Borneo trip I will be flying to Thailand (Bangkok probably) by myself and checking into the biggest backpackers I can find! I then want to do Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (which I still have to sort out my Visa for). I will be looking for travelling buddies, but hopefully it won't be too hard to meet people (hopefully fellow aussies) once I'm there..
I also want to visit my cousins who live in Hong Kong, if they'll have me hehe. After South-East Asia I want to go to Canada to work in a resort over their Summer because it's fairly easy to work in Canada for Aussies and I want to experience working overseas. Once I've saved enough money in Canada I will do 3 months in America just doing the main sights - New York, Vegas, Grand Canyon etc.. I would really love to buy or hire a cheap van and drive down the whole West Coast, and I want to stay in Venice Beach for a while and meet a hot skater hahah.
I would also love to go down to Central America after that, (possibly with said skater) and do Mexico, Panama etc.
Hopefully it all works out for me - My philosophy is that I'm not going to plan anything too much and go with the flow, so I don't miss out on any possible great opportunities! I will of course be taking PLENTY of photos along the way with my Nikon. I honestly can't wait to broaden my photography skills with all the amazing sights I'm going to see!
Blog ya later,
Nat xoxo
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