Indefinido (undefined)

EEEEK!!!

2011-09-27T13:57:00.000Z

Having an EEEEK moment.

I start my new job tomorrow. Training for 7 days and then....!!!!

First paid job in 1.5 years.... very scary!

After being free for 1.5 years (with the occasional financial worry), I've enjoyed swanning around, bumming around and enjoying my life. It's been wonderful. It all ends in 9 hours.....

Exciting, but scary! Time to meditate, breathe in.... breathe out....

Wish me luck!!!!! I know I can do it!!!

PS lucky the job is only part-time!!! :-D

Human story

2011-08-02T13:11:00.001Z

Gosh, what a day.

I found a new bikeway/pathway for rollerblading along (thanks to my friend Ben and sister Vanessa). So I decided to check it out this afternoon as the sun was shining and I needed to get out and about.

Track was pretty good, a few blind corners on gradients which makes it a little scary coz you're going fast, not a lot of room to slow down and can't see what's coming.

I didn't do a full circuit, just went to a point and realised I had to mosey back due to time. On my way back I passed a family with 2 young boys. As the young boys were scampering about I slowed down, said hello then sped up after clearing a safe distance. As I sped up one of the young boys started running after me saying ' stop, stop'. I kept going a couple of strides as I thought he was just playing and it's a stranger's kid. But he kept running and kept yelling after me so I thought I'd be rude not to. So I slowed down, turned around and the kid caught up to me.

Instantly he opened his hand and said 'I've got a rock'. So I admired his rock as he stared at my roller blades. Then he threw the rock away and continued to stare at my roller blades. He said nothing but continued walking, so I backward skated so I could face him and skate at his rate. His father called out to him to let me continue skating. So eventually I just said bye and he energetically waved me goodbye, while staring at my skates.

It was quite a nice feeling having that interaction. I guess this is why my friend Ben says he likes people.

I continued my skating quite happily and with a warm smile on a face from that experience.

Enjoying the sun

2011-07-26T02:21:00.000Z

Brisbane winter is AWESOME! 20 degrees on average, sunshine and blue skies nearly every day. I think its rained 2/3 times in the last month?

I've been catching the sun's rays each morning in our backyard. Great way to start the day.

This morning, I was joined by a young Magpie (sleek, medium sized bird with black and white plumage, the young ones are noticeable with their grey feathers). He/she flew down and landed nearby on the grass and walked to be in front of me, I think it was waiting to be fed (my parents feed the birds). I wasn't going to feed the birds (they should find their own food) so it just stood in front, plumped up it's feathers, cocked it's head to one side and just stood there catching the sun. It was funny watching the bird sun bathe while I was doing the same thing.

It's gone off now to find it's own food in our backyard. :-)

Other days, there's a cheeky butcher bird who comes and sits until I finish breakfast. It came right up to me last time and took the sultanas on my plate that fell from my toast. The plate was next to me and it was there, hopped up and snatched the sultanas. It sat on my bowl of cereal first (had to throw that out), while I was fetching my toast, I tried to shoo it away and it sat happily on my laptop screen!!! Cheeky bugger!!! :-)

Post 100 - I have a new travel website!

2011-07-19T01:40:00.000Z

I've not been posting here, but I have been very busy setting up a new travel blog website:

http://travelbunnyblog.com/

Also you can like travel bunny on Facebook:

Follow Travel Bunny on Twitter (name: Travelbunnyblog):

I've also updated my personal photo website of pictures from recent trips, I'll eventually work my way backwards to my great latin american trip of 2006! :-)

www.mirandasiu.com <-- for personal photos! :-)

Universal Studios rudeness

2011-06-19T00:45:00.000Z

Cannot believe the rudeness of other tourists/people at Universal Studios.

Disneyland people were absolutely fine, with all the kids and parents etc I had no problems with the people there.

But Universal Studios where the majority are adults, what the heck?!

Example no. 1:

So I line up for my universal studios tour. They're clear to say, stand on a star and that'll be your seat on the car. There are 6 stars per row and about 8 rows and 4 cars more or less. I move to the end carriage and there are 3 asian girls on one row speaking in a foreign language but they seem to understand/speak English too. So I just take the next available row and stand on the first star - happens to be 42 (great number!) :-)

Then after a short while one of them goes into the row behind me and stands on the first star so they keep talking across me but never ask if we can swap rows or anything. I find it all a bit odd and I don't offer because I wanted to stay on my row 42.

So when we come to board the cart, what does she do? Steam ahead and take my seat. I mean, really? She gave me this funny look as if waiting for me to say something. But as everyone is just pushing and crowding to get on, I just go ahead and take the seat next to her. I'm put out at the rudeness and then obviously I can't take good photos now because I'm one seat in.

Then, what's worse is, that her doing that, puts a group of people who were trying to sit altogether out. One person in their party suddenly can't board the same row because of what she did, so he goes to the row behind, where there are 2 seats still untaken, but then the 2 people that were standing on those stars in the queue, are now put out and can't sit anywhere together. So they have to wait for the next cart/train for the tour.

Then during the tour she'd be leaning over me to take photos on the other side. *Sigh*

So I just can't believe that girl caused so much consternation for other people. Not even a sorry or a 'do you mind?' It's just rude! All she had to do was ask and I would have changed stars/positions with her instead of her barging in like that. What's wrong with humanity and common decency?

Example no. 2:

Shrek 4D show. So everyone is milling about to enter the auditorium. Then when the doors finally open, boom, everybody goes surging through. I got shoved and pushed from both sides and could hardly walk myself. It was ridiculous. Then the people shoving and pushing in front of me just stand right in front of the seat rows while they try to work out where to sit. So I have to then walk around them pick a row and go and sit down.

Now, the staff clearly announce that you should walk all the way to the other end to make sure the people behind you can also sit down. Most of those rude people plonk themselves down in the middle of the row so other have to shuffle over them to get to more spare seats. Just stupid.

Example no. 3:

On the Jurassic Park ride I asked one of the attendants which seats get soaked the most, he said the end seats and recommended I ask the people to move over so I don't sit on the end.

I was the last to get on and asked 3 guys 3 times to move over more so I'm not right on the edge and they move over about 10cm at most, there was a spare seat they could have moved into, but no. They make some movement to budge but hardly move.

Nice. Thanks guys.

ARGH! Never fails to get me how STUPID some people are and RUDE!!!!

But on the upside I did encounter some really nice customer service people. So had a pretty good time all the same, but man those people really, really, really annoyed me. So rubbish!!!

International affairs

2011-06-11T19:11:00.004Z

The last 3 weeks have been very eventful. My last post touched on my interesting and enjoyable time in Montreal and Quebec, after which I was off to London for 2 weeks.

It's been non-stop since I landed. I genuinely feel like a world traveller right now, hopping from my country to the next. It makes writing arrival cards/landing cards interesting enough, but they also keep me in check with where I've been and where I'm going and today's date! :-)

Recent events:

1. Margie and Craig got married in Brisbane, Australia! YAY! Unfortunately I was in London sorting out a Hen's night and missed this beautiful event.

2. Tanya's Hen's night - the ever-changing itinerary went from a weekend away, to overnight in London to the threat of a burlesque class and show to finally high tea and an amusing comedy show in a large inflated upside down purple cow (Underbelly) at Southbank.

3. Load's of catch ups including an awesome pub & sushi tour of Brixton, pub crawl in Soho and finding the best flat white in London (Notes music & coffee - 31 St Martins Lane). Just so many awesome places - but Barrio Central in Poland st is still my favourite bar in London!

4. Alex & Tanya's wedding - what an awesome day - just fabulous! Great company, great food and great dancing!

5. MY SISTER GAVE BIRTH! Yes! My penultimate day in London and her daughter decides to pop out in Brisbane, Australia.

6. First time ever, I was charged excess luggage fee at the airport of £195! OUCH! Canadian Affair/Thomas Cook budget airlines - caveat emptor! I did check the baggage restrictions but unfortunately of Air Transat who I thought I was flying... What a nightmare. 1 hour in the queue to find that out then another 45 minutes in another queue to pay the bloody thing then a quick 10 minute run through security to the gate to make my flight.

7. Omaha has been flooded with ice melt from the north and above normal rainfall - I may not actually depart on Tuesday! The view from the plane as I was landing was incredible. I was astonished to see so much flooding! Roads have been blocked. I saw the Brisbane floods weeks after the banks broke and the view from the plane was just mesmerising as it was shocking.

8. My cousin's wife gave birth on Thursday! So many babies popping out all over - more to come!

9. I introduced the great Australian film: The Castle to my mid-west American friends. It was a hit! Such a funny movie. It's the vibe.....

10. Battling the outrageous fortune of having a new Apple MacBook Pro that has a region locked DVD player. VLC does not work around this and currently there is no firmware that I can find to get around this for the new MacBook Pros, only older models so far. ARGH! I have DVDs from UK & Australia... this is just ridiculous. I want my old G4 back... *sob*

My cousin recently asked me what do I do with myself in mid-west America. I wasn't really sure what I'd been doing for 3 months in America, but now that I'm here I'm back to my happy pastime of backyard bunny watching. :-)

Now that it's summer we have a gigantic inflated pool in the backyard to enjoy and fortunately the sun is shining today!

Actually I have been doing a lot of work trying to get sponsored for work in the USA. I'll need to write another post on the bloody E-3 visa and the joys of being an alien in the USA unauthorised for work.

But for now, back to the bunnies....

Beaver Tail

2011-05-28T03:42:00.000Z

The Canadian dessert delicacy: Beaver Tail

- Take some dough,
- stretch it out
- throw it in some hot oil until it's cooked
- take out, let cool for a second
- lather some butter on top
- then the toppings of your choice (chocolate, maple butter, cinnamon etc)

= delicious treat or recipe for a quick heart attack.

also

= easy way to charge $6 off consumers! What a rip off! It was good but not the most amazing thing I've had for $6!!!!!

On a related matter:

FRUCTOSE!

It's really really bad for you!

Here at my cool hostel in Montreal, I have learnt from my Chemistry graduate dorm buddy that the body cannot break down Fructose. It's very bad. It just converts to fat and puts a lot of strain on the liver (which is the only thing that can break it down). Unfortunately most american foods (particularly Soda/carbonated drinks) include corn fructose/corn syrup as a sweetener. Partially due to the fact that the American government subsidise the corn market and the corn farmers are heavily dependent on the large widespread adoption of corn syrup in food production.

If only other corn products produced as much income, Americans might have a chance of being a lot healthier. Interestingly there seems to be some use of corn as biodegradable cutlery/tableware. I have used/seen coffee cups, lids, forks, spoons and knives made from corn. Much sturdier than plastic and biodegradable! One university in Pennsylvania use it throughout the campus. If there was a wider adoption of it, perhaps this would reduce the need for corn syrup and be substituted back to glucose (which the body can break down more easily, as long as you're active!).

More interesting hostellers:

Global Development Studies

In Quebec I met global development studies graduate who definitely is in the process of doing something special in this world in helping the developing countries one way or another. It's great that there are people out there studying this and focussing on what can help. Educating and spreading the word is a great start. Only by collectively working together can we make a positive and greater impact.

How to keep global warming within 2 degrees celsius

2011-05-21T03:59:00.000Z

My bright bunny of a cousin Jonathan is doing some superb work in his research PHD at University of Toronto.

He recently showed me a node application that can visually display anything you wish to compute as long as you supply the parameters.

This is a particularly excellent example (not sure if this was him or his supervisor, i think his supervisor):

If we use only 49% of the fossil fuel reserves we can keep global warming within 2 degrees celsius.

http://inflo.cs.toronto.edu:8888/?nodeId=201474558604795104885816129858910312924&nodeVersion=1300735274.672411

Click on each node (circle) to drill down into the assumptions of the calculation. It's marvellous!

This is also my pet favourite and something my cousin created - when you should print vs reading something onscreen in terms of your carbon footprint.

So, on a standard computer monitor (not laptop), if you spend 5.2 minutes per 1 side of page, then you should print it instead. You can change the power output (when you click through the nodes) to work out what it is for a laptop. This applies to document writing too, ie when you should write something down rather than type it on the computer. http://inflo.cs.toronto.edu:8888/?nodeId=238659533867302428337060445917488010490&nodeVersion=1302274937.066099

Awesome stuff! Keep up the great work cuz!!!

Bye, Bye Miss American Pie

2011-05-14T04:11:00.005Z

3 months in the USA have come to a swift end.

I've left the country as required by the Visa Waiver Program rules, and not to return until I leave the continent. I was shocked to find out that going to Canada, Mexico or the caribbean islands didn't count as restarting the clock on the 90 day visit rule.

So instead of spending money in the US, I will be spending it in Montreal and Quebec City!

A couple of memories of stereotypical USA.

Last week, before I went to sit in Borders (72nd & Dodge), a couple parked next to my car a few seconds after I parked. As I glanced across at my neighbours I noticed that they were 2 well built americans sharing a bucket of soda. Yes, a bucket. Probably looks like a rather extra large tub of popcorn container that you might get at a cinema. But it was for soda. I have seen these before where people go to gas stations to fill up their bucket of soda (soft drink). I'm constantly amazed that people actually drink that much soda, either once or more than once a day.

Another example of 'Americanism'.

I went into Borders to use their 'free wi-fi' and duly bought a coffee to justify my existence there. However, I encountered a rather farcical entanglement while obtaining said coffee - as follows:

Me: I'd like a classic latte please.
Server: I'm sorry, what?
Me (louder): I'd like a latte please.
Server: An iced latte?
Me: No, just a regular hot latte.
Server: Oh, a classic latte.
Me: Yes.
Server: That'll be $xx
Me: Ok (and pays)
Server: What's your name? (for ID of the coffee)
Me: Miranda (glances around, there's no one else in line or to be served or waiting for coffee).

(I move to the end of the counter to pick up my drink that the same server is making)

(Before she calls my name out, I notice that she's made an iced latte, so I step up to the counter).

Me: I ordered a classic latte.
Server: Oh. (Goes to make a new latte)
Me: (feeling embarrassed) Sorry, I just felt like a hot drink right now.
Server: Here's your latte.
Me: (feeling like I put her out) Thanks, sorry for the trouble.
(no reply)

I have to say, usually service is pretty good in the US (hence the standard 15% tip). So this was a little unusual, but not unusual in the sense that one doesn't always see logic or common sense in daily interactions.

I'll try to recount my time in the USA in another post. But for now, it was filled with bunny and squirrel watching in the mid-west. :-)

This is the coolest thing ever

2011-01-22T09:33:00.003Z

Yes, I'm denigrating myself to high school like language because I really think I have found THE coolest thing in the world.

Picture this:

Nong Khai, border town with Laos, popular border crossing point over the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge and in one of the poorest provinces of Thailand . A few kilometers from the friendship bridge is Nong Khai Railway station. I'm here 2 hours early for my overnight train to Bangkok.

I look around.. the scene is rather desolate until my eyes land on this sign "Nong Khai Railway Public Library". Situated next to this sign is an old out of commission, renovated train carriage and then there's another behind it. Painted white with old shutters like colonial times, they are both relics but nicely kept in a nicely manicured garden with old railway chairs, like the trains were parked at a station.

I board one carriage and look in - it's beautifully renovated like an early 20th century train with lamps adorning the walls and framed pictures of the King and Queen. Below them are a couple of shelves full of books in Thai. at the back, the old train seats are converted into a reading area with cushions for comfort.

It's beautiful. It's the most beautiful library I've ever seen. Ok, maybe exaggerating a bit but it's AWESOME! I can't believe this is here - I've never heard about it and why are there so many other people NOT in here??!! If i had a book, what a great place to read either in a carriage or outside in the garden. Unfortunately I can't read Thai to read one of the books (of which they have a great variety, despite the small collection). But wait for the best bit....

So in the second carriage I happily climb up to see what awaits me here. Very similar set up and I'm adoring it and looking for English books (unfortunately none). Then.... at the back of the carriage I spot 2 computers (modern, flat screen with speakers attached). NO WAY....

BUT YES! FREE INTERNET!!!! WOOHOO!!! So here I am, writing this blog post from an old converted train carriage in a public Thai library! They even have a Compact Flash card reader in the computer tower, alas it's not reading my card so I can't post pictures... but so close!!! All I need is a microphone and I could make calls ... of course Skype & MSN messenger are already installed on this computer. :-D

How awesome is this???

Awesome I tell you. Very awesome. :-)

Well, time to send more excited emails to friends from this coolest place in the world.

The carriage even rocks slightly when the librarian walks from one end to the other..... :-D

My blog has temporarily moved!

2011-01-13T16:41:00.002Z

I've been blogging daily on this site:

http://www.teamworkz.asia/blog.html

A volunteering exercise while I'm in Laos.

I'm kinda getting sick of changing hotels everyday and taking photos of everything.... who would have thought??

Normal blogging services here resume after 22 January 2011. :-)

Happy in Thailand

2010-12-11T13:04:00.002Z

Since I last wrote I've been to:

- Leticia & Galen's wedding in Canada (my littlest cousin!)

- Las Vegas (with my aunts, uncles and cousin Valerie)

- San Francisco (hung out with Alison, old family friend, in the California college of Arts)

- An awesome train ride from San Francisco to Chicago witnessing some of America's beautiful landscapes and meeting the most amazing American.

- Chicago (hanging out with old friends Sam & Berenice who just moved there)

- St Louis (spent my first Halloween trick or treating with the best and enjoyed my first babysitting gig thanks to the great hospitality of Lyndsay and Michael)

- Omaha (ate Fatty Tuna for the first time, had the best quiche in the world, hung out with some cool people, visited the best zoo in the States and drove by Warren Buffet's residence!)

- New York (great place to hang out with my cousin Amanda and shop until 2am in Times Square! Great salsa and fun times with salsero Patrick and his friends & flatmate)

- Toronto (Short stop, enjoyed Santa Clause parade, Kensington Markets, a sunday salsa social with my cousin Jonathan, Uncle John and salsero Darren who took me to Niagara Falls!)

- Verdigre (best place to spend Thanksgiving, full of amazing home cooked meals and great hospitality! Beautiful little town, full of character, nestled among quiet hills)

- Vancouver (enjoyed the almost persistent rain and wide range of restaurants we dined in, day after day and night after night with Leticia, Valerie and our great hostess Andrea)

- Hong Kong (ate myself silly, thanks to Aunty Pauline and Uncle Eric. The Hong Kong ID process is not as straight forward at first glance!).

- Rawai, via Bangkok & Khuraburi (enjoyed shopping in Bangkok and eating cheaply in Khuraburi. Now spending my days at a thai cafe, overlooking the water with free wi-fi).

Finally I'm enjoying Thailand - it doesn't get any better than this. Chilling on a beachfront cafe with my good friend James.

Life is good.

Next stop: Singapore, then back to Brisbane, Australia for Christmas.

Wat's next

2010-09-23T11:58:00.003Z

Ok, enough with the Wat reference. I still haven't made it to the local temple. Last weekend was a super high speed and energy 24 hour trip to Railay in Krabi. Sensational trip but resulted in working on Sunday to make up for lost time.

Met some amazing people, enjoyed the beauty of the area in quiet season. The water was like taking a bath and it was very sad to see the broken and bleached coral in the water. Absolutely stunning sunsets. Great company, great trip for 24 hours!

It's been pretty busy at work since. I finally got the audience with the boss to resign. Awful habit I have of resigning. At least I was able to get them to change the bit that was the most disturbing ethically. The rest is just in the wash, they won't change their free-flowing ways and I standby my western world, audit defined, structured way of thinking. No hard feelings. I guess I'm just not as flexible as I thought I could be. Funny that the very vocation that I was trying to escape has prevented me from starting this new career.

Now I need to look for the next wave. No idea where, when, how or what (Wat).

My cousin's wedding in Canada is next, but after that... well I don't know. One thing is for sure, i think the bed bugs will follow me wherever I go too. Still been bitten. *sigh*

Wat now?

2010-09-09T15:27:00.003Z

So, nearly week 3 here. I still haven't visited the local wat here. I think I should, I had plans to go and meditate in the serenity. But it's not quite walking distance (not in this weather of sudden rain or heat).

Maybe this weekend will be the time for me to visit it.

In the meantime, I really don't know how long I can last. I really want to do good and continue volunteering, but I'm suffering each day due to personality differences.

I do long hours because I want to do a good job, but am starting to think it's not worth it.

So really, what do I do now?

Oh and bed bugs have started biting again after about 1.5 weeks rest. Nice.

Fun Day

2010-09-04T05:46:00.002Z

Going back in time to last week, this is a positive story from my volunteering days.

So Day 4 in the office, I'd been working late every day until this point. 2:30pm head dude at the company/NGO/Tour operator rings up, what's everyone doing? So much going stress in those days, the suggestion was to go to local waterfall and beach to chill. Our Thai ambassador for the company happily announced: It's Fun Day! :-)

3pm pick up, everyone packs up and piles into a rented Ute/pick up truck, quick stop at local 711 for drinks and we're on our way to a local waterfall. Partly unpaved path to car park and we arrive at a national park. Totally natural pathway to waterfall and we arrive at a smallish pool from which a strong flowing waterfall cascades down into.

Our own private retreat, no one else around. It was beautiful and tranquil with the bright green luminescence of the rainforest surrounding us, white clouds dispersed amongst the clear blue sky. After frolicking for an hour (they drank and smoked <-- kind of not good, but they took all rubbish out with us), we pushed onto the local beach for sunset, about a 20 minute drive away.

On the beach, local fisherman were starting to set up for the night's catch. But other than the few odd fishermen tending their nets, the place was ours. I nice stretch of soft sand and gentle waves for us to play in. The small crabs that roll small balls of sand had taken over the beach front, but didn't mind us encroaching on their territory.

After nightfall we wander back into town, I went thai style, sitting in the tray of the truck rather than in the cab with the others. For quick dry and fresh air. :-) We have dinner together at the head dude's house, getting take-away from the restaurant next door. A few new dishes that were quite tasty (and some definitely too spicy for me).

That was a nice break and got to see the local area a bit. But they are all a bit far to cycle to/get to without private transport. You can cycle, but it's about 12km + and then with the rainy season, downpours are common. So there's nothing really in direct vicinity of the town to enjoy after work or on weekends without arranging first.

Other than that, the people are lovely, but the place is a real mess compared to how I like to work and be organised. I always have something to complain about every company I work for, but this, although it the business still runs, has major indications that an overhaul on their processes would be massively useful. If I can manage to do it, it's possible to make it easier for everyone to work and to allow them better access to their own information for analysis, knowledge and decision making. But, it has to be set up so that anyone can pick it up and put it down without breaking it, given the high turnover of volunteers (every 6 months). It's diabolical, and high chance that even if I can improve, it will break after I go/if the current people go and there is not much handover. So is it worth doing?!

So basically working loads, trying to get up to speed on how they operate by doing and being told (3 different ways by 3 different people, great!).

Village news

The Hula Hoop has made a comeback in Kuraburi. It is THE way to lose weight. Sand-weighted hula hoops are being sold and you can often see the locals swishing their hips in a circular fashion with a hula hoop. One girl at the office does this for half an hour as exercise to lose weight. There is a general fashion towards losing weight which can be easily noted from the amount of advertising of 'Slim Fast' magic powders and centres devoted to it all over Thailand. Fascinating.

Salsa break

Man oh man was I estactic to leave the small one horse town. Leaving work 'early' at 17:45 on Thursday I could not *wait* to get on the bus to Phuket. The 4 hour bus ride then motorcycle taxi transfer (it rained while on motorcycle so arrived a little wet) was just too long. I could not sit still and was dancing in my seat on the bus for the last 2 hour leg. I was so happy on arrival to hear the music playing and the dancefloor packed. Unfortunately, arriving close to 11pm I was told it would finish at midnight as the hotel residents complained about the noise already. There was meant to be a pool-side after-party until dawn. Well, we made a pool-side after-party without music and dancing anyway until about 3-ish 1st night and 4ish the second (well for me, Others had private parties in the rooms and carried on).

The party was predominately Koreans from Seoul on a Salsa vacation in Phuket (which was as advertised). They sure know how to party. Drinking and smoking seemed to be the main affair which could continue all night, as I had heard from this morning. They were drinking until 6am. They all looked remarkably well (no signs of a late night on anyone's faces!) at breakfast this morning at 10am. Whisky, So-ju (spelling?) seemed to be the main drink on the menu with various strange snacks to feast on between shots. Also note, Koreans are very friendly!!!! Although most spoke a little english, communication was mainly via splashing water at each other in various volumes and various styles through the last 2 nights of pool partying. The Koreans would do this to each other as well to us foreigners. There was also a lot of playing (but forceful!) pushing of people into the water and general dragging each other about under or on the water. I can't count the number of times a Korean randomly came up behind or facing me to splash water then they would innocently walk off without awaiting a response or revenge from me! Crazy (tou-rai <- spelling?) people! But loads of laughs! Of course there was a bit of dancing in the water and some random salsa/bachata lessons. Result: fantastic time for all. Just would be better if I spoke some Korean!

As for their Salsa style?! Fabulous - WOW! Some of these dancers, nice moves!!! Funky and fun. Some of them were just incredible what they would come up with. So playful and fun <-- Jackson has to take the crown for this! Salsa Jackson from Seoul - kudos! Love your work, energy and coolness!!!! Salsa apparently is MASSIVE in Seoul. One guy who works for Samsung, has a salsa community at Samsung/at work! How cool is that??!!!

Right, if I'm going to mention names, better do the roll call. Bukky, ultra-cool lass from London our here volunteering too! So much fun with you missy! Jennifer, Philipino working in Bangkok - awesome 'jump' photos by the beach. View - crazy running jump and kicking ideas for the photos! Anup - dude, would not be here and have had such an awesome time without your co-ordination. One day I will be able to follow your kick-ass lead. One Day - just give me time. :-) Johnny - man, awesome photos!!! Love your work. Cisco - what an honour to dance with the top Korean instructor!!! Also very cool original style!

Just so happy to have been here. Location was wonderful - fabulous hotel and facilities, well I've been staying in basic accommodation by comparison, so going to 5 star luxury with hot water (!) has just been heaven. Even though I was working a bit yesterday, just being out of the office and being able to Skype my family in between work calls/emails made it just that extra bit comfortable and relaxing so I did not really mind working at all.

Weather is not great today. So will head off to Phang Nga town to visit the lovely Wi and her family tonight. Better go get her son a present. :-) Plus finish off some work. Mossies are biting again - they never stop!

*sigh of happiness* Why does it have to end???! :-( The group from Bangkok will probably go to party in Patong tonight, not my thing anyway. But nice to hang out with friends .... decisions, decisions!!!

Fuzzy

2010-08-30T13:47:00.003Z

That's my mind right now. It's 20:52 on a Monday night and I just finished working. I also just found a small ant lying on one of the hairs on my arm. I've killed several bugs in the last hour, but only several because the buggers caught my eye and I needed a distraction. There's still plenty of insects crawling on the desk, on my computer. It's entirely possible my computer might fail due to infestation. I'm waiting for the day.

I'm not sitting in a shack either. I'm in a decently furnished office with four walls and a door (more than most restaurants around here, which really are 'shacks' in western terms).

Well the last week has been a bit crazy. I've just worked the last 7 days, 8 including today. Partly because there is that much work, and secondly because really, there's nothing else to do here. I will purposely not blog about office politics and ongoings because it's entirely possible that at some point that my blog will be referenced to the work blog (particularly as I referenced the name in my last post in enthusiasm).

Update on the what bites

Everything. Seriously. In the last week I have been bitten by: bed bugs (yes, I still have them! Little blighters won't leave me), mosquitoes (naturally), little small brown ants 0.5mm long, sandflies (on my belly button, apparently a favourite of theirs?) and well, I think that's quite enough each day! I haven't managed to escape 1 day without at least a few nibbles, that's with wearing 50% DEET, long sleeved trousers and shirt! Am I fed up? Oh no... this is what I've been missing out all these years. It's filling that gap in my soul. <-- sarcasm in case you hadn't noticed. Fortunately they seem to leave me alone when I sleep.

I sleep fully clothed, lights on, fan blasting and looking like a white monster. Currently my routine is to roll myself in a talcum type power called Prickly Heat each night. I'm totally covered in it, then with neck to toe pyjamas I go to sleep. The lights on is a bit extreme, I only did that one night because I swear I had a ghost in the corridor the night before (I was the only one in the apartment block, but I think it was just the echoey sound of the fan rotating). Incidentally the fan is to blow away any insects attempting to eat me.

Village gossip

On the upside, this place seems to have some interesting stories. Last week I saw a very nice new Mercedes CLK silver sedan roll past the office. Later I saw it parked next to an unremarkable home or building. Then while a monsoonal downpour started, I was stranded where I was picking up my clean laundry. The proprietor was kind enough and spoke a little english so we took the opportunity of me being stuck there and began to chat. Turns out he spent 3 years in Sydney, Australia. He had no work or anything so did not stay longer. But I was wondering how he stayed 3 years without work, but I thought it might have been a translation thing because his english isn't perfect nor are my ears in listening to thai people speaking english.

Then on the weekend while a few of us were working I got the low-down. Turns out, my local laundry guy was an ex mafia-type person. Somebody got shot and he had to escape to Australia while things cooled down. Somehow, he's happily retired to this small village. His wife (who I mistook for his daughter, but did not mention it, just thought it) appear quite young too. The Mercedes guy is also probably ex-mafia as he has quite a good house and has named the entire street he lives on after himself.
So it seems I've landed myself in the ex-mafia retirement village.

Not only that, I also found out that there are quite a few Kara-oke bars around the town. One I knew about as it is down the road from where I'm living. I hear the tunes being warbled out when I arrive home after work. I noticed that there also seemed to be quite a bit of traffic coming and going (motorbikes so not too noisy). Turns out, these kara-oke bars are Kuraburi's Go Go bars (ie for prostitution), mostly to service the fishermen when they come ashore after being at sea for a while. So I'm told.

Lovely.

Oh, and last week a few local boys were arrested and taken away on a police truck. Suspected of drug trafficking.

So this small sleepy town, wedged on a highway, between a green mountain and the sea (12km away), happens to be a mini mafia, drug and prostitution village.

Well that certainly was an eye-opener. No wonder some of the people here insisted on escorting me home one night. I refused as it's only a 5 minute walk and there's literally no one around on the street whenever I walk home. That might also explain why the restaurant next to my apartment is open late. I was quite happy to find it as I keep working late and it's the only restaurant close by still open whenever I finish. I always see different groups of men there eating too late at night... I guess now I know why.

Well I'm hoping to spend less time working and more time fixing up my website. Maybe by next year I'll have it done.

This weekend, I'm off to Phuket for a salsa weekend. I can't wait. I really can't wait to get out of this town. There's nothing really to do but go to Kara-oke bars which, now I realise definitely aren't for me (not that kara-oke was every my thing, but i haven't seen any other entertainment at night). However, there is a nightly soap opera, goes for about 2 hours and is really bad acting of which I can't understand a word but involved romance so I can make it up a little bit with the assistance of the silly sounds effects. I should be learning more Thai, but really I can't be bothered. Pointing still works for me.

Actually last night I tried my Thai out in ordering some food (no menu and can't read the Thai on the whiteboard, which is a kind of menu). I said the dish i wanted wrong the first time, then I tried to correct myself, but turns out the lady thought I ordered 2 dishes, so I got the one i mis-pronounced and the correct dish. Managed to finish it all, but it was a surprise when they delivered the second dish. Next time I'm sticking to fried rice, i can say that without confusion. :-)

Right, off to 'powder' myself...

Correction and some photos

2010-08-24T14:48:00.004Z

I have to correct my previous post on Chiang Mai. One remarkable thing I forgot to mention: Monk Chat. Yes, you too can chat to a Monk, anyday you want between 9am and 6pm at this one Wat (temple) in Chiang Mai. I took advantage of this great offer and hunkered down for a wonderful (and spiritual) chat with a Monk called Paul. I have since forgotten his Thai name. :-) It was mostly just an ordinary chat you'd have with anyone. He was so peaceful and happy sitting in lotus position and his objective was to make people happy. He made me laugh and be happy, so his job was done well. Not all monks in Thailand speak English nor are welcome to foreigners ("farangs") to approach them everyday between 9am-6pm. It was quite a unique and light-hearted experience.

I also have some photos I can publish on my accomodation here in Kuraburi:

I hate to use blogger, but i'm lazy at the moment, it doesn't seem to allow me to post more than one picture either...:-(

Wat?

2010-08-22T08:55:00.004Z

You can't come to Thailand and _not_ see a wat (temple). It's like Old Macdonald's Farm - with a Wat Wat here, and a Wat Wat there, Here a Wat, There a Wat, Everywhere a Wat Wat....(altogether now...).

I've now arrived in Kuraburi after 1 month travelling through Thailand, this town is a one horse town and it has a Wat, even complete with English speaking Monk. I think the population of the entire province is about 23,000 people, the town itself I asked my boss yesterday but I have promptly forgotten.

Kuraburi is nestled on a highway going north between Takua Pa and Ranong. The closest beach is 12km away and there's a nice dam 7km away. I think it only takes 10 minutes to walk from one end of the main street to the other. Small streets on either side lead to where people live.

The bus station sits on it's own and is accessed by a rather muddy (because it's rainy season) short dirt track off the highway. I wasn't sure where the bus was going when it pulled into the station. First impressions were a little alarming! Many buses pass through the town (it is the launching point for Koh Surin (Surin Island, only open from November - March) so, like all bus stations in Thailand, there is a nice niche of food stalls under a shelter opposite the waiting area. Off on the other side of the muddy grassy bus station is a bar/pub perched under it's thatched roofing that apparently does quite good live music 5 nights a week. Furthermore there is a night market consisting of about 10 mobile food stalls that sit on the side of the highway every night (in fact my dinner last night was procured from there!) Wat (?) indeed!

For a small town it is well stocked. Especially with mosquitoes, I was particularly made welcome by those in the Andaman Discoveries office when I was shown it last night and even today as I write this. Really such hospitality is unnecessary (in fact, I think I will be arriving home with those hospitality bites/marks!). The people have been equally friendly (and less hungry for my blood) and very accommodating. There is even a stray dog who has been adopted by the office, she has no teeth so her tongue permanently just hangs out in a rather cute fashion. Tomorrow, my first official day with Andaman discoveries I will go on a road trip with one of the main coordinators here Karen, to see a few of the projects (orphanage and Burmese learning centre). I'm quite looking forward to that, couldn't ask for a better first day!

My first night in Bangkok, as soon as I stepped out of the airport to wait for the airport bus, I was attacked my several mosquitoes - this is me wearing long trousers & sneakers (so fully covered). I hadn't thought I'd needed to apply insect repellent on arrival at 8pm at night, but seems I should have. As I was sitting, they bit through my trousers through the carved spaces in the steel seat i was sitting on! Great welcoming party. Bangkok did not hold anything remarkable for me, much like Hong Kong, busy, noisy, smelly with people, food, bikes and cars everywhere. Great place to get my camera fixed and for few other things I needed to get done, like fit in some salsa dancing and got to meet some great people on the salsa scene in Bangkok.

Derrick (my brother) came for the weekend and we hit the markets so he could get his new wardrobe at a reasonable price complete with I think at least 3 pairs of sunglasses (last count). Plus he came salsa dancing and got to meet the great people I'd just met and more.

After he left I decided to unplug and get out of the busy town. I headed for Ko Si Chang, a small island 3 hours east of Bangkok. Well, about 4.5 hours on a public bus that just stopped everywhere, about 2 hours on a nice plush government bus I took on the way back. After a short ferry ride on a small rickety passenger boat, I arrived and got scooped up by a tuk tuk driver who took me to a small beach resort (mainly for Thai people as they spoke very very very little English and also I saw very few foreigners) that he said he could get me special price for. I said I didn't want to pay more than 400 baht a night (about 8 pounds or $13 Australian dollars).

I got my special discounted rate for a very basic bungalow by the beach. It was peaceful there with the waves crashing on the shore and really _nothing_ to do but sit by the beach (no internet, but yes to phone reception). It was so secluded and quiet, as soon as I went near one of the 3 food stalls searving the beach the people lept to attention with menus etc. The island has not much to do either, I visited the mandatory Wat as well as a chinese temple and place where the Royal Family used to holiday about a century ago.

Heading back to Bangkok a couple of days later, I decided to head north to the former and 2nd capital of Siam/Thailand - Ayutthaya. Getting there was easy and cheap - 60 baht in a minivan from Victory Monument (a place so crowded of markets and minivans I could hardly squeeze through with my luggage). The minivans leave once they are full and luckily I arrived as it was almost full. 1.5 hours later I arrived in Ayutthaya and wandered around for a guesthouse, I had written a few down but did not find them easily so settle for the only place i could see and it looked charming.

The Old Place was cute and thai with it's wicker/lattice walls and thatched roofing. Cheapest accomodation i'd seen at 250 Baht a night. Unfortunately, i'm not as well travelled as people might think, I'd heard of bed bugs, but never seen them. I got up close and personal that night. Lying on the bed reading a book a bug started wandering over the bed towards me. Not wanting to kill it, i just flicked it off. Then I started looking around and found more and more bugs, which I kept flicking off. It was 10pm, I didn't want to panic or change hotels at that time of the night with my limited Thai. So I decided to brave it and just sleep with the bugs. However, I did not sleep, lights were on I'd close my eyes then open them to find more bugs everywhere.. on the sheets, on the pillow everywhere.. so I started killing them when I could. Then I found them on my laundry and on the clothes I had left out to wear the next day.. it was incredible. as soon as I killed them there'd be more. I tried to put my shirt on the fan console up high on the wall. A little while later there was a bug crawling along the wicker towards it! They were insatiable. I changed into long pyjama bottoms and socks and only sustained a few bites.

The next day walking around town, one came into my peripheral view as it crawled under the brim of my cap! What a shock! I don't know how many I was harbouring on my clothes, but i had no time to clean and I had no idea what they were. I thought they were just some bugs, maybe bed bugs but I had no idea really what bed bugs really were or the ramifications.

Ayutthaya had some nice old ruins - but again more Wats of the ruin kind, Chedis & Stupas. I went to the train station, via a 3 baht ferry crossing (!) and got myself a sleeper for the night up to Chiang Mai. The train ride was great, with my bed already made when I arrived, I pretty much went to bed straight away, I slept so well away from the bugs (and having not slept the night before).

Chiang Mai is a nice sleepy city. As soon as I arrived I got online to research those bugs, the were indeed bed bugs and I have spent the last 2 weeks cleaning my luggage, clothes everything to get rid of them. I think I have had 2 nights bed bug bite free, I've been bitten, but I think by mosquitoes, not bed bugs. I tell you it's a nightmare if your have them. I got bitten to pieces in Sukothai (next stop after Chiang Mai). Again nothing remarkable about either town.

My mum came to travel with me and arrived in Chiang Mai. We visited Doi Suthep (apparently a must see, but was another Wat), Doi Inthanon (a nice national park with the 'royal projects' and overcommercialised hill tribes) and did a day trip up to Chiang Rai & the Golden triangle. Highlight of Chiang Rai was seeing the white temple (another wat, but had storm troopers, superman, Avatar type creatures and other sci-fi stuff painted on the inside - a fantasy mural by the famous artist who designed the temple). The artist is very famous here, kinda like Gaudi in that he has a particular design to his buildings & artwork that he is doing everywhere. Sukothai had a cute airport and free drinks and snacks. :-)

Phuket was next... staying on Patong Beach, it was like Bangkok all over again but 3 x the price. Every vendor and restaurant had prices double or 3 x the normal price. Tuk Tuks and transport were about 10 times more expensive than anywhere else I've been. We did a couple of day trips, one to Koh Phi Phi, Phi Phi Island or Phi Phi Don. It was ok - but also overly touristy. We also went to Khao Sok National Park for an elephant ride (bumpy and uncomfortable, but elephants seem to be well treated) and canoe ride down the Sok river (very peaceful and punctuated with sightings of snakes, bees and monkeys). The rest of the time was laundering and cleaning time. The famous Patong Beach was nice, but the water was quite murky, all in all it reminded me of the Gold Coast in Australia, only more people trying to sell parasailing and other stuff.

After mum went I had a day to myself and went to Phang Nga town to visit a friend of a friend. A lovely Thai lady called Wi. She showed me around Phang Nga town with it's elephant mountain and limestone caves. It was pristeen, peaceful and lovely.

Getting around is quite easy. Motorbike seems to be the choice of transport here and I was quite dubious about the motorbike taxi being able to take all my luggage and me to the bus station. He put the big backpack/luggage in front of him, between him and the handlebars - obviously doesn't need to read any guages. Then me behind with my other backpacks. Uncomfortable but, good short ride. I was picked up in a similar fashion in Kuraburi, only this time one guy with my luggage and me on another bike with my other backpacks.. much better. :-) That said I have seen 4 adults on 1 motorbike travelling around Chiang Mai. The guy at the end was literally perched precariously at the end of the seat with his legs hanging straight on either side.

I think that's all for now - 3 main things to take away from this blog:

1. Do not stay at the Old Place in Ayutthaya
2. If you see bed bugs, leave the place immediately, tell the owner and find another place.
3. If you get bed bugs.. good luck.. there's loads of information on the net as to what to do, too much for this post. I'm still not sure I have got rid of them.. they can live 2 months without feeding...

News

2010-06-29T13:25:00.001Z

Well...

Paolo and I broke up a couple of months ago.

After 2 months of searching I have a volunteer position in Thailand working for a small tour operator in the little village of Kuraburi working towards community development through tourism. Hurray!

I start at the end of August so have been busy travelling and packing up my life here in London.

Random post

2010-05-02T14:10:00.003Z

I just made fresh pasta. I'm so pleased with myself. Made a lasagne type sheet of pasta to make Manicotto. It's cooking in the oven now, I can't wait to see how it turns out. If the pasta is good (it looked and felt good), I'll post the link to the recipe as thanks to the author.

On other news, it's the May Day bank holiday in the UK.

I've now spent one serious week of looking for work in Sustainable Tourism. I have found a lot of good information and trawled through more sites than I can remember. Alas, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. This shall be an interesting journey and will test my patience as I want to do it now and be out there helping developing countries grow in all aspects, but sustainably (of course).

To relax, I've started Salsa dancing again. Big party tonight (all-nighter at Scala). Taken my first Salsa class in absolutely ages by one Nelson Flores. He gave me some sensational tips which I put into practice the next night dancing with great results! Thank you Nelson Flores! :-D I'll be taking his class tonight again to see what else I can keep improving on.

Time to eat...

2010 update

2010-01-04T13:30:00.002Z

Well I just officially resigned from my current job.

Also, just before Christmas, Paolo's father passed away. It was snowing all night and the next day when he passed away. I was there in the hospital, right by his side when he stopped breathing...

We just came back from Italy on Saturday (2 Jan 2010).

First day back at work and confirmed with the boss man that I'm definitely leaving (sent an email before Christmas because I was in Italy and couldn't do it in person, so had to confirm it in person today and explain myself).

So starting to spread the word now... I'll come back to Australia in March for the whole of March to spend some time with and help take care of my grandpa who is not in great shape either.. his health has been declining since last June (after I visited).

Paolo & I will probably go back to Italy in February to check up on his mum... who politely asked if we'd be back in 15 days when we were leaving on Saturday!

More later....

2.5 years on....

2009-12-14T18:20:00.002Z

Well it's been 2.5 years since I last blogged.

2008
March: I left my job in Ireland
April: Visited Australia
May: Moved to London.

Global crisis started.

June: Got a lucrative contracting job for 9 months.

2009
February: My darling friend Leila was in a terrible car crash, but has had super strength and positive outlook and only has a few more operations and hopefully back on her feet again!

April/May: Visited Australia for a month. Saw my grandma for the last time.

June/July: Travelled a bit with Paolo & parents.

Got a permanent job.

July - August: spent most weekends in Italy as Paolo's father was in/out of hospital.

Then this happened:

23 Nov - Found out my youngest cousin was engaged to be married next year.
24 Nov - My cousin gave birth (1st birth in our generation- so big news).
25 Nov - My grandma died.

Dec - Paolo's father's health has gotten worse again, back in hospital. Paolo has gone back to Italy indefinitely.

So I'm quite bummed out and lost.

"Global warming?"

2007-07-26T14:13:00.001Z

After at least 10 years of hearing about global warming and predictions of strange and unusual weather patterns, i find it amusing that only now that people are starting to take notice of this concept - now that the strange and unusual weather has kicked in (ie snow in Buenos Aires, Argentina - flash floods in northern England etc).

Right now, in Dublin Ireland at 15:13pm on a Thursday afternoon we are experiencing a thunderstorm, with a nice addition of hail. Now this is something that would typically sweep through tropical locations. I'm used to Brisbane summer storms being somewhat like this. Only being somewhat stifling hot before and much more humid after.

Whereas here, it's cold and rainy before and after. This is Irish summer. Thunderstorms are not common in summer or at all. There has been 2 in the last week. It hasn't stopped raining for the last 50 days. Last week we saw the sun make a cameo appearance for an hour or so in the evening time a few days and in the morning for a few days. Then it went back to raining on the weekend. I saw the sun again yesterday afternoon/evening. But then today it's been back to the drizzly rain. When there's sun, there is also rain.... more rain than sun.

But even the Irish who are used to rainy wet summers are astounded at the amount of rain (which has been unseasonally high) that has fallen this "summer". I just can't get over the number of comments I've now overheard about global warming. What you mean the things people were saying 10 years are coming true, now people are starting to wonder and be concerned.... a bit late but better late than never.

The amount of environmental schemes I've been seeing in the last year throughout the countries is escalating and somewhat comforting.

Back to work...

Too busy to blog?

2007-06-12T11:25:00.000Z

I can honestly say that I've had no time to blog.

I'm making time now because after 2.5 months - coming up to my 11th week here - I've had enough of this so called 'work'. Everyday I'm very angry about this job and then depressed about being here.

Yet I can't seem to stop myself putting in the hours and racking up the overtime to which I will never receive any compensation for.. the occasional thanks (or tanks a millions as they say here) is nice.. but somehow not gratifying enough for me.

Alas, I shall stop ranting. I can't think of anything I've done except work, eat, and sleep a bit since I started working.

But I did go to swansea to visit my cousing Leticia, so I do need to write and put photos up about that. But there seems to be photos missing from my compact flash card which I'm finding disturbing. Strange..

I put photos up around the time of my last blog of life in general in Dublin.

This weekend I'm going to confuse myself undoubtedly by renting a car and trying to drive in Ireland. The Irish have forewarned me to get a map and not follow the signs, if I can find any to where I'm going. I will have to stop and ask for directions and I will get lost it seems inevitable, according to the Irish....

Shall be interesting for sure! The aim is to go to Kilkenny and Waterford. No point making reservations if we don't end up getting there!

One month later...

2007-05-29T12:16:00.001Z

I can hardly believe that one month has passed since I logged on here.

Not much has happened. Just been working a lot.

Good news is that I updated my website so you can see photos from March and April! Photos of my recent visit to Swansea, Wales to visit Let (my Canadian cousin) are still to come.

Ho hum...