Tuesday 28th September
Wednesday 29th September

I was awoken at 4:45am on Tuesday morning by the people in the room next to mine - they were getting up (presumably) to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. As I was awake, I decided to get a drink from my fridge (yep, I was staying at a high class establishment - I not only had my own room and bathroom, but a TV and fridge too!). Flicking the light switch - no light came on. Hmm, maybe a blown bulb I thought. But no, the heat in my room soon confirmed that all power was off. As I'd booked for a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat the next morning, I was hoping that the electricity wasn't turned off during the night or else I would be dressing in the dark the next morning. (I checked with the owners later, who said that a few rooms had been affected by an overload).

The power was on when I re-awoke at 9am. It was nice to have a sleep-in, finally having a day where I hadn't booked anything and had no place to be. I returned to my new favourite restaurant, Cafe Central, and had a delicious breakfast of cinnamon French toast with maple syrup - yum.

The rest of the day was devoted to doing nothing. I watched a DVD at the guesthouse, spent some time walking around the town, and went to a 'spa' for a pedicure. Well, I walked in wanting a pedicure and walked out 3 hours later, having been talked into (quite easily) extending my pedicure to a foot scrub, foot reflexology and massage for a grand total of $18! I also booked a mini-van for Thursday to Phnom Penh, and investigated options for guesthouses there. I can't remember if I spoke of this previously, but Cambodia has two currencies, the US dollar and the Cambodian real, with an exchange rate of $US1 - 4300 real. (How well do I always time it for my trips overseas! Last time I went to the USA in 2008 was when the dollar reached it's all time high against the US dollar, and now it's near record levels again!) No coins are in use in Cambodia, so for example if you pay for a $4.25 meal with a $5 note, you will be given the 75c in real (about 3000 real). So it's making for some interesting maths, converting Aussie dollars to US dollars and Cambodian reals!

It really sounds a lot of the time like I do nothing, but you'd be quite surprised at how busy I am when I have a 'do nothing' day. Simple things like buying a moisturisor can take up hours - walking across town to check in at every pharmacy or supermarket for the right item. Posting photos on the internet can also take hours - some internet cafes are extremely slow; some USB drives don't work; etc etc. There are always tours and buses to book, laundry to drop in, blogs to write, and food to eat - days revolve around meals quite heavily sometimes!!


I had an early night as the next morning I had a 4:30am wake-up call. Seriously, 4:30!!? I was quite surprised with the energy I had when I jumped out of bed though, and was downstairs five minutes early to meet my tour guide. This time we would be using a remork (motorbike-tuk-tuk) rather than a sedan, and we joined the 100s of other tourists on a piligramage to Angkor Wats. The lights of the remorks and cars in the early morning looked just like the headlamps of the hikers on Mt Kinabalu had. (Random fact of the day: In 2000, Cambodia had only 5000 international visitors for the year. Last year, they had over 2 million).


We sat on the steps of the library ruins near the lake that overlooks Angkor Wat and waited the sun to rise. Unfortunately, there was no spectacular view that morning - the light seemed to go from black to clouded in an instant, and the clouds prevented an image of Angkor Wat from being reflected in the lake. It was at this point that my guide, who I had booked the tour with until 10am,  told me he had to leave to éscort his 90 year old grandmother to the pagodá', and left me in the hands of the remork driver. I doubted his story - I think he had actually booked to be the tour guide of another group that day, and as the tours started at 8am he needed to bail from me. I can't really blame him for double-booking though, given the small wage he earned.

My 'half-day' tour took me out to two previously unexplored ruins that were quite a distance from Angkor Wat. I had to pay the remork driver an extra $5 for the drive (this is the norm, not a rip-off) and he needed to pull into a 'service station' on the way to refuel. When getting petrol here, you pull up to a roadside stand where a litre of petrol is housed in a glass container, similar to the containers that milk was carried in in the early 20th century. Before he poured it in though, the driver had to undo the padlock he had on his tank - wow, people must really be desperate here!


Although the ruins were great (I picked up a mini-stalker at one of them - a child of about 10 would follow me wherever I went, just watching me from a distance - at least he wasn't trying to sell me something though!), it was the trip out that interested me most. Children riding those óld women' bicycles to school, school bags merely plastic bags, and often dinking two or three younger siblings (often the one riding was only about 8!). Properties with homemade scarecrows at the front of every property, along with signs of the ''People's Party of Cambodia' (seemingly the only political party here?) The image that struck me most though was of a young boy of about 7 with his grandfather. The grandfather was in a wheelchair, which consisted of a cane basket on wheels, and a rope was tied around the back of it in a loop. The young boy stood at the front inside the loop, and pulled the wheelchair along.


I was back in Siem Reap town before 10am and re-showered and dressed, already sweaty from the day's activities. Back down to my favourite restaurant for breakfast, I then needed to find some hair ties as I'd lost my last one. Sounds easy right? Head down to a chemist/supermarket/department store and purchase! Um ... not that easy. I think I walked the whole town and checked in every store before settling for some rubber bands. In every other Asian city I've been to, there's always Western malls and Western shops to browse in. However, there is no such concept in Cambodia - apart from the couple of Western food options (here, it was KFC, Swensons ice-cream and Pizza Company), the rest of the stores were more like market stalls.

I swapped a few books I'd read at a second hand bookstore, watched another DVD (Julie and Julia), and decided to 'branch out' and try somewhere new for 'lunch' (at 3pm). Despite being so daring, the cafe I ended up in had exactly the same menu as Cafe Central ... I noticed this menu to be quite common around town! I finally found an internet cafe with a fast connection that enabled me to upload my photos over the past few days (there are more on my Facebook page if you're interested - Facebook handles images a lot better than blogspot).

In the evening, I watched yet another movie (Date Movie) and then went for a walk down to the Night Market. I'd seen the Night Market from the main street over the past few nights, and thought it was simply a few shops off the main street. How wrong I turned out to be - it was quite large, and actually had some innovative products! I most enjoyed a shop that had wall hangings of Tintin - some covers from the comics, some made up pictures - I wanted to buy one for Mark but it just wasn't practical.

I enjoyed watching 'Rush' (the Aussie drama) for the first time when I returned to the guesthouse, and then flicked onto the Asian news channel to watch the latest on the Commonwealth Games and India, as I have been doing consistently over the past week. The Aussie netball team has arrived and have given Delhi good reports (can you believe an interview with Sharelle McMahon made the Cambodian paper? Do they even play netball here?) and it is still all systems go for me at the moment.

Monday 27th September

Up bright and early, I had an awesome breakfast of parmesan and pesto scrambled eggs at my new favourite cafe, Cafe Central, before being picked up at the guesthouse for my Angkor Wat tour. I felt like a movie star with my own personal chauffeur (he even opened the car doors for me!) and tour guide.


Stopping at the main gate to purchase the entry ticket (US$40 for 3 days), we headed to the first temple, Angkor Wat. Although people call the complex Ángkor Wat', Angkor Wat is indeed only one temple in a large area of temples and structures, consisting of an area of more than 40kms in length (thus the need for a driver).

 I'm not going to try and explain all of the temples and the history behind them, but suffice to say the day was amazing. We covered all of the major sites, such as Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm (where Angelina Jolie filmed 'Tomb Raider'- the buildings which have been taken over by tree roots), and my guide told me of the history of them all, as well as of Cambodia in general and Buddhism. Some of these constructs were over 900 years old, and similar to the pyramids you wonder how they managed to build them with some precision and given the weight of the stones (some were 2 tonne!)


I also participated in a few Buddhist rituals - first, I made an offer in return for a piece of red string which was bound around my wrist for good luck (I figure with the state of Delhi at the moment, I need all the luck I can get!); and the second was a fortune-telling ritual. After the monk gave a prayer, he handed me a set of cards (in Khmer) which I held over my hands and then inserted a knife like item into. The card where the knife landed was my fortunate. My guide did his best to translate but it sounded more like a Buddhist story than a fortune - it was about a beautiful girl who got married and the man took care of her for the rest of his life. Is that my fortunate? :-)




The tour was supposed to go until sunset but I was a fast walker, so we completed the temples included in my tour by 3pm. I was keen to get out of the sun and was happy to end the tour early, so we headed back to Siem Reap town, after a quick stop at a temple with brightly coloured paintings outlining Buddha's life (which were the same as those in the dragon temple in Chiang Mai!). On the temple's ground there was also a sobering box, which contained skulls and bones of some of the victims of the Khmer Rouge. It was a very sobering reminder of the country's past - there is a major museum in Phnom Penh that I will be visiting later in the week, which contains human bones and even the clothes the victims were wearing at the time of their death.


Despite having a degree, speaking several languages (and knowing the basics of numerous more), and knowing the detailed history of Angkor Wat and Cambodia, my guide told he was paid only US$30 a month salary as a teacher, which is why he was a tour guide on his day off. I assume the driver was paid even less, so at the end of the day I gave them a tip of $2/$1, which I think made their day! (I felt like giving even more when the driver jumped out of the car and ran after me with my brand new camera, which I had accidentally left in the car!) They were both great so I agreed to meet up with them again on Wednesday morning at 5am for a sunrise tour of the complex.

I called home and then went in for my typical main meal at 4pm and purchased some supplies (meaning, Cadbury chocolate - the first chocolate I've had since leaving Singapore; diet coke; and a macaroon - the first I've ever sampled!) before returning to the guesthouse. I am absolutely loving this city but the one thing that is annoying me is how everyone calls out "Lady" as I walk past. "You want tuk-tuk lady?" "You want massage lady"? Aaahh!

After a few chapters of my novel I fell asleep at the ripe old time of 8pm, looking forward to a 'day off' tomorrow.

Sunday 26th September

After my late night out with Alan, I didn't actually sleep that well and consistently looked at the clock every hour. I had to be up by 6:30am anyway for the next adventure - a bus ride to Cambodia! I scored breakfast at the hotel which was a game in itself - as I said in an earlier post, all breakfast menus only show 'sets' only, whereas I only wanted scrambled eggs. They kept bringing out the rest of the set, each item for which I would refuse. Then when I went to pay, I gave them 120 baht for a 70 baht bill because I didn't want coins as I was leaving the country - only notes which I could exchange - but they kept giving me my change in coins!

Anyway the mini-van was early and contained the whole of one person (me!). I'd been told it was an 8 hour trip on the same bus the whole way to Siam Reap - 4 hours to the border, then 4 hours to Siam Reap. I was in for an interesting journey to say the least ...

Not much after 3.5 hours in the van we made it into the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet and I was dropped off at a roadside cafe. "You have to swap buses here," said my driver. My new driver came up to me and said, "We have lunch here for half an hour then we leave. But, you pay for bus in Cambodia. Bus doesn't leave until 2:30 and takes five hours. But if you pay extra 400 baht, I call taxi for you and it take only 2 hours". Con job #2. I paid, preferring a 2 hour taxi ride to a 5 hour bus, and then hopped into the mini-van.

"Hey, we know you!" came a voice. Can you believe it was the Germans which I'd gone out with in Bangkok? What a small world it really is. They'd been down to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party and (obviously) were now heading into Cambodia. We had a catch-up on the quick ride to the border, where our driver gave us tips on crossing the border (i.e. keep your bags close; don't give your passports to anyone except the immigration official).

Border crossings consist of two parts: one to leave the country you're presently in; and the second to enter the next country. Exiting Thailand was fairly straightforward; although the Germans were held up - they took about 20 minutes to come through. As we were about to walk through the no man's land to the Cambodian immigration, the skies opened and it started bucketing down (thus, the picture of me entering Cambodia with a rain jacket on). Some enterprising Cambodians started selling umbrella-assisted journeys for 20 baht, but we all braved the rain and the mud.

The Cambodian immigration was like being in Africa. The dirt floors had turned to mud, and the one fan that was working had its cord submerged in a pool of water that had gathered. ""Um, aren't electricity and water a bad mix?", I said to one of the Germans. "Take a look around - does it seem like anyone cares?" he said. Fair point, but I made sure I joined the queue on the opposite side to the fan! Despite many stories about corrupt Cambodian immigration officials who demanded additional payments for bogus fees, I breezed through with my e-visa and joined the crew outside, in a muddy street lined with casinos.


We were taken in a shonky bus five minutes down the road to the "Tourist Station" by our guide. We were told we should exchange money here as we wouldn't be charged commission (con #3: the exchange rate was paying half of the standard rate!) and I was then pooled with 2 Turkish guys to share a taxi into Cambodia. Whilst we were waiting for the taxi driver, I overheard a conversation with a couple of tourists and a guide in front of me. "You take taxi alone then?'" said the guide. "Well, you said it's cheaper to share, so we will wait for others to join us" said the couple. "You can wait all night then" shot back the guide, who then stormed off. Cambodia wasn't getting a good reputation in my books ...

This continued when we hopped in the taxi. The three of us were forced to share the small backseat and leave the front seat free, as apparently the driver would be picking up another passenger on the way, as the price we had paid was as if there were 4 passengers paying. With a little more probing, the driver told us there was no additional passenger waiting, and we would have to split the additional cost between us (which we didn't end up doing).

Farewelling the 'guide' at the tourist centre (who had the nerve to ask, "What do you have for me?" when we left - i.e. a tip), we started driving along the road to Siem Reap. Cambodians drive on the wrong side of the road - and I mean this in two ways. One being that they drive on the right hand side, and two meaning our driver rarely actually drove on the right hand side, preferring to drive either in the middle or the left. Whenever we were within 100m of another car, bus, bike or similar, he would hold his hand on the horn and drive on the opposite side of the road. The two Turkish guys and myself occupied ourselves with conversation instead of the driver's antics instead, although I did see some interesting sights out the window. (You've all seen the pictures of how Asians can and will haul anything on a motorbike - well, we saw a large sow being carried on the back of one, and then saw a parrot in a basket of a bicycle!)

Forty minutes down the road the car pulled into a tiny road-side shack. "The driver needs to clean the car"", the owner said. Um ... con # ??? (what number are we up to now?) The driver simply sat down for a cigarette whilst we were pressured to buy books and food (again, an offer I rejected). Back in the car for the final hour's stint, we pulled into a 'tuk-tuk' stand on the outskirts of town. We'd been told the tuk-tuk drive to our hotel was included in the price, but again (no surprises!) there was a catch: we had to commit to using the driver for our visits to Angkor Wat. I flat out refused again, so by the time I arrived at the guesthouse you can just imagine what I was feeling about Cambodia - get me out of here!!


I'd had just a few snacks since leaving Pattaya, so my first order of business was lunch. I was expecting numerous hawker style set-ups, and was surprised instead to find very modern cafes in abundance. I stopped at the first one, Cafe Central, and had an amazing bowl of linguini with mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach with freshly baked baguettes for the grand total of $4.75. I was to find over the coming days that the food and standard of cafes in this town was amazing (finally - a place with no McDonalds!). And, unlike Thailand, they opened early for breakfast, which was another bonus!

As per tradition, I set out for a walk to orient myself with the city. It has a very French provincial feel with lots of green space. I found a Raffles hotel which advertised high tea and found a number of mini-marts which sold Vegemite (Vegemite is actually offered as a condiment at restaurants) and even Cadbury chocolate made in Australia (most Cadbury chocolate in Asia is the Asian produced version, which tastes very different - and not in a good way). I also scored my first snowdome of the trip, of Angkor Wat, and purchased a book called 'The Lost Girls', which was actually based on a travel blog I had read whilst in Melbourne.


I had initially planned to have a quiet day the following day, but decided I would head out to Angkor Wat instead. I found a travel agent and booked a personal tour, consisting of an English speaking guide and personal driver and car for the massive price of ... $40!

I returned to the guesthouse to veg out for a while - turns out they have free DVDs (DVD players are standard in every room) - so I watched New Moon (terrible - books are much better). The guesthouse also offered free internet, so I jumped on for an hour in the main lobby. Whilst I was on the 'net, a guy came up to the lobby and asked the owner, "How much for dum-dum?" The owner was confused, and said, "Pardon?" The man turned and pointed to me and said, "How much for the girl - how much for massage from girl?" The owner set the man straight and then turned to apologise to me. I'm assuming the guy was drunk .....

After that fun I headed back into town, finding 'Pub Street' with its neon signs and bars, walking along the Night Market, and sampling a Cambodian pancake (I'd had 'lunch' at 4pm so didn't need another meal).
Off to sleep for a big day at Angkor Wat tomorrow!

Saturday 25th September

It's Grand Final Day! I jumped out of bed, showered, had breakfast and purchased some snacks before taking up prime position on my bed to watch the Grand Final coverage. I had purposefully selected a hotel rather than a hostel in Pattaya to ensure I had a cable TV with the Australian channel!

Given the three hour time difference with Australia, the pre-match entertainment kicked off at 10:30am Thai time, before the match eventually starting at 11:30am. As we all know now, it was an excellent match. Of course I am anti-Collingwood and love Nick Riewoldt, so I was barracking hard for St Kilda. I'm sure the hotel staff were wondering what on earth was happening in my room given all the yelling and cheering - I made sure the 'Do Not Disturb' sign was hung on my door! You would have thought it was Adelaide playing - I was jumping up and down about 1 metre from the TV, especially during the last minute, willing St Kilda on. What a strange atmosphere it was at the end of the match given the draw - made even weirded with the locker room issue forcing the players to change rooms!


The Australian channel switched to the news shortly after the final siren, so I headed out of the hotel (probably much to the thanks of my hotel neighbours!) to pick up my laundry. I continued down the street to the Central Grand shopping centre to escape the heat. I was considering getting my hair done but decided to check my e-mail first - I'd sent Alan a message about meeting up today, since he was in Pattaya as well. The world really is a small place - first, that we were both in Pattaya at the same time, and second, it turned out that he was staying in the sister hotel of my hotel, right across the street!

Friday 23rd September

Of course I didn't sleep in this morning, despite my long trip the previous night and day. Every week-end I used to sleep in until 10 or 11 at least one day to catch-up on sleep I'd missed during the week as I had to get up for work at 7am - here, I get up at 6am every second day for tours or buses but can't sleep in past 8an even when I have nothing to do!


First item on the agenda was to drop in my laundry. Everywhere else in Thailand, laundries seemed to be on every street corner, all offering their services for 30 baht a kilogram or similar. Pattaya was a different story though. I ended up finding one in Soi 6 (for those who know Pattaya, you're probably wondering what on earth I was doing in Soi 6 - good point, in fact several people have wondered what I was even doing in Pattaya in the first place!) That done, I set out to find breakfast. That also seemed to be far more difficult than it should be - I ended up walking half an hour, finding very few places that did breakfast (and those that did seemed to only 'sets' which had far too much food and were far too expensive) so I ended up as a typical Westerner at Starbucks for an English muffin and frappuccino.

I spent an hour or so walking the beach strip - I always walk, probably far too much, in every city I visit as a) I find it's the best way to see the town and orient yourself and b) I'm too tight to pay for a taxi! Actually until I met up with Alan on Saturday night I hadn't used public transport in Pattaya at all, even though my hotel was at the north end of the beach and it was boiling hot! I also arranged for transportation to Siam Reap in Cambodia for Sunday - apparently an 8 hour ride, even though Cambodia is only about 300km away!


I had an early lunch as I was being picked up at 1:15 for the 'Gibbon Adventure'. This involved an hour's ride into the rainforest of Thailand (about halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya) to spend a few hours ziplining and abseiling through the rainforest. My group consisted of 3 Egyptian men, 3 Russians, and myself. It seems that Pattaya is almost like a Russian town - every store has signs in Russian, travel agencies are focussed solely on Russians etc. When we read through the safety cards before we started, the two languages offered were English and Russian - our guides even spoken Russian! I asked one of the group why there were so many Russians in Pattaya and he said that when Russians travel, they go to one of three places: Turkey, Egypt, or Thailand.


For several hours, we 'flew'through the skies on the ziplines - 24 in total, with the longest at 300m. There were also several abseiling opportunities and suspension bridges. The guides at first were taking it easy with me since I was a girl, but they soon realised I was fearless and started sending me down the ropes faster and rocking them for some fun! One of the guides was a lot of fun, when we reached the end of the adventure he said to me,"Ï think you should let me keep your camera forever". "Why?" I asked "So I can continue to take more photos of you" he replied. (I think that was a Thai attempt at a pick-up line?)


We were back in Pattaya at about 7:30pm - I had a brief walk around the city before heading to bed like a kid at Christmas - tomorrow was Grand Final day!!

Wednesday 21st September
Thursday 22nd September

    The tour consisted of an Aussie family from Caloundra (Mum and Dad and two teenage kids - the boy was hoping to be drafted in the AFL, we talked footy a lot!) and myself. Getting set on our mountain bikes, we set off with our guide, Sun, to our first stop: a temple. This was a really cool temple, almost like a complex - as well as statues of 'Happy Buddha' and some areas for making wishes, there was a dragon which you could actually walk inside - the inner walls depicted the life history of Buddha. It was great being with a Thai person because he could actually explain to us all about Buddhism and the different rituals. For example, we learnt that Thais pray to a different God based on the day on which they were born. We also played a game a bit like pick-up sticks - you needed to shake one stick out of an urn, and the number on the stick you shook out told your fortune (apparently I will meet a guy who will be my companion and look after me for life. It was in Thai so I'm not sure how well it got translated).

We rode through ruins of the 'old city' - apparently 700 years old - and then down to a local market. In Thailand, the shopkeepers make money by selling back the soft drink bottles, so when you order a soft drink they tip it into a plastic bag for you and give you a straw! Our guide pointed out the Thai delicacies in the market, like scorpions and Thai sausages ... I passed on both counts.


I was at the train station early at about 4:15 - surprisingly though (since the train didn't leave until 5:55pm), the train was already there. I boarded and ate my sandwich as an early dinner, starving after the hours cycling in the sun, and set about finishing my latest book, 'The Time-Travellers' Wife'. After last week's effort in which the train was over five hours late, I wasn't expecting the train to be anywhere on time, and I settled into bed not knowing where we would be when I woke up ....

The train pulled into Bangkok at 8:15am, only an hour and a quarter late - not too bad. But my journey wasn't over yet - I still had to get to Pattaya. As it was peak hour, it took over an hour and a half for the tuk-tuk I hailed to get to the Ekimai bus station, where I caught a local bus (rather than a tourist bus) to Pattaya. The bus cost only 91 baht - about $3 - for the 133km trip to Pattaya. I asked how long it would take - "About 3 hours" was the answer. However, there's a reason why you might consider taking the tourist bus ("VIP") rather than the local bus - the local bus stops every 50m or so to pick-up anyone who's standing on the side of the road! I swear it stopped every two minutes, and the bus ending up arriving in Pattaya at 2:10pm. One motorcycle trip later (I wasn't sure how he was going to fit my backpack on, but he did!) and I arrived at my hotel famished and needing a shower. (I had been travelling since 5:50pm the previous day and it was now 2:30pm; and I hadn't had a shower since 6am the previous day!)

I checked that the TV had the Australian channel, so I'd be set for the Aussie Rules Grand Final on Saturday, and then went across the road to the shopping centre for lunch (spinach quiche and Pepsi Max; had about 2 bites and 1 sip and then threw it out, both tasted off!) As I was exhausted I then fell asleep for a few hours back at the hotel and woke up only enough for a quick walk and dinner on the main beach strip before falling asleep for the night.

Tuesday 20th September

After the big day of touring yesterday I thought I'd sleep-in, but by 8:30 the sun was streaming through my windows and I was ready for the day ahead. I had previously intended on attending an elephant camp today, but decided due to costs and time I would delay it until a future trip. (There are some really cool elephant camps near Chiang Mai, including mahout camps and week long adventures - for next time!)

Cool animal statues made of sawdust at the mall

My vegemite made a return at breakfast and then I headed out to a shopping centre near the airport, the biggest in Chiang Mai. I was stoked to find a beautiful dress at 20% off that would be perfect for Canada - I will need at least one outfit to wear when I arrive! I'd just received an e-mail from Whistler stating that my start date had been moved forward. Instead of starting on Monday November 15th I now start on Wednesday November 10th, with orientation the day before. As I'm not arriving until the afternoon of Friday 5th, I now only have the week-end and the Monday 8th to get over my jet-lag, buy a winter wardrobe, get a SIM card and social security number, set up a bank account and check-in to my Whistler accommodation! I'm taken the move forward as a positive sign though - Whistler must be expecting a bumper season, which will mean more work for me!

The shared bathroom at the hostel - very cool!

I needed some US dollars for when I cross into Cambodia, and despite trying every single bank in the mall (about 10!!), not one of them had any!! Let's hope my search in Pattaya is more successful! Lunch was at Sizzler before I spent a few hours on the 'net at the hostel and then headed back into the city.

On the way into the city, I was chatting with the songthaew driver when all of a sudden, "Bang!!". Something hit the car with an almight smash and I jumped a million miles, thinking we'd hit someone or had been involved in an accident. It turned out a large tree branch had fallen and smashed into the windscreen and roof of the car. Fortunately we were uninjured, but all I could think of was that I was not calling Mum and Dad to tell them I was in a Thai hospital (again!!)

Luckily I have a 5 hour cycling tour tomorrow

I did call Mum and Dad then ... just to say hello ... and then had an ice-cream sundae at Swenson's to celebrate my being alive. I spent a couple of hours in an internet cafe and then headed down to the night market. Similar to the 'Sunday Walking Street' in size, it differed in that most of the items for sale were the typical souvenir products like counterfeit t-shirts and bags, so I didn't purchase anything. Early night in preparation for another big day tomorrow - cycling tour in the morning and then overnight train to Bangkok.

Monday 19th September

Up at 6:15am to shower and pack my bag before the early morning tour pick-up. Despite breakfast not officially starting until 7am, I managed to score some toast at 6:45am to line my stomach. I shouldn't have bothered getting up so early though because the mini-van didn't arrive until 7:50am - I was starting to think I'd been forgotten!

The tour was made up of 10 people from Indonesia, the USA, France and myself, as well as our driver and tour guide. The tour guide was called 'Kuah' but he told us to call him by his nickname, 'Banana', as 'Kuah' can be pronounced with 5 different emphases in Thai, each with a different meaning! He was hysterical too, and really made the trip a lot of fun (which was good because at times it involved a lot of driving).

Our first stop was at some hot springs about an hour out of Chiang Mai, which was a big waste of time. It was a tiny hot spring that had been transformed into a tourist attraction by adding a carpark with 100s of tourist shops and cafes. I think the tour company must get a kick-back from the centre as there was really no reason for us to spend half an hour here (especially given the length of the day, and that we'd only get half an hour at the 'real' sights!)

Another hour and a quarter of driving and we arrived at the 'White Temple'. Now this was a cool temple! It was actually an independently owned temple (not built by the Church or the Government) that had been built in 1997, purely funded and designed by a famous Thai artist. It looked like something out of 'The Chronicles of Narnia', with its pure white frosting. As I had shorts on I had to adorn a white sarong to enter the temple. Unfortunately photos were prevented from being taken inside, but I wish I could show you - the murals consisted of various modern images, including Keanu Reeves from The Matrix, Batman, and even an image of the Twin Towers on September 11! If all temples were like this I'm sure a lot more people would be religious ...

Another hours drive and we arrived at a pier to board a boat which would take us on a tour of the Golden Triangle - the point at which Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. All the way to the Golden Triangle, 'Banana' had told us to 'Just say no' to drugs, as this area was well-known for its production of opium. The river was basically shaped as a Y and is where the Ruak and Mekong rivers meet. The area is designed as a 'Special Economic Zone', so there are a number of on-shore oil platforms and casinos on both the Burmese and Laos sides. It was very cool to be gliding along thinking, "On my left is Burma ... on my right is Laos ... behind me is Thailand ... and if I go up the right hand side of this river, I'll end up in China!'


We made a special stop at an island that was officially part of Laos, although it didn't require visas for us to enter. It was mainly though so tourists like us could claim to have visited Laos - we even received a little stamp with a Laos mark on it; and could send a postcard home so it could be marked with the Laos postmark. Like most tourist hotspots, the markets consisted of the usual trinkets - t-shirts, bags, magnets - with one exception: animal wines.

For demonstration purposes, there were six large vats of wine located at the market stall closest to the pier, and our guide talked us through the contents of each vat. Using a ladle, he reached into the first vat and pulled out ... a gecko! Yep, the Laos(?) ferment their wine/whiskey with animal parts, as each animal is known for its special abilities as in Chinese medicine.. For example, tigers are supposed to 'give you stamina' (wink wink), which is why the second vat contained a very large piece of a tiger's anatomy ... given its size, it's little wonder why the Chinese thought it was a good aphrodisiac! The other vats contained a turtle, snake, and even an armadillo. A number of the markets had bottles of wine for sale, each with the snake/gecko etc still inside it. Not sure if you could slip that past Customs ...


It was 2pm by now which meant time for a buffet lunch by the water. For a 'tour buffet', the food was actually quite good, a real mix of Thai, Chinese, Laos and Burmese food. I was adventurous and went for pumpkin soup (that tasted nothing like pumpkin) and bread rolls (which tasted like scones), finishing up with Thai pancakes (which could possibly have been quail eggs).


45 minutes later we were in Mae Sai, which is the overland border from Thailand to Burma. Eveytime I have entered a new country, it's been in one of two ways: either through an airport, transiting through customs; or by land, being stamped out of one country, entering no man's land for several kilometres, and then being stamped into the next country. The Thai/Burmese border consisted of a bridge - line up on foot or with your motorbike at the entrance; get stamped out; and 50m later get stamped into the new country. Underneath the bridge though there were walkways flanked with shops, which allowed tourists to get as close as they could to the official entrance of Burma. I snapped a photo of the 'Northern most point of Thailand' and 'Welcome to the Union of Myanmar signs', feeling very ... off the beaten track? Although it was well-beaten, Burma to me is somewhat of an unknown, and I felt very adventurous - and although it was only 50 metres away, there seemed to be a huge contrast between the countries. It makes you think ... the Asian continent connects with Russia, Europe, the Middle East .. from here I could on to China; or over to Bangladesh and onto Iraq; or up to Russia - it was an exciting thought! One random fact of the day: The Burmese drive on the right hand side of the road, so as soon as the Thai cross the border they also have to change the side of the road!

Sadly, it was this area where poverty was really noticeable. You know how you see the World Vision ads where the 8 year olds walk around with their baby brothers strapped on their backs, just begging for money? The border scene was very much like that. We were warned to hold tight to our bags and be very safety conscious. As soon as I alighted, a young girl tried the oldest trick in the book - thrusting a baby at me so she could, in the confusion, try to pickpocket me. Luckily I was ready for this and steered clear of her, but the time we had here was soured by these scenes. You do feel sorry for the people but if you do give them money I think it encourages a practice of begging by others and you make them reliant on it, so I never give money to beggars.

We took the bumpy road back down to Chiang Rai for our last stop at the Karen Hill Tribe village. The village consisted of about 2000 Burmese, who had fled Burma due to the fighting and turmoil, and had been helped to re-settle in Thailand. The scene was very picturesque, with young naked boys swimming in muddy lakes and running after chickens. At the back of the village, the women were set-up in their own 'bunks', crafting shawls using traditional Burmese techniques. We spoke with one lady who had  about 22 rings on her neck - she was 50 and absolutely gorgeous. We learnt that they started with their first ring at 5 and had one added each year or three years until no more could fit. Some of the women also had the rings fitted to their legs (just below their knees) which I found distressing, as their legs had become deformed around it. They had a 'half-piece' which they allowed the (female) tourists to try on - it only had 16 rings but 10 seconds of it was enough for me (some of them have up to 26, weighing up to 6kg!) Several of the women also had the large earlobes, with huge circular objects placed in the lobe for which heavy 'necklaces' ('earlaces?') were attached. (It seems unfair that there is no equivalent for men - apparently, they just join the army).

I felt bad staring at them and tried instead to engage in conversation and treat them as 'normal' - conversation was difficult as they spoke their own dialect but a smile and hand gestures goes a long way! The shawls they produced were very beautiful and I ended up buying a pink one from a beautiful young girl - only $7 and I know it will come in handy in India.


A three hour drive saw us back in Chiang Mai - a long day of 13 hours in and out of the car. Not wanting to go far from the hostel, I had dinner at the night market nearby (egg and corn roti ... they put condensed milk on it before I realised, but I objected to the sugar!) and then turned in for the night.

Sunday 18th September

After a good night's sleep, I awoke just in time for the free breakfast. Not bad, the room is only $8 (AUD) and includes a buffet breakfast! The buffet may not be the same as one in a 5* hotel, but anything that serves toast will do me fine!

I then flagged down a songthew (shared taxi), intending to head into the 'Old City' and wander aimlessly. One thing I wanted to do was book both my train ticket to Bangkok (for onwards travel to Pattaya) and a tour to the Golden Triangle. When I mentioned this, the songthaew driver took me to the 'TAT' office (officially recognised travel agent). He also mentioned that he was picking up another passenger in 45 minutes to take him up to the beautiful temple on the mountain (my taxi driver the previous day had mentioned the temple as well), and said he could come back and pick me up if I liked, for the trip up.

That sounded ok, so I went into the travel agency and purchased the train ticket to Bangkok (I didn't purchase the onwards bus ticket - well, the last train had been 5 hours late so I wasn't sure when I would arrive in Bangkok, and I knew buses departed to Pattaya every half hour anyway) as well as a Golden Triangle tour which also included a trip to see the 'Long Necks'.

The taxi driver was back promptly at 11:20 and up the mountain we headed. I managed to score a seat in the front with the driver, as opposed to the seats on the back. Getting in with the taxi driver has 2 benefits: 1) air conditioning; and 2) he will give a running commentary of the city - it's like having a free tour! He stopped at a look-out point first and I realised here that my camera wasn't working. I presumed it was a near-dead battery, but was disappointed that I wouldn't get to take photos of the temple on the mountain.

The temple was indeed about 10km up the mountain, and was preceded by about 350 steps. As I was dressed in a skirt I had to don a sarong (sexy look) to enter, as well as pay a 'foreigner fee' of 30 baht. As my camera wasn't working, I had one of the 'official photographers' take a photo for me, although the sarong look kind of bought the look down! The temple was interesting but nothing special, so we went back to Chaing Mai town after half an hour.

The taxi driver dropped me back at the travel agent (they'd gone to purchase the train ticket whilst I was at the temple) and then I made my way into the town. The Lonely Planet had a review of a place called "The Amazing Sandwich" - apparently, it did fresh sandwiches 'just like home' and was an ex-pat hang-out. Fresh sandwiches sounded perfect to me and I was glad to escape the heat as well. It was an interesting concept - you had an order pad where you ticket the type of bread (white roll); the 'key' ingredient (sliced hard-boiled eggs); up to 4 vegetables (spring onion, onion, carrot, lettuce); cheese type (mozzarella); and condiments (salt and pepper). For $4, I had the most amazing sandwich - bursting at the seams with egg and lettuce!!

  As it was approaching 3pm, I wandered back to the hostel. (I say wandered, but I had to take a tuk-tuk. The hostel is great but unfortunately it's just too far from the city - I should have paid extra to stay in walking distance of the Old City). On the way back to the hostel, the 'red shirts'were 'touring' the streets. They had been remembering the 2006 coup, and about 10,000 of them had gathered in the streets of Chiang Mai after earlier being near the train station. It wasn't scary at all - the tourists were all out waving and taking photos!

I spent some time on the internet, booking my next few days of adventures. I found a hotel in Pattaya that had the Australian channel, to ensure I could watch the AFL Grand Final; and I booked onto the 'Gibbon Adventure' near Pattaya, which is a series of ziplines (about 3km) through the jungle, that is very highly rated on TripAdvisor. I also booked into a cycling tour of Chiang Mai for Wednesday - I'd wanted to do something active, as Chiang Mai seems to be the adventure capital of Thailand. In fact, it seems you can do almost anything in Chiang Mai - from ATVs to Thai boxing; Golden Triangle tours to mahout school (elephant trainer), there was something to please everyone!

I had charged my battery whilst I played on the 'net, and returned to my room to grab the camera before heading out again. I put the battery in and - again, the camera didn't work. Uh oh. I checked 'the Bible' (Lonely Planet) to find an electronics mall and quickly headed down. The assistants as the Sony store (it's a Sony Cybershot) said it looked like an LCD problem, and they'd have to send it away to be verified and then fixed.

I decided it wasn't worth fixing. The camera wasn't that great anyway - before I'd left, I'd thought about buying a new one but had decided against it - it didn't zoom too well, the picture wasn't that clear and it was an effort to charge the battery or upload photos. This meant a new camera - and I had the Golden Triangle tour the next day, so I needed a camera now! (Why couldn't this have happened in Bangkok?)

The Sony camera were ok - cool colours! - but I'd heard about the new Samsung, which featured an LCD screen on both the front and back, and wanted to investigate. I found a Harvey Normanesque store upstairs, where the women was intent on selling me a Casio - she was offering 1000s in discounts plus every extra under the sun (there must be a kick back in it for her). The Casios were ok, nothing special, and then I spotted the Samsungs. There were two with front and back LCD screens, and the more expensive one was great - full LCD screen on back as it was touch screen, cool purple colour (colour choice was how I chose my last camera) and, most importantly (!), the quality was immaculate. Trying to negotiate a deal AND understand its features and what it came from was an interesting experience to say the least, but I walked away happy.
  The key 'must-do' of the day was the 'Sunday Walking Street'. It's a famous night market held in the streets of Chiang Mai, with lots of handicrafts coming from across the Chiang Mai province. After walking the wrong way, I found the market in the middle of the street, and watched a fashion parade of unique Thai dresses (and tattoos?). Good little market I thought ... and then I realised the market continued across the road. It ended up streching about 8 blocks - seriously, it was the biggest market I'd ever been to! The items for sale were all unique and interesting too - not the mass-produced souvenirs you see on every street corner.

  Feeling poor after the camera purchase, I ended up buying some grilled rice (literally, grilled rice patties on a skewer) for dinner for the grand cost of ... 17c!! The food was my favourite part of the market - from cooked scorpions and cockroaches (no thanks) to grass jelly and chrysantheum tea and pancakes with Anime characters drawn on them in chocolate sauce - there was something to please all appetites!

Another big day ahead tomorrow ... a 7am pick-up call for the Golden Triangle. Time for bed!

Friday 17th September
Saturday 18th September

You would think after not getting to bed until 5am that I would want to sleep-in, but come 8am I was wide awake. I tried to return to sleep but at 10am I decided it was fruitless and showered and packed my bags, as I was checking out that day. I went to Starbucks for a frappucino and when I returned the boys were all still asleep. Liam had said he was interested in sightseeing with me but I didn't want to wake him, so I checked out of the hostel and headed for - where else - Siam Paragon for some food. The Grand Palace will just have to wait for another trip!

After a quick meal at Siam Paragon I needed to pick-up my passport and visa from the Vietnamese Embassy. The Embassy was only about 2km away, so I started to walk - and down came the rain! Lightly at first, so I persevered, but all of a sudden came a clap of thunder and the skies really opened. I ran to the nearest bus shelter and watched as the streets of Bangkok came to a stand still with traffice grid lock, as the drainage system was clearly not coping very well. As it looked like the rain would continue, I hailed the first empty taxi I saw and asked for the Vietnamese Embassy. Hey, it was less than 2km away, how long could it take?

Try 38 minutes! I could have walked there quicker on my hands, except for the rain of course. I ran into the Embassy for the whole of 30 seconds to pick up my passport, and then returned to the street to hail another taxi to take me back to Siam Paragon. The return trip this time was 49 minutes ... So it took me about 2 hours to travel the 2km there and back! The traffic gridlock is so bad in Bangkok (let's not mention how polluted the streets are due to the traffic fumes) that there are 'police' at every single driveway entrance and right hand turn - their job is to stop the oncoming traffic when a car wants to pull into the street, else the car would sit there for hours waiting for a 'break' in the traffic!

After this effort I had some lunch/dinner, fuelling myself for the long train ride ahead, and also purchased some snacks for the trip. By now the rain had stopped (although the traffic was still bad - 5pm on a Friday afternoon) and I flagged down a tuk-tuk to return me to Khao San Road. The weariness from the lack of sleep was starting to set in so I had a quick foot massage before picking up my bag from the hostel and travelling onwards to the train station.

I arrived at the train station an hour and a half early, not knowing what the procedure was for boarding the train. The procedure ended up being - wait for the train and jump on. So I joined the hoards of passengers on the floor of the Bangkok Train Station, waiting for my 7:35pm train. At about 7:10pm I walked down to the platform, anticipating that a long-distance train would probably arrive early to allow for re-stocking and for passengers to board. 7:35pm came ... and went. The train arrive at 8:15pm, finally departing at about 8:30pm. Not a good start when your 14 hour train is already an hour late ...

Luckily, the train ride was very smooth. I was booked into a second class, fan (not air-conditioned) sleeper-class cabin. During the day, the cabin consisted of sets of 2 seats which faced each other; and at night the cabin attendant would convert the seats into beds. The upper beds are cheaper because they are narrower and shorter, but I found I had plenty of room, and it was very comfortable. We were even given fresh blankets and pillows, and seatbelts to strap us in (I couldn't work out how to use it though - I just hoped I wouldn't fall out!)

I was asleep within 20 minutes of hopping into bed, waking refreshed at 8am to hear the train attendants walking through taking breakfast orders. I ate my last vegemite sandwich, knowing the train was supposed to arrive at 9:45am. I did hear the train attendant mention that the train was late (it had left an hour after schedule), so I expected to get in close to 11am. 11am came ... and went. 12pm came .. and went. 1pm came .. and went. My train, which was scheduled to depart at 7:35pm and arrive at 9:45am, ended up arriving at 2pm into Chiang Mai! Although the train was very comfortable, a 5 hour delay was not pleasant, as it basically wasted a day in Chiang Mai for me.

The fight for passengers was on between the taxi drivers when I exited the station - I always choose the ones who aren't yelling for attention though, and luckily my hostel was close by. It's called 'Imm Ecco' and the dorms here are basically twin rooms. Given how few guests there are, I've been lucky enough to have solo occupancy the whole time. On checking-in, I mentioned to the receptionist that there was an important match of football on that afternoon, and he said there was a big TV in the common room. After showering (much needed!) I checked that the TV had the Australian channel (it did!) and quickly went out for lunch (Sizzler - I just had the salad bar, and was extremely excited to find beetroot on the menu!). I returned to the hostel (quite an ordeal - the tuk-tuk driver had no idea where the hostel was, I knew better than him!) and settled in to watch the footy (Saints vs Bulldogs).

I got a bit excited, especially in the second and third quarters - I'm sure the staff were wondering what this crazy Aussie was watching - but was very glad to see St Kilda get up. Go Saints in the Grand Final!!
After Thursday night's lack of sleep and Friday's night train ride, I had a quick dinner in my room (vegemite sandwiches - of course!) and was asleep by 9pm ... zzzzz.

Thursday 16th September

Thursday morning I was aiming again to go to the Grand Palace. I ate breakfast at the hostel's cafe before donning my leggings (seriously, they aren't a fashion statement, they're just to cover up my legs as per Buddhist beliefs) and heading out. I realised the Grand Palace was only a short walk away and started walking. I needed to cross major intersection and got slightly confused as to how to do it. A tuk-tuk driver then came up and told me it was closed (I didn't believe him) but I decided I was too hot to walk across and would prefer to head to the shops instead, so I asked him to take me Sukhumvit Soi, where all the international hotels are located (as well as a few smaller shopping centres).

I spent an hour wandering the streets and checking out a few shops before deciding to head down to the Australian Embassy to see Tracey. I found a bottle store and purchased a nice bottle of wine before walking down to 'Embassy Road', or 'Wireless Road' as it is known. The Aussie embassy was several kilometres away, which was an effort in the heat. Most of the embassy buildings were located well off the street (for security purposes I presume) with small gates at the front for consular purposes. Security around the US embassy was particularly strong - there was even a guard with gun on top of the overhead footpath nearby.

Arriving at the Australian Embassy, I was greeted at a tiny little security gate, where I was required to give in all my belongings. Yep, no camera, drinks, bags or anything was allowed into the embassy complex. Tracey later mentioned that scores of people had been complaining when they had come through recently to vote in the federal election, but she said after embassy bombings it made the staff feel more secure! I was allowed to take in the bottle of wine and, after a strict metal detector check, was escorted to the front office of the embassy complex. The complex consisted of two main buildings - the residence of the Ambassador (who I actually saw leaving the premises) and the main building, which houses the consular section as well as federal police and customs staff. It was a lot bigger than I expected and very well maintained - there was even a garden hedge cut into the shape of Australia!

After another security check I went upstairs to the consular section and asked for Tracey. "Purpose of visit?" asked the (Thai) officer at the front. "Um ... to thank her for helping me out in a bad situation last year?" Access granted and out came Tracey with a big hug. She took me into a small conference room where I gave her the bottle of win and thanked her for all of her help last year. She couldn't believe how well I'd healed, and we spoke about the recent Full Moon Party boat crash, for which I told her I'd had to take the day off work as the news story had affected me so badly!

After an hour or so chatting it was back to work for Tracey and off to Siam Paragon for me for lunch/dinner (my usual 4pm meal!) of Mexican. I then hit up a 'hairdressers' (I saw that in quotes because it wasn't a real hairdressers, it was more someone than had a few skills had opened a hairdressing shop on Khao San Road) and asked for a conditioning treatment, as my hair was parched from the sun. The treatment did absolutely nothing but as an added bonus she straightened my hair, which boded well for the night I was about to have ....

Back to the hostel at about 7pm I spent a few hours catching up on the internet (this website has so many issues with photos - I've worked out it's because when you try to add a caption, it changes the photo to a tiny size. That took me hours to realise though!) In my bed at 10pm I started to plan my next 10 days of travel. I wanted to head to Chiang Mai next, but then be in Pattaya for the AFL Grand Final (as on the net it seemed there were numerous AFL pubs there) and then across the border to Cambodia. Suddenly, a voice came from behind the partition of the bunk next to me. "Is there free wi-fi here?"

I presumed the voice was directed to me, so I returned the question with "I think the first 15 minutes is free but you have to set up an account at reception". That started a conversation with my 'next bunk neighbour' and I pulled up the separating partition to meet Liam, an Irishman who had just arrived in Bangkok for a three week holiday of Thailand. He'd seriously literally just gotten off the plane and was keen for food and drinks. Then all of a sudden my 'underneath' bunk mate appeared - Andy, a German, who asked "Can I get an iron here?" That started another conversation which ended up with Liam, myself, Andy and his 3 mates all deciding to go out for the night. 

We all tidied ourselves up for our night out and headed to the front of the hostel for a few drinks. Liam was starving so whilst the Germans were drinking I took him for an orientation of the neighbourhood and introduced him to the wonders of Thai street food - Pad Thai and spring rolls. We then went into the 7-11 to buy a drink but we were denied - alcohol can only be served between 2pm-5pm and 7pm-12pm, and it was past midnight at this stage (yep, we hadn't even left the hostel yet and it was past midnight!)

The Germans had 2 clubs they wanted to attend but as they knew it would be expensive to buy drinks there, we decided to head to the next road on from our hostel to have a few drinks first. We found this completely random road-side bar, made up of not much more than a few chairs and milk crates, and ordered buckets all round. Being his first night in Asia, Liam got conned into buying a rose from a little girl - 1am in the morning and she was all of about 10! She challenged him to a game of paper, scissors, rock, which despite her best efforts to cheat he still won. (At 3-1 up she asked, 'best of 5'?) Having realised she was defeated, she then challenged him to thumb wars, which she was successful in. About 20 minutes of effort all for 20 baht, and I graciously received the rose.

As the first drops of rain started, we finished our drinks and decided to head to one of the clubs the Germans were keen on. Somehow we all ended up in the same tuk-tuk ... all 6 of us! I have no idea how the engine survived us all ... there were 3 of us on the back seat, 2 boys in our laps, and then a sixth straddling the driver! We were in no danger of an accident as the tuk-tuk couldn't drive more than about 5km an hour - and somewhere along the lines the German boys even managed to swap positions, even with the one straddling the driver!!

When we arrived at the club, it wasn't the club we had asked for. The boys checked the club we had been taken to and it was empty, so we refused to go in. Despite the late night and the alcohol already consumed, the Germans were very organised and practical. They had addresses and times written down, and knew how to approach the taxi driver who had taken us to the wrong place. (For example, they knew that Thais can't 'lose face' in public, so they didn't shout - they spoke politely with them and arranged that we wouldn't pay if we weren't taken to the right club).

Back in a taxi - 2 of them this time, although we'd now picked up a random stranger from our stop - and we ended up at another club. Again this wasn't the club we'd asked for, but we were so keen for a few drinks we decided to go in once we knew there were people in there. There were strict bag checks requiring us to give up our cameras (the boys didn't as theirs were in their pockets), and we entered the club. Well, I think this was a game on the taxi drivers behalf - I'm fairly sure it was a 'hooker club' rather than a dance club, as there were a lot of Asian girls with drunk (and/or desparate) Western men. We stood around a table for a while, throwing back a few shots (2 was my limit - water was just fine after that!) whilst watching everyone dancing on stage. Liam was approached by a girl several times who told him that she was his for only '1000 baht' (about $35). He asked me to save him if I saw the situation again, and said he'd do the same for me. Deal!!

The boys kept pushing for me to go on stage so once a good song arrived we all went up. The music wasn't too bad, lots of top 40 dance songs like Usher and Black Eyed Peas - the only problem was being hit on whilst on stage! Whenever I would try to dance, sleazy guys would make their way over, so I stuck close to Andy and Liam.

At about 4:30am Liam and I decided to head back to the hostel - the Germans arrived about half an hour later. We laughed all the way home at our random night out and about starting conversations when you're a solo traveller (Liam said "Free wi-fi?" was really just an excuse to start a conversation.) Poor thing accidentally locked the lock on his locker before realising he'd just locked his keys inside ... oh well, that would be tomorrow's problem!!

I'm hoping to get the photos off Liam for this crazy night out, as I didn't take any ...

Wednesday 15th September 
  

Have I accidentally stumbled into Africa?

It was a 2.5 hour journey home but the mini-van was full of a chatty bunch of English people, who were all mad keen on Australia so made for a good trip. It was very interesting to hear their opinions on the country (seriously, every Brit I've met loves Australia and is planning on emigrating), and I helped give them tips on jobs and best places to stay.