TravelStream™ news feed for member onceinalifetime on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/onceinalifetime en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Mon, 07 Nov 2005 13:52:05 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961560/tpod.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 13:52:05 -0500 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Galway, Ireland

Galway is a city bustling with energy, though you soon find out much of it is the energy of tourists. This has to be the Bed & Breakfast capital of the world, as a bus trip to the outskirts of the city limits reveals every second house (if not every one) runs a B&B operation, and most have no vacancy.... cha ching!

This city knows what it is and does it very well, which must contribute a great deal to its success. It's a tourist trap, but not neccessarily in a bad way. Yes they're willing to sell every last piece of their sweet Irish heritage on street corners, but at the same time, this is one place where Ireland's heritage continues to thrive. Kids are shuttled here during summers to receive training in their country's history, Irish dancing, the Gaelic language, etc... It's much like the way Canada's natives hock their hand-made and mass produced wares at Victoria's Inner Harbour and Tofino in B.C., or Australia's aboriginals in Sydney and Cairns. It's a great way for them to make their living and educate the world about their stunning histories and way life used to be on the land. Obviously there are pratfalls in making those comparisons, but it also makes sense in many ways.

This is one place where Erin and I had to be sucked into a B&B. It was shocking to find out we'd pay almost the same for a hostel there as getting a B&B and you really can't do Ireland purely on hostels. Now, the person running the establishment had almost given away our room by the time we got there (we got lost and she was handing out the key to someone else as we approached), so she gave us a discount. It turned out hat we liked the place so much that we stayed there two nights and found a restaurant we liked so much (Riordan's) that we ate there for our two dinners. Definitely creatures of habit.

There are a few musts you have to do in Galway. One is find an Irish band, which we tried to do but we got kind of smoked out before the band got really going. Another is Irish dancing, though there didn't happen to be any at that particular night we were around. So, O-for-two, we maintained the pocketbooks of Galway's resident artisans by doing the other Galway must -- shopping. There are malls and little stores, but the real Galway shopping experience is found in the little markets set up each day and in the artists plying their trade on the street corners. Shopping's not my bag, but there was no pushiness, a jovial atmosphere and a lot of crap to make fun of. So I got by and Erin got stuff. There were also Irish carollers singing in the street and other musicians doing a little bit of everything. It all adds to the energy and makes for some great strolling.

No, it's not rapelling down a 30-metre waterfall in Australia, but Galway still managed to make its way into my good books. The place is energetic, the people are mellow (oxymoronic, I know), and some extra time to explore would've provided even more check marks in its favour I'm sure. The terrain on the outskirts has some crazy rock fences, some beautiful homes, tonnes of character and would've made some fun times if we weren't on a bus carrying us off to the Aran Islands (also very much worth the trip).

I assume we'll be back one day if Erin has anything to say about it, and it'll look and feel pretty much the exact same.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1109015760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1109015760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1109015760/tpod.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:55:25 -0500 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116241500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116241500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116241500/tpod.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:44:09 -0500 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Cardiff, United Kingdom

After more than two months on the road, a home-cooked meal and comfortable bed are simple pleasures that actually make you giddy (like schoolgirl giddy). And then when one of those comes your way, you have to resist the urge to try and pay for it. After all, you become used to paying for everything when you're travelling (yes, often including toilet paper, use of washrooms, watching television, sitting in a chair, etc...) and the comforts of home are one of the few things worth every penny.

Erin and I have been lucky enough to meet up with some friends on our trip, providing places to stay, the mind blowing home cooking, some travel and much-needed direction. In Australia and Thailand we knew we were on our own for extended periods and planned accordingly, but our foray into Europe has been one big unplanned cross-your-fingers and hope we make it home with money to spare and clothes on our back kinda thing. Oddly, it's gone off almost flawlessly due in large part to the help of some friends. We should make it back with some money to actually rent an apartment in Edmonton when we get there -- though the quality of that apartment is up for debate since it will be a hectic two-day search for one. Yay us.

Here's a little breakdown of the last 70 days to show why a bed, some food and a friendly face might mean so much to a couple of wearied backpackers nearing the end of their trip:

FOOD:
- Estimated number of sandwiches we've each eaten: 90

- Jars of peanut butter gone through: 5

- Number of those 90 sandwiches involving peanut butter: 40

- Estimated time until we acquire an appetite for having another sandwich: 1 month.

- Percentage of time cheapness beats out goodness at food-buying time: 50%.

- Number of times we buckled and ate bad fast food, despite reading Fast Food Nation: 5 (not bad).

- Meals we actually got to cook for ourselves: 10

- Times sent gasping for liquid and air after eating something unexpectedly hot: 5 (note -- the smallest peppers are the hottest peppers. They are not to be mocked.)

- Meals spent wondering what the heck we were actually eating: 100-plus (mystery meat in Asia a big contributor, while black and white pudding and haggis were among the European additions... thanks Diabs).

SLEEP:

- Number of different beds slept in during last 70 days: about 50.

- Number that felt like concrete: 3

- Number in the back of a campervan: 7

- Number that actually felt and looked clean: 25... maybe.

- Nights spent in multi-share rooms with between 1 and 10 other people: 10

FACES:

- Number of new faces and names added to memory: 150-plus

- Rate at which they're filtering out the other ear: 3 per day.

- Number of new friends we keep in touch with: about 10.

- Days into the trip until we saw a familiar face (Jane): 45.

Sometimes travel starts to wear on you and staying in one more shared hostel, having one more peanut butter and jam sandwich, or paying for a coffee just so you can sit in a chair somewhere will drive ya bonkers. Not only did seeing some old friends and their families allow us to maintain sanity and save a little money (ok, a lot of money), but we also got a little insight into European living. (They actually eat Haggis like a meal in Scotland. I'm not kidding you.)

Oh yeah, we saw castles and bridges and all sorts of stuff in Europe, but we'll save that for the next pod.

Cheers,
Scott and Erin
-the fearless Haggis eaters
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1116961440/tpod.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:41:49 -0500 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Aran Islands, Ireland

A silver car rolls by and approaches the two hikers deep in discussion at a pullover on the outskirts of Cardiff's Brecon Beacon National Park. Without hesitation the window rolls down and the man leans out.

"Hey, are you two Canadian?"

The question seemed a little odd to the two travellers, stranded a good three miles from where they were supposed to be and torn between hitch-hiking or gutting out the rest of the long walk on their sore feet. There were no flags on their bags and no way this guy could've overheard their accents.

"Ummm, yeah. Why's that?" rebuts the male strapped with a large backpack that has melded into his body over the past 10 hours of trekking up and down various peaks and around grazing sheep.

"Well, there's a young lady up at a parking area up ahead going a little crazy over her lost friends and how she doesn't know where they are."

That could be no other than the fiery blonde Irish girl known as Jo, who had been bouncing back and forth between parking lots for the past hour, trying to find any info on where her lost visitors could be. Just 11 hours earlier she had dropped them off deep in the parkland with a map, a compass, and a cell phone lacking reception. Her first thoughts as the fearless Canadians whipped out their map and gazed at the vast forest land surrounding them: "They are so going to get lost!"

It turned out she was right... sorta. We knew where we were. It just wasn't where we were supposed to be.

The unnamed fellow hiker quickly shuffled some stuff around in the backseat of his car to make some room. As they took a seat, their bodies groaned with pain from a day's hiking. Most of the pulsing came from the last two hours spent blazing their own trail through uneven terrain marred by various pesky weeds that just ached to take out an ankle or two. Even the sheep looked like they'd just seen humans for the first time.

-------

The Brecon Beacons were amazing. The hike started out alongside a small river highlighted by several waterfalls. Beautiful old mossy stone fences sidled the other side of the path. We eventually emerged from the forest to find a lack of trails to follow but a heady helping of sheep grazing by the river in a grassy valley. Nonetheless, the map trail pointed us to this location so we stopped for a bite not 10 metres from a family of sheep locked in deep stare. (They don't even give you privacy when you're peeing... very nosy, those sheep.)

Looking off in the distance towards some towering peaks, Erin asked something along the lines of, "We don't have to climb those do we."

"Ummm, of course not. I think we go around those," I say, and the hike continues onwards towards the towering peaks. Sometimes a little deception is needed in order to gain compliance and make the ultimate goal, which she admits was well worth it. I mean, I didn't know exactly which peaks she was looking at, so I can plead innocence.

We ascended our first peak not 30 minutes later, bumping into a group of high school kids shocked that we were hiking these peaks for fun. Two of the girls were defiantly dragged up the first peak by their instructor. By the look of their tears and sounds of their sobbing, a wild guess says they weren't having fun in the great outdoors. Meh, maybe they'll understand it when they're older. While they whined, we wined and dined by ourselves on top of the peak with a dangerous combo of delicious water and scrumptious pre-made sandwiches. OK, the meal may not have been the most romantic, but the astounding panoramas and gorgeous weather more than made up for it.

Deep, dark shadows were cast across the valleys and swallowed up the cliffs as the sun continued its rotation behind the pillowy white clouds hovering in the sky overhead. Streams of water tumbled off cliffs and goats grazed at 75 degree angles. A full rotation would often reveal no other signs of human life to be found. No cars, no houses, no TVs, no cell phones, no murmured conversations. Just the peaceful silence of nature at work, occasionally interrupted by the bleat of a startled sheep.

Our forays off the trodden path onto the rolling green hills or stepping out onto a rocky ledge jutting out the side of a cliff face sometimes made you feel like a pioneer exploring the land for the first time. The urge to have the odd run mimicking William Wallace in Braveheart could not be suppressed. Cheesy, I know. But also a necessity as we climbed towards our second and third peaks that left you breathless at both the views they afforded and because of the steep inclines. Apparently pastries and marathon sight-seeing don't get one in shape like they used to. A pity.

Things only went awry when we followed our camera instead of the trail, in pursuit of a wild horse. Somewhere along the way, mischievous sheep must've filled in the small dirt trail behind us with weeds and crab grass because it suddenly disappeared. Instead of backtracking, we went forward in search of the trail, thinking we were still making progress. Instead, we found land undisturbed by humans and sheep that looked shocked to see us there. We walked until we found a "less steep" decline to the highway along a forest line. Unfortunately it also took us out of cell phone range, so I had to climb back up the cliff side with the phone to try to get ahold of Jo. I managed to phone her mom in Belfast, but never got to clear up our locations with Jo. Hence the man who picked up his prized Canadians and delivered us to our caretaker. Thanks dude.

------------

I managed to talk Erin into biking the Aran Islands with me not five days later, still full of aches and pains. Silly girl! Just doesn't learn, does she? And so, we rented bikes and explored the island of Innishmore on two wheels. With a deep interest in attempting to avoid the tourist traps and exploring the natural beauty of the land, we went forth to the "pufting holes." Almost all the other bikes and tours went the other way, not even thinking of the small points of interest highlighted on our map. Perfect... that is, until we found out why.

The nondescript path to the pufting holes ended abruptly at some rock fences. These man-made fences are centuries old and crisscross the land to separate it into smaller plots. They also derail any supposed paths. Worried about the possibility of being shot by a farmer or mauled by a goat, we decided to stop two power walkers who happened to be in the vicinity.

"Oh yeah, just go right over the fences. Leave your bikes there and they'll be fine," they said.
"Over the fences? Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah, they're well worth it too."

And so, we dropped the bikes and started hiking over fences, past the largest cows I've ever seen and families of goats. On the other side of the island, past the 10 or 15 fences we hopped, we were rewarded with spectacular cliffs that suddenly dropped off into the crashing waters 20 metres below. It was time to kick back with a Guinness and have lunch, the Irish way.

The powerful winds and waves tunnel into the cliff side, constantly chiseling away at the rock facade and making it fall under its own weight. It's here that small pockets in the cliffs create large sprays of water referred to as pufts. With the tide momentarily out, we climbed down to check out the remaining tide pools. But most of the time we just stayed warm in each other's arms and enjoyed the vistas before returning the bikes and taking the ferry back to our B&B.

Once again, doing things the hard way paid off with spades of memories that will be different from all of those who followed the well-trodden route.

Cheers,
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1115656980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1115656980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1115656980/tpod.html Tue, 17 May 2005 13:44:09 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Cairns, Australia

It wasn't exactly a party, but it was non-stop action going up Australia's East Coast and it was hella good times.

We had about 10 days to cram in everything the coast had to offer -- a trip we were told is usually done comfortably over a span of three weeks. However, we are travellers on speed! Well, more so caffeine than speed, but you get the picture. There was little rest as we pinched our remaining Aussie pennies and headed north.

Flying from Sydney to Brisbane and then hopping on a bus meant we missed a bunch of the southeast coast. Small towns and places like Noosa and Byron Bay would've been good stops and apparently there's some good diving off of the Mackay area up north, but we had to be ruthless in our cuts. Our shortage of remaining time helped us force-choose our 4X4 adventure on Fraser Island, our sailboat adventure off of the beautiful Whitsunday Islands and even our dive boat off of Cairns. There are hundreds of pamphlets to wade through and they all take a bunch of time to analyze in order to plan out your routing. We were a combination of hardworking and lucky enough to find something that fit and that also turned out great on almost all accounts.

Being hands-off as a travel agent plans your route and places to stay on a trip is not the way I would've like to have done it. However, there wasn't enough time to make sure everything was what we planned for so making sure the big ticket items rocked became the focus and that paid off. We left the hostel booking up to the agent, and often they sucked pretty badly, but we were exhausted each time we hit the hostels so sleep wasn't much of a problem.

Fraser Island -- A big sandy island with a rainforest, beautiful beaches, some interesting history and a bunch of loony young people driving around in 4X4s and crashing at a pace of about once per week. We decided to do the tour guided by a park ranger, mostly because there was a two day - one-night option (instead of doing a third day we didn't have to spare) but also because we didn't want to be crammed in an SUV with 9 others of different driving ability. We found out later that it's quite frequent that someone will crash a and there was even 11 people air-lifted off the island the previous week after an 18-year-old girl drove their vehicle off a cliff. She had been driving something like two weeks before the trip. Rough! There's a lot of interesting plant life on the island, which survives on the mass amounts of fresh water welled up beneath the completely sand island. More info should be provided in the pics that will be added later on. It was an interesting island though for sure and we met some good people along the way.

Whitsunday Islands -- For this trip, the group we were with made all the difference. One-third of the 21 customers were Canadian, and the others weren't so bad either ;) We went with ProSail on the boat Broomstick, a 65-foot former maxi racing yacht. It was a great experience getting involved in the sailing and helping put up the main sails -- a feat which was a little tougher than putting up the sails on my Dad's 25-foot sailboat. The food was surprisingly good prepared in such close quarters and the ugly, heavily stained cot-style beds were surprisingly comfortable in the dark at the end of the night. The crew was mostly pretty good and we ended up having some socials with them after anchoring the boat each night and then again after the trip was over.

We hit some sweet beaches with exceptional sand, snorkeled some reefs and tipped that boat on a 50 degree angle at one point. Yeah, 50 degrees. The looks on some people's faces when that happened unexpectedly (ummm... that would be a look of fear when your feet are actually dangling directly above the water from the other side of the boat) was priceless. Meanwhile, I could've swore one of the crew members was half-submerged and trying to light a cigarette under water -- they were that calm. It was awesome and a couple of us begged for some more. After all, it ain't really sailing unless you get a little wet, right?

Scuba Diving Cairns -- This has been at least one of out top moments of the trip. Six dives in 24 hours on a massive live-aboard anchored just off a spectacular reef. The boat was Reef Encounter, the crew (much of it Canadian... not to show any bias or anything) was awesome and it was non-stop great dives full of brilliant coral, stunning fish and experiences you can usually only see on TV. Crystal clear waters helped us see the whole underwater world around us as we snuck up on sleeping reef sharks, pet and fed massive turtles and a humongous wrassie fish named Wally, played with sea cucumbers, watch sleeping lion fish (which have massive spikes sticking out from all over their bodies in a beautifully fluent way that looks natural), saw unicorn fish and angel fish, various members of the ray family, nemos, flute fish, etc.... It was an astounding experience.

The night dives were amazing as massive trevallies (steely silver and black fish) used the light from our underwater flashlights to try and find and snatch any stunned or sleeping fish for a late night snack. And the calm and quiet of the 6 a.m. morning dive was well worth the rough times getting out of bed that early. Watching the underwater world sleep is something that has to be experienced. The stinging blue bottle jellyfish I could take a pass on, but only one of our dive sites had them, and the sharp stinging pain only sometimes made your glands swell up and throb if you got stung ;)

I highly recommend seeing the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and doing the East Coat of Australia, even if it is highly touristy. It's touristy for a reason. We'll try to get pics up when we find some time and cheaper Internet.

Till then, Cheers Mates!
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114335300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114335300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114335300/tpod.html Wed, 04 May 2005 20:46:45 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Melbourne, Australia

So we piled into our campervan in a small suburb of Sydney to start our south-westerly trek to Melbourne and beyond. Few small problems: Wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road, doodads and dipswitches all in the wrong places, behemoth of a vehicle with more blind spots than Kings Cross has strip clubs, and an ironclad agreement that if we put any dings in this spankingly newish and clean vehicle, it was coming out of our pockets.

Minor difficulties... no problem, we thought.

And so, we hit the road. Aussies love their roundabouts, or so it would seem. My first roundabout also loved the rear right wheel of our van. One minute in and I'd already ridden a bit of curb. Perfect. Things were going great.

It's not easy adjusting to so many differences all on the spot. It's a freakin' stress manufacturing machine. I almost smoked a car from behind while changing lanes and just missed a brick fence turning into a grocery store, both within the first two hours behind the wheel. I mean, this big white whale I was driving was dangerous. It had a mind of its own. OK, well maybe I was misjudging time and space just a bit, but everything was opposite. My right elbow kept hitting the window and my left was responsible for changing gears for chrissakes... Switching Gears!!! That's just asking for trouble.

OK, so Erin was allowed to talk again after the first two hours were out of the way and I felt less like a terror and more like a tourist making some minor mistakes. What can I say? You get a little grumpy when your first attempts at driving in a new country are on a busy freeway followed by the windiest road in Australia, which had both tight and sweeping 180 degree curls through a park, in order to get back to another highway.

Surprisingly, the rest of the trip went off almost seamlessly in terms of driving. I may have turned briefly onto the wrong side of the road once or twice, but no one's lives were put in danger. I had two yellow "Keep Left" stickers posted to my windshield to keep my righted, after all.

The road trip to Melbourne was nothing overly special. But it paid off to see Jane again, a university friend who lived on the same floor as me and my buds in 2nd year. Though the three of us have a problem deciding between various options, we had an eventful day of sight-seeing the beautiful city, checked out the last bit of an Aussie Rules game for free and stayed at her uncle's pad, overlooking the harbour and the city. It was a great time to catch up on so many things that had been happening in the past four years. Unfortunately, she ended up tearing an ACL playing netball the night after she said goodbye to us at the ferry terminal. Here's best wishes for a speedy recovery Jane!

The south coast of Australia is a beautiful piece of natural artwork, sculpted by thousands of years of crashing waves and thrusting winds. Mother Nature's signature is all over the coast, as you follow the Great Ocean Road's winding path westward. Huge limestone rock formations jut out from the side of cliffs or are left to fend for themselves against nature's power after their supports to the mainland were hollowed out from thousands of years of erosion and collapsed under their own weight. The Twelve Apostles (previously known as the Sow and Piglets in the 19th Century) are probably the best known of the rock formations dotting the south coast. Special lookout points provide great pictures of these islands of rock separated from the stability of land. However, it's important to go beyond this top tourist attraction to see the London Bridge, the Grotto and others.

Not 15 years ago, London Bridge (a small peninsula of rock that had it's middle hollowed out over the years) was an actual bridge of rock that tourists could walk out onto. One day, after two tourists had walked out to the end of the bridge, the section connecting it to the mainland collapsed -- much like a section of a glacier calving into the ocean. The two tourists were stranded for a short period and it became true that London Bridge was indeed falling down. The Grotto may be the most spectacular of the scenic points along the Great Ocean Road. You can get great photos just short of where the water laps at the sandstone.

Our last couple of days with the camper van were spent in Katoomba, a small touristy/outdoorsy town in the Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney. I had booked us into a canyoning trip, which included a 30 metre abseil down a waterfall at its pinnacle. Erin found out about the whole 30 metre abseil down the waterfall part a couple of days later ;) It went over great!

After some early nerves as we learned the ropes of abseiling (controlling your own descent down a cliff face by letting out rope clenched in your right hand) on some smaller cliffs, Erin was just as excited as me for the actual afternoon canyoning. Strapped in the smallest wetsuits imaginable, we followed a river as it flowed through a canyon dating back hundreds of thousands of years. We jumped into the mountain fed river on several occasions -- walking, wading, swimming and splashing along its path -- and followed the babbling water all the way to where it fell off a 30 metre cliff at a 90 degree angle.

With nothing better to do, we decided to do follow the water. It lapped at our helmets and adrenaline pumped through our veins as we abseiled the slippery cliff face until it disappeared beneath us. The last three-metre lunge into the freezing waters below was a two-footed push off the cliff into a full-on back-flop. Floating on our packs, we unhooked from the ropes and headed for the rocks. The screams and hoillers could be heard throughout the park, at least from the two of us. The other couple ran into some problems, and one of them had to be abseiled down by the guide because she was too scared. They had gone skydiving the day before but abseiling was too much.

Strange but true.

Cheers,
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114075500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114075500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1114075500/tpod.html Sun, 24 Apr 2005 06:00:55 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Sydney, Australia

It's not hard to find a good time in Australia. This place is full of things to do and places to see... and apparently people who know how to capitalize on all of that.

The costs of living and travelling here probably wouldn't be so shocking if we'd just come straight from Canada. However, by routing through Asia first (where we bathed in our money) before hitting Oz, we are now forced to consider going into counterfeiting. OK, maybe not quite that far, but my wallet has diarrhea and ain't no Pepto Bismol gonna cure it.

Case in point: Thailand may have cost about $1,500 or so each. Well, Erin and I just blew $1,100 each booking a trip up Australia's East Coast.

The most expensive week in our histories came last week. Here's a basic rundown of how the money is being spent:

Sailing the Whitsundays (two days, two nights): About $350.00 each
4x4 Tour of Fraser Island (two days, one night): About $250.00 each
Diving Great Barrier Reef (three days, two nights): About $350.00 each
Hostel (Pink House for seven nights): $390
Lion King play (one night): $100 each
Booking Campervan at All Seasons (eight nights): About $600.00
Successive Gas-Fills: About $60 a pop for maybe $350
Surfing (one day): $69 each
Plane Tix in Oz: $300 each
Plane Tix from Ottawa to Victoria (when we return): $330 each
Erin's Coffee Addiction: Approx. $300/week ;)
Trip of a Lifetime: Priceless (you knew it was coming!)

Now granted, a lot of this stuff wasn't done all in the same week, but our cards got maxed in a hurry booking it all. Not to mention, this doesn't include all the food, IMax and other entertainment. It's pretty easy to see how quickly one can go broke. But it's also easy to see how someone would have a blast getting there.

Cheers,
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113646680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113646680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113646680/tpod.html Sun, 24 Apr 2005 05:32:55 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Sydney, Australia

Two slightly disheveled farangs emerge from their nests to witness a new world. It's a world where sweltering heat doesn't make every movement a monumental effort. They yawn in their new surroundings, taking in the environment around them in the slow, lackadaisical way of the backpacking off-shoot of the species.
Something has changed, they notice. They sniff at the air, to smell... baked goods, perhaps. Maybe some coffee. The fish, pollution and sewer smell is gone, replaced by rich aromas that are agreeable to the particularly strong sniffer of the female. She is immediately drawn to these "bakery" feeding areas, and the male dutifully follows. It is obvious the female is the dominant sex of this species. The eyes open to discover paintings on signs that seem to make sense, and they go about reading some of these, making various squeaks and murmurs that sound like gleeful communication at being able to apparently make sense of these signs.
Obviously a nomadic species, the two backpacker farangs are constantly on the move. It must be a self-preservation trait they've picked up in order to survive other environments they've lived in. They squeak and seemingly point at various objects, such as the Sydney Operahouse, the "Coathanger" (Sydney Harbour Bridge), the Harbour itself and the bustle of life and activity going on around them. Growing increasingly comfortable, the farangs drop any stand-offishness and melt into their surroundings. They don't stick out. They're not pestered to buy anything or go anywhere, they're not swamped or overwhelmed. They're no longer farangs. They're Canadian travellers and they're happy.

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I am a creature of comfort to some degree. I can suck it up and do whatever, but things start to grind on me after awhile and affect the way I act, communicate, and how active I am. I wasn't technically hibernating, but when you're planning to cram things in for the morning and evening, and be slothful and out of the heavy sun during what should be the meat of the day.... well, it ain't exactly living it up.
Erin will tell you that it's like night and day seeing me here in Australia. The weather is beautiful -- warm during the day with a nice ocean breeze, then cooling off at night. We left these two swinging doors in our hostel room open at least a crack every night, and the cool air just felt like home and rescued us with some great sleeps. We're more relaxed and well rested and have the energy and time to do almost anything all day. It feels like a Vancouver Island summer. We even had some showers here and there on some of the days.
We have done a ton of walking so far, but we're also transit pros in Sydney now. We've done the bridge, done the Operahouse, done the Olympic park, done the aquarium and done the zoo. We saw a play (The Lion King.... booyah), saw an Imax (Aliens of the Deep), rode the ferry, did the carnival, made our own food (halle-frickin-lujiah) and even watched some TV. And that's just the beginning of how much we're accomplishing here. We are on a roll. Ain't nobody gonna stop us now.

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So what is Sydney's top tourist attraction I ask you? Sydney Operahouse, you answer. Well, you'd be wrong. The aquarium is actually numero uno. It's a monster. We spent probably at least two hours there and probably much more. We saw sharks, crocodiles, eels, seals, penguins, stingrays, several species of fish (such as the beloved Nemos), and my favourite, the platypus. It is a mammal, yet it lays eggs. It has a beak like birds and has to sit on its eggs. It spends much of its time scampering on land like a land animal. And yet, it swims with the fishes. It is fascinating... and cute.
There is a great tale from the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories about the platypus and its similarities with all the other animals, but unfortunately I don't remember it so I'll save you the spiel. I will tell you this, however: this mammal closes its eyes, ears and nostrils when swimming underwater. It actually avoids predators and finds food by sensing the muscle contractions of other creatures under the water. How cool is that I ask? Pretty damn cool, I know.
The Taronga Zoo was also pretty sweet. We basically spent a day there. We saw lions, tigers and bears, oh my. (You knew it was coming!). There was also a snow leopard (my favourite animal, along with the platypus I guess), hippos, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinocerouses, pandas, gorillas, orangutans, turtles, wallabies and scores of others. I sound like a kid, you say. Well, I was when I was there. We saw feeding time for a bunch of them and it was great.
Another thing worth a mention before signing off this pod: catching the Lion King at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. It was awesome. The set designs and costumes are crazy good, the actors had it down to a tee, and the theatre was nice. We tried to catch it before in Toronto but just missed it and it was something we hoped to see again someday, so it was a surprise to find it still here... packing in the audience night after night. I've seen it before in TO actually, but getting to see the childish glee on Erin's face throughout the production was worth the price for the good seats. It was a great experience and we can cross one more thing off our to-do list.
I gotta say to check out the pics on this one. We have a lot of really good ones from all the things we've been doing... so give them a go.
Cheers,
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113050520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113050520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1113050520/tpod.html Sat, 16 Apr 2005 07:46:42 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Bangkok, Thailand

Well, actually, only a couple hours of the nice day was in Bangkok, but that's about all you can get from that place. There are many reasons why they call Bangkok "the armpit of Thailand" and we found out about all of them and more. It stinks, it's heavily polluted, it has 24 hour traffic jams, there are stairs leading to nowhere, things are broken, moved or malfunctioning everywhere, the transit system is atrocious, there are con artists and thieves everywhere, it's expensive, and even the locals hate it there (and you know that they must know more that even Erin and I found out about during our short stay).

Oh, and it's hot! Freaky deaky hot!

Honestly, it's all compounded by the fact neither of us felt that great when we were there and the fake friendliness of so many Thai people trying to find a way into your pocket is just wearing after awhile. Canadians have a reputation for being overly friendly which is qualified by many stories of international generosity like hosting passengers stranded on the East Coast after the 9/11 disaster, all the way down to commonplace localized actions like holding the door for someone else. I will never take any of this for granted again. Canada, you look better and better every day and in every way!

Our patience has been tried over and over again, on a daily basis, by people in "the Land of Smiles." It's B.S. The smiles are shady and despicably motivated more often than not... and it's truly a damn shame. The people at the forefront and taking charge of showing Thailand to travellers coming in from all over the world are the type of people who would steal your silverware if you invited them over for dinner and left the room to check on a $30 roast. You have to be battered and worn down by this on a daily basis, and when you meet the genuinely nice ones, you unfortunately feel like you can't trust them or give them the time of day in fear of them stealing your watch. There were some spectacularly nice Thai people we met on our trip and managed to put down our guard long enough to enjoy conversations or activities with. Unfortunately, it didn't happen enough because we represented mobile dollar signs to those out to make a quick buck.

Example: en route to one of Bangkok's biggest attractions, the Grand Palace, we had to walk through a park littered with scam artists trying to get your money. A possible mother-son combo went from innocently feeding dried corn to the pigeons on the walkway to stuffing the corn in our bags and getting in our face when we wouldn't pay for it, even after forcing it back in their hands. They dumped the corn through our hands and threw it to the birds before demanding we pay who knows how much for the privilege of being stopped and accosted on our peaceful walk. Erin thought the young boy, possibly 15, was trying to steal her wallet and the placement of something in her bag for something coming out would've been a proper distraction if it was sitting near the top. I refused to pay and told Erin not to either. The lady got downright mad and the young boy started to puff out his chest and direct a glare at Erin. You never know in a situation like this how many of their "friends" are just waiting for such a situation, or whether any police intervention would make things better or worse. It's basic intimidation and it's sad to think how often it probably works. I walked past the old lady and pushed the little twerp away and told him not to start with that crap, before we walked away. We got glares from their friends pulling the same crap just up the road, but it felt good to win and cost them some of their corn at the very least. Woulda felt best to have them busted by the cops or worked them over, but I didn't find out just how sympathetic Bangkok cops and tourist police are to visitors until later on. On our return trip, similar "corn people" were on the other side of the park, but hid their stashes of corn and didn't bother us much with a cop not far away.

Anyway, this is just a small sampling from our trip to Bangkok. It wasn't much fun. Beggars who deform themselves to make more money or borrow the children of other families to look more in need, and tuk tuk drivers who don't understand the meaning of the word no or want to take you anywhere but where you want to go... it just becomes too much. Two or three days is definitely enough, and shopping on Khao San Rd. was probably the best part. The other fun we had was going to a cabaret show and visiting the ruins of Ayuthaya (the old capital of the 18th Century I believe). The ruins were great and made for some solid pics (both funny and scenic) but they've up and disappeared much like our first camera. So, we should have even better quality pics to show from now on our better quality camera. It's all about you guys!

Oh, and update, we're now in Sydney, Australia and it's just beautiful.
Cheers from here,
Scott and Erin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1112422920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1112422920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/onceinalifetime/onceinalifetime/1112422920/tpod.html Sat, 16 Apr 2005 05:55:03 -0400 A Canadian couple's shared passion for travel + the unknown takes them abroad in a "go big or go home kinda way."

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

It seems we missed out on a bit of important information at some point: our names were changed when we weren't looking. Each time the Thai people say our names, I look around to see who they're talking to.
Apparently, we are now Sa-Cawt and Ellin. Fine with me though, as long as you call us by our full names "Sa-Cawt the Chiang Mai Kid" and "Evil Ellin." I get my nickname because, well, I assign them. She gets her nickname because while I'm on a "special" bland diet of plain bread and charcoal tablets -- yes, the kind of straight-up carbon Santa gives to kids on the naughty list -- for a stomach bug I got trekking in the forested hills of Chiang Mai, she is on an all-out coffee milkshake, Swensen's ice cream and baked goods binge... hahaha. But don't tell her I said that.
You'd think it'd be tough for her to eat like a Queen while I suffer like a poor peasant, but she really likes the role I think!
Anyways, to catch up with where we are right now (Kuala Lumpur en route to our flight to Australia), here's a rundown of some of the adventures we've had in the meantime as well as some observations that we may later add to as we reflect on our travels during our flight.
Adventures
Hiking Koh Tao: So far, this island has held the best times for both of us, though Erin really got her shop on in Chiang Mai while I was laid up sick in the room (hence, Evil, yet again ;). On one of our last days on Koh Tao we scootered to the south part of the island for a three hour hike along the coast and up to the main beaches again, where we were staying.
Thais are not big on signage for roads, but the signage is non-existent in the bushes. The "hiking trail" is actually a loose collection of somewhat-pathways through the bush that connect various resorts and bays with each other. It's much easier to get lost or take the wrong path then to decipher where you're actually supposed to go -- that's basically one way of saying we were constantly lost and found during this trek. It actually starts with a concrete bridge held up by wooden poles that leads out to a restaurant at a rocky point. It took us 10-15 minutes to figure out we had to basically walk through the restaurant as part of the hike.
But the pain continued to pay off on Koh Tao as we struggled through adversity and were rewarded with some great meals and views at restaurants usually only reached by boat and used by those staying at the secluded resorts. We managed to follow the coast into some great little bays where we swam with fish in crystal clear waters and fed them bread out of our hands (these are the fish that nibbled on our legs because we looked like white bread). Some of the best underwater views were here, with the schools of fish literally pushing past you (like the Thai ppl trying to get on a bus or to get you into their tuk tuks). The sea water washed the cheap suntan lotion off our backs and gave us the worst burns of our trip, but the next few days of pain were probably worth the overall experience.
As part of getting lost on the trek, we actually got to blaze our own trail along a series of large boulders peaking out of the water around a rocky peninsula. Though it wasn't any technical rock climbing, it was great exercise and involved a lot of planning as we scrambled over, under, around and in between the massive rocks to find a route around the point and to the beach on the other side. It took maybe 20 minutes of climbing and rock hopping, but we stumbled into one of the most exciting parts of the trip so far. I wish we'd taken more photos of it now because we didn't get any other than the cheesy poses at the beginning when we didn't think we'd be climbing them. It was a little bit of controlled danger, a lot of exercise and a ton of fun.
Muay Thai: It's the end of our time in Thailand when I write this and it's extremely disappointing to say that I only got to see one evening of Thai boxing (seven matches). Thanks to the confusion of Bangkok with its smoggy 24 hour traffic jams and penchant for closing things at all the wrong times, the great arenas and matches there were inaccessible. It's too bad because it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most and my pics from the first bouts were a little blurry with the bad lighting in the outdoor arena on Koh Tao.
Still, I did see seven matches and it truly is something worthwhile to watch live. On the island, the bleachers were full of westerners, while some of the Thais sat at the bottom and others mostly surrounded the front rows of the ring doing some fierce betting and cheering. As the prize fight at the end drew nearer, the stadium swelled with Thai people arriving late and pushing to be near ring side. They swayed with their favourite fighter and oohed or ahhed with each shot, whether it hit or missed, temporarily drowning out the terrible music that plays constantly throughout (it can only be compared to a kid on ritalin going berserk on a flute that's completely warped -- it's that bad). By the end of the title match, more than 80,000 baht was on the lines in bets, which is about $2,500 Cdn and a whole lot of money in Thailand.
As the tension builded towards the end, a sea of people stood in front of the elevated boxing ring, the smoke from their cigarettes creating a thin fog in front of the action which was highlighted by overhead lighting. The two top-calibre boxers had started slowly with the referee attempting to get them to fight at several points, but it was mostly a stare-down with them bobbing in unison to the music and making short, swift, leg kicks that are used much like a jab in boxing. The size-up ended in the second round, as the two came out flying and with an obvious hate for each other. The slug fest went the distance of five rounds and was decided by the judges in favour of the less feisty but possibly more technically sound boxer. Both boxers had gone four rounds of non-stop action, taking kicks to the head, body and legs, as well as some punches and elbows. Though the high kicks often look the most dangerous, it's easy to see how taking out the legs of your opponent and crippling him from below can be very effective. It's not easy though, as these boxers prepare for matches by kicking punching bags until their shin and foot go numb, then do the other side.
Most of the crazy moves you see in movies like Ong-Bak, or adjusted and assimilated into ultimate fighting styles for matches, are rarely used because they're high risk manouevers that can end in a lot of pain for yourself if you miss. However, there is a lot of kneeing used and some Thai boxers use more punching in their style then others. It's surprising the elbow isn't used more since it is obviously a fierce weapon that delivered at least one devastating knock-out that night. Some of the farang (westerners) in the audience figured the outcomes of the matches were pre-determined, with an English announcer encouraging betting and often his "favourite" was the one who lost. However, all but one of the knockouts came off a considerable blow after a couple of rounds, so the rigging wasn't necessarily apparent if it was there. The judge's decision in the title match may have been questionable, but it wasn't way out of line and could've gone either way.
Back to the matches. There were two that held considerable interest, other than the title bout of course. The Thais love any match-up that pits one of their locally trained fighters against a westerner and there is usually at least one of these match-ups on any card of fights. We saw a former English champion who had previously taught on Koh Tao and returned for the fight, presumably as part of a visit. Considering most of the bouts consisted of 13-19 year-olds, and a fighter is considered to have "peaked" at 19-20 and is washed-up at 22, it wasn't surprising to see this mid-30s, white Englishman get his butt handed to him in the third round. Even if he was a local favourite.
The other interesting match was between two "undefeated" five-year-olds. They came out to do their traditional warm-up dance to appease the gods before the fight, and it was already clear that one was more trained than the other, who kept looking back to his corner for instructions. The fight was a little more than a round of fury before the one little ankle biter threw in the towel and retreated back to his corner. Neither was hurt, both were considered winners, and it took a lot of guts for both of them to enter the ring in front of a few hundred people. Shocking for the farang, but interesting nonetheless.

Trekking the Hills of Chiang Mai: So they really like to cram a lot of activities into a short space around here. We literally scaled the side of a mountain to visit a hill tribe before pounding our way back down, swam at a waterfall, did elephant trekking, white water rafting and bamboo rafting in a two day span. The trek up and down the mountain was tiring and slightly dangerous, churning the knees and ankles into jelly with the hard pounding on the steep trails. Luckily, Erin's ankle held up, but it's easy to see how a slight sprain or fall could've resulted in some difficulties. Our guides were great and we even learned some magic from one of them (a monk who had left to try new experiences a year earlier). The white water rafting and bamboo rafting likely would've been better in the rainy season because the river was a little low due to the tail-end of a drought.
The elephant riding wasn't anything fantastic either as our elephant basically wasn't too pleased with us being on her back and constantly tried and succeeded at swinging her trunk up to blow black snot on us. So the one hour of holding onto an iron cage strapped to the back of several tons of unhappy elephant wasn't the best experience (especially sick), but the two baby elephants provided some laughs and entertainment. They would try to roll in the river and float downstream, holding up the procession of elephants trying to cross it. I guess when you have a future of working 364 days a year, you gotta make your own fun while you still can. The elephants do have a national holiday forbading them from working one day of each year... yeehaw. And we thought we had it bad with two weeks vacation! I got slightly pissed when one of the mahouts (elephant guides) smoked a baby elephant in the head with a sharp metal stick he was carrying, but I guess that's how they get the elephant's attention and get them to behave so that they can cart tourists around all day. Also, it probably didn't feel like much to the elephant I was told since they have thick skulls.

Perentian Islands: I think you know you're ready to move on to the next country when Bangkok drives you crazy with how big and fast everything is and the islands make you bonkers with how slow everything moves. Really, we felt unimportant at both places. The Perentians are tiny, but the beaches are packed with accommodations and seemingly no one wants your business. They're all family and all could care less whether you eat at their restaurant or stay at their guesthouse. Someone they know is gonna get your money regardless. It's another way of saying the service sucked. I didn't care too much, but the more than two days of travel to get there seemed wasted when we were stuck on a small beach with a massive spider in our bungalow.
The snorkeling is amazing off the Perentians (made up of a big and small island). It definitely has its upside. We swam with a couple massive turtles, black tip reef sharks, "Nemos", parrot fish, angel fish, clown fish, puff fish (or something like that... didn't understand the guide on that one), and many others. Of course, even with the overcast we got some sweet burns that, well, burn. There was also some great coral reefs and some awesome backpackers that we got to socialize with during our short stay. But, at the end of the day, I think it's time to move on to Australia with its toilet seats, bagels, milder temperatures (it's winter there), English signs and fewer stares.
So... we're off and we'll let you know when we add photos and possibly more observations soon enough.
Cheers,
Scott and Erin
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