timrie's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

timrie's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member timrie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/timrie en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:48:25 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Visa Run to Cambodia — Cambodia, Sa Kaeo, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1253926283/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1253926283/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1253926283/tpod.html Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:48:25 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Cambodia, Sa Kaeo, Thailand

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Cambodia Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">annoyed I mished to Cambodia today to renew my visa. 8 hours of driving and 2-3hrs standing in line, I was pretty cranky. And I'm also annoyed that my visa was only put forward 29 days instead, eg today was counted. so I'll have to pay a fine for overstaying by one day, 500 Baht. Cambodia was dry and desolate. Everyone stared at me and wore clothes like it was winter time...well it is winter time but its like 35 degrees...There were lots of people, children included pulling wagons about. The river was choked up with rubbish ...so much that it was no longer flowing. There was a rank, fishy smell in the air. I've been feeling really sick from most of the food here, nauseous, I don't like most of the food here as I'm not used to it. I'm very happy to be leaving bangkok tommorow, I can start meeting people my age and start travelling around doing exciting things. everything is organised for me from now on so I can relax in that sense.
]]> Chiang Mai — Chiang Mai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1218642720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1218642720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1218642720/tpod.html Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:33:31 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thursday, February 08, 2007 Evil Jellyfish Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">depressed I got stung by a swarm of tiny jellyfish alll over and I am very miserable. At first I just wanted to go home but it should heal soon. I have to wear long pants and long sleeved shirts to avoid looking hideous but I'm in Chiang Mai now in the North (alot colder) so it should be ok. I missed out on swimming all day today and yesterday in the Andaman sea. We were kayaking around- mish, but kinda fun. When I had the thai guy as my partner it was alot easier. We kayaked into caves which fill up at high tide, and I had to lie down flat to get into some of them. One was full of bats (bat cave) and another had walls which glittered (diamond cave). Both opened up into open air lagoons. There were monkeys sitting on the walls eating oysters, completely bored by our presence. A huge lizard disappeared into a crack. We went through some mangroves which turned out to be quite a hectic maze of roots. A Macaque jumped onto my kayak which was exciting. It was looking for stuff to steal but we held onto our bags. It soon grew tired of jumping from boat to boat so made it's escape onto the nearest mangrove branch.The kayaking people served us the most amazing feasts for lunch - there were about 7 different dishes at a time - all delicious. I've been quite impressed with the food in this area.I've been flying most of the day today and I am very tired. My hotel room in Chiang Mai is the best one yet. I even get my own bed! I haven't felt that comfortable sharing beds with people I've just met. I've got three full free days ahead of me, these should consist of lots of self indulgent activities like shopping and massages. Nice opportunity to be away from the group. Theres a girl though who is quite nice, who also doesn't really fit in with the rest. I talk to her a fair bit. The others don't like her because she went out at railay beach by herself and met other people. How very immoral of her! Monday, February 12, 2007 Biggest mish ever The other day we visited the Elephant Conservation Park near Chiang Mai - I loved it. It was built by a woman who grew up in a hilltribe and watched the way elephants were trained, and was so horrified she decided to make an alternative to the current elephant tourism industry of riding, circuses etc. The park caters for tourists and for the health and safety of the elephants themselves, which is mostly neglected everywhere else. She has also started using positive reinforcement methods of training to replace traditional torture-punishment methods, and it is working. They roam free around the park, and are fed by the visitors. All the elephants are then taken down to the river by the mahouts (life trainer of elephant) and the visitors wash the elephants. It was so much fun, better than elephant riding. The fattest elephant nearly rolled onto me twice as it was repositioning itself to expose where it wanted to be scrubbed, and the baby elephants squirmed with pleasure in the water with all the attention they were getting. There were about 30 elephants, and we were knee deep in the water with them.We then went with them to their mud bath. The baby elephants were so cute and retarded when they tried to get out of the bath. When one baby fell in, its mother was so worried that she raced all the way over to see if it was alright. Elephants love each other so much, and they cry huge tears when their friends and family die.All the elephants (except the babies) had gone through the torture training, which kills about 40% of those who go through it, and the rest have serious psychological damage. Some of them were severely handicapped which was very sad. One elephant's back had been damaged and could barely walk (it looked like one leg was shorter than the rest). Two of them were blind from having sharp instruments stuck into them and stones thrown. Many of the rescued elephants were over 80 years old when taken away from working life. Poor elephants. None of them can be released into the wild because nearly all the forests are gone and many of them are too disabled and/or domesticated to survive. Farmers shoot them if they see them eating their crops and there is no penalty, even though there are only 500 left in the wild.I would have really preferred to volunteer work in a place like this. Their volunteer program is very organised and in my opinion alot more worthwhile than what I did with the sea turtles. After that we went trekking in the hill tribe area. This was the biggest mish ever. It is in my top 3 worst experiences of my life. But it is all over now and I am now sitting comfortably in a hotel, with the knowledge that I will never put myself through something like that again! They told us it was only uphill for the first hour. They lied. It was uphill the whole way, incredibly steep. I got massive blisters on my heels - there is no skin on them - I was skinned alive! I think they will take a long time to heal. They hurt so much, even after they were bandaged. We walked all day, couple of asthma attacks, one girl started crying shortly into the trip. The worst thing was, we were in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle access so if we hurt ourselves we just had to keep walking. We had to walk for one and a half days. I found it very torturous and I still can't understand why people enjoy that sort of thing. The hill tribes consist of bamboo huts with no windows. They are afraid that bad spirits will come in if they have them. I guess they didn't think about the doors or all the cracks in the floors and walls. They have dirt floors so they can light fires inside the house, and also so they don't have to clean the floor. Due to no windows it gets a bit hard to breathe inside with all the smoke. The men and women sleep in separate rooms - the spirits get angry if you have sex inside. You have to go out into a field or something, or build a 'happy room' somewhere outside. The women are tiny and stunted from years of carrying large baskets on their backs up hills. I felt like a giant. They all have black teeth (or no teeth) and they chew on these red fruits to get high, that make their mouths and teeth all red, like they are dripping with blood. They don't speak thai but have their own dialects. The view from the village was ok but by that point I was pretty angry at the world and didn't really care. I think we were about a km high.However it was an interesting experience staying there and I enjoyed all the times when I wasn't walking. The villagers came to join us after dinner with a guitar and were singing lots of pop songs, mainly english ones. They were really good!I'm back in Chiang Mai now until the end of my trip.
]]> Koh Yao Noi — Koh Yao Noi, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139503800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139503800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139503800/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:04:47 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Koh Yao Noi, Thailand

Stayed on this nice little island where we had a magnificent buffet feast. Couldn't believe the amount of fresh food.
]]> Bangkok again — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1140108780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1140108780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1140108780/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:02:41 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bangkok, Thailand

]]> Railay Beach — Krabi, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1202402880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1202402880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1202402880/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:00:37 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Krabi, Thailand

Monday, February 05, 2007 Railay Beach I'm at railay beach now, it is so far the highlight of my trip. I had the best time on the first night. I skipped some tour thing the group was doing and got a longtail boat over to the island where clint and claire were staying (ao nong). It was so good to see friendly faces, had lots of fun. I really enjoyed being away from the group and doing my own thing. We went swimming a few times and had dinner with some cool swedish people at a swedish/thai restaurant. It was quite a nice place, good food, good wine, and they didn't care that clint had no shirt or shoes on. got pretty smashed, clint managed to convince the people at some bar to give us all cheap cocktails. claire and I bought dresses. pretty overpriced by thailand standards though due to the area being so touristy. there are more westerners than thais here. lots of rasta-thais here. lots of people with dreads getting stoned and listening to reggaeafter that i got a boat back and found the group in some hippy club with posters all over the walls saying 'drugs'. i got a drink and it was in a small bucket. it had everything in it...whiskey..red bull..dont know what else.I feel really sick now.  major hangover. i had to rock climb and abseil the day after which made me feel worse, I've decided I hate rock climbing.by the time i got there everyone was way too drunk. alot of drama, one girl made a big scene. She asked me if I knew how much she hated me (completely unprovoked) and then started bullying me to go to bed!! not 'i think you should go to bed tara' but "YOU! BED, NOW". I said I wasn't tired yet to which she replied that she had done an isv tour before and she knows what she is talking about, and that I had to do what she said because she knows better than me. I explained that I could look after myself perfectly fine and that I had experienced staying up late before, to which she screamed 'no you can't! not in thailand! I'm not moving until everyone here goes to bed' and then sat down in the middle of the road. She was getting hysterical. This is at about 1am. Then her boyfriend (who is also on the tour) cheated on her in front of her and then she came and screamed at me and this other girl saying it was all our fault. then she stole my thai mobile out of my hand, ran off with it and called the guy's mother on an australian landline (it was about 4.30am there). wasted all my credit. I didnt react at all, just stood back and watched her make a fool of herself. I really don't think being on one extra ISV tour than someone else makes you superior to them or entitles you to force them to stop having fun on their holiday. Especially considering that ISV tours are pretty much school excursions.  This place is paradise, everyone is on holiday here - happy and having fun. There is no poverty, no cars.As I said, the rock climbing/abseiling was not my thing, so after that I went on a sunset snorkelling cruise around some islands. It was fantastic, I loved it. We stopped at about 7 islands to snorkel throughout the day and then had dinner on a secluded beach. It was really good, - fat, delicious prawns and panang curry. On the way home, they stopped the boat for a night swim in the phosphorescence. Everyone jumped in and were glowing with the strange plankton that lights up in the water with movement. Today I went scuba diving for the first time, at the island where The Beach was filmed, and also in monkey bay. I really enjoyed it. The fish were amazing, so many colours. Coral still hasn't recovered from tsunami which is a shame. The adventure tour is going really fast, only a week til I get back. I've had a lot of fun at Railay Beach, I'm definitely coming back. I wish I wasn't leaving tomorrow, I want more time to explore.
]]> Khao Sok Rainforest — Phangnga, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139157960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139157960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1139157960/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:59:14 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Phangnga, Thailand

Thursday, February 01, 2007 Rainforest Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">happy I just turned up at Arts Riverview Lodge, it is absolutely beautiful. I am so happy to be here. It is deep in rainforest- peaceful, cool and relaxing. The food is cheap and good, the rooms are modern and comfortable and they have flushing toilets and a real shower! There is a lake to swim in and stunning cliffs surrounding. Some of the cottages have a waterfall for a shower (not mine). Its an elaborate 'outdoor' but still modern bathroom, with orchids and large stones and other plant life surrounding the waterfall. I love it. There are monkeys everywhere - they are very curious of humans and come very close. I think they want food. I could stay here for a week but we are here for 2 nights.We sat around drinking lots of elaborate cocktails after dinner, and I really wished all my close friends were there. I thought the hostility in the group would settle down when away from the pressures of volunteer work but it doesn't seem to be the case. One of the girls was trying to imply to everyone that I had copied and pasted my discussion, behind my back. It really hurts because I actually put alot of work into it, and I thought it went really well considering I could only access secondary sources. I don't understand why she would behave like that. Or why it would matter to her, I was the only one going for academic credit so its not like she was competing with me. It's putting a real downer on this trip to be honest. It makes me miss sydney because noone treats me like that there - they are all really good friends. And I appreciate them even more now, which I guess is a good thing! I hope I can meet up with clint and claire and get away for a bit. The whole thing is very 'structured' and very school excursion like which I am beginning to resent. Next time I'd really like to do my own thing.  There are lots of cool things to do though so I should be very busy. It's great to break the monotony of the village and get out and start doing things.
]]> Baan Talae Nork — Baan Talae Nork, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1137948120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1137948120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1137948120/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:58:17 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Baan Talae Nork, Thailand

Thursday, January 18, 2007 Baan thalaenork Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">contemplative This is the 3rd time I have written this blog, I am so annoyed. it keeps disappearing for no reason. I am now writing in word to avoid this happening again. I wrote so much, and I am quite angry. I have arrived in Baan Thalaenork to begin my volunteer project and have met the other volunteers. I have been faced with a few challenges. One being a one hour discussion I was supposed to prepare on a subject of my choice- something like global warming or eco tourism. I did not receive the email from my coordinator requesting this so she has given me more time. Its something I will have to put a lot of thought into these next few days. I wish I'd known earlier so my mum could have helped, shes an expert in these things. I don't know what they expect of me yet, but I am the only person required to do this as I am the only person applying for academic credit. I find this surprising- it is 13 weeks worth of work I no longer have to do, but I guess they weren't organised! I am also faced with a 15km walk each night, along the beaches, looking for turtles. One has not been sighted for 3 years. There used to be millions along the beaches every year, but now they all die in fishing nets and their eggs are poached. They are critically endangered in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />thailand. I am glad I am doing something worthwhile- from what I have seen in the last 10 days, there is a problem with animal cruelty and littering. We will be educating the children on these issues. Therefore I am very motivated to do a good job here. I am not bothered by the 15km walk, it will be good for me. I am also not bothered by the extremely primitive living conditions here. We are sleeping on the floor in bungalows all together- the boy is on his own in another one. The toilets have much to be desired, that's all I'm going to say about that.. Someone wrote 'hell' on a wall here, an attempt at 'hello'. It is not like that at all however, it is so good to experience such a different way of life to my own. It makes you realise how little you really need many things in the modern world, however I do like to have them and will be happy to have them back.. I'm experiencing thailand in a different way than I would if I were purely a tourist- tourists would not come here. Our sleeping patterns will be severely interrupted, there is no set time to sleep, just whenever we can. There is a lot of free time in the day to go to the beach, and we allowed to wear our bikinis because the villagers are too scared to go there due to the tsunami. The tsunami came right up to the edge of the wild animal rescue centre, it destroyed a school and killedmany children, the wreckage is still there. I miss pasta and pesto. And Liam, and my housemates. Saturday, January 20, 2007 Turtles Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">cranky Ok, maybe this place is a bit hellish....Only 1.5 weeks to go before going on adventure tour. I hope I can make it.I just got back from my first beach patrol (which I will be doing 6 days a week). I didn't get any sleep, the ground is too hard, my whole body aches. I had to get up every two hours to walk up and down the beach searching for turtles which (lets face it) are not coming. They haven't seen one for 3 years, why would one come now? The whole horizon was covered with illegal fishing boats all night; the turtles couldn't get past even if they tried. We are the last group of volunteers on this project, and still no turtles. There is a great feeling of hopelessness about the whole thing. I started at 5pm and finished at 6am. It seems alot of the animals are dying out in thailand, there aren't really any wild tigers or anything anymore.I spent the night drenched in sweat and dirt and sand. I didn't want to eat because it was too hot. There were cockroaches and mosquitos in my tent (there was a hole in the bottom).I still haven't gone to sleep, I have trouble sleeping in the day.Now I have to think about my one hour discussion…! I think I am in desperate need of sleep first.. Monday, January 22, 2007 Evil frog Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="16" height="16">exhausted Yesterday was fun. The first fun day for the volunteers. We went to a swimming hole in the rainforest somewhere. It was beautiful and refreshing, we wanted to come back. The first escape from the intense heat since we arrived on wednesday. Thats the worst thing about this heat- no escape (no aircon). We might be able to go back to the waterhole. It was a fairly long trip in the back of a ute (they all have utes here). The driver must have been going about 130km/h with about 8 of us on the back, and kept flying over bumps, I kept nearly bouncing off the back. So far, every thai driver I have entrusted with my life has been an insane driver. I can see why there are so many horrific accidents here…many of them don't even bother being restricted by the lanes and prefer to drive down the dividing line instead. There were hundreds of butterflies at the swimming hole. I've gone for 4 days now without sleeping for more than 20min at a time. I walked for about 15-20km last night from 8pm to 4.30am. All my muscles ache. As soon as I got back the Gibbons started screeching. Fucking weird animals. They wouldn't shut up, and as a result I'm extremely cranky.Only 9 days until the luxury of an actual bed! I keep day dreaming about it. There is a very cool gecko on my wall, it is bright green, eats mosquitos, and makes a noise like it is kissing, or smacking it's lips. Last night on our breaks all the local wildlife seemed to want to join us- a stray cat, a few extremely evil looking, beady eyed frogs and a few water buffalos. The evil frog actually hopped up to me when I called it. Can it understand me?? I suspect it can..it had an eerie look of 'knowing' to me…They want us to go on a trek through the jungle today, for 'fun'. There is no fucking way that is happening.. Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Work cancelled Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">relieved Just as I was dragging myself back to the bungalow to pack for my 15km walk tonight, it was cancelled! yes! That means sleep.It appears that some illegal immigrants were living in the forest near the beach, and were caught, so now the military are swarming the beaches with machine guns tonight. It's unsafe for us to be walking around as foreigners, because we will probably get shot. I hope they are still there tommorow!Ironically, my medication has made me sick. The malaria tablets have given me an ulcer in my oesophagus so I can't eat. Just thinking about the food here makes me feel sick anyway. My mind is unhealthily preoccupied with thinking about food from home. Friday, January 26, 2007 Cancelled again Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">tired We've had 3 nights off now due to the military, its been fantastic. We've been doing a little day work, but its never more than about 2 hours, and we get sleep!We helped build some kind of structure out of logs on gibbon island (island where gibbons who cannot survive in the wild due to domestication, disease, mistreatment etc are put to live in a near-natural environment, rather than be confined to cages). The purpose of the structure was unclear. It got too hot so we stopped working- I got burnt through 30+ sunscreen (malaria tablets make you sensitive to the sun). The sun felt like fire.I find the lectures/discussions extremely interesting and I really want to read more into the topic of conservation. Some of the things I have learnt have been extremely alarming. I feel this project has been an important and effective learning experience for me. We have had discussions on global warming, the current mass extinction which is occurring all over the world and eco tourism. I'll be doing my elephant extinction/torture discussion in a few days. The project leader read through it and liked it, but thought I used too many gory details eg pouring acid into the hook wounds and electrocuting them into submission. I really don't want to take those details out as I think they will be effective in getting my audience interested, but I guess she is marking it. I'm going to a school soon to educate the children on conservation somehow but I don't think it is going to be effective, and we are not well prepared as we don't know how many children there will be or how old they will be and they can't speak english. Bit hard to prepare for that one but we'll do our best.We cleaned up the beach today- so much rubbish. They have a very different attitude to littering here. Beer bottles everywhere despite it being a muslim village. And shoes- so many shoes! (about 100) Not sure about that one.I made a headscarf today with some local villagers. Communicating with them was an absolute mish, I was constantly getting out my phrase book and mis pronouncing every word. I eventually got them to write my name in thai and to fade dark to light purple over it. I don't know if it will turn out any good but at least I am supporting the local community a little. I have been trying to do that as much as possible, they are extremely poor. I get the lady across the road to wash my clothes for 5 baht per item, which is handy. turns out being less than a dollar each time I need my clothes washed. I might make a sarong but it takes alot of time and I don't know what I'd draw on it.I only have 3 shifts left out on the beach (if no more are cancelled). Can't wait til they are over and done with. Sunday, January 28, 2007 No more Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">lonely No more beach shifts. They are all cancelled, as the military has been instructed to shoot any people they see around the beach. Shoot first, ask questions later. The Burmese refugees sailed here and then put holes in their boat so it would sink and there would be no evidence that they arrived. They have since been living in the forest. Soon there will be a refugee massacre in the forest I suppose, pretty brutal. They must be really desperate to leave Burma.I am half disappointed and half relieved about no more beach shifts. I sort of want to do one more but oh well. The day work is not very nice in the heat- we just spent hours cutting back grass from beneath an electric fence with blunt tools. A whipper snipper would have done it in 15min. I feel like they are just giving us pointless jobs to do to pass the time. I'm having trouble getting to know the other volunteers. I feel like alot of them don't really like me. They never seem to want to talk to me. One girl has not said one nice thing to me for the whole 2 weeks. Her only communication with me has been commands and criticisms. I don't react to her, I'm not letting her ruin my trip. I find her to be very nasty. I don't get it, I usually make friends with strangers really easily. I made alot of friends in bangkok. I'm being myself, not complaining, being positive. I don't know what it is but this just feels like school sometimes.There are nice people here too though so I'll concentrate on them. Only 3 days til the adventure tour. Monday, January 29, 2007 School Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">accomplished We went to a primary school today to educate the children on conservation issues (don't eat turtle eggs, don't litter, don't overfish etc) and it went really well! I was pleasantly surprised. We did a play (I was a jellyfish) about 3 little turtles...etc etc.. then sung a song in thai which we'd been practicing for days, then played bingo (prizes were toy koalas). They loved us and listened intently the whole time- they were very well behaved. Most of them were taller than me though.I found out yesterday that the workers here at the wild animal rescue centre get about 60 baht a week ($2). An annual income of approximately $100. This is the highest paying job in the village. I earn their yearly income in 5 hours. I always feel like I'm ripping the villagers off by giving them equivalent to $1 for something they spent hours on eg my head band. I love my head band by the way, it turned out really well - it says Tara in thai and is purple. Tuesday, January 30, 2007 The beach Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">excited I'm getting so excited about the adventure tour, we were just sitting around talking about it then. Only a few hours to go. I'm feeling alot happier. I just finished 'the beach' and I just found out we are going to the island where it was filmed (Koh Phi Phi) to snorkel and scuba dive. I will watch the movie when I get home. I saw the cook defrosting a chicken today, dripping with blood on the floor (perhaps not enough bench space?), so I didn't eat dinner. She always hacks the chicken up with the bones still in it, so the curries have bits of bones floating around in it. Its enough to make me vegetarian. Two people have got food poisoning already! I'm being extremely careful about what I eat.We had a sort of celebration tonight as its our second last night and we aren't really doing anything else except eating tommorow. It was quite funny, the thais were incredibly drunk - we even had the muslims pole dancing! One of the thai guys who is always drunk (quite a character) kept trying to get all the girls to dance with him. He drinks beer from his thermos while hes at work apparently! quite a rowdy bunch.
]]> Bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1199810460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1199810460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/3/1199810460/tpod.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:57:29 -0400 Thailand 2007

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bangkok, Thailand

Tuesday, January 09, 2007 I'm here Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">lonely Well I'm here, bit of a drama at the airport, couldn't find the guy who was picking me up, so was waiting for an hour and a half, feeling very stressed out, being constantly hassled to get in taxis. I was starting to get upset because I couldn't call anyone, my phone wouldn't call out for some reason and the lady at the change counter wouldn’t change my notes for coins because she had none left, so couldn't use the public phone. But then I finally found him and we came back to his inner city apartment. It's small but nice, it looks very thai. There are buddha statues and fold out mats and lots of thai decorations. They are very nice and paid for my taxi and dinner. Most people here can't speak english, unlike in the philippines where everyone could fluently, even out on the remotest islands. Tintin wrote out their address and a few other places in thai for me so I can show them to a taxi driver. Apparently its better to get public transport though, as the taxi drivers are sometimes dodgy. It smells less than Manila, and it’s very quiet in the apartment for some reason, even though it is right in the centre of bangkok. It's going to be a bit lonely but I'm really keen to do the lone traveller thing, I think it will be good for me, a little scary but I can handle it. I've sorted out plans for all the things I want to do here. I'm planning to have an aromatherapy massage for 1 and a half hours! and also go to the mambo cabaret (a lady boy show), go to an elephant zoo, dinner cruise, and also go on a day trip out of bangkok somewhere. Not to mention shopping.  I forgot to get a visa so I'm going to have to either pay a fine or go over the border, such a mish. I think 9 days here will be more than enough. I really wish stephen had told me earlier that he was leaving, then I would have changed it to maybe 4 days in bangkok instead of 9, but its too late now. i'll just make the most of it! for some reason this keyboard randomly changes from english to thai, just whenever it feels like it, bit weird. ??? ?? ???????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ? ????? ???? ???? ?? ????? Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Tour Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="16" height="16">exhausted Bangkok is quite horrible, but interesting. Huge, dirty, dangerous and cheap. I went on a tour of some temples and the grand palace today. I took a motor cycle taxi there, which was quite scary, I held on for dear life. No helmet, racing furiously through the urban tangle of Bangkok. The Thai girls don't even hold on! Anyway I was pretty over temples by the end of the tour. We also went to a gem gallery and I bought a blue sapphire ring, I love it. I also bought $8 shoes, which are very cute; I'm going to get more tomorrow. That’s pretty much all I've paid for since I've been here, no one lets me pay for anything!! The motor bike taxi wouldn't take my money and Paul and tintin buy me pretty much all food and provide me with free accommodation. I don't know how to repay them. I had the 1.5hr massage yesterday, it was weird, I thought I was getting a back massage but it turned out to be a full body massage, which required me to be completely naked. I felt a little uncomfortable as it was unexpected. I am exhausted now after 7 hours of walking, so I think I will lie back and start reading 'life of pi' and chill out for a bit. Friday, January 12, 2007 Buddha Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">tired Went out to dinner last night at a French guy's place - friend of top's. He was backpacking here 3 years ago, and decided he loved it so much he would stay permanently. Everyone was speaking in their 2nd language but me, there were 5 Thais, 1 Spanish and 1 French present. It made me sad that I only know one language. I'm going to make an effort to learn another one when I get home. I decided on either Spanish or French as they are widely spoken, and then if I succeed in learning that I'll try mandarin or Japanese. It would be a good idea to live in either Spain or France too if I was learning the language. Went on another tour today of more temples (bit over them), at one I got hassled into buying a Buddha. I don't want a Buddha?!? But I bought one. The guy wouldn't leave me alone; he kept saying he loved Australia and john Howard and 'the wild kangaroo'. He said he watched Australia on TV every night. I asked him why he loved john Howard and he said 'because I love Australia'. Hmm. Went on a river boat cruise which, as lonely planet warned, served rather mediocre food. It was edible, but nothing like the meal I had with Top yesterday...its handy hanging out with billionaires!! Top is so girly and wonderful, he loves calling himself my godmother, haha. He was very kind to me. I tried to guess his age and I was over 10 years out. I'm getting used to the motorbike taxis now, I didn't hold on this morning, just chilled out on the back of the bike as we weaved through the traffic. It's fun now that I'm not so scared. I met some cool people on the river boat cruise, some Americans that were telling everyone they were Italian so they wouldn't get ripped off! A taxi driver charged them over 10 times more than he was supposed to. Thailand is cheap, but if you aren't careful it can become very expensive. I also met a young German lawyer who was quite cool. I'm very comfortable in Bangkok- everyone is friendly and helpful and no one will let me pay for anything. And Paul and tintin have a maid who cleans my room and cleans irons and folds my clothes every day. Despite this I think I've seen all I want to see of Bangkok. Saturday, January 13, 2007 Markets Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">cheerful Went to a market today with a Swedish guy (Anders) who just moved here, I assume to be with his Thai boyfriend (Bond), who also came shopping. They met on the internet! Random. It was good hanging out with them because they weren't much older than me (23 and 27) so had more in common. I bought sunglasses for everyone and a dress thing but I didn't like the dress thing on so I'm going to get Claire to modify it. She sent me an email today, her and Clint will be in the same part of Thailand as me in feb, near railay beach (which is apparently amazing) so I will meet up with them then. I'm excited about that. I thought bargaining would be easier in the markets; they don't usually go down that far. I would never pay the price they initially gave me though, could usually knock off at least $5. It was excessively hot today, i felt so sorry for the poor little puppies at the market...they were covered in fluffy fur and were just lying there panting...poor little things...the main aim of my volunteer program is to educate thais on animal cruelty etc so I think it will be a very worthwhile thing to do. I sorted out my visa- doing a visa run over the border into Cambodia on Tuesday. Full day mish but saves me about $100 and possible jail. That is a major relief. I'll get to see Cambodia for an hour, apparently even cheaper there. Starting to enjoy Bangkok, its good when you have company.   Monday, January 15, 2007 Tiger Current mood: <img class="yui-img" width="15" height="15">happy oh my god, i touched a tiger today. it growled at me and flicked its tail at me and I was so scared. I got a photo sitting between two full grown bengal tigers....!I also rode an elephant, and the guy let me get off the chair thing and sit on its head so I could steer it, then he got off and let me ride it by myself! I was the only one who got to do it. It was like riding a horse without reins. Like riding parelli. You touch behind its ears to steer it. Quite obedient though, except when it wanted to eat something in the jungle. It was a weird feeling sitting on another animal's head. A huge, fleshy one at that. It was covered in wiry bristly hair and had pink ears and a grey body.  i got some photos with this adorable baby elephant!!! i wanted to take it home.There were also snake and crocodile shows but i hated them because they were so cruel. I'm quite sure they were sedated, and then stirred up as much as possible so they would attack the keeper, who was 'too fast' for the animal. One keeper caught a snake with his mouth. Just pounced on its neck. They made a cobra fight a mongoose too. It made me sick.james esther, lenny and a few others got held up by guys with sawn off shotguns and axes at the royal and their stuff was stolen. I felt sick when I heard about it. I am going to get esther a new bag so she doesn’t spend 100s on a new one!I am so over people thinking I am 15. It is really getting on my nerves. I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes every time someone asking me what year at school I’m in or where my mum is. *anger*
]]> Seoul — Seoul, Korea Rep. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222707960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222707960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222707960/tpod.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:18:20 -0400 Europe 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Seoul, Korea Rep.

Had a few negative experiences since I left England. When I was waiting for a bus in Bath to take me to the train station, a little old lady started politely chatting to me, asking me if I liked England, if I was coming back etc.   I said yes, that I would love to come back in a few years to work here. She then went into a rant about how England took too many immigrants.............okaaay, I won't come back then....:( Then, I missed my train in London due to the fires in the tunnel from England to France, so had to get a later train to Paris, stressing the whole way about missing my plane. Got to the plane in the nick of time, after probably the biggest mish ever = 1 bus, 5 trains and about 2 hours of dragging 3 heavy bags up and down steps amongst thousands of people. 1.5 days of travelling, fun fun fun. On the plane, I was pleased to find that I had an empty seat beside me where I could lie down. The man on the other side of the empty seat kept chatting to me in French, which got tiring as it was hard for me to think of much to say. He wanted my email address, which I was definitely not prepared to give to a 40 year old man who I'd just met on a plane. I just pretended not to understand him. <i>Je ne comprends pas. He started to piss me off after a while and kept harassing me with questions like am I married, blah blah. I had <i>just drifted off to sleep (I have a lot of difficulty sleeping on planes), when he WOKE ME UP, and took the pillow from under my head and put it on his <i>lap and told me to sleep there! UM NO. How inappropriate is that!? I snatched the pillow back off him and went back to sleep. I shudder at that thought of what he was doing while I was asleep, but later, when I was awake, I turned to see that he was furiously masturbating under his blanket! In full daylight, everyone on the plane was awake. Oh my god I was traumatised. What the hell is wrong with him! I didn't know what to do, I thought about confronting him, or telling a staff member, but in the end just packed up all my stuff and moved to another part of the plane. Such a creep! On the bright side, only one more plane to go til I am home. That is very exciting! Seoul airport is very comfortable too, free internet, showers, movies, places to sleep, really modern. Also nice people. Not long now.
]]> Bath — Bath, England, United Kingdom http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222275900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222275900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/timrie/2/1222275900/tpod.html Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:02:35 -0400 Europe 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bath, England, United Kingdom

My first day in Bath was brightened by lovely weather, and lovely people. During the day, I didn't even need a jumper! It got very chilly at night though. It was fantastic to see Stu and Miele again. Bath is charming and very English. We strolled around, taking in the beautiful scenery, sampling tea and coffee and various cakes. We looked at all the expensive clothes stores, but couldn't afford anything. I bought some very small items from Topshop. It was a relaxing and pleasant day, and contrasted well with the debauchery of the following night. We went in to Bristol to "Tribe of Frog", a psy trance night. English clubs are so much less inhibited and controlled than Australian clubs. It was just like an illegal rave from home, but relatively legal, in a proper venue, albeit a filthy one (therefore working toilets! And running water! Yay!). People lit fires outside, took off most of their clothing (a difference between Australian and English raves - English people just love to get them off whenever they get the chance, despite it being incredibly cold. They certainly are tough.) People lay all over the floor, climbed on things, behaved recklessly. The bouncers just sat back and let people have fun, instead of embarking on a power trip. This is how it should be. No one got hurt, and everyone had a great time, escaping from reality for a while in a world of fluro face paint and ridiculous costumes. Everyone made a great effort to dress up and stand out. I saw someone who was most certainly the devil, and some tree fairies, and various other mystical creatures. I'm not that into psy trance, but I still really enjoyed the night. All Stu and Miele's friends are intelligent, creative and hilarious. I feel very in tune with English humour, perhaps from watching so many BBC comedies throughout my life. I am very sad to be leaving, and wish I stayed longer. Bath is definitely the best place I've been to in England, and one of the highlights of my trip. I think Stu could definitely be in worse places.
]]>