The Best and Worst of Times

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September 19th 2011

Today was a difficult day for my roommate Hayley. She lost her 17-year-old brother a year ago to the day. It is really hard for her to be apart from her family right now, but Devin and I have been doing our best to support her. Hayley asked us to go with her to the beach tonight to light a candle in her brother’s honor. When we told Milagros and Jesus where we were going, they insisted that they go with us for support. It was really touching to see two people take on a parenting role to a couple of girls who they haven’t known for more than a few weeks. Jesus told us to think of him as a real father while we are here.

When we got to the beach, Hayley, Devin, Jesus, Milagros and I had to huddle really close together to block the wind so we could light the candle. We had a few minutes of silence for Brandon and then Jesus opened the backpack he brought and pulled out three long wooden sticks and stuck them into the ground and lit them. He is a kung fu instructor and is

fascinated by Chinese culture. He explained to us that in China, this is how they light they way for loved ones lost and that there had to be three because two and four were considered unlucky numbers. It was incredible that he thought to honor Hayley’s brother in a way that was special and unique like that. After the beach, Hayley, Devin and I went on to a park with an ocean view to light the candle again. I asked Hayley if she would mind if I said a prayer for Brandon and we all closed our eyes and took turns saying something. I think it meant a lot to Hayley. She shared her favorite memories she has of her and her brother with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. It was a good night for our family here, despite the sad occasion.

Tuesday September 20th, 2011

When I went into the kitchen to make some breakfast before school, I was surprised to find two notes tucked into small colorful paper envelopes. I grabbed one and took out the note to find my name on it. The note said “Buenos dias! Jerica, que seas

muy feliz en este precioso dia. Que hables mucho espanol! Ja, ja, ja…” For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, the note said “Good morning! Jerica, I hope that you may be happy on this precious day. I hope that you speak a lot of Spanish! Ha, ha, ha…”. We later found out that Jesus had written the notes for us. It made my day, because it reminded me of the notes that my mom use to put in my lunchbox when I was younger.
I went to the library to study after class for a few hours… I was trying to stay busy so I wouldn’t have to think about the fact that Blake and I were apart on our 3 year anniversary. I did get to Skype with him on his lunch break, so that was great. I can’t believe it has been 3 years!

After dinner, Hayley and I met up with some of the international students from our class and went to a bar for Salsa dancing lessons. It was so much fun! Our instructor just had us get behind him and imitate his steps and then after a few minutes of practice he

would pair us up with a random guy and we would practice with partners. He said I was a natural =). I hope salsa dancing becomes a weekly ritual!

Wednesday September 21st, 2011

It was difficult to get up this morning because we didn’t get home from salsa dancing until about 1:30 AM. I wasn’t in the best of moods for some reason, but that didn’t last long. Jesus walked into our room with a huge box and said it was for me! I opened it to find that Blake had sent me the most beautiful flowers! I was surprised, because I didn’t expect him to send me anything since we are so far apart. He is always so incredibly sweet to me and I love him. You are the best Blake!

It is about 4 PM here in Cadiz and I need to go study so I will do well on my final on Friday. Wish me luck!

Jerica

There are more photos at the bottom of this page

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Stranglers

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The first day here our program coordinator thought it would be cool to give us the lowdown on Athenians. We were told to basically never trust any of them. Ever. For anything, forever. Apparently everyone from Athens is trying to scam us, scare us, steal from us, or steal us. Our coordinator really made it sound like there was going to be stranglers around every corner waiting to strike. I was so ready to see some stranglers, I bought new batteries for my camera and everything. So far, no stranglers. However, there are many extremely intimidating little old ladies. Maybe it's a trap, and they'll shed their skin and become stranglers and strangle us or do something else that's equally as traumatic and horrible and violent. At this point, I almost hope so. I mean, I brushed up on my Tae Kwon Doe and everything, I'm ready to be attacked, ok guys? Pass the word on if you know any ruthless Athenians. I was slightly disappointed when I started meeting locals and everyone was so nice to us. They helped give us directions, told us some helpful tips when it came to traveling, and pointed out fun places to go. Obviously, I had my guard up the whole time. Literally, my fists were up and I was ready to defend myself, while an adorable 70+ Greek woman gave me a coupon for the tram. I got a definite strangler vibe from her for sure. Look, I'm not trying to say that I'm not taking danger seriously, but in all reality, Athens feels like everywhere else. As long as you're smart, stay in groups, and stay away from bad areas, you'll probably be ok.

Anyway, a couple Americans on the trip with us asked if we wanted to hike up to a monastery with them that looked pretty sweet. We had seen it for the first time the day before when we walked into the square to catch a tram to the beach, which was beautiful by the way. So we managed to build up the courage and leave our apartments, despite the fact that we would probably be savagely attacked by Athenian locals. I know it's shocking, but we decided to take our chances. SPOILER ALERT: We were fine! I know you were all worried.

So we walked back up to the square where we'd seen the monastery from afar. We were unsure of how to get to the base of the site, so we just started walking toward it. You could see the monastery from everywhere, which was perched on top of a small mountain. We aimed for the mountain and began walking through the city. We asked several people for directions, and eventually found the stairs that wound up the side of the mountain. We began walking up. It was a tough hike, but all of a sudden I turned around to wait for Keira who was behind me, and I saw the city. What seemed like millions of rooftops looked back at me. I could see over the tops of the trees, and the large apartment buildings that circled the small mountain. The giant city of Athens looked tiny. It was incredible. I felt invincible. Then I got attacked by mosquitos, stumbled while running away from them, fell to the ground and cut my foot. ....So I'm not invincible, it's cool. I still have welts from the brutal attack, but it was definitely worth it. We continued climbing and eventually reached the top, where we took about one hundred pictures. We went inside the monastery and it seemed to knock me right back to my childhood. There was a donation jar next to a bagillion candles, and luckily I knew what to do with them, thank you Sunday School. I dropped a euro into the slot and took two. I brought them over to a shelf of sand, sitting in front of a stained glass window and lit them, sticking them in the sand. I said a prayer for my family, like I used to when I went to church all those many many many many many many many many many years ago. It was a really nice moment, until my stomach growled so loudly, I'm sure I interrupted at least 42 people's deep confessions to Jesus. I literally turned heads. I mean, I didn't blame my stomach, I was starving. I found my friends and we got dinner on top of the monastery as the sun went down over Athens.

Stay tuned for my next post: Gazi-- The Greek party scene.
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Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place The Todra Gorge

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Travel Blog » Africa » Morocco » Anti-Atlas » Blogs » Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place ?Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place – The Todra GorgeAfrica » Morocco » Anti-AtlasSeptember 27th 2011

Published: September 27th 2011 « Previous Entry 

Todra GorgeNow for some dirty talk!
The journey continued through the dusty roads of the desert through the Mid Atlas mountains to the Todra Gorge. That afternoon I went to my first bathhouse to get steamed, slimed with savon noir (palm soap), roughed up by a tabbeya (bath attendant) with a mean kissa (pumice glove), and doused with warm water. All modesty aside, we stripped down to our panties. I joked with my roommate that after this experience we would be friends forever because we shared such an intimate moment. Modesty is something the Moroccan women don’t have when it comes to a hammam. I couldn’t believe the layers of skin that came off my body. I emerged into the warm Moroccan night relaxed, refreshed, 5 pounds lighter and vowing to think clean thoughts kinda - hard since the men are so charming and handsome. Wait until you see their King and then you’ll understand.
Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place – The Todra Gorge
Before arriving to the Todra Gorge, we made our way through green palmeries and yellowish Berber villages until the road was closed in by 15km high walls of pink and grey rock. The Todra Gorge
Making room for the mules toois a massive fault that divides the High Atlas Mountains and the Jebel Sarhro. The approach was thrilling and scary if you looked out the window of the minibus to see the drop below. Still exquisitely relaxed from the Hammam I wasn’t sure if I would have the energy to partake in a 4 hour trek of the Todra Gorge or if I would be able to withstand the heat. Fortunately, I decided to go for it. It was phenomenal! This was an unforgettable experience that has made my top ten list.
Moving on westwards we headed for the movie capital of Morocco, Ouarzazate. This is where Gladiator, The Passion of Christ, Kingdom of Heaven and Babel. We stopped for lunch here before a short drive to Ait Benhaddou, famous for its 17th century Kasbah. We took part in a cous cous cooking class with our host, Action Houssain who has been in many feature films. What a character!
Our longest, but most spectacular drive was six hours, across the High Atlas Mountains via the Tizi ‘n Tichka pass, the highest in Morocco at 2 260m. We drove until the end of the road into the Toubkal region to Imlil.
Taking a breather
From here we had a 45 minute uphill walk to stay with a Berber family in Aremd. Jebel Toubkal, Morocco’s highest mountain was in view from our terrace.

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Mina Lagrande
la grande mina I'm off once again on another year long adventure. Through this travel blog, I'm hoping to share some wonderful experiences and images with my family and friends so that they too will be on the journey with me.... full info Joined:September 12th 2011Status:BLOGGERBlogs:2Photos:35Forum posts:0Blog Options[blog=654555][blogger=218140]Private MessageSubscribeBlog MapPrivate Blogs (1)GuestbookCommentRecommend (0)Print Version
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In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurat...more info
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Time for tea againAn eleven year old Berber girl who lives with her family in the Todra Gorge prepares a tea for us.
Shy beauty
How high can one go?We climbed to 1 200 metres!
Return to the villageFour hours later we returned to the village below with the Todra Gorge behind us once again.
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Sule turtles and plenty of bus

Luckily managed to take the bus to Ba?os that evening and arrived at midnight. We expected to be left in a bus station and instead was the side of the road with groups of men lingering everywhere. We didn t really if wants to be left there, but had no choice as the bus quickly accelerated out ... leaving us quite scared. We marched at the hostel as quickly as possible, avoiding eye contact, ignoring comments and with our heads deep within our Guide trying to see the map in the dark.

Ba?os is Gorgeous! A lot of waterfalls everywhere and famous for its thermal waters, as well as his extreme sports. Unfortunately when we were there it rained non-stop ... was pretty sad. Instead of cycling around all the waterfalls we got into a chiva bus agreement agreement ... basically a truck with benches and no real sides playing loud music and flashing lights ... a party bus for instance. We were the only gringos, if agreement with the rest of Ecuadorians party, so we chatted with them as we squinted through the rain to see the falls. We did canopying (being cut on a zip wire back and feet and if flying agreement through canyon) that was really funny ... Although I think I feel safer on the bus. even at night.

We went to the thermal baths that night to try to warm up after a day in the rain, and they were beautiful! Waterfalls, mountains and the Moon in the background were so nice, although we did feel a bit uncomfortable with the amount of interest that we got from the crowd surrounding ... as Steph said "if I never had a bathroom with 50 men Ecuadorians staring at me!" An experience!

The next day we got up early and headed to Mount Quilatoa ... This was not in our plans, but a guy who we met told us that "it was so beautiful that I cried" ... so we added to our itinerary. We took a bus trip through the mountains, getting taller and taller, with beautiful scenery (llamas, sheep farmers etc) ... good for attempting to distract from the edges was veering towards the cliff bus. We arrived mid-afternoon and a lady jumped on our bus that offers a place to stay. We were able to negotiate a good deal, $ 8 for dinner, a double bed each and breakfast and then headed to the mountain to see what the fuss was all about ...

Well I didn t agreement actually cry, but the view was spectacular. The bus ride took us almost to the top of the mountain and we just had to climb a bit more to sommet and we had the most amazing sight of a huge Lake sparkling turquoise, completely surrounded by volcanic mountains. The trek towards the Lake was fun and enjoyable, but when we walked up that night was a different story ... it was getting dark, cold, altitude has made it more difficult to climb and we advised on wild dogs!
That night it was freezing absolutely! Beds were not necessary, as we all piled into one to try to stay warm. Log burner in our room tinto out after 20 minutes, then we spent the next 40 minutes trying to chop kindling with out sharpeners (very impressed with ourselves for this brilliant idea!)... we got a flame for a few minutes and then dipped in smoke again. :-( If not the best night's sleep! (A huge understatement!)
The next day was a day of bus ". We spent the whole day travelling towards the coast on a variety of buses of different quality. Some were good with lots of space and movie playing, the worst part was about 20 (dark) when the bus stopped, told the driver to get off and take in a different "due to an accident". We knew what was going on, but had no choice but to obey and come out with all our bags and stand on the side of a busy road in the dark! After a few minutes trying to think of a plan if we were left stranded did get another bus and we ended up in a nice Hostel in Puerto Lopez, with hammocks and style tree house.

Thursday ... we pulled from our screened early for a ride to The Isla De Plata "the poor man's Galapagos Agreement."An incredible day! On the boat above we went whale watching! Saw a lot of code and fins are sventolati to us. On the island there were tons of exotic birds ... boobies blue feet, being the most impressive. But the highlight of the trip was after the island, when we went to swim with the turtles! We put on ventilators and jumped off the boat and suddenly were surrounded by about 5 huge turtles! It was great! If they weren t afraid of us all and appeared to want to play! We were able to hold on to them and be taken for a ride, really something special.

The next stop is Monta?ita.

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History Museums Ruins

Saturday September 10th
I have actually felt fairly non-touristy so far here in Cusco since I am actually working, but today I felt as touristy as it gets. Vivi and I started early to walk to town, buy the obnoxious ´tourist ticket´ that every tourist must buy to see the ruins (it includes the ruins around Cusco, ruins in the Sacred Valley, a few others, and then some museums in Cusco as well), and then visit as many museums as possible before our City Tour this afternoon. We went to the Popular Art Museum (just a bunch of art and sculptures made by people in the community), the Regional Historical Museum (my favorite of the day. It had history of Cusco, the Spaniards, Tupac Amaru, food, Pisco Sours, Garcilaso, and more. It was very interesting and had plenty of information in English), and the Contemporary Art Museum (pretty cool, but I´m not one to stare at a piece of art for an hour so it was a pretty fast walk through), all three of which were included in the tourist ticket. When we got to the Plaza de Armas there were tons of people, no cars, and some sort of ceremony going on. We managed to weave our way through the plaza to find the Inca Museum (not included in the ticket). It looked like it was a big ceremony celebrating all the military, police, security groups, city beautifiers, cultural groups, etc. from Cusco and its surrounding provinces. The Inca Museum was pretty interesting, there were a bunch of artifacts and information (most of it in spanish). They could have done a better job with the presentation, with more english, but it was still good. Back to the Plaza to eat lunch and watch the parade of the different security groups before heading off to join our group for the city tour.

The first stop was the huge cathedral in the main plaza which looks amazing, but costs 25 extra soles to get in as a tourist. Turns out you can get in for free if you go super early in the moring during mass, so Vivi and I decided to save some money and do that another day. So then we had another hour to wander around before we rejoined our group. With the group again, we walked to the Qoricancha temple (now a church but which has Inca ruins reserved inside) where we learned about the temples of the sun, moon, stars, and lightening. During Inca times the temple used to be the center of a huge system of holy sites and temples spreading out like rays of the sun from Cusco. Our bus took us up the hill to Sacsayhuaman (not sexy woman) which was probably a religious site but has three layers of outer walls for protection making people think it was a fortress. Supposedly the Incas first built Cusco in the shape of a puma with this site as the head. The site has HUGE stones that make up the outermost wall that must have taken hundreds of men to move, an incredible task. Sacsayhuamen ended up being my favorite ruin of the day. We also visited Tambomachay (a water temple), Pucapucara (but we were running a bit late so we didn´t get out of the car to wander around the ruins), and Qenqo (it was dark by the time we got there, but it was just a huge rock in which the Incas had hollowed out a passageway with an alter as a worship site). We got home late and it was a very full day, so we just went straight to sleep.

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Great Barrier Reef

Um kurz nach acht werden wir abgeholt und ums Eck zum Hafen gebracht – irgendwie haben wir uns den Weg weiter vorgestellt, nachdem die Dame im Büro des Campingplatzes uns erkl?rt hat dass es viel zu weit zum gehen sein.
Dort wartet ein ehemaliger Hummerkutter - nun umgebaut zum Ausflugsboot, der so etwa 30 Leuten Platz bietet, die zum Schnorcheln ans Riff wollen. Und genau das machen wir. Die drei sympatischen Mitglieder der Crew (Kapit?n, Marinbiologe und Marinbiologin) geben uns noch die n?tigen Sicherheitshinweise und ab geht’s eine Stunde Fahrt zum ersten Schnorchel-Stop.
Die See erweist sich als etwas rauh, Wind so um die 25 Knoten, was immer das auch in km/h hei?en mag aber auch wir f?hnerprobten Tiroler finden, dass man diese Briese als Wind bezeichnen kann. Auf jeden Fall, die Wellen sind gro?, das Schiff rollt aber die Sackerl bleiben unbenutzt.
Dann endlich, das Meer wird ruhiger wir sind am Riff und nun endlich raus ins Wasser. Wir schnorcheln um bunte Korallen, durch bunte Riffe und k?nnen nur staunen über die unglaublich bunte Vielfalt im Meer.
Wir werden an noch zwei weitere Stellen am Riff zum Schnorcheln gebracht und das Staunen h?rt nicht auf. Auch wenn wir die gro?en Fische, Haie und Rochen leider nicht sehen bleibt es ein unglaubliches Erlebnis.
Bei der Rückfahrt haben wir noch das Glück, dass ein Buckelwal unseren Weg kreuzt. Er springt aus dem Wasser und verschwindet mit lautem Platsch im Meer. Noch einmal taucht er auf und winkt uns mit der beeindruckenden Fluke zu. Er wird wohl weiter nach Süden ziehen und wir müssen zurück ans Land.

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Gengma and surounding

On the evening at 1988 November 6th, an Richter 7.6 earthqueak hit Gengma, killed more than 700 people and injuried about 8000 citizen. But look at Gengma town today, you wouldn't find any trace of that deadly disaster, only the memorial tower erected in the middle of the Baima Plaza reminded people of the event. At the back of the Plaza is the rebuilt Gengma Tusi mansion, in fact, almost all the historial relics had been destroy by the earthqueak, one more deadly blow after the culture revolution.
Gengma(@1100m) is a small town with the bus station stood near the beautiful built Jingge White Stupa could dated back 220 years hidden on top of a small hill behind the local high school, the Stupa was dedicated to the people of Burma and China after many year of war and conflicted, and finally both country could live in peaceful and friendly environment. The Stupa had been rebuilt at 1992 according to the original main tower, and 12 smaller stupa had been add around the main tower, each stupa stood for a month of the year.
Gengma is a friendly and welcoming town, so infomation for the surrounding could easily obtained. Not far from the Baima Plaza is Zongfosi Temple. Buddhism not coming into Gengma before the year 1473. Couples of traders went to Kengtong in Burma, and impressed by the faith and custom of Buddhism, and when the monk in Kengtong find out they had never heard of Buddhism and had no temple in Gengma, the monk presented the traders with a buddha statue and send 2 monks go back to Gengma with them, Buddhism spread the first time and Zongfosi Temple was built to took charge of all the other temples. Inside the main temple hall you could see a long banner depicted the whole life's story of Buddha.
25km outside of Gengma on the road to Shuangjiang, a huge cave on the side of the hill where they had find some relics could dated back 3000 years ago, said sthere was sign of building construction mean...there could be human activies in the pre-history time. they also suspected the tunnel inside the cave could lead all the way to Shuangjiang about 100km away, of course...no one ever made it that far. anyways...you could walk about one kilometer deep into the cave if you dare to, altough not hot but it was dark and humid, and many insects swarm around your headlight torch...annoying! They call the cave Shifodong - the stone buddha cave, as some stalactites inside the cave look like a buddha. In the old day people would take refuge here when natural disaster appeared, so it said to be a blessed heaven from the deity. every year during Water Festival thousand of people will come here to pay their respect to Buddha. and together of course...eat, drink and fun fair....a men-made disaster to the cave I would say!
Markets around Gengma area was a surprised as I didn't expected to find anything dressed tribal or something new. The less interest was Mengsheng market right inside Cangyuan region, a huge market hall but without much business. "normally I do business until 3pm" one vendor said by 1pm when we were waiting for the minibus to depart. seem like most of people were busy in harvest pineapple. In Mengsheng still could see some Wa in costume, and they wear thick round neck ring and ear-ring in disc and square shape. Batuan market further down from Mengsa was busy inside the small town. First I was attracted by the huge rugby turban. plain colour knee lenght long sleeve jacket open from the right and long trouser. Happily identified themselve "we are Han" when asked. Then I spot some dressed in a little bit more colour, long sleeve robe open in the middle, knot by a single silver button. the sleeve were in blue while the main body in black, there were pattern in lapel and cuff area, they wear baggy trouser and legging, most of them didn't speak Chinese. After enquired I find out they were Lahu. The closer Lahu village is about 15km further up the mountain, and they celebrate Torch festival, " a big event in their village" a local told me. I made a mental note of this. The majority are Dai in the market, the plain tight long sleeve shirt and the salong skirt was easy to identified. The Gengma market was also busy, although it all set inside the huge market hall, still...there are great atmosphere as the area was big enough to creat a market scene inside. Here you could see Dai of course, then there are Lahu but without costume, only could identified by their shoulder bag, you also could see Wa with simple costume, typical Wa skirt and a plain jacket, no headdress was in sight. In the market I also find couple of Lisu women, although no costume dress only an front apron and a shoulder bag, local told me they are Lisu. But the surprised was the Yi, I didn't know they had Yi in Gengma, they call themselve Mula Yi, they live near Mengsa area. they wear their headdress in a rectangular shape, and dress similar to the Dai but they wear legging.
I quite like Gengma, not only it is small enough to walk around, people were just nice and friendly. the only disappointed thing was I couldn't find a decent bakery for bread and cookie, and...a new bus station had been ready about 1 kilometer at the edge of town. I really wonder why a small town like this with tiny bus traffic, there not even a chaos scene during peak hour on market day, why you need a bus station a long way from town center????

note
bus Mengyong to Gengma 21 yuan
minibus Gengma to Mengsa 15 yuan
minibus Gengma to Mengsheng 15 yuan
minibus Gengma to Shifodong 15 yuan
entrance fee to Shifodong 15 yuan
There are more photos at the bottom of this page

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Go Yankees

I watched my first baseball game today at the Yankee stadium. Wonderful weather & amazing atmosphere made the game great fun. I learnt alot about the game & got on the smile cam without realising it. Also visited the natural history museum & saw the dinosaurs, which reminded me of night at the museum. On a walk through central park I found the statute of Balto, the dog that took medicine to Neem in the 1920s.

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Gay Buenos Aires

Since my last post i was getting ready to go to a Gay Milonga (tango club) for my Gay Buenos Aires class. I dragged my housemate and new partner in crime Susana (we"re the only 2 in our house the have to make the trek to the global campus in retiro/recoleta everyday so we pretty much stick together for everything) with me and after arriving 20 minutes late we finally found the club in San Telmo. I cant say it was awesome because the teacher wasnt super psyched that we were all there and we learned the same basic steps over and over again for an hour. it was cool though because it was a classic tango club in the neighborhood where tango was born (it was also kind of mysterious walking up the stairs and finding the class behind a black curtain :). Tango is beautiful and romantic but very slow, i think for me to enjoy dancing it, it would all depend on the partner. i like the faster latin dances like bachata and salsa that i got a small taste of while back in the states and have been dying to find a place to keep practicing. as fate would have it on the bus ride back i met a musician that plays at a salsa club that put the information about the club in my phone and gave me a card so i could contact him for more information. its times like these that make me love Buenos Aires, when people are helpful and excited that you are trying to learn spanish and immerse yourself in the culture. i only wish that all of my encounters could be so pleasant.
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Hong Kong is weird. Really weird.

It feels like it's been quite a quiet week this week but i'm probably forgetting stuff. Well it was mid-autumn festival a week ago so me, gemma and amy headed to causeway bay to the carnival thing. It was slightly disappointing because despite the persistent rumors of chinese people being really small I couldn't see over their heads to see the dragon dance! Maybe I am also really small. But there was lots of pretty lights, including a giant fish made out of lanterns, and a fairground that wasn't a real fairground but actually made of lights. Of course. Why not. Children don't want to actually go on the teacups anyway. So after wandering around a bit we retired to a bar for a few drinks. The next day I went to the temple of 10 thousand buddhas with Maeve and Danielle, which is in Sha Tin in the New Territories. It was beautiful, you walked up about 400 steps to get to the temple and there were buddha statues all the way up, but every one was different. 'Pick the one that looks like...' kept us entertained for most of the walk! The temple at the top was lovely, the weather wasn't totally stifling and it was great to get up and out of the city for a few hours. The rest of the week was spent at work, and then at the weekend we went for our friday afternoon cocktails but it wasn't a late one because I had to work on saturday (which was really annoying because everyone was going on an activity day in the New Territories!) But it was an open day for the pre-school kids and they were so cute it made up for it! Straight when we finished Maeve dragged me to the irish bar to catch the end of the match (she's irish and loves rugby, and I have to say it's really growing on me!) Standard night out in Lang Kwai Fong on saturday and then a day spent recovering with some crap tv on sunday, it was nice to have a rest!

I promised to talk about some things that I find really odd about Hong Kong, so here's a few of my favorites -
- The kids english names. A lot of them are normal, but some are very odd. Some of the best girls ones I've heard are cutie, angel and manchester. And of the boys the winners have to be happy and vodka. Happy is possibly my favorite student, after he was filling in his school profile and said 'can I put Mr Happy Miss Wallace?' Also, apparently Wallace is a really common boys name over here so it really amuses the kids when I introduce myself to them!

- The total obsession with not eating on the MTR. I made the mistake of finishing my chocolate bar on the MTR in the first week, people actually turned and stared me out until I put it back in my bag. I think they just want people to have their germy mouths shut as much as possible.

- This isn't odd, it's lovely, the way they really do respect the older generations. There are exercise corners for the elderly to help them do their tai chi. And I walked past a 'sitting area' today with lots of old men just sitting playing chess, there's no vandalism on any of these things, and it's really nice to see. Sadly respect doesn't always mean provide for, the welfare system is very poor in Hong Kong.

-People put shoes on their dogs. And sunglasses. And they wheel them around in prams. Every time i see it I think sally and Katie would really like it here!

There's loads more, it really is a very strange place. But it's time for bed now, so i'll think of some others for next time.

Love to everyone. xx

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fjerde blogindlg.. Eller er det femte

Hvad har jeg s? at fort?lle? Jaaaa. Jeg har nok f?et mig et job som engelsk l?re p? det lokale sprogcenter! Jeg h?ber p? at starte i denne uge, det kunne v?re rigtig sp?ndende. Dog ville det blive lidt kompliceret, samtidig med mit arbejde p? fabrikken, men jeg h?ber det g?r. Men hvis jeg bliver tvunget til at v?lge, v?lger jeg jobbet som l?re. Det tror jeg passer bedst til mig, trods alt.
Udover det er jeg begyndt at kigge lidt p? studiejobs til n?r jeg kommer hjem. Men det er selvf?lgelig sparsomt. Jeg fandt dog et opslag med et job som juletr?ss?lger! Det kunne v?re super fedt! Men det passer, sjovt nok, ikke rigtig ind i mine planer. N?ste ?r skal jeg v?re juletr?ss?lger. Der er ingen vej udenom!
I g?r blev jeg v?kket da vi skulle spise frokost. Vi skulle ud til det helt store familie tam-tam, s? jeg var lidt malplaceret. S?dan f?lte jeg i hvertfald. Men de fleste af dem har set mig f?r, og de synes bare jeg er interessant.
Jeg m?dte en amerikaner der hedder John, som roste mig til skyerne. Han var rigtig flink, og en RIGTIG amerikaner. Han havde v?ret i fl?den og da han var f?rdig der, startede han sit eget firma.
Jeg slog ham i bordfodbold, (3 gange) og han slog mig i pool.

Ellers er der ikke helt overdrevet meget at fort?lle. Jeg sidder p? arbejdet, i frokostpausen, imens de andre sover. Det er ?benbart meget normalt at tage sig en time p? ?jet imens der er pause. Der er en eller anden der snorker. Sp?ndende sp?ndende. Den havde nok ikke g?et i Danmark.
Jeg har for resten for f?rste gang f?et en manicure med damen jeg var til jobsamtale hos p? sprogcenteret. Anny. Hun er virkelig s?d! Selvom hun er 33, gift og mor snakker jeg rigtig godt med hende! S? jeg h?ber at skulle v?re meget p? sprogcenteret s? jeg kan se en masse til hende.
Jeg er l?bet t?r for ting at sige.
Udover at Rune lige har v?ret i byen med mine venner. Snyd!
Over and out

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Fort William to Mull

With diesel prices on the mainland a little lower than on Skye, we filled the tank this morning and still gulped at the price. We’ll need to keep it filled now, with only a week left until we return the car in Manchester.
Today we completed a zigzag drive past lochs and mountains to reach the departure point of the ferry to the Isle of Mull and thence to Tobermory where our hotel for the next three nights awaits.
Highlights of the drive on this fine dry morning included reflections on the glassy waters of still lochs, where huge slopes of grass and heather plunged down to the edge and autumn colours tinged the foliage lining the road. At Glenfinnan we stopped near the edge of the loch to look at a monument commemorating the Jacobite rebellion. For railway enthusiasts, this is also the site of a large viaduct, unfortunately almost obscured from view.
Before long we arrived at Lochaline, from where a vehicle ferry runs a shuttle service across to the Isle of Mull. We arrived and drove straight on board for the short trip, then it was off down the ramp and onto the island. At first we were on a broad sealed two lane highway, but very quickly we realised that was just a taste and the now familiar one way road with passing places resumed. With bright sunshine and warm temperatures we removed jackets and opened the car windows as we progressed along the beautiful coast towards Tobermory. Suddenly we came over a hill and there it was, with its picturesque harbour lined with coloured buildings. On this summery day the town looked most inviting, but ice cream was needed to fully enjoy a stroll along the waterfront. The cheerful shop assistant told us she was from Latvia and made us feel very welcome in Tobermory. Finally, it was up the hill to our hotel, where we were welcomed by a happy young Australian receptionist who had come to the Isle of Mull for a holiday and has now stayed for 10 years!
We have checked the weather forecast and today may be the only fine one, with increasing rain promised over the next two days. We plan to visit the island of Iona tomorrow and hope for some fine breaks between the showers.

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kolkata

Day 1 - Pulling into Kolkata train station 4 hours later than scheduled, we made our way outside to find a rickshaw, only to discover there was nothing but taxis. Paying at the pre-paid taxi stand, we hopped in the vehicle and made our way to the backpacker district located around Sudder Street. Due to Kolkata's infamous heavy traffic, the 5km journey took us over one hour. When we finally arrived we made our way to Hotel Maria, where the four of us checked into a grubby quad room for the night. Throwing the belongings in the room, we headed out to explore the city stopping next to the local meat market where Chris enjoyed a hair-cut and shave in a wooden shed for the bargain price of 40 rupees (50 pence)! Following this we all met back up at the swanky Lypton hotel for beers, given this was the only place screening chris's beloved Liverpool football match. Once the match had finished we headed to a much cheaper bar for food and reasonably priced beers. With closing time nearing we were forced to drink up quickly and leave by the grumpy doorman! Back in the room pissed as farts, we listened to music, chatted and played with pois before retiring to bed.

Day 2 - Knowing we would be departing that day for Guwahati, we made our way around the local market in search of sewing materials before heading to a rooftop bar for great views across the city. With departure time looming we grabbed some snacks in preparation for the 17 1/2 hour train journey. Collecting our belongings from Hotel Maria, we hailed a taxi and were on our way - Guwahati here we come.
There are more photos at the bottom of this page

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Poland's High Tatras

 The train from Prague was modern and travelled at a reasonable pace. Then, suddenly it slowed down dramatically. We notice that the stations were neglected with weeds in the platforms – we have moved into Poland. No sign of a border but we can tell we have changed countries.

At Katowice, we change trains. A few people of many nationalities are trying to find the train to Krakow. Nobody is very sure which platform it will go from, if at all - the electronic signs remain blank. A local helps us out - it is ten minutes late and might arrive at Platform 4, which it duly does. The train, a somewhat older and emptier version of our previous train, is not actually going to Krakow centre we are told, just a suburb. The conductor advises us to get off at the next station and catch a local train to central Krakow - it will arrive in 5 minutes. The next station is in the middle of nowhere and our conductor smiles as his train pulls out, leaving us all on the weedy platform.

But 5 minutes later, a little train going to central Krakow arrives. As we draw

in to the city, Saturday night is just starting. The lights are on around the square and music is everywhere. We have a quick dinner and head for bed – it has been a long day.

Next day, we are on the early bus into the mountains so that we have time to hike We have a plan but it is Sunday and half of Poland is in a queue for the mountain chair lift. We quickly make a new plan and head off up another, smaller and quieter mountain on foot. After cities, trains and buses the peace is wonderful. Hills and mountains. Pine trees and pastures. Hidden huts and edelweiss. And goulash soup for lunch. Happiness.

Monday and we are up early again to make the most of the day - rain is forecast for later. We take a little bus to the start of a walk up to the five tarns. This starts with a gentle plod and ends with a near vertical ascent beside a spectacular waterfall to reach the first tarn. We thought that was the top and had lunch, walked west a little and discovered another 200 metre climb to get out

of the valley. Great views, though, of mountains big and small and, of course, those five tarns. After a hairy descent, we splash out on a horse-drawn cart ride back to the village bus stop.

Today is Gill's birthday, so a celebratory meal awaits. Tomorrow we hope to take that chair lift, very early before the queues, and then walk down. Then it will be an international bus ride (well, minibus actually) into Slovakia and the south side of the mountains.

And for those still interested, the passports are still unexamined since St Pancras.
There are more photos at the bottom of this page

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On a pilgimage to Iona

Today we decided to make the trip to Iona, our reason for coming to Mull. We are staying on Mull for three nights and we have to choose the best day for the trip. Since arriving in Scotland we have been having trouble picking the best day. For the past few days we have had great weather but the forecast has now reverted to the familiar Scottish weather pattern, rain. So we took a chance today and headed off.
We chose a shorter route over now familiar single lane roads with regular passing places. The road today was a B road and the quality of the surface was sometimes very rough. Looking out over the sea we could see many smaller islands appearing out of the gloom. At one point we saw a car coming towards us on a very difficult piece of road so we stopped in plenty of time out of sight of the other car. Unbeknown to us the other driver was doing the same thing. After a prolonged moment we sneaked forward hoping the other car wasn’t doing the same. As we passed each other we paused and had a great laugh together.
As we approached Fionnphort, the ferry terminal to Iona, the weather cleared and all was looking good for a wonderful afternoon. We smiled and complimented ourselves on choosing this day for our pilgrimage. While waiting for our ferry we dropped into the very warm snack bar for coffee and scones. A group of locals, perhaps fishermen, were also enjoying big sandwiches and big mugs of tea. It was wonderful to listen to them solving the woes of the world with their lovely accents. It wasn’t long before we walked onto the small vehicular ferry via the stern door, found a spot in the lounge and settled down for the ten minute journey.
It is hard to describe the beauty of Iona set in the brilliant blue sea, with white houses and stone buildings spread along the coast and the Abbey standing out as the largest of these. Once off the ferry we set off to walk the short distance to the Abbey, making many stops along the way.
We walked through the ruins of the old stone Nunnery with its garden. School children were enjoying the last minutes of the lunch break before the bell rang for the afternoon session. Along the road we saw the school vegetable and flower garden with scarecrows lining the stone wall. Two hotels on the island each had a large garden producing vegetables and flowers and on this sunny day workers were busy in these productive patches. In the ancient burial ground at the Abbey we saw headstones marking the graves of several Merchant Navy seamen whose unidentified bodies washed ashore during September and October 1940 and were buried here. Their deaths may have been the result of an act of war.
St Columba came to Iona in the sixth century and founded his monastery in this place. How amazing for us to be walking here today and looking at the same land and sea, feeling the warmth of the sun and enjoying exploring the beautiful cloisters and Abbey. However, complacency is dangerous and soon we became aware of a certain chill in the air and a damp looking mass of heavy cloud appearing over the hills behind us. In no time we were increasing our pace to reach shelter as the rain blew in. Our return trip on the ferry was a more bracing experience than the outward journey but this has been a day to remember. The beauty and peace of this ancient place will stay with us.

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Mission Beach to Port Douglas

Ziemlich früh – kurz vor Sonnenaufgang sind wir wach. Wir beschlie?en eine morgendliche Strandrunde zu drehen und erleben den wohl beeindruckendsten Sonnenaufgang am Meer, den wir bisher gesehen haben. Der Himmel ist leicht bew?lkt, am Horizont über dem Meer zeichnet sich ein roter Streifen ab, w?hrend die Sterne im dunklen Blau darüber verblassen. Am Strand flie?t ein kleiner Bach ins Meer, in dem sich die Farben des Himmels spiegeln. Langsam steigt ein glühender Ball aus dem Meer und es wird langsam heller und nach einer halben Stunde ist das Farbenspiel leider vorbei.
Frühstück und weiter geht’s wieder nach Norden, vorbei an Cairns und gesch?tzten 27 Roundabouts (Kreisverkehre) nach Port Douglas ein Ort der sich mehr oder weniger ausschlie?lich dem Tourismus zum Great Barrier Riff widmet. Irgendwie hat die Rückkehr in die Zivilisation auch was.
Gottseidank gelingt es uns dann doch über ein zwei Bierchen den nun ungewohnten Trubel zu ignorieren. Nach einem unerwartet gutem Abendessen –wieder mal so Zeug aus dem Meer – gehen wir zurück zum Campingplatz in unser „grünes Heim“ und freuen uns auf die morgige Fahrt zum Riff.

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Port Douglas nach Cairns

Morgen geht der Flug von Cairns nach Sydney. Es wird also leider Zeit die tropische Idylle zu verlassen. Aber ganz so schnell muss es ja Gott sei Dank nicht sein – wir haben ja noch einen Tag.
Wir entscheiden uns daher noch einen letzten Abstecher zum Daintree River zu machen, vielleicht k?nnen wir ja noch die gefürchteten gro?en Salzwasserkrokodile, im Aussie-English „Salties“ genannt, entdecken.
Am Daintree River sollte schon der eine oder andere leichtsinnige Schwimmer als Krokofutter geendet haben. Wir fahren zu einem der zahlreichen Anbieter für Flussfahrten und tuckern mit einem relativ kleinen Boot entlang des doch relativ m?chtigen Flusses.
Wir sichten eine Grüne Baumschlange und relativ bald darauf das erste Krokodil. Es ist irgendwie gar nicht furchteinfl??end und wir wagen uns n?her und sind nur noch einem Meter entfernt, also ungef?hr doppelte K?rperl?nge des Raubtieres….. Als Babies sind sie richtig sü?, die Salties.
Nach einer weiteren viertel Stunde am Fluss sehen wir nun endlich ein beeindruckendes Croc am Ufer und sind nun wirklich beeindruckt. Die Warnschilder am Ufer sind anscheinend nicht umsonst, denn wenn auf jedem Kilometer wirklich mindestens ein so gro?es Kroko sitzt….
Nun müssen wir leider wirklich nach Süden und sind am frühen Nachmittag in Cairns, eine ausgesprochen freundliche und nette Stadt mit reizvoller Promenade am Meer, natürlich nicht ohne die Warnschilder (Krokodile, Würfenquallen). Irgendwie schon eigen: Da hat man den sch?nsten Strand der Welt und kann ihn wegen der b?sen Natur kaum nutzen. Aber sie haben eine gro?e künstliche Lagune, ein Schwimmbad mit freiem Eintritt an der Strandpromenade angelegt.
Am Hafen gibt es eine unglaublich romantisches Restaurant/Bar. Schwer zu raten, wo wir bis zur Schlafenszeit zu finden waren.

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Montserrat Monastry Museum and Flamingo Dancers Ola

For our second day in Barcelona we had chosen an optional extra which was a trip up to Montserrat. This is a rocky outcrop of mountain about 1.5 hours drive outside of the city. It looks rather like a grey Ayres Rock but perhaps not quite so large. On the way we collected our guide from the previous day (Cesear) and set off early in the morning. This was good cos the weather was expected to be very hot again and I expected a lot of vertical walking which is difficult in the heat of the day.
History: In the year 880 some shepherd boys had a vision of a descending light and angels singing their parents returned to the site and witnessed the same happenings, then a local priest had the same experience in a cave on Montserrat (meaning serrated mountain) The cave became a holy sanctuary to pilgrims and as time went by a Monastry was erected.
Benedictine monks still occupy the Monastry ( Santa Maria de Montserrat) which is also the home to the Basilica Boys Choir which is acclaimed worldwide and produced many albums of their Gregorian chants etc.
Near the carpark you can see the building used for spiritual retreats. These hold little more than a bed and chair and are no bigger in area needed for these. A short uphill walk brings you to an attractive courtyard holding statues of past priests.
But this is all in stark contrast to what you are about to behold within the Basilica. OMG ! This was astounding and I cant even think of enough words to describe it. The central religious statue is that of the black Madonna and child. Awesome. The artworks and stained glass and statues must rank amongst the world's best collection. I adored it all.
See here for more information http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/montserrat-shrine
Next to the Cathedral was a Museum which housed even more treasures of artworks Picasso, Dali and Caravaggio amongst lesser known artists. I am told these are donated. Imagine being a few inches away from a REAL Picasso ! There were two of them both painted BEFORE his more abstract works. One of a Choir boy and one of an old fisherman. Cesear said one was too good to sell and another not good enough. I tihnk the viewer makes the decision about which one deserved which title. :) There were more in a Rembrandt style.
Another room housed iconography of Our Lady of Montserrat the Black Madonna. Also we saw a display of Fifteenth to Twentieth Century religious items showing a collection of gold and silver work and demonstrating how styles can change over the years.
Wandering into an Egyptian exhibition room (on loan to the Museum) we were confronted with a mummy in a glass case. The bandages were removed from the head area which revealed sights I was more confortable never having seen :( This is a place everyone heading to Spain should take the time to visit.
Our afternoon was spent browsing about the shopping in Barcelona and that evening was a buffet dinner followed by a night of Flaminco Dancers.

(NB: I took video within the Cathedral so will be adding the still pictures from that at a future date)
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Pezulu Tree House Game Reserve

Animal time!!! Soon after we left the mountains we reached the area where Kruger and the surrounding private game reserves are located. In fact, had the visibility been better in the mountains, we could have seen Kruger from some of the lookout points we stopped at. You basically come down the mountain, pass some farmlands, and then there you are surrounded by game reserves . Before we went to Kruger we did one night at the Pezulu Tree House Game Reserve. This place was out of this world!!! Because there are no big five animals (lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, and buffalo) in the private game reserve that Pezulu is on – you don’t have to have fences surrounding your camp. So we were literally walking around amongst the animals. We saw giraffe, zebras, monkeys, warthogs, and antelope while we were there. At one point when we were walking back to our tree house we came upon a mama warthog and her babies – so cute! As we walked by though it was a little frightening as there is nothing standing between you and them. I was trying not to make eye contact because I didn’t want her to get angry – and she was already flustered since her babies were with her. Then, as we walked by she let out a loud snorting sound and I swear I thought she was coming right for us. Turns out she was running away – but I didn’t know that since I was avoiding eye contact.

The tree house itself was amazing – they somehow combine the rustic nature of a tree house with a touch of luxury and comfort – to make for a fantastic experience! It was just beautiful. We could sit out on our little deck and watch the watering hole for animals. While we were sitting in the evening before dinner we saw zebra and warthogs go by for a drink. We also saw a little steenbok (an adorable little antelope) come under our deck to eat. It was amazing. We had drinks at the bar while looking for bush babies – which unfortunately didn’t come out for us. But it was fun looking all the same. The sound of the frogs and wildlife at night were so loud it was unbelievable. Jeff of course had to go looking for the source of the noise and did find

the little buggers all around the pool. Dinner was a collective affair – everyone sat around the bonfire while we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. And, to top it off dinner was interrupted by the appearance of zebras at the pool. We all left our plates to see – and were amazed at how close they were. They were literally right next to the pool and so close to us that you felt like you could walk a few steps and touch them!

We awoke the next morning, showered, packed up, and headed to breakfast. Showering in our tree house while looking out over the watering hole was a truly awesome experience – there was an eye level gap between the tree house walls and the roof so you could look out and see all around while enjoying a nice hot shower. We just kept looking at each other and marveling at how wonderful this place is. We really hated to leave - but were excited to be headed to our walking safari in Kruger. Pezulu was an unforgettable experience to say the least –and we would definitely go back someday in a heartbeat!

There are more photos at the bottom of this page

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Lazy Sunday afternoons

Saturday – Angouleme, stuck in car parks and new gite for the week.

Woke early Saturday morning and did our last packing and said our goodbyes to our Dutch hosts before heading on our journey to Angouleme. The countryside changed dramatically with less trees, more rolling countryside and vineyards as far as the eye could see. A very different landscape to the rest of the Dordogne. Noticed loads of motorhomes en route but no British so the plan of speaking to British motorhomers had gone out the window. Most motorhomers seemed to be French with the odd Dutch mingled in between. Stopped at Angouleme to break the journey as back aching sitting in the car seat. We were not too impressed with the city – first of all had an interesting conversation in the Post Office trying to buy two stamps to send cards back to Britain. Have you ever wondered how hard it can be to buy stamps – well we found out here. Queued and realised it was the wrong queue, tried another counter assistant who could not find any stamps and had to get a colleague to find them for her. She then tried to sell us 10 in a strip and finally someone came over and showed us the automatic machine that printed out stamps on sticky bits of paper. Walked up to the church which had a beautiful facade but a rather lavatorial inside. Lunch a pretty frugal affair of salad and omelette whilst people watching. Visited the municipal museum which was free and jam packed with fossils, fine art and north African artifacts. Quite a little gem of a find down a back street and free. Apparently there is a museum to the Resistance but this was closed on a Saturday. Finally tried to get out of the underground car park and found the machine would not take 10 euro notes and give change. French non existent – another lesson to be learnt must brush up on schoolgirl French and learn so more languages before embarking on the motorhome adventure. This made it impossible to try to talk to the security guard to ask for change – gave up, gestured a lot and managed to find some change to get out of the car park.
Our next stop along the way was Coucousac a very small hamlet where we stayed in a gite owned by a British couple Roy and Irene. They had lived in France for 10 years having moved from the South East of England. The gite was fabulous with everything you could wish for right down to lavender bags in the drawers and a welcome pack of wine, butter, cheese, orange juice, bread and coffee waiting for us. This gite was a much nicer one than the last one – black bin bags provided for rubbish and towel s in the bathroom. Just goes to show how different properties can be. Suppose at least with the camper van we will know exactly what we are getting – you can fill it with as little or as much as you wish. Only 111 more working days until it arrives. Views from the gite across the fields of sunflowers which apparently had come up late due to the dry spring here in France. Had a drink on the terrace with Roy and Irene who were motorhomers too. They shared their experiences with us and gave us some valuable hints on where to go and some of the pitfalls of motorhoming although the joys seemed to outweigh the stories of flat leisure batteries and poor campsites. It seems that people watching in motorhomes take on a new meaning as you watch people manoevering over grey water disposal points ,into cramped parking placesand watching them putting up awnings , awnings on top of awnings and tv’s in their tent spaces. They also shared with us their ACSI booklet and French Passion book and told us stories of visits to French farms selling wine, honey or fruit.

Decided to do nothing and woke up late Sunday , no internet signal so feel a little that arm has been chopped off. If there is a downside to this place it must be that there is no WFI – another job when we get home will be to check out IPOD’s as we need something that will work while we motorhom

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New Zealand Wellington Dunedin

drive down from wellington. with talula the toyata town ace. (van). which has bee ok so far no troubles with her... stopped in Kaikura, for the first night woke up with stunning mountain backdrop scenery, a quick coffee and then on the road again to dunedin. roads are easy to drive, single carriagway and often wont see another car for hours.

accidently drove through christchurch. there was nothing there, all red zoned and building cut off and roads shut down. bit of a shame really. but not going back in.

arrive in dundein. park the van. get beer. watch a poor game of rugby. drink some more beer. and meet some random people.

all good having a great time.

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Road trip along Lawrence Hargrave Drive

 So it’s the weekend and sunny, what should we do… Road Trip!! We loaded up the car with beach towels, sunnies, sun cream and left over food to snack on (Will’s Cousin Ben doesn’t like leaving left over food in the fridge so we have to eat it before it gets thrown out!), jumped in the Ute, and headed south on the Freeway towards Wollongong.

It wasn’t long before we spurred off onto the Lawrence Hargrave Drive with awesome views of the sea along the twisty undulating roads, and crossing Sea Cliff Bridge.

Initially we stopped at Coledale Beach by Shark Park!! Fortunately we didn’t make the acquaintance of any these beasties, although that was primarily due to us staying out of the Tasman Sea as it was too damn cold, but the surfers seemed to be doing okay!! Although there were no sharks, we were surrounded by dogs as this beach had no restriction on them, so it made for amusing viewing when some of the pups encountered water for the first time, as well as owners sprinting across the beach to retrieve their dogs from other peoples lunch!

Next stop was Bulli beach where we saw

Dolphins swimming round the point, although they avoided our best efforts to capture them on camera.

After a couple of hours of relaxing and taking photos of the waves breaking on the coast, we packed up and headed back North towards Scarborough, stopping at the Scarborough hotel, which has amazing views over the Ocean, for a Schooner and a bowl of fries before heading home via the Royal National Park.

The drive home through the park was a series of constant twists and turns, and a mecca for motor bike riders – not so good for a 4x4 Ute, although Will was having fun!!
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Sports day japes

Saturday was the sports festival for both my elementary schools, both of which had invited me to attend. Short of cloning myself, this meant arriving at 8.30am at Dai Ni school (the school nearest to where I live and with only a small amount of students) and staying for an hour and half, before dashing the fifteen minute drive across the mountain to the larger school for the second part of the morning.

It was a fun spectacle, with (unsurprisingly) a range of weird and wonderful activities. The highlights included all the kids (and at one point the parents) in a giant horseshoe formation, lifting a giant inflatable ball and moving it around the group in a Mexican wave formation. I also enjoyed the Calvary stand off, with a red team v a white team, three kids form a horse shape and carry a fourth kid, who has to try and steal the cap from the opponent team, whilst avoiding having his own cap taken. This one got quite violent!

In the evening I met up with some of the other ALT teachers and headed into the centre of Iida for an evening festival one of our friends was

taking part in. This bizarre festival involved many groups of about 15 or so men in traditional costumes carrying a heavy wooden float for over three hours (some of which with women balanced on top), drinking copious amounts of beer as they stagger up and down the streets, swaying from one side of the road to the other and chanting something that sounded like "Bus strike" over and over again. Apparently the meaning of the chant has been lost in the mists of time, so no one alive today actually knows what it means.

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Short Sweet Osaka

So we had one day left to explore Osaka and we decided to start it with a nice lie in. At 10.10am an old man knocked on our door to tell us we were supposed to have checked out by 10. Ooopsie!

So after a mad rush to get our stuff together we checked out, got ourselves ready and stored our luggage.

We weren’t in the mood for ‘sightseeing’ and so spent the afternoon walking around the Dotonbori area, looking around the shops, having lunch and generally taking in the atmosphere. Angelo also got himself a nice new J-pop haircut.

In the evening we took our last bullet train back to Tokyo and checked back in to Anne Hostel where we had spent our first night in Japan.

Deb & Ang

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Sport and stuff Toronto style

The last two days have been full of lots of food, fun and a very bad film.

Last night I went to the last evening of the Toronto International Film Festival. We saw "Love and other bruises". It's a chinese/french film. It is the WORST movie EVER. There was no plot. There was no real dialogue. There was every cliche "arty" shot EVER thought of. There were way too many sex scenes - all of which were weird and mostly unnecessary. The acting was ok I guess. Overall, I would say it was the most stupid film I have ever seen. If you hear of it - DO NOT GO AND SEE IT!!!

The film was the only sour part of an otherwise lovely day. Rachel and I ate and had some drinks at the very classy part of downtown Toronto (Yorkville). I saw two Ferraris in a row. In fact in the last two days I have seen 3 Ferraris.

Today was awful weather. It rained all day. It didn't stop me exploring though. I caught the train downtown (about 20 mins) from Mississauga (Port Credit). I decided to grab a bite to eat and then check

out the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was awesome. I really enjoyed the virtual shot on goal. I've decided I would be a really good Hockey player except I can't skate. I guess a crucial component.

After the Hall of Fame I took a long walk up to the other end of town. Unfortunately the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) was about to close so I just grabbed a coffee instead. Then I tried my luck at the Subway (which is really easy and convenient) and then headed on down to Rogers Stadium.

Unfortunately it was POURING and so so windy. Luckily I bought that umbrella the other day (I take back the bad things I said about it!). I met Rachel at the stadium and we went and watched the Toronto Blue Jays Vs the Los Angeles Angles in the baseball. It was fun to go to a live baseball game even though there wasn't a big crowd. Toronto won!! And I managed to get a kiss on the cheek from the mascot - awesome (it was a non-scary bird cos he couldn't fly!).

Tomorrow I'll attempt to go to the ROM and then we are going

to a Leafs hockey game! So much sport!

Toronto seems like a really liveable city. Big, but not too big. And people are friendly. Good one Canada!
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Singapore

Arrived in Singapore after a very long flight from Rome. We got no sleep in the 12 hour flight, but watched plenty of movies. Picked up from the airport at 6am by Tim and Shona and brought back to Woodlands House, correction Woodlands Mansion! What a beautiful home build back in the 30's with high ceilings and large rooms in 30 degree heat and high humidity! Jen promptly fell asleep on the bed and the rest of the cast got on with the show. Sleeping beauty!

We then went to the Aussie club to watch the Wallabies play Ireland, heh, heh, heh!!! Oh the joy! Must not gloat. Cannot help myself! We then went out to dinner at a local Thai restuarant to rejoice heh!, heh!

Sunday, slept in late and awoke to a cooked breakfast. Attended mass at the local Military church and then it was off into the city. We were amazed at the changes in the city from our last visit in 1996. This was a dramatic contrast to the historic old buildings of Europe to the modern urban jungle of Singapore. Bad timing on my part with the Formula One race occuring this Saturday, however

we did manage to drive on parts of the race track!

We managed to get tickets for the stage production of the "Lion King" and we will let you know the outcome in the next blog. We then had dinner in the historic Singapore cricket club and watched our beloved Liverpool get hammered.

Monday awoke to a magnificent thunderstorm and rain, but managed to visit Singapore Zoo for Jenni as I do not like Zoos. Looking forward to the show.

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Rihla 2

 The article "Why do women still earn less than men" relates to what we are learning in class because in class we are discussing the issue of how sexism affects the work force. We learned that even in the during the stone age jobs were being specified by sexes, men doing one job and women doing another. In the article the author speaks about how now in more recent times, women are still being affected by this separation. Even though women are now allowed to do the same jobs as men, they are not being rewarded the same way as men are.
2) From this article I learned how sexually decided the country is. I knew there was some sexism when it came to jobs, but I didn't know there was sexism in pay as well. I thought we were over the sexism era after women were allowed to vote and participate in men dominated sports and activities.
3) The part of this article that surprised me the most was the fact that women that changed their sex got paid more than when they were women. Laura Fitzpatrick said, "Men who transitioned themselves into women earned, on average, 32% less after the surgery. Women who became men, on the other hand, earned 1.5% more", this quote really surprised me and helped me understand that employers really do look at the sex of the employees when it comes to paying them. This is a large issue because some women are single parents and some even have more than 1 child. So by them being payed less than men really affects the way they can support their children, this should not be the case.
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RIHLA 2

 The article "Why do women still earn less than men" relates to what we are learning in class because in class we are discussing the issue of how sexism affects the work force. We learned that even in the during the stone age jobs were being specified by sexes, men doing one job and women doing another. In the article the author speaks about how now in more recent times, women are still being affected by this separation. Even though women are now allowed to do the same jobs as men, they are not being rewarded the same way as men are.
2) From this article I learned how sexually decided the country is. I knew there was some sexism when it came to jobs, but I didn't know there was sexism in pay as well. I thought we were over the sexism era after women were allowed to vote and participate in men dominated sports and activities.
3) The part of this article that surprised me the most was the fact that women that changed their sex got paid more than when they were women. Laura Fitzpatrick said, "Men who transitioned themselves into women earned, on average, 32% less after the surgery. Women who became men, on the other hand, earned 1.5% more", this quote really surprised me and helped me understand that employers really do look at the sex of the employees when it comes to paying them. This is a large issue because some women are single parents and some even have more than 1 child. So by them being payed less than men really affects the way they can support their children, this should not be the case.
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retirement trip of a lifetime whilst there's still some life left Part 1 getting there

Well, the time has come for our month long trip to the Southern States of America! We've been planning it for such a long time and it's hard to believe the time is actually here now.

But first, the journey - you would think that it would be simple to catch a coach to Heathrow Airport, pop into Terminal 3 to get our Travellers Cheques from Travelex, pop upstairs to Arrivals to get some sneaky treats from M&S to have in our hotel room, then catch the ‘regularly running’ free bus to the hotel. We did get to the hotel eventually but..... NOT IN TIME TO WATCH STRICTLY COME DANCING!!!!!! Not impressed! We seemed to walk miles through underground walkways, down scarily fast and steep escalators with all our luggage (why wasn’t there a sign saying ‘ there’s a LIFT, you know’) and the hotel shuttle proved the saying that you wait for a bus for ages and then three come along at once. The bus number was U3 which of course we kept accidentally calling U2 and wondering if the driver was in fact Bono. Oh, we are SO witty!

The Arora International was just the job, especially

as from our window we could watch planes taking off - silently, as very impressive soundproofing!

Everything went well on the journey.........Air Canada was fine and we caught the connection easily. Toronto Airport is the height of efficiency for processing you through US Immigration and we had no hairy moments about visas or anything.The highlight for me was watching ‘Bridesmaids’ - and yes, Chloe, it isn’t really a film you’d want to watch with your mother and yes, I did LOL a lot! Must say it's slightly disconcerting watching the seatback TV's and being able to see several other people's screens from your seat with many of them showing scenes of an 'adult' nature.

And at last we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee!!

I was very thrilled at the airport to see several people wandering about in tight jeans and boots, wearing stetsons and carrying guitars. Honestly!

And now we’re in our hotel in the area called Music Valley having had a meal at a bar called John A’s which seemed to be a regular with musicians as people kept joining the resident band (who were really good) to sing or play keyboard or guitar for a

song or two. They were all SO good and it was a perfect way to start our holiday. Good food too.
YEEHA!!!!!
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Sleepy Bavarian Alps

On Sunday we got up just before 4am in order to catch the flybussen (airport bus) from Bryggen to the airport at 4:45am. Our Lufthansa flight departed Bergen at 7am, arriving at Frankfurt around 9am, then we had another flight to Munich, then caught the airport train to the Ostbanhauf and then another train to Berchtesgaden - finally arriving at our destination at 5pm! A long day of travelling. It was a miserable day in Berchtesgaden - very cold with unrelenting rain. After checking into the hotel (nice large room with two balconies) we went for a walk into town to find some supplies - after wandering around for about an hour in the cold rain we finally found a kebab shop that was open that we could at least buy some drinks from! Otherwise the city centre was a ghost town - with a few other tourist looking in the shop windows... Thats when we realised that we weren't in the cities anymore, this really is just a small alpine town. We had dinner at a small pizzeria - (which included 4 glasses of wine and half a pizza take-away in a box) came to 30 euro with tip - much more reasonable that Norway!!

We slept like logs that night and didn't get up til 9:30am this morning (our first proper sleep in!) - with the sound of the constant rain helping us to sleep all night... We looked around the city centre in the morning (now things we open)! We were booked in to do a historical eagle's nest tour at 1pm, but when we got there we were told that the road to the eagles nest was closed due to heavy snow fall on the mountain. Therefore we did a shortened version of the tour, to Obersalzberg, the documentation centre and the nazi bunker system. We saw plenty of snow down at this level of the mountain - so fully believed that the road further up could have been quite dangerous. The tour was very interesting, giving a very good background to the importance of the area to Hitler and the Nazis. Berchtesgaden was actually the second seating place of Hitler's parliament and the only place where Hitler owned a home. He received many of his important guests (including foreign dignitaries) at this home and conducted many of his important meetings and briefings with his closest staff here. The bunker system below his home and the surrounding buildings were meant to provide a last shelter for Hitler and his followers (with food and supplies to last at least 6 months) however at the end Hitler decided not to flee from Berlin to Berchtesgaden, thinking that this decision was less "cowardly".

Enjoyed a nice bottle of red in the evening (in a vain attempt to warm up a little) before going to a nice Bavarian pub for dinner.

Hoping the weather clears up a little tomorrow, so that we can actually see all the surrounding mountains!!

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Udong Mountains and Pchum Ben Festival Festival of the dead

After much of my time here spent being ill, I relished the opportunity to escape the confines of Phnom Penh and embrace the visit to the Udong mountains and celebrate the festival of the dead (Pchum Ben) with Khmers from all over Cambodia. They are called the Udong mountains but this is only in contrast to the utter flatness of the landscape surrounding them. In reality they are hills. They look pretty big from a distance too but probably no bigger than the hill I would walk up to work (Barrack Hill). Maybe a little bigger.
Regardless of the size, the first thing you notice upon arriving at Udong is the sign which reads "Foreigner $1". Everyone else gets in for free. I know it is 70 pence, but I resent the decision to charge me for my skin colour. You would never get away with it in England......Nor would you get away with 12 people squeezed in to a 5 man, four door saloon, and yes two were sitting in the drivers seat. It became a game to see which car, bus, taxi or tuk tuk was the most over crowded.
We approached the glorious site with the crowds of provincial Khmers amid the intimidating pagodas and huge statues dancing in the water. Rich golds, oranges, yellows, greens and blues reflected off the paintwork and sparkled in the already over hot sun. A true testiment to faith or a nation impoverished for an ideal? It reminded me of the inconsistencies within the Vatican church and the Sistine chapel. Beautiful, historic and magnificent, but at what price?

Armed with crates of rice, curry, vegetables, we marched in to the central Pagoda only to reveal a sea of white surrounded by safron. The nuns (in white) crowded in the centre of the room kneeling towards the alter which was decorated bazaarly in flashing flourescent lights, and grotesque buddhas. Unlike anything I had seen in Thailand. It was all a bit Las Vegas. The monks (in saffron) seated around the outside of the room stared longingly at the food in front of them. Some of them so thin, they looked like they had not eaten for months. Freshly shaved heads (men and women) bobbed about in prayer, discussion or the nodding of thanks to a Khmer offering them food. A few nuns came and spoke to us white foreigners without realising we

had an army of Khmers with us from our work who had invited us along. But they all spoke wonderful English.

We Knelt down in front of three monks with heavily lined leathery faces which betrayed an otherwise peaceful expression. Each line with a story to tell. The monks blessed the food and blessed us then we carried the mass of food, weaving in and out of the shaven heads careful not to spill it or trip up.
A polestyrene bowl full of rice was placed in to my hands and I was instructed to empty the contents bit by tiny bit in to twelve black larger bowls lined up in a row. The idea is that when evenly distributed, there is equality. I do not understand this practice fully but enjoyed the challenge of measuring my bowl of rice out equally.
After, we trapsed to the front in single file, again avoiding the holy heads eagerly waiting for their food, we took three lit incense sticks and placed them steadily between out hands which were in a prayer position; flat and together. Our hands raised to our foreheads, a mark of the highest respect, reserved for Monks and

Buddha, before moving them back and forth three times. Once this was done, you made a wish and placed the unlit end of the burning sticks into a vat of liquid wax where they would eventually burn out and the wish complete.
Moments later, the hungry monks pounced on the rich smelling plates of food in front of them before devouring them fevourishly.

We left the monks to their banquet and embraced the next ceremony. Again, I do not know it's name but it was one which asked for forgiveness for sins or troubles. There were five mounds of heaped sand, one in the centre, arranged like a dice. Bowls full of money, inscence sticks and flags adorned these little mountains. I went from each offering 100 riel (a matter of pence, if that), one of my five insence sticks and my apologies for sins I have committed. The last mound to tackle was the central one. Here I placed my money in the bowl, my insence stick in to the mound, my apologies and a fist full of sand sprinkled on top. All was going well until the entire thing collapsed under the weight of a few grains

of sand. An old monk with heavy wrinkles grinned at me, revealing two gold teeth.

The site held a few pagodas and buildings. It was a huge community of monks and nuns, all living there in this holy community amongst the grand architecture. In one smaller building, a large number of Cambodians climbed up and down a short flight of stairs, following them revealed a dead monk. I seem to have an ability to seek them out in the middle of nowhere. The dead monks I meet tend to have dedicated their self-mummified bodies to their temples and they practice withdrawing from food and water towards the end of their life in order to enter a state of mummification and this preserves their leathery bodies for longer. This guy however was much younger and was not ready to enter that state. He had been shot. Obviously he had ruffled a few feathers in the government or at the monastry. His body had started to decompose at a much quicker rate, his eyes had sunken, his veins bulged awkwardly and the skin of his toes shrivelled around the bones. I didn't stick around for long.

We climbed to the

top of the Udong mountain range (two hills), where the bones of Buddha and the remains of kings are laid to rest in bell shaped concrete blocks, similar to the idea of the pyramids. It was hot and I was still not good after having been ill again. I struggled up the 400 and something steps, all the while being followd by a young boy armed with a huge fan that he flapped in front of me and behind me. He marched with me all the way to the top. Aware this was a ploy to be paid, he battled on and ignored my "Lee-hi's" Good byes. At the top he stood with me as I shook from lack of food and dehydration and he continued to wave the fan to cool me down. I was thankful for this little soldier, so i bought him a can of drink and gave him $0.50. Moments later, sweating, and looking pretty much like an ogre, a Khmer couple approached me and asked to have their photo taken with me. I stood awkwardly whilst the lady put her arm around me and smiled at the thought of her trophy photo. I imagined her waving a photo of her with a huge blonde foreigner towering over her at her friends. After, I put my palm out and said "One dolla". They laughed, I felt violated.

The walk down, we encountered wild monkeys arguing with those struggling past them up the steps, fighting for food and attention. The heat unbearable, stomach playing up, I was desperate for home. Desperate for a fan, shade, cold. Freezing cold. As the days go by, I dream of staying in an air conditioned room and just sitting their freezing whilst watching crazy Korean pop videos. This has been discussed with a fellow housemate, Jen as a serious possibility.

Back in the city of Phnom Penh, I heard KFC call my name. I gave in. It wasnt hard though. The idea of more rice and more upset stomachs was enough to put me off.

Relfecting upon the day, I feel blessed to have been able to experience such a beautiful ceremony. A ceremony where families celebrate the dead on one day together. The juxtoposition of the wealth in religion and impoverished lifestyles led by monks, the pungent smells of assorted dishes, the mountains of rice, the sea

of shaved heads clothed in white or saffron robes, the eye watering insence sticks, the Las Vegas style Buddhas. An enriching and eye opening memory. One I will never forget and one I am thankful for being apart of.
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