Bin and Miks Travel Tales

Did I ever tell you about the time........

2006-10-31T12:08:00.000Z

Mumbai Madness

2006-06-30T16:59:00.000+01:00

Mumbai June 2006

In Mahatma Ghandis house in Mumbai with Crystal and George

Swimming in the Cricket club Mumbai with d little ole man

Our final party in the rented hotel room with Nina and Crystal

Palolem

2006-06-30T16:40:00.000+01:00

Looking pretty Caitano

Cafe del Mar, Palolem, Cai, Dionne, Victor, Paul

A purty house

Caipirhinas all round thanks to the talented Victor... mmmm mmm

Throwing shapes with Victor, Cai and the 2 Georges

Bollywood babes

2006-06-08T11:53:00.000+01:00

Mumbai,On the Bollwood set of 'Cheedie Kum' with Corey and Victor

Aha

2006-06-03T11:54:00.000+01:00

Whats a Hindu??

Lay eggs of course.

As told with a thick Ozzie accent by Paul in Palolem

Cyclones in Goa

2006-05-30T14:32:00.000+01:00

Goa

The palm tree that we saw blow over onto the huts next door

The beautiful and bright Cardula

One of the few long hot sunny days

A seller at Anjuna Flea Market

Beautiful Palolem

After 27 hours by train accross India, then 15 hours by bus along the coast we make it to Palolem Goa. Its funny we are back where we started on a tropical palm tree beach surrounded by jungle with red clays.

So different to the rest of India, we feel as if we have crossed another border into a new country. And we get drunk for the 1st time in nearly 2 months and to make up for the lost time we've been drinking ever since!!!

But the paradise weather didn't stick around too long as the monsoon season started early this year and with a bang as we experienced our 1st hardcore cyclone. So what else can one do when there's no power or water?????????!!!!!!

The roof outside our room after the cyclone...

Around the world up around the world....

2006-05-29T09:46:00.000+01:00

Buddhism for Beginners

2006-05-29T09:43:00.000+01:00

Buddhism aims to awaken people to the limitless potential and value of their own lives. Buddhist philosophy and practice bring about a positive transformation in the depths of life, transforming fear into courage, deluded impulses into wisdom, and egotism to compassion.

Buddhism begins with individuals deciding to take responsibility for their own individual lives, reforming first themselves and their immediate surroundings and relations, and then gradually extending their wisdom, courage and compassion into a wider sphere.

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

2006-05-26T09:50:00.000+01:00

I could perhaps like others have astonished you
with strange improbable tales;but I rather chose
to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest
manner and style;because my principal design
was to inform you,and not to amuse you

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

2006-05-25T09:43:00.000+01:00

Was there no safety?No learning by heart of
the ways of the world?No guide,no shelter,
but all was miracle and leaping from the
pinnacle of a tower into the air?

Quote

2006-05-25T08:56:00.000+01:00

"I wish everyone could be rich and famous because then they'd know thats not what its all about"

Jim Carrey

India

2006-05-22T13:41:00.000+01:00

Our route through India

varanasi

2006-05-17T16:24:00.000+01:00

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

2006-05-17T10:01:00.000+01:00

When someone makes a decision,he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision

The Principal of Favourability.
When you play cards the first time,you are almost sure to win.Beginner's luck.There is a force that wants you to realize your destiny;it whets your appetite with a taste of success

Taj Mahal

2006-05-16T16:42:00.000+01:00

Pushkar

2006-05-13T16:41:00.000+01:00

What Biscuits and Crisps did next......

2006-05-13T08:45:00.000+01:00

We became Monks.

Honestly !

Bhaaaaaavada Saaaaabba Maaaaandareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

After 11 months of complete indulgence of our every whim and desire, every day a new experience, a life of complete freedom with no restrictions. A life of pure hedonism. The world was our Oyster and we had been swallowing those Oysters one after another and then went out looking for more.

So shockingly and kind of unbelievingly to us, we agreed to the decision to lock ourselves away for 10 days and live like Nuns (or monks if you like).

We lived in a Vipasanna Meditation Centre, men and women seperated, while I got own room, I don’t know why but Mik had to share a room with 2 others, who she didn’t speak to for 10 days.

In those 10 days our whole world narrowed down to the 2 acre area of the residential quarters, Dhamma hall, registration hall and the dining room and we never ventured beyond these.

We did NOT SPEAK for 10, nearly 11 days – its called Noble Silence. We made no eye contact with anyone, no body language, signals etc. Our music, books, writing materials, money were taken from us, so we wouldn’t be distracted.

Exercise apart from walking and stretching is not permitted.

Every morning we were woken by the gong at 4AM to commence our 9 HOUR day of mediation plus 1-2 hours of teachings.

No biscuits, No crisps, No smoking, No alcohol, No meat, No laughing, No singing and this was all in the aim of making us happy (- eh but they make me happy).

Me n Mik hummed n hawed the week before the course wondering if it was really for us or the right thing to do – could we be meditators? We’re not really the sort of people and discipline – I couldn’t even remember what the word meant. I remember we stayed in Jens place in Berkeley, California while she went on a 2 day meditation course and I thought why would you do that – I’d be bored outta my tree- 2 full days no way. Now I was signing up for 10.

Mmmmmm mmm bring on the salty crispies

I was first advised of this course in July in Guatemala in Central America and was told it would be good for me. So I put it to the back of my mind and decided to think about doing it in India. When I got to India I remembered it and said maybe I’ll do it at the end of the trip just before I go home – putting it off. Then our 2nd week in India we met Marijn who had just completed his 5th course and told us it was the best thing that happened in his life. We met other people who spoke about people having Shiny eyes when they complete the course and being really happy.

We decided then that right lets just go and do it and not worry about it too much, so we booked ourselves in for the next available one 5 days later.

So many times through the course I wanted to leave, I couldn’t do it, its not me. I kept saying to myself just do 1 more day and then see. Most of the teachings made complete sense, it was all about the laws of nature and living in the reality of now - our minds are always thinking of the past and of the future but very little on the now. I agreed with most of the teachings, but one or 2 things didn’t make sense to me.

Vipassana is about seeing the truth and learning about your inner self. Its not a complicated tecnique at all. Its really simple and you do all the work – its nothing at all Cult like and you're not asked to commit yourself to a religion. The options are all up to you. Its up to you to do the work – do it or don’t. The work is meditation- just focusing on yourself. Its all about learning about you and your body- very simple really.

Also one huge important fact about this course is that it is free- if you do the 10 days and feel benefitted you make a donation that suits you.

So we headed off to the address given to us which was in the busy, noisy polluted town of Dehra Dun. This seemed really strange for the centre to be in such a noisy spot, but it turned out there was a jeep arranged to collect us and take us to the Centre in a location in the countryside.

In the jeep was a sound Israeli girl who had just been filling up on ice-cream and 2 older Indian men. Enroute, the 2 Indian men stop the jeep, hop out and invite us in for a cuppa chai. So the 3 of us end up in the living room of this Indian mans sons house whos wife gives us all tea and biscuits. All really lovely. But we were getting anxious as we were now late.

Back into the jeep and we head off through a military base and into a beautiful hilly and green countryside. The jeep then went off road and began crossing over this huge dried up river bed and through a small stream to the other side. The other side we headed up a laneway and into the Centre. Then at the Centre as we were late it was a rush to register and sign the agreement that we would obey the 5 precepts -no killing, no lying, no sex, stealing, no intoxicants- we would practice Noble Silence and we would see the course through the full 10 days.

We handed over all the books, valuables etc. Me and Mik were put in the same room and I asked to move coz we couldn’t do silence if we’re together for days and anyway I could do with a holiday!! Kidding – I know her so well now it would be impossible for me not to notice how she’s doing, I know her every sigh etc. etc.

As we completed the induction cermony a storm was brewing outside and the power cut out. We started our vow of silence and were taken up this pathway to the Meditation
Hall while winds howled and thunder and lighting filled the sky.

Our white meditation hall was quite dark but was filled with the blue meditation cushions the teacher sat at the top on a meditation chair all in white, the assistant teachers facing him at the front. On one side was full of old Indian men in long white shirts and pants with a few traveller guys scattered between all looking very peacful. On the womens side was an array of colours and outfits as the Indian Saris were so bright and there were mainly foreign women in the group and 1 nun.

Then as we took our meidation poses, our teacher played this chanting tape and it with the whole set up of the centre, the storm, the power cut, the chanting I was really curious to see how the follwing 10 days would unfold.

I had thought I was going to be spending the 10 days mulling over my past life, things that went wrong in my life, any events in my life that affected me, what makes me who I am today, blah blah blah. I spent the first half of the course waiting for these to come flooding in. That didn’t happen and I thought this isn’t working and its bloody difficult to sit and meditate for 9 hours I had aches and pains.

After day 6 I learned I have a strong determination. I was free to leave at any time. Day 7 I said I’ve come this far I can’t give up all that work. And so on, I continued on. I don't think Mik found it as tough as I did tho.
But I made some realisations and discoveries that I don't think would have happened had I not taken the course. And now that I’m finished I want to do the whole thing again!!

I don’t know if I should tell you the complete inns and outs of the course as I now think everyone should do this course and see for themselves. Everyones experience is different. I just completed and know that I want to give it time and see how I will apply it to the “real world”. But I already know as much as it was so difficult I would do another one.

Lin x

Adios vipassana buddies

Check out the course on.... www.dhamma.org

Trekking in da Himalaya

2006-04-24T10:07:00.000+01:00

Off we set in our jeep at 6.30am. Well it was supposed to be 6.30am but our alarm clock went off at 3am instead of 6am for some unknown reason which we just turned off and rolled over back to snoozy land. So we were woken by Marijn knocking on the door at 6.15 wondering where the hell we were. Nina was depending on us to wake her so Marjin headed upstairs to get her outta bed and me n Mik threw our stuff together and stumbled out.

So maybe it was more like 7am when we set off, after our introductions to our personal chef, guide and driver- Hem and Ras and the driver. Well if one is going trekking in the Himalayas one must have a chef. No idea why the chef or the guide couldn't drive but thats how it goes here in India there's always an extra someone tagging along.

Our little trekkin group,Nina,Merijn,Ras and Hem

With the Hindi tunes blaring to keep the driver happy driver, we followed the route of the beautiful valley of the Ganga for about 6 of the 8 hour trip. Mik asked the guide what the tunes were about and he said the girl is singing about her village and how beautiful it is!

The 4,000m mark

Enroute we passed pilgrams making their pilgrimmage to Badinrath. They walk an unbelievable 2000km which takes them 2 months to do, carrying their possesions on their heads. They do this every year husbands, wives and many Sadhus.

Dotted along the road were the informative road signs giving invaluable advice such as Drinking whiskey makes driving Risky and Life is not a ralley enjoy the mountain valley.

I love getting high man

So climb higher and higher and eventually reach Suri where we commence our trek. Just as we step out of the jeep the rain starts. Me n mik after all this time we are still no Sheamus and Sheila mcSafaris ie. we don't cart around wind sheeters, hiking boots and zip off pants and the like. So we had been stopping off along the way and picking up bits n pieces such as hats and jackets and the usual essentials one might have thought to bring with them when setting out trekking the Himalayas.

Well would ya look at tha....

Hem and Ras organise with some locals to carry up the tents, water and the cooking gear. So about 4 porters took off ahead of us with the heavy loads. We gear ourselves up and head upwards. Really enjoyable walk by traditional houses and people in traditional dress. Enroute the rain gets heavier and serious thunder and lightning commences so we take shelter in some hut. A few hours later we arrive at Devrai lake, where eventually the rain stopped and we could see the sun setting behind the snow capped mountains.

A well deserved feet up and chai after our second day 16km trek

A tasty dins of curry and potatoes and pasta and lots of hot chai. Hit the hay still damp and completely freezing. I was awoken by a very sick Mik at about 4am. Poor gersha really was in a bad way. Eventually she went back to sleep and I ended up watching the sunrise light up the snow capped tips - it was a really beautiful place to be camping out.

Sick Mik

A few hours later the chef had the breakfast ready and we packed up and were ready to go. Except for poor Mik who wasn't getting any better and it seemed like she had food poisioning of some sort. As there was no way she would be able for the 16k trek that day out guide told us he would take her to a doctor.

In the end it cost us 900 rupees for the 3 days trek everything included.

Step Farming fields on way up mountains

Hindustani Flexipuf Mattress

2006-04-20T11:13:00.000+01:00

"western girl lets henna man touch her ankle shocker"

How now brown cow?

The Beatles in Rishikesh

2006-04-17T17:00:00.000+01:00

John said, "There is no guru. You have to believe in yourself. You've got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It's all down to you, mate."

http://www.thebeatlesinrishikesh.com/stories/sexmoney.html

George,Paul, Ringo and John

Rishikesh

2006-04-16T10:31:00.000+01:00

Would ya look at them there happy out playin on the swings

I shouted "No Mik noooo... don't join that cult" but it was too late, we've lost her now she's gone forever...... how will I tell Anna??

Yogis

2006-04-15T10:20:00.000+01:00

Rishikeshers

Yoga Interview for Indian TV

Nina and Merijn in their own personal paradise

Swimming in the Ganga

Yoga with Dr.das

The Monk Story

2006-04-11T22:07:00.000+01:00

So the Monk story...

I was having lunch in a restaurant when a Tibetan monk joins my table. He had no english but had a phrasebook so he kept pointing to different phrases so we could have some sort of conversation.

After the usual questions about family and work, all of which took a while as both of us had to use the phrasebook - he then points to the phrase - can you help me learn english. I said sure I'd meet him at 6pm. (I couldn't teach him right then as I was actually going to help a local Tibetan community group with their english).

So I met him at 6pm in the same restaurant. I soon realised he didn't even have even basic english. So I started with How are you ?? I'm fine... etc etc. Which he had trouble remembering each time I asked him.

After a while of this he resorted back to his phrase book to ask me more questions about family, job etc he asked a few times about my husband. Then he pointed to love and indicated he loved me, then beautiful, He pointed to please don't forget me. To be honest I didn't think anything of these phrases - just he was very open caring monk.

Also I kept blowing my nose I didn't feel too good that day. So he suggested - hospital, then he squeezed my nose, did a quick look around and brushed back a hair from my face. He wanted my hotel name and room number!! By that point a few doubts were setting in, I had a feeling he didn't really want to learn english as everytime I tried to start teaching he just pointed to another phrase.

So Michelle comes in and introduces herself I tell her to ask him how he is - to see if he had learned anything. So she asks him how he's doing and he replies "I'm from Tibet"!!

So his last phrase from the book to me was - another english class - the day after tomorrow. I said ok - easiest answer really but I was gonna think about whether I'd actually show. We agreed a time and he left.

So that was fine. Next morning me n Mik had breakfast at our hotel, I went to get the salt from the next table and when I thanked the monk who was sitting there I realised it was him (I had told him the hotel name not the no.). His head was covered though - but he said hello and continued reading his book.

Strange I thought

Even stranger .... he joins an older german woman at another table and starts speaking fluent - yes fluent english!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sat in shock for a while. They actually had a newspaper out and were discussing the stories! Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!! I just couldn't believe it.

So of course I had to say something....

I went over on my way out and said hello hows my student today. He said he was very well. I said your english is very good today... he said its 4 o'clock i meet you, I said its amazing how good your english is.... he said 4 o'clock... I said I won't meet you at 4 o clock. I said yesterday you couldn't speak any english and now today you're fluent its a miracle. He said we said we'd meet at 4 o'clock.

I walked away.

I couldn't believe it a monk .... if you can't trust a monk who can ya trust!!!
Ok so this story is one of a kind and I'm sure 99% of Monks are the real deal.

Linda x

Show us your aura

2006-04-11T10:30:00.000+01:00

We are in a town called Mcleod Ganj at the foothills of the Himalayas
its serenely and majestically beautiful,with forests and snow capped peaks behind the town,
which is itself perched precariously on a ridge.

Its a jumble sale town ,vegetable markets and cows are rampant on the streets.

This town is basically Tibetan , after the cultural revoultion in China communist powers that be,took control of Tibet and murderd a million Tibetans and destroyed temples,statues and literature relating to Tibetan beliefs. The spiritual leader HH the Dalai Lama decided to seek refuge and led his people in exile through the Himalayas to the Dharmsala area.

"In May 1949, the newly established communist government of China decided to "liberate" the downtrodden Tibetan masses by taking over the country. The Chinese People's Army marched into Lhasa beginning a brutal regime which has left over 1.2 million Tibetans dead and countless others imprisoned in forced-labor camps. Since 1949, some 90% of the nation's religious institutions have been destroyed in the name of the Revolution and any pro-independence spark has been snuffed out.

Fearing for his life and those of his people, the spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, walked over the Himalayas to take refuge in Dharmasala (below McLeod Ganj) India where the Tibetan Government was granted political asylum.

China, to this day, has resisted all attempts at dialogue over the Tibet issue. With Western nations relaxing their attitudes towards China, many now fear for the future of the Free Tibet Movement." - Lonely Planet India

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

There are tons of Tibetan classes cookery or meditation or yoga or philosophy and tourists are encouraged to support the Tibetan people in the town where ever possible.

There are Indians living here too and they also have businesses but it feels like we have left India,the air is clear and crisp and the nights are cold.

I have no warm clothes,forward thinking Linda still has her jacket where as I will do the wear all your clothes at one time trick.

Its like Cuzco sprinkled with Antigua and maybes a dash of Bolivia.

The Tibetans mostly wear traditional dress and the old people have beautiful brown weathered faces and mad bright clothes.

We went to get Vedic astrology readings today.

I went at 11 am and Linda is just back now,have to find out the goss from her yet

Its not a psychic reading, its based on the positions of the planets
at the exact time of your birth and how they affect the entire course
of your life,with the moon being the most influential in the process
with its vibes and reflections streaming down to earth and affecting
us all, tides,lunatic asylums,periods,dogs,water etc

Anyway, so the reader was this sound lad called Kristna, he was
a relaxed dude and it wasnt an intense experience ,like when I went to
see Yedin in Guatemala and I nearly lost it during the reading,
this was
chilled and it came across that he was completelty confident in his
abilities ,being doing this for 25 years, so that relaxed me.

We went to see him yesterday and told him our details, date and time
of birth,which I always thought Anna forgot, but there ya go, maybe 4
kids isnt so hard to keep track of afterall. I mailed my sis Ang and she got the info hot from Cavan.

So when an Indian child is born the family consult a Vedic astrologer,
like Kristna, and he tells them about the health of the child and the
course or career or role they will or should have in life and then the
family raise the child according to the charts.

He told me tons of stuff that was completetley true about me.
I wrote
it all down too ,which he encouraged and it saves staring into his sage
bead eyes for an hour,that shit unnnerves me.

So I am a poetic soul and I have huge creative capabilities which I have to keep up, painting, music,jewellry making / fashion design? stuff I love anyway. Hes like you should play a musical instument and i was recalling 6 years of piano torture.
I have 2 v conflicting sides
Im very spiritual but loves da stuff
spiritual vs material
isnt this everyone?
When I told him after I have a degree in theolgy he was like "but meeshell I can see this in my chart".

My aura is pink,high spirited /optimistic.
Ive got this whole new cycle in my life staring from next march 12th to be exact and its all gonna be mighty for 2 years.
Apparently Im in a negative phase now since feb 2004,and theres me thinking I was having the best time ever.

He told me I was a teacher which was an excellent choice for me and stuff about my family and health that was spot on
My 3rd and 4th chakra are out of whack, just tons of stuff that was relevant and specific to me, it was very interesting and im on a go to another phsychic buzz.

This eve we are walking down to the temple complex where the Dalai lama lives,knock in for tea.
Tomorrow were learning to cook Momos ,a Tibetan tasty dumpling . Im mostly going cos I
like saying the word. Mo mo Momo moMo

and go to some yoga classes all week.
bendy

Its a chilled out town but there are some mad heads about.
and a few oirish
Tried Kingfisher beer yesterday, its indian and suppose to be good,uuugghhh. off the beer so.

Im digging india so far.
It definitely has its own vibe to it from the moment we stepped form the airport. there was incence in the air,ooohhhhhhhhhh

The whole lies and scams in Delhi were unfortunate but good and bad abound eh?

mik x

Himalaya Heaven

2006-04-10T14:07:00.000+01:00

Views around McLeod Ganj

We arrived in McLeod Ganj after our very interesting overnight sleeper train - so much more comfortable than any bus. In our section there were 3 levels of bunks, I was bottom, Mik the middle and a dutch guy the top. Opposite us was a very nice Indian family on the other 3 bunks and in the corridor there were 2 more bunks. Where eventually after a few hours of staring at us the guy there got bored and went to sleep.

As we got onto the train the smell of the toilets decided for us that we wouldn't be drinking too much of anything on this journey! The Indian family accross from us were nice and respectful family with 2 well behaved children but it was so shocking to see them throw any bit of rubbish out the window of the train.

The dutch guy was a bit of an unusual character but he was full of information on India which was good even though he was beginning to seem like a bit of a know it all after a while. And of course he knew all about the scam we had walked into, he thought our luggage was ridiculous and the like.

Meself, herself and the pink bag in Mcleod Ganj

It was a cool experience to wake up on the train and have a cup of Chai and check out the view. The train was full of people walking back and forth selling chai and food. I had barely rubbed the sleep from my eyes when there was an Indian woman singing to me at my bedside with a box of incense for Hare Krishna (i think) and she but a blob of orange on my forehead!

Then we got the bus (met a very nice Irish couple) that took about 4-5 hours up twisty mountain roads.

Myself after a Chakra Healing session with Kristan the Vedic astrologer

We arrived about 4pm, showered ate and hit the bed in a nice huge room ensuite and hot water for e3 each a night. Best of all it has a balcony and we have a cool view of the snow capped mountains!! The Kanga restaurant here has the best view in town and would blow you away.
We were so wrecked as we had been travelling for the past 2 nights. We woke up about 8pm in darkness to a huge thunder and lightning storm and the power had cut out. There was someone banging on the door. When I opened it through the darkness I could make out it was a monk there - an aggitated one at that. He was looking for money as he wanted to get a bus to Dehli. He was kinda scaring me and I knew nothing of the place we were in and it was dark and how did he get to our room, so I said no and closed the door.

Mc Leod Ganj is in the foothills of the Himalayas about 1,700m up. Great food, amazing location, good weather, lots of tibetan monks wandering around, tonnes of courses to do. Lots of tourists too dressed very hippyish and look like they've been travelling for years (probably most of them have just left home!!)

Mik puts those old teachin skills ta use

Went on a cooking course and made some Momos - traditional Tibetan food. Helped Tibetans with their english. Did a little bit of yoga. Had delish Banoffi. Watch a very information documentary about Yogis. And Kundun a film By Martin Scorsese about the Dali Lama.

The Dalai Lama the policital and spiritaul leader of Tibet has been in exile in India for over 40 years. When the Chinese invaded Tibet they killed over 1 million Tibetans and destroyed over 6,000 monasteries. Monks were forced to work on the land. As the Dalai Lamas life was in danger he had to leave.

Our Momos Chef teacher

The Tibetan Buddhist belief is that of non-voilence and compassion so the Chinese did not have too much of a fight and easily took over Tibet. This Tibetan belief seems unbelievable especially in this world of war today. And the attitude of the Dalai Lama is still not one of hate towards the Chinese. Although he definitely wants a free Tibet.

Signs posted around McLeod looking for the Panchen Lamas release

It seems though that the rest of the world were unwilling to assist the Tibetans during this invasion. Even now alot of the world is turning a blind eye as China is now an up and coming economic power and many countries don't want to upset their relationship with China. The Tibetans are realising too that India who has been very good with exiled Tibetans, may not want to rock the boat with China.

At the age of 4 the Panchen Lama was selected by the Dalai Lama as his successor. 3 days later the Panchen Lama and his family disappeared, suspected to have been kipnapped by the Chinese. He is now 17 years old and hasn't been seen or heard of since. The Chinese have selected their own Panchen Lama as a replacement. What was funny was that 1 night in McLeod we were watching the BBC World news and on the news was the 1st public appearance of the Panchen Lama. The Chinese (who are supposedly against Buddhism) they have been teaching their Panchen Lama. The Tibetans know that he is not the real one.

Yet again I am amazed at the influence politics and money has over the world.
www.tibet.com

no knees please

2006-04-09T15:27:00.000+01:00

oh !! get this!!
at the delhi train station i caused a scene!

we were waitin on our night train and we were the only westerners about
hordes of indian men
and we were sitting down waitn
and they all staring and gawking
but they do,so much that its actually unbelievable

and next thing this man comes over and sez to me
"please dont get upset
but can you pull down you skirt cos people are staring"

I was wearing a skirt to below my knees but it was up a wee bit so you could see 1 kneecap,

I was mortified

then a crowd gathered-

seriously

-as I struggled to find my sarong to cover the offending knees altoghter

then 2 army officers came over and told us we should leave the area and they escourted us to a LADIES WAITING ROOM

it was so embarrassing

But like Ladies we waited.

Michelle x

A Passage To India

2006-04-09T12:16:00.000+01:00

So we finally got our visas at 5pm on friday from the non sensical Indian embassy, grabbed our bags, which are way lighter now thanks to huge amounts of posting done via the lovely people at Hong kong post
We even got time for one last bowl of spicy veg wanton soup, In our fave restaurant ,i think they will miss us, we were in everyday!!

Got our Cathay Pacific flight to Delhi,only a handful of westerners aboard including 2 extrememly happy Tazzie blokes.

We arrived to New Delhi at about 3 am , incense floated thru the sixties style airport,and we ended up, unwisely, getting into a non taxi, it was the same price ,but it turned out we were going into city with an airport worker knocking off for the night.
I know it was so stupid.

It was still warm at 3am and the traffic was a bit crazy tons of colourful lorries and tractors with loads so impossibly big they dwarfed the tractor underneath.

Ah so the story goes we get into the city to the Paraganj area where all backpackers go and the 'Taxi' lad sez
he 'cant find' the hotel we picked 2 hours before from the Lonely Planet, he was driving round this dark deserted area and then he goes "look why dont i drop you at a tourist office and they can ring some places for you and help you out"

How nice sez we.

Then we met Raj, early 20's,
the Smurfit Business school would benefit from his sales techniques i reckon,

after about 1 and half hours in his office where he was pretending to ring guesthouses for us but was ringing his mate next door and the same for the trains
imagine!! hed hand us the phone after dialing and they all be full cos of some 'festival'.
he sez train tickets are like 80 euros and all this crap
He was saying we wouldnt get a train out of dehi for 6 days cos they all booked up and we should go on this tour ,he was so persistent,on and on and on....
but we were laughing at the same time cos it was such a ridiculous situation to be in at 4am but there was nothing on the street outside, no taxis not even a mangy dog.

Oh if only we had booked a hotel the day before,but in 10 months of travelling we have rarely booked ahead and it ahs always worked out grand.
Till now.

Then he says seeing as all the other hotels are full we can stay at his tour companies hotel if we book a city tour with him. Oh Raj

He wanted 20 euros each!!!! for this pleasure, we gave him 5 bucks each,we were supposed to pay him the next day, and he drove us to the Royal Place hotel in Karol Bagh. On the way he says we can stay for free in his house. Then he invites us to dinner the next night,what an ass.
We are so tired. And tired of his relentless shite.

So we slept for about 4 hours then had room service in our Royal Palace room ,which had lovely tassles on the wall,it was actually a pretty nice room.

Got downstairs and the hotel guy rings Raj and hes all like 'what time will i pick you up for the tour?' and were like Ummm maybe tomorrow.

So we had decided to head to train station and see the story for our selves, not as easy as you might think.

We got a rickshaw and the smarmy yellow t shirt yellow teeth rickshaw lad brings us to wrong place ,its a train reservation centre but we need the tourist one and he knows that cos a tourist can only but tickets from 1 office.He knows that. So we figure this out and head up street following the direction of a Sikh dude,which is a lie too!!!!!! he directs us to some tour office ,problably his bro,

Then along comes yellow tshirt /yellow teeth ,he has followed us up the street,hes another tour tout and just wanted us to get lost then come along and sell us a tour!!
The lies are actually unbelievable.

So we get Metro up to Delhi station,figuring the rickshaw lads are a joke and the train cant lie and try to trick us.
We are both so disgusted at our first taste of India .Lies Lies Lies.

So eventually we find the tourist ticket office and when we open the door theres about 20 tourists inside ,we were like yyeeahh!!
We hadnt seen any so far.

So we got tickets for that night up north to Pathankot, no hassles,where we would get bus to Dharmsala up in the cool mountains

oh yeah did i mention Delhi is like a pizza oven,dry heat ,hot wind
its not as bad as people make out tho.Completely do able.

Then we headed back to Hotel packed up the bags and went to leave ,the hotel guy demands 1300 rupees about 25 euros and we were like "look we gave Raj 10 euros ask him for some cash ".
cos we didnt even stay 1 night there and all the lies etc and the breakfast was crap and we slept only like 4 hours, so he wasnt too happy.

So he rings Raj and Raj is all Whats up? Where are you going?
He thinks we are coming over for dinner and starts suggesting various positions from the Kama Sutra for an after dinner mint, i swear this is true even if it all sounds so ridiculous.

Try being in it.

I was just laughing and handed the phone back to hotel lad, Linda couldnt belive he said it either.
Then hotel lad and his 3 friends start all crowding us and getting all shouty and aggro and were like no way so we look at each other and legged it out the door and ran up the street.

AAAgggghhh!!!!!!!!!!! was scary.

We were frantically looking for a rickshaw thinking 4 angry indians are after us and who comes along only the smarmy yellow t shirt yellow teeth guy! Hes like "Rickshaw madam?"

i mean Jesus,come on

so we bascially tell him to go F//k himself and we hop in another, but instead of heading away from the hotel he starts driving towards it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were then thinking he was the hotel lads brother about to deliver us back to place we just ran from!!!!!!!!!!!

This was like a Doxycycline dream only it was feckin real,

but phew, we sail past hiding behind our bags.

We get to the station but not after this ricksahw lad tries to sell us a tour and some religion.
We left our bags into the cloakroom and breathed a HUGE GASP of relief,then we went to smoke about 50 cigarettes.

mik x

And dim sum more

2006-04-04T12:24:00.000+01:00

What would you have for lunch?

Us and Mr and Mrs Miagi,they also taught us a Kung FU hello this morn,so there!!

Right now are in Hong Kong waiting on our visas for India, which we were suppose to apply for in Bangkok but we never got round to it.

Too many goodtimes.

So now we have to wait till friday,we are at the mercy of the Indian consulate,who on Monday made us pay 26 euros to FAX Ireland to make sure we are,in fact alive. I woulda told them as much for 5 euros.

We arrived here last Sat after saying a sad goodbye to Nikolah, who we met up with for a few days in Singapore.

Were staying at the luxurious Chunking Mansions on Nathan Road where the smell of curry welcomes us to our 7 by 5 room this is of course after we wade our way through about 20 Indian men,hello madam handbag madam copy watch madam copy handbag madam.....

Hong Kong is a much more funky city than Singapore, were off to Tai chi tmrw morn,always before the brekkie,wouldnt move without it ya know, then we gonna go out to Lantau Island to see a huge Buddha who Looks after HK

At Lantau Island

Singapore sling

2006-03-29T11:19:00.000+01:00

Get it while its hot... Our chef Nikolah declares grubs up

So we got an ol Thai man in his bockety car to haul us and our gear out to Bangkok airport for a good price.

We were flying to Singapore to meet Nikolah with Jetstar Aisa, for the bargain price of 40 yoyos. Its just like a Ryanair job, no food no drinks no blanket and if you want to watch Tv you have to rent a mini one,ha!
But twas only 2 hours and Linda sang songs all the way, so obviously i didnt need any entertainment, just a new seat.

So we arrived at the very swish Singa airport,swimming pool,cinema ,funky furniture, located the filthy, raggedy rucksacks on the belt: they are increasingly becoming ostracized by other peoples fake designer luggage.

We got the super efficient MTR smooth operator into the city and noticed signs e/where,'No spittin' 'no sitting' 'no smoking' 'Respect life'.... its hard to do what ya want in Singa.

People were staring at us again, this is hard to get used to and it hasnt really happened since China, at least we didnt have to pose for snaps here.

Got off at Bugis station, which is hard to pronounce, lugged bags up road ,across road ,huff/ puff, eventually found hostel and checked in with a receptionist who was a having a bad day/week.
And lo and behold who was above in the room only Nikolah Gilligan all shiny and clean!
She is starting her trip from here and heading up and through SE Aisa with her bro.

It was great to see her and catch up the sceals and whos who in the zoo back home,we have been gone 10 months now and alot and nothing has happened in between. She brought with magazines and chocolate from Aud which was deadly and we savaged into them straight away.

We spent the eve chatting and drinking 7/11 beer upstairs in the hostel 'bar'. Loose term, its a space on the roof terrace but its also some ones bedroom. Odd and with a good view if you like the illuminated tops of CBD buildings.

There was a Kerry lad in our room with a black eye, he was on his way back from Oz and lookin for the beach.

I read a book a few weeks ago about the escourt business in Singapore and it was an eye opener,i can tell you.
Not the basic transaction,
businessman pays for sex shocker,
or the volume of trade
but the hi jinks the (mostly)japanese business men are in to. There was alot in it about asphyxiation, basically the girl wears non slippy trousers and near strangles
the frisky Sushi with her legs till hes....happy.
Very Micky Hutchenceence ence.
And both societies the Japanese and Singa peeps are so reserved. You can get fined and even sentenced for kissing or holding hands in Singapore.

Anyway..

Next day we checked out Chinatown, all red glitz and tack and not v interesting. Theres a distinct lack of Malay culture in Singa, having previously being raped and planted by the English and then subsequently supplanted by a heap of Chinese its a modern city that lacks any feeling.

We did check out a cool Hindu temple. It started to lash so what else but we tried to hit the beer,all the bars we went into were dead,like Freemans in Kingscourt on a monday afternoon. We wandered between drops and found a karaoke bar after a bit of confusion (necessary purchase of crisps??)we settled in to belt out a few tunes,was hilarious!!
We could be heard all the way out in the lobby and I completely pitied the staff,having to listen to such murdered classics as 'Eye of the tiger' 'Hit me Baby one more time' and some Cranberries
good fun was had by all.

We got all dolled up that night and went out to Raffles Hotel, home of the very tasty Singapore Sling cocktail in the 'famous' Long bar. We drank in honour of the brave Aud back home.

Cheers Aud!

We also checked out Little India the next day, also not v exciting but we did get a fab veg curry,in sections,all homework for India.

Thali
Theres not much actual malay culture in Singa,I suppose after your aggressively colonized by the British, tally ho , and then a mass influx of Chinese peeps theres not much left
just a well manicured ordered society who like to shop.

Oooooooooo we missed the fashion week.

We seem to spend most of out time in Singa eating and chatting.

Our last night in Singa was spent at a steamboat rest. which was such a laff and tasty
Its a cook your own dinner place,
for about 6 euros you can get all the meat, chicken, shrimp, crabs,wantons, all sorts of veg, noodles ,rice, eggs, fruit and you bring whatever you want outside and cook it on this little wok type pan that has 2 sections with boilng soup in over a gas stove set into the table
,get it?
anyway was delicious and fun to do
and not a westerner insight
a singa lad at the table next to us bought us beers

We spent ages trying out diff stuff and eating till we nearly popped

Up bright and early the next morn
Got out to airport and said Adios to Nikolah who is starting her adventures in Aisa.

off to Hong Kong for us.....

Thailand

2006-03-25T11:20:00.000Z

Boozin in Raileh beach with Micha, Ellen and Rick

Ellen and Mik- doin the jingle

Me, Micha, Ellen and a big reclining Buddha

Stunning Phi phi

Celebrating in style with d buckets on passing the advanced diving with me diving buddies

The last dive - going out at sunset for the night dive

Some full moon pics

A hungry ellie on Ko Phagnan

The sunsets on Ko Phangnan take some beating.This was taken from the hill outside bennys house.The hill that forced all backseat passangers to walk up. Damn those hills.....

Yeah! i finally get to drive!!

I burnt a perfect circle on my little leggie from the exhaust of a grumpy german lads bike

Who could it be on Ko Phi Phi??

All the purty ladies - phi phi

Ko phi phi
Well would ya look at that little monkey!I was so sure hed bite me.Rabies rabies rabies

From a cafe waiting on bus to Krabi,nice noodle soup

Thai beers

2006-03-15T13:22:00.000Z

We love ya Audrey

2006-03-11T19:21:00.000Z

Oh aud,
we are wishing you the best for the op on Monday,we are just so shocked and concerned,
best of luck babes. we will be thinkin of you
xxxx

A Broke Back

2006-03-08T09:15:00.000Z

At the moment my luggage had reached the limits of craazines. I do not know where it goes or how my back survives but this at this present moment in time this is what makes up my luggage on March 7th 2006 Thailand. It has been growing at a steady rate since China........

SHOES
2 pairs of boots (custom made in hoi an Vietnam)
2 pairs of dressy shoes (custom made in hoi an for my big feet)
1 pair of flip flops
2 pairs of sandals
1 pair of runners

TROUSERS
3 short trousers
1 long trousers
1 jeans

CLOTHES
1 shorts
8 skirts
a zillion tops
4 dresses (1 custom made from hoi an)
1 jumper
1 sleeves
lotsa underwear, socks

ACCESSORIES
1 scarf
Assortment of rings, earrings, necklaces and accumulated bracelets
1 sarong
2 hats

BOOKS
2 diaries
3 reading books
every second moving day the SE Asia lonely planet guide

SOUVENIRS
2 wooden statues (big enough from Vietnam)
6 DVDs (bought in China)
1 lampshade (from Vietnam)
1 plastic bag full of medicinal chinese tea (hoping I won't be stopped with it at customs mistaken for drugs!!)

OTHER
1 sleeping bag
Hammock
snorkel and mask

Towel

Mini disk player and 6 disks
Speakers

1 full bag of beauty products (shampoo, conditioner, repair hair cream, night cream, day cream, eye cream (with whitener!! oops), suncream (which prevents skin from darkening -another oops), oil, body moisturiser, nail polishes, makeup .......

MORE OTHERS
Bottle opener and cork screw
Dog Chain
sunglasses!

and I'm sure theres summat i've left out..............

Cambodge

2006-03-07T11:58:00.000Z

We leave the madness of Saigon and make our way to the Cambodian - Vietnam border. First in Saigon we handed over our passports and had our visas sorted. Of course by now me n Mik know that its always cheaper to do these things yourself but we were glad that we had paid the few extra quid not to be standing in the Visa line in the sweltering heat at the border. We had already been standing in the Vietnam exit line for nearly 1 hour.

Small town Cambodia those pj's get around

We enter into Cambodia and it's hot - laden down with luggage and lampshades we eventually find the cafe where the bus is supposed to depart from. Miks lampshade gets there 1st with a lift on a moto - lucky thing.

Turns out were to be waiting at the cafe for another hour so we have some lunch and chat with the Chilean guys who have been on the same bus journey and tours as us since Mue and an Ozzie whos been travelling mainly in Indonesia.

Back on the bus with lots of Koreans we make our way to the capital Phnom Penh. The bus bounces along the dirt tracks of the flat Cambodian countryside which are dusty and orange as the sun is going down and along its edges are houses on stilts among tropical trees. Already there is a different vibe here to Vietnam and I can feel that I am really going to like it.

We arrive into the city its quite dark, the bus stops down this narrow bumpy backstreet and as there's no obvious alternative at that hour we check into the hotel where the bus stops. Just as we check into the room there's a power cut. So we lock the door and wait. Eventually it comes back on and we venture out to eat. As soon as we get to the bottom of stairs we are bombarded with queries of where we might be off to. We eventually escape and make our way towards the main street which is completle dark except for the lines of traffic. We spot a restaurant accross the road and attempt to cross as the chaotic traffic whizzes past. 15 minutes later we give up and go back to the hotel.

Street life Sihanoukville

Next day we are just about to tuck into breakfast when our bus is there. So grabbing our egg sambos to go, we leg it out the door and I lose the bus tickets in the process. Turns out luckily not to be an issue and we are all set for Sihanoukville. Enroute they show The Killing Fields a film about an American journalist and his Cambodian assistant during the rise of the Khmer Rouge. A great film but we never got to see the ending as the film kept cutting out 3/4 way through.

We arrive in Sihanoukville and check into .... Nice hotel with tv. Great spot for us to chill out after our hectic travelling through Vietnam
So we spend the next few days checking out Victory beach on our hired motorbike which I am proud to say I can now drive a semi- automatic bike! We takes some nice bike rides along the coast road. We spent one evening on an empty beach watching the sunset - joined only by a group of passing monks! As we made our way home the bike cut out for no reason and we were stranded. Luckily not for long as a passing mechanic stopped to help but he couldn't solve the issue. Well over 45 mins later and it was now dark, one of the guys from the hotel who was on his way to work recognised us. So he sent us home on the back of his mates bike.

Check it out yo!

Another evening we headed to a cook your own buffet as the sun set. We were so hungry we scoffed down the accompaniments so by the time our cooker was prepared in the centre of our table we couldn't squeeze in a sliver of charred chicken.

Victory Beach Cambodia- pyjamas are so in vogue - you better believe it

The beaches were nice there, warm water, long stretches of sand, palm trees and it was hot, hot, hot. We were plagued by sellers and it is so hard to ignore very young children who should be in school selling you their paintings and jewelry. These kids though had the best english of any country that we've been to.

Lets go for a stroll lads

Micha (who we met further down the road) told us the moto guys who wait outside his hotel would always say first Moto and when he'd say no, they'd offer drugs and the next thing they would be offering was a girl.

Which is horrifying to think these things happen in a tropical paradise.

After 3 or so days of lazing about me n Mik check out and are given a Khamma scarf each -nice touch. We book ourselves a cheap priced taxi to Kampot. We were soon to realise why it was so cheap me n Mik were squeezed into the front seat taking turns on top of the gear stick and in the back were 2 traveller guys and suspicously an old man with a young cambodian guy.

Petrol station Cambodia style

We check into the hotel and are offered a free buffet. That afternoon we hired a moto and went for a spin out to Kep sur Mer which was a about 2 hours away. The drive through the countryside was the best part as there's not a whole lot to Kep sur mer. We found ourselves in a newly built holiday resort with the most refreshing swimming pool and jumped in. 2 Canadian girls were also there as they were studying malaria and cures at the Canadian faculity there in Kep.

The rickety replacement bridge we had to cross on the moto- a truck crumbled the original bridge the week before

We hopped back on the bike filled her up and headed back as the sunset. Sunsets in Cambodia are really spectacular. Though here I should say we have a confession to make. So far that day we didn't pay for anything and this never happens to us- every single day we are constantly handing over money for every little thing and its annoying. But now as I write this I am getting embarrased.. we didn't pay for the taxi - we simply forgot to. We got the free lunch and when we went to pay for the use of the pool the girl wasn't around so we hightailed it. The Canadian girls told us they never pay anyway.

And I had problems with just Mik on the back

Next day we headed up on the back of a jeep through beautiful jungle to Bokor Hill with the possibility of a glimpse of a tiger. It was a bumpy ride on hard seat and we had to duck the branches and hod on tight. In our jeep were Micha (v. cute German) and Alex and Christian (Austrian) and a spanish couple.

Once at the top we were shown old ruins where the French had built their getaways from the heat. Then a stroll through the jungle took us to the main section of Bokor where a huge Casino lies in ruin - really bizzare. Unlucky gamblers would throw themselves off the cliff. It was really quite eerie Strolling around the Casino and the church ruins. Apparently alot of travellers sleep the night there as there are signs telling you not to.

Lunch was served the usual rice and curry and bananas. We met an Irish couple from Clare who had been living in New Zealand for 2 years. Our guide was a bit of a showman got out his guitar and sang us a few tunes - good voice.

The Sunset boat ride back to Kampot, Mik n Micha chatting

After lunch the 2 hour jeep journey back down got a bit arduous. In the end we had to stand our arses couldn't take it anymore. Our next stop was Kampot river for a refreshing dip. Then the sunset boat cruise to take us home, which again comprised of another amazing Cambodian sunset.

Mmmmmm just love those Sunsets

That evening we had dinner with Micha, Alex, Christian and a very cool older German couple who were on the trip too.

Next day everyone from our jeep ended up on the same bus to Phnom penh. On arrival in phnom Penh 5 of us managed to somehow complete with rucksacks fit into a tuk tuk, which took us to the lake district. Of course the driver hadn't taken us to our requested hotel but we only realised this after we had checked in. But it was a nice one with hammocks and a deck overlooking the lake. It was really quite peaceful and you could nearly forget you were in a city. It was very different to our 1st glimpse of phnom penh and we liked it alot more. It was located down a side street that was backed with funky bars, restaurants and shops geared towards travellers. We headed off to get some lunch and ended up sitting in hammocks with a stoner german.

That afternoon we got a tuk tuk to The Killing fields. A horrifying place to see and hard to believe that something like that could exist in this world and what happened was not that long ago. Its scary to think how this occured in the first place and is it possible it can happen again.

Micha commented that one of the most common quotes in situations like this is - "I was just following orders"

In the killing fields there is a glass monument with 8,000 skulls. Around the glass monument are dug up holes where the human bones were found. As we strolled around there were pieces of clothing protruding from the ground. This site is one of the thousands of similar sites around Cambodia.

From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge soldiers killed 1.7 million Cambodians.

The Khmer Rouge soliders were generally farmers turned into communist guerillas who believed that the educated class and well earned people such as government officials hadn't supported them and had been repressing them. Pol Pot and the rulers believed in ideals of the farming life.

These guerillas took control of Phnom Penh and set about killing the educated, anyone that worked for the government, if you wore glasses, spoke a foreign language, doctors, lawyers etc were all killed. Everyone else was set to work in rice fields where they were killed for not working hard enough or any petty reason.

The Khmer Rouge believed that everyone in Cambodia was to return to the land and become a farmer and the year was now Year Zero - life and everything learned before year zero was to be forgotten. Children were given important solider roles as they were pure and had not much memory of a former life.

To save on bullets alot of people killed in the Killing fields were murdered by hammers. We strolled around the fields in a state of shock. As we finished we were asked if we wanted to shoot a gun.

2006-03-02T11:49:00.000Z

Khmer till I tell ya.....

2006-02-20T03:37:00.000Z

Cambodia

day trip to Kep sur mer,fondly called kip

2006-02-18T11:32:00.000Z

She's in fashion

Traffic in Saigon and we thought Hanoi was bad....

Hoi An- open air stage is set for the Tet Festival celebrations by the river

The lampshade makers - lets get a few o those and carry them around

Streets of Hoi An and a bloody tourist

Cu Chi Tunnels- The Complex Hideout during the war

2006-02-14T10:10:00.000Z

CU CHI TUNNELS TOUR

Entry into the tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels is a facinating tour and was given to us by a Vietnamese War Veteran who fought alongside the US with the South Vietnamese. Our guide was adamant that the real story of the Vietnam war should be told and everyone should be made aware of the atrocites of war. He was a medical student at the beginning of the war and istead of becoming a doctor, as was his dream is life, he is now earning $100 a month being a guide and trying to set the story straight. He is also fearful of telling too much of his story as he can get into trouble. A writer included his story in her book and he was not at all happy about this.

He was tricky to understand at the best of times. He told us that he had to work 2 jobs to make ends meet. Every morning he is woken by a loudspeaker informing the Vietnamese only to have 2 children and no more - he reckoned the night before the announcement should a bit late the morning after!! He also said there were complaints that people on the tour couldn't understand him and complained - that month he didn't get any wages. He told us he couldn't speak about various aspects of the war as it was too painful. He saw horrific things happen to his close friends.

In South Vietnam it was so difficult to spot the Viet Cong - as they were of course Vietnamese. One way of spotting them were tan lines on their feet from the rubber shoes they used to wear (made from tyres).

The tunnels were created by the Viet Cong and are located near Saigon. These were a complex underground hideout for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war and consisted of more than 200km of tunnels.

A model of the tunnels
These tunnels were a very clever system and show how resourceful and determined the Viet Cong were. In the tunnels are kitchens, hideouts, sleeping areas, meeting rooms, workshops etc.

From overground no one had any idea that this long complex tunnel system was beneath them. So the funny thing is that the Americans not realising the tunnels were beneath them, they ended up setting up their largest base camp in the same vicinity. The enemies were side by side. Eventually the US realised the Viet Cong must have a base camp in the area but they couldn't find it.

Eventually when the Americans discovered the tunnels unknowingly they would have only have uncovered an inch of them as the tunnels were so long and complex. Then they were so small and narrow, just sizable enough for a small Vietnamese to navigate. The lights would have been extinguished so the Americans (if they could fit) would be crawling in complete blackness and the Viet Cong had traps set throughout.

Our guide said he used to fly a helicopter overhead of the Cu Chi and see the smoke which was coming from the kitchens. He then issued co-ordinates and ground troups would blow up the area of the smoke. Still those bombs would not have hit the tunnels as the chimneys from the underground kitchens extracted about 5-10m away from the source.

Some of the tunnels have been enlargened so tourists can fit and get a feeling of what its like to crawl through there. I've never considered myself to be claustrophobic but on a hot day cramped in those dark sections I wanted to get out of there asap.

There were plenty of examples of the resourcefulness of the Viet Cong. They made their rubber shoes from car tyres and shaped the soles of the shoes so that if you looked at the foot prints left you couldn't tell what direction they were going in. They would collect the remnants of the US weapons and rebuild them etc. Create traps and weapons using items from the local environment.

It was eerie walking around there as there is a shooting range in the area and all we can hear as we walked around was the sounds of real gunshots. When we got to the shooting range we were deafened by the sounds of guns. They were so unbelievably loud, I couldn't nearly bear it. I imagined how hard it would be in a war with the deafening noise, watching for traps and enemies

We were shown nasty vicious traps set up in the area by the Viet Cong. These simply made but so effectively designed traps that once you got hit by one or fell in or stood on one - that had to be it, if you survived in those traps I couldn't imagine. I felt so queasy it was horrifying.

The upper soil layer is between 3 to 4m thick and can support the weight of a 50-ton tank and the damage of light cannons and bombs. The underground network provided sleeping quarters, meeting rooms, hospitals, and other social rooms. Visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels provides a better understanding of the prolonged resistance war of the Vietnamese people and also of the persistent and clever character of the Vietnamese nation.

At one point American troops brought in a well-trained squad of 3000 sniffer dogs, but the German Shepherds were too bulky to navigate the courses. One legend has it that the dogs were deterred by Vietnamese using American soap to throw them off their scent, but more usually pepper and chilly spray was laid at entrances, often hidden in mounds disguised as molehills, to throw them off.

We were given I think steamed manioc to eat(looks kinda like semolina) and is pressed rice with sesame and salt apparently a popular meal during the war.

Communism a tricky subject from what we've seen and heard in Cuba, China, Vietnam socialist) peoples ritghts are restricted and they are heavily controlled and monitored. My friend Fiona is living in Beijing and cannot access our blog as it is restricted in China. In Cuba the locals were facinated to hear about us and ask questions as their news and information I think of the rest of the world is probably restricted. When we watched the 2 tv stations in Havanna the proamming consisted of animal programmes and of speeches from Fidel.

I understand communism has done great things in Cuba such as improved schooling, health and welfare facilties for all etc. But I felt there was a feeling of being trapped there and one local told me 1 guy in charge for 40 years is too long.

I think its so very important to go to these horrific sites where war, death and torture have occurred. It's so important that these things are not forgotten. To know and realise how many lives have been damaged, eradicated, the things human beings are capable of.

To try and experience what it must be like to be in this situation. How it should never have to happen again.

Have all these lives been lost and damaged and no lesson has been learned?

How long will it take before these lessons are learned. Since records began there has been in the entire world 3 days where no wars have have occurred.

War, violence, torture should never happen and all measures whatever it takes should be used so that people should never have to live through war, this hell.

I know I'm going to heaven coz I've already been to hell -Vietnam War quote

2006-02-13T10:07:00.000Z

My (simplified) understanding of the Vietnam war !!

When the French left Vietnam it was divided into communist North and mainly a Democratic South. So then the communist Vietnamese (or the Viet Cong as they were known) wanted to join North and South Vietnam. Or you could say they wanted to liberate the South.

America against the spread of communism wanted stop the spread of communism from China and so assisted the South. In about 1961-62 JFK sent in American combats to help out the South Vietnamese against the Viet Cong.

In 1963 JFK began withdrawing troops from Vietnam.
In 1963 JFK was assassinated.
In 1963 the South Vietnamese President Diem was assassinated.

Both were assassinated 3 weeks apart.

Our guide from the Hue tour when we were there had said to us that he believed JFKs death was a conspiracy as he was pulling out of the war and the Vietnamese Presidents death too.

It was funny to hear him say this all the way in Vietnam as we had been in the JFK Conspiracy museem in Dallas and left it believing what nonsense the US government had issued in their report on JFKs death.

Diem had started a war on Buddhism believing it to be linked to communism. This is when the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set fire to himself in Saigon. The reasons behind Diems death are unclear.

After the 2 assassinations the war increased dramatically on the American front under the lead of Johnston. A turning point in the war was during celebrations of the Tet Festival when the Viet Cong had a surprise attack in 1968 -Tet Offensive.

1969 the war starts to spread into Cambodia.

In 1973 a peace agreement is signed and the US pull out of Vietnam. The communists have won and North Vietnamese capture the South within a few years and rename the capital Saigon to Ho Chi Minh city.

Afterward Vietnam enters into a war against the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Nam

2006-02-10T08:44:00.000Z

At the full moon 'Party' with the scottish/irish couple Nha Trang, and yes, we are drinking ot of jam jars. It was a snazzy night.

Some disgusting vandalism, those youths are pure feckless

a few too many

I know it looks juicy but give it back!

HELLO MOTO !!!

2006-02-05T04:19:00.000Z

A 45 minute Tuk tuk journey with a chilling breeze took us to the Vietnam border. There our driver tried to make up for the cheap price (about $1.50) of the trip by charging us double for Vietnamese dong. However me n Mik had done our research so we negotiated a reasonable price and after verifying the money wasn't fake, we gave him a good tip of our remaining Yen coins.

So onwards we strolled through the very quiet border that had nice new empty buildings. There was a huge poster at the customs of about 100 different ecstasy tablets with different colours and names. As usual with all the borders no one even looked at our bags (me chinese tea was safe).

A nice quieter side street from the back of a moto

To our dismay when we got out the other side the temperatures hadn't jumped to 25 degrees (through China we kept saying once we're in vietnam it'll be hot hot hot all the way). It was still bloody cold. Our welcoming committee in Vietnam were 2 motos drivers and 1 taxi driver. There was no way we were hoping on a moto with the rucksacks (and the cold) so the taxi it had to be.

Unfortunately the taxi driver was a scam artist and wanted 10 euros (and wouldn't budge) for the journey to the nearest town. We absolutely refused to go with him and hung about the border for a good 45 mins waiting for something/someone else to appear. After a while we realised that wasn't gonna happen, also it was getting late (about 5pm) and we wanted to get the bus to Hanoi, which he told us was leaving in 30 mins.

We had no bloody choice but to pay the driver 8 euros for a 15 minute journey to the border town. A fucking huge difference from the $1.50 for a 45 minute journey in China to the border. He dropped us a petrol station outside the town where there was another vietnamese bloke with perfect english. He said the bus would cost us 40 euros for 2 to Hanoi. This didn't seem right at all. He said the Chinese New Year was being celebrated and everybody was on Holidays so all the prices have doubled.

But me n Mik simply didn't have that much cash on us. We had about 8 euros in Dong that we had changed at the border. Our plan was to hit an ATM once we got to the border town - but the guy with the good english said that there were no atms in that town. Next thing we realise the bus had pulled up and had been waiting for us for the past 5 mins and wanted to go.

Its a waste of time and money to pay for a night in a town that you don't want to be in (especially when all we wanted was the warm weather down South). So I pulled out my last emergency 20 dollars and gave it to the guy along with the 8 euros in Dong and we jumped on the bus. This was way less money than the amount that he wanted - but he never said a word about it. The bus/minivan was full of Vietnamese and there was absolutely noooo way they had paid even close to that amount.

We had been completely ripped off twice in our 1st hour in Vietnam.

Worse still the bus pulled into the border town and we drove by an ATM. And we felt even more like fools coz the guy we gave all the money to never even got on the bus.
For the 2 and half hour trip to Hanoi we were squeezed into the back of the minivan with the smallest seats and our feet on top of our luggage. Mik had the pleasure of the guy next to her trying to put his head on her lap while he tossed and turned as he tried to sleep.

But for the first hour while it was still bright the scenery was really nice and a local guy tried to chat to us in Vietnamese but it didn't really work, so he shared some of his sweet dried yellow fruit and said something (about us) that had the whole minivan laughing.

Where to next my intrepid adventurer pal?? Eeeh this way?

HANOI
When we drove into hanoi there was this really eerily beautiful song on the radio that made the trip into the city seem a bit unreal. People were hopping off the bus here and there so me n Mik decided, after consulting the map with some locals, to hop off too. As we did so there was some sort of confusion and the locals were saying that maybe we should stay on the bus. But the large ticket woman wasn't having there and literally pushed me and Mik off the bus. And i mean pushed.

So we found ourselves on a dark street in Hanoi, with absolutely no idea where we were and not a dime in our pockets. And to be honest so far not liking the whole Vietnam experience so much.

Looking back we realised that in China we had dropped our guard down, for the 1st time in a while, due to the Chinese honesty (the price was the price and that was it), their willingness to help us out if they could and their real friendliness.
The people were excellent, so far in contrast to the Vietnamese.

Eh I'd watch where I was goin if I were u luv

So we were on the side of the road but not alone for long soon we were swarmed by about 5-6 moto drivers who just kept pulling up and insisting that it was ok to go on the bike with the rucksacks and bags - eh no thanks.

We grabbed a taxi, headed to ATM and found a cute hotel (about $5 each), down a cute busy alley in the old quarter near the lake. Dumped the bags and went for a stroll. Ate the most gorgeous sweet and sour pork and had some bia hoi beer. Then went to check out the bars near the lake. Ended up on a boat on the
Red river with a bar and dancefloor. But me n Mik were to tired to do anything about that so got a moto home.

So I'll take 2 o' them and 1 o' them, just throw 'em up on the back there

Next morning breakfast was with delish baguettes and gorg vietnamese coffee. We hopped on a moto and headed to the Temple of Literature. Really cool going around on the motos - a great way to see the really interesting city street life.
Beautiful temple of literature was being visited by a group of army boys. Also there was a lovely traditional vietnamese band putting on a show.

Such a hectic city though- it got a bit too much for me - the motorbikes take over the place, they go all directions on the roads and intertwine between and around eachother at intersections and the noise is piercing from the bikes and the horns. When crossing the road you are advised to look straight in the direction you are going and do not run as the bikes will weave their way around you.

Also you have the stall hawkers shouting at you "YOU -BUY SOMETHING"! HELLO POSTCARD! HELLO HANDBAG! HELLO BOOK! HELLO NOODLE! HELLO CYCLO! HELLO MOTO! OK maybe this is not the only place this has been shouted (it was popular to be called these in china too) but there's a certain viciousness about it in Hanoi. At one point we refused a cyclo coz we like the motos better and as we took off on the motos the charming cyclo driver shouts after us - fuck you.

That night we headed to the Water Puppet Theatre (maybe 3euros a ticket) . A delightful show in a theatre with a pond where the puppet masters stand in the water but behind a curtain and a very loud traditional vietnamese band are to one side - so the music and voices. The story alas was in vietnamese but involved lots of fire breathing dragons, tricky fish that couldn't be caught, turtles, fishermen in boats and dancing girls.

Water Puppet Theatre - good wholesome fun

Stress of Hanoi maybe mixed with tiredness me n Mik roared at eachother the whole way home in the cyclo. The driver must've thought we were nuts coz he accepted a fair price without all the hassle of the haggling.

Next Day we had organised a tour for ourselves. As we headed towards the minibus with our backpacks on, a moto driver asks if me if I wanted to go somewhere. I said a very polite no thank you and he responds by sticking up his fingers at me!! On the minibus the tour guide asks us where we were off to in Vietnam, we told him all the way South. He told us that we probably won't like it as much down South as the people down there are not as friendly as the ones in the North!!!!

WHAAAAT????!! maybe we should quit while we're ahead then ???!!!!!

Nimh Binh
First stop was at the relics of the ancient capital Hoa Lu – the remains are the temples dedicated to King Dinh and King Le, the two heroes who lived in 10th century and chose Hoa Lu to build the citadel of the capital city. Very nice temples! Met an austrailian couple with an extremely molly coddled child - who was cute though and facinated the locals.

Learned about the mythical animals -traditional emblems of Vietnam: unicorn (half lion, half dog), dragon, phoenix and turtle.

Tam Coc (3 caves) a delightful boat trip down a river where you float by rice paddy fields with huge limestone formations jutting up (similar to ones we had seen in Yangshao) and through 3 caves. Our boat rowers seemed to be a grand daughter and grand mother combo. The grandma didn't take any breaks only they swapped seats at one point and the grand daughter took to rowing with her feet!

All together now - all you need when you need it ......

We were given the hard sell on the embroidered pillow cases but had to refuse although grandma could do with embroidering the holes in her socks which she took great interest in showing them to Michelle. Ended up buying them drinks from the floating Spar shops that rowed after us! and grandma was happy out chomping on sugarcane! But the young wan taught us some usefull vietnamese phrases which we practised on passing boats - with a great response

After grub me n Mik we asked our tour guide to dropped off in Nimh Binh (funny coz it has the same name as d stoner town in Oz). Threw bags in hotel and killed a few hours until the bus arrived. By the time the bus got there we were more than a lil tipsy as the hotel owner had been feeding us some very strong rice wine.

Mik with granma and our vietnamese teacher

But it did the trick for me luckily enough and I managed to grab a few hours sleep on one of the worst over night buses ever (poor mik tho).

Hue
So we arrived in Hue (UNESCO world heritage site) wrecked and went straight to sleep in our very nice room for 5e each.

Zoom zoom zoom- me and the son

That afternoon we went for lunch and where we decided to go with the owner of the restaurant and his son on a motorbike tour. Turns out to be one of the best tours we've ever done. First stop was a monastry where we arrive in time for the afternoon prayers or chanting. It was so amazing to witness it in such a peaceful area and we were the only other people there. The father showed us photos of monks who had killed themselves in protest against the government who tried to curtail buddhism.

Then they took us to an old american barracks where the father told us the story of how he had to tell the communists his father was dead when they came to search his house (while his father was hiding in a secret hole). He told us they eventually got his grandfather who met a horrific end.
Over 20,000 people were killed in Hue during the war. It lies about 40km South of where the DMZ was.

Next we drove past alot of graves and then out to the country through busy paddy fields where the rice growers were sowing their crops. We stopped at the very cute Japanese bridge and had some green tea. While we were there a young looking 70 year old with very good english sat down for a chat. It turned out she was a fortune teller and proceeded to take my palm. She was just starting on how i was going to have a very long life when the father came back and started making faces behind her back. So she stopped the palm reading - so now i'll never know..... At the American barracks on the banks of the hue river

That night after some tasty steamed spring rolls we went to check out the closed and therefore uninteresting market. Also we managed to negotiate a replacement bus ticket book for me as I had stupidly left mine behind on the o/night bus and didn't fancy forking out another $25(the book was for about 4-5 bus journeys from Hanoi to Saigon). Luckily after persuasion and a few return visits the travel agent gave me a new one!!!

Our 70 year young fortune teller - i'd say she was a looker in her day

Next Day we struck a deal with some motos drivers to take us to the Forbidden Purple City - sounds cool eh! After we coughed up the 5 bucks r so in we took a stroll around and funnily enough didn't see any purple buildings! But there were some very nice non purple buildings (librarys and there with bells attached that created a cool sound as we strolled around. Also you could see the ruins of parts of the city that had been bombed in the war - apparently alot of the city had to be rebuilt. One surprise for me were some elephants in the garden - these were my 1st elephants I had seen in Asia. You could - if you wanted (and were willing to pay the price) - dress up in some fancy old Vietnamese costumes, hop up on Nellie and get your photo taken!

Next stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda (7 stories high). On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes. It was in protest against the governemnt who wanted to curtail Buddhism in Vietna

The car in which the monk drove to Saigon - in the window of the car and the picture on the back wall shows the monk on fire (and the car in the background).

Back on the motos me n Mik stop off for a bit of lunch. And just as the spring rolls were about to be steamed our bus was there - early (that has never happened before anywhere!!) so we have to run grab bags and get food to go.

Happy New Year!! again

2006-01-28T17:26:00.000Z

Happy new year!!

its the year of the dog,
bow wow

I hope he has a good year, altho its not lookin likely in this town where dog hotpot is a speciality!!
MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm bring it on...meaty.........

We in Yangshao,coolio lil' town 11 hours north of Hong K

We off out tonight on the beer,it is new years after all!!

Michelle x

Species of skullcap

2006-01-24T09:33:00.000Z

cigarette meat
dragons blood
dried lizard on a stick , for the busy girl about town
dog hotpot
pigs intestines
bambooo rat
snake soup
fish cheeks
pigs trotters soup
hen foot

"What a tasty and exotic menu Lindyloo,lets have lunch here"

"Oh, ok Michelle , you know me I do like a good gnaw on a hen foot"

And Dim Sum

2006-01-20T09:41:00.000Z

Arrived in Hong Kong Jan 20th.

As we strolled into the arrivals hall someone had obviously tipped off the Hong kongonians that we were due in coz there they were in strongforce with flags and banners screaming and whistling. Just as we were about to start waving the screams escalate and some v young palefaced scrawny hong kongonian dude complete with minders is escorted past us and whisked on through and the crowds run after him.

So its the usual story for us - get money, pick cheap hotel, figure out bus number to hotel, find bus stop, get change for bus, get on bus with bags, figure where to get off bus, find hotel, get lift to 13th floor.

We stayed at the Kowloon Garden hotel, not to sure where the garden was exactly on the 13th floor, but we did have a lovely view of 13 floors of clothes lines. Room was the size of 2 single beds and we could squeeze our bags in once they stood upright. All in all it was great to have our own room after japan. And it had a TV - although it wasn't possible to change the channel.

We took a stroll around downtown kowloon - man it was hectic - people everywhere, even when u went off the beaten track way down side streets there were still crammed with people. And advertising - i have never seen the like. The place is plastered. They run billboards accross the streets, flasing lights, neon the works. But its facinating. Theres food everywhere, all sorts of creatures on stalls in the streets, snakes in jars, animals on sticks (i dunno what). Chinese medicine shops were interesting too -no idea what the potions did but they had mad ingredients mik mentioned species of skullcap and dragons blood.

We went for a simple noodle dish - narrowly missing ordering the pigs intestines and opting for vegetarian. We got medium spicy and medium sour. After two spoons i was red faced, runny nosed and the tears well it was like iguazu running down me cheeks. They're clever there tho they predicted this and they don't give ya napkins but ya can buy them. Thank god we weren't in Japan or they'd have chucked us out for the nose blowin. Funny thing was we went back there again glutten for punishment and got lil spicey and lil sour and had the exact same prob.

In HK it was me bday so Mik treated me to a badly needed haircut with was devine - they really scrub the hair here. The cut itself as always looked good at the time but now I've this untameable fringe bit that i'm not equipped to control. We headed out to Dins in Italian restaurant (a slight sin really seeing as where we were) and we ended up in the deadest Irish bar (the only bar nearby i swear). We decided to hit the local club but when we got there there were about 20 police cars outside and the place was being raided for drugs. We met some traveller guys who said they were held in a room for about 1 hour while the place was searched.

Day of bday we happened upon a Brazilian BBQ that was tonnes of food (including obligatory trotters etc). Mik gave some lovely pressies complete with candles to blow out. We headed to see Memoirs of a Geisha which was good seeing as we had just left Japan and Kyoto. And for the supper was the tasty dim sum.

Next day took a stroll around Kowloon park and Sineads not gonna believe it but there in a lake were some PINK FLAMINGOS, sleeping as they do on one leg- very cool. It was actually an avary - not a place that one should really visit when there's avian flu alert/epidemic.
Also there were some cute baby turtles swimming about. Nice spot amidst the mish mash of hong kong.

Apart from that the remainder of our sightseeing in Hongkong took in the local shops-funky cheap clothing. A downfall for 2 cailins on a budget and not an inch of space in the bag but it was me bday. Not too fond of this getting older lark.

Only other point of interest was that my mastercard just vanished without a trace one day it was in my wallet the next day gone.

Next day, china visas stuck in the now getting fairly full passports, we hop on a train to Schenzen and over the border into mainland China. It was really only about 1 hour outside Hongkong but my how the fun begin.

First we had to get a bus to the main bus station - luckily a nice girl wrote the name of the bus station on a piece of paper so we could show the driver of the bus. Then on the bus we showed a woman the paper and she pointed to us where to get off.

Imagine how hard is it to do anything when u cannot speak, read or write. Sign language doesn't cut it when theres a queue of 20 people behind pushin and shoving as u try to find out when the bus is leaving to Guilin. It doesn't work for us, by the time we find out get the cash to pay the ticket -all the tickets are sold out for the day so we get to stay in Schenzen for the night.

The girl who worked in the bank as we tried to change some dollars for the bus ticket was sooo sweet. First I had to fill out a form that was completely in Chinese writing and I was filling in my age where I should have written my passport number etc so had to start again. Her and a guy who worked there (who was so eager to hear everything we were saying in english), were filling up my water bottle and asking where we were going. Then she went with me to the bus station and showed me where we could leave our luggage. There Mik was being kept company (during this long process of changing money) by a local guy who wanted to improve his english.

Anwyho so we needed somewhere to stay and luckily there was a cheap hotel in the bus station so we went to check in and with the aid of a passing girl who spoke english we figured out it was full but were told to go down the road and turn left where there was another hotel.

Off we set took the first left and headed into a hotel, up to the reception threw down the bags and asked for a room. The girl stared blankly at us, so we did the sleeping sign language, how much money? hand gestures. Still didn't work, the security guard joined in, but it didn't matter. A good 15 minutes later it suddenly came to light that me n Mik had been trying to check into a restaurant.

Bags back on back we got the bus into the city centre amidst all the skyscrapers skyline. Schenzen was a busy noisy place. Dumped the bags in a pricey enuff hotel (10 euros a night) - the 1st one we saw, but not until we had 1st we gone through more check in confusion and phone calls had to be made to someone who spoke english, so they could translate.

Geisha Hunting

2006-01-18T13:05:00.000Z

It was soooooo cold in Japan.
Mostly we would wear all we could and I spent most of the time also wrapped in an airplane blanket,I thought this might pass for a pashmina, until Linda pointed out one day that it clearly says "Property of Quantas,please do not remove from aircraft"
blazenly on the back for any one to see.

We had spent a few days in Tokyo and then decided to get an overnight bus to Kyoto, the spiritual home of Japan, the city of temples and geishas.
The 2 english girls from the hostel were also going on the same bus so we all lugged our bags through many many metro stations.
Oh those overnighters.......
We arrived quite early in the morning,freezing naturally, the english girls had somewhere booked and headed there we got a city bus to a hostel we picked. Found it easy enough it was actaully quite near Nijo Castle.
Possible the worst hostel yet,I mean it was clean but it was the size of a coach bus with lot of beds squished in.
It had that whole "im really an office building" feeling to it that the hostel in Tokyo had.
We had a miserable breakfast of those instant noodles.Mmmm.

But things soon cheered up when we hired 2 little bicycles and took to the streets.
I just love these bikes we always hire,little baskets on front and a wee bell,ting ting.
We cycled to the Imperial Palace and made an appointment to view for later that arvo, then we cycled to a temple, it was so meticulously ornate with its Zen gardens. Everything was so exact from the way they made the bamboo railings to the raked gravel.You could wander all round the temple grounds ,little streams and Koi fish everywhere,like in nearly all the Temples/castles/palaces etc that we went to.
There were some american Art students there. The cycle was beautiful and we kept getting these soya bean sweet samples of all the people along the way.
We would have to go for coffee to get in out of the cold, but it was so sunny too so it was a good trip.

We went to the Imperial palace, Nijo castle and a few random temples around town, cycling all the way, its flat too.
We checked out Gion district where all the geishas,maikos etc train and hang out.
seen a couple on the streets all dolled up with thier little white socks shoved into wooden sandals with a toe section ,like a animals foot.
Japan was fascinating,with the technology and the smooth cleaness of it.
We went to a KAraoke bar one afternoon which was hilarious, the two of us roaring tunes in a little room , it was so cheap, like maybe 2 euro and they give you free drinks. It took ages to figure out how to work the screen and all the remotes they gave us.

So many people give out free packets of tissues on the streets?? Has advertising on the sides
Obsessed with the cartoons, Manga, Hello Kitty etc.
even on elevators/warning signs etc
Jingly things hanging out of mobile phones.
Red red red
people exhausted on the trains sleepin completelt covered up,hats mouth masks etc
the perfect girls in thier skirts boots fitted coat combo,the army of cloned city girls

sushi,the temple at Asaksa,sumo tournament,sushi,my favourite things...

Big in Japan

2006-01-17T08:38:00.000Z

******SOLD OUT*******

Biscuitsandcrips Live in Japan

Memoirs of a Sumo

2006-01-15T14:21:00.000Z

Two cute Harajuku girls

wow wow wow how to sum this one up... its so different here, this really is like another world, machines for everything - from vending drinks to phones, we saw vending machines for hotel rooms, selected and paid for our dinner of noodles from a vending machine. There are shoe shine machines (the boys in Bolvia would be upset).

The toilet alone looks hilarious, with about 10 buttons on it, one heats the seat - which is surprisingly pleasant coz it is soo cold here. Another button I discovered today to my surprise blows hot air (?!), another makes water sounds so your fellow toilet goers won't be hearing any unruly sounds from your cubicle!

TOOOOOOOOKYYYO

This evening in town there was a computerised road works guy waving a lazer light.
We went into this one shop that had about 40 boxes in it and each box had the cutest puppy in it. oh man i never wanted one of those puppies so bad. its cruel really.
you can not even begin to translate the language - sign posts, menus, adverts, maps.

Our first morning in Tokyo, we meet a sumo wrestler walking down the street!!

There are the smallest bars and restaurants here all tucked underground, lined up, in little corners you wouldn't even house a dog in. we met some english lads who stayed in the capsule hotel.

Which way you guys???!!

Its cold tho and we got really wet yesterday it was not much fun seeing the city in the rain. we went back to the hostel and put plastic bags in our shoes to wear them out last night coz they were soo wet. We headed out on the town with a bunch of English and 2 Canadians - fairly well oiled after a lively game of Ring of Death.
Good fun on the subway and I can't remembeer the name of the area we went to. Ended up in an English bar and met some more english in there! Those guys were staying in the capsule hotel and said that annoyingly you have to check out every morning and check back in in the evenings. It was Saturday night and one of the guys said he'd to be back at work in Loondon on Monday morning- imagine!!! Seems so far away now!!

Aaaw sooo cute

we went to the top of this really high shiodome building and we thought they had frosted the windows there we were like whats the point of that! turns out you couldn't see out through them coz of the mist and cloud. today was really clear so we went back up again and realised we had no idea what a spectacular view the clouds were hiding.
i've been dying with a cold since i got here and have constantly being blowing my nose and today i find out the japanese think its really rude to blow your nose in public!! they are soo unbelievably polite, constantly bowing, we have taken to bowing back, very helpful, shop assistants are very friendly, the city is really clean and bizzarely for a city its got a really quiet atmosphere, not huge amounts of traffic, lots of people travel by bike. theres 8 million people living in this city and with very little crime. people leave their bikes everywhere unlocked. it feels so safe here.

I see me mammy - oh wait a second she's back home in Cavan

Yesterday went to a cool temple, you waft smoke over you to cleanse bad spirits, and throw money in coffers as u pray to buddha i think although his statue wasn`t in the temple but outside.

Today we did one of the wierdest things i think we have done on this trip. we went to a sumo wrestling match well it was more like a championship in this cool stadium. it was so surreal, what a strange sport - they stomp around for ages, sticking their legs then their bums in the air, throw some salt around and then the fight lasts for about 2 seconds.

Would ya take one o them home ta yer mother

We had seats on the upper levels but the best seat in the house are on cushions around the stage, ya get all the up close action, sumo sweat and salt throwin oh and two sumos landing on top of ya when they fall off the tiny stage as we saw happen. one of the more important fights was between a mongolian and believe it or not a bulgarian (he's only 23 and unique to the scene and he won)!!

Hands off Mik he's mine

The whole thing is a great show from the drama in psyching out, bum slapping, to the referees colourful costumes, of course the nappies the sumos wear and their wierd hair do top knots. its an experience not to be missed....

great barrier reef

2006-01-14T10:01:00.000Z

Cairns

Back on the Greyhound ,we made our way up thru thundery skies to Cairns, the feeling is tropical up there. The air is heavy with humidity and sugar cane plantations line the roads, huge farms probably the size of Ulster are common.

I left my sunnies on the bus,boo hoo.

Arrived late enough in Cairns,which is like a big town and has a distinct look of The Flying Doctors about it,
of course no where booked but after a while we spy a hostel van and hop in .Its from The Serpent Hostel and were soon settled in ,we end up having a 6 bed room all to our selves,yipster.

We got our shaggy hair cut here.

We picked a Scuba company,
Pro Dive,
apparently

Oooh lookey here a big turtle - Linda investigates.....

This was the best diving and the best craic on the boat.
We did 2 dive sites and got to dive with a huge wrassie fish the size of a waredrobe
and a massive sea turtle!!!!!!!!!!
was excellent
tons of tropical fish
wait have to look up my dive log...will fill in later what we saw.....

the boat was really organised with a delicious lunch and wine and cheese in the afternooon,we almost made a show of our selves there.
there was even a maouri lad playing guitar in the main cabin, he had the audience goin mad. He had a comedy thing too
he was a bit scary tho and kept sneakin up behind me on the boat declaring his love

we went snorklin after the second dive and it was almost as good as the diving,the coral is so close and absolutely alive,like nemo town.
we had those spaggetti tubes floats

After we legged it upstairs with enough wine and cheese for a Debanhams discount evening we met this Japanese men who proceeded to teach us quite alot of Japanese in a short space of time.
Obviously forgot it all when we got off boat but i wrote it down and we deffo gonna use it in sushiland.

Dumped a ton of clothes in the hostel and seen one girl with my Las Vegas hat and Lindas vest on .That was funny.

Off to TOKYO

i actaully really liked Oz alot more than i thought i would , i was all 'its gonna be so expensive and full of young ones 'but it was really good craic and the wine and the beaches .............Not mad about australian men, loud and chauvanistic was the overall feeling but some of the girls were so crass too
but they do have a cool laid back attitude

would have liked to check out those Bra boys at Coogee beach tho

The Pride of Airlie

2006-01-13T16:33:00.000Z

So the 3 of us managed to lug all our supplies back from the offy, alot of box wine,needless to say.
We were so excited about our weekend sailing round the Whitsunday Islands.
Then we had to go and rent our stinger suits.
Because of all the jellyfish in the aussie waters at ths time of year ,you have to wear a really attractive thin bodysuit,reminiscent of a nylon sock.

So we set sail,aye aye cap'n.
Takin off our flip flops before gettin on the yacht,brought all these memories of me on Davids boat in Mexico...
Our captain was a slightly crazy frenchman who couldnt stand still,esp when he was talkin,all bouncin and jumpin round. He had a seriously fit bod tho.

There was about 30 peeps in our group,all young ones from all over.There were these young aussie girls on the crew who were all gungho,even tho one of them wore stripper shoes.

We were sailin about 10mins when they gave us all champagne. Well it was fizzy box wine,but still....
The sail to our Island was spectacular,cerulan blue waters and a sun to bronze.

We arrived and sorted out our rooms.We were to sail everyday for the wknd and sleep in this resort with a pool bars/golf club,it was nice.
There were 2 sound enough german lads in our room and a baldy english bloke who was annoying.

We all ended up getting pretty trashed that night as there was welcome drinks and free beer for those playing the drinking games after dinner. Now normally i cant see my self doing this kind of thing ,a bit club tropicana in tenerife ,but shock horror it was fun and fuck it, free beer.

oh jesus me language is desperado.
The next day we sailed around ,got rid of the hangovers with a swim and snorkle,not the best snorklin i have to say but by this stage every one was all chatty on the boat cos of last nights antics and it was a laugh. Especailly when the seemingly spoilt tanorexic sweedish girls up front got saturated by a wave that washed over the front deck.
hahaha everyone cracked up over that.
There was a hilarious lad called gary who talked like gary barlow,he was so funny from wigan or summat

It was overcast when we actually got to the famous Whitsunday beach island,which was so disappointing cos nothing nothing is ever the same if the sun aint around.

So we sailed and swam and drank lots of vino and beer, we had absolutely gorge food on board mmmmmmmmm,we snorkled and tanned and danced and tried to pick up our beer with our teeth. Yeah it was fun

It was sad to say goodbye to Irish Fiona when we got back to Airlie,she was a sound character.

Which reminds me,she took some good photos must mail her for them.
No that maybe i should write these things down, but fuck it who reads this waffle any how, ye all just look at the pictures, i know it, cos thats exactly what id do! Unless you have been or are going to one of these stunning blog destinations you are less likely to read it. pictures are more interesting anyhow,but they really dont represent a whole lot,like we never take pics of people we meet,i must have 1000 snaps of sunsets and grannies. HHHmmm i sense a theme..

Ya flamin Gallah

2006-01-12T12:34:00.000Z

So Byron Bay was excellent
weather was hot hot hot,hot bods on beach,fairly laid back town,a bit like Santa Cruz meets San Juan del Sur, quite alot of pesky tourists tho,it being just after new year.

We went out to few spots in town,
the 'famous' Cheeky monkey bar,
where we were actually told by this hostel lad (6ft6babe,guitar,bit loud tho) who picked us up from town on our first day,he goes "Ah no mate,you dont wanna go there,its all nine'een year old pommie twats with their collars up" HMMmmmmmmm

Of course we went there,
had to see,
actually for dinner too,food was gross/ mega cheap,
but it was all plastic glasses/ dancing on steel tables /beer down your bra kinda night,great obviously!!lots of peeps from hostel there too.

There was tons to do at hostel: yoga, didge, fire shows, some kinda talent night,it was a great place with a really sound atmosphere and people. Even ended up in the pool one night in the middle of lightening storm, cool but bit risky, who needs a perm?

what else?....... we went to a hippy market with drum circle,
oh! We went out to Nimbim, (you know u love it Nikolah!) Its a little town famous for smoke.
It started with a hippy aquarius fesitval years ago and some people never left, they decided to stay and create a community of smokers delight
Everyone there smokin/trippin or growing weed or bakin the cookies or sellin the cookies with lanky greasy hair.
on thier head not on the biscuits,

We went out on day trip there ,had a lil' looky look, bought some cookies,ectasy cigarettes,which turned out ot be joints, and some other party stuff.
Was a bizzaro town but fun. Lots of characters hangin out on streets and tye dye. theres a really trippy smoke museum that u can wander round,with a VW van in inside and all mad art work and just crazy stuff goin on in each and every space

We met this dude who owned a shop there he had been to Ireland on a legalize cannabis crusade dressed in a green lycra jumpsuit. We bought the cookies off his friends wife.

After getting all nice and bronzey bronze in Byron we went up to Airlie beach.
Long ,long bus up,overnight,
I HATE them and all sleeping tabs gone.

Any way so we arrive at some ungodly hour like 6am and head to this COMPLETE dump Magums,ugh, shudder even the name,its almost ruined the ice cream for me.ok maybe not.

Anyway magnums cant let us in till 9 or 10am or something ,so we dump our bags and head to this lagoon across the road, which is just in fromt of beach,its really nice,sand,palms,grass, you cant swim in the sea cos of the jelly fish, any way thought it was nice until we discover its called "The Sperm Pool" cos all locked couples stagger out of Magnums bar over the road around 4am for a shag in said lovely lagoon.

Magnums is a shed bar/club with wet t shirt contests ,girl on girl action in the form of jelly wrestling,
which the 18yr old very blonde Canadian girl in our room won,
Go Cananda!!

Our dormroom was broken into twice in 2 days and people got lots stuff nicked,mobiles,passports ,money etc.while they were asleep. Someone obviously had key, it was just a dump.

We met up with this sound oirish young one Fiona D from Westmeath who was in our room and goin on the same Whitsunday boat as us. She was just finishin up her year workin all round Oz and heading to Thailand after.

So we all trekked to offy and stocked up on the vino,smokes, biscuits and crisps.

a shovel of mushrooms and a bucket of beans

2006-01-10T11:53:00.000Z

Me and some sort of house

one quick flight later and we`re in sydney. we call kylie (not minogue tho i'm sure she'd have loved to have heard from us) my old housemate from london, luckily she's back from her travels in 'nam and will let us sleep on her couch. so we jump on a bus and head to Liechhart, hook up with kylie and out for lunch where we got these huge ass steaks and mash spuds for 10 bucks mm mm. has anyone noticed yet there is a recurring theme in mine and miks blogs - are we obsessed with food or wha?
catch up with kylie and get tips

Meself, herself and bauld Johnboy Byrne (aka the fox) at the Opera House

that eve the 3 of us head to bondi junction to the tea gardens, sounds pretty fanc but really is an irish bar coz thats all that go there. we meet up with johnboy me aul pal from the college days. as usual its like we`d never left, deadly to see him out here in oz. he's been doin his own travelling bit and had been thinking of joining us for a while but our schedules didn't match. anywho he's been hanging out with tonnes of irish here and we were supposed to join him and 40 others for a christmas dinner in where else but pj o briens the best irish bar in sydney! alas tho me n mik had orginally planned to join them there was a mix up and now we couldn't.
that night got stociously drunk, went to irish bar then back to tea gardens, thank god for kylie is all i can say twas bad.

Snow is falling, all around us, children plaaayin ....

next few days checked out sydney went to manly beach by ferry (mik wore her santy hat), nice views of harbour, the opera house, nice beach, hot. Went to bondi and lumped ourselves on my cousin peter and his flatmate campbell couch there for a couple of days, he didn't really have much of a say. went to very sophis opera house bar at circular harbour, back to tea rooms, johnboy gave us some valuable advice on where to get a breakfast in the morning " they give ya 3 eggs, do ya know anywhere that gives 3 eggs, a shovel of mushrooms and a bucket of beans for 11 dollars" oh we also checked out darling harbour too.

christmas eve, lumped into peters car went to my aunt and uncles for chrimbo. they live at the base of the blue mountains, was soo　nice to have our own room. celebrated by throwing our stuff all over the place. sean and carol were soooo good to us. we were just in the door when sean had us bundled into the car for a historical tour of the neighbourhood, we had been givin warnings not to fall asleep on these tours or sean gets very upset, mik tried her best to keep her eyes open. its hot says she in the car. that night micheal (my cous), sonia (his wife) and aidan their cutest 6 month old son came over and we all headed out for a few pints. i tell ya aidan can keep up with the best o them. fair play

next day happy christmas or was it??, we woke up sweatin, the room was bright out, sun was blaring, it hadn't felt like christmas at all, there was no build up and next thing here it was. uncle sean was in fahy tradition banging on the door at 7.45 to get us up, and suddenly it was just like being at home. there is a fahy trait to get everyone in the house up at a ridiculous hour (usually for no apparent reason) and although we were 12,0000 miles away there is some comfort in knowing the tradition is still being carried on accross the waters! i got out of bed and waited to hear "good afternoon". all headed to 8am mass to discover there was a 9.30 one we could have gone to.

Christmas day - ozzie style

back, watched mels and aytacs wedding dvd- lots of embarrasing moves on the dance floor- funny. opened presents, carol was so nice and got myself and mik a present each a cool top. had a delicious christmas dinner seafood, turkey, ham, lobster, the works (carols dad came over for dinner too so it was a full house). me n mik in food heaven. in the afternoon we took a dip in the pool with the santy hats on. later on visitors called over and lots of calls were made to the folks back home, really nice to speak to the family.

next day up again bright and early cheers sean!! chilled out about the house, swan in the pool etc. that night went out for a few pints with sean and carol to the local irish club.

There we are enjoying the views at the Blue Mountains with Sean and Carol

next day wouldn't be the same if sean hadn't us outta bed before 8am and so we were. but today him and carol took us on a tour of the blue mountains to woolongong. there we got on the worlds steepest train into the bush for a trek, a bit of coal mining history and took the skylift back - really nice. then they took us to the 3 sisters and we walked many steps down and back up. and as they are just the best aunt and uncle ever we had a picnic by lake with beer and green tea!!
after all this we went to a cool waterfall (cept there wasn't a huge amount of water but you could still get the effect, excellent views). and to top the day off we all had ice creams on the way home it was the best!!

Yeehaw

later on that day carol and sean did a handover on the highway and we were passed onto my uncle matt. matt lives in shell harbour, south of sydney and that evening we had a delicious bbq with diane her sister, my cousin stephen who i had never met along with his cute son brodan and wife michelle. lots of vino and chat. next day tour of the harbour and visited me cousin andrew, his wife and 2 adorable girls. mik is getting to know my family better than i am at this point!!!

the big news while we were there was that the famous ozzie bloke kerry packer had just died.

that evening we headed back to bondi and headed out with peter and campbell to a couple of clubs.

next day we were booked on the overnight bus to coffs harbour. with time to spare that evening we headed to king kong. as usual a delightful bus journey we arrived in coffs at 6am so fresh and full of life. the hostel rooms weren't ready so me n mik passed out on 2 couches in the kitchen oblivious to all making their breakfasts around us. we were booked into coffs harbour for 3 days inc new years. nice spot, very hot and very quiet. except where we were staying was the party central of this small town. live bands thumped under our heads till the wee hours, i suppose the sign saying there's plenty of time to sleep when u are dead was a bit of a giveaway really!

The East coast of Oz and not a Kanga, Koala or Emu in sight

Next day new years eve. Lindas beauty salon was opened for business and i highlighted miks hair - took bloody hours and the fecking thing didn't work. i blame the product. Then we treated ouselves to a end of year wine and cheese session.

Downstairs there in da club were dj's flown in from the uk (woooooh!!) the stanton brothers, met one of the support djs who told us they were huge and was shocked we didn't know them. Even tho it was the end of 05, the old habits didn't change and we were still drinking the vino in the hostel at 11.50, there was a few heads milling around.

So at about 5 mins to go we headed downstairs, had a cheer and were bouncin around 2 mins later to the band playin red hot chilli peppers. from there on in i'll have to get mik to fill you in on the details. its all very hazy, i do remember spending most of the night with a pair of glow stick glasses on so everything had a nice pinkish view. mik informed me we took many many photos of us in the glasses.

New Years 2006 - will we ever forget it ?? ...it would help if I could remember any of it

Another memory i have is of the bouncer throwing me out of the bar but i told him he couldn't do that coz i was staying there. oh i was at a phonebox when as the sun came up trying to get through to marcio unsucessfully those phonecards are tricky at the best of times.

mik please fill in the blanks here -

next day i found my shoes in the kitchen, my henna (from the wedding) was missing from its bag and there was strange stuff thrown about the room. we concluded that someone had climbed in the window and ransacked our stuff.

hot and hungover we scrambled to the fridge　for the remaining cheese and discover some fecker has eatin it。(i have my suspisions tho, a vague recollection just after my phone call, mik was saying something about heading to the kitchen).

what else to do on a hungover day but head to the flicks - its miles outside down and takes forever in the heat. enroute we get the munchies and spend a tonne of money on snacks and realise we hadn't left enough to pay for the tickets｡　narnias on and yawn not my kinda flick - king kong was tricky enough to sit through. but mik really wants to go so we scrape together the last bit o cash and set about convincin the ticket guy we're students. it actually worked and he lets us in for student price. so we wrap ourselves up in our winter gear coz the bloody air conditioning is set to freezing in all cinemas in hot countries and watch narnia. turns out its not so bad.

rise and shine next day - we never seem to lie in. bus at 8am arrive in byron about 2pm. get there and manage to get into the "coolest hostel in oz" the arts factory. again luck was with us, we have had some excellent good luck on this trip, i am afraid to say that in case we jinx it but its really unbelievable how we dont plan anything and things work out so well. saying that we had wanted to be in byron for new years but the whole town was booked out, we were told for a week, not really surprising really as we looked into it just 3 days before the new year.

arts factory is cool, we were staying in a wagon with some friendly israelis (these guys are always friendly and chatty), they offer us a beer on arrival which is always a good start to me!! theres lots of large tents and tipees there, dorms too, free didgeredoo lessons, a really really cool buddha bar, saw an excellent fire show one night there

home and away

2006-01-07T01:32:00.000Z

this is me and rosies gorgeous dog sheelin

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Yaay at long last we have caught up on our blog. Here I am writing about the country when I am actually in it!!!!!

Well so many of our friends and family have been in Oz, most have stayed for about a year and all have been raving about it, so we had to come here and see what was the fuss about.......

1st stop Melbourne. Its hot, sweet as. Stayed in massive but coolangatta hostel in centre, wrecked from sleeping in car the night b4 at the airport, we watch movie closer again!! I like it, nat portman and clive thing are excellent.

Next day we call up Audrinas cousin Rosie and joy of joy she invites us to stay!! She was really welcoming and as were her parents who were visitin for Eire. We check out Brunswick st, love it coolio bars and restaurants very retro, old sofas, big lamp shades, very funky as were the electic mix of people hangin about. Delish cheap as pizza- mmmmmmmmmmm (I'm hungry!) Great shopp'n, nay so good for the dwindling bank balance.

That nite, few glasses of vino were had, the usual we get caught up chit chattin for ages before we go out and end up goin out real late. Went to coolio bar on Brunswick st, chit chat turned serious there. Then some mad dude who had been watching and writing about us came over to show us what he'd written, luder as we'd say back home. Enroute home we had a bit of a blow up- not good.

Next day nay feeling so good. We ponced about town. That night we had tickets to the moonlight cinema - Broken flowers was being shown outdoors in the Royal Bontanical gardens. Really lookin forward to it. Of course 2 girls with not much to do I dunno how we manage it but we're always late. We get train, then tram to the large park get off at the wrong end and have to leg it to the other end. However we eventually get to the gate late, but there's not much activity and the security guard tells us the flick was cancelled due to the weather. Me n Mik look at eachother, if it this was an evening in Dublin, all would be out in their micro skirts and vests, saying lovely wedder dis evenin. Disappointed we were as we had brought along the picinic an all. But the security guard lets us in to have our picnic, there were a few others milling around, one woman was carrying a picnic basket with a delish array of food, there were others polishin off a BBQ. Me n Mik find a bench, unscrew the carefully selected screwtop wine and open the bag of the cheese twisters, let the picnic commence.

Bottle of vino later we notice its gone kinda dark and the other picnicers have left the purty park. We figure its time to leave then, we head up to the gates and realise that they had locked us in. Excellente, ah but no worries there's a notice saying that if u get locked in just call this number. Simple really - Mik us pass us yer moby!!! as if!
So theres nothing for it we start climbing up the gates, we both get to the top and both rip holes in the arse of our jeans. Not that mine matters I've been cultivating a huge hole in the ass of my jeans since Brazil that no amount of stitching will keep together!!

remainder of time in melbourne was spent cycling about by the river, getting lost on the way home. rosie took us out to st kildas we went to the luna park, ate ice-cream and some cakes and coffee on the famous street there for cakes, can't remember the name now. went to the casino on the river, very swish and busy but the best thing there was this deadly chistmas show, if i was a kid i would have been amazed, in fact i was amazed, standing there eyes wide, running from one part to another. it was all twinkly lights, excellent christmassy and whirly music, spinning girls coming down from roof, santa appearing from the top of a merry go round, dancing girls in a tent that pops up, a large colourful clock going up and down, dancing reindeers (like the old finger toys), tumbling clowns, fairies the works. we wnet back to see the show twice!! only prob that day was that i blew $35 bucks on a really　cool hat coz i gave my che one to marcio and it was christmas, by the end of the day the hat was gone - i didn't even get to wear it.

on the last day rosies dad whos a bit of a character took the two of us to the airport which was nice, to be seen off.

Four litres and Two mugs

2005-12-29T04:27:00.000Z

Wheres me mug?

OOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo things are starting to get fuzzy........

Always with the vino

Foxes Glacier Mint

2005-12-09T10:54:00.000Z

So we drove down v.scenic coast of NZ toward the famous glaciers.

We were gonna do a tour out to see one ,the coolest tour was a helicopter ride out ,over the glacier then tramping around on it.

but it way outta me buj so we drove out to the State park and then walked right on up to Foxes glacier ,like we knew what we were about. Most people were in tours and had serious hiking boots on.We tipped along the valley over to the glacier in our flip flops.

Tramping is big business here in NZ. It took us a while to not laugh when we seen it written on every outdoor store window or brochure. It means trekking ,now back home it means summat else enirely
anyhoo

Its huge quite blue in colour towards the top and is quite a sight to see.

All the Seamus and Shiela McSafaris were in their element,an obstacle to overcome and they had thier filtered water bottles at the ready.

We walked up to it,took some snaps ,oohhed and awwed then flipflopped along the valley otta there.

Drove down to Franz Joseph glacier which is about 10 miles away on a windy road just like the one along the Shirley gates on the road from Kingscourt to Carrick.Y'know the one i mean.

OOOHHHed and awwed at the Franz glacier too. I mean they are stunning, we went to some lake in park that had coolio views of the glaciers and they were reflected beautifully in the lago.

We stayed that night in a some hostel and had a marvellous dinner of packet soup.
MMMmmmmm bring it on.

Watched 'Once Were Warriors' dvd,have wanted to see that for ages and sure no better spot. Its about a Maouri family in a NZ city,Auckland me thinks, the Dad has a few issues :likes the drink and the women,handy with his fists but has a fine singing voice. He sounds a bit oirish..........

Anyway the actors were amamzing in it ,as it has quite a harsh story line to play ,following the lives of all the family memebers.
We really liked the film but the other hostel kids werent too keen and we had to nearly fight to keep it on the screen. They wanted to watch Zorro or other such classics.
Seen the follow up on later on, ;What becomes of the broken hearted;,yeah ,just like the song. But i wouldnt rate that at all. Just pure violence, pure i tell ya, and a thin plot.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm after this we drove down to Lake Wanaka,which was nice,scenic blah blah blah but decided to drive to Queenstown to stay for few days.

Queenstown is an excellent town.Great nightlife. Its the adventure sports capital of NZ and every where you look or everyone you talk to is either jumpin off or outta something or canoeing down the side of a mountain or tying themselves to a pack of huskies and being slid thru honey in the nip.................oh maybe not.

But i did meet a lad in a bar who,the next day,was doin a helijump....now ,apparently this means jumpin out of a helicopter on your mountain bike and proceeding to hurtle down the side of said mountain which was previously unaccessible..........wow, dude gnarley.
Ah ,no he was a nice lad.Had i been 22 i would have been drooling

But myself and Lins little skyjump seems tame down here.

We stayed in a hostel right in the centre of town which was cool,we parked Rosie outside so we could keep an eye on her.
We went out on the fri night and it was full of hen and christmas parties with cowboy hats and feather boas everywhere. Home by 1 i/d say.

Went out on the Sat night and we were drinking bubblepots. There was this bar that serves mad cocktails in teapots. Such a cool idea eh? But theres some law in NZ that says hard liquor cant be served in a big glas woth this type of drink,so we had to pour our drinks out of the teapot into illumo green shot glasses. This was hilarious as the night went on. Very dainty.
Went to a few bars, met this lad who had just moved to NZ that week,he was an Aussie,but sound, He was a golf course designer or summat ,very in touch with his "feelings"

Anyway next thing we find ourselves in his swish company apartment. It was class. All sleek and minimalist design with plasma screen tvs everywhere. Very boy.

Anyway lots to drink, wine again,will they ever learn??

This is the second sat night in a row we find ourselves ensconced in plush surroundings being taken care of by moneyed men. Its something a girl living out of a bag completely appreciates.

He went off to work the next morn and we were soooooooooooooo hungover.Again. He had yum cheese in his fridge.We struggled into town.

We decided to head to Milford sound after this. Its a beautiful fjordland area in the very south east. Mountains that run into the sea,carved by glaciers with mostly seawater but fresh water floats on top that runs down the mountains everyday.

It was a fantastic drive down to Te Anu all along the lakes. Theres a flat stretch of road with a fence with about 500 bras all tied to it.How　scenic sez you.

We stayed in Te Anu and drove out to Milford cos it was too pricey out there,There are no shops or petrol stations and only 2 places to stay in Milford, so once u pass the tunnel in the mountain you better have your supply of Hula Hoopa with you ,cos you aint getting them in there

Milford Sound was inaccesible by road until the 30;s when they gouged a road thru a humongous mountain. The mountains are enormous here,with snow on top,water flows down constantnly. Its so lush and healthy and outdoorsy here.
We did a boat tour out onto the Sound, with the hopes of seeing some penguins,but the feckers just left to mate elsehwere.They are quite choosy where they get jiggy.
It was stunning scenery,huge waterfalls come off the mountains into the sound, the boat captain drove the boat into the waterfall a bit and me and lindy were up the front and got soaked . The lad who worked on the boat spent ages with us tellin us all cool stuff about the sound that i forget now,oh we did see a whole group of dolphins jumpin around,that was cool.
God am so shite at describing this stuff.

Oh yeah we ran out of petrol in Milford, had plenty of Hula Hoops tho.Managed to get a lil top up in a bizzaro campervan park,after being followed by 2 mad dudes in thier van who were filming us.

After Milford we decide to head back up to Queenstown to stay with Golfcourse lad.

Hes not home when we get there, its late, were homeless. BooHoo.
We get beer in offy and decide to sleep in Rosie.
We pick classic lakeside vista and have a wee party. Theres only 1 other campervan parked in our sly lay by.

Slept suprisingly well. Woke up and linda is just nosing the car out onto road and a park ranger viciously hops out of his vehicle and stomps up the road to the campervan and starts bangong on the door shouting. We were sooo lucky,10seconds earlier it would have been us. Theres a hefty fine for sleeping in lay bys,lucky lucky lucky

Weetabix and banannas and Subway veggie delite sambos,this is a regular day.
If i see them again i might get violent.

MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm then what.....................
We drive to Christchurch, where were getting our flight to Melbourne. I didnt like Christchurch,it was boring. Or we were just readsy to leave and had enuff fab scenery.
We just watched DVDs in a hostel for a whole day. Met an hilarious Scottish lad that worked as a personal shopper in Debhanams. Youd have to have met him to see why that was funny.

We slept in car at airport on last night cos our flight was at 5am to Melbourne.Had to give Rosie back to Avis,i hope they look after her.

G day Melbourne ya flamin gallah

skydive

2005-12-02T06:57:00.000Z

guess what?
yesterday at lake taupo we jumped out of an airplane
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it was soooooooooooooo crazy, 12,000 feet skydive . absolutely amazing, such a rush !!we were screamin and laughing for hours after!! we loved it!!!!

even now today when i think of it, i cant believe we done it!! Even when linda and i tell other peeps stories about it ,i get all excited again........

the bit when u actually leave the solidness of the plane and plunge so fast in to the free fall air was so petrifying , for the first ten seconds i was like , oh good jesus ,why did i want to do this? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, but then i was like feck it!!wooohhhohooh, was screaming all the way for the first bit ,its thirsty work!

my tandem jumper guy was such a laff he was spinning us round and joking at 10,ooo feet!! when the shoot opens and we were coasting down it was suprisingly relaxing, and the landing was grand. we got these dvds of us doin it that are a hoot.
i still cant believe i did that yesterday

we only went out to airport to ask some questions about it and then we walked in the door and next thing we had the jump suits and harnesses on it was all so quick, no time to think about it so no time to chicken out, probably better.
i loved it tho would deffo do it again.

xx michelle

Aw Yeeeeh

2005-12-01T08:22:00.000Z

So we spent 2 weeks in new zeal.

We flew into Auckland all bronzed and relaxed after Fiji , we spent ages foostering around in the airport trying to work out where to go what to do....we decided to hire a car as the bus around the 2 islands was mad dear and having a car would be excellent anyhow.
We somehow managed to get ourselves a free upgrade from the lad at Avis and soon found ourselves cruising towards Roturua in a "Sweet As" Jeep thing a rav 4, was so deadly.
we called her Rosie Redster,mostly cos she was red and partly cos it seemed like a good idea
We drove down to Rotorua stayed the night ,checked out the bubbly and smelly natural hot springs
got up the next morn and headed off to the luge which is basically a down foresty hill karting thing, which was such a laff, us and all the kiddywinks,when ya get to bottom you have to get a ski lift back up and linda dropped her flip flop all the way down. ha ha
then we drove to lake Taupo had lunch and went to ask a few questions about sky divin.
see my bit on the dive
loved it

We decided to head down to Wellington where we stayed with the so cute Josh,3 and Bella 6, oh and thier parents, They are friends of Matts, Lindas flatmate from London.What a cute family.They had the coolest house in Haitaitai,a village suburb of Wellinton, we even had our own rooms.They made us feel so welcome and we ended up acting like ejits. It was the wine.

We were mad to go out and as we had arrived on a Sat ,no better night sez u.

So we got some vino and had a few getting ready, then all of a sudden it was almost midnight and we still hadnt left the sofa. The family had gone to bed hours earlier and we were still chattin away. I mean we have spent 6 months together and are still not realy to give up the chat and leave the house. I ask ya.

Plus it was so windy and cold outside. Any way we got taxi into town,after bizzare warning from bouncer in pub in haitaitai,we hit a few bars in town. Theres one area where everyone goes out. I cant rem name,something parade...

anyway we went to about 3 or four bars,we met a lad out on his stag and took him up to the Mermaids bar. A "gentlemans club" where theres a tank in the middle with young ones done up like mermaids swim around in the nip.
We had heard about it and wanted to go. But when we got to door they wanted us to pay,the cheek, so we left.We left stag lad and went to another snazz bar where we met these 2 usa guys outside. It turns out they are over makin a film here in New Zealand,some stoner flick with Wil Ferrell, anyway they were a laff.One guy was a comedy writer , he had written for 7 years on Saturday nite live, he was hilarious, and his mate wa a producer. They were in their late 30's and had a hefty amount of cash.
Lots of vino later we find ourselves in a very plush loft apartment downtown. Thier studio had paid for everything and they had bought tons of stuff that was all lying around.Seriously nice pad tho.

We ended up not getting back to Haitaitai till around 2pm the next day, by which time I was in a state, not much sleep. We had no keys and the family had gone out so we had a coffee down the street and i fell asleep on table.lovely.

So about an hour later we made our way back up the steep hill to the family home,felling like yesterdays news and somehow guilty for not comin home?

I hate walkin round in sat nites outfit on a sunday afernoon,you feel so conspic.esp if you doze on a table in a coffe shop.

Was a really good nite tho.

Anyway the family ask us how was the nite etc and somehow we ended up singing Danas 'all kinds of everything' to them in thier kihchen at half 2 in the day.I cant rem reason for that.

Still tips' and I was near delirious with lack of sleep,all my own doin of course. Linda doesnt seem as bad, I reckon she got some sleep.
.
Had few hours kip,family made yum dins,we read the kiddywinks some stories,they are sooo cute, jesus.

We went for a cruise round town in the jeepster, wanted to go to flicks but only Harry Potts on so,no.

We left Wellington the next day, said goodbye to Rosie Redster and got on ferry to Picton,south Island.

Saw "Elf" on the ferry, a kids film but .....what an hilarious film, i really want to see that again
"Hi Im Buddy the elf,whats your favourite colour?"

Will Ferrell was in it, I didnt know who he was a few days ago ,until we met those writer guys and now i hear his name everywhere.

Got to Picton and god fobid we have to walk anywhere we get over to Avis prontissimo to get our next wheels.

we somehow get another free upgrade and another Rav 4 jeep. Sweet as, as everyone sez here in NZ. how do we do it?

We cruise to Nelson......fields,llamas,sheep,beautiful flowers.

I mean it is a stunning country, but in places it is a bit like the old sod.

Im a spoiled brat now for beautiful places.
When we were in Brazil, I went on this waterfall trek with these 2 irish lads that were only starting thier trip ,we went on a boat to a part of the island that had a class beach and then we did this trek to a beautiful waterfall, we passed thru a tiny village on the way,anyhow it was gorge but the two lads we so amazed and in awe of it all they couldnt get over how beautiful it was in the rain forest or the boats in the harbour or the kids with no shoes/shirts playin in fishing nets, or the waterfall,they were goin on and on and i was like......god ,i now am startin to take all this for granted.
We have seen so many beautiful and amazing places that im becomin complacent. a spoilt brat really.It will be so hard to please us in the future.We have ourselves ruined as they say.

anyway so NZ is gorge but everyone was ravin on and on about it but i dunno ..........

So we checked out Nelson, Its a lil town in a state park, i got some red paper and i made all my Christmas cards here. I esp liked the Christmas Potato one, Its festive yet irish,maybe i could sell them next year.....

the funds are running low now so im havin mad thoughts ,like appyling to correct exam papers next june when i get back. Nasty ,evil thoughts,its mad what money, or really the lack thereof, will make a young one do.

I love chai, whether in tea or a latte am becomin fixated on my next one.

Am so glad we have our own music and speakers cos there doesnt sem to be any radio stations in NZ

Lindas a great wee driver am now a dozy cartographer,i cant tell my left from my left anymore.I used to be good,lost my skills

Next we hit Greymouth which is on eastcoast and is a boring town,Grey by name...
So we go to grog shop and get carton of wine and hop into spa pool behind the hostel,
atfer abusing red wine in South America and beer in fiji ,cold crisp chardonnay is like heaven

we always turn to drink when we get bored....or food ......when will we detox??suppose to do it evrymonth fo the past 6 months but its always "oh well we will have to have few drinks in LA or Rio or Managua or my birthday or sure its a sat nite or or or or or......... it will never stop.

We now say in India for deffo ,which isnt till april ......so am goin to look into goin for 2 weeks in an ashram ,hardcore .oooohh scary.

BULA BABES

2005-11-30T04:12:00.000Z

hey hey hey
or Bula ! as we say here in stunningly tropical Fiji

Thanks for my birthday greetings, i had such a top day...

LInda and i left Brazil on Sunday 20th, we had been staying on another gorgeous
Island, Isla Grande, off the coast nearish to Rio, we are completely
spolit for islands,jungle and beaches now.

We flew from Sao Paulo over to Santiago in Chile and had about 6 hours
to kill in airport so we headed into the city to check it out, not a
fab town really, we were both wrecked anyway so we got lunch and went
to flicks!! Not the most cultural way to see Santiago but feck it we were wrecked and thier comes a saturation point.

Its goodbye to the latino way of life, no more espagnol for us ,am
really gonna miss this side of the world,i love it. Es mi encanta

Then we had a 13 hour flight to Auckland , we crossed the
International date line and missed out on monday nov 21st
completely!! a first for us,

we arrived at a ludacris time 4.30am and had to hang round til 1pm for
our flight to Fiji, as u can imagine we were both exhausted,

we read all the magazines in the shops, it was so funny to see all
English mags, they had all the greats...Now, Heat,Hello,Cosmo,Marie
Claire...we were in heaven,
Angelina and Brad, how thin is Nicloe Ritchie?,Charlotte Church has
massive boobs,

then we had showers another first for me in an airport but frequent
flyer points linda has all the tricks down, and then we got to slather
our selves in the most expensive creams,lotions ,potions and make up
known to duty free man. Was fun

We flew to Nadi on Viti levu and were welcomed with lads in skirts
giving us shell necklaces,saying Bula and singing some pretty amazing
island songs,

We we so tired, we checked in to some hostel,dinner, met
some lads who recommended Mana Island , there were so many to choose
from, and surely one tropical paradise is as good as its lil
neighbour?

The next day was my Bday !! Yeah!! we got bus early into
Nadi and had huge fry up,gorgeous,

then we got boat to Mana Island, was such a smooth ride over on the tin can boat. took about an hour from mainland.Checked into a backpackers place,30
seconds from beach, it was run by the Mamas, a group of about 5 island
women all flowery skirts and afros, we had our own little dotey room
and they cook all your meals. Our first ever inclusive hol,albeit a ramshackle one! was odd
you just to beach or snorkel and come back at 1pm and your Mama has
lunch on table!!
come in for yer dinner........

Went to beautiful north beach that afternoon and linda gave me my
gorgeous pressies on beach, includin the coolest leather belt/side bag
ever, love it am wearin it now. had yum dinns and beers that night
then fell into bed exhausted and older.oh!

Fiji is so beautiful, I mean its stunning, Blue blue water,white
powder coral sand, huge red, white ,peach hibiscus and frangipani
flowers everywhere, that people wear ,men and women, behind thier
ears, they were on our beds on the table on chairs,everywhere..
Swimming, snorkelling ,sunbathing,scuba diving,eating,
sleepin,drinking beer/Bounty rum, thats what weve been at all week its
been top.
I found this book in Nadi called Cosa Nostra it was a history of the sicillian mafia, but it was too tough goin so i used it as a door stopper and finished Jane Eyre instead. Oh Jane, shes so plain as they all kept tellin her,She should have given that Rochester a good slap

Mana is tiny, we had no computers,tvs, only 1 telephone etc and only
electricity at night, which is handy eh?At the top end of the island
there was a 5star resort that we used to sneak into to use their lush
infinity pool and lie on thier snug beach chairs

Lie on Beach or go for swim, these are pressing questions.

Its really hot here,with fab sunsets, there was a sound enogh bunch
of people stayin at our hostel, so the evenings were good craic,one or
two particularily boozy eves but there was only one beach bar on
tiny Mana Island. 1minute from our little room...handy
We were hangin around with this Aussie guy for a while, he was over setting up and building a hostel on the island. He was sound and cute but drank like a whale,he ended up gettin really aggro one nite with Liam and co about football.It wasnt pretty.Some people should just put the glass down and sleep it off.

We had a Kava ceremony on sat night, its a local drink, which makes
your tongue numb and you feel a bit woozy just mostly tired tho. We
were all sitting round drinknin and singin, the fijian songs are
amazing ,the lads are such good singers all harmonies and everything.
was cool cos our place was in the village and we got to know lots of
locals over the week, such friendly peeps !!

At the begining of the week there was abig group of Mary and Siles
in our hostel,too many irish, its been a while since we have seen any
and now this is a taster of what oz will be like.
County Bondi they called it.I think it will be quick trips to oz and
new zealand and off up to China and Aisa.

We went spearfishing one day which was amazing!! We got a wee boat with liam and sven from hostel and joe one of the mamas sons and his mate.The island we fished from is literally just a sandbar , its tiny- with one treee in middle, takes about 2 mins to walk round whole island. The local guys put up a tent for shelter and we all hopped into sea with snorkels to get some fishies. The reef was beautiful and the fishies are fast feckers thay are v, hard to spear. The local lads caught all the fish while we were all foostering with the spears. it was really good craic tho.very castaway.Me and lin even gutted and descaled the fish!! and then the local boys bbqd it back on beach yum yum yum.
Was roasting hot and we spent aft swimming and chatting. Joe was teaching me Fijian, Uru joe, hes looking for a wife cos he wants some one to cook his dinner and wash his clothes, I think I want a wife too.

Went for a fun dive too, the reefs here are amazing,Our next dive will prob be on the barrier reef in oz so it was good to get back into it. Our last dive was in Honduras last summer.Itrs mad cos you forget all the bits and where they go.

Was just fun in the sun really and so relaxing.
we just got back to Nadi flyin to new Zeal tomorrow morn few weeks
there then melbourne for christmas
its so odd its roastin here and they have reggae stylee christmas
tunes on radio.so surreal
bula babes...bula
michelle x

Adios, ciao Sud America... sob

2005-11-19T04:43:00.000Z

Sunday 20th Nov

After my overnight bus from Rio I arrive in Sao Paulo at 7am and get to the airport for 8 our flights at 10am. I hang out at the checkin desk - no sign of Mik about
9.15 I check myself in, no sign of mik.
9.20 I am racing around the airport looking for her
9.25 she appears after nearly giving me a heart attack.
We would've been screwed had we missed the flight coz we have 2 connecting flights, turns out we fly straight to Fiji no stopover in Aukland as we thought.

We arrive in Santiago Chile about 12pm and head into town. Wander about, get dinner, there's not much to do there and I'm tired coz i've spent the night on the bus. Bad and all that it is -the one day that we have in Santiago, we head to the cinema and see the Exorcism of Emily Rose- good flick!!

Then back out to the airport and catch our Aukland flight, we arrive 4 in the morning and hang around for our flight to Fiji which doesn't leave until 2pm.

Tuesday

Its Tuesday here today which is really wierd because we totally missed Monday, it never happened. We flew over the international date line on the way here and the days went from Sunday to Tuesday.

So I hope nothing much happened on Monday.

The flight here was good there was an excellent entertainment system, you could choose your movie, pause it, rewind it. Play computer games, I got to 125,000 on who wants to be a millionaire !! Wish it was for real.
I've been on the go since Sat and haven't slept in a proper bed since Fri.

Paradiso Ihla Grande

2005-11-15T09:38:00.000Z

Ihla Grande Brazil

Mon Nov 14th contd

We Ciao to the crazy driver about 1.20pm, 3 hours later, a longer journey than he had thought. As luck would have it there was a boat leaving at 1.30 so we jump on board, sit back and try to relax our rigid muscles. It was a lovely boat trip, gorgeous day, beautiful scenery, we were looking forward to seeing the Island.

And it didn't disappoint, we docked at a small town Abraa, with a long sandy beach scattered palm trees and backdrop of jungle hills, beautiful weather, no cars, very peaceful and easy going. It was good to be in paradise once again.

Turns out tho the last cheap beds were just sold. But a local at the pier has a small apartment for 4 and we join up with 2 lads who just got off the boat, Silvio the Swiss and Will the Aussie and head off to check it out. Its fine except theres just one bedroom with 2 single beds and a double in the kitchen. But we don't care now that we've got feeling back we realise we're famished. So we dump the bags and go in search of grub.

After a buffet later we stroll about the island. On the beach 2 locals dudes(who seem drunk) get me to take their picture, they guess immediately that I'm Irish and ask if I was staying at the hostel the Aquario. I asked them where it was and as we were just around the corner from it we decide to check it out.

As we walk in the gate we meet Marcio a gorgeous and chatty Uruguayan who's staying in the hostel. And even though we had no intentions of staying there (it was pricier) I let him give me a guided tour of the hostel. It was set in the most gorgeous location with a spectacular view of the Island.

Turns out Marcio used to manage the Mellow Yellow hostel and had just left there 2 weeks earlier and was now on his hols. For the remainder of the afternoon the 3 of us sat looking out at the view until sunset. Me and Mik were too exhausted at that point to be much company, we told him about our late night and taxi trip. He had a very eventful life and was very funny so he entertained us with various stories. The 3 of us ended up out later that night having dinner.

Tuesday nov 15th

Mik had the ingenious idea of us leaving our backpacks with the lads and taking just what we needed to the hostel. There's no way we coulda carried everything along the beach in the sweltering heat. We check in to the hostel and hang out with Marcio. Later we made the short trek through the jungle and spend the afternoon on the most devine beach. Marcio doesn't join us as he had severely sunburnt himself when kayaking and was just about able to walk, which was a pity.
That evening we go to dinner in a delicious and reasonably priced kilo restaurant. Later myself and Marcio sit in the full moon looking out over the sea.

Wednesday Nov 16th

The next day, Mik hits the beach while Me n Marcio laze about, he's too sunburnt to leave. He askes me to join him in Rio for a few days. That evening I meet mik and we go into town, we bump into Will and Silvio and join them for a drink and they come back to the hostel to the BBQ.

Thurs Nov 17th
We invite Mik with us to Rio but she decides to stay on the island. She heads off on a day trip with some Irish guys that were staying in our room.

Myself and Marcio are supposed to get a lift with Fred the owner of the hostel whos a pal of Marcios but he was having a huge row with the woman who ran his hostel and decides not to leave. So we have to leave earlier to get the last boat and we don't see Mik before we leave.

I had a glorious time with Marcio in Rio. But alas I had to go, I am mad about him and I don't want to say goodbye. I didn't expect this, he has blown away.
maracana football stadium Rio
I am planning my return to Rio at the end of this trip. For the present at least it will have to be a long distance relationship, I miss him lots and it's not easy that its going to be so long before I see him again.

The girls in Ipanema

2005-11-10T06:45:00.000Z

Wednesday Nov 9th 05

Rio De Janiero

Made it to Brazil (country no. 14 or 15), a 22 hour bus trip from the spectacular Iguazu (which is not even a strong enough word to describe those amazing falls). A cozy trip complete with big reclining seats, dvds (Mr and Mrs Smith for the 4th time, oh and Escape from Alcataz - which was cool coz we had been there!), dinner and a after dinner whiskey to knock us out and we wake up in Rio.

At the bus station at 7am or something equally similar we hook up with Ian a head scarfed, dredlocked and multiple pierced english bloke that speaks israeli and has been travelling forever (he biked it from London to Israel a few years back- was just one trip).

After the usual sortin out of cash, figuring out where we were, where was cheap to go, how to get there, we decide to all bung into a taxi together and head to Catete where the cheap hotels were. We check in and reconvene at 3pm as our taxi driver was to take us to Copacobana and show us a flat he had to let- we had really little interest but he was pushy and we thought hey free lift. Anywho he doesn't show so the 3 of us hop on the bus amd go there ourselves.

On first impressions we weren't blown away by the worlds most famous beach. It was cold and grey and deserted, no bronzed beach stunners in thongs and speedos we had seen in the pictures.
So we sat ourselves down at a beach front stall and tried the caipirinha cocktails the local speciality -man they're strong I was kinda locked after 2 of them. While we were there we had all sorts of mad locals coming up and chatting, selling their wares (some unusual items such as cow hoof wine holders), 2 local drunks with a cute kid and a drunk puppy entertained us for a while.

Sitting there the 3 of us all concluded that the tale of Brazilians being the most beautiful race is a lie me n Mik couldn't pick out any hot guys nor Ian any hot girls (and we kept reporting back to eachother over the coming days that we'd seen no hotties!). Kinda disapointing really especially after we had been babe spotting soo much in Argentina (they were everwhere, no escape it was great!)

Ian had heard of this hostel called the Mellow Yellow which was supposed to be cool and was just a block from the beach as our cheap hotel was so far away from it all and was v quiet, we decide to go check it out. About 3 hours later!! after various directions and a lotta walkin we eventually find it.

It turns out to be very bloody expensive ($16) and discussions were had but it was very cool, spa, funky bar, chillout room, lots of interesting activites, dvds, real good atmosphere so the 3 of us decide to book in for the weekend.

We head back to Catete and straight into a restaurant starved, we go for the buffet which in Brazilian style you can pile as much of whatever you want from the buffet onto your plate and you pay by the kilo. It's a lil strange coz u could pile a bunch of steaks on there or have just salad and you are still just charged by the kilo. However it turns out we're the only ones eating the buffet everyone else is being offered all types of pizza slices and deserts the restaurant speciality eat as much pizza and desert as u can for about 7e- bummer we missed out.

It took us a few days to get the hang of basic Portugese its a much harsher language than spanish, there's alot of similar words but the pronunciation is so different you wouldn't recognise it or be understood. We were sad not to be using our spanish that we'd been working on so much, so we didn't really like the portugese language. Oi is hello, the amount of times i said gracias instead of obrigado.

Thurs Nov 10th

Next mornin, the 3 of us bung into another taxi and check into the cheapest room in the Mellow yellow. A 26 bed dorm that has 3 TIERD bunk beds!! We hit the top bunks. We couldn't believe our luck when we were offered some o the free breakfast (which was good, fruit, cake, toast, ham, cheese, coffee). This is the 1st hostel we'd be in that had breakfast at a bloody reasonable hour from 9am -12 every other single hostel has breakfast from a crazy hour like 6am to 9. Only bloody Seamus and Sheila Mc Safari (as mik puts it) get up at that hour.

Ian hooks up with his danish mate and me n Mik head off in search of South Americas largest shoppin mall. After a couple of wrong bus changes we get there, twas big, twas pricey, twas the same clothes that were in the shops in Buenos Aires, San Fran, Dublin, Madrid (cept there was d best). We have concluded that the fashion is the same all over the world - we're becoming freakin sheep here.
Back on the bus we get after crossing over the worlds most dangerous highway, playing dodge with cars -the bus takes off does a big u turn and brings us back to outside the shopping mall again - great. Some negotiations later with passerbys in spanglish and we're on another bus that takes us in the wrong direction and pulls up at a station and for about 15 mins its just the two of us sitting there on the bus by ourselves, wondering how we managed to get there.

Friday Nov 11th

Next day we hung about Copacobana, still grey and cloudy, rain too. That night we knocked in the cheap ass rum and joined Ian and Hamish (sound new zealander enroute to work in London), the danish guy who's name escapes me now and another english bloke, who were in the bar playing our old favourite drinking game ring of fire (or they called it circle of death). We got our free cocktails and joined in. It's the best card game ever, a good laff, everyone was gettin really locked then 2 chirpy young english girls decide to join in and they had to be explained the rules and they ruined the flow of the game really. But then it was time to head to the street party in Lapa. So all jump into a bus, me n mik were up the front and put on some tunes, the driver puts in some Samba style music it wasn't really my cuppa tea but nonetheless.
We arrive in Lapa cool spot lotsa peeps on hanging out on the streets drinking beneath the old aquaduct which dominates the skyline there. So first one off the bus is Mik or I should say she falls outta the bus onto the kerb and damages her knee. Then while i'm helpin her up some swiss or german dude somes up to us and starts yellin at us coz we didn't turn the music down on the bus when he asked and how were inconsiderate and the like...

Anywho we catch up with the rest of the crew and meet these 2 new zealand girls who we'd recognised around the place, we kept seeing them in Buenos Aires. Things just go into a bit of a blur from there. All head to a small hiphop type club then the group split, we wander about try to get into a live music gig, another club and end up back at the 1st place, turns out some o the gang had the same idea. Some local dudes show us their choreographed, sequenced moves - very smooth!! End of the night just me, mik n Hamish left. 3 of us into a taxi, i've got uncontrollable hiccups so classy. We go a few miles in the wrong direction past the hostel before eventually make it back at ridiculous o clock.

Saturday Nov 12th

Next day hungover and not feeling up to it at all we decide to sightsee, we catch a bus to Corcocovado to check out the dude with the arms that you can see from all over the city. Turns out its 26 bucks to get the cog train there but theres a bloke who'll take us up in our own private taxi and will make an extra stop for the same price - fair enuff says us. And nice views there are from Cristo Redentor (Christ the redeemer), can see it all, the Maracana stadium, Copacobana, Ipanema, Sugar Loaf Mountain. Twas cloudy tho. There's a church in the base of the statue (thats art deco stylee) but it was closed for renovations.

Afterwards we stroll back through St Theresa and end up surprise surprise back in Catete infront of the restaurant with the all you can eat pizza. There's nothing for it we have to go in and sample the goods. There were 180 different toppings there I reckoned we tried a good 170 of them, we were disgusting. The locals were delicately slicing theirs up with a knife and fork and finishing one before starting another. We were getting the slices and at the end just eating the toppings. We still are in the famine mode. I dunno what it is, once there's an all you can eat type of affair its bad, very bad.

That night we chill at the hostel and watch some dvds, like we could've moved anywhere after that.

Just readin the Motor cycle Diaries and Che puts it well - we ate as if we were camels, filling up our reserves!!

Sunday Nov 13th

Next Day Sunday and the SUN HAS COME OUT WOHOO!!!! Copacobana is unrecogisable, there are people everwhere they've closed off a section of the road and it is swarming with sellers, buskers, cyclists, bladers, u name it. The beach is packed with tonnes of bronzed beach bodies every single guy seems to be wearing speedos (yuck!) and all the girls in thongs. The photos are true!! Everyones got picnics, deckchairs and the like and are swimming in the sea. We stroll down soaking up sun and atmosphere. It is said that the beaches which are divided into sections are also divide by the tpes of people that hang there - eg hippies together, posers tog, etc etc We hang out on Ipanema beach for the day, check out the market and drink the milk outta coconuts.

That night back on the cheap ass rum and have a few bevies in the hostel bar, us and a lot of the same gang that were at the street party head off to the Favela funk rave. For those not in the know - favelas are the slums of Rio, you can see them all over, thrown together houses on the sides of the hills, stacked on top of each other.

So after lots of warnings from previous ravers me n Mik ran back inside and put on sturdy runners and had to run down the street after the bus. We get to a big warehouse are ushered inside up to the "VIP" section which is not VIP as we know it but is essentially a safe haven for the tourists when things get too hectic on the floor below.

The club was jammed and hoppin and the music is created by the local DJ's, I don't know how u'd describe it - a techo, samba, funk mix, some of it was v good. Our group were the only tourists there and we were warned the local guys can get pretty full on (I was given extra warnings coz I was blond). But there were no problems and a great night was had by all, the beer was cheap about $2 a can, lotsa dancin. A local girl and her boyfriend took to teaching us some of the local moves -some o those girls can really shake ass but they didn't have a patch on the X rated moves we saw in Vegas- thank god!!

Monday Nov 14th

3 hours sleep and hangover later we're up and worse thing is we have to back the bloody bags, check out and try make it to the 10.30 bus to Angra so we can make the 3pm boat crossing to Ihla Grande. At 10.20 we get into the taxi and just as we're wondering if there was any point in going to the bus station, but the taxi driver a young chap about 25, in portuguese tells us he'll take us to Angra for about 70 reals about 35e, (he wanted a bit more but we managed to keep the price down) later we realised we got it very cheap -the bus and 2 taxi journeys would have easily cost that. We'd missed the bus anyway so why not...

We didn't realise that we had just let ourselves in for the scariest ride of our lives. The guy was a nut case driver. He races along at speeds averaging 150, lanes don't matter to him, he drives on the white line so he can fit between the cars in the lanes, if a car pulls in in front on him he speeds up and does a loop around it, he crosses 3 lanes at a time and then back again, nipping in and out between cars. Its like we're in some sort of high chase computer game. And we haven't even left Rio, next thing he's off the highway and we end up back on the other side of the road racing back toward the city, turns out he's not too sure where he's going.

He figures it out, we get on the right road and we straight into traffic but that doesn't slow him, he drives on hard shoulders, races off the highway on a side road and rejoins it, he nudges into the smallest gaps right in front of huge trucks who prob can't even see him. We're braced in the back seat, eyes glued to the road, afraid to look away for 2 seconds. We pass by an accident and see a kid who has been knocked down lying on the road, it's awful, there's a big argument going on and lots of cars pulled in. In our spanish-portugese we ask him to slow down, but he doesn't listen he's in a hurry to get back to Rio.

We get off the highway and we release our grip slightly but not much. 2 and 1/2 Hours into the trip he turns to us, he's hasn't got much petrol left, we reckon he didn't bank on this journey being so long. So at last he slows down puts on his hazard lights (bit late for that I reckoned) and takes to free wheeling down the hills. 20 mins later we make it to the petrol station just outside Angra. He takes to thanking God, he didn't think we'd make it!! Me and Mik wanna sing our praises to God too and get out and kiss the ground.

Its no Iguazu.....

2005-11-07T04:43:00.000Z

Iguazu Falls are amazing.

I mean I didnt really think a whole lot about going up to see them ,they were on our way to Brazil but Jesus they were spectacular. I would deffo reccommend a visit.

they were AMAZING

check out the snaps

we did a speed boat tour and got completely soaked,the 'wild' captain was driving us under some of the smaller falls, it was hilarious tho,.he was whizzing round the river makin the boat teeter on the edge,like up on two wheels with a car,dukes of hazzrd stylee

great day,did a wee rainforest ramble,tried to have lunch at the 5 star hotel,then we got fab dinner in town,few drinks and we got completely lost on the way home.
we now just check in to some hotel dump the stuff and head out,we forgot to get the name or address of where we lived so it was difficult to get home,we couldnt even ask people to point us to Lisa lodge or whatever cos we hadnt a clue.

must remember stuff like that in future its so handy

Falls were spectacular and now whenever we see another water fall its always gonna be
Its no Iguauzu..............

Rosario

2005-11-06T04:11:00.000Z

It was hard to leave Buenos Aires, we had both loved it so much but our time was ticking and we decided to stop in the northern Argentinian town of Rosario enroute to Iguazu Falls.

So we get on another bus , we just love them and bouce our way up to Rosario, the birth place of good ol Che Guevarra.
His house was on the same street as our run down hotel, faded charm is our term.

Rosario was a happening little spot, altho we did seem to be the only tourists around. It was warm enough here too which was excellent.

We decided to completely treat our selves here, we went for leg waxes,massages,reflexology,facials............. oh ladies it was bliss and cost about 30 euros in total.Bargain.
Argentian women are in the salon24/7 it seems

When we were here Bush decided to visit Mar del Plata, a town near buenos aires,for the Latin american trade conference and it caused an uproar. this is a university town and we witnessed massive protests.
some of these socialist types are seriously hot.
Any and all American Banks or businesses were targeted for grafitti and paintball attacks.

A few peeps got arrested. We were paranoid in case the locals would think we were americans.

There were some excellent bars in the small town and we went out for one hilarious night. Of course we couldnt take it handy and have a few. oh no. but bottles of wine even in bars are so cheap.
We met so many people that night and ended up getting split up but we did manage to meet back the next morn at the hotel, i still marvel at how we both could find it....

We also went to see Manu Chao in this cool ass open air amphitheatre, it was electric with only about 2000 peeps in the rounded theatre. We couldnt believe when we heard he was playing, i wanted to seee him and his band of mad minstrels for years. Que hora son mi corazon..............?
He played in Dublin about 2 years ago in the Ambassador but it was sold out. Would love to see them again.

Went to some markets climbed the bandera monument then we got on another bus to get up to Iguazu falls

Fuera Bush

2005-11-04T17:13:00.000Z

ROSARIO

Check out the news here!
- Demonstrators angry about President Bush's policies clashed with police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses Friday, marring the inauguration of the Summit of the Americas as leaders began debating creation of one of the world's largest free trade zones.

The chaos reflected the often violent, worldwide debate on free trade as the United States and Mexico pushed to relaunch talks on a zone stretching from Canada to Chile. Past summits on the issue — including last year's gathering of Asian-Pacific leaders in Chile — have drawn bitter opposition and similarly angry protests.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez emerged as the most strident opponent of the plan, addressing a separate crowd of more than 10,000 peaceful protesters hours before the summit convened in this normally tranquil seaside resort.

Chavez vowed to defeat the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, once and for all. Speaking before a six-story banner of revolutionary Che Guevara, Chavez urged the throng — including soccer great Diego Maradona and Bolivian presidential hopeful Evo Morales — to help him fight free trade.

"Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life," he said, adding: "Here, in Mar del Plata, FTAA will be buried!"

Before Chavez's speech, demonstrators flooded the streets, shouting "Get out Bush!" and "Fascist Bush! You are the terrorist!"

Chavez and protesters argue that free trade is being forced on Latin American countries. He has instead pushed for an anti-FTAA deal based on socialist ideals.

Rabbit Drives Limo

2005-10-30T02:32:00.000Z

We were havin lunch today in San Telmo and we met a lad, he was Dutch and v pale but he had a canadian accent,

anyway
He told us this story how he was living in the States and he bought a white limosuine, cos it was the cheapest car he could find cos no one wanted to buy it, and he drove all over the States in it and eventually sold it in Chicago for a 50%profit. He even slept in it but got arrested twice for this.

Any how he was going to a Gay Pride festival in San Fran and the only costume left was a Bunny rabbit one so he took it and then was driving round in his limo as a bunny. Then he got into a fight cos some lad pinched his arse and he wasnt happy so he had a huge punch up as a bunny.

He had all sorts of mad stories and we keep bumpin in to him on the street.And he just launches into a story.Today we met him as he was off to buy a taperecorder.

He lives in Rio and is opening an internet business but has no portugese. He got his nose broke by a female cop in Nevada cos she thought he was a drug dealer.

Its rare to meet a relatively sane person when your travelling, its so great.

uraquay not?

2005-10-23T19:56:00.000+01:00

We were sitting in the cutest cafe-bakery ever in San Telmo,B Aires on sunday morn, it was all croissants and cafe con leche and handmade chocolates.We had been out for mucho mucho red vine the night before and today we were suppose to be packin the bags and headin to Patagonia for a week to return to party next wknd in BA again. Patagonia, a snowy hikers dream, all lakes and glaciers and goodness.

We both still have colds and are going thru South Americas tissue budget.We gots ta thinkin and we read about Uraquay and it was only few hours away and it sounded excellent, beaches,wine,fab food, horses, so we said fuck it we´ll go to Uraquay instead.

The trip to Uraquay was hilarious.
I mean i wasnt wettin myself laughing, its just , Linda and I are so lax when it comes to organising important things and we dont seem to learn. We think about dinners and nights out in details but gettin to places and where we sleep seems to be secondary in thought. But it always works out and we both like to see what will happen if we just let it-

So, Of course we didnt bother checkin into anything, we just headed off to dock but we thought boat was too expensive, then taxi to bus station, told no buses and some guy said we could get one cheaper boat in La Tigre, a suburb of B.ires 30mins away on train, so walked to train station
out to La Tigre, boat was full, we could have just rang, so........back to original dock and got original boat only 5 hours later. What fun when your luggin your bag.

Uraquay was ok wouldnt be rushing back
We stayed in Colonia del Sacramento a cute town all cobbles and river. We had a cool barn house We went horse riding on beach one day which was good, not enough galloping tho,an incident occured whereby a foal kicked linda in the shin. Ouch. She has horse shoe shaped scar on her leg now as a memento of Uraquay. Handy and not nearly as heavy as a fridge magnet.

Went up to Punta del Este in the north which is snazz beach town, suppose to have excellent nightlife with top djs but it was a trendy designer handbag town, nice beach ,was hot when we were there, we got bikes and cycled round. The summer season is only starting there so it was empty.Met 2 seriously hot blokes doing capoeira on beach.
Not much in Montevideo, get me back to Buenos Aires nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Here we go again, we´re on the road again

2005-10-22T15:11:00.000+01:00

So it goes a lil something like this....

Me n Mik finally get the flight to Buenos Aires (pron: Eye rees). But as usual with all our travel here it´s not your basic get on a flight in La Paz and get off in B Aires. No that´d be too easy for us....

First we arrive about 4 hours early for the flight in anticipation of the gas blockades. Enroute to the airport there were army trucks handing out the gas, so no probs there- grand. 4 hours early and then the flights delayed 2 hours- great.

Eventually we board and after 1 hour we land in Arica, Chile and everyone has to file off the plane, stand in a corridor for 10 mins, where security confiscated one of my apples (i got away with the other aha), then file back on the plane again.

We fly for another hour plane stops in Iquique, a bloke in a white coat comes on and starts spraying the inside of the plane. We´re told no worries the spray is organic. Then one after another suited business men fill up the plane.

About 2 hours later we land in Santiago. Off we go in search of our connecting flight with no time to spare coz of the delays. But no we cannot go straight there first we have to exit through customs and then back in again to get passport stamps and fill forms for the 10 mins we have been on the ground in Santiago. But at this point I was close to tears, I was really sick with a bad cold all day and had enough, I just wanted my bed boo hoo.

We make it to the flight and are the last to board. We land in B Aires and join the huge queue to immigration where the bloke in front of me decides to drop his huge fuck off wheelie bag and steel handles on me twice and it was bloody sore. It was so ludicrus that I had to laff.

Eventually after taxi negotiations we getto San Telmo and of course we haven´t booked anywhere, its late and the 1st place won´t answer the door, luckily the second place does.

Dont cry for me.....

2005-10-21T00:17:00.000+01:00

ARGENTINA
oh my god, i love Buenos Aires..........

We stayed in San Telmo in a little hotel that was abou 4 bucks a night, we had our own room and a tv,luxury,... and some one made our leabas.Most peeps stay in the Millhouse hostel but we couldnt be arsed. San Telmo is the coolest quarter, its all faded charm,cobbles and cafes. We ended up staying way longer in BA than we were gonna ,we just loved it.

*The men are seriously hot, all tall dark and fucking gorgeous.

*The food is divine, all steak and red wine. We were having this for breakfast most days! as we tended not to get up til 4pm cos

*the nightlife is excellent, deadly bars and clubs open til 7,8,9am . We were coming out of clubs in full sunny days. One morn at 8am we were leaving a club in a state andlinda was trying to get the taxi man to take us to the beach

Its so cheap here, its almost like a European city, very like Madrid.

We went to the Boca, a tango/Italian area life is so colourful here. Went out to see Eva perons grave, went o markets, had a mad mad night out for halloween. We were on our way to one of the dark crumbly wine bars in San Telmo when we met these 2 sound and so cute hippy jewelry makers on the street. We ended up out all til the next morn with them and thier crazy mix bag of mates. Was a night to remember. and one i cant write about here.

We went to see The Kings of Leon and The Strokes at a festival that was on, was top night. "Fab your a ride...."
We were so flashpackin it here. All gorgeous restaurants, La Vieja Rotissiere we loved, red wine,taxis everywhere,shopping. I love this city

went o one of the most fabul

love love love love

Bolivia gas protests

2005-10-20T21:36:00.000+01:00

It has been already three weeks that the local la paz peeps cannot cook their meals normally because there is a severe shortage of liquid gas to cook their meals with. This seemingly incomprehensible shortage in production has been escalating into full blown chaos and frustrations being shown by road blockades

This is something myself and linda witnessed first hand today , we were on way to airport to go to Buenas Aires when the road we we on was blocked off at the top of the hill,end of highway, we then turned round in taxi and driver did his best to get back down the wrong side of the highway with out killing us with the oncoming traffic, He even had to hop his car over a ramp to get us on a road that wasnt blocked.

The blockades consist of mostly indio La Paz people,ayamara , who simply cant get gas to cook with so they line the roads with thier families and thier gas cylinders.

The government is and has been trying to normalize the distribution . This is shown by the gradual increase of protests and demonstrations being carried out all over the city. In El Alto, citizens have once again come out on the streets and currently are in the process of blockading important roads, like the one giving access to the only international airport in La Paz.

This is scary in the sense that these kinds of protests tend to escalate into real crises in Bolivia. People are being seriously tested for their patience there. The thing is that patience is starting to run thin.

With an estimated 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Bolivia holds the continent's second-largest gas reserves after Venezuela. Moreover, Bolivia's location among the surging economies of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile means the country is well positioned to be the fuel supply for the region's engine of growth.

We had a scary alternative ride out to airport, basically through the poorest barrios in La Paz, the scary part was the hills.La PAz is at 3800 feet to breathe normally up here is a struggle sometimes, the hills that surround the city are enormous and jammed with houses and slums. To get the taxi up a couple of those hills today was a miracle. I took a video of it, Linda biting her nails and the taxi man beading with sweat.
Anyway ,it was all in vain, cos our airline LAN were closed and our flight not going till tmrw. No particular reason, just Lo siento come back tmrw.Can you believe it ? I cant. So now we have to fly to Santiago, Chile tmrw see can we get standby to Buenas Aires and if not stay in Santaigo and fly to BAires on Saturday.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

On the raz in La Paz

2005-10-20T07:53:00.000+01:00

La Paz Monday Oct 19th

An hour r so later we reach La Paz (3600m high, the worlds highest capital city) and head straight into traffic chaos, which involves not only every type of vehicle but also with people who crowd the sides of the roads and weave in and out of the traffic. There were also hordes of people lining the streets holding onto gas canisters. We were used to capital cities of black smoked air and blaring horns but none like La Paz.

Once the traffic got moving the view of the city is sensational. It is set in a huge valley, surrounded by mountains (some snow covered) and we were on the edge looking down on the whole lot of it, chocoblock with skyscrapers and red bricked buildings.

The bus drops us all off randomly at the side of the street and the 4 of us get a taxi. Marcello it turns out is not staying at La Paz so we drop him at the bus and Me Mik n the Kerryman check into a damp hostel.

That evening the 3 of us stroll around the crazy city of La Paz. It is full and buzzing at 9 in the evening, the streets surrounding our hostel are jammed with market stalls of every conceivable thing and people are hanging out eating from one of the tons of food stalls. There are no foot paths as such here so we join everyone else and play dodge the traffic on the roads. We pass streets only filled with barber shops, shoeshine boys in balaclavas, a zillion pollo Takeouts (we like Pollomania).

Tues Oct 20th

Next morn we check into the gorgeous little hotel Blanquita for 4 euros a piece same price as the damp hostel. Now we've our own cute room and bano. We hit the very informative Coca Museem, all about the use of the leaves in the Inca culture, how they're still used (everyone here is chewin on coca leaves, gives u stamina), how cocaine was used in coke and french wine, the addictions of coke, how the US are paying for drug checkpoints to be set up in Bolivia etc. and

Afterwards we caught the bus to the Valley of the Moon, chomping on the bags of coca sweets we got at the museem. Which is indeed quite similar I imagine to the moon (not that anyone has ever been there!). Mago n me bounced around there for a while, took snaps, did interviews and bused it back from the Moon to La Paz. In La Paz we booked our trip for the following day and ate the most deliciosa pizza we were vamished. That night maybe still full of the effects from the moon or coca sweets me n mik could not sleep and were hoppin around the room. Maybe we were anxious about the following days activities as we had booked ourselves on a bike trip on the "Worlds most Dangerous Road".

Shine little shoe shine boy...

Mago and Payaso try to go places and see things

2005-10-20T00:59:00.000+01:00

All is still good here - it´s only really the transport system is a bummer and the landslide thing in Macchupiccu was big news here. But even being delayed on the crap transport isn´t bad it just means another story. In fact it´s gone to funny levels now coz everytime we try to go somewhere something happens. So weré just adding up our transport stories. Here´s another one for ya.

Me n Mik had been in La Paz (the cool capital of Bolivia) for 4 days and on Thursday we were to catch a flight to Argentina. So up bright and early we get and the hotel owner tells us we´re leaving way too early for the airport that it´s only half an hour on the bus.

So we go off and treat ourselves to an amazing breakfast (fruit, eggs, bacon, coffee) the works for less than $2 in this lovely restaurant, which they named Dumbo of all things!!

Anywho i divert.

After brekkie we stroll out to get the bus and realise it´s later than we thought so we splurged on a cab to the airport (about $2.50 each - we´re gettin real mean with d cash now!).

The cab now is an ole banger of a car, mik gets a bit sufficated by fumes in the back, and as soon as we get in, it stops at the lights and the car cuts out. Nevertheless we´re happy to be on the way even tho it is at 40 mph.

On the motorway to the airport we notice there´s cars driving towards us on the hard shoulder and are shocked and say it to the taxi driver who´s also surprised. Soon we realise why, as there was a hugh traffic jam further up the highway and people were turning around and turning back, quiet dangerous u could say.
But me n mik were slightly paniced due to the flight. So the taxi driver turns around too on the motorway and we head back into the oncoming traffic.

After about 10 mins we come accross a line of people on the highway barracading the road with their gas canisters. There´s a shortage of gas in Bolivia at the moment and the local people were protesting and wouldn´t move till they got their gas, so they but blockades on the motorway.

Fair enough but now we're trapped on the highway - however our driver perseveres fair play to him and ploughs over a ramp scraping the base of his car and eventually we get off the high way. So now we´re really late and we´re back in town where we started a good 45 mins later.

So La Paz is in a deep valley surrounded by hills and the airport was over the other side of one of the hills. We start to climb up the steep roads to get to the other side of the hills.
At one point we´re climbing this hilll and the car starts rolling backwards. The driver then reverses back until he´s halfway up a side hill, so he can speed down that to give himself a bit of power and we zoom back up the hill again.

We just about get to the top when again the car starts to roll back down. But this time when he´s halfway back up the side hill me n Mik pull our rucksacks out of the back and in beside her. He starts reving the car again and we take off. We zoom up the hill hit the top and just about get there.

Now the flight is about to take off in about 15 mins. We pull into the airport, jump out of the cab and race up to the desk which is closed. We head to information who give us a number to ring. Turns out they´ve changed our flight for us instead of leaving on Thursday we now were to leave on Friday!! After all that!!

We got the flight yesterday and now we´re in Argentina- Buenas Aires, although we just arrived here - am lovin it already, deadly buzz...

Worlds Most Dangerous Road

2005-10-19T10:20:00.000+01:00

A nice day out for lindy loo and I........

Starting high in the very thin air of the Bolivian Andes, the steep and bumpy La Paz-to-Coroico road plunges down 11000 feet on its spectacular 64-km path to the lush, sub-tropical Yungas and the sleepy town of Coroico.
The Yungas is one of Bolivias most famous coca leaf and hidden cocaine factory producng valleys. We were stopped twice before entering the road , the army patrol all day looking for trucks ,cars, etc containing chemicals to mix with the leaves to make the good stuff.

Rain. Fog. Mud. Three thousand foot cliffs. Landslides. A narrow one-lane dirt road with buses and trucks. Sounds like an unlikely combination for a day out bit it was excellent!

The “worlds most dangerous road” drops over 11,000 vertical feet as it snakes its way through the Andes to the edge of the Amazon basin. It is the only way provisions can get from La Paz to Coroico and the other small towns in the region. For years it was a one-way road. On specified days of the week you could only go downhill. The other days it was one-way uphill. Currently traffic flows both ways. At some of the more treacherous blind corners, human traffic signalers stand to guide the traffic safely past each other. We are told that the people who do this work are volunteers from one family, a family that lost several members over the side.

gettin the 96% proff alco
Now the road is actually a tourist attraction.
Gravity Tours
(www.gravitybolivia.com)
provides mountain bikes and a guide, Ian the American, to show us down the 64-km course.

After about 4 hours sleep if even, luckily we awaken at 6.30am (the hotel was supposed to call us). We get brekkie and load into a jeep with 5 other crazies who also want to do this trip.

It was so unbelievable cold at the top, which was 4,700m, the highest we've ever been without being in an airplane.The highest mountain in Ireland is Carrantuohill, Co. Kerry, 1,200m. A mere hill lads.

We got our bikes and helmets and all our layers on and started off.My bike was called Homer, after the yella fella himself. It was FREEZING, it was snowing and at our fast speed it was biting into my face. We all stopped after the first 20mins to regroup and agreed it was torture, so we hopped in to the van and went a little further a long the main road, cheats i know, but i almost lost my fingers and toes to that wind. We warmed up in the van and then set off on our epic cycle when it wasnt snowing , at the actual entrance to the ``wmdr´`.
We had a sound group, no heroes, 7 of us set off.

Oh my god such fun, it was exhilarating, your flyin down the road ,all bumpy, the sheer drop at the edge, was deadly!
We had no accicdents in our group, no one got hurt just absolutely covered in mud and dirt. It rained on us most of the day, we started at 10am and were finished by about 2pm, we didnt care about the rain funnily enough, the scenery and the concentrating not to plunge to your death on the narrow road with waterfalls pouring on your head and flowers and crosses all along the way marking where some poor unfortunate biker or an entire bus or van full of people careered over the edge.
In one way its kinda insensitive i mean we are enjoyin our selves on some ones last route on this earth.

We said a prayer at the begining to Pachamama the Incan earth mother to protect us on our way, this also involved drinking pure alcohol,uuggh, was like meths, like the ol`boy alcos drink when they run outta cash for Tennants.

The scenery was spectac. when the mists lifted and cos it was mostly all down hill we werent completely fucked at the end. The bumps and the constant skids-breaking took its toll on our wrists and asses the next day tho...

At the end we all had beer and buffet in Coroico a class village over lookin some pretty nice drug cartels estate,nice gaff man, the valley was amazing too , you could see back over the 64 km s that we cycled.Very satisfying.

I was afraid at the begininig cos people die and my last mountain biking expedition in July,Nicaragua,led to me having a new scar on my arm.One for the collection. But this was absolutely a rush and would deffo recommend it. The scariest bit was driving the 3 hours back UP the road in the van cos lorries-buses-cars are flying round the corners, its so narrow and you actually see what you have just done.YOu could not pay me to drive on that road.
But apparently i will pay to cycle it.

Theres a lad

2005-10-19T00:54:00.000+01:00

in La Paz, on the Prado, which is like O Connoll Street, i.e. busy, and he has a mobile phone chained to his arm and you can pay him to make a call on it.

Top security here.

Magical Lago Titicaca and for my next trick Bolivia

2005-10-18T22:10:00.000+01:00

Me n Ster on Uros reed Island Lago Titicaca, Bolivia

Sat Oct 17th
Next morn up me n Ster got and got a boat to the reed Islands on lake Titicaca. The lake is said to have strong positive forces there (see Miks blog on Ley lines).

Anywho the reed islands are inhabited by different Uros familes, who if they fall out they split the island and one family floats off to another location (how handy). Took some snaps of the cute kids that live there and went for a wee spin on a reed boat.

The indigineous women always dress in a trad garb of bowler hats which sit daintily on the sides of the heads, two long black haired plaits, colourful blouses long pleated frilled skirts, and shawls and u rarely see one without a bulging colourful blanket tied to their backs.

That afternoon we caught a bus to the Peruvian border. On the bus we met Marcelo a mad chatty, hyper brazilian who sat in beside Michelle and while I dozed off the two of them chatted non-stop in espagnol all the way to the border. It was very impressive, Miks entiendo of espangnol is marvellosa.

At the Bolivian border we were bombarded as we got off the bus, it was 2k to the border and it was necessary for a man to cycle us there and the bags on his bike. I suggested getting 2 bikes coz i know we ain't light and our bags certainly ain't, but he was havin none of it. Off we set and 10 mins later at the base of a hill he was huffin n puffin n we were walking, at least the scenery was nice. Anyhow usual border crossing stamps and papers and we step into Bolivia.

Bolivia Oct 2005

Me, Mago n Marcello checked into the gorgeous and newly built Andes hotel in Copacabana (the song kept going round our heads) Bolivia. We had wooden floors a balcony with a view, brand new beds, bathrooms lotsa space all for the handsome price of 3 euros a piece. Marcello was in the room next door.

That eve we all headed out to dinner to a delightful restaurant and had a great evening all through spanish, was tough going at times and Michelle did have to do a bit of interpreting but we both reckoned it was really helping our spanish and he was full of chat (he refused to speak english) all evening.

Next morning we head downstairs to discover that breakfast is included in our room for the night - unbelievable, loving Bolivia already. We tuck in and then our hotelier takes us down to the lake shore to catch our boat for the tour to Isla de Sol and as we arrive we spot 3 boats heading off, turns out one of them is ours (but of course). After some discussions it is decided another boat will take us to meet our boat. Off we set and 20 mins after the captain frantically waving his hat to catch the attention of the other boat, it stops and we board.

The boat we boarded we find out, as the other one sails off, is not our tour boat so it drops us off at the Garden of the Incas (we wanted to go to the Sun Temple which is supposed to be the 1st Incan temple). We decide to head ourselves to the Temple on foot to catch the 11am return boat. It is a stunning walk and hike to the Temple and with Marcello chatting to every passerby and us stopping for lotsa snaps (also we chomped on coca leaves supposed to help the altitude and really numbs the throat), we miss the boat.

But it is so nice we don't mind really and it all works out as another tour boat comes along and agrees to take us back. Marcello enterains the whole boat on the way back and me n Mik decide that from now on when we check in and are asked our professions she's a Mago (magician) and I'm a Payaso (clown). I think she lucked out on that one.Back in Copacabana, starved, we treat ourselves for a 3 course meal of soup, I had a vegetarian omelete, Mago and Marcello had trout with home made chips, and desert which was half a banana and yogurt all for the pricely sum of 90 cent each (we near dropped how is it possible?). Also in the town lotsa hippy types from all over South Am have lined the streets selling the coolest jewelery me n Mik are so awestruck we decide to miss the 2pm bus to La Paz and stock up.

Me n Mik on Isla De Sol

The 3 of us catch the 3pm bus, while Marcelo entertains me n Mik doze off, to which we are woken up an hour r two into the journey and told to get off and to get on a boat, while the bus gets onto a couple pieces of wood bound together and we all sail accross the lake,

me n Mik reckoning the bus is gonna sink and our bags with it. On the boat we meet a Kerryman (now there's a surprise, nice type of chap, a journalist who's been working in Chile for a year and a half. Bus safely accross we all reboard.

Macchupiccu - The wonder of Peru

2005-10-17T19:30:00.000+01:00

This pic looks like we´ve been superimposed but it´s real we were there!

As usual where to start. Made it to Cuzco wrecked, should've listened to those recommendations of taking the plane but i suppose u can't see much fom the sky. Checked into a nice hotel huge room very cozy double bed! which was sold with hot water but was absolutely freezin.

Although our original plan was to do the 4 day trek to Macchupiccu me n Mik being as unorganised as we are and realising we were short on time decided that an alternative trek would be necessary.

So we booked ourselves on a 2 day trip to Macchupiccu which included a 30km bicycle trip commencing the next day. As it was soo bloody cold in Cuzco and we expected to be even colder on our trek we hit the markets and purchased two gorgeous soft alpaca jumpers, gloves, hats and socks and wrapped ourselves up.

Wed Oct 14th

Were both excited and nervous about the 2 day trip when we got up, but the freezin cold shower soon but an end to that at 6 in the morning. Of course all was not as it seemed, as the way things are going for us here in South Am so far.

There was a prob with the train being booked up which meant that we had 2 minutes to decide can we wait a couple of days to do the trip or head to Macchupiccu by train. Seeing as we were all packed and ready to go we decided to head (although it seemed a cop out, especially after all the good luck wishes and advice given to us, cheers Audrina!).

So off we set with Speedy Gonzales who raced through the Sacred Valley at 140km an hour stopping every now and again for a quick snap, then back into the ralley race. Im not still not too sure if we won it but he got us to Ollyamtambo(spelt completely wrong). A v picturesque town where we caught the train, which was a delightful journey.

We hopped off the train at Aguas Caliente (hot springs) at the base of Macchupiccu and looked for our hostal owner who was to meet us. After 45 mins of waiting there was no show. This left me n the Ster screwed as it was our accom, dinner, brekkie and the guide who was to meet us there at 5am the following morn to take us u to MP. So we had to sort ourselves out, hit the hot springs, and asked the hotel to wake us at 4.30am the next morn to see the sunrise.

Thurs Oct 15th

Off we set and after a two hour 8km vertical climb (to an altitude of 2500), tough going trying to catch me breath, we arrived at 7am the sunrise happened at about 5.30 on the way up but it was too cloudy to see. We hooked ourselves up with a guide for 5 bucks a piece and just as we took our first steps into Macchupiccu the clouds broke and sun came out giving the whole place a glorious glow.
It was absolutely breathtaking, the city was perched on the side of a mountain and was set in the most amazing surroundings of mountains and greenery, the sky was pure blue and the city was much larger than we had imagined. It was amazing to be there and to witness it.

Yeah we made it

How the Incas ever found somewhere that was so remote and managed to constructed a such city on the side of a mountain that has survived for so long is hard to comprehend. Also as the guide explained to us that the Incas also had an innate understanding of how the earth worked, and links were made to the sun, mountains, moon and the stars.

The city was construcetd ina manner that all the buildings recieve maximum sunlight at all times of the year. On October 28th no shadow is cast on the sun dial at the top of the Sun Temple, this is the indication that the rainy season is about to commence. Like Newgrange, except on both dates, December 22nd (winter solstice) and June 24th (summer solstice) the sun hits all angels of the Sun Temple. Macchupiccu is still being studied inorder to reveal more, it is said the Incas had a more sophisticated understanding of the planet and its workings than we do today.

I tried to sacrifice Mik to the Gods while we were there, but they just wouldn´t take her- dammit

Anywho enough of the history lesson, though if u have not been to Macchupiccu I thoroughly reccomend a visit, it will blow you away.

After pealing off all our now boiling hot alpaca layers and getting sunburned, (so much for preparing for the freezing cold!!), the tour, a stroll and lunch with a friendly aussie girl we treked back down in a record 45mins in the blazing sun (of course bumping into Irish on the way - we are everywhere. Me n Mik heard the news there was a landslide on the rails and the trains would not be leaving.

This was great news to us seeing as we had spent the last of our cash on that
morning (we hadn't expected to pay those extras) and had about $2 to our names. We hit the train station where there was pandemonium aparently the trains were leaving but we'd have to wait. So we set up shop outside the locked gates of the train station complete with guards to control the situation. We joined the other 200 or so passengers that kept growing as the hours passed on, oh ate some tasty banana and chocolate cake at 30 cent a slice.

6 hours later after being lined up, then told to line up elsewhere then told to line in single file, then lined up once again inside the station, we finally squeeze onto a train which takes us to the landslide, we file off the train, get into another line, get on a bus for 5k then back on the train then see-saw into Cuzco (its a vertical slope so the train goes back the forth for about 30 mins).
After being up since 4.30 we hit the hay about 3.30am.

Fri Oct 16th

Next day - sights of Cuzco, internet for 3 hours, did our usual lil jobs of organising buses etc. We had a delightful dins with wine, had a few more glasses in the room and hit the town. Ended up in Mama Africas (strange I know) but it played great tunes, danced all night with a pally english couple, a mexican and two cuzcoens till about 4am.

Up had one of the best breakfasts yet in a bar owned by a gorgeous well travelled frenchman, I had to snap Mik out of it as she was picturing herself on the back of his motorbike as he drove around India.

A note from Michelle: Pierre was amazing,he was about 40 and to me ,a complete babe.He was calm in himself and intelligent and funny and sexy and i was transfixed.Im sure his wife is too. Was thinking about him for 3 days.
Am getting off these malaria tabs....

Got Mik outta the bar and onto the bus to Puno which is on the shores of Lake Titicaca. However the usual story of breakdowns, the 6 hour journey took 8. That eve we strolled around Puno (saw some kids sleeping on the street v sad) then hit the hay.

Celestine prophecy flashback

2005-10-16T03:38:00.000+01:00

Ley lines are to the Earth what the meridian system is to the human body

They are thought to make up a system of straight energy lines that runs criss-cross along the Earth's surface

Ancient people who may have been more sensitive to the energies of the Earth, build their temples, sacred wells and shrines along the paths of the ley lines

It is believed that hauntings and supernatural activities also appear more often along ley lines

The lines themselves are not always easy to find, but they send out a lot of powerful energy

Some people believe that the lines are above an underground rock fault and is connected across the whole Earth and form a planetary grid

The Chinese people call their ley lines 'dragons paths' and they are of great importance when it comes to Feng Shui - like positioning buildings and objects in harmony with Nature

The Earth's 7 Main Chakras

Some believe that the Earth has chakras, just like the human body and that there is a sacred site on each one of them

1. Mount Shasta in the U.S.A.

2. Lake Titicaca in South America. The Island of the Sun in the lake, is where the Incas believed the gods taught humans how to behave properly

3. Uluru - The huge red rock in the Australian desert

4. Glastonbury in England

5. Great Pyramid of Egypt. It is also linked to Mount Sinai in Egypt and Mount of Olives in Jerusalem

6. This chakra is said to shift with every New Age

7. Mount Kailas in Tibet. This is the site of forgiveness for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains

Lindy Loo and I have been vibrating at a higher level recently, or at least trying to. We have cut way back on all forms of intoxication and getting in touch with our earth roots.
No Ang am not stoned.

pushmepullyou

2005-10-10T23:55:00.000+01:00

we left lima it was an ok city, not great, we had one night out there, went to the Baracana district and got pretty locked with the norweigan lad.

we´re in arequipa in peru now ,only half way to cuzco, the bus was delayed in Lima for 4 and half hours
yest,cos get this, the peruvian president was presentin trophies to racing car drivers who had just completed a lap of all of peru and the race culminated yest and somehow held up our bus,!!!! have ya ever heard the like.

then when we finally did get on the road our bus broke down last night, nightmare, waitin for ages finally got another one round midnight,luckily we went to chemist before and the farmacias are so dodge here they give u anything, so we had loaded up on the diazapam,, helped a good bit i tell u. it was comfy bus tho,>royal class> no less.had semi beds things and food, which was odd if anything.

snack shack at roadside while bus breaks down

we just had alpaca steak(!) in a gorge restaurant over lookin this cool plaza, the trip to this town from lima wasnt very scenic it looked like a quarry all the way this am when we woke up with huge waves crashin on the shore the other side of the bus, its a mad country. any way this town is like an oasis its all green and lush and quite european in architecture,like madrid,nice, were gettin another bus now at 7.30 for 10 feckin hours to cuzco, we shoulda just flown,anyway sure we love to make things >ïnteresting> as we say. we have to get to cuzco to chillax and acclimatize cos it up so high before we do the inca trail.

there are tons of tourists in this town and i can imagine cuzco will be over run. i know we are tourists too but i just hate to see tons of them.
in central America this summer we could go for days with out seein any ,its like your the only ones doin it ,y know, its stupid cos we obviousy are nt but still..... also there are tons of >seamus and shiela mcSafari types around, y know the type all itineray in hand with kakhi pants and wan faces, probably plannin the trip and savin the everyready batteries since 1999.

Peru is such a poor country its up there with nicaragua ,kids beggin,Ayamara women with babies all beggin or sellin thier bracelets. there were horrific slums in lima too. some young feck tried to rob linda in lima on sat ,all he got was a bunch of snotty tissues from her pocket tho and she even managed to trip him up. he was locked i think about 15, poor feck. it did shake us up a bit tho and we ahd to get a pisco sour to calm the nerves its the national drink here. its like a margarita to me, but its made with brandy and eggwhites.

am sick of towns and cities and concrete ,i miss it since we left mexico in august,had enough of cities in the states and would love to jungle or beach it for a while , i hope cuzco is lush.
will see in the a.m.!

Peru,Autumn-Winter Collection 2005

Alpaca beebee

Peru beer

2005-10-08T13:17:00.000+01:00

darkest peru

2005-10-07T19:37:00.000+01:00

yeah!! we ahave arrived in South America!!!

we arrived in lima really late last night,about midnight and got bus in to city and into casa rodrigez which is actually a family home that takes in gorgeous young weary travellers.

its just me and lin and a hipster norway dude stayin there. we all went round the city today, to a mad cathedral with the bones of francisco pizzarro,the conquistador explorer lad,who i have been teachin first years about, then to lunch and then to a mercado central,where i got a deadly wooly hat with ears for the cold nights in macchu pichuu.its hot.visually and actually.

were off to knock back some of the norwegain vodka now and then headin out tonight to the baccanaro area which is suppose to be limas version of georges st. ,ie. hip hop and happenin.

Gettin in the pisco sourl

lima is typical of any of the latin american capitals weve been to so far its big,dirty with taxi drivers who aggressively try to run you over.

the peeps are very friendly like lots keep comin over all day goin*welcome to peru* and then moseyin off.

its takin a while to get back in to speakin in spainish,weve been up in the states for 5 weeks ya know. me and ang drove down to rosarito in baja mex last wknd so that was like a wee refresher course.Am so happy to be here tho,our stop off in the states was like a time out of time in our trip,so fuckin worth it for burning man tho.

the whole machiso thing is almost gone overboard here,we had 4 taxi drivers bangin down the bus window last night tryin to get a look or a wave or what i dunno,this was at the airport,lads have been roarin at us all day, even with Carl he norseman in tow,

the funniest was when a sercuicor van outside a bank started shakin and we could hear all this bangin and on closer inspection thru the tiny windows we could see 4 or 5 dudes all waving and blowin kisses at us. it was hilarious to see.
its cold enough here like about 12-13, so glad i spent last few days in cali on the beach.
tm were off to check some palatial ruins outside of town and then off to cusco on sun-mon.
gotta go my head is itchy with this new hat.
x

A Whole New World

2005-10-05T20:05:00.000+01:00

Oh my god, tmrw were off to a whole new continent, one neither have been to before but have thought about for so long.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!

Go team blisso!

2005-09-27T20:20:00.000+01:00

And then there were 2

It was so bizzaro at first not havin Lindy around.
I have spent practically every waking moment with her for 3 months. Shes always across the table ,at the other side of the bar, in the next bed, the other sun lounger, in the next changing room, beside me on the bus..............
She sent me an hilarious email from the airport in Frankfurt giving me the lowdown on her trip to Toronto and the incident on the plane.. funny...

Anyhow, Ang and I had Goldie for another week. Which was excellent, even tho it was in Lindas name. But Linda gave Ang her drivers licence and since they look so alike we all figured it would be alright..... ok, well they both have blondie hair..
Ang loved Goldie too, shes such a smoothie, goldie i mean

We spent a couple of days in LA, doin the usual touristy stuff, drove up to the Hollywood sign,checked out shops, venice beach- where we watched some huge homies playin basketball: Ang was in heaven.

Went to flicks, seen ´´War of the Worlds´´ with the usually hugely egocentic Tom Cruise. It had us on edge of seats tho and that noise of the aliens freaked me out. MMmmmmmmmmmmmaaaawwwppppppppppppppp.
Drove round some stars homes, went to some old theatres and saw Vin Diesel in a massive truck at a traffic lights,managed not to faint.Somehow.

I found an autobiography of this lad Danny Sugarman at a thrift shop for 50 cents, it was even signed, any way, i was readin it the whole time we were in LA, its about him growing up in and around Hollywood and his relationship with Jim Morrisson, the Doors,Iggy Pop and the music business in Hollywood and his own slide into drugs decline. It wasnt written very well but it was really intersting and we were in all the places he mentions and all the streets, Fairfax, Laurel Canyon,SAnta Monica, The Whisky etc. What an absolutely mad life he lived, burnt out by the time he as 21. Was singin The Doors all week then...
Have decided only to read the books I find by chance, I brought only one with at atart of summer and it was such a struggle to read it.
Captain Corelli and his feckin Mandolin, sorry am not a fan, like get to the point Mr.De Bernieres,,,,,
any way, me and Lin used to read to eachother,its tres relaxin when some one reads to you ,people tend to stare tho, it was this book she brought with it was a really good story and we were both addicted it was called ¨The Dead Heart¨by some Kennedy lad. It was fabuluosly funny, all dark humour.
Oft Lins dulcet tones used lull me to sleep.....ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............
Anyway, have read all sorts, we have time for it on buses etc so its coolio- cos never seem to have time at home.And college put me right off, we had to read a novel/play every week and dissect it on a Friday with a scary tutor. Some of which am thankful for and enjoyed, others were a complete career,moby dick for example.uuuggghhhh

Sorry am waffling.Back to story. So me Ang and I decide to make most of havin Goldie and we head down coast, drove down to Laguna and Newport Beaches, the OC bitch, was beautiful and plenty of bucks around.

Then we headed to San Diego. Love it. Stayed there. Was here few years ago too, so more memory lane. Its a great city tho.

Am not in mood to type today.

We decided to head to Mexico for the weekend as its so close. We were drivin to border and it was only when we were at the gates almost driving thru did i remember that i had few smokes in me box. I couldnt feck them out window cos they have cameras and police lads everywhere. Was gettin worried cos then I saw all dogs and guns .oops. But they lookin for suitcases full of sneachta not my wee smokes, any way it was all grand. Didnt tell Ang til after tho and she wasnt too happy.
Drove swiftly thru dump that is Tijuana, mad traffic. Was fearing for Goldies life.
We went out to Playas del Rosarito, about 40mins down coast.

Love Baja. It was reminding me of our road trip to Cabo with Christine.
ah baja...
I love the colour of it

It has changed and developed alot since then.My view of it anyhow.But we were different back then too.Into different stuff.
Rosarito is a party town for Usa spring breakers, huge and i mean huge nightclubs.
We stayed in wee hotel that was , after being in states, so cheap, and it was gorgeous, all old school mexico pine and mosaic tiled bano. We had great weekend, beach,market,fab food and one absolutely mad night out.I love going out with my sister, its always such a laff.
We went to some massive club with a queue of about 100 outside, but somehow we got talkin to this guy on street and he got us in VIP.How fab sez we, we got armbands for free booze , which obviously ended up with us completely trashed.
Met the most gorgeous L.A guy who was gay, or bisexual as it turned out as the night progressed.I dont think he was sure either.

The next day ,Sunday, we were drivin back to L.A, we had the most vicious hanovers ever. Ive never had anythng like it. I even got sick when I woke up, thats never happened to me before. It was awful.
Theres all these hilarious pics of Ang in a restaurant trying to eat lunch ,barely holdin on.I dont think armbands agree with us.

Huge line of cars at the border back to USA, we were waitin for about 2 hours. Cute boys in truck in line over, baldie Latino homies in a pick up. Again in the line for the border tons of peeps askin about Goldie,shes such a star.

Panic at the check point.Ang was using Lindas drivers licence cos car in Lindas name,and ang only has prov. licence,guard asks for licence and starts checkin it over.No one checked on way in to Mexico.I was getting so nervous.
I try to distract him ,so he wont look too hard, he also wants my passport but i told him it was in boot ,i hop out and hes all "open up the car", then he discovers we are Irish and is all "ooohhh I love Irish girls",he had been there recently, phew, so he sez he doesnt even want to see passport or into car and is all flirty with my sis. Yeeeah,nice one.We drove off with a huge sigh of relief. Was nerve rackin tho.

Got back to L.A late, we were suppose to meet bisexual guy and his mates from last night in Hollywood but was too tired. It was Angelas last night so we went for gorgeous dinner.Sushi Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Was so sad to say goodbye to Ang on Monday.She drove off in Goldie out to LAX and left me wavin goodbye on Melrose Avenue. A tear.

I was stayin in the Orbit Hostel til Lin go back from Turkey. Its actually a really nice place.
Had 2 whole days on my ownio!
Shock, was grand tho. Went to beach, checked out Melrose etc, then a mad dutch girl moved into my room and we went to see a guitar dude play the first night. Then a neurotic french girl moved in and she hated crumbs or specs of dust on floor.painful.

Was ok and actually quite nice to hang out on my own-ish for wee while. It was ok in somewhere like that hostel and LA but seriously i dunno how some people travel by them selves for a long time,. Im not cut out for it. We have met so many peeps doin it and hang out with them for few days, mostly guys and 1 or 2 girls. Actually we always seem to meet and hang out with guys. Rarely girls. Guys are either travelling more, or are easier to get talkin to but no thats not true....I dunno but its always lads.

Guess who works at the Orbit Hostel now Aud?

Boogie! I know !it was such a blast from the past. He organises day trips and is married to the receptioninst a sweet blondie chick.Imagine Boogie is married. He is just the same, only keeps stressin that he is all mature and responsible now.They are expecting thier first baby after xmas. So strange, He has the oddest accent.Innit?

So Lindy got back and was wrecked, but had great time at wedding. We caught up and had few drinks also that night
across the road from hostel we saw Quentin Tarantino,Rod Stewarts daughter Kimberly and Bijou Phillips, they were all at an opening of a jewelry shop, it was Q .Tarantino´s sister or mothers shop, so that was kinda mad with all the paparazzi, Paris Hilton was suppose to show up but, no.

So thats that, now we is off to South America...................

Turkey and THE Wedding !!

2005-09-25T00:21:00.000+01:00

Yay off to see the Clan and my sis G - I haven't seen her for nearly a year as she's been travelling through Malaysia, Oz, Bali and Thailand. Am really looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the family to. It's going to be mad to have all the Fahys on holiday together. Madder still is that Mel is getting married in a number of days....wow And finally too I get to meet Aytac. V excited...

Tuesday Sept 27th

After about 3 hours sleep, alarm goes, up i get about 4.15am, get me gear together and head out to catch the 5am bus to the airport - yawn. I've a crazy couple of days ahead todays Tuesday and I'm flying from LA to Toronto (where I've a 7 hour stopover). Then from Toronto a overnight flight to Munich. Then wednesday morning I fly from Munich to Izmir Turkey and get there in about 30 hours or so. Then I have to figure a way to get to Bitez, its about 3 hours South of Izmir I think.

Enroute I get totally lost time wise, I've no watch and there's a ton of time changes.
Here's a quote from an email I sent enroute:
"Not too sure what the time difference was in Toronto I think 2 hours ahead of LA. Here in Munich its 10.30 am when we landed an hour ago the army guy next to me told me it was 2.30am toronto time. Im up since 4.15 LA time.
Am in a daydream timewise. Am livin it up in the business lounges and of course gorging on the free food even though I'm not in the slightest bit hungry. Feeling a bit outta place in the lounges with all the suits and I'm in me messy backpackin gear ahh well.
Oh can u believe it when i just got on my 1st flight I bloody remembered that Mik was carrying Mels wedding present for me and I never got it off her, i dunno wot to do now!!
Oh yeah, I nearly knocked meself out on the 1st flight I whacked me head on the
TV screen, the whole plane went ooow.
The canadian army guy told me in the winter they have to CAMPOUT in
the minus 30-40.
While I was in Torronto, I caught the train to the centre and went up the CN tower (apparently the tallest building in the world). Nice views, gotta see the whole city and stood on this glass floor with nothing else for 400m below, then back to the airport for me next flight."

Anywho arrived in Turkey in a daze, about 2pm. Headed up to information desk to get a map of Turkey to check out where Bitez is and turns out it´s not even on the map. And the info guy hasn´t seemed to have heard of it, brilliant.

Remember Mel saying it was near Bodrum so I decide to head there. Not as easy as you might think. I had to get a taxi to a dolmo, then get the dolmo to ottocar, then from there I can get an autobus to Bodrum. I met a german woman who agreed to share the taxi with me. Bad idea she spent the next 20 mins arguing

Vegas baby yeah!

2005-09-24T00:14:00.000+01:00

When i saw the pink barbie coming out of the arrivals gates i was ecstatic.I love my blissy!!

We hopped in Goldie and set off on the highways and byways to Las Vegas straight away. We filled Ang in on all the goss and she did the same with the craic at home, what everyone was up to etc. It took hours to drive to Vegas because it was friday eve and everyone and their gamblin granny decided to hit the slots that wknd. Ang was pretty tired so she eventually was snoozie suzie in the back.

We arrived about midnight and the first sight of it was unreal, just like you imagine, its so huge and so bright and so hectic.

We drove up the main Blvd past the Luxor and the Bellagio, a mini Tour D'eiffel, eygpt,gigantic size m&m^s,Circus acts,elvises,rollercoasters, the wild west and tons and tons of peeps all milling about on the street. Its a complete 24 hr city .

We were staying at the crap ``usa hostel`` in las vegas for fri and sat nt and then movin to a hotel for the sunday night.
Ok, it wasnt that bad ,it had a pool and we had our own private room. The lad at the check in desk was a knob, were were all wrecked the first night and things really,really annoy me when im tired. Myself and linda hadnt had much sleep the whole drive down from San Fran the previous week, all late nights and then early mornings,it was beginning to catch up.
Saturaday
We got up and went for a huge champagne brunch. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm it was delish, a buffet , which is so dangerous. We went mad with the drinks and the smoked salmon, cream cheese and ............
Love champagne.Had few cups of Barries tea too.Nice.

We looked round some shops on Fashion Avenue, I got gorgeous hat in French Connection and coolio t-shirt in Zara all pressies from my sis, yeah!!Love ya blissy.Ang bought few things and Linda got highlights in her hair in snazz salon.They straightened her hair too and she looked stunning, this was all prep for the wedding, her cousins that she was flyin off to in Turkey on tues.

Got home,got ready, lots of drinks in the room, we were drinkin some lethal vodka we bought up in the Big Sur, lovely with cranberry juice tho.We got all dressed up in skirts and earrings etc, all fancy ladies, the first time in ages. We had a big night planned, it was a champagne limo tour with VIP access to about 4 clubs. I know it was cheesy but jesus such fun!
The limo was a white stretch Hummer. There was about 10 other peeps from hostel onboard too.We managed to nab loads of the bottles of champers and had them at the front, where our `minder` a huge haiwaian guy was pouring our drinks for us.We were so locked spinning up the neon Blvd, tunes blarin,plasma screen tv,we got some hilarious pics and a video. It was very MTV. They took us to about 3 or 4 clubs, it got v fuzzy. I remember the first one they took us to was Coyote Ugly, UGh in ugly we stayed for the freebie and then left to join them all later on , it was horrific. We actually went to an Irish bar instead, we were lured in by the name ¨9 Fine Irishmen¨, we were intrigued to see if such a phenomonon existed and if all 9 were available. They werent but we did dance a jig.

We had a great night,dancin and boozin and laughin and sniffin,he he, we went to other clubs too,eh....i think there was 2 more.
Ang was obviousy wrecked as i fuzzily recall a certain young one asleep on the slots.Imagine.
Went to the Bellgio, met some cute usa boys,there was pizza,
Fell into bed at some point.

Sunday
We moved to a hotel, yeah!very nice.
Went for same champagne brunch again in same casino.Lovely stuff.Then we went for drive around, went to wedding chapels-got hilarious pics,seen an Elvis,bought a tack las vegas trucker hat, checked out some casinos,played a few slots,then we went for drive out to the desert ,to a canyon, red rock i think, was gorgeous.

Went home, got changed, had more drinks- were were all exhausted and actaully fell asleep til about 11pm gladrags on.Got up and went into town, we went to Luxor casino which is a pyramid casino,a structural marvel with a huge beam of light piercing the nights sky the from its apex.

In Luxor

Then we got taxi up to the Bellagio to see the fountains (for the oceans eleven moment) and possibly a chance for George Clooney to go right on ahead and start falling in love with me.
I love the Bellagio its so snazz, am so stayin there next time.
Then we went to go to a club and at the door we realized we had no ID and couldnt get in.The tunes sounded great so we hopped back in a cab and off to the hotel for the ID this was about 2am.

Well, when we did get into the club it was an eye opener, i tell you.

Some young lad latches on to me when we got in first tryin all his best lines but the most fascinating thing was the dancers, ie the ordinary folks up dancing. Dancing may not be the most appropriate word.

We were dancin but actaully sat down to watch.We were all transfixed. There was a young pregnant one on all fours with her big brother boyf giving it loads from behind her,it looked like she dropped something and was tryimg to find it. He looked like he was trying to wind her up and completely not helpin in the search.

Then there was the 2 girls pretending to be lesbian lovers and simulating going down on eachother, one obviously classy girl saw this and asks to join in with them while her boyf got a free show.These people werent part of an act. There was lots more but am laughin too much to type.

It was tres odd and we left in a daze.We walked back to Bellagio and met in with some English men. They were playin this one table all day and were winning and losing thousands.Imagine more than my round the world ticket lost in a few mins.
I got chattin to one man, sound business type with the glad eye, we got some more free drinks and then he suggests I play his hand for a while as he hadnt been winnning for a while.
Now, i have not got a clue about cards but sure feck it it was his money.

Any way turned out coolio, mostly thanks to his mate who was helpin me, and i won $125 yeeeaah!! and he let me keep it!!!YEEAAHH..

was overjoyed and beaming with delight,said goodbye to highrollers and went off cashed it in and then we went out the back of the Bellagio where they have this amazing greek style pool area. We promptly whipped off our clothes and hopped into a spa pool. Was divine until bicycle-police man came and insisted we get dressed and get out ,he then escourted us out. Had to take other route so as not to be spotted by highrollers-
We all made it home v.tipsy like and then oopps i left wet bra in taxi with my wad of wet winnings,managed to get them back tho.Taxi man thought it was hilarious.

Monday
Went out for brekkie with my winnings, lovely amn´t i?ha.
Then we set off back to LA, had mad drive back thru desert. We were all offically exhausted.
We stayed in fab Motel 6 out near airport that night and poor lindy loo had to get up at about 4.30 to get shuttle to airport to get started on her 48 hour journey to Turkey.

LA Women

2005-09-22T22:59:00.000+01:00

It was finally hot.
Yipster.
The closer we got to LA the hotter it got.
When we got on the freeway for the first time, it was, looking back hilarious but right then and there it was terrifying.

Óff with the tunes and major concentration.
6 lanes each way and no one drives at the speed limit. Fair play to Linda she handled it really well, I would be going mad. We were both sweating with the pressure,it was such a relief to get on to Santa Monica Blvd and make our way over to Venice beach.She reckons that getting used to the free ways was the only hard part about drivin in the shhtates.

We pulled up in front of one hostel and the owner lad was out the front and i was trying to get a discount but he took one look at the huge gold car and was like,`¨are you for real lady?¨`
People at petrol stations and shops were always asking about Goldie, You see, shes a new model just outta the factory.She,like us,causes a stir where ever she goes.We loved her.

Anyway we checked in to the venice beach cotel,checked out the crazies on the beach and got huge pizza that was delish.
Not many muscles on muscle beach.A black lad on a ladder in a loin cloth and a big snake.Lotsa old bob marleys selling jewllry.Good people watchin.No Jared Leto like last time.
WE hung out on the beach for a while trying to top up the tans which had drastically faded since leaving mexico.We were lying in front of a BAYWATCH tower when an old mitch type comes out and starts giving it loads with his buoy. He was doing press ups and flexing. We got a hilarious video of it.Linda was in her red bikini and looked like she was in an episode.

Then we decided to hit the town.THe 2 girls in our room were such fucking moans.Oh my god.An english one with GHD´s and alist of complaints.

We went out to the lounge area and met a few lads. One tall scottish lad,an ex army canadian and a bouncy(with fright)english lad. Had mucho drinks in the hostel. It turns out the scottish fellas father just died, he was headin home for the funeral, he was well sound and had just hitched around usa and canada for few months. The canadian lad was also sound but the english lad, god love him, he had just split up with his travellin buddies, and was travelling alone for he rest of his trip.He was only realiziing it would be ok and he didnt have to stress this.I spent a good 45 mins counselling the child.He was wreckin my head at the end.He told me his story about 5 times.

We finally moved the show over the road to a bar. A Snooker bar.We just wanted to have one quick drink and go to a club, playboy Eddie in Santa Barbara had recommended a few. We just wanted to go dancin,have a laugh and whatever but the boys wanted us to stay and then we met a hilarious Kilkenny lad,a bondi beach die hard, we eventually legged it out the door.The lads were sound but that english child wanted to come with and we were like ,no.

We ended up havin few smokes on way to club and we were so stoned at the begining that we had to concentrate to hold it together,including v inquisitive doorman who just loves Ireland. The club was an absolute meat pit. The music started off ok, a history of hip hop if you will, then it went down down down .
We were followed round by 2 loopers for a while on the dance floor and off, even fuckoff didnt seem to translate, a lad tried to take off my shoe and wanted to be spanked,a fully grown man sitting at our table pretended he was mute and starts signing stuff then later he completely accosts linda at bar and is roarin his head off, we were like what is goin on?
It was even madder cos we were stoned and the place was jammed.

We then met a nicaraguan girl and an american lad that were ok. We also met 2 welsh boys ,one looked like a small, young Jim Morrison and was a singer.He had just tried out for that x factor show. I Thought he meant the fear factor, where u eat maggots and i was like ´Jesus why would u want to do that?^
Anyway he was too cool for school but his friend was hilarious.He has been travellin for few years and was so funny with his stories. That accent is mad , i love the way welsh boys say YOSEMITE.It reminded me of andrew.I kept asking him questions so he would say it again.

Next day was BLISSY DAY
my sister Angela was flying over from dublin.YEAH. And she was bringing with barries tea bags. YEAH.
9am,We had ferocious hangovers and an appointment with a a hair dresser. We both had such scraggegdly heads after a summer of sun and fun in the sand. Basically my hair was like wire and lindy loo wasnt too far behind me. Yer one did a fab job on both of us. I have way shorter hair now. And linda was lookin snazz for the up coming turkey wedding.
So we loaded up Goldie with everything we owned and headed out to the airport and then off to Vegas for the wknd!!

gold digger

2005-09-22T03:57:00.000+01:00

He got that ambition baby look in his eyes
This week he moppin floors next week it's the fries

Switchin lanes

2005-09-20T03:37:00.000+01:00

so we finally left San Fran, our bones were chilled and ready for some sun. Thats what california is all about right?

We spent the last wknd out in Berkeley a Uni town ,we stayed in Jens apt, and spent the wknd going to yoga, it was feckin difficult being out of practice, tryin to get into a naked communal hot tub and just chillin out.

the day we got the car was hilarious. we went with avis cos we got a really good deal, but he hands me the keys and goes its over here m'am, linda was sortin out papers and i see this HUGE brand new gold jeep, SUV thing. i mean brand spankin new. i was like is there some mistake?
i had always imagined us drivin round in some banger, like the last time when we had Christine, the 70's brown station wagon with bullet holes and attitde, i mean she had wine velvet interiors.she took us all the way to cabo in mexico. this new vehicle didnt seem to fit the plan.

Linda was a bit nervous at first but she soon got the hang of the whole usa driving thing, right on red,etc and we were off. She took to the drivin like a lil duckie to water and i nearly had to prise the child from the wheel in the evenings.

we decided to call the car Goldie, boldie goldie
I only have my prov licence so boohoo i cant drive here, so lindy loo is our fabuloso driver
i was the gps system ,ie i had the road map.
am now excellent cartographer.

i cant even begin to tell u how fuckin deadly it was to have the car and be able to go anywhere,have all our stuff in it fecked in the back,just cruisin around at our own pace, tunes blarin, the car was so smooth.

we drove down to Santa Cruz the first day to check it out again. we had been here 5 years ago, homeless and sleepin on the beach being moved by the cops. ah the memories...watched the surfers for a while on the point.hot.
checked out the boardwalk etc and went on down coast. we stayed in a suitable cheesy motel off highway 1 near monterey, it was like the Albatross where we worked that summer in New York. No Jimmy in his red trucker hat tho, just some Indian dude with doughnut sugar on his face.

We intended to stay on the coastal highway 1 all the way to LA mostly for the scenery,we missed the beach,big sur etc but also cos we were afaid of the freeway. they are fuckin huge 6 lanes across each way.

we checked out Steinbeck country, very grapes of wrath, got some cool pics of peeps workin in fields pumpkins tho. went to cannery row. took pics for my eng class, if i ever have one again. Our english dept just produced 'of mice and men' in school so i was all reminiscin. not for long tho.

Next stop as in the Big Sur where we went camping. Its so beautiful ,its actaully very like West Cork, all misty cliffs and remote wild beaches and no shops or any thing for miles.
We had camped here a few years ago too with george brain and joe hayden and elaine.

we picked a campsite and set up our snazzy new tent and blow up mattress, thanks to the very generous Andrew Calo for being our camp sponser! and the sleepin bag!
we were beside a stream,under redwoods and 1 minutes walk from a wild rocky beach, the perfect place to do the mushrooms we bought off Ramon the hippy masseuse in San Fran.
we lit a fire, knocked back a few rums and mixed the mushies with yogurt and let the madness commence.
jesus christ what a laugh,
we spent ages down on the shore trippin on the rocks , the waves, the sand, the moon and a nearby bridge that was straight outta starwars.
i was seein all sorts but it was hilarious we just made eachother laugh for hours, my stomach was hurtin at the end. they were really mellow mushrooms, not at all a head thing just good clean fun for all the family.
the rocks were amazin ,there were herds of sheep on the beach, then it turned into an orgy, not with the sheep tho, then we moved up into the forest and met some fellow campers by the jacks who musta thought we were insane. we were roarin and jumpin round.
im not describin this very well. we were trippin out to zero 7 for a while in goldie and then there was a laser show. we finally hit the hay only to be woken up by screeches and scratches outside the tent near dawn. we had left every single food and drink item we posessed out on the table and some racoons and squirrels or i dunno what were ripping and munchin and knockin things over .we were too afraid to peep out! they were so noisy we though they mite get in the tent.

next day we drove down to Santa Barbara where we both had worked in the Banana bungalow hostel or the bunungalow as we called it, for 2 glorious months way back in the day.

Guess what? audrey,elaine take note, the old site, ie the nuclear bunker has been
turned into a carpet show room!!! noooooooo i hear you cry, yeah its true. we went in and took some pics it was so funny, the most charasmatic lil hostel is no more.
the recycling plant where we used to make the> serious< bucks is still nexy door tho.

we drove down to haley cottages to our old apt, The Dollhaus, and it was all still there only now the whole thing is rented to UCSB students, were all reminicin etc it was such a great time for us all.

they have relocated the bunungalow now called The Santa Barbara Tourist Hostel .and it is about as excitin and flavoursome as its name.
the only advantage is that is down at the beach.

we got chattin to the new manager Eddie, and tentatively asked about the owners Brent and Louise, we didnt really want to run into them, but all was grand Eddie assured us they were in london for the summer, coolio. we were safe to enjoy.
we told him we used to work there and he said we could stay in the staff room that nite for free, excellente.
we thought.
eddie was also extra keen that we meet him for drinks down at haley cottages that nt
,grand we sez free drinks.

we checked out the beach and went to watch some college footballers train, always a treat.
it was so mad to be back, the mission, the art museum , blenders in the grass,gregs grog and grocer,the boardwalk,

so odd though cos now
we were now cruisin down State st in our shiny gold car, the same street we used to walk barefoot on, Buyin 4 dollar natural ice and lucky strikes,carryin our 5 foot slippy snake or with the wandering minstels.

we decided to hit the town that nite and went back to the hostel to change and have few vodkas. we only got chattin to 1 other hostel staff member some skinny belgian girl, she was in the room for 5 mins and next thing as we were almost all set to leave these 2 USA lads came down and said how they ´´heard´´ we had arrived at the hostel and we were drinkin´´hard liqor´´...
mmmmmmmmmmmmm. word travels fast.
one of them was a complete ejit and the other wasnt the full schillin, which took half hour to figure out, am usually better, but was drunk. the half schillin lad, george i think, was mad to come out with us ,we sez grand and told him we were headin to Haley cottages for drinks,hopin we could shake him off there.

He was odd, hes originally from bahamas and has been to about 4 or 5 different colleges in america but has gotten kicked out or failed in them all, he put this down to his drinkin , which i think we were suppose to be impressed by. I would put it down to something else. He kept sayin he was 28, id say he was 21, if .

Anyway meanwhile down at Haley ,Eddie wasnt around. There was a bunch of young UCSB student lads millin around in the cenral courtyard, we got chattin to them and they were mostly sound. We hungout in one sound lads apt and had few drinks-smokes. It was so like old times.
me and linders felt like abit of a female phenomonon that evening, thats young boys for ya.
anyhoo we went out to few bars and even to that club where Brent used to dj, same red velvet curtains and smokin area. its so funny to be back in SB.

I woke up the next morning and i couldnt figure out where I was or what was going on.

Now, being on the road for 3 months and sleeping in all sorts of places you might think that this happens alot, well it doesnt.
It was a full 2 mins before I could comprehend that I was in SB, in a smelly hostel staffroom,Huge hangover and voracious thirst...at least 2 saharas and a gobi.
I seen Lins leg hanging over top bunk and it all came back to me.
It was so fuckin hot and stifling in the room and it was only about 8am i had to get out, I decided a shower was the best bet so i gathered my stuff and sloped to main hostel, the staffroom was a bit aways.I was rounding the corner and caught my relection in window, mad woman hair,serious panda eyes and only half dressed, cos i figured no on would be up, well.........who was at the front door, no escaping he was lookin right at me so i had to keep on walkin towards him, only fucking Brent.

Brent,uk, was our boss a few years back when we worked for him in the original Bunugalow.Work is probably a loose term, i was breakfast chick . Can u imagine, no.He never fired us tho. I was at least 45 mins late everyday,and i went for a wee kip midshift in a spare bunk. We were drunk and stoned all summer and he foolishly gave us an apt down in Haley Street where the madness escalated everynight of the week.We would have any and all unusual characters-babes in the small 2 rooms ,parties everynight.We completely wrecked his apt, it was a total mess when we left at the end of the summer. We also just took off one morning, all of his staff in a station wagon to mexico, linda,audrey,elaine,liani and me. We wrecked his place and left himn high and dry. So i really didnt want to bump into the chap.

´´Hows it goin?´´ i tentatively suggested.

He was grand actually, we just chit chatted for a while and he has turned into such a daddy. He has the look and the goods, himself and louise have 2 kids now. He was just laughing about that summer which suits me fine, i also thought it was funny.

Linda couldnt believe it that Brent was around ´´No Way!!¨¨.

We went to blenders in the grass for brekkie , a luxury that we never afforded that summer and then nosed goldie out into the californian sunshine,destination, LA baby.

Black Rock City

2005-09-02T06:30:00.000+01:00

Burn baby burn.... I love porn and eggs

2005-09-01T11:44:00.000+01:00

So myself and Linda had met all these really sound peeps on the bus and after we put up our tent in the dark we had to borrow about 3 flashlights to do this,we bought a crap one at a truck stop in Reno as a last minute thought, sure will it be that dark in the dessert with no esb?
yes, obviously it would be> anyway we got the tent up ,almost,who needs pegs??wont the bags weigh it down??
and have some delish food.

Our camp at the Green Tortoise provide all food and drinks for us for the entire week,its sooooooooo good and theres sooo much of it.
We in food heaven.

A summer of gallo pinto, ie. rice and beans, in nicaragua will make ya appreciate things i tell you.

Jesus Im already waffling off the point, i have so much to write about Bman that i actually think it might be too much to type.
Am complete lazy ass biatch.
No i want to share and j and b wud love it there and need encouragement to go next year.with mio in suitcase. so i will give it a go..........................
..................................

We head off into the night with RonPaul, an ol california hippy type who does all massage healing and reckons he is psychic.
Any way the man has good weed.seriously too good,
we have few smokes at camp and head out into the mad night.There are flames and music and dancing buses and lots of fur coats and people on unicycles and just mayhem everywhere............

By now i am actually incredibly stoned. Linda is lookin alright and RonPaul is doin some kinda assessment of her bone structure and im baring able to walk a straight line my knees are shakin so much.
There was a plasma screen tv beside me with pigs being killed or i think so,that may have been a flashback of Twatricks `Make some fucking noise` video, cos in his video he kills a pig,
anyway so we meet with ......?. who is playin in a jazz band that night near centre camp so we go see that for a while.... Its in a circular tent with a witch MCing.

It gets sooooooooooo cold at night on the playa,of course we werent prepared,wish id brought a big teddy fur coat. We just ended up wearing all our clothes at once.Lumpy and not effective. a few drinks was had
we brought wine and rum and vodka and huge homestead type mixers, ...............fiuntas ag teacht chun ti............. you cant bring asny glass onto the playa, loads of beer floatin round

we were walkin round the whole first night just in awe of the madness all round,
fire,fire dancers,dance tents,tent magic,magic shows,showoffs on unicycles,cyclists in every direction, the whole camp was huge and a bike was the best way to get around it,we had to borrow bikes.
lucky it was Bman where people will give u anything u want,u dont even have to ask,people come up and give you beer or food or massages or whatever . we were givin out sweets and our fab oirish charm.

it goes down a treat y know.

so we went to a maze,up to see the Man himself and some wooden house with a firemans pole!!
no, you sicko, a real metal one,like in the station
i worked up the courage and swung down it,,,,whhhhhhhhhoooooo

there are all sorts of mad cars,buses, and vehicles goin round bangin out the tunes ,u can hop on a get a lift
there was a huge full size pirate ship,it was unbelieveable ,can u imagine a full size galleon wheeling past u in the middle of the desert?

Strange images and sounds would go floating by, often coming out of nowhere. Out there, if you weren't lit up with something you might as well be invisible. The colors and the lights, the characters and creations and sheer inventiveness........ intense volume. thinking to myself, "Wednesday night on the playa. I'm here!!!"

It does get windy and all the sand blows up,well its not really sand its like very fine dust,this would remain with us for weeks after in corners of bags or folds in jeans or lindas hair!! we looked like grey haired grannys at the end of the week, no shower in those conditions for a week ,it took me about 45 mins to comb out my unruly wig,we actually checked into a hotel in San Fran for 2 days to recover.

The ol sess pitt

all sorts of crazy things

,pole dancing classes,vaginas for beginners,silk trapeeze,69 wednesday,there were lots of places where you could go and get some one to wash you,the g spot camp,you could paint or draw at centre camp make masks for the nights parties,make mad outfits at the black rock boutique,drum circles,shamanism,chanting,tons of bars all round the place where you could just rock up and get whatever for giving whatever

Definitely one of the coolest things we did was the Critical Tits cycle.
Basically nearly all the women in the camp,must be few thousand,all get together,have few drinks,whip off our tops, paint each other up get on our bicyles and cycle thru the camp for about and hour the whole path is lined with everyone else at camp,ie mostly dudes cheering us one,noo you cry,yess i say
It sounds maybe odd now but it was one of the most freeing things i have ever done. It was exhilarating. The guys were shouting things like,,"we support you better than a bra"
Im actually not describing this thing very well
the whole BM i dunno can be described

!!!!!!!!!!!JUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the cycle all us women went to the goddess party/chill out
this was amazing........the only men allowed in were there purely to please and pamper us
we were with about5 other ladies form our the green tortoise camp, gita,vitoria.....

we had guys feed us fruit and chocolate
wash and massage our feet
make us cocktails
paint us in glitter
tell us we were beautiful
oh im sorry did i forget the part where they were seriously hot !!!

we even got lap dances!!
which i never got before but this was deadly!!

u had to line up and then go into a private tent and let some dude shake it for ya
my guy was really good and it turned out he was friends with rollo and jag !!!!!

then we went and got whipped by 2 dominatrix girls.

it was a mad party.great cocktails.

we would go back fo dinner every evening and hookup with people from camp and go and see or do whatever,someone ALWAYS had seen or done something mad during the day that
i would be like right lets go do that.
there was so much to see and do
when i go again am goin earlier in the week.
because it takes about 2 days to acclimatise to the sheer cirque du soleil

Fantasy with a chance of becoming reality...

there was a

some good djs played ramdom parties around the playa
we went to see paul oakenfold and tiesto, which was coolio,
cant remember much of these nights
i did snog a lad dressed as a circus ringmaster at paul oakenfold,he even had a bowler hat

I just remember wandering round at nights with all the lads ...chapstick, andrew,doctor doctor, tony ,christian,hans,paddy ,kevin ,katerina,gita,victoria and a lot of rum.
we would float from tent to event

the night of the actaul burning of the man,the sat night,was a mad night,everysingle person on the playa makes thier way up for a sight to behold... the man burns!!
everyone is screaming " burn him burn him" its quite primal

fire dancers,lights,everyone screaming the energy is really high

its bizzare when he burns ,its a huge wooden structure and its amazing to see itdisintegrate and eventually collpase,i liked it,i enjoyed it,some secret arsonist tendencies maybe?
or maybe its just a solid representation of what we all came to see and witness,not the burning tbut the whole expeience of the camp culture,the tribe, or a culmination of experiences made real and burned,
its really the beginning of the end ,its a big night but it really starts the end.

Off to the Burning Man

2005-08-30T22:38:00.000+01:00

Me n Mik on the road to the Burning Man Festival, Black Rock city, Nevada Desert. This snap was taken in Reno, California enroute, we look all clean and fresh. That didn't last too long tho by that evening we has dust in every crevice possible and it remained that way for the next following 5 days. We headed off on the funky Green Tortoise bus Wed Aug 31st at approx 10am, met some cool peeps on the bus, where we had a few beers (Tecate - pronounced teecatay!), played a few rounds of Asshole and created playa names for eachother.

From there on in it was no longer Linda n Michelle, we were now Tictac and Malaria. After about 11 hours of travelling we finally hit the middle of nowhere (as signposted) and 45mins later we reached the playa. There all the playa virgins were taken off the bus by a strange looking creature, stamped with a virgin stamp, given a hug and rang the bell as loud as we could. Already we were spotting mysterious black circles in the sky and plenty of interestingly clad outfits and as we drove through the city to our camp it only got more bizzarre.

We arrived at the camp and our two new buddies Rolo n Jag declared they weren't sleeping in a tent but in their mates RV and left their beer with us (foolish lads) and took off. Me n Malaria then set about setting up our tent in the pitch dark grateful that we did actually purchase that flashlight in the Reno truckers stop earlier on. Unarsed about the pegs we tossed all into the tent and headed off for grub and meet some fellow campers. Grub, chitchat and smoke later we hit the playa to see what the hell was going on.

Regular day at the B Man

Mad max esque cars in the shapes of fish and dragons with flashing lights and jammed with all types, shapes sizes of people dancing to the thumping music were parading around the citys streets. The streets were named like a clock - we lived at 6.40 and catharsis. As we wandered around we stood out in our regular clothes as everyone was wearing fur, PVC, bodypaint, fetish gear, maids outfits, it was like the wildest fancy dress party u could ever go to and of course clothing was optional.

Malaria, Chapstick, Doctor Doctor, Rolo, Jag and Tic Tac

After our 1st day at the b man mik commented that she had never seen so many penises in her entire life. But we began to understand, when we had asked people previously what burning man was like the word undescribable was repeated again and again.

Malaria and Tictac 5 days no showers and little sleep, taking down the tent

Route through Central America

2005-08-29T08:32:00.000+01:00

Are you going to San Francisco??

2005-08-26T00:16:00.000+01:00

Thursday August 25th 05

Up early again - wrecked. Shove stuff into the bag, wolf down some more buffet and head to the airport. We catch our flight to Reno Nevada.

Originally, back in March, the plan was to hit Reno and try somehow to hitch a lift to the Burning Man. However during the flight we decide to not stay in Reno and to head to San Francisco instead as it would be easier to meet people and sort out a lift from there.

So we land in Reno (the worlds biggest little city) and head straight for the greyhound station and book onto the next bus.

After an extremely slow and long bus journey we arrive in San Fran about 10pm. Its been a long day and we´ve no where booked to stay. Also we don´t have a lonely planet guide to help us out.

So we jump on a tram to Fishermans wharf the only place we know of in San Fran. We get there and there´s no internet. Eventually we find the Radison Hotel and wangle a way to use their internet for free. We look up a few hostels and loaded with bags we get a bus.

The bus drops us off and there´s no sign of our cheap hotel,worn out we get a cab who being an asshole takes us in and drives right around the corner and drops us off and charges us $3 for the privilage.

So me n Mik finally get to hit the hay. We check into the Cesspit smack bang in the middle of China Town San Fran.

Friday Aug 26th

Up we get and off in search of the Green Tortoise hostel that had been recommended to us. Me n Mik had to figure out how we were gonna be able stay in the States and not destroy our budget for the whole trip.

Luckily there was no need to fret coz when we got to the Tortoise we met the lovely Deena the Dinosaur, a Russian woman who's head of Housekeeping and she told us she'd look after us. All we had to do was work for 3 hours each day and that'd pay for our accomodation. It all sounded great in Theory. No probs we thought 3 hours is nothing.

That afternoon we strolled through Union Square. Made our way up and down hills to Haight Ashbury the hippy part of San Fran where we looked in the 2nd hand stores. Went by lotsa nutbags on the way there too. It appears there is a high percentage of nutbags in San Fran. Some of them really freaked us out.

Saturday Aug 27th

Next morn we popped back to the Green Tortoise. Deena had set us up to work the following evening. Great stuff.
While we were there we made some investigations into the Green Tortoise Burning Man trip. It turns out they run buses there and set up a camp and sort out the food and water issues. It was pricey tho at about $250 but we couldn't see any other way and the festival was starting in 3 days. So we booked ourselves in and got the last 2 spots on the bus.

Absolutely wrecked me n Mik lazed around for the rest of the day eating trash and watching trash on TV.

Sunday Aug 28th

Yay we checked outta the cesspit and into the Tortoise.

Only prob now was, the closer the time was coming for us to start our shift the more we didn't wanna do it. We hadn't worked for months and we certainly not in a mood to start.
Also it didn't help that the other staff of the Tortoise didn't seem particularly friendly. In fact it was strange when we worked there that night coz none of the other staff seemed to acknowledge our presence or even noticed that we were working there.

However we ploughed on, Mik started on the early shift and was given the run down by Deena who is quite particular about her cleaning regimend. It was basically keep the loos stocked with bog roll, keep on top of the laundry and tidy the kitchen.

That night there was live music first in the ballroom and then it was cinema night with free popcorn. There was popcorn everywhere but the backpackers are supposed to clean up after themselves so we just focused on the laundry, which was fine by me. Boohoo we did not like to be working again but it was saving us $25 a night and there were 3 free meals a week (which were v tasty) cooked by a young v angry and v scary looking Italian chef.
Linda

I cant believe we have to work ,,uuugh. Wasnt tooo bad tho and most nites we could have a few sneaky drinks in the laundry room.
San Fran was freezin....bbbrbrbbrrrrrrrrrrrr

we had the jobs sorted so we set about our Bman plans. We went up to Haight Ashbury to all thrift shops for mad outfits but just ended up trying on crazy clothes and taking pics.
Linda got a fab yellow polka dot kids dress to fit her, very minnie mouse and i got a 60's secretary slut dress in vomit paisley. We got huge flowery straw hats in Chinatown, we got a tent and dust masks and a ton of crap in kmart.
The green tortoise brings all food and water for everyone so no need to think about that. There ya go Aud we wont be dying!
We brought industrial rum and vodka, in oh so handy plastic bottles and mixers.
The night before we left there was free beer in the hostel and we ended up getting trashed with these 2 israelis and this mad but cute USA lad, we ended up packing our bags in the hallway at 2am drunk.Prob not the best idea.

love ya baby

2005-08-24T15:53:00.000+01:00

HAPPY B DAY JENNY BENNY

Those Dallas Cowboys Ya´ll

2005-08-24T00:01:00.000+01:00

Tues August 23rd

Twas a sad morning for many reasons but the main one was that Sinead had left. She was supposed to wake us at 5am and we were to wave her off in the taxi but but she had woken us at 5.15 and with a quick goodbye she ran out.

So we were sad it had been excellent having Sinead here, she was the best of fun and always up for anything - an ideal travelling partner. She told us she had an amazing time and was now inspired to start planning her own trip, all she has to do is convince Dave. Being with her 24/7 for the past 4 weeks it was gonna be bizzare not having her around.

The second reason it was a sad day was coz we were leaving Central Am. After being there for about 2 and a half months we had fallen for it deeply, head over heels. But onwards and upwards as they say.

At Cancun airport our bags were put on the display table and searched. When mine was opened a little bug climbs out which Mik promptly squashes with her shoe. How delightful, i'm hoping there´s not a nest of them growing in there ugh!

A couple of hours later we land at the sprawling airport of Fort Worth Dallas, Texas. Me n Mik have this moment where don´t wanna get off the plane, we have no where to stay, we´ve no idea what we´re gonna do there, no transport, we've already blown our budget and the states is gonna be soo expensive.

But it passes and we get off and find out the the Super 8 motel will pick us up from the airport for free, yee haw! The motel is $25 each a night a bit of a change from $5 each. But the room is soo nice, there´s AC, a tv, towels, soap, a bath, toilet roll (u can flush it into the loo!) best of all there is tonnes of room, we can spread out. We empty the bags and put stuff everywhere, I hadn´t realised how cramped i´d been feeling sharing dorms, living out of lockers, never fully unpacking, trying to keep my stuff all in the one place and secure.

I call Aaron our gorgeous Texan friend we had met in Nicaragua, he lives in Austin and is on his way up to meet us. However it´ll be late when he arrives so he´s gonna call over for us in the morning. Looking forward to seeing him again.

As we step out of the air conditioned building to check out our surroundings, a blast of hot air hits us, it´s like opening a pizza oven door, its 7pm and boiling hot. Our motel is on the edge of a highway and as always is the way in the States along the edge of a highway there´s a strip of cheap motels, and fast food outlets, Dennys, Wendys, and a K-mart.

First thing me n Mik do is head to an old Haunt - Jackinthebox - where we scoff curly fries and burgers just like the old days when we were travelling round the states - the old dollar menu - we knew them all and if we were to survive in the staes we´d have to re-aquaint ourselves.

Then we got lost in K Mart - these stores are just humungous. Mik wanted ta get a gun but I said no ya´ll

Wed Aug 24th

Next morning Mik leaps up calls the reception to find out the time she then drags me outta the bed and into the hallway. So when I wake up I find meself downstairs in front of the breakfast buffet. Like 2 young ones who´d never seen a scrap of food in their lives we wolfed down the muffins and bagels and whatever was left of the buffet went into the bag.

About an hour r so later Aaron pulls up in his jeep and we all load in. Its really cool to see him again and so soon too! We decide to head off and see our ole pals in South Fort at the ranch and hope that maybe Miss Ellie will bake us some o her good ole pecan pie.

JR´s not in when we get there but no matter we can still pop in and check the place out. After some groovy shots in cowgal gear the 3 of us load into a mini train driven by Jake an old no nonsense Texan who doesn´t like our jokes and justs wants to get going. The train trip is all of 2 seconds long and still not too sure why we couldn´t have walked up to the front door but hell this is the US of A.

We do the tour of the ranch, Aaron is slightly embarrased to be there but it still doesn´t stop him takin the camera out and takin shots of us passed out on the chaise long in Jr and Sue Ellens room under a sign saying "please refrain from fainting here".

Back into the jeep and after a quick stop for some Mexican burritos we head to downtown Dallas. There we check out the red x on the street that marks the spot where JFK was shot and then into the Conspiracy Museem which told us all about how the government report issued on his shootings was absolutely ludicrous.
I came out of it totally convinced Oswald could not have killed him.

The main exhibit was this documentary done on the shooting by Channel 4. In the infamous video clip of his shooting it shows his head flying back as he was shot in the face, the report says that he was shot from behind (where Oswald was supposed to have been). Also in the report there´s this other ludicrous statement about a bullet hitting JFK then ricocheting off his wrist etc then going through the guy in the front seat. Then as we leave the museem owner and some bloke who just walked in proceeded to do JFK impersonations for us - bizzario.

Me, Mik and Aaron then try to find somewhere to go for a drink but downtown Dallas is quite deserted. For such a large city, there´s very few peeps on the streets and it seems that all the bars and shops are underground. However we didn´t fancy going underground and managed to sniff out a bar. After a pint r 2 there we hit the strip where all the cheapo bars are for about $1 a beer.

Aarons pal then came in and joined us and she knew of a really hoppin bar with good tunes. So we all head off there. When we get there me n Mik get stopped at the door and asked for ID - we of course had none on us and being the grand ole age of 27 didn´t think there´d be any bother. But no, even after words with the manager there was no way we were getting in.

Bit of a downer we head to another bar - same deal. Back to the original bar we´d been in earlier- there´s a new bouncer on the door and he won´t let us in either. This was getting to ridiculus levels.

So we try the Irish bar and wohoo no problem. We stay there for the evening and have a great night, we meet the Dub that works there - funny guy who´s been in the states for 10 years. He starts handing out free drinks and joins us for absinthe shots.

Alas we had to say Adios to Aaron. He really made our stay in Dallas. I hope we run into him again soon.

Yeeeah the beach!!

2005-08-20T09:32:00.000+01:00

17 hours on a bus from San Cristobal was Playa del Carmen

Seriosly hot, fab beach,blue blue water.Stunning.

Went to beach,market ,went out on the razz. It was ladies night at one of the huge clubs that line the beaches on one street. We got free gorge cocktails and lay on huge big beds with the moon the sea and the cool tunes behind from the club. Went dancing, seen a deadly fire show, all these hot young bod doing thier bizz, impressive.

We decided there were too many tourists round Playa del Carmen and headed up to Cancun to get a ferry to Isla Mujeres ,island of the women,hope not all,
Was an excellent choice tho. only half hour by boat we arrived checked i to some hostel where the sleazy pablo guy was,uuggh. We only stayed there one night cos the fab Poc Na hostel was full, we checked in there the next day.
amazing hostel on beach/

Isla Mujeres is tiny and stunning.

Fab beaches, crystal clear water, we hired a golf buggy and drove round the whole thing one aft. Was such a laff.
Sinead did a sky wire jump over the ocean,oooooooo. It looked so cool.

We went out lots here, dancing on one bar for tequila seemed like a great idea at the time.

Some sound heads at the hostel. 2 hilarious irish guys,a babe that worked there mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, an israeli babe in our room, had some serious political issues tho, and the Irish girls from Honduras showed up and sang a song.

Was sad to leave, we spent our last night in Cancun, Sinead was flying to Ireland and we were heading up to the States for Burning Man. Its the end of our Central American adventure ,noooooooooo! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Cancun is horrible. Sombrero hats and cheap ass tequila for sale on every corner. Huge Americans on hols, strip malls, avenues of sky rise hotels, and a night life that would make you dizzy. Its pure spring break for college kids.Puke on streets and colourdy drinks. Huge clubs, it was like Vegas.

Heres the hats, nice

We went out for dinner and a few drinks for our last night together,ahhhhhh

I dont really want to head up to the States , I want to go to Burnng Man but not to usa
its making me nervous. Its gonna be so different than our summer down here.

Como agua para chocolate

2005-08-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

Palenque

Ah Mexico...............

I was excited to see mystical Palenque as i couldnt go to Tikal in Guate. with the girls due to injuries from white terror water tubing.

Palenque is an ancient Mayan city with huge temples jutting out of the forest. It was really impressive. The Mayans sure love thier steps, huge ones , which is strange cos all the local indio mayans we saw are tiny people.

The temple of Inscriptions and the Palace are the most impressive. The work and reverence that went intop this place is amazing. There were lots of hippies around connecting with thier flutes and higher energies. It was a really serene place. Lying on the grass absorbing the atmosphere and climbing to the sun temple were the best parts.

We then went to San Cristobal de las Casas, which has to be the funkiest town in all of Mexico.We stayed in a hostel with a courtyard where lots of people slept, even tho it was freezin. San Cris is typically mexican with a main plaza and markets and of course mini van buses. The indio people are highly distintive in thier dress here. Its really colourful for men and women. The men were furry waistcoats and mad clourful hats , the women wear sweepin skirts and one really long plait tied with ribbons.. No teeth is also a craze.

We had a lot to drink at the hostel and then the 3 of us went out on the razz..Actually we were running and skipping down the road,theres a really good energy in this town.

We found a bar with a live band and bounced in the door. We danced all night to the reggae reggae sounds.I met this seriously cute funky lad with 2 hats.What a sweetie.
bit young tho.Its shockin.

Later on we met the singer outside when buying fags , he was giving food to this street kid he looks after, whos parents were killed in the Zapatista uprising, he seemed sound and said he was having a party at his house so we all hopsa taxi. the house was seriously gorgeous. The whole band live there, all hot blokes, was great night, kinda fuzzy,
lotsa smoke............

we woke at near midday and legged it into town we missed the bus to a boat thing we were supposed to do. Outside on the road we met a man carrying a statue of Mary under his arm. We were still drunk.I manged to acquire a new hat.

Chamula

2005-08-10T08:57:00.000+01:00

San Juan Chamula, outside of San Cristobal, Chiapas.

In the mid 1990s, the region made headline news, as it was the stage for the Zapatista rebels, many of whom come from villages around Chamula.
We bought little Zapatidta dolls i the market, the highland women make then, they are so deadly, little masked men on horses.

We got a local bus out to Chamula to check it out we had heard about the bizzaro chapel and had to see.

Chamula at first appears to be just like any other mountain village. A colourful market with fruit,dogs and kids everywhere. If you didnt enter the church, you would never notice anything bizarre about it.
In most churches, it is now illegal to use flash; in Chamula, it is illegal to take photographs at all.

Inside the church, guards monitor the tourists and if caught, the tourist will go straight to jail.

From the outside, the church looks typical.Its pretty, white and green.
Once inside, that impression changes quickly. There are no pews, there is no altar.

Instead, the walls are lined with glass cases, each containing a saint, resting on tables. These saints may seem to be Catholic saints, but really represent Mayan gods. In front are sometimes other tables, on which flowers stand. On the ground, rows of candles are burning, often with a worshipper behind it. Birthday candles and loads of straw scattered all around. There was such an atmosphere of awe and reverence coming from the locals in there. We were walking around taking it alll in and eventually had to sit down at the back just to watch. Men ,women and kids all sitting on the floor, hundreds of candles burning on the floor and the in the background theres music, Christmas tunes! it makes quite a scene.

On the right hand side is the shrine of the Virgin of Guadelupe, illuminated with a type of lighting you would see in Vegas. The scene looks so bizzare.

The floor of the church is covered with pine needles and straw.
Normally, a worshipper will light about twenty candles, placed in three rows, in front of one of the saints.

Worshippers bring a bottle of beer Pepsi, Coke or fanta. The Coke is often drunk during chanting, sometimes spat out over the candles.
There is a huge Coca Cola vs Pepsi thing goin on in the town. Houses, shops,schools cars all have an affiliation for one brand or another.
The two brothers who distribute Coke and Pepsi the wealthiest in town. Mediations, parties, baptisms and even funerals all involve soft drinks, particularly the brown stuff. Many women even feed their babies Coke from the bottle.

One conspiracy theory says that the Coca-Cola marketing machine is so powerful that it has managed to convince the local population that it is sacred.

Mayans have always believed that the expulsion of gas is a way of clearing out evil spirits. So odd

Chicken is slaughtered as an offering to the saints. We actually witnessed this. One woman produced a chicken from under her huge skirt and promptly broke its neck while the local shaman was chanting over her , her family ,the coke and the candles.

She then hid the dead bird again, probably for the dinner.

Its a mad mixture of Mayan ancient customs, Christianity,magic,coke and candles. Its strange and intiguing.