European Getaway Day 4 (19-11-2006)

Day up to Jungfrau (top of Europe)

The day started out great, we got woken up at 5:30 am by a crazy (or pissed) man. He came passed and knocked on our door and then the next persons and ended up knocking on a whole bunch of doors, at first we thought it was the boys coming back from the bar playing knock and run. He then came back past our cabin and knocked on it again and again. I asked Kieran what time it was. Found out it was 5:30 am and told the man to go away. He then opened the door and said “come on time to get up lets go its 7 am get up, its happy hour”. We told him he was wrong and that he had the wrong room. He then proceeded to try and get us to still come with him and to get out of bed. After which he shut the door and then went onto the next room. The next room was where the Saffas were, not 100% sure what happened there but her was trying the same thing as he had just tried with us. Duayne was telling him off and then the guy slammed the door. To which Duayne was angry hopped out of bed and ran after the guy and started to tell him off and swear at him. Nothing else happened after this. I thought it was meant o be a safe town. Which I guess it is but they forgot to mention crazy people are there as well.

We fell back asleep, we weren’t going to let a crazy man rob us of our extra hour and a half of sleep. When we got up and went to breakfast we told Jaz who had never heard of that happening before. I think he was living in the park and got woken up when the others went to bed after a big one at the bar and they woke him up and he wanted revenge (or he was just really pissed and wanted some friends to drink with him) After that incident I wasn’t too sure about leaving my stuff in our room without a lock, I did it anyways he can steal my undies if he likes. It was pretty funny though (The Saffas took it pretty serious though and didn’t seem to see the funny side as much as we did…).

After breaky we had to run to catch the train up the mountain as they come each hour and we only had 10 mins to make it. We were at the front and made it easy to the train which lucky for us had waited just long enough for us to get there and hop on. I don’t know how Ashoor and Llody made it to the train, they were woken only 5 mins before we left. As we hoped on the train so did Jaz as she needed to tell us what to do when we got off there and where we had to change trains. Unfortunately for her the train started moving, she was shouting to the train people to stop as she wasn’t coming with us and had no ticket to get up there. She was absolutely freaking because she knew it wouldn’t be a while till the next train came, had no money to buy a ticket and she had no bra no (we found that out later) which was a concern for her. While she was freaking and banging on the doors we all pissed our selves laughing at her!

When the ticket inspector came she had to tell him what happened, he was nice enough to understand and allowed her to get off at the next stop, her new problem was to get back on another train fro the return trip for free other wise it would be a 2hr walk back in the cold. Lucky for her she got to go back on the train and made it back to where we were staying only an hour later.

We all traveled up on the train to the top of Europe. The views up there were amazing, no way to describe it really. The photos do not do it justice. We had to change trains half way up. This is where we saw a real Saint Bernard with the rum barrel around his neck. Not sure why he was there I think it was a tourist thing, if people wanted photos you might have had to pay the owner some money. Awesome mountains with snow, real snow. There were really good views from the stops we had on the train as it was going through the inside of the mountain. At the stops inside the mountain they had windows where we were ale to get off and have a look. It was amazing how they built the train tracks and cut it all out of the mountain. It was a long 2 hr journey up to the top of the mountain but you didn’t even realise it took that long as you were just amazed by the views.

We finally made it to the Top of Europe; it is called that as apparently it is the highest place in Europe that you can get to with out a pick and climbing equipment. When we first got out we followed the crowds but had no idea where we were going. The signs were not to clear on where you had to go for what. We finally found our way up to the top and to the outside. Walking up all the stairs to get outside made you realize how thin the air was up there and some people were feeling dizzy and short of breath, it also makes you feel tiered so you feel like a major unfit fat ass. It took a little while to adjust but after a while you were fine. I did feel a bit dizzy at the beginning but then I was fine. We decided to go out and see all the snow. It was good and cold as snow always is. It was real good snow nice and soft powder not the kind that you get at the popular ski slopes, but the fresh brand new stuff, the kind of snow where you can make a snowball and throw it with out causing serious damage to your victim.

After spending enough time out side we went back into the warmth and decided to head down into the ice palace. We went down with Aaron, Daniel and Lloydy. Before we went down we heard stories that someone had spewed just at the bottom of the steps and some poor sucker had slipped in it hahaha “sucked in buddy that’s gross you fell in spew”. I was glad we had a heads up we knew what to expect (someone could not handle the altitude). We made our way down the steps, halfway down the smell hit us you couldn’t get past the spew smell. I was about to dry reach so I just covered my mouth and made my way down as quick as possible and past the spew (where you could see the slip mark) And then down a corridor into the ice palace where there was no more smell. Kieran was fine, I guess that’s why she is the nurse.

The ice palace was not as much of a palace as it was an ice cave where they had carved stuff out for you to look at. There were polar bears, and penguins made of ice. It was still really good. Some of the boys decided to get photos of themselves humping and riding the animals. The floor was ice and it was a challenge not to slip over as there were not too many hand rails so you had to be good on your feet. Kieran almost stacked it once. Daniel took a slip trying to be cool and majorly landed on his ass. It was all caught on film for which I am trying to get a copy.

In the ice palace there were these thin passage ways to get from the end to the beginning again. It was fun going through the passages until I almost got stuck, see photo. We had finished playing around in the ice palace and made our way back past the stink and then up to the observation deck. The observation deck was a fare hike and then to a long elevator ride to the top. The views from up there were amazing. Only problem for me was standing on the grated platform where you could see straight through and down the mountain not the best when you have a dislike of heights. I didn’t stay out there for too long. We ate our lunch inside where we sat down with Ashoor for some lunch. As he got up too late we gave him some of our lunch (we got to make our own lunch that morning) and then left him to sleep off his sickness on the bench like a hobo. We told him we would be back before leaving to make sure he was awake.

We looked around the souvenir shop a bit and bought a few things. We decided to get the next train back. As the train leaves every hour we had a bit of time to kill so we decided to run around in the snow a bit more. Realising we had ten mins till the next train we went back down, got lost on the way and then we only had 5 mins. I ran to get Ashoor from where we had left him, up the lift ran around. I could not find him. Back down the lift. And ran to the train, it was still sitting there we opened the gate and tried to get on but as it was 1 minute past the time it was supposed to leave the man would not let us on. We accepted this and walked back to go and wait, as we did so the Swiss man said ‘In Swiss we leave on time’. I was now angry at this guy he did not have to add that to our already shit situation. And if they were so on time why had they train not left yet huh…stupid Swiss head.

So we went to sit down and wait for another hour for the next train. Sitting there angry I decided to look out the window through the binoculars, as I turned to walk back Ashoor said hello to me. I could have nearly died. I was happy to see him as he took away my anger from the man as it did not make it a waste of time us missing the train. Ashoor was thankful we had returned as there was no one else left. We hopped on the next train, still good views so you don’t notice the time going by that much.

When back in Lauterbrunner We walked around to go and get some more souvenirs and a Swiss army knife or 2 (have to get a knife when in Switzerland they invented them). We had our pile of stuff we wanted to buy, when it came time to pay. Our credit cards would not work, both mine and Kieran’s. I ran down the street to the ATM to withdraw the money. I put in my details and then waited, my money didn’t come out. I started to freak a bit. Ran back to the shop where the tour leader was and she came with Kieran and I to the machine. Where we worked out that I had not seen the screen which read ‘no connection’. We then went to the other ATM in the town. Also no luck with the connection. Hmm what could we do. We spoke to Jaz and we went back to the shop where they took euros as well as Swiss franks. We had to borrow 20 euro from Jaz. I would pay her back when we returned to camp where I had more money. It was crap there was no connection from the town to the commonwealth bank. We ended up getting our knives and Kieran’s swatch watch pheww.

The weird thing is that we still had to pay for our tip up the mountain, we paid with our credit cards and it worked at the camp site which is 10 min walk from town….freaky. We had a fondue for dinner that night and then a bunch of sausage which was really good. Had more drinks before bed to end a good and interesting day.

European Getaway Day 3 (18-11-2006)

We must clear something up from Paris. Yes we did find S.J. (the girl that went missing). When we returned to the hotel from the cabaret and boat ride she was at the hotel. she said something about a bus taking ages to get to the dinner place and we had already left. She also said later in the trip that she was at a bar with American guys but who really knows. Anyway she turned up back at the hotel to our tour leaders relief.

Paris to Lauterbrunnen (France to Switzerland)

The day started with a 6:30 wake up for a 7:30 breaky and an 8 am leave. Today we are driving a long way, it is one of the biggest drive days we will have. After breakfast trying to get out the door was the first challenge. As we were leaving, a bus load of old German people were coming in. They beat us to the door first, so we had to wait for them to move. The thing is these old people didn’t move and didn’t even attempt to move as they could see us waiting there trying to get out. I had enough of this, chucked my pack on my back and then charged my way through making the rest of our tour group follow. I tried to knock them over unfortunately this was unsuccessful but it would have been satisfying if It had.

We had to hike up a bit of the hill to get to the coach but it was easy with the pack on my back. Most of the bus ride people slept. I had only about 30 mins sleep (this was to be the way for most of the trip) then I was awake for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t see the point to sleeping on the bus as I will never be in this part of the world again so stayed awake for almost the whole ride after having my beauty nap in the morning. As you can imagine Kieran joined the majority and slept on and off for long periods, due to her transport narcolepsy.

After Lunch we had to do introductions on the bus. The questions we had to answer were

Name?
Age?
Where you are from?
Job?
What you were looking forward to on the trip?
Embarrassing moment or Joke
Red light - if you are in a relationship, green light- single, orange light- seeing someone but open to persuasion.

When it came to my turn I told them all but was not going to tell an embarrassing moment as simply I just don’t have any (Yeah right Glen…). So I decided to tell a joke. I can’t take credit for the joke I must thank Darren. It was a good one and almost everyone on the bus being Aussies got it and had a laugh. I guess you now want me to tell the joke. Ok “Did you hear about the two baked beans traveling around Australia? They ended up in Cairns” hahaha get it Cairns-cans funny hey, a classic dad joke.

A lot of people didn’t tell embarrassing stories rather they said they have many and said they will find some out in due course and there will be many on the trip. I was the only one who told a joke though. Kieran didn’t tell an embarrassing story either. And she answered “apparently” to the Red light question which made me become a yellow light on the trip. (Glen get over it! Comments by Kieran)

Most of the people are from Australia. There were 36 people on the trip (including the crew) below are the people so you know who we are talking about


Georgie- 18 from Australia, Sydney
Debbie- 20 Kiwi from nearish Christchurch who is a wool girl in a shear shed
Helen- 24 from South Korea. Tried to teach me an Kieran some Korean hehehe.
David – pronounced Daavid 22 from Colombia A ladies man pashed a couple of girls on the trip
SJ- 19 from Australia, Sydney. The crazy girl who got lost in Paris. She is a sandwich short of a picnic or just plays it that way. We have a million stories about her.
Li- 24-25ish From China
Bec- 22 From Australia, Melbourne ( one of the group known as the Melbourne Girls)
Kate- 22 From Australia, Melbourne ( one of the group known as the Melbourne Girls)
Vanessa - 21 From Australia Melbourne ( one of the group known as the Melbourne Girls)
Jess- 22 From Australia Melbourne ( one of the group known as the Melbourne Girls)
Hanna- 23 from New Zealand, Dunedin (Spitting image of Kieran’s niece Eleanor..weird)
Sam- 24 From Australia, Melbourne. Good Value, always a laugh either tripping over or saying something silly. She is a nurse as well who is living in London for a few more months before going to Africa. (Also became Kieran’s Wino partner and one of the ‘Hornbags’)
Tarshi- 24 From Australia Port Licoln (SA). An absolute crack up always has a smart ass or gutter mouth comment. (Aslo one of the ‘Hornbags’)
Tegan- 24 from Australia, Adelaide. Originally from Port Licoln is friends with Tarshi and just as bad as Tarshi if not worse. (Also a ‘Hornbag).
Amanda- 33 From Australia, Sydney but had been living in London for he past 3 yrs
Sue- 25 from South Korea. Good friends with Erica.
Ae Yo – from South Korea. Fashion designer.
Kanami- from Japan Loved to play Indovina Chi? was excited when I pulled it out. (find out what Indovina Chi? is later.)
Erica- 25 from South Korea
Lloydy- 25 from Australia Dubbo. Is a Pharmacist who is living in the UK on a working visa as well.
Daniel- 22 from Australia Adelaide. Been in U.k for a few months now just traveling around, has an ancestry visa… damm him. Reminded me of Ian personality wise.
Aaron- 24 from Australia Bribane, Is a radiographer who is traveling through and around the U.K before going onto Canada to meet his Girlfriends parents.
Tiff- 24 from New Zealand Auckland. Has been living and working in the UK for about a year. This is her final trip before going onto to America.
Ashoor- 18 from Australia Mooree. Too much to write about Ashoor (pronounced ‘a shoe’) country boy who grew up in Mooree, is a Fijian Indian and is doing a Europe trip on his way back home from teaching English in a school in Peru from the last year. He doesn’t own jeans.
Marina- 37 from Australia but had been living in England for the past 15 yrs and was going home. A nurse who married and English man but divorced and is now going back to Australia but not sure if she will stay there for good yet.
Megan- 27 from Australia, Sydney. Was out on the prowl for men and had a few dates while in other countries worked for the competition QBE. Loves a man in a kilt.Mia- From Australia
Lilani- From South Africa, Cape Town. Finishiing her year of living in the UK by traveling around Europe before going to Thailand and then back home.
Duane- From South Africa, Cape Town. Finishing his 2 year of living in the UK by traveling around Europe before going to Thailand and then back home. He Met Lilani while working in the UK.
Yo- 25 from Australia Sydney, Traveling around the world seeing as much as possible before returning home to complete a doctorate in Architecture.
Cathy- 25 from Australia, Brisbane. Doing the work visa thing like us but is only planning on staying in the UK for 6 months. Her catch phrase was the dry reach. She would do it to anything she saw that was gross. Especially coco pops in the washing up water.
Gavo- Camp cook from Australia Brisvagas
Jaz – Tour Leader 25 from Australia Brisvagas
Mav- Bus driver 25 from Australia WA somewhere

Unfortunately I cannot fit in Pics of everyone, until I work something out.

As you can see from the list of people we are very diverse from Australia! If there are people who don’t have much detail that is because unfortunately we didn’t get to know them enough.

As we crossed the boarder from Italy into Switzerland we had to stop at the check point as the Swiss are not part of the EU we had to get searched. At the checkpoint a sniffer dog came on board and checked us all out but was not that interested in us instead he ate some chocolates which were on the ground and then ran outside to do a wee. Before coming on the bus the dog had to check the luggage and decided to drewl on Tarshi’s sleeping bag (probably cause it had Bacardi spilt on it). Glad I wasn’t sleep on that.

We all passed the check point and made it safely into Switzerland. It was awesome country side making our way to Lauterbrunnen, we passed picturesque country side. The mountains and the water were so clear you could see it sitting so still in the lakes. It was so still that some of it had frost on the top and other parts acted like mirrors reflecting the mountain scenery around it.

We entered Lauterbrunnen, which was a very small one horse town. As gavo would say “ it is a one horse town where even the horse packed up and left”. But it was a nice little village. We stayed in cabins that night, which did not have locks on the doors as it was so safe there. Hmm we will see how safe it is... As this was only a little town and we arrived on a Saturday night there was not much to do. Lucky for us the camping ground had a Bar where we could sit up till late. The rule was the bar closed when there was no one left other wise Carlo the bartender would keep it open. We had roasted chicken and onion soup for dinner that night which was delicious (Thanx Gav). After dinner we made out way to the bar where we drank to the wee hours of the night.

In the bar we played a game called the nail game. The point of this game is to hit a nail into the tree stump but you can’t line up the shot. You have to have the hammer peg thing on the outer rim of the stump and then take one whack at it, then pass it to the next player. See the photo to see what you had to hit it with. The hitting implement was not straight which made it harder to aim. How you play is the first person who nails theirs in completely wins but it doesn’t stop until the last person has got theirs in. So the winner gets a shot or alcohol but the person who lost buys it for them and can be of the loosers choice as to what the winner will drink. Doesn’t sound much like winning if you ask me.

I didn’t win and I didn’t loose, but Kieran did and had to buy Lloydy a drink. I think she ordered him a gin, absinthe and something else. Apparently it was gross.

A good night was had by all.
Glen

European Getaway Day 2 (17-11-2006)

Day in Paris

We woke up at 7am for our breakfast at 8 and left for the bus at 8:30. Breakfast was a continental buffet, they had croissants (we are in France), fruit, bread rolls and a selection of cold meats and cheese. It was a different kind of breakfast unusual having a bread roll sandwich style breakkie. I still ate, it you know me I have to eat the food I can when I can get it. A lot of the people thought it was a really crap breakfast as they wanted cereal or even some toast including Kieran.

After breakkie we hiked up the hill and got on the bus for our trip into Paris for our free day. We got dropped off at the Eiffel tower. There are a few ways you can get to the top of the Eiffel tower the first is the stairs to the first level. Then from the first level you can then walk up to the second where you can purchase tickets to get the lift to the top. The other way was the lift straight from the bottom to the top of the tower. When down the bottom the line for the lift straight up was massive. We decided to take the stairs as it was only 3.30 euro but the lift all the way was 11 euro.

We started to climb up to the first level. The stairs are metal and enclosed by a wire mesh like fencing but you can clearly see through the fence and feel the wind etc despite having the fence on either side of you, it does feel very open. I was fine at first as we got closer to the viewing deck I was feeling a bit more nervous about the height and how I would go getting up to the top and then back down again. I made it to the first level where we saw some excellent views of Paris and ended up spending a while on this platform just walking around and reading the plaques and seeing the suicide net ( unfortunately I don’t have any photos of that) When it came time to go up to the top, I struggled a bit. I tried to walk up the steps but just could not do it the view and the openness of the stairs was getting to me. I was happy to have made it to the first platform, for someone who is afraid of heights I think I did well and have no regrets not going to the top. However Kieran was braver than me and ended up climbing the steps to the second level and then caught the lift to the top (another 3.30 euro. I will let her tell you of her experience to the top while I stayed in coffee shop waiting for her safe return).


”Kieran’s trip to the top”: Hi, after Glen had finally made the decision that he could not and did not want to go any further (which did take a while …a lot of psychological dispute) I started to make my way up the stairs to the next level. I was O.K for probably the first 5 flights of stairs and then you could feel the wind a lot more and the ground became further and further away and I began to feel a little uneasy and also thought thank God Glen didn’t come because he would have been crapping himself and I would have probably have to carry him or blindfold him to get him up there. I made it to the second level and was lucky to keep my ticket from blowing away when buying it from the lady. I felt better once I reached the 2nd level as the area is fairly large and it feels safer. So I made my way to the lift to go to the top. The top still appeared pretty far away and I didn’t know how I would feel about such a long and high lift ride. Once in the lift which was 80% glass I started to freak out. Despite the fact that the lift was speedy it felt like it went forever and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, my stomach went through my legs and I kept thinking “please don’t break, please don’t break”. I think that spending the time talking to Glen about how high it was etc made me think way to much about it. Anyway it sucked it was like going up on the probe 7 at Wonderland and hoping you wouldn’t be coming down like the probe 7. I eventually made it to the top and took a minute to calm down. At the top the lift opened up to an inside glassed area. We probably should have just got the lift from the very bottom to the very top and we both would have been fine. Anyway I then went to the outside area and it was pretty freaky the wind was strong and you could actually feel it move. I tool some photos/video and made myself go to the edge and look over a few times then made my way back down to Glen. At least I can be proud to say I went to the top even though it was scary!

After Kieran’s safe return we headed down the stairs as I clung to rail, its always worse going down looking at the ground dammit. After our trip to the hunk of metal, we took off for our walk around Paris to see the sites that we have read about.. First on our walk was the tomb of Nepolean Bonaparte, then onto Notre-Dame to go see Quasimodo. Then back to the louver. We didn’t go in as there was not enough time. We will be back and see it all over again so we were not fussed about missing Mona Lisa. After the louver we stopped for some lunch an apple and custard Danish. It was very yummy. We then made our way up the Champs Elysees ( the main street) which is very pretty at night with all the lights on. At the end of the street is the Arc De Triomphe (must be said in an American accent amazing race style Arrrkdayy Triuummff) worked out how to get across the road as you cannot run across it. There are no lines on the road and apparently no insurance companies will insure a car if it has an accident on the road. It is organized chaos (not as bad as Bangkok though). Ohh while I am talking about the French drivers they have a thing called bumper parking where they will nudge a car with their bumper to get in and out of spots as they pack so close together people will just hit each other to get in and out. It is crazy.

So back to the trying to get over the road to the arch de triumph, managed to find these signs which pointed to an underground path to get to the middle. We started to follow the signs which made us cross a few roads before realising that the signs were saying the underground path is on the other side at the Champs Elysees road where we had initially been standing. So we back tracked found our way to the underpass and made it to the middle just in time before closing. We didn’t walk to the top as there wasn’t enough time but we might do that when we go back

After the Arc we had to find our way back to the Eiffel tower as we were having a champagne picnic dinner there. We wound our way through the streets, good thing we had a map. Although you could see the tower we still wanted to find the quickest way there (we didn’t want to be late). Made it down to the tower with time to spare and found the others but could not see the bus where the picnic was to be set up. We all stood around for a while with the group. We waited for an extra 45mins for the bus. We had no idea what was happening, at first we thought they had left us and we were stranded in Paris with all the others.

They finally arrived at 7:45pm due to a traffic accident; everyone was starving especially us who had only really had a danish all day. We pulled out the tables and camping stools and had a good meal of chicken and salad as well as the Champaign. To top the meal off we had Escargo (snails) in a garlic sauce. I could not pass up eating these as I would never have ordered them in a restaurant. The trick to eating them at a picnic was to break the 2 outside prongs of a plastic fork and then stick it in and scoop out the little sucker and eat it before it got cold. You only should chew it a few times and then swallow the more you chew the worse it is. I have not had oysters or muscles so I cannot compare it to that but it was like garlic calamari in a way a little bit chewy, but still ok to eat. Even Kieran had one!

The whole time we were eating dinner we were waiting for a girl to come back from walking around town that we hadn’t seen since the morning. We were told to meet at the drop off point at 7pm. Which we all had except for her and the coach. When the coach arrived at 7:45 she was still not there. We started eating dinner thinking she will just be late. We finished dinner and still she was not there we waited until 9 pm and she still didn’t show. The tour leader had to make a decision to wait for her making everyone else miss their optionals or treat her like and adult and make her get her own way back to the hotel. The second option was the choice. Before we went into Paris for the day we were all given a map of the city and a ‘get lost sheet’ which has the address’ and contact phone numbers for where we were staying on tour. So if we did get lost we could get a taxi back.

After finishing our picnic dinner we packed up the coach and headed onto optional extras for the night. Some people were going on a boat ride down the seine river. We and mostly the girls were going to a cabaret show. On the way Jaz (tour Leader) was trying to find out if anyone had S.J’s mobile number. She was asleep when the contact number and emergency contact numbers were collected by Jaz on the first bus trip

In the Cabaret show you get to see a bit of boobie (can't take photos inside, sorry guys). It was interesting to see that the only guys who went to the show were the only 2 men who were their girlfriends on the trip. I wasn’t going to miss out on boobs. We arrived at show, me and the other taken man (the saffas) with about 15 girls. We walked in the door and the place was packed heaps of people in there drinking and eating. Part of our package was to get either 2 beers or half a bottle of wine each. That’s a pretty good deal to me. Kieran and I opted for the half a bottle so we could share a whole one. So we down got our bottle of wine and started to enjoy the evening.

There was some singing just before the show, which really got the crowd in the mood it was great. One thing I did notice before the show started was the when the French people were drinking their champagne or sparkling wine; they don’t care about safety when popping the top. Infact they would try and get it to fly really high not caring who it hit in the head or where it landed. Lucky for us we were under a balcony so we wouldn’t be hit. It was crazy to see and I was amazed no fights broke out. If I kept getting hit by the cork I would go find where it was coming from.

The cork popping continued for a while, then the show started. A French man came to welcome everyone in the crowd and told us about the show. He spoke a few languages which always amazes me and he spoke good English even though it was with an American accent. The curtains opened and the show began. There were boobs out straight away! The show was a sing and dance act. Not every act or part had boobs out. It was interesting to see how different these are to what I thought one would have been. It kinda felt a bit like a Rock eisteddfod where the kids are trying to tell a story (but these are good looking men and women with only half there clothes on). This is what the show was like they were telling the story of dance through the ages and in French. They skipped a few years but started in the 20’s and ended up somewhere in the future with space ships and fluro suits. By the way Kieran said the guys had there tops off too and they were pretty nice to look at.

Half way through the show there was an intermission where a man (Christopher) was doing aerial tricks on a piece of rope hanging in the middle of the room over the crowd. It was excellent, he had amazing strength, however he was a bit of a ‘love me do’ which kind of ruined it for me. It was still good to see anyway.

They continued on after the rope tricks. Half way through the last half we heard a scream and girls moving from behind us, it was from one of our tour’s tables. We all thought that one of the girls had spilt her wine on another girl. What actually happened was one of them was not feeling the best and had a spew on the table and on her friends jacket. What a way to ruin a good evening for that table, classy too. The show finished with the classic Cancan and balloons fell from the sky. We got a balloon as a souvenir. We then headed back to our bus where the boat people were waiting; they too had been drinking on the cruise. Even got some back on the bus, can’t say no to a drink so had a few for the road on the way back to the hotel. Got back to the hotel and met the boys in the bar for a few more drinks (Kieran joined me). The night ended at 2:30am.

Glen and Kieran

European Getaway Day 1 (16-11-2006)

European Getaway 16 Nov – 5 Dec 2006

London to Paris

The day started out by waking up at the nice hour of 4:45, had to rush around as we had to finalise our bags, we had only got to bed at 1:30 that night, so running on hardly any sleep.

Walked with our packs on back and pillows in hand to the tube station, had to catch 2 trains to get to the pick up point from where we were staying. Nice ride on the district line all the workers were looking at us funny as we had so much stuff at such and ungodly hour.

Hoped out of the train at our station and headed to where we thought we had to go. Found the Topdeck bus, but couldn’t find the hostel, asked the driver but he was not sure either, he new it was down that street somewhere (No shit mate). We left our packs on the coach with the driver and ran down the street as it was 6:55 and we had to leave at 7. Ran down the street and out the front of the hostel was the Tour leader Jaz who said as we were running up to her “you must be Kieran and Glen?” and Correct she was. She had been waiting for us. As we walked into the hostel with her, another person walked in joining the tour so we weren’t the last ones which made us feel a lot better. (This was not to be the same for the whole tour, as we were not late for anything else.)

We all walked down to the bus, we were the only ones not carrying anything so I offered to carry some stuff for Jaz as she had heaps of stuff. Got on the little bus and found a seat. We sat in the middle halfway between the cool kids at the back and the nerds at the front.

It was a 2 hr drive to Dover we learnt all about the people who were sitting at the back of the coach, it was very big brother like with all the questions people were asking each other. Almost like everyone was walking around going ASL? (Age Sex Location for those who are not geeks) As if they were in a chat room. I will tell you about everyone on the coach in a later post.

Got to Dover and saw the white cliffs, although they were more of a grey, from the weather but still got to see them in real life. We had to go through French customs as we were going into France and leaving England, crossed over without any problems (lucky Kieran told me to leave the machete and heroin at home!). We had to take all our bags off the bus as it was just the one to drive us from London to Dover; another bus was waiting on the other side, the one we got to know and love that drove us through Europe.

We got our boarding passes, (yellow cards which say bon voyage, they were dodge) Made our way to what some would call a boarding platform, I like to call it a gang plank. Once on the ferry we explored what was there and then settled down with a meal for lunch/morning tea (it was a kiddies meal that came with a multicolour crayon Yay!). After the meal we headed to the family room to chill out in, Kieran had a sleep to cure the sea movement.

The ferry made it to Calais in 90 mins, at Calais we met the Driver Mav (nickname of Maverick due to the aviator sunnies she wears. Her real name is Peta. Next we met Gavo the cook. All the Topdeck crew are from Australia.

We Packed our bags into the coach (her name is Judy, 'that's a nice name'), took our seat, we took the middle again to best judge our new travel companions. Driving into Paris was a nice drive past the country side, pass the Somme a good history lesson to see the land where the western front was fought.

The first night we stayed in a hotel, Kieran and I had a room to ourselves. There is one other couple with us, they are South African. We took our bags up to our room via the lift as we have massive bags we could only fit us and our bags in there. We ended up on the third floor with a view of the river. The view was through a suicide window that we could open right up and jump out of if we wanted to. I only ever stuck my head out. After we got our bags up to our room we had to meet back down stairs for a tour around the city with Jaz and see some sites. We needed to get the bus back into the city, as our hotel is a bit far out to walk back to.

We took our bus trip back into Paris, had a driving tour of the city saw all the things that we could go back to the following day when we had free time and view them in sunshine. We stopped at and walked up to the Sacr’e-Coeur, a massive Church on the hill built by the Germans as a present to France. It is a really nice church only problem is the finger men on the way up to see it. What are finger men? Well they are these guys (normally of dark African appearance) and they have a piece of string in a loop that they try to put on your finger. Then when you cant get it off, they hold onto the other end and you have to pay them to get the string off your finger. It is pretty much black mail. No one on our trip got stung by these ppl. What we did when walking past these men is to put our hands in our pockets, not look and just walk past, when they talk say no thanks and keep on walking.

For dinner Kieran had a hotdog and I had a donner kebab. Now donner kebabs are not the same as back in oz, what they do is open the pita bread (half the size of home) and then stuff the meet and salad inside of it. There is no rolling and pressing it under the sandwich press. It was a massive meal with the chips and drinks. We had some free time and we had a bit of a walk around. Met back up with the rest of the group, got back on the bus and continued to check out the famous sites of Paris such as the louver, Eiffel tower of course!, Arc De Triomphe etc. After our driving tour we went back to the hotel room for the end of the first day was over, and we needed some sleep. Some of the group stayed up and drank in the bar Kieran and I just went to bed. I did try to watch some TV but there were only 5 channels all in French, it was funny to watch Will and Grace in French.

European Life Update

Hi All

Just wanted to say Hi and yes we are both still alive. Comming back from our big 20 day Europe tour has been busy. In the last week we have been looking for work, a place to live and now we are in Scotland on a 4 day break ( you need a break after a big holiday i think). We will be back in London soon, I will update the blog as best I can. As you can imagine I have heaps to write about and could not do it all on the tour (didn't take the Lappy). So I have made notes and will write it all out when I have the time so stay tuned as there will be a few days of whats been happing, along with pictures soon.

Glen

London Day 8

We now have three days till we leave for Europe, getting a bit exited I must say, Only problem is we have to meet our bus at 6:30am on Thursday morning. We still have to buy some sleeping bags and pillows for the trip. A reason why it was much cheaper than the others. We have found a good shop called Argos where we can pick up a sleeping bag for 10 pound about 25 bucks which isn’t bad. Will pick that up tomorrow along will pillows and a doona.

At the moment we are staying at Marisa and Rich house as there were no hostels available for Saturday the 11th not 100% sure why that was something big must have been happening unless it was all for the parade. Marisa and Rich have been kind enough to let us stay here until Thursday. It has been a great help as we have been able to unpack our bags and work out what we will be taking around Europe with us.

What else have we been up to these past few days? I shall tell you. On Saturday we moved our stuff over to Marisa and Rich’s place and then went out to purchase some cushion beds for me and Kieran to sleep on, from a place called ‘ the futon company’ and ended up at a pub for lunch and a pub for dinner. It was good and the pub food over here is good. I love the steak and ale pie, must say I am a bit of a fan for it. Saturday night we ended up catching up and shooting back a few pints. Even Kieran had some pints or maybe 4…….. Although the photo may look like beer she was actually drinking Cider which between you and me I think she has the taste for it.

On Sunday we met up with Marisa and Rich and headed out for a good old fashioned big greasy English breaky. There were massive amounts of food even I couldn’t finish. After breaky we went out to the Camden town markets. Kieran and I have both agreed when we get some money we will go back there to buy some proper winter jackets. After the market we left Marisa and Rich and headed off to Leicester square to meet up with another guy I used to work with Ben. Caught up on the differences of English life and some hot tips we should know.

Ohhh btw Kieran and I are now proper English people as we have an oyster card. It’s like a prepaid card where you top it up with money and use it to catch a train or bus. A lot easier than buying tickets for every trip especially if ur like us and not 100% sure on where you will end up.

Today (Monday) Kieran and I went to Harrods, very interesting shop to walk through. We ended up sitting down to have a sundae. We needed a break from all the walking and if any of you know Kieran then we defiantly had to stop for ice cream. It was a good meal and worth the money (10 Pound, you do the conversion if you want I’m scared.). After Harrods we walked around searching for yet again more food. I think all we do is walk and look for food. Its fine by me but all I ever write about on here is what our last meal was. Newhos we ended up having a Kebab. Now the kebabs here are not like the ones back in Sydney where they wrap them up in pita bread for you. No here they serve up the meat and salad in a silver bowl and with a little pita sock bread and you have to pack your own. Again this was another meal I could not finish.

Now we have returned home to rework our bags again and update the blog/emails from the local pub which has wi-fi aahh the joys of English pubs updating a blog with a pint in hand.

Cheers for now


Glen and Kieran


PS Happy Birthday Jarrod and Greg, Hope you both had good days.

London Day 5

It is now friday evening we have just got back to hostel after meeting with Marisa and Rich (I used to work with Marisa, for thoee who don't know). Well what have Kieran and i been upto in the days since the last post? Actually not much just been visitng all the free places around London. It has been good, in the past 2 days we have seen the Museum of London ( detailing the history of London), The British Museum and today we went to Buckingham Palace.

To get to all these places we walked, I think we have walked so much i have lost about 5 kilos. At this rate I will be skinny and just have to work on getting muscle, then come summer and I will be good and Buff ohh and Kier will look hot as well. (what im not already hot glen???)

Yesterday afternoon we ran around looking for a new place to stay as our hostel accomodation ran out. We couldn't really find anything cheaper or better in a close distance. So that we didnt have to get more spinal problems carrying our bags around we went back to our hostel late in the afternoon and were lucky to get another 2 beds for the night. This time around we are staying in an 8 bed dorm with a spanish (kieran just said he wasnt spanish, because he comes from Barcelona which is not in spain...Well in Kieran world anyways) So there was a Barcelona man, 2 Dutch girls, and 2 Italian guys and i think the last guy was German or Austrian (didnt ask him). Will keep you updated on the interesting places we stay and the nutters we run into. Ohhh and what country kieran thinks they are from.

Update..... Firealarm going off right now, is there a fire????? No not that we know of, i think we are safe feewww.

Today i went to my 1st contact meeting and setup a bank account, now i have to wait to see if i have been approved. The guy i sat next to has been here from over 6 months and couldnt set one up in that time so he had to come along and join 1st contact just to geta bank account.... and he is an Aussie who has british Passport. How insane?

On the way to the 1st contact office we passed Buckingham palace where the changing of the guards was not on. Dont worry Folks there is a consolation prize......... We Saw the QUEEN!!!! W00t!. She was in the car and drove through the gates we were pretty close too.
Unfortuanlty no photo evidence of us seeing her as i am a spaz and had my camera on photo mode instead of video mode and ended up taping nothing. (i have fired myself as camera guy).
*Yeah and 10mins before hand Glen said I was the crapiest camera man...... look whos talking now*

As Kieran could not come to the 1st contact meeting with me, she decided to go back to the hostel go on the net, After i had finished i had organised to meet Marisa, Rich and Kieran at the British Museum. On my way to meet them i passed a very interesting building. How could i pass up not taking a photo of Hazelwood House with my big fat nogging in the pic. hey look ma I found another Hazelwood. Unfortunatly it was just a building and no real hazelwoods inside. The shop unerneath sold walking stick and umbrellas.

Thats is about all that we have done so far, tomorrow we will go and see the Lord Mayors Parade, should be a good day out.

Keep you all updated.

Glen *comments by Kieran*


P.S as i am writing this i am sitting in the Hostel Kitchen where it is really noise with all the language and accents around the world in one big roar.

London Day 3

It is our 3rd full day in London, Today we did many things. First off we decided on our tour of Europe. We will be leaving on the 16th November and travel through 10 countries over 21 days. When we return a week later we leave for Edinborough for 4 days. We got a really good deal on our tour and the extra 4 days in Scottland only cost an extra ₤20, Can any one say Bargain (said in a Jimoen accent). We will tell you more about that closer to the time.

After we had booked our tour we went walking around town and saw more sights. Today we went and saw the Tower of London, Tower bridge, the Globe Theater and the Tate modern. The globe theater was good, decided to go on a tour there which was very interesting. Couldn’t see any shows as they don’t perform in winter on account of the freaking cold weather and open roof. We will go back in summer and see something

After the Globe tour we walked around the corner and saw the Tate modern gallery, as all good attractions it was free so we went in to have a look. Upon walking in we saw these spirals coming down from different levels thinking they were just art, we were like ohh that’s nice. Then we see people sliding down them and went from ohh that’s nice to ohhhh cool lets have a go! We found our way to the free tickets and got 2, one for a slide on level 3 and another for level 4. Level 5 was all gone. Only problem with our tickets was that they were for a certain time lvl 3 at 5pm and lvl 4 at 5:30pm. That gave us time to kill (sorry to all those who love modern galleries but they are weird and not really art to me neways) After we saw some weird freaky art and kiddie art. We went on the slides, which were functional art. It was really, really fun.
On the way home it was dark and didn’t fell like walking anymore so we took our first bus ride as a challenge. Just like at home the freaks catch the bus in London.

London Day 2

2nd full day in London and we feel like old pros catching the tube (I still call it a train). Today we had to change hostels which was fun, trying to lug our bags around the train and finding out where we were going. I have to say I don’t think I will be getting fat in London at the moment I have done more walking in the last 2 weeks than I think I have in the whole last year.

We had to check out of our hostel at 10 am and couldn’t check into the next one until 2 pm. There was no way we were going to lug our bags around until then. So we left them in the luggage room at the first hostel and walked around finding out some information about a Europe tours.

With our bags left in the luggage room we headed out into the wide London area to find out some tours around Europe which will be coming up and or the next available tour. Our first point of call was STA, we went to the front door but they were not open yet. Turns out they don’t open till 10:30 how good is that you get to sleep in when you work there. So we kept on walking and went onto flight centre and Thomas Cook. Both were alright, flight centre was really useful and we found some tours there that we liked. It was about time for lunch both kier and I were keeling hungry. We decided to go to Pizza Hut for the ₤4.99, buffet. Our plan so far is to eat heaps at lunch so we don’t have to spend any money on dinner. With our holiday information in bag, and belly full of food, we decided we should go find our hostel so we don’t have to carry 25 + kg bags all over London.

Ended up finding our new Hostel and checked in went to our room and dumped what we were carrying there to make the next trip lighter. On our way back we decided to check in and see if STA was open still. Went in and found out more information on tours and what was available. After this it was time to go back and pick up our bags and head off. With bags on broken spines we made our way to the underground. Hoped on the train (which I couldn’t stand up in as my pack is higher than my head) and then realized we are coming up to rush hour. Got off the train and changed so we could get our direct line. This was when it hit peak hour. Kieran got on the train first and then the doors closed with me in but my bag out. I quickly jumped out of the train. Kieran was left on the train (for a split second we looked at eachother through the glass with the look of oh crap! On our faces). Kieran mouthed to me that she would meet me at the next station (good thing I can lip read). Met Kieran at the next station and then squeezed our selves into the train for 2 stops till we had to get off.

Finally we made it through the underground and was on our way to the new hostel. Once we got to the Hostel we couldn’t get the bags off our backs quick enough, Cant wait till we have to change again. (NOT!).

When we checked in there was no one else in our room which was a 4 bed (2 bunks) room with a sink. It wasn’t until around 8 ish when some one else came into our room. We think he was English not quiet sure. We didn’t really talk to him and he didn’t to us so we never found out his name. Kier and I decided to name him Garry.

Glen

London Day 1

Today is our first day in London City. Like all days before this one so far we woke up and went to have a massive breakky, however this one was not a buffet like the last but a one time walk through get as much food as you can and stick it on your plate. Now Kieran and I know how to play that game 2 morrow I think we will have 2 bowels of cereal.

After our breaky we called our loved ones, sorry if you didnt get a call (guess your not loved), had to say we are alive as we hadn't posted, emailed, sms'd, wrote, called, or courier pigeoned them for a while it was about time to do so.

After calling we decided to go explore this city we shall call home for a while. It started with a look at St Pauls Cathedral, then a long walk to Trafalgar Square, Looked at Lord Nelson column and kieran sat on a Lion, made of metal ...... She loves the lions, you can tell by the way she rode it.

In trafalgar square is the National Gallery which houses some artwork by Van gogh ie sunflowers, the chair. Monet ie the water lilly, Picasso and Dubet. Kieran was pretty impressed especially by the van gogh and Monet stuff, she bought a magnet. After this excitment we walked down the street and saw Big Ben, The London eye, House of Parliment, Westminster Abby and had lunch (only $52, we have to stop converting) at Waterloo at a pub where I had my first fosters. Like all good aussies i had it overseas.




For Lunch we had Pies and Pints, now we truly are in England

Glen and Kieran

Good Bye Bangkok Hello London

So we had to fly out for london at 1:50pm. We got up at about 8:30am had a last massive brekkie and then relaised it was about 1030am and got our days excercise by running around the streets of Bangkok asking where the post office was by showing people a letter. We eventually found the post office and sent a package and a few letters an bday cards. We then ran back to the hotel hauled our bags down to the lobby and got a taxi to the airport.... after your sweaty and hot from running around and carring what feels like 50kgs its not great to hear the taxi driver say ...what airport? I was like isnt there only one freakin airport? I was relieved to see signs on the freeway with planes on them. We ended up at the correct airport and had plenty of time to listen to winging pommy kids and there parents as we waited to board our plane.

The flight was ok, not as good as the first they only had prawn curry (not impressed). But we both slept more this flight. Glen and I both agree we would go mental going from Sydney to London in one flight!

We arrived in London about 6pm and it was approx 8 degrees c. Hethrow airport was a bit of a hole if you ask me. We got our shuttle bus to our hostel. On the way we saw heaps of fireworks due to Guy Faulks (bon fire) night. As we drove through LOndon we admired the funny looking taxis, old architecture and red buses. Our hostel room has two single bed....very romantic and is about the size of the bathrooom we had in Bangkok. We were hungry when we got there so ventured into the cold to find food. Yes there were some places open at 10pm but we are still converting pounds to Aussie dollars (its painful) after 25mins we found Maccas and got two same meals as bkk this time for about $16 (oohhh the humanity). We went back to the hostel cold and ready for bed.

Glen dosnt fit in the bed there are wood planks at each end and he is too long so he has to curl up I heard him smack his head and the wall a few times last night (poor glenny).

Kieran

Bangkok Day 4 More shopping

This day we had a sleep in, got up at 8:30. After breaky we ventured out on our own again to look at more shops near us.we ended up walking to all the major shopping centres. Some of these were actually shopping centres just like wesfields a nice western change and no haggling. We ended up at one massive shopping complex called PANTIP wait for it boys, this was a shopping centre totally all IT and everthing electronic, all 5 levels of it. I could have gone mental but decided not to. I might on the way back. I refreaned my self from buying to much but had to get a 4 pin - 4 pin firewire cable if you must know. Kieran also bought some DVD for around $2.50 each and all of them work (some are screeners) which is good. Might get more on the way back, we will take orders when that is going to happen.

As this was shopping centre and relazing day we went to a western styled shopping centre called Siam Paragon. 7 levels of shopping with a car show room with porche and lamborgs. We had macas for lunch i think i cost us a total $6 for 2 meals (bargin) and it tasted exactly the same, ohhh but kieran had a milo milkshake with ice. Macas had 2 different meals than at home. they had a Samuri Pork burger and a Rice paddy Burger. We didnt try either.

While we were at the shops we wanted to relax a little so we went to a movie, yes i know i can hear you saying but glen your in Thailand what movie could you see that hasnt been dubed to have thai put in there. Well we went and saw ' The Ant Bully' 3D at the IMAX. it was gr8 really did jump out of the screen at you. It was also in english for thoese playing at home. Can i add Kieran wearing 3d glasses looked HOT!

All shopped out i think not, after the movie we headed to Patpong for the night markets (no not the pingpong market). We got there a bit early for the markets as they were still setting up so kieran and i went to a local pub (decent one) and had a drink. The first one we went to i thought i am not going to pay 120 baht for a large beer. So we went next door where i bought one for 110 baht. A Large is a long neck and cost about 3.50 i think that was pretty good.

After our drinks we walked through the markets where kieran felt like a challange and bartered with a deaf lady through the use of a calaculator, kieran was not very good at it, got confused easily it was fun to watch. I had to help out where I could, we saw 3 deaf ppl at shops that night bartering. when we had nearly finished walking through the markets we had one last row to go which was half markets and half sex show shops. Let me tell you you dont see the work smoking pussy written and flashed in your face everyday. As tempted as i was to see that and the ping pong we decided against it (save that for the way home).

After seeing the word smoking pussy (with a cigarette) and being asked to go to the Super Pussy show bar. I needed a massage............ So i got a foot rub ( mine not with hers) and a back, head, hand and shoulder massage. ohhh so did kieran, i didnt know she was asleep the whole time.#
It was really good massage especially when they washed my feet hahah suckas. The poor lady who had to do my legs kept l;aughing and saying how big they were....... i think it was my legs! The 2 massages for 60 mins each came to a grand total of $15 i tell you its hard living like a king for 1 week on $400 au.

After our massage we caught the sky rail back to a shopping centre looking for food, but it was too late they were all closed. Kieran got angry so we walked back to the hotel as a tuk-tuk driver didnt want our 10 baht to take us home. Back at the hotel we orderd room service, where i did tip the delivery boy (80Cents).

As we were leaving the next day we packed our bag, we got to bed around 2 am hmmmm felt like we did that just 4 days ago.


Glen

Grand Palace and Thai Village

After our tiring day before we had another early start this time we had a sleep in till 6 am. got pick up by another small van and headed to the big bus meeting point. We hop on our bus, someone told us to go to that one. Other people joined us on the bus i think we ended up with about 10 people. As it turned out our tour guide was none other than Pearl.

We headed through the city toward the grand palace as Pearl gave a similar speil to yesterday. We got off the bus and was hassled by a group of local souvenir sellers. There are dress codes for the palace that we were told about by other people that had done the tour so taking note I had followed the rule and covered my knees (3/4 pants) and covered the shoulders (loose over top thingo) despite this I was stopped by the palace official people and told that my pants were not long enough (well sorry im tall stopid gaurd man). Despite the fact that other women wearing skirts above the knee were fine, i had to wear hire a stoopid sarong for 30baht (about $1). I was not happy Jan!

It was good looking at the Palace even though i couldnt enjoy it was still angry about the pants saga. After this half of the tour we went back to the big bus meeting spot and met our new tour guide for the Thai village.... name unknown. We had some time to spare and was hungry so went to the 7 eleven and got some snacks..... this included 3 bags of chips (purple packet chips in Thailand are not salt and vinigar they are lobster flavour!) 2 chocolate bars and a bottle of coke and a bottle of water this came to a grand total of approx $4 hehehe.

We got on our new bus and headed for the Thai village it was a very beautiful place .... lovely garden. We saw elephants and got a photo with a baby elephant who kissed us with the end of his trunk on our cheeks...... as cute as he was he had stinky trunk breath, both me and Glen wanted to wash our faces. Then we saw the elephants do a show they are very smart! We headed to the theatre to see another show to demonstrate Thai life. It was pretty hot and Glen was not feeling well (i think 2 packs of chips and chocolate for lunch was not a bright idea, combine that with stinky trunk breath and its not a good look). Anyway the Thai show cured Glens tummy ache. They played music, demostrated Thai boxing, a marriage ceremony, dancing and sword fighting. We then headed back to the bus and back to the hotel to wash off the elephant stink and go to bed.

Kieran

River Kwai and Floating markets

This day started at the nice early time of 5am which is when we had to get up so we would be ready for our pick up at 6:15, of course we pressed the snooze button at least once. Ran up stairs to have another massive breakfast. Made it for our pick up, which was an 8 seater van which was full after we got in. As I sat there (not next to kieran) i was thinking i hope this isn't the van we will be in the next 9 hours. Luckly as it turns out it was only the transporter van as the bus cannot travel the crazy streets of bangkok that easy.

Made it to the meeting point to get on our bus and was hearded into one. This was where we met our Mother Pearl who was to be our tour guide. We got under way and was heading out to the first stop whcih was the floating marktes, on the way Pearl was telling us the history of Thailand and the floating marktes the war and even sang us a lovely song in Thai about something, she liked to talk and I decded not to listen. Kieran said it was something about floating candles who knows it was in Thai.

On the way to the floating markets we stoped at a coconut farm and showed us how they make all the coconut products Thailand exports. After that we drove onto the floating markets. Where kieran and i had a nap. I think we missed some people driving crazy with no helmets on a highway more dodgy riving by the buss driver and some farms, there might have been some other stuff.

Got to our floating markets and hoped in a long boat which had and old nissan straght 4 cylinder as a motor with the drive shaft turned into a propeller, very interesting. One bad thing about getting in the boat is that the people didnt really look at who was sitting on which side and we ended up being a bit side heavy. Kieran and i spent most of the trip leaning to the right so we didnt tip. Seriously like our head weight made a difference.

We went up and down these narrow canals (made by King Rama 5th king rama the 4th son, I did listen to Pearl) that were lined with Thai houses some small shacks some big pretty ones. We passed people washing there dishes or clothes in the canals (even though the water was the colour of cofee) and going about there normal life. After a fairly interesting trip through the canal burbs we go to the floating markets: colourful, noisy and busy.
Just like in the pictures people with lampshade hats were selling fruits of different shapes and colours, food, souvenirs and stuff. We got out of our boats went through a land (non floating) market and then had to go thru a corridor filled with stalls selling the samething on either side of us with just enough room to walk through the middle. I got stopped by one who wanted to put tiger balm on my head, lucky for me my height hindered here and i could restrain her arms long enough to make my escape.

The only words they yell at you in the markets are hello or Hello Maddaaamm which you hear every where, Luky for me i am a boy but kieran had enough of the Hello Maddaaammm....STOP It with the MADDDDAAAAMM would you, hello works fine. Can you believe it we went to a market and bought nothing, YES Kieran went shopping and didnt get a thing. well apart from an iceblock a whole 10 bath worth (30 cents).

Once we had finished the floating markets got back on the bus and headed out for the River Kwai. Before we reached the rivr we visited the war cemetary to see those who died building it over 3000 P.O.W. After the cemetary we had lunch. It was really nice it was on a river barge resturant. We sat with a older couple from Brisbane they dont live to far from my Kieran's cousin Nicky. We then went down the road to the JEATH war museum and then got another speedy long boat down to the bridge over the river kwai.

We walked along the bridge (Kieran thinks its a bit of an OH & S issue) when we go to the other side Kieran laid on the tracks and I took a photo it looked cool so i did the same for Kieran to take a photo. As I was lying down we heard the whistle of a train. Need less to say I quickly got up and we got off the tracks just as the train was coming around the corner (the train only comes once a day, Pearl said). At the same time we saw a man riding an Elephant in the bush near the track (so much happened at the same time. Oh my God a train... Oh my God an Elephant). A 'train track offical' is what we called him. Came to ours and everyones rescue as he flagged the train to stop and the then proceeded slowly, while people got off the track to their safety platforms on the side. If only i stayed on the track for 10 secods longer that would have been a cool photo.

Now we had completed the tour and almost certain death we head for home. a 3 hr bus ride. we slept and Pearl was quiet.

A good day was had by all.


Glen

Bangkok Day 2

We got up to have our buffet breakfast on the 77th floor. Its kinda weird at first to have all the hotel staff bowing to you when they greet you but you do get used to it and find yourself doing it back to them (even in London). Who would have thought that I the breakfast lover/the early morning hater would be eating noodles for breakfast.... I did have cereal 'honey stars!', bacon,fruit,juice,waffles,cakes,toast,rottis,dim sums,rice,yoghurt,tomatoes,boiled-scrambled-and fried eggs. No not in the one sitting people! geezz

After our massive brekkie we faced our fears and headed off to the crazy streets of Bangkok. They have these malls the size of Westfields but instead of shops they are filled with market stalls there are rows and row and rows they all look very similar. I get lost at Parklea markets and so this was like Parklea markets on steroids! In the streets on the way to the malls there are also market stalla and food vendors all yelling at you to buy stuff from them ....its crazy!

On our way to MBK (one of the malls) we met our first dodgy tuk tuk driver. He told us he would take us to MBK for 10baht (approx 30 cents) but he would take us to one shop first if we bought somthing there he got 2 petrol coupons if we just looked he would get one (im pretty sure that every book on thailand tells you not to go with these peopl but oh well) So we got in the tuk tuk and went through the mental traffic to this 'high fashion' tailor made suit place. Anyway ends up that Glen ordered 3pants from this place and tuk tuk man got his 2 petrol coupons.

BTW in the tuk tuk amongst the mental drivers I saw this laady on the back of a motorbike holding a baby that was about 2-3months old with no helmets.....mental!

After we made it through the mall and mutiple stall all selling the same thing and yelling at us to buy them, we ended up getting hungry and looking for food. we thought why not ask the concergie he will know a good THAI resturant. He wrote down the name of the shop in english and thia incase we had problems finding it. He also drew on a map where it should be. We ended up walking ages looking for this one elesuvise resturant. We never found it and ended up eating dinner at 10pm in a nice resturan that served Thai, amazing how hard it is to find a Thai resturant in Thailand (not a cart food seller). Was a nice meal and only cost $13 for the both of us which at home would be over $28 easy.

tired after a crazy day I bought 3 pairs of desighner rip off sunnies, 2 pairs of pants, glens pants, and a couple of pressies. But we have decided that cause everything is so freakin cheap, b4 we come home we will send all our clothes home and buy everything new in bangkok on the way back.
that was the end of the first full day.

Kieran

Sydney to Bangkok

Hi

To those who commented. Sorry on the slow updates, we have been nice and busy travleing around. Now we will do the pre post posts. PS there will be no photos uploaded as yet (stoopid net cafe) until i find a hotspot for my lappy.

Today we flew out of Sydney and landed in Bangkok. While we were checking into thai airways we saw Johnny Knoxville ohhh our first celeb sighting. We arrived at around 10:30 pm (Thailand time) and ended up going to bed around 1 am (thailand time) that was around 4-5 am sydney time. Lets just say we had a very big big day. We did not sleep on the flight as hard as we tried we just could not sleep.

When we landed it was around 28 degress, thats was at night and in Thai winter. We had a transfer from the airport to the hotel. it was an interesting drive when the driver didnt use indicators and was cutting people off. The scenary was an eye opener going from country to shacks to high rise living, then to shacks and a bit more country again. it looked as if the rich and poor are all mixed together.

we drove through some very small back streets ( we thought they were back streets but they were the only way in and out) lined with shopps and people. our driver didn't care and was just drive almost running over people but no one cared, least of all thoese being run over.

We arrived at our hotel (the tallest in Thailand, 83 Stories) cheked in and were taken to our room. I didnt tip the guy who lugged our massive bags for us as i just didnt know if thats what happend, after seeing his fac3e i think i should have but it was too late.

Our hotel room was massive it had a foyer a bathroom, dinning and lounge area. Then we had our bedroom which was massive in its self. There was a king bed, which i call a thai king bed as i still didnt fit, damn small ppl.

after this long crazy day was over we finnaly made it to bed.

Glen and Kieran

Moving Quickly

Well there is only 2 weeks 3 days left till we fly out (whose counting really). Everything is moving so quickly, Kieran and I have bought our travel packs. That is brining me closer to getting excited about leaving but there is still a lot of things to do in the time we have left.

The packs we bought are from an Australian and New Zealand company Mountain Designs. They were the best ones we found for the price to feature ratio. I chose the Columbus 75 (Green) and Kieran got the Nomad 65 (Blue) we didn’t want to walk around with twin bags. That’s just sad. I got the big bag but i won’t be taking my nephew with me, or extra clothes for Kieran.

Only 1 week of work left w00t! That will fly really quickly but there is still a fair of work to do there and to teach my replacement all the knowledge i know of the job. Kieran had finished work a week ago. Lucky her !

We still have a lot of things to organise, better get back to packing up my room.

Glen