Woooooow, so it's the day before I jet off on my 1-way ticket around the world, time seems to have gone SO quickly from when Robert and I decided to team up and leave the country. A lot has happened since then, have made many new friends.. all of which I will miss a lot. New opportunities I've aimed at for a long time and will now be put on hold for some months, some of which have come about in the past fortnight which is very bad timing, but as I keep reminding myself.. it's better late than never!!
I've been amped to travel for so long and now that it's happening.. I realise even more how much I actually enjoy Adelaide. Although I'm keen to live elsewhere for a while I know I'll come back to Adelaide, it's just inevitable. Everything I want is here, except for the experience of new places. Sure there's a lot of opportunity overseas but it doesn't mean that quality of life will be better.
I've actually been offered my dream job as a professional graphic designer, for a small studio here in Adelaide. So stoked for this opportunity and I was able to work there for 2 days last week, it's so good there, very creativity driven, awesome dudes, and located in a top spot = 1 block from China Town :) Maybe something to look forwards to when I come back! (yes, coming back earlier than expected is an option).
So, next time I update this I could be in San Francisco, London, or Madrid. There's amazing fun times coming up so I hope friends will read this and be involved in my journey. Life's too short to not make the most of everything, and that's now why I'm going away indefinately, I'm so excited to see how life unfolds.
WOOOOOO!! :)
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Day 8: Last Day
So it was my last day today and for breakfast I had a piece of bread which was pre-packaged with this slimey green paste which is a sweet taste, apparently contained coconut! Next was a coconut-taro filled bun; the inside was a purple paste and tasted slightly like honey.. the actual bun was the nicest part though. My third breakfast bun was coconut-pandan filled and its inside was green, it had a subtle taste but was sweet.
Shaun, Laura and I went back into Patong for lunch and ended up at Enjoy.. surprise surprise! I had satay chicken skewers and fried rice.. and yet another coconut smoothie... best smoothie and only 60Baht!!
No idea what the time was but we finally caught a taxi to the Phuket Airport Hotel, took us a while to find it but we arrived and the place was small and cosey, all of the bedrooms were centred around a small swimming pool. There was a little open dining section where we had dinner and played free games of pool. I spent some time in our bedroom watching Pirates of The Caribbean 3 and read Harry Potter for quite a few hours.. drinking Lemon Iced tea and eating potato chips.
My breakfast bread slice with strange green paste.
Pre-packaged Coconut-taro filled bun.
My room with Shaun and Laura.
..Changs!
Original Lays??? haha
Shaun, Laura and I went back into Patong for lunch and ended up at Enjoy.. surprise surprise! I had satay chicken skewers and fried rice.. and yet another coconut smoothie... best smoothie and only 60Baht!!
No idea what the time was but we finally caught a taxi to the Phuket Airport Hotel, took us a while to find it but we arrived and the place was small and cosey, all of the bedrooms were centred around a small swimming pool. There was a little open dining section where we had dinner and played free games of pool. I spent some time in our bedroom watching Pirates of The Caribbean 3 and read Harry Potter for quite a few hours.. drinking Lemon Iced tea and eating potato chips.
My breakfast bread slice with strange green paste.Pre-packaged Coconut-taro filled bun.My room with Shaun and Laura...Changs!Original Lays??? hahaThursday, 12 June 2008
Day 7: Kamala Beach
Today was a nice chance to sleep-in, it was a good change from the early morning starts I was accidentally having. I got up around 10am and sat on the Internet for a bit, then went back to my room and read Harry potter till 3pm.. only because I was waiting for Shaun and Laura to wake up and get ready so we could go to town for lunch. Around 3:30 the 3 of us caught a tuk-tuk up to Kamala Beach (where FantaSea is) and found a nice little restaurant where we would have lunch. I had stir-fried vegetables and fried rice. After lunch we walked to the beach and sat on some reclined deck-chairs on the beach.
All of a sudden loads of dogs came up around us, it was really annoying.. these were street dogs, no owners, they were shaggy and no one cared for them.. and since I'm not a fan of dogs I wanted to get straight out of there, and so we did.. but not before a stop-over at a 7/11. I bought this pre-packed bun with a sweet coconut custard filling.. these pre-packaged buns are awesome and found everywhere here! We caught a tuk-tuk back to our hotel and swam for a little while, just relaxing.. as we didn't have anything planned.
We went into Patong for dinner at Enjoy, a restaurant we had now been back to about 4 times! I had a pad Thai and a coconut smoothie.. this would be our last night in and around Patong as the next day we were to leave and stay at a hotel near the airport. The 3 of us spent the next couple of hours shopping/browsing.. we accidentally stumbled into the biggest stall complex.. dozens and dozens of stalls selling the same old crap. I was sick of looking at so much mediocre clothing that I ended up playing with a couple of tasers.. almost trying one out on myself! haha.
Not an overly exciting day, more so relaxing than anything else.
Shaun and Laura on Kamala's main street.
Lunch, cucumber Adidas logo?!
Kamala Beach umbrellas.
Relaxing to the max!
Pre-packahed buns, one with a gooey green coconut paste! YUM :)
All of a sudden loads of dogs came up around us, it was really annoying.. these were street dogs, no owners, they were shaggy and no one cared for them.. and since I'm not a fan of dogs I wanted to get straight out of there, and so we did.. but not before a stop-over at a 7/11. I bought this pre-packed bun with a sweet coconut custard filling.. these pre-packaged buns are awesome and found everywhere here! We caught a tuk-tuk back to our hotel and swam for a little while, just relaxing.. as we didn't have anything planned.
We went into Patong for dinner at Enjoy, a restaurant we had now been back to about 4 times! I had a pad Thai and a coconut smoothie.. this would be our last night in and around Patong as the next day we were to leave and stay at a hotel near the airport. The 3 of us spent the next couple of hours shopping/browsing.. we accidentally stumbled into the biggest stall complex.. dozens and dozens of stalls selling the same old crap. I was sick of looking at so much mediocre clothing that I ended up playing with a couple of tasers.. almost trying one out on myself! haha.
Not an overly exciting day, more so relaxing than anything else.
Shaun and Laura on Kamala's main street.Lunch, cucumber Adidas logo?!Kamala Beach umbrellas.Relaxing to the max!Pre-packahed buns, one with a gooey green coconut paste! YUM :)Sunday, 8 June 2008
Day 6: Phi Phi
Best Sunday in a long time! had free breakfast at the hotel, then had to rush to catch the bus we organised to pick us all up and take us to the wharf on the opposite side of the Island. The bus came at 7am, and I was up at 6am.. and with a late one last night I was well tired, but enjoyed the lazy ride in the backseats of the bus, just chillin and listening to my iPod. The ferry we had to catch was great, had about 4 decks and loads of people. I sat on the 3rd deck with my feet dangling off of the side, and many people copied me :) It was a liberating feeling and I could see many islands out in the distance.
The ferry took about an hour and a half to get to Phi Phi, then took us on a loop around some islands, we saw Viking Cave and the entrance to the popular beach where The Beach was filmed (the ferry was too big to get us in there).. eventually stopped near Monkey Beach, where people could do some snorkelling. Just before this I had met this Canadian back packer, Eric, and we sort of teamed up in the water.. instead of snorkelling on our lonesome. Snorkelling was awesome and I want to do more of it! I had fins and could dive down deep.. real close to the coral.
After that we had lunch on Phi Phi, lunch was organised by the tour operators we went through for the day. After lunch we had around an hour and a half for ourselves, so I made the most of it and bought a mango smoothie and sat in the water! How typical :) The scenery here is so good, big rock-faces and loads of trees clinging to them. I even saw a couple there for some extreme rock-climbing! The 4 of us (Shaun, Laura, Eric and myself) hung out together on the ferry for the trip back to Phuket. This time there were more waves and wind, and since we sat near the front of the ferry we got showered with a lot of spray from waves crashing against the ferry!
We parted ways with Jasmin and Steph as they were staying at Phi Phi for the next 2 nights, so it was now just Shaun, Laura and . We went into Patong for dinner again, I found a little stall with 1 guy making food, he made me Pad Thai for 50Baht.. $1.40 AUSD (my cheapest meal yet!!) and was extremely tasty, it even had seafood in it, which I hadn't had in Pad Thai before but now quite like. Shaun and Laura ordered food from a stall a few stalls down, their food as also really good, and the tables had the best table cloths I've ever seen.. so full of colour!
We ended the night at Thavorn Beach again, on the deck-chairs on the beach.. drinking Chang longnecks until the early hours of the morning, affirming my statement of best Sunday in a long time.
The ferry crew
Boat and island in the distance, cool and relaxing
Just dangling the legs :-)
My new favourite Lemon Iced Tea, in front of an island.
Eric the Canadian and myself after snorkelling.
I got excitable after lunch, here on a beach at Phi Phi.
Cheapest meal of my trip, Pad Thai for 50 Baht.
Drinkin Changs whilst Shaun & Laura have dinner.
The ferry took about an hour and a half to get to Phi Phi, then took us on a loop around some islands, we saw Viking Cave and the entrance to the popular beach where The Beach was filmed (the ferry was too big to get us in there).. eventually stopped near Monkey Beach, where people could do some snorkelling. Just before this I had met this Canadian back packer, Eric, and we sort of teamed up in the water.. instead of snorkelling on our lonesome. Snorkelling was awesome and I want to do more of it! I had fins and could dive down deep.. real close to the coral.
After that we had lunch on Phi Phi, lunch was organised by the tour operators we went through for the day. After lunch we had around an hour and a half for ourselves, so I made the most of it and bought a mango smoothie and sat in the water! How typical :) The scenery here is so good, big rock-faces and loads of trees clinging to them. I even saw a couple there for some extreme rock-climbing! The 4 of us (Shaun, Laura, Eric and myself) hung out together on the ferry for the trip back to Phuket. This time there were more waves and wind, and since we sat near the front of the ferry we got showered with a lot of spray from waves crashing against the ferry!
We parted ways with Jasmin and Steph as they were staying at Phi Phi for the next 2 nights, so it was now just Shaun, Laura and . We went into Patong for dinner again, I found a little stall with 1 guy making food, he made me Pad Thai for 50Baht.. $1.40 AUSD (my cheapest meal yet!!) and was extremely tasty, it even had seafood in it, which I hadn't had in Pad Thai before but now quite like. Shaun and Laura ordered food from a stall a few stalls down, their food as also really good, and the tables had the best table cloths I've ever seen.. so full of colour!
We ended the night at Thavorn Beach again, on the deck-chairs on the beach.. drinking Chang longnecks until the early hours of the morning, affirming my statement of best Sunday in a long time.
The ferry crewBoat and island in the distance, cool and relaxingJust dangling the legs :-)My new favourite Lemon Iced Tea, in front of an island. Eric the Canadian and myself after snorkelling.I got excitable after lunch, here on a beach at Phi Phi.Cheapest meal of my trip, Pad Thai for 50 Baht.Drinkin Changs whilst Shaun & Laura have dinner.Monday, 2 June 2008
Day 5: FantaSea
Much thanks to the invention of the air conditioner I woke up copious times during the night due to being cold, although I did have a sleep over with Shaun and Laura which itself is pretty rad. Shaun had pre-ordered breakfast for today from last night, somehow they got extra food, thus providing me with a free breakfast! (thanks again Shaun) From now till around 2:30pm the 3 of us were just lazing about in the hotel's swimming pools; playing water polo and generally relaxing, and this time we took care to keep the pool balls from getting punctured haha :)
We all caught the free shuttle-bus from the hotel into Patong around 3:30pm, once again went to a quaint little restaurant, this one is called Enjoy. I had fried rice and stir-fried vegetables which was amazing as always, and obviously I had a shake, this time it was Coconut. Straight after lunch we booked tickets to this place called FantaSea, part amusement part theatre spectacular, tickets set me back about 1500Baht or so, I also bought a ticket to go to Phi Phi Island for the following day which was even more pricey.. possibly 3000Baht!!
Shaun, Laura and I caught a taxi to our hotel, leaving Steph and Jasmin to do some shopping around the many street stalls. Our taxi driver was the best/worst driver we've ever encountered. This driver had the most high-pitch squeaky laugh ever! I can't explain explain who it goes.. but he'd laugh for no reason, he'd also beep at other drivers and people on scooters.. for no reason, then he'd laugh some more, and beep, and say things to us.. possibly to make us laugh? I don't know, but this guy was in a world of his own.
FantaSea is insane, so many bright lights and cool statues and everyone was so friendly! There were tones of side-shows aswell, and fun little shops. After some browsing, the 3 of us went into the giant food hall,
this thing was massive! It could seat 40,000 people, and 4 buffet sections to accommodate. I find the underlying thought of buffets as ridiculous; I prefer having enough food to satisfy my hunger.. without there being too much to make me so full. Anyway, dinner was good.. I started on dessert and worked backwards as the desserts were too good to leave to last!
Around 8pm we made our way into this massive theatre decorate with stone elephants and things, we weren't even allowed to take our cameras in. The show was a blend of myth and.. comedy/magic.. strange really, the show began with elephants being walked along walk-ways out through the crowd and onto the stage. There was a lot of fighting and story telling, even acrobats hanging from trapeze from the ceiling! Around half way through some magicians came on stage and were being silly, this is the weird bit.. it had nothing to do with Thailand nor the show itself, apart form this the whole place was quite magical. I ended up having photos taken with the elephants form the show and their trainers.. it was a good night!
Shaun and I at the entrance to FantaSea
Mimicking this sweet statue
Some super hypo section...thing..
The foodhall
This was my dessert, weird little things!!
Le Gang photograph with costume person
We all caught the free shuttle-bus from the hotel into Patong around 3:30pm, once again went to a quaint little restaurant, this one is called Enjoy. I had fried rice and stir-fried vegetables which was amazing as always, and obviously I had a shake, this time it was Coconut. Straight after lunch we booked tickets to this place called FantaSea, part amusement part theatre spectacular, tickets set me back about 1500Baht or so, I also bought a ticket to go to Phi Phi Island for the following day which was even more pricey.. possibly 3000Baht!!
Shaun, Laura and I caught a taxi to our hotel, leaving Steph and Jasmin to do some shopping around the many street stalls. Our taxi driver was the best/worst driver we've ever encountered. This driver had the most high-pitch squeaky laugh ever! I can't explain explain who it goes.. but he'd laugh for no reason, he'd also beep at other drivers and people on scooters.. for no reason, then he'd laugh some more, and beep, and say things to us.. possibly to make us laugh? I don't know, but this guy was in a world of his own.
FantaSea is insane, so many bright lights and cool statues and everyone was so friendly! There were tones of side-shows aswell, and fun little shops. After some browsing, the 3 of us went into the giant food hall,
this thing was massive! It could seat 40,000 people, and 4 buffet sections to accommodate. I find the underlying thought of buffets as ridiculous; I prefer having enough food to satisfy my hunger.. without there being too much to make me so full. Anyway, dinner was good.. I started on dessert and worked backwards as the desserts were too good to leave to last!
Around 8pm we made our way into this massive theatre decorate with stone elephants and things, we weren't even allowed to take our cameras in. The show was a blend of myth and.. comedy/magic.. strange really, the show began with elephants being walked along walk-ways out through the crowd and onto the stage. There was a lot of fighting and story telling, even acrobats hanging from trapeze from the ceiling! Around half way through some magicians came on stage and were being silly, this is the weird bit.. it had nothing to do with Thailand nor the show itself, apart form this the whole place was quite magical. I ended up having photos taken with the elephants form the show and their trainers.. it was a good night!
Shaun and I at the entrance to FantaSeaMimicking this sweet statueSome super hypo section...thing..The foodhallThis was my dessert, weird little things!!Le Gang photograph with costume personDay 4: Phuket Town dissapointment
Today being Friday and all I was keen to leave Patong follow my plans East to Phuket Town. I accidentally woke up way too early, made my way to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast, and paid way too much for it and ate far too little to make it worth-while. Besides that, I did have scrambled eggs and some toast and 2 glasses of milk which was awesome, exactly what I needed after a long day drinking Changs. I had packed up all of my gear and checked out of Thavorn Beach Hotel, and the 5 of us set off for Patong to get some lunch! I also bought this American chocolate bar called Reeces, it was a culmination of peanut butter brittle and chocolate; the perfect mix! That's one thing I'll be looking forwards to on my trip to California in July... in moderation of course.
Being someone who likes to stroll off on his own to discover new things, I did so and stumbled upon a neat little restaurant which had a good menu and good cheap prices. We sat there for lunch for about 40 minutes which was nice. I had another smoothie, this time a coconut one! It was so fresh and unbelievable. Shaun had a banana smoothie which was also insane.. I wish bananas would come in liquid form like this all the time :)
Straight after lunch we caught a tuk-tuk to Phuket Town, this took atleast 40 minutes I reckon, it was a cool drive; we went through normal Thai suburbs/huts and stuff, finally making it to the very busy and confusing Phuket Town. I felt really confident with being able to find my hostel, after all I did have the address and had bothered to find its where-abouts on Google Earth, despite that none of us could find the place whilst driving along the road it should've been on. The group expressed their concerns with wandering around with the possibility of having great difficulty with finding someone to take them back to Patong (once i find the hostel), and so I gave Phuket Town a miss.. and went back to Patong. It wasn't all bad, at least I got to stay with my friends for a few more nights!
Shaun, Laura and I had dinner at Thavorn Beach Hotel, I had possibly the best Thai Green Curry ever! The only thing I could complain about were the waiters.. although it's nice that they're super friendly, they just lingered around us waiting to have something to clean up. I felt as though someone was constantly watching me! Weird! Nevertheless the most expensive meal on the trip was so worth it. Since I didn't end up in the hostel in Phuket Town, and didn't have a room booked at Thavorn Beach.. I slept on some cushions on the floor in Shaun and Laura's room (thanks guys). The next morning the hotel staff noticed I was back at the hotel and began sussing out if I had stayed there illegally, but without knowing if I had stayed in Steph + Jasmin's room or Shaun + Laura's room.. they didn't make me pay for the night. I felt pretty lucky about that so took the safe option and booked a room for myself for the remainder of my time in Patong.
In hindsight, maybe I was being too adventurous for a first-time traveller with wanting to leave my group to stay in a different town, a town where I would've had much trouble communicating with the locals. Apart from this plan, there were others I didn't end up fulfilling.. but I'm alright with it as the experience of failing just made me a more conscious traveller.
Being someone who likes to stroll off on his own to discover new things, I did so and stumbled upon a neat little restaurant which had a good menu and good cheap prices. We sat there for lunch for about 40 minutes which was nice. I had another smoothie, this time a coconut one! It was so fresh and unbelievable. Shaun had a banana smoothie which was also insane.. I wish bananas would come in liquid form like this all the time :)
Straight after lunch we caught a tuk-tuk to Phuket Town, this took atleast 40 minutes I reckon, it was a cool drive; we went through normal Thai suburbs/huts and stuff, finally making it to the very busy and confusing Phuket Town. I felt really confident with being able to find my hostel, after all I did have the address and had bothered to find its where-abouts on Google Earth, despite that none of us could find the place whilst driving along the road it should've been on. The group expressed their concerns with wandering around with the possibility of having great difficulty with finding someone to take them back to Patong (once i find the hostel), and so I gave Phuket Town a miss.. and went back to Patong. It wasn't all bad, at least I got to stay with my friends for a few more nights!
Shaun, Laura and I had dinner at Thavorn Beach Hotel, I had possibly the best Thai Green Curry ever! The only thing I could complain about were the waiters.. although it's nice that they're super friendly, they just lingered around us waiting to have something to clean up. I felt as though someone was constantly watching me! Weird! Nevertheless the most expensive meal on the trip was so worth it. Since I didn't end up in the hostel in Phuket Town, and didn't have a room booked at Thavorn Beach.. I slept on some cushions on the floor in Shaun and Laura's room (thanks guys). The next morning the hotel staff noticed I was back at the hotel and began sussing out if I had stayed there illegally, but without knowing if I had stayed in Steph + Jasmin's room or Shaun + Laura's room.. they didn't make me pay for the night. I felt pretty lucky about that so took the safe option and booked a room for myself for the remainder of my time in Patong.
In hindsight, maybe I was being too adventurous for a first-time traveller with wanting to leave my group to stay in a different town, a town where I would've had much trouble communicating with the locals. Apart from this plan, there were others I didn't end up fulfilling.. but I'm alright with it as the experience of failing just made me a more conscious traveller.
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