So I havent written a blog forever, but to update you quickly we have travelled Cambodi, Laos and Vietnam and are now back in Thailand doing our scuba diving. We have bumped into Gina and now have this amasing group of us which is going to be really sad to leave as were all going our sepeerate ways in just as few days.
But anyway, i decided to write on this mainly because of the full moon party. So this time we were going with our cambodian crew, plus gina charlie and matt.... we had a really really good group of us and were all dead close by this point so we had an amasing night with the only injury by 4am being Michael standing on a smashed glass bottle and needing a few stitches. So we were doing pretty well, me and michael went for a walk and sat down at the bottom of one of the bars whilst we decided where we were gunna go to next, i dont know why i looked up, but i did. There was a bar above us, some 20-25feet high, and i just saw this girl topple over the barrier, hit her head and land about a metre from us, in a rolly polly possition on her neck. her legs were over her head and we heard the crack. I completely froze, i couldnt moove. we were the only people close to her, the only people sober enough to know that she had even fallen.... anyway so michael ran over and flipped her off of her neck to open her airway, her arm was completely fucked so it just bent the wrong way and wouldnt go into place. he checked her pulse, and breathing and i remember yelliung at him 'is she dead?' then he just looked at me. he walked back towards me and told me not to touch her.... her friends all started running over, they had finally noticed and all of a sudden she took in a breath, still unresponsive and started hyperventilating.... then the ambulance came and took her away.... wqe had the email address for her friends because i was the only witness, and michael had been the first person to move her.... we still havent heard back, but it is an image i cant get out of my head and it just made me realise how vunerable we are, and how just a tiny accident can turn into something as serious as what we saw....
I hope to god that she is alive and that she can recover, but from a fall so high and onto her neck it seems impossible. All i know is that it was the scareyest thing i have ever seen and i cant get that image of her limp body from my head, so i had to write about it. I hope never to see anything like that again. But I thank God it wasnt any of us who fell.... i dont know how i would have dealt with it if it were one of my friends who fell.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Chang Mai
as soon as we got to chang mai we organised a jungle tour which basically meant that we'd be going to see a few different tribes, staying overnight with one tribe and doing elephant trekking, bamboo rafting and white water rafting as well as a massive trek through the jungle. it was amazing, and we really enjoyed ourselves but for example when we went to the long neck villiage, we didnt stay for long. we got out of the car and it was as though the people had just been put there for our amusment, like a human zoo. they didnt look happy and although of course we wanted to ask them questions about the rings they wear on their necks, and if they hurt, take photos and look at them.... it felt wrong. it felt really wrong. it wasnt natural, it was made for tourists and even though we didnt like it, we were supporting it by even being on that trip, by paying the money to go and see those tribes.
it really sucked, we felt awful and ended up going and sitting in the car because it just felt so so wrong. it sucks when things are like that. because, of course you want to come to thailand, of course you want to see the tribes, of course you want to ride an elephant..... but what you dont realise is by doing those things, and paying for those things you are supporting the treatment (which is sometimes terrible) of the people involved. I dont know. it seems like in thailand tribes, and elephant mahouts etc dont really exsist any more, so you pay money for a kind of fake version. in india it is just so different, if you go to see a tribe you really really do see a tribe..... i guess india is no way near as touristy as here though. and also india is the land of culture, seriously i dont think were going to get anything nearly as good as the traditions and culture we saw there....
nevertheless the trip we went on WAS fantastic, we stayed overnight in the jungle, it wasnt with a 'tribe' so much as it was with our thai tour guides and 20 other tourists.... still that was really fun, we stayed in bamboo dorms and despite me being a little groped by someones drunken hands in the night (and staying up most of the night terrified) it was a good experience. we ate amasing local food, and took freezing ice cold commmunal showers, tried to learn french as we were the only english ones in the group, and nearly died on the 2 and a half hour uphil trek to the accomidation..... it was really good. but it was not real.... i dont really know how to explain it.... it was something that wouldnt happen normally, but had been created for tourists. kind of like a rustic thai version of disneyland i guess!!
on the first night we got to chang mai we went to the night market, ate AMAZING street food and bought a few pressies for home for pretty cheap, the atmosphere at the night market was so much more cultural than any part of thailand we have been to, but was still touristy. see the thing we have found with thailand is that yes, some parts are beautiful but you have to really hunt to get to them. The majority of thailand is so touristy that its been kind of ruined. infact its been really ruined. but dont get me wrong, we had a great time here, weve seen and done some great things, but if its culture your looking for, you wont find it here. sooooo were pretty excited to get out, as you can imagine... thailand also eats your money big time so were hoping to save a bit by moving to vietnam.
this sounds like such a negative post, but its not!!! hahah thailand has been great its just i guess for us our trip is mainly about culture, so it wasnt our favorite place to far. for some people it might be their favorite place in the world i guess, especially if you find somewhere untouched, then of course it is stunning, like the islands we saw on the boat trip (the ones where no one lives).
xxxx anyways if anybody reads this in time, im in bangkok ALL day tomorrow so ill be on skyypppeee!! xx
it really sucked, we felt awful and ended up going and sitting in the car because it just felt so so wrong. it sucks when things are like that. because, of course you want to come to thailand, of course you want to see the tribes, of course you want to ride an elephant..... but what you dont realise is by doing those things, and paying for those things you are supporting the treatment (which is sometimes terrible) of the people involved. I dont know. it seems like in thailand tribes, and elephant mahouts etc dont really exsist any more, so you pay money for a kind of fake version. in india it is just so different, if you go to see a tribe you really really do see a tribe..... i guess india is no way near as touristy as here though. and also india is the land of culture, seriously i dont think were going to get anything nearly as good as the traditions and culture we saw there....
nevertheless the trip we went on WAS fantastic, we stayed overnight in the jungle, it wasnt with a 'tribe' so much as it was with our thai tour guides and 20 other tourists.... still that was really fun, we stayed in bamboo dorms and despite me being a little groped by someones drunken hands in the night (and staying up most of the night terrified) it was a good experience. we ate amasing local food, and took freezing ice cold commmunal showers, tried to learn french as we were the only english ones in the group, and nearly died on the 2 and a half hour uphil trek to the accomidation..... it was really good. but it was not real.... i dont really know how to explain it.... it was something that wouldnt happen normally, but had been created for tourists. kind of like a rustic thai version of disneyland i guess!!
on the first night we got to chang mai we went to the night market, ate AMAZING street food and bought a few pressies for home for pretty cheap, the atmosphere at the night market was so much more cultural than any part of thailand we have been to, but was still touristy. see the thing we have found with thailand is that yes, some parts are beautiful but you have to really hunt to get to them. The majority of thailand is so touristy that its been kind of ruined. infact its been really ruined. but dont get me wrong, we had a great time here, weve seen and done some great things, but if its culture your looking for, you wont find it here. sooooo were pretty excited to get out, as you can imagine... thailand also eats your money big time so were hoping to save a bit by moving to vietnam.
this sounds like such a negative post, but its not!!! hahah thailand has been great its just i guess for us our trip is mainly about culture, so it wasnt our favorite place to far. for some people it might be their favorite place in the world i guess, especially if you find somewhere untouched, then of course it is stunning, like the islands we saw on the boat trip (the ones where no one lives).
xxxx anyways if anybody reads this in time, im in bangkok ALL day tomorrow so ill be on skyypppeee!! xx
Thursday, March 3, 2011
'A Paradise Lost' dammmm straight
So, mum and dad now know about the tattoo..... urm i guess its fair to say that they weren't overwhelmingly happy about it, but luckily for me ive been blessed with parents who support me in all the crazy things i do soooooo i think i can go home without being shot now :)
well, what have we been up to?
Well, we arrived in Koh Tao, met our old friend Jo who is now a QUALIFIED DIVER ahhh yeahhhh she even broke out her card and was trying to use it as ID. Brilliant. We stayed in Koh Tao for a few days, had a night out (a crazy crazy night out may i just add) which ended in us all being horribly hungover but finding fluffy dogs dressed in human clothes, it was totally hilarious.... we also found a kebab man called sexy, of course we photographed everything and soon remebered that the night before, we had been barred from seven eleven (the spa shop) the night before, for chasing around a man and whipping him with a belt.... not good.
Anyway, we left Koh Tao and went to Koh Phi Phi where we had a very funny very random night out when we bumped into Rhian and Lynsey from Jersey! we were planning on havnig a 'quiet night in' but of course that did'nt happen, and we ended up totally wasted on buckets of lord knows what, finding illuminous paint and painting everything in sight, including a urinal with our postcodes...... wow.
The next day (we had about 2 hours sleep) we boarded a boat as we had booked a full day around the islands, snorkelling and kayaking all day.... at first this seemed hilarious and we stumbled from our room, all of us laughing about nothing, jo with one shoe and niema with a moustache still drawn on her face. We got on the boat and all promptly passed out until we arrived at our first destination and got into the crystal clear water. It was absaloutly stunning. Once in the water i forgot about everything else and just felt like part of the ocean. I dont really like staying on the surface so i spent most of my time being a dolphin- taking deep breaths and swimming as deep as i could amoungst the coral and fish before i had to resurface for some more H20. The whole day was amasing, and each time i found i was the last to be called from the water- i just didnt want to get out. Id fallen in love with the sea all over again. Unfortuantly for me i have dodgey ears which dont let me equalise which seriously inhibbits the things i can do and how far i can dive down (and that i cant go scuba) BUT when i tried really hard, i managed to equalise. it was only once, and i couldnt do it again, BUT i did it once, which gave me a little hope that maybe someday ill be able to go scuba!
We saw so many beautiful fish, and on the last dive we found black tip sharks! They were not huge, but they were sharks non the less, which was CRAZY as i am petrified since watching jaws. That film seriously has ruined my life, but once i was down there with the fish and in the coral i just forgot about my fear (of deep water and sharks) and instead felt kind of like part of it all? Cliche cliche i know but thats how it was so whatever!
Now, im having a minor money freak out as thailand is robbing us for all were worth and money here doesnt last five minuites. So, were travelling back to Bangkok and then to Chang Mai (north thailand where the long necks are --- you know the ones with the gold bangles on their necks?) to do some elephant trekking and white water rafting etc and then were getting the heeelllll outta here. To be honest what ive seen of thailand has been sometimes beautiful but mainly tacky, ruined, overrun and touristy..... we havent been that impressed. The most beautiful things ive seen were on that boat tour which took us around all the islands and diving spots.... but we went to maya bay, where the beach was filmed, and we didnt even want to take a photo of it. It was so ruined, overrun with boats and shedloads of people it just looked rubbish! Of course on the boat we saw some islands which were absaloutly breathtaking, but the actual islands themselves are just like any other hot holiday.... its like going to malia or magaluf..... maybe not as bad actually but there is that kind of crowd around.... I guess maybe my opinion of thailand may be better when we go north, dont get me wrong we have seem some BEAUTIFUL islands, reefs, and fish and stuff but to see that you have to get the hell away from the people. We were all talking about it and i bet one day all of thailand was like that, stunning, untouched. But it is getting more and more developed, more and more western and it is ruining it..... you do feel like your just zombied around, following everybody else on their path through thailand..... I guess it depends what you want really. I could of stayed in Phi Phi for longer, but i would of had to get a job.... and i wouldnt be seeing culture, id be staying there to get drunk and meet brits..... i dunno i guess its ok for a little while but i couldnt do that for a long time, its not really what i want out of this trip i guess.
I want to do things ive never done before, and see amasing things, and remember them mainly! I didnt come half way around the world to get wasted every night... of course a few drinks is ace, and it has to be done, but not every single night. I am sure for some people, thailand would be paradise. I found a few of the islands i would call paradise, but non that werent in the process of being built on, built up or ruined in some way.....its a shame but its all because of money. And i get that but its also a shame.
Anyway, rant over!! Up north is meant to be 'real thailand' so I shall tell you a bit more about it when I go up there! Verrrryyy excited! Have had so much fun in thailand so far, but it really is taking its tole on my bank account! So were gunna do the north as quick as possible, get the hell out and get a job for a little while!!
Right, look for gallery, sri lanka edition is in now!!
Adios x
xxxxxxxxxxxx
well, what have we been up to?
Well, we arrived in Koh Tao, met our old friend Jo who is now a QUALIFIED DIVER ahhh yeahhhh she even broke out her card and was trying to use it as ID. Brilliant. We stayed in Koh Tao for a few days, had a night out (a crazy crazy night out may i just add) which ended in us all being horribly hungover but finding fluffy dogs dressed in human clothes, it was totally hilarious.... we also found a kebab man called sexy, of course we photographed everything and soon remebered that the night before, we had been barred from seven eleven (the spa shop) the night before, for chasing around a man and whipping him with a belt.... not good.
Anyway, we left Koh Tao and went to Koh Phi Phi where we had a very funny very random night out when we bumped into Rhian and Lynsey from Jersey! we were planning on havnig a 'quiet night in' but of course that did'nt happen, and we ended up totally wasted on buckets of lord knows what, finding illuminous paint and painting everything in sight, including a urinal with our postcodes...... wow.
The next day (we had about 2 hours sleep) we boarded a boat as we had booked a full day around the islands, snorkelling and kayaking all day.... at first this seemed hilarious and we stumbled from our room, all of us laughing about nothing, jo with one shoe and niema with a moustache still drawn on her face. We got on the boat and all promptly passed out until we arrived at our first destination and got into the crystal clear water. It was absaloutly stunning. Once in the water i forgot about everything else and just felt like part of the ocean. I dont really like staying on the surface so i spent most of my time being a dolphin- taking deep breaths and swimming as deep as i could amoungst the coral and fish before i had to resurface for some more H20. The whole day was amasing, and each time i found i was the last to be called from the water- i just didnt want to get out. Id fallen in love with the sea all over again. Unfortuantly for me i have dodgey ears which dont let me equalise which seriously inhibbits the things i can do and how far i can dive down (and that i cant go scuba) BUT when i tried really hard, i managed to equalise. it was only once, and i couldnt do it again, BUT i did it once, which gave me a little hope that maybe someday ill be able to go scuba!
We saw so many beautiful fish, and on the last dive we found black tip sharks! They were not huge, but they were sharks non the less, which was CRAZY as i am petrified since watching jaws. That film seriously has ruined my life, but once i was down there with the fish and in the coral i just forgot about my fear (of deep water and sharks) and instead felt kind of like part of it all? Cliche cliche i know but thats how it was so whatever!
Now, im having a minor money freak out as thailand is robbing us for all were worth and money here doesnt last five minuites. So, were travelling back to Bangkok and then to Chang Mai (north thailand where the long necks are --- you know the ones with the gold bangles on their necks?) to do some elephant trekking and white water rafting etc and then were getting the heeelllll outta here. To be honest what ive seen of thailand has been sometimes beautiful but mainly tacky, ruined, overrun and touristy..... we havent been that impressed. The most beautiful things ive seen were on that boat tour which took us around all the islands and diving spots.... but we went to maya bay, where the beach was filmed, and we didnt even want to take a photo of it. It was so ruined, overrun with boats and shedloads of people it just looked rubbish! Of course on the boat we saw some islands which were absaloutly breathtaking, but the actual islands themselves are just like any other hot holiday.... its like going to malia or magaluf..... maybe not as bad actually but there is that kind of crowd around.... I guess maybe my opinion of thailand may be better when we go north, dont get me wrong we have seem some BEAUTIFUL islands, reefs, and fish and stuff but to see that you have to get the hell away from the people. We were all talking about it and i bet one day all of thailand was like that, stunning, untouched. But it is getting more and more developed, more and more western and it is ruining it..... you do feel like your just zombied around, following everybody else on their path through thailand..... I guess it depends what you want really. I could of stayed in Phi Phi for longer, but i would of had to get a job.... and i wouldnt be seeing culture, id be staying there to get drunk and meet brits..... i dunno i guess its ok for a little while but i couldnt do that for a long time, its not really what i want out of this trip i guess.
I want to do things ive never done before, and see amasing things, and remember them mainly! I didnt come half way around the world to get wasted every night... of course a few drinks is ace, and it has to be done, but not every single night. I am sure for some people, thailand would be paradise. I found a few of the islands i would call paradise, but non that werent in the process of being built on, built up or ruined in some way.....its a shame but its all because of money. And i get that but its also a shame.
Anyway, rant over!! Up north is meant to be 'real thailand' so I shall tell you a bit more about it when I go up there! Verrrryyy excited! Have had so much fun in thailand so far, but it really is taking its tole on my bank account! So were gunna do the north as quick as possible, get the hell out and get a job for a little while!!
Right, look for gallery, sri lanka edition is in now!!
Adios x
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday, February 26, 2011
SAWAAADEEEEKKAAAAAHHHH
Ive not written for agus, but we are now in Thailand!
You may already have seen from my photos that we have already conquered Bangkok, made friends with the street dancers, eaten AMAZING street food (mainly pad thai), got a little bit drunk at the top of a very posh skyscraper where i had to exchange my flops for the clogs ofd shame as flops are not in the dress code, and had a lavish hungover spa day which cost us the grand total of 6quid for a full day! Amaaaaazing. After Bangkok we booked a boat to Koh Samui but after listening to a few peoples bad reports (that it was like magaluf only worse) we decided we'd just follow the crowd and go to Koh Phangang for the massivly famous full moon party (basically around 40 thousand europeans dressed in neon and body paint and bikinis on a beach dancing and jumping skipping rope thats been set on fire and drinking murshroom shakes).
We got on the bus and were all a little apprehensive cus it really didnt look like our cup of tea, hundreds of chavvy brits piling into coaches... reminded me far too much of Malia and i had a tiny freak out. But then when we got there we managed to find accomidation on a stunning, white sand blue sea beach which had only 5 other people on it when we arrived. Our accomidation was a lovely little bungalow equipped with 3 hamocks for out door lounging ! (look at the pics, there ace). We met this group of guys from cornwall who at first were very quiet but we knew that they were all pure gentlemen so we had tea with each other a few times, and after spending the full moon party with them we ended up all getting on like a house on fire. These guys are nuts, doing mock takes of peter andre's video 'mysterious girl' in broad daylight in the sea, harmonising Blue's famous 'im sorry' at the tops of their voices and dancing around with their shorts rolled up into speedo size pants, they had no shame. On our last night together we slept on the beach (cus theyd been kicked out of their bungalow) and we all just spend the whole night in stitches..... a really nice group who we ended up inviting back home to see our beautiful jersey!
We have just parted ways, Jo went ahead to Koh Tao (a diving island, normally known as 'turtle island') and me and niema followed her after each getting a sneaky tattoo with Bamboo stick. This was the most pain i have ever experienced, and as mine was 7 hours long STRAIGHT it was pretty excruciating. Im sorry mum and dad if your reading this and i havent told you yet, but I will explain in a few days im just plucking up the courage!! I know that you guys wont appreciate it but i love it to bits. The majority of my back is now covered with a millenium tree, the insides are follow and filled with detailed sketch like drawings of flowers, naked silouetted women, birds and waves. At the end of each branch is a poppy flower.... this tatoo goes around my others and links them in to look like the same thing. Mum and dad, your gunna hate it, i know.... so im sorry !!!
Anyway, after the tattoo ordeal we re met up with Jo in Koh Tao and are just spending a few days letting it heal, snorkelling and taking it easy before going to Phi Phi and then to the North of Thailand. The plan is now to get out of Thailand as soon as possible because of money- we are all running pretty low and need to padlock our wallets away for a little while.
We went out last night here and all had a bit of a mental one, few arguments and tears but it was all just down to the alcohol.... typical!
But now all is well, everything is ok, and everyone is recovering. A snorkelling and exploring day tomorrow and then in a few days off to pHI pHi, crabbe, and then chang mai and then to cambodia..... cannot wait!!!
everything is going ace and were all having loads of fun so all we need to do is think of money a little more!!
So i shall inform of our next venture shortly! and wait for those tattoo pics, sorry again mum and dad xxxxxx love you!!!!
You may already have seen from my photos that we have already conquered Bangkok, made friends with the street dancers, eaten AMAZING street food (mainly pad thai), got a little bit drunk at the top of a very posh skyscraper where i had to exchange my flops for the clogs ofd shame as flops are not in the dress code, and had a lavish hungover spa day which cost us the grand total of 6quid for a full day! Amaaaaazing. After Bangkok we booked a boat to Koh Samui but after listening to a few peoples bad reports (that it was like magaluf only worse) we decided we'd just follow the crowd and go to Koh Phangang for the massivly famous full moon party (basically around 40 thousand europeans dressed in neon and body paint and bikinis on a beach dancing and jumping skipping rope thats been set on fire and drinking murshroom shakes).
We got on the bus and were all a little apprehensive cus it really didnt look like our cup of tea, hundreds of chavvy brits piling into coaches... reminded me far too much of Malia and i had a tiny freak out. But then when we got there we managed to find accomidation on a stunning, white sand blue sea beach which had only 5 other people on it when we arrived. Our accomidation was a lovely little bungalow equipped with 3 hamocks for out door lounging ! (look at the pics, there ace). We met this group of guys from cornwall who at first were very quiet but we knew that they were all pure gentlemen so we had tea with each other a few times, and after spending the full moon party with them we ended up all getting on like a house on fire. These guys are nuts, doing mock takes of peter andre's video 'mysterious girl' in broad daylight in the sea, harmonising Blue's famous 'im sorry' at the tops of their voices and dancing around with their shorts rolled up into speedo size pants, they had no shame. On our last night together we slept on the beach (cus theyd been kicked out of their bungalow) and we all just spend the whole night in stitches..... a really nice group who we ended up inviting back home to see our beautiful jersey!
We have just parted ways, Jo went ahead to Koh Tao (a diving island, normally known as 'turtle island') and me and niema followed her after each getting a sneaky tattoo with Bamboo stick. This was the most pain i have ever experienced, and as mine was 7 hours long STRAIGHT it was pretty excruciating. Im sorry mum and dad if your reading this and i havent told you yet, but I will explain in a few days im just plucking up the courage!! I know that you guys wont appreciate it but i love it to bits. The majority of my back is now covered with a millenium tree, the insides are follow and filled with detailed sketch like drawings of flowers, naked silouetted women, birds and waves. At the end of each branch is a poppy flower.... this tatoo goes around my others and links them in to look like the same thing. Mum and dad, your gunna hate it, i know.... so im sorry !!!
Anyway, after the tattoo ordeal we re met up with Jo in Koh Tao and are just spending a few days letting it heal, snorkelling and taking it easy before going to Phi Phi and then to the North of Thailand. The plan is now to get out of Thailand as soon as possible because of money- we are all running pretty low and need to padlock our wallets away for a little while.
We went out last night here and all had a bit of a mental one, few arguments and tears but it was all just down to the alcohol.... typical!
But now all is well, everything is ok, and everyone is recovering. A snorkelling and exploring day tomorrow and then in a few days off to pHI pHi, crabbe, and then chang mai and then to cambodia..... cannot wait!!!
everything is going ace and were all having loads of fun so all we need to do is think of money a little more!!
So i shall inform of our next venture shortly! and wait for those tattoo pics, sorry again mum and dad xxxxxx love you!!!!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sri Lanka the great !!!
So following my not so happy post about how I was so unimpressed with Sri Lanka wah wah wah, we have moved inland! To the beautiful, stunning, amazing, gorgeous, green hill country. Now i understand why people like sri lanka. It is breathtaking up here.
We got to Ella about 4 days ago (clothes are still not dry) so have been wearing leggins, and raincoats of our own and have managed to borrow sweatshirts and long tshirts from Dad (our guesthouse owner) for the last week. Sweeeet!! So, if you look through my photos you can see the beautiful attire, and notice the rugby style sri lankan t shirts and dads grey jumper that i am bed? stunner.
Yesterday we met this family who were on holiday (hello Claire if you are reading this) who were nuts, the Mum is stunning, looks about 20something and she is awesome fun, seriously we could have talked to her for hours, it was her husbands birthday and they invited us on a Trek up Ella Rock (2 hours up, 2 hours down a mountain). Now we met this couple and their friends who they were away with by claire running around our table at the resteraunt screaming 'LEEEEEECCHHH LEEEECCCHHHH GERRIIITTT OFFFF!!!!' bare in mind i had never even SEEN a leech up until this point, but i was so worried about this poor lady that i started grabbing the leeches on her leg and instructed 'GIVE ME YOUR LEG' and pulled each one off without even mildy squirming. I was actually very proud of myself. Anyways, turns out this couple know Vic and Kim (from Jtown) who own Reefs diving school in thailant! The world is such a small place !! These guys were ace, i just wanted to mention them and say thanks to Chris for birthday arraks, and thanks to Claire for all the info on thailand and your interest and genuine care about the orphanage and what you could do to help :)
ANYWAYS, so we climbed this mountain, and you can see photos from the top. So this took us 5 hours. We are doing adams peak tomorrow, which you have to start at 2 in the morning (were starting at one due to fear of heart attack/astma attack/sprained ankles/pitstops) and you arrive up the 3000 steps at around 6 in the morning, and then trek back DOWN yes DOWN the 3000 stairs, with shaking legs and soaking with sweat clothes. Sounds fun right, ah yeah. The reason were doing it is its ment to be this beautiful pilgrimage and if the weather is right then you will see the most incredible sunrise to go with it. This would be ace, but the weather here atm is so dodgy we may well get to the top, and see nothing but cloud. We will have to wait until the day.
So, as you can tell i am a lot happier now! The hill country is really really beautiful and we have done lots of walking and crazy train adventures. Today we spent 6 hours on a train through the most incredible scenery, and the train was stunning in itself, 50year old and beautiful. We bought third class (dirt cheap) tickets, and the train master liked us especially after niema had given him a cigarette, so he upgraded us to first which was this huge empty room with leather comfy seats and french style windows at the very back of the train, so you get the best view EVER. it was ace.
We also tryed the swaddywas today: a battered concuction of fully skinned and head included prawn, chilis, cheese, sweetcorn, batter and LOTS of pepper.... surprisingly nice actually despite them looking like the food of the dead. I think jo actually said 'guys i dont know if we should eat these, we might die'.
Everyone we meet wants to invite us to their home to meet their family and for us to have dinner and stay with them, they are all so friendly. But it is really difficult for us to do that because we are three girls, so we always have to be sceptical of situations. Sometimes you think your safe and your really not, so you have to be careful and take no risks. Its annoying because if we were travelling with a guy id feel a lot more comfortable to do those things, but we have heard a few horror stories from travellers.....
Last week we met a lady who's friend had just left sri lanka. She had befriended this local guy who was her tuk tuk driver, and guide for a week. She was travelling alone and he had told her of this party that was going on the beach, when she got down there there was no party. The woman was gang raped by the man she thought was her friend, and 5 of his mates. The thing is that you never think anything like that will ever happen to you, and hopefully it wont. But you just have to be so so careful, and avoid the risk.
Jo has managed to be a complete retard the last few days, and has not only forgotton the security code on her bank card (she scratched the three digs on the back out so that noone could rob her money if they got her card, problem is she cant even use it now to book flights cus she doesnt even know the numbers) and she also puk'ed her phone last night, and of course has that number written no where either. Its pretty funny because at the moment she is just laughing about how much of a retard she has been, but hopefully her bank will give her the number otherwise shes a bit screwed!!
Anyways, gtg get some food and rest, were getting the train at 6.00am tomorrow!!! rouuuggghhh one xxx
We got to Ella about 4 days ago (clothes are still not dry) so have been wearing leggins, and raincoats of our own and have managed to borrow sweatshirts and long tshirts from Dad (our guesthouse owner) for the last week. Sweeeet!! So, if you look through my photos you can see the beautiful attire, and notice the rugby style sri lankan t shirts and dads grey jumper that i am bed? stunner.
Yesterday we met this family who were on holiday (hello Claire if you are reading this) who were nuts, the Mum is stunning, looks about 20something and she is awesome fun, seriously we could have talked to her for hours, it was her husbands birthday and they invited us on a Trek up Ella Rock (2 hours up, 2 hours down a mountain). Now we met this couple and their friends who they were away with by claire running around our table at the resteraunt screaming 'LEEEEEECCHHH LEEEECCCHHHH GERRIIITTT OFFFF!!!!' bare in mind i had never even SEEN a leech up until this point, but i was so worried about this poor lady that i started grabbing the leeches on her leg and instructed 'GIVE ME YOUR LEG' and pulled each one off without even mildy squirming. I was actually very proud of myself. Anyways, turns out this couple know Vic and Kim (from Jtown) who own Reefs diving school in thailant! The world is such a small place !! These guys were ace, i just wanted to mention them and say thanks to Chris for birthday arraks, and thanks to Claire for all the info on thailand and your interest and genuine care about the orphanage and what you could do to help :)
ANYWAYS, so we climbed this mountain, and you can see photos from the top. So this took us 5 hours. We are doing adams peak tomorrow, which you have to start at 2 in the morning (were starting at one due to fear of heart attack/astma attack/sprained ankles/pitstops) and you arrive up the 3000 steps at around 6 in the morning, and then trek back DOWN yes DOWN the 3000 stairs, with shaking legs and soaking with sweat clothes. Sounds fun right, ah yeah. The reason were doing it is its ment to be this beautiful pilgrimage and if the weather is right then you will see the most incredible sunrise to go with it. This would be ace, but the weather here atm is so dodgy we may well get to the top, and see nothing but cloud. We will have to wait until the day.
So, as you can tell i am a lot happier now! The hill country is really really beautiful and we have done lots of walking and crazy train adventures. Today we spent 6 hours on a train through the most incredible scenery, and the train was stunning in itself, 50year old and beautiful. We bought third class (dirt cheap) tickets, and the train master liked us especially after niema had given him a cigarette, so he upgraded us to first which was this huge empty room with leather comfy seats and french style windows at the very back of the train, so you get the best view EVER. it was ace.
We also tryed the swaddywas today: a battered concuction of fully skinned and head included prawn, chilis, cheese, sweetcorn, batter and LOTS of pepper.... surprisingly nice actually despite them looking like the food of the dead. I think jo actually said 'guys i dont know if we should eat these, we might die'.
Everyone we meet wants to invite us to their home to meet their family and for us to have dinner and stay with them, they are all so friendly. But it is really difficult for us to do that because we are three girls, so we always have to be sceptical of situations. Sometimes you think your safe and your really not, so you have to be careful and take no risks. Its annoying because if we were travelling with a guy id feel a lot more comfortable to do those things, but we have heard a few horror stories from travellers.....
Last week we met a lady who's friend had just left sri lanka. She had befriended this local guy who was her tuk tuk driver, and guide for a week. She was travelling alone and he had told her of this party that was going on the beach, when she got down there there was no party. The woman was gang raped by the man she thought was her friend, and 5 of his mates. The thing is that you never think anything like that will ever happen to you, and hopefully it wont. But you just have to be so so careful, and avoid the risk.
Jo has managed to be a complete retard the last few days, and has not only forgotton the security code on her bank card (she scratched the three digs on the back out so that noone could rob her money if they got her card, problem is she cant even use it now to book flights cus she doesnt even know the numbers) and she also puk'ed her phone last night, and of course has that number written no where either. Its pretty funny because at the moment she is just laughing about how much of a retard she has been, but hopefully her bank will give her the number otherwise shes a bit screwed!!
Anyways, gtg get some food and rest, were getting the train at 6.00am tomorrow!!! rouuuggghhh one xxx
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Our cosy little cave
So i figure that i should explain a little further what our house looks like at the moment. Basically the going rate for rooms is 1500 ruppees, and we got this room for 800ruppees between three of us, which means 270ruppees each a night- this is around one pound. So what does it look like?
Well at first glance the house looked fine, bright paint on the walls, a mozzy net hanging over the tiny bed (we asked for a matress for the floor) and there were covers on the bed. yes yes yes we thought, very very good deal.
Well, firstly we have some kind of crab/spider mutant in our bathroom, he is called henry. Henry also had a baby who was unfortunatly killed last night in our drunken mess, Jo decided to rid us of Henrys baby (he only had 2 legs left after a big fight with another spid). Also, our room has a bit which lets ALL THE WORLDS mosquitoes in, and all our noise out! Our flush broke on the first day so we basically had to go ontop of someone elses shit if we wanted to use the bathroom. Then we wanted a shower, which we did until we realised that oh the drain doesnt work and the water is now spilling into our room where all of our clothes and worldly possesions are.
So, shortened version is our room smells like hair removal cream (courtesy of me and niema and our now smooth legs), dampness (the carpet got wet in the shower flood) and basic shit as our toilet didnt flush.
Thank God this morning the toilet flush breaker (niema) took one for the team and took on responsibility for her actions by fishing out all extra toilet paper and then manually fixing the flush like a good good girl. So now our flush works. We got dad to get rid of henry, so now were (hopefully) spidless. And were just doing rock paper scissors for the floor bed, because tbh its prime animal spot really.
To make matters worse though, we want to move on tomorrow when we are no longer hungover, and so we washed all of our stinky clothes on the first day we got here. Then it rained continusouly for the next 3 days, so now our clothes are wet, cant dry, and smell even worse than when we first washed them. It is a total pain now because if we want to move on (which we do, tomorrow) then our whole rucksack will be stinky, wet, and heavy as hell cus the clothes are wet.
Beautiful beautiful sri lanka.....
Well at first glance the house looked fine, bright paint on the walls, a mozzy net hanging over the tiny bed (we asked for a matress for the floor) and there were covers on the bed. yes yes yes we thought, very very good deal.
Well, firstly we have some kind of crab/spider mutant in our bathroom, he is called henry. Henry also had a baby who was unfortunatly killed last night in our drunken mess, Jo decided to rid us of Henrys baby (he only had 2 legs left after a big fight with another spid). Also, our room has a bit which lets ALL THE WORLDS mosquitoes in, and all our noise out! Our flush broke on the first day so we basically had to go ontop of someone elses shit if we wanted to use the bathroom. Then we wanted a shower, which we did until we realised that oh the drain doesnt work and the water is now spilling into our room where all of our clothes and worldly possesions are.
So, shortened version is our room smells like hair removal cream (courtesy of me and niema and our now smooth legs), dampness (the carpet got wet in the shower flood) and basic shit as our toilet didnt flush.
Thank God this morning the toilet flush breaker (niema) took one for the team and took on responsibility for her actions by fishing out all extra toilet paper and then manually fixing the flush like a good good girl. So now our flush works. We got dad to get rid of henry, so now were (hopefully) spidless. And were just doing rock paper scissors for the floor bed, because tbh its prime animal spot really.
To make matters worse though, we want to move on tomorrow when we are no longer hungover, and so we washed all of our stinky clothes on the first day we got here. Then it rained continusouly for the next 3 days, so now our clothes are wet, cant dry, and smell even worse than when we first washed them. It is a total pain now because if we want to move on (which we do, tomorrow) then our whole rucksack will be stinky, wet, and heavy as hell cus the clothes are wet.
Beautiful beautiful sri lanka.....
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sri Lanka, Hellloooooo
So firstly
1. I am now in sri lanka
and
2. Gallery article has been published!! whoopppp. Beni's illustration looks amazing, and the whole thing actually came together pretty well considering!
So.... Sri lanka is pretty similar to India really. To be brutally honest at the moment im not really enjoying sri lanka, i just want to leave. Its not very expensive but its not cheap as india. There are plenty of beaches but the weather is AWFUL, raining all day everyday, which gets you really down. Originally we thought it would be pretty easy to travel around but apparently there are a lot of places you can only reach by bus which makes our lives a little harder, as there isnt so many English speakers in less touristy areas so were basically stranded trying to find wherever the hell the landmark is that we wanted to see.
Yesterday we spent A WHOLE DAY travelling to go and see a raging blow hole. As in when the wave blows out of a hole in the rocks....yes yes yes it was really really unfascinating. Infact a total waste of 200 ruppees, and the tuk tuk ride. Wow i sound like im in a horrendous mood which perhaps could be half because i am very hungover today..... see yesterday was the publishing date for gallery and i went on the website all excited to check what my article looked like....only to find that infact it was a different writer who had a spot, not me. So i proceeded to shout and cry a bit and then got very very drunk. It was only this morning that i got a message from my dad telling me he had seen the article and it looked 'fantastic'. Well, it seems i must of been looking at the wrong month....
Anyways, sri lanka is very much like india except the women dress more western, with tshirts and long skirts. The men still wear the traditional indian sarong-style skirt and just a shirt or no shirt, whatever they feel like really. There are hardly any women in sair's and hardly any with decoration on their heads, infact i dont even think ive seen one woman with a nose ring or a red dot on her hairline to show marriage or forhead to show devotion to a certain God. The women dont wear an excess of jewelry like they did in india, to be honest, they are just a little bit more boring to look at really.
Maybe its because i love India, and it is a place i am sure i will return to a lot in my life.... its so so beautiful i cant even explain. Maybe thats why i am so unimpressed with sri lanka. Maybe i have to give it a few more days, i mean weve not even been here for a week yet.
One funny thing in this weather is that lots of the locals own pushbikes, and that is their main way of transport.... so in the rain you will generally see the husband sat on the seat, peddling, whilst his wife is lying across the bar at the front like a baby, holding an umbrella over both of their heads to try to shelter them from the weather. It is so so funny to see, and i think they know it too because normally they are giggling when they go past. Ive got to get a photo to show you, really its something special.
Weve taken to calling every man over the age of 40 'dad' and every woman over 40 'mum'. This helps us a lot as then the people tend to care about us more (its like an endearment term for them) and also its fucking hilarious for us because we just keep calling these random men dad and they dont even notice. Highly amusing for us. 'Dad, the zip in your tuk tuk doesnt work. Im getting rained on. Daaaaaddd can you help me' .....thats what niema came out with yesterday....it was beautiful.
Whoever said to me 'yes yes yes you will have no problem getting waxed in India, the women get rid of all of their hair on their bodies.' was HORREDNDOUSLY WRONG. I have experienced the most TRAUMATIC waxes of my life whilst in india, one lady who proceeded to consecutavly burn Jo, Me and Niema with her stupid hot wax in the space of half an hour, who also turned out to be the worlds WORST waxer. They cannot wax in india. At all. Seriously they cant do it. So weve had to resort to veet which is such a shame because the stuff smells like shit and our cheap little shit hole of a room doesnt have a drain that works.... so we all stink of hair removal cream.Its not nice but its better than risking the 3rd degree burns we suffered at the hands of the last waxer.
1. I am now in sri lanka
and
2. Gallery article has been published!! whoopppp. Beni's illustration looks amazing, and the whole thing actually came together pretty well considering!
So.... Sri lanka is pretty similar to India really. To be brutally honest at the moment im not really enjoying sri lanka, i just want to leave. Its not very expensive but its not cheap as india. There are plenty of beaches but the weather is AWFUL, raining all day everyday, which gets you really down. Originally we thought it would be pretty easy to travel around but apparently there are a lot of places you can only reach by bus which makes our lives a little harder, as there isnt so many English speakers in less touristy areas so were basically stranded trying to find wherever the hell the landmark is that we wanted to see.
Yesterday we spent A WHOLE DAY travelling to go and see a raging blow hole. As in when the wave blows out of a hole in the rocks....yes yes yes it was really really unfascinating. Infact a total waste of 200 ruppees, and the tuk tuk ride. Wow i sound like im in a horrendous mood which perhaps could be half because i am very hungover today..... see yesterday was the publishing date for gallery and i went on the website all excited to check what my article looked like....only to find that infact it was a different writer who had a spot, not me. So i proceeded to shout and cry a bit and then got very very drunk. It was only this morning that i got a message from my dad telling me he had seen the article and it looked 'fantastic'. Well, it seems i must of been looking at the wrong month....
Anyways, sri lanka is very much like india except the women dress more western, with tshirts and long skirts. The men still wear the traditional indian sarong-style skirt and just a shirt or no shirt, whatever they feel like really. There are hardly any women in sair's and hardly any with decoration on their heads, infact i dont even think ive seen one woman with a nose ring or a red dot on her hairline to show marriage or forhead to show devotion to a certain God. The women dont wear an excess of jewelry like they did in india, to be honest, they are just a little bit more boring to look at really.
Maybe its because i love India, and it is a place i am sure i will return to a lot in my life.... its so so beautiful i cant even explain. Maybe thats why i am so unimpressed with sri lanka. Maybe i have to give it a few more days, i mean weve not even been here for a week yet.
One funny thing in this weather is that lots of the locals own pushbikes, and that is their main way of transport.... so in the rain you will generally see the husband sat on the seat, peddling, whilst his wife is lying across the bar at the front like a baby, holding an umbrella over both of their heads to try to shelter them from the weather. It is so so funny to see, and i think they know it too because normally they are giggling when they go past. Ive got to get a photo to show you, really its something special.
Weve taken to calling every man over the age of 40 'dad' and every woman over 40 'mum'. This helps us a lot as then the people tend to care about us more (its like an endearment term for them) and also its fucking hilarious for us because we just keep calling these random men dad and they dont even notice. Highly amusing for us. 'Dad, the zip in your tuk tuk doesnt work. Im getting rained on. Daaaaaddd can you help me' .....thats what niema came out with yesterday....it was beautiful.
Whoever said to me 'yes yes yes you will have no problem getting waxed in India, the women get rid of all of their hair on their bodies.' was HORREDNDOUSLY WRONG. I have experienced the most TRAUMATIC waxes of my life whilst in india, one lady who proceeded to consecutavly burn Jo, Me and Niema with her stupid hot wax in the space of half an hour, who also turned out to be the worlds WORST waxer. They cannot wax in india. At all. Seriously they cant do it. So weve had to resort to veet which is such a shame because the stuff smells like shit and our cheap little shit hole of a room doesnt have a drain that works.... so we all stink of hair removal cream.Its not nice but its better than risking the 3rd degree burns we suffered at the hands of the last waxer.
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