ZOMG

blogging at the same computer i did 75 days ago, then i was shit scared, now im excited!! plus i have now seen an additional 5% of the world according to my travel buddy map on facebook... doesnt sound like much hey? haha feels like LOADs

hecticest morning, crazy shiz happening in bangkok as far as i know there have been protests against the govt for the last week, they had a big protest yesterday (it was all over tv), got to the airport thismorning and found out they rioted last night and have completely shut down bangkok airport, apparently there was a bomb blast thismorning.. so all planes coming/going to bangkok were grounded, ie all airasia planes, ie my flight, so had to madly run around and try and get on tiger flight so id make it for my flight singapore-perth, finally sorted it all out so called mum, she already booked me a ticket so then had to refund my tiger flight PLUS the air asia one.. too much stress!! only found out about the bomb blast when we were taking off from the guy next to me, so needless to say i was a bit nervy on the flight....

IN SINGAPORE NOW BUT which means im almost home!! mum you better be bringing me a vegemite & cheese sanga to the airport :D

last few days in phuket have been really good got heeeps of sun the other day so im bronzed finally. lady boy show was good, i was expecting prascilla-esque drag queens, but lady boys in thailand have gone all out, had the chop, had the implants etc some are really hot, its wierd. had a picture with a fat ugly one but so funny! one of the lady boys in the show's nipples kept falling out, we were rolling around on the ground. good. then we went to patong, you couldnt pay me a milliion dollars to go back there, so rank, the street is filled with lady boy hookers and old white men. an example of the type of men patong attracts - walked past one old, extremely hairy on the whole RANK man, wearing a shirt saying "sex instructor, first lesson free" just about spewed.

gtg my last flight (out of nine on my trip) is about to board, ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG im a little bit excited...
SEE YOU ALL SOON!!!
xoxo

treasures of the south

in phuket, cant believe im home in 4 sleeps!! hold your horses emma :)
so anya franciszka lukover has stopped following me and is now in singapore and flying to aus 2moro but now i miss her. but she is coming to duns in january woohoo! loaded up on dvds in bangkok for abbey and went and saw a temple (just for a change haha) then left bangkok on monday arvo on the overnight train to sutarathani then three hrs by bus to krabi, THEN half hour sangthew (pretty much sitting in the back of a truck) to ao nang.. lots of travel. very smelly :D. ao nang was cool, stayed there 2 nights, first arvo we went by longtail to railay which is SO beautiful, you can only get there by boat and the weather was beautiful, swam worked on the tan etc.. :D
then tuesday we had a full day cruising around islands by speed boat (hard life) the weather was beautiful sun was shining on the water everything looked like a postcard. went snorkelling saw dory which was cool, stopped at the bay where the beach with leonardo dicarprio was filmed, and where he jumps off the mega high rock. the bay where it was filmed is a tourist hot spot, and when we pulled up there were already about 20 other boats on this 100m stretch of sand, so many fat white hairy bodies ergh ruining my picture perfect beach ha. i blended in well HAHA. had to say it before someone else did :D kept cruising around more islands, did some open water diving, ko phi phi don for lunch which was cool, wandered around there for a while. cute island, real backpacker crowd would be cool to go back and stay for a few nights i think. phi phi got hit reall hard by the tsunami, everything was destroyed pretty much. some places are still getting rebuilt but you can tell that everything is new. also around all the islands there are tsunami warning signs and evacuation route signs everywhere, bit of a scary reminder of what happened. anyway then went to bamboo island and the weather started getting crap but we played voleyball and had fun, as per usual with any sport i spent most of the game on the ground :) the trip home was rough as guts the guy was fanging it too and the seas were a good 5m we all had to wear life jackets it was fun but. fun too looking at everyones faces haha. then we moved to ko yao noi, a smaller much less touristy muslim island. really pretty but the weather was pretty average, not rainy really but just cloudy. went on snorkel trip there too but you couldnt see much and apparently there are sea urchins everywhere so i was unkeen to be stabbed in the foot. on the way back the long tail boat broke down like 3 times, it was warmer in the water so i jumped in then did bombies on the thai guy who was trying to fix the motor in the water. good. he enjoyed it ha. when we got back me and one of the girls from the tour hired a motorbike (for about 7 bucks) and hooned around the island all arvo, so much fun to drive had a ball. got stared at HEAPS went and watched some thai boxers train which was cool. sung buffalo soldier and saw buffalos so we were impressed. then had a massive seafood feast for dinner for 20 bucks with shitloads of crab prawns and fish would have cost 100's at home it was nuts. thismornign we came to phuket, slept on top of the boat it was cool, then went and checked out a gibbon rehabiltiation centre, bought you a present abbey :) they are so cute and make the loudest noises. they are endangered because hunters come and kill the dad and the brothers and sister gibbons then the mum runs up the tree with the baby so then they shoot her so she falls down and they can get the baby and use it on the streets of bangkok, but only one in three babies survive the fall down, so when you see a gibbon in the streets you know about 3 families of gibbons have died for that one to be there. so they rescue the gibbons (with no support from the govt) and rehabilitate them to release them back into the jungle. one of the gibbons had been tortured and had her arm and leg cut off it was really sad. but abbeys present went towards there rehabilitation so that was good :)
in phuket now staying at karon beach, its a nice beach but phuket is pretty busy, probably wouldnt come back. but its nice to have last few days on the beach. just hung out on the beach thisarvo, going to a lady boy show 2nite so that should be good!! cant believe how quickly three months has gone, im broke as and in debt so gonna have to get a job so quickly when i get back but it was DEFINAETLY worth it. had a ball :D

b-b-b-b-back to bangkok

woohoo!! phuket in a week psych! leaving phnom penh today, just went out to killing fields it wasnt as hectic as s-21 i dont know why cos hundreds of people were murdered there and you could see all the mass graves that have been excavated, i think because people are just wandering around its hard to imagine it as it was. but there are cases full of skulls that they have recovered and they have a picture of an australian guy that was killed during the khmer rouge which is pretty hectic.
siem reap was incredible, easily one of the most amazing things iv seen on my trip i had no idea how huge it was. all the carving and detail is so impressive. seeing it from the sky in the hot air balloon was cool too, we got a to see the pretty sunset as well. also saw the sunrise over angkor wat. on our last night in siem reap it was also the end of the water festival (cambodians have the most public holidays in the world, since iv been here they had 3 days off for the kings birthday, 2 days for independance day and 3 for water festival) so there were fireworks and heaps of local people around the river, and the celebrations in siem reap were apparently tiny compared to the capital, so v.glad we werent in phnom penh it would have been crazy. went and saw a cello performance by this swiss doctor who came to cambodia in the early 70's and left when the khmer rouge entered phnom penh, but returned to set up a childrens hospital in the 80's. now he has set up 5 hospitals (incl one in siem reap). anyway he plays cello to raise funds/awareness and so he played then showed us a film about it all, its ridiculous how crap the cambodian health system is, ie his hospitals are 6% funded by cambodian govt, 8% by swiss govt, the rest by public donations. it was really incredible what he has done. after that we went back to town and had a drink, then we were walking home and this guy came up to us and, expecting to hear "lady you want tuktuk???" we just started saying no, but then he goes "hey lady, you want to get STOOOONED?" haha laughed so much we were just like whaaat. ha good. (obviously said no mum)
k so bangkok 2nite new group trip 2moro all is sweeeet, didnt find fone but thats cool, will try and sort something out when in thailand. x

bye bye nhcc

left the orphanage thismorning, bit sad last night saying bye to the kids, i dont think they really understood that i was leaving though so they didnt care haha :) dont worry mum, i dont have any kids in my backpack, its too full of all the dresses you got me to get made :D in phnom penh today, so of course me and anya have spent the day gorging on food, you cant blame us all we have eaten all week is rice. plus i didnt eat for two days cos i was sick (yes literally didnt eat anything, i know thats hard to believe, who knew i could lose my appetite???) made up for it today though yum yum. also went to S-21, or tuol sleng, the place where the khmer rouge held and tortured prisoners before they were killed and buried in mass graves in the late 70's. it was really eerie, they took pictures of most of the prisoners when they arrived at tuol sleng, which are all on display at the prison (now a museum) and there are men women and children. only 7 people survived s-21, so you know that all the people in the pictures were brutally killed, and not long ago. felt really drained after that, then felt like a pansy cos i was just looking at the museum, they were prisoners in it. going to see the killing fields when we get back from siem reap, will probably be the same, but its somthing youve gotta see while your here, cos so many people you interact with lived through it.
independance day today, so massive parade through the streets, john and kathy dropped us off in the middle of phnom penh then we tried to get a tuk tuk to the place we were staying, could only get within a few blocks then had to walk cos all the roads were closed.. anya wasnt happy :) i told her to MAN UP YA PUSSY. hahahahaha. siem reap 2moro, decided to splurge the $11 (sooo expensive pfffft ha) to get the fast bus with cold towel and cake..mmm cake :D. everything has gone so quick, cant believe im home in 17 sleeps (yes abbey, only 17 sleeps so you can quit telling me to come home) gonna be a good summer but. as long as anya doesnt rock up

anya franciszka lukover

is still following me, i thought eating rice for a week would maybe deter her, now she has invited herself to live with me when she is in australia. im trying to politely decline, but so far it isnt working. i think i will have to get tougher. as anya would say, "my word of choice starts with f and rhymes with duck" ....OF ANYA hahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha

new hope

hahaha anya...

have been at the orphange for over a week now its good, very slowwww paced compared to the rest of the trip, im used to moving every 2-3 days, being in one place for this long feels wierd! we have nursery in the mornings with the little kids, then english teaching classes in the afternoons. its a bit challenging but fun, we have quite a bit of time just for ourselves which is cool, planning our trip to siem reap (me and ANYA) should be good. looking forward to going back to thailand too, cant believe its november already, home in 25 sleeps ARGHHH. gotta get a job... ha. in phnom penh for the night, good to have a night of civilisation! got a shared taxi up, which pretty much means a public bus van, the man next to us had bought three big grain bags full of some kind of dried meat or fish we dont want to even guess, but anyway i now smell of said foodstuff that we sat amongst f0r an hr. gross. we got here at 1.30, checked into to hotel and in the 2 hrs since we have sat in a cafe, on the internet, and eaten bowl after bowl after bowl of icecream. but we are allowed to cos we have eaten rice 3 times a day for the last week :) i dont think il be choosing rice for dinner 2nite....
iv been having withdrawals, the internet at the village only works when the sky is clear (its satelite) and when there is electricity (5.15-6am, 6-8.30pm) and its been cloudy ALL week so no facebook, darcie and emma would have died, dont deny it, you know you would :D
happy birthday candice, thinking of you today be good xxxxx

anya franciszka lukover

is following me, i dont know how to get rid of her

phnom penh

in cambodia as of a couple of hrs ago, is fricken hot, not used to it after a week of rain in hoi an! vietnam was so good though, had the best week met heaps of people, got stacks of stuff made :) have an extra bag now haha.
hoi an was such a cool place to hang out, half the town flooded the second day i was there. the town is right next to the river, so the water rose up to the second street that is parallel to the river (the town is a bit of a grid) it was hectic, was walking along one of the flooded streets, the water was halfway up my thighs! straight away some locals had there boats out but, charging 40,000 dong (about 4 bucks) to get to the other side of the flood waters - only about 20m! one of the shops where i had a dress made was completely flooded, i helped them move all there materials upstairs they thought it was the funniest thing, so they kept giving me free water... haha it was good. met a couple of english girls who are also heading to cambodia in a week or so, they are going to try and come to orphanage as well i think, which would be cool, i hung out with them most of the week. then they are coming to aus (one for a few months, the other to live) so that will be cool, talked up dunsborough and southbound etc, best place in aus etc ha
one bar there served cocktails called ''i love you'' so good, every time the waiter would bring you one they'd just yell out i love you, we thought it was hilarious :) they came with little plastic monkeys that sat on the rim of the glass, they were the coolest thing so we started collecting them, we had a monkey party going on at our table, we had at least 30.. one of the waitresses called me monkey for the rest of the week... ha good. last night i went for early dinner cos i had early flight, i ordered a sprite and shes like what monkey i dont believe, no alcohol?? hahahaha GOOD. didnt go to the beach in hoi an, didnt really get a chance because of the weather. the last few days were ok, but was doing other things or the sun didnt last long. went to marble mountains yesterday, it was cool. hotel said it would cost 40us to get out there, went down the street and got a moto taxi to take me for 10us.. heeeeeps better. sore bum though ;) mountains are really pretty, great views over china beach. first half hr i was there it absolutely poured, the steps up became a waterfall. got a bit scared walking throught the caves, they are really dark!!
checked into guesthouse here, all good, getting transported to village 2moro, im excited :)
dont have cambodian sim yet, but will try and get one now. em says she got my postcards, so hopefully the rest of you do in the next few days too!
xx

can't resist...

so....

i came away wanting to get ONE dress made for ash's wedding...
now i have one blue dress for ashs wedding
one green dress for ashs wedding
a red polka dot dress for christmas
a red polka dot dress for abbey for christmas
a skirt
and five matching grey dresses for all the girls at mums work

my pack is going to be very full!!!
i am well and truly sucked in by the tailors in hoian
one of them gave me a free skirt this afternoon :)

its raining its frigging POURING

in hoi an, had one incredible day of sunshine and since then its been torrential rain. the entire town is flooded, all the tailors had to move the fabrics upstairs cos there shop floors were ankle deep in water thismorning, havent been back to town yet tonight, but its probably a lot higher hasnt stopped raining all day. Asked one girl how high the waters normally get and she pointed half way up the wall... the forecasts say the whole time im here will be thunderstorms. GREAT.

flights from hong kong to here were longgggg had the longest most frustrating stop over in hanoi, worlds worst airport. flight was delayed about 3 and a half hrs in the end, i sat in the departure lounge for 7. ever 30 mins another anouncement would come over the pa "the cabin is not QUITE ready" meanwhile on the tv the weather man is pointing to a mother of a cyclone of the coast...safe. and none of the staff knew what was going on. good day! :)

hoian is a really cool town, having heaps of fun its just that to get anywhere you have to wade through water :) today one of the streets was above my knees fun times! did a cooking school today which was fun, they reckon they wont be able to run it 2moro cos the classroom will be flooded, so i was lucky. getting a dress made for ash's wedding woohoo! its pretty :) got a skirt made too, there are about a million tailors here so fun.

hung out with mandy and fam on wednesday, next to there pool which was incredible! met a few girls last night when i went for dinner, they were cool they are heading to cambodia too so will try and keep in touch. gotta love facebook!
using mums viet sim now, i ran out of credit haha.. new number 01234549869, not sure if that needs codes or pluses at the start haha

hong kong

yangshou was so cool, had the best time we hired electric scooters and hooned round for a day, one of the scooters died so we stopped at this mans house on the side of the road, it was a single room brick shanty house, it would be sooo cold in winter. anyway we called scooter ppl, they said they'd bring a new one out but it would be about 15 mins so we sat around at this mans house. he pulled out this little plastic container filled with water and something in it, then showed it to us looking so proud. in the container was a rock. we didnt know what to say, this rock was his pride and joy. he couldnt speak english so he was explaining to mathieu that it was a special rock, and rock in mandarin is 'shithole'. tried ridiculously hard not to laugh. also nigger is 'this' in mandarin, so the words we picked up in their conversations were "blah blah blah nigger nigger shithole blah blah blah blah beijing blah nigger shithole blah nigger blah shithole". a little bit funny :) AND THEN he borught out a coke can, we were all like no thank you we dont want a coke and then he was like no look inside, he had a frog in the can. it was his pet. sat alongside his shithole/rock. at night apparently the frog climbs out, eats all the insects in his house then during the day chills out in its coke can. interesting 15min wait haha (ha jules). anyway we got the new scooter, hooned around for a bit more, went and had drunk duck for lunch (two signature dishes of this town were drunk duck and beer fish - pretty much sums china up haha) the lady said it would take an hr, it was already 2 oclock we were so hungry, she explained she had to go home, get the duck, bring it back, kill the duck, pluck the duck, cook the duck - all which she offered to do in front of us.. how kind!! it was yum but so it was worth it, thats about as fresh as it gets i think :) then we went fishing, caught nothing, bait was uncooked bread dough... dont understand why the fish werent biting?!?!?
then we went cormorant fishing, its so cool the fisherman takes all his birds out (at night) they have a tie around there necks so they cant swallow the big fish and they jump of the boat and dive underwater (which you can see cos they rig up big flood lights) and you can see them darting around trying to find the fish it is so cool to watch. then we stopped and i got to hold a bird on my arm, it stared at me it looked like it was decidiing whether or not to peck my eyes out.. scary but cool :)

the next day in yangshou we all did our own thing, spent so much money ha. did a cooking course in the morning made the best beer fish, tastted so good and all this other cool stuff. i definately want to do a cooking class in vietnam they are fun. then just hung around in yangshou its a cool town, had to send a box home iv bought so much stuff ha. hopefully it gets there! my pack is well light now but, so glad iv gotta walk up mega stairs to get to the metro 2moro to get to the airport... gross!
then overnight train to shenzen, border into hong kong, the train was so much worse than the overnight one we caught form bangkok to chiang mai, there were 6 people per sleeper and we were right next to the toilets and sinks, so because chinese people love to hack up mega slags, going to sleep was made very dificult by the lovely soundtrack coming from the bathrooms. and i got bed bug bites. HATE LIFE! no hong kong is really cool, it was worth it. got to hk at about 12 the next day, had maccas woohoo! weather has been really shite while iv been here, no point doing the cable cars cos you couldnt even see back to the mainland. tested myself on the metro yesterday, public transport is so easy and fun here, was so proud of myself yesterday haha. went up to the peak on hong kong island, normally it would have excellent views, DID BUT. couldnt see anything, mega overcast. went to madame tussauds wax museum had a bit of fun, a short fat indian muslim lady took heaps of pics of me which was good, she thought it was the best thing when i put on the sumo suit haha. today i went to disney land, so good spent all day there just wondering around. went and saw a 3D show, it was SO GOOD not only was it 3d, when there was a splash in the show, you got wet (i have no idea where the water came from, felt like it was coming from the screen) and there was food and i swear i could smell it. it was really cool. went and saw its a small world cos mum told me i had to haha it was good but, took heaps heaps heaps of pics. flying to vietnam early 2moro, looking forward to waking up though cos i have cereal!!! found supermarket heaven at the trainstation, i could have spent the last 2 days just sitting in this supermarket its amazing. had cheese last night, frothed so much :)
looking forward to vietnam il be able to use my phone again, number is +84947431866
xx
ps well done darcie cant believe you have a bf
pps well done candice too OMG hahahahahhahahaahaha

:D

BURRITOS

dont taste so good coming up hahahahhahahahahaahaha bet you all needed to know that. in yuangshou think thats how you spell it, dont ask me the names of ANYWHERE iv been in china, i dont remember. its by far the best place we have been in china, so pretty its like halong bay on land, big karsts rock mountain things, really good markets. was feeling real crook on tuesday night, didnt eat all yesterday til dinner then was sick again.. feeling wayyy ybetter thismorning though, we have one more night in yuangshou then overnight train to hongkong. yesterday was all public buses, each one worse than the last. first it was a mini bus with about fifty people on it, i was right up in the back corner haha about half way the person next to me got off, there were about 20 people standing up but no one took the seat.. racists!! haha next bus the little girl next to me spewed grapes EVERYWHERE she was so pleased with her self it was good. last bus not so bad actually, slept most of the way. still getting stared at ridiculous amounts, a bit more used to it now but.

yum

hurled chunks all last night woohoo!

...

the belgians are following us

ps.

got all my oil stains out with shampoo. i rule!

picture perfect longji

last two nights we've been staying in a traditional dong village in beautiful wood houses.. or so you would think until you realise the walls (and ceiling) are paper thin and your room is next to the water wheel which sounds like a chainsaw and the noisy belgians upstairs decide they will move the furniture at 11.30 at night in there industrial hiking boots and the owner does his karaoke version of pavorotti and all the toilets are connected so the room smells like shit permanently then hayley tries to impersonate a chinese idol to drown out the rest of the noise then a cockroach the size of your hand crawls on your foot then you get offered dog meat.... etc etc

spose its all part of the experience haha :)

i have decided laos is my favourite country iv visited and when i get home im going to try to learn to speak lao.

i miss: cheese, my music, clean feet, driving the volvo, cereal, mashed potato

2moro we are doing a three hour hike i think im going to die.

ching chong china

HAHAHAHA just read the end of my last post.. new group haha. my new group is me, hayley & conor from last group, and new group leader. only 4 of us haha. its good but :)

not getting a sim in china/hongkong to expensive so stop freaking mum i haven't died.
:D
in Liuzhou right now, we are the only westerners here im sure. yesterday we were walking back from dinner and this old chinese man saw us, stopped and stared at conor and shook his head like he didnt believe what he was seeing. crazy. ate so much food for dinner, we got a hot pot which is a pot that is hot in the middle of your table (no shit ha) then they bring you about 50 plates of different meat seafood and vegies and sauces, so much food, one of the sauces was oil so needless to say, all my clothes now have oil stains. good one mia.
hanoi was hectic, only started getting used to it on the last day or so. after we left there we went to halong bay, had one night on a boat then one on cat ba island. island not so good, typhoon warnings so we werent allowed to do anythign. but the boat was so good, heaps of fun and it was only us on the whole boat. after halong we went to lang son, border town. in lonely planet it says 'not a place you would want to linger in'... its right. wouldnt go back no one spoke english it was wierd. got lost walking home from dinner we couldnt find the hotel ha. i think we would have walked past it about 3 times :) then into china, not sure if you have been seeing on the news but there has been massive floods in the guangxi provence, right where we crossed the border into. trying to upload pics to facebook of the floods. in the pics you can see on the trees they are covered in mud up to about 3m, thats the level the water got too, 2 days before we were there. the car couldnt get any furhter along the track to where we were staying (which was really remote) so we had to walk with packs. so muddy. stayed in these really cute rooms, they were like cubby houses up on stilts. whole day of travel yesterday to Liuzhou, leaving 2day to i dont know where haha. should be good :)

goodbye laos hello hanoi

massive massive massive bus trip yesterday, 12 hrs yuck
in hanoi now, the most horn happy city in the world i swear. apparently they are just letting everyone know they are there... yeah i bet
its a bit cooler than everywhere else which is nice, all food so far as been wayyyyyyy better than laos our last night dinner in laos at border town lak sao was the worst meal iv ever had i think. wouldnt even feed it to the dog... conor one of the guys in my group ordered beef, it was more like jerkey you couldnt even chew it. so gross. taught one of our guides to say gross, best thing she says it with an aussie accent. very proud of myself haha :)
since Luang prabang we went to vang vieng, bout a 7 hr drive through mountains and hills, wouldnt recommend if you get car sick, really windy and hilly. vang vieng is the strangest town, no where near as pretty as luang prabang, but still cool. most of the restaurants are set up like the movies, all the tables have couches for chairs and face tv's, best bit is they ALL show re-runs of friends. cept for one that was family guy woo hoo. its a backpacker town, and next to the town is an island in the middle of the river, which has the most rickety bamboo bridges crossing to it, but the whole island has outside bars with djs and fires really cool. we went to one called 'the bucket bar' probably not a good idea haha our guide got sooo drunk had to carry her home haha. found out not only does she have a french man that she had already told us about, also has an english man hhahahah laughed so much. next day we went tubing so much fun i think the people that stay in vang vieng (some stay for months) just do this everyday. you get a tube, get a tuk tuk up to the top of the river then float down (it runs fast with rapids) so good. there are bars all the way along too, with massive flying foxes and swings that you drop into the water from. i was to pussy to do it though haha so high! got a good video of one of the girls on the swing though. will put pics up on facebook of tubing when i can find a fast internet connection. best day. got burnt though. next day drove to lak sao, another 4 hrs. worst town the restaurant we went to (with the crap food) is the only restaurant in the town, hence the name "only one restaurant" haha.

meet my new group 2moro, pretty excited. last night with my current group seeing water puppets its meant to be cool. new viet number +84947431866

sa ba di... cab chai la li

(hello... thankyou very much)

:D

second day in luang prabang, went and had a massage thisafternoon, we walked in and it had an arrow pointing left saying "blood donation", and an arrow right saying "massage"... we chose massage haha. 6 bucks for an hour... hardly cheap!!!

the whole town has a curfew of 12pm... its the law. another law is that you cannot take strangers back to your rooms, enforced by police!! lucky darcies not with me


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU CAN'T SLAP ME IN LAOS!

wandered round the royal palace now a museum (laos voted for democracy in 1970's so no more royals) it has a huge room that is covered from floor to ceiling with japanese glass mosaics showing traditional laos folk tales so the whole room sparkles. they should turn it into a club :)

talking of clubs, last night we walked past a tuk tuk driver and he goes "doof doof doof doof i take you to discotheque??" haha so good... he was an old lao man too.

safe flight 2moro george be good xoxoxo

(not so)lucky laos...

plugged my camera into a dodgy computer... its put a virus on my memory card, hopefully when i get back to aus i can recover the pics. atm on my camera it is saying there is nothing... 175 pics all gone. had some really good ones of the last few days.... :( GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

dont think iv posted since chiang mai, we got there on overnight train it was cool!!!
went to a MASSIVE night bazaar it had every kind of rip off you could imagine... couldnt resist a little bit of shopping :)
only stayed one night in chiang mai, we went up to see a temple on top of a massive mountain, views over the whole of chiang mai, pretty breathtaking. watched monks chant, learned about the hundreds of buddha positions... very cool. thepics on facebook of the big stairs is to get to the temple... i did it!!! you probably dont believe me haha....
after chiang mai headed up to chiang rai the most massive silver temple it was crazy. started being built 10 years ago, still going. couldnt help but laugh, inside it has a massive mural (couldnt take pics unfortunately) of all modern day temptations, had paintings of the matrix, star wars, pepsi van, converse haha also most life like sculpture of a monk, still believe it was real, its eyes followed me around the room. we were saying it would be a good prank if someone took the sculpture and sat there one day, then jumped up and scared people haha... spose you had to be there :)
then headed to chiang khong, much more relaxed town in thailand than all the rest. even chiang mai is like a city, has a big industrial side which we passed on the way to elephant riding. our guesthouse in chaing khong was right on the river bank, great view across into laos. wierd concept that just over a river is a different country. had good spicy fish for dinner, one of the other girls picked a meal of the menu that just said "lemongrass & garlic", it came and was dried pork covered in lemongrass, as well as about 50 chillies. honestly was like a fire in my mouth, all my tastebuds are gone haha.
only in chiang khong for one night, people of thailand so freaking patriotic, every building has a lifesize picture of the royals on it.. bit bizarre.
across the river/border yesterday morning, spent yesterday and today crusing down the mekong in a really long, traditional wooden boat. so cruisy, best couple of days. the river winds through heaps of mountains, with mostly rice and corn crops. there are villages dotted along the riverbanks every couple of k's. we stopped at one, the kids are so happy. there was one albino girl it was the strangest thing, it looked like she had just been left there by a traveller. its really sad she probably wont have a very long life, shes so white, and can hardly see. we left some sunglasses which made it a bit better for her.

all the kids want to do is look at the photos on your camera, had some great ones of them trying on my sunglasses, really hope i can recover them. they have nothing, its so different from how we live. its a bit surreal, not really sure what to think. the elders dont seem as happy as thekids for westerners to be coming into there village. felt a bit rude, especially taking photos. last night we stayed in pakbeng down really small, the town only have electricity from 6pm - 10.30pm run on generators... made for a very hot night. bloody rooster woke us all up at 4 in the morning as well... but banana pancakes for breakfast were good :)

today stopped and some caves, filled with over 40o0 buddha statues from hundreds of years ago. again lots of stairs to climb to get there :)

arrived in luang prabang thisarvo, real cruisy much more green and pretty. our guide said he thinks it is the prettiest village in laos. had a big night market (they seem to be everywhere inasia) the homewares are quite different patterns from thailand, i was expecting it to be really similar. have three nights in luang prabang, just bought laos sim my number is +856206448530.

XOXOXOXOOXOXXOXOXO
ps hope you had fun at the soccer ball em, well done carla on your job :D

grrrrrrrrr

SO ANGRY. MY CAMERA JUST GOT WIPED.

last day in bangkok

still hot!! went to chatachuck markets yesterday it would take you about a year to see everything there... its freakin massive. went by tuk tuk which is like a three wheel bike with a cart with seats on the back... runs on lawnmower fuel haha. paid 150baht (6 bucks) to get there (it was a 20 minute ride). we were stopped at some traffic lights at one stage and a bus came around the corner and nearly took us out - little bit frightening haha. Bangkok is huge! my kiwi roomate annette told me yesterday that it was voted the best city for 2008... were not quite convinced haha. its really strange, you look out your hotel window and you can see slums next to temples next to skyscrapers, its a city of extremes. i saw the pics of the soccer chicks you looked great!!!! hope your war paint led you to VICTORY. have an overnight 13hr train to chaing mai 2nite.. should be fun ha. apparently the food is dodgy so fingers crossed we dont get sick. but now im going to see some buddhas!!!
hope your all jealous xoxox

singapore-ing with rain

sleeping on tiger is v hard.. now have a sore neck
4am in singapore waiting to catch a plane to thailand where i can finally sleep yay
abbey=the biggest pussy
5 books in my bag=not a good idea
no jacket=good idea (hate to admit it mum)
K BYE

HA !

emma: last game on sunday
mia: is but
emma: it is
mia: be carin
emma: you are
mia: wanna know where il be on sunday
emma: where
mia: THAILAND YA SCROOGE
emma: are but
mia: actually will
emma: will but
mia: you do a bit
emma: do but
mia: be carin
emma: lets stop now