Journeys

How Sweet is Life!

2007-07-06T08:46:00.001-07:00

I...
Live in the city,
Work in the prairies, and
Play in the mountains

It doesn't get much better than that!

Rain

2007-04-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

I love the sound of the Rain.

Turn inward,
Leave the world behind if
Just for a moment.

Soft sweetness brushes my face,
Cool liquid rolls down my spine,
Drips from my fingers.

Turn up my face and
Wash me away until
Nothing left but
Peace.

I love the sound of the Rain.

Congradulations Michael and Tracy Farebrother!!!

2007-03-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

Congradulations to Michael and Tracy for tieing the knot last Saturday. I wish you both much joy.

The Staggette at Jubilations.

Michael making himself beautiful.

A last minute panick as Steve hems the groom's pants half an hour before leaving for church. Hey Steve, what's your rate? I have a couple of pairs that I need hemmed, too.

Off to church

The "Official Photographer" and the ladies.

Marcia prepping the nervous groom

The boys: Steve, the best man and Michael

The girls: Tracy and her maid of honour, Rhonda

Marcia and I ushering Brenda to her seat

Garth, the father of the groom, walking the mother of the groom, Ann, and the mother of the bride, Barbara, to their seats

Tracy and her dad walking down the aisle

The Ceremony

Lighting the Unity candle

Making it legal

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Tracy Farebrother

The Groom's Family

The Bride's Family

The Newly Weds

And they're off!

The Reception at Palatal

Warming up for the Honeymoon

The Sheriff cousins: me and the boys

Open a few gifts...

... And then off on their Honeymoon - keeping up the tradition!

My Family Crest

2007-02-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Sheriff Family Crest

The Sheriff Family Motto:
Essa quam videri
"To be, rather than to seem"

Dialogue

2007-02-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Can I ask you a question?

Of course.

Why isn't it enough?

You're not.

What?

Enough.

Why not?

(silence)

Look at all I've done!

Yes dear. That's nice.

All the places I've been!

Of course.

All the people I've met!

I'm sure.

Havn't I done what I'm supposed to?

Yes, of course, dear. But one must face reality.

I don't understand.

Not good enough.
Too quiet.
Not smart enough.
Too childish.
Not pretty enough.
Too idealistic.
Not independent enough.
Too reserved.
Not erotic enough.
Too deep.
Not loud enough.
Too polite.
Not adventurous enough.
Too young.
Not rich enough.

But what about passion?

Don't be stupid dear.

But I feel so much! I have so much to share! I can make such a difference!

Don't be weird.

But I thought I was supposed to be myself?

Of course. As long as it fits in with everything else. Find you're mask. Get back in line. You know the song.

Not good enough
Not good enough
Not good enough
....

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

~ Gustav Klimt
"The Kiss"

Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score;
Then to that twenty add a hundred more:
A thousand to that hundred: so kiss on,
To make that thousand up a million.
Treble that million, and when that is done
Let's kiss afresh, as when we first begun.

~ Robert Herrick

From "To Athea III"

A bit of a hiatus

2006-10-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've been away from the blogging world for a while. Although I've been catching up on other's blogs (even though I may not leave comments, Josh and Brandi), I find that after work, the last thing I want to do is spend my weekends and evenings on the computer. A quick summary of what's been up:

Work is great (good people, interesting projects...my 3 month probation period ends on Nov. 9)
I bought a car...a little 2006 Honda Civic (which I will be paying for over the next 4 years...yikes!...But I love her anyway...Miss Blue)
I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Disneyland with my brother...what can I say? I'm 25 going on 10...so much fun!
I've taken up yoga again, after 2 months off (it's good to be back)
I'm taking ballroom dancing on Sunday afternoons and a short series of (3) Tahitian Hula classes on Monday nights (once a dance addict, always an addict)
Went wall climbing with my friend Melanie Barron on Tuesday for the first time in a long time. (Thanks for the invite, Mel. I had a great time!)
I donated blood for the first time last Thursday...and plan to make a habit of it.
I'm going as a "Charlie Brown" ghost for Halloween. If you don't know what that is (and no, it's not the ghost of charlie brown) watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
I'm missing my friend Brandi, who's having a tough time and has hidden herself away.

sigh

Katherine

My Rising Sign is Cancer

2006-10-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Your Rising Sign is Cancer

You are compassionate and kind - and the one who gives security.And while you sometimes tire of it, people always turn to you for advice.
Emotions are your domain, and you use tend to use them for good.But you've also been know to be very manipulative when you need to be.
You're quite loyal to those you love most - friends and family.For everyone else, you tend take time to build up trust.

What's" Your Rising Sign?

Just for fun

2006-10-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

You Are Indigo

Of all the shades of blue, you are the most funky, unique, and independent.Expressing yourself and taking a leap of faith has always been easy for you.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorblueareyouquiz/">What Color Blue Are You?

Dance Photography

2006-09-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have some mixed feelings about this post. I'm doing something that I don't really like to do...stealing the artwork of someone else without first asking their permission. However, my intent is to fully acknowledge the incredible work of these two photographers.

As most of you know, I've had (have) a long-standing love affair with dance, and I am fascinated with the way photography allows us to view a "real" thing with different eyes, simply by changing the light, blurring some images, or expressing a view that we may not have seen on our own. Thus, it's fitting that I find dance photography indescribably beautiful and expressive. A picture speaks a thousand words. Movement is the oldest and purest form of self-expression and communication. Together they are explosive.

Lois Greenfield has always been a favourite of mine and I recently stumbled across the work of Angela Sterling (http://www.angelasterlingphoto.com/index.html). I hope these bring a little inspiration to your day.

Angela Sterling Photography

2006-09-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Lois Greenfield Photography

2006-09-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Autumn

2006-09-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

The day becomes more solemn and serene

When noon is past; there is a harmony

In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,

Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been!

Thus let thy power, which like the truth

Of nature on my passive youth

Descended, to my onward life supply

Its calm, to one who worships thee,

And every form containing thee,

Whom, SPIRIT fair, thy spells did bind

To fear himself, and love all human kind.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley,

Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, 1817

Dynamic Lands

2006-09-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is a blog of few words. Here, pictures will tell the story better than I could write.

Alberta is well known for the charismatic beauty of our Rocky Mountains; postcards, calendars, tour busses, chartered planes. But there is another type of landscape that is equally as spectacular, if one knows how to look.

I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to do some field work in the SE corner of the province and have come to have a much greater appreciation for the prairies. Actually, I am quite in awe of these desolate lands, much to my own surprise. The light is different here, and the borders of time fade. Looking out from a hilltop, across a floodplain and over a river valley, it's easy to let the sight of the buildings fade and imagine this place in a different time. A time before Europeans came to criss-cross the rolling prairie with roads, power lines, and a patch-work of planted fields. Here, I have found a deep sense of isolation, different from that of the mountains. A sense of quiet, as a breeze blows right through me. Utterly alone and yet connected to all.

Below are photos from some of my trips to the prairies this summer as well as photos from my most recent trek through the mountains: Old Goat Glacier hiking trail. I hope they add a little awe and inspiration to your day. Enjoy.

Prairies: Desolate Beauty

2006-09-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Blonde and Blue

Dawn's Early Light

2006-09-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

A group of pronghorn herding up for the winter

Overlooking the Bow River valley from Crowfoot's grave

Mountains: Rugged Majesty

2006-09-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Onwards and upwards (from left to right): Scott, Melanie, Geoff, Evelyn, Trudy, and Allan

2006-09-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hangin' out on the moraine

It always amazes me how something so delicate can add life to such a hostile environment

2006-09-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

Scrambling up to our lunch spot

Fall colours paint the slopes

One of my most favourite things: rocky streams - this delicate mix of rocks, water, trees, and light holds a touch of the sacred for me

Holy Shit, I Think I Just Bought A Car!

2006-09-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

No, wait, I did just buy a car. Aaahhhhh!!!!!! Someone grab me a paper bag, I think I'm going to hyperventalate! Breath. Breath. Breath. I feel a bit stunned....like a deer caught in the headlights. Yep, I put down my John Hancock and joined the majority of the population to enter the wonderful world of major debt. It feels good. And I get a pretty, shiny red car, too! 2006 Honda Civic LX to be exact. Actually, what freaks me out more than signing my life away to car payments over the next 4 years is that I know more about different cars on the market right now then I ever wanted to know....considering I'm the kind of girl that has no idea how to boost another person's car (although after this weekend I now know how to do that!) Note to self, make sure to carry a pair of booster cables in the car in case someone (not naming any names, right Geoff?) leaves the lights on their car when going for a hike.

Seriously, though, I'm glad I made the purchase (sort of....I don't know if you can call a $500 deposit on a $24,000 car "making a purchase"). But it is pretty scary. What's really scary is just how easy it is to do that. They only asked me for my name, address, who I live with, where I work, job title, phone number, and annual income.......then punch some magic keys and the amazing virtual world spits back a great big check mark that says "Yes, we would be happy to take your money".

Weird world.

I hope I can sleep tonight...seeing as I now REALLY have to keep getting a steady pay cheque.

Yipppee!

Hiking in Dinosaur Provincial Park

2006-08-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, a group of us sacrificed our Saturday morning sleep-in to hit the road bright and early. Destination: Dinosaur Provincial Park. Five of us crammed into Geoff and Evelyn's small little Accord for the 2.5 hour drive down to the park.

Two pee stops, a breakfast stop at McDonalds, an evil look from a couple in a van, and several iPod tunes later, we arrived at the park for our 10am guided hike. We met up with a friend of Evelyn's, Brian, who works as an interpreter at the park and gave up a lazy morning to hike with us through Camel's End Coulee. There's a reason why they start the hikes in the morning, and by the end of it was glad for our early start. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, the badlands get incredibly hot during the day...it is a desert, after all.

The hike follows a meandering coulee (a temporary waterway that is usually dry). It was a little muddy due to a fair bit of rainfall the week before, which for me, added to the fun. The views were spectacular and the guide had lots of interesting info. It's amazing to see the plant and wildlife that manages to survive in such a hostile environment.

After the hike, we headed back to the interpretive center to have lunch (and ice cream!), wander around, and catch one of Brian's shows. Then we piled back into the car, which by this time was a wee bit warm....both us and the car. We finished off with supper at Peter's Drive-Thru....mmmm....burgers, onion rings, and milkshakes...the best! Then we all made our ways home, completely exhausted. A great day.

(For those of you who check out Evelyn's blog, the following photos may seem familiar. Yep, they're Eveyn's photos (thanks, Ev!). I did take some of my own, but my lap top is not being very internet-friendly at the moment so I'm using my Dad's computer and, hence, Evelyn's pictures)

2006-08-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Badlands

Camal Hoodoo

The Crew: Justin, Evelyn, Geoff, Brian, Myself, Jenny

Dino-Head

I'm Baacckkk! - and tagged, too.

2006-08-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not really sure if anyone checks this blog anymore (if you do, post a comment, any random thing you want, so I have some sort of idea who still sees this). Regardless, I'm going to try (try being the main word....I've always got great intentions) to do this more regularly. So....what's been happening to me?

Well, the big news is that I've finally found someplace to put my 7 years, 2 degrees, and $$$$$$$ (okay, it was my parent's money....I know, I know.....spoiled white suburban rich girl) to good use. Yep. I've got a job. Hurray!

I'm working for a company called TERA Environmental Consultants. It's a mid-sized (~90 people) consulting company that specializes in pipelines. So basically my company is hired by oil and gas companies to conduct any environmental studies and to write reports that are needed, by law, to apply for anything related to pipeline construction and maintenance. It's pretty cool and I'm going to learn a TONNE about the industry. The people are also really nice and it's a very open and relaxed corporate culture. Everyone's door is always open....which is nice because I don't have to worry about going through "proper" channels to get information. Plus, I get to do some field work when the weather's good which will be fun.

Hmmm....what else is new.....went to Geof and Evelyn (Tanaka)'s wedding 2 weeks ago, which was really beautiful and I think everyone had a good time. Congrats to the new couple!

Went on the annual white water rafting trip at the beginning of July...Kicking Horese river...kick ass as always. Although we all got eaten alive by these tiny bugs (noceum's maybe?) and looked like we had the measles for 2 weeks after. Itchy as hell! Richard came this year with his friend Faizal for the first time and I think they had a good time.....even though one of the chambers of our raft decided to deflate (right where Richard and Michelle were sitting) half way through the longest and biggest series of rapids! Extra adventure for our money!

Went to the farm for the August long weekend (last weekend) to visit family. I had a really good time and it was nice to see everyone. Ate far too much, played cards, and took home some fresh veggies from the garden. Good times.

Hmm...that's about it.

I was tagged by 2 other bloggers (Kalen and Evelyn...don't worry, I didn't forget!). So here are my 6 weird things about myself (although there are so many more than that!):

I'm scared of mirrors in dark rooms. (Probably from playing "'Bloody Mary" too many times as a kid at sleep overs)
I always sit on the bathroom counter when I brush my teeth.
I love to polka (what can I say, I'm half Ukranian)
When I was a kid, I was part of a club of girls that had imaginary pet unicorns. I named mine "Rainbow".
I love the feel of flannel against my face (which is why I have two sets of flannel sheets I use in the winter).
I like to sing in the shower...it's got great accoustics!

There it is....for all the world on the internet to see. All the people I know who blog (just a small little group) have already been tagged. So I'm going to tag some others....post it in my comments. Brandi, Trudy, Melanie, Tracy, Richard, Stephanie: Tag, your it! Post 6 weird things about yourself either on your blog or in my comments and then tag 6 more.

Cheers all!

Hiking at Ptarmigan Cirque

2006-07-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

I got out for my second hike of the season last Sunday (July 2) with Evelyn and Geoff and their friends Rennie, Jenny, and Justin. We had an early start to the day, leaving Calgary at 7:30am and hitting the trail from the Highwood Pass parking lot at about 9:30. We had gorgeous weather all day and the views were spectacular! The trail took us through the sub alpine zone, from a spruce/fur forest at the beginning and breaking out into an alpine meadow awash in blooming wildflowers. Thanks to the early start, we had the trial to ourselves up to our lunch stop at the cirque. For those unfamiliar with mountain geomorph, a cirque is a kind of circular bowl above the tree line of a mountain (near the peak) carved out by a glacier....sort of the seat of a glacier at the top of a mountain.

We enjoyed a sunny break, eating our lunch in the company of ground squirrels and a marmot, before heading back down the now-crowded trail. We took a side track through a short interpretive walk and then hopped in our cars and headed to Cochrane for some of McKay's famous ice-cream. Mmmm.....worth the long line at the shop once we got there. All in all, a great day. Here's some pictures, courtesy of Evelyn and Rennie, as I forgot my camera at home.

2006-07-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

The girls: Evelyn, Jenny, and myself

Justin and I goofing around

Jenny, Geoff, myself, Justin, and Rennie

2006-07-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Beautiful views!

Sweethearts

2006-07-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

Lunch in the cirque

2006-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wandering back down

My Final Days in Oz

2006-05-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been back home for about a week and a half. Suffice it to say, the trip was a personal success (although perhaps not in the way I originally aniticipated) and it's good to be home. Here are my journal entries for my final days in Australia:

April 16th Entry:
Happy Easter! As I've changed my plane ticket to leave from Brisbane on April 19th, I only have 3 sleeps left in Australia. I've really enjoyed my time in this country. Let me get you up to date since my last blog entry about the Great Barrier Reef. After an amazing snorkling exprience, we took an overnight bus to Airlie Beach. It's a tiny little resort town. Really just a street along the beach front. Like Cairns, it has an artificial lagoon (freshwater) next to the beach for people to swim in during stinger season. There's not much to do in Airlie, other than a strip of tourist shops and cafes. It's main purpose is a jumping point to the Whitsunday Islands.

On April 14 (Good Friday), I went on a tour of the Whitsunday Islands. I went with a company called "Ocean Rafting", which took a group of us (about 20) in a speed boat/raft on a tour of the main island. The ride was fast, bumpy, wet, and fun! I met 2 really nice German girls on the trip. one of the girls, Julia, had actually been on the same night bus that Corinne and I were on from Cairns to Airlie and was taking the same bus out of Airlie that night with us. Plus, she's going to fly home from Brisbane on the 19th, too! Funny world.

Anyway, the tour took us to the main island (Whitsudnay Island) and we walked up to a look-out point over-looking White Haven Beach. This long stretch of very, very white sand has the world's purest form of silica sand. They actually used the sand from this area for the lenses of the Huble telescope. From the look-out, we trudged back to the boat and then moved to another location on that beach for lunch. We hung-out there for about an hour and a half, and then it was off for a bit of snorkling at yet another location. I had trouble with my snorkle masks (1st one had a leak in the seel, 2nd one was too big, and the lenses snapped out of the 3rd one!). After spending all my energy fighing with my masks, I decided to quit while I was ahead and made my way back to the boat. From there, we headed back to Airlie Beach. All in all, it was a good trip, although not as spectacular as the reef tour. The islands reminded me of the islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, although with beautiful blue-green water and white sand beaches!

After taking another overnight bus (left at 8:15pm), we arrived in Hervey Bay at 9:10am on Saturday, April 15. We were picked up from the bus station by our Servas hosts, Don and Barbara. They are wonderful people; a retired couple who just moved to Hervey Bay about 3 years ago. They live in a community complex, like a condo idea but with houses instead, including a community center and an outdoor pool. Corinne, Barbara, and I spent the late morning/early afternoon swimming and lounging by the pool side. Tough life! Corinne and I spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around Hervey Bay (a very nice town). We walked out tot he very long pier, where many people were fishing, and enjoyed a fantastic sunset.

Today, Barbara and Don took us around to see the area. We set off this morning for a near-by market where people were selling all sorts of things...from jewlery to produce to old tools. Then we went to the town of Maryborough. It's a town of about 25, 000 people and boasts the largest concentration of historic Queensland-style buildings from the turn of the 20th century and is the birthplace of the lady who wrote "Mary Poppins". It's a very picturesque place. We had a picnic lunch after wandering the streets. Then we drove to a conservation area where, after a fair bit of walking and searching, we spotted a koala! Now I've seen kangaroos, platypuses, and a koala in the wild. Perfect! We then drove back to Hervey Bay and had a coffee/milkshake at the marina. Not a bad way to spend Easter!

April 17th Entry:
Today Corinne and I did a 4-wheel drive tour of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It took about 1 hour by ferry to get to the island from the Hervey Bay marina. We had wet weather all day, but the island was still very beautiful. Swamps, beaches, rainforest, sand dunes (sand blows), and streams. Our tour was very small (only 10 people) and our guide was a funny German guy. We met 2 very nice couples on the tour, one from Switzerland and the other from England. The couple from England were on the last few weeks of their 16 month journey around the world! Amazing people.

We had a lovely supper with Don and Barbara when we got back this evening, enjoying beautiful fooed, great wine, and fantastic company. What more do you need in life?

April 20th Entry:
Well, here I am at the Singapore airport. I've left Australia and I'm on my way home. The last couple of days havn't been terribly eventful. On Tuesday (April 18), we left Hervey Bay and spent most of the day on the bus to Brisbane. When we got to Brisbane in the late afternoon, we made our way by city train and on foot to our Servas host's place. We stayed with Wilmai Davidson, a really nice lady. She used to work in the corporate world but a life-changing experience in Nepal (she got severe altitude sickness) caused her to re-think her perspective on life. She left her job, moved to Brisbane, and starting working as a nanny for a couple of different families. She also took a serious look at personal spirituality.

On Tuesday evening, the 3 of us went with some of Wilmai's family for a cheap meal at a "Service Club". This place was a small members-only casino that serves cheap food. Not the greatest, but for $3.50 a plate, who am I to complain? After, we went to the movies to see March of the Penguins.

The next day (April 19), Corinne and I took a tour bus to visit the Australia Zoo, just north of Brisbane. This is the zoo owned by Steve Irwin; a.k.a the "Crocodile Hunter". It's main focus was on Australian wildlife. It was good, but a bit of a "Steve Irwin" theme park. Not really a conventional zoo. And I found the animals much more domesticated than in other zoos I've been to. Still, the staff seemed to take very good care of them.

That evening, we had supper with Wilmai, then played a game called "Rummy-O". After that, it was time for me to head off to the airport.

So ends my 1st Australian adventure. It's a great place and I intend to visit again. I have no regrets about coming home early. I'm tired of traveling for now (physically and mentally) and these places are too spectacular to waiste me being tired. So, I'll just have to return another time!

Some important lessons I've learned:

Try not to have any expectations about the place your traveling to
Try not to have any expectations about yourself when traveling (i.e. reactions, moods, etc.)
Slow down and pace yourself
You can travel at any age, and you don't have to do it all at once
Traveling is a personal experience and if/how/why/when it's done should not be based on the expectations or opinions of others

Great Barrier Reef

2006-04-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Queensland!

After Tazmania, Corinne and I spent two more days/nights with the Chandlers (Felicity, Vicki, and Neil) in Melbourne, seeing the sights and watching Audrey Hepburn classics. We then took an early flight on April 11...leaving the house at "oh my god it's early!", in Felicity's words. What a sweetheart for getting out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4:30am to drive us to the airport! We arrived in tropical Cairns a little bleary-eyed but happy to be back in the heat and sun...although I was quite happy to find that it wasn't as stupidly hot and humid as Thailand.

The next morning (April 12), I got up early to go on a snorkling tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Corinne stayed back, having seen the reef on her previous trip. A bus picked me up from my hostel at 6:45am and we drove to Port Douglas, about 1.5hours away where the trip was leaving from. I borded a swanky jet-boat with about 60 other people and we made our way out to the outer reef, about 1.5hours away. We spent the day snorkling (and some people diving) at 3 different sites, spending about 1 hour at each site. Throughout the trip, we were provided with morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. We did not go hungry...it was a big spread of very yummy food.

The reefs were spectacular! What I saw in Thailand paled in comparison to this. I thought that I would get tired spending an hour at each site, but I could have spent longer! It was just like the pictures and documentaries you see on the reef. Lots of beautiful fish and spectacular coral formations. To name a few, I saw parot fish, anemone fish (a.k.a "nemos" thanks to Disney), a baracuda, and even a sea turtle! It was such an amazing experience. After snorkling, I definately want to try my hand at scuba diving some day.

I got back to my hostel at 6:45pm and then met Corinne for supper. After that we split up, I went to see the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" (really good!) and Corinne found a coffee shop to hang out at. Around 11:30, we collected our stored bags from the hostel and trudged through the POURING rain (happy campers we were not) to the bus station to catch the 12:25am bus to Airlie Beach.

We arrived at Airlie Beach at 11:45 this morning, more than a little worn out after an over-night bus ride. We had booked our hostel in advance, and a shuttle bus picked us up from the station and took us to the hostel. We dropped our stuff off and made our way to the lagoon ( a man-made public swimming/beach area that is used when there are stingers at the real beach), where we lay all day, soaking up the sun (or in my case, the shade of a palm tree). Tomorrow I'm off for a tour of the Whitsunday Islands and Corinne is scheduling some more serious sun-worshiping. Then, it's another over-night bus to Hervey Bay for the weekend.

Tonight is my last night in a hostel. I'm glad. Although it's kinda fun, there's a real party atmosphere here in the Australian hostels which would be great if I wasn't so worn-out from all the moving around. Sleeping as much as possible is high on the priority list for me, which is tough to do in a noisy place. From here, it's an over night bus and then 4 nights with Servas Hosts.

After that, I'm coming home. Yep. Got my plane tickets and everything. I'm flying out of Brisbane late (11:45pm) on April 19 and will arrive home via Singapore and Vancouver early in the evening on April 20. It's been a great trip, but I'm looking forward to coming home. I'm getting pretty worn out from moving from place to place. Ready to give my traveling shoes a rest. That said, I'm giving a big push for the last few days, doing lots of trips and seeing lots of things. Corinne will be continuing on, spending 10 more days in Oz and then flying to New Zealand on April 30.

Anyway, Happy Easter long weekend, everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny is good to all of you!

Tazzie!

2006-04-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

Corinne and I just returned to Melbourne from a fantastic, adventurous 4 days in Tasmania. We flew into Launceston (on the north side of Tasmania) on Wednesday morning and decided to be adventurous and rented a car...a nice little blue Hyundai Elantra. It was quite the challenge to manage Tazzie's small, windy roads while driving on the "wrong" side. It was quite funny. Everything in the car is a mirror image of cars in North America, so whenever we went to turn on the signal light without thinking, we turned on the wipers instead! But we managed not to create too much havoc on the roads and after a day or so were doing quite well.

We spent Wednesday afternoon walking around Launceston. The weather turned rainy, so we ducked inside a coffee shop and spent a couple hours reading the magazines, chatting with the owner, and drinking coffee. Then we wandered to the Stillwater Cafe, which is owned by the son and daughter-in-law of the couple we had arranged to stay with. It was a lovely place overlooking the river and docks. From there, we met our Servas hosts, Alvaro and Suzanne Ascui, and followed them out to their farm which is about 30km north-east of Launceston. They are a wonderful, warm-hearted couple who made us feel welcome immediately. While staying with them, we slept in a small little cabin that we heated with an old-fashioned wood pipe-stove. Tazzie was a little chilly (around zero at night and about 12-14 degrees in the day).

Our original plan had been to stay around Launceston and do day trips to various places, including Port Arther. Following our first night, I was met by a concerned Suzanne in the main house in the morning who thought our plans of driving to Port Arther and back in a day was crazy! So, following the advice of Alvaro and Suzanne, we left Thursday morning and drove to Cole's Bay on the east coast. It's a beautiful area with a national park, where we did 4 short hikes: the lookout to Wineglass Bay, Honeymoon Cove, the lighthouse, and Sleepy Cove. It was a very windy day and the waves and views were spectacular!

We then drove to Swansea to find a place to stay for the night. It's a sleepy little summer town with not much choice for accommodation. We spent the night at a quaint little B&B (although breakfast was not included) with a restaurant next door. After moving into the room, we wandered next door to grab some supper. It was quite busy and were directed to the lounge while we waited for a table. Shortly after we sat down, an American couple wandered in with a bottle of wine and invited us to share their wine while we all waited. Once a spot was available, they then offered to treat us to dinner! They spoiled us with a fantastic meal, complete with plenty of wine (he made sure our glasses were never empty) and desert. What a treat! And such a surpirse, too! They were traveling through Australia after spending time in New Zealand, where they spend their winters. They are origianlly from New Hamshire and were very lively and wonderful. After supper, Corinne and I wandered back to our room, with "chink peeks" (ie feeling a pleasant buzz from the wine).

Friday morning, we drove down to Port Arther, the former site of a working convict prison. It was a stormy day, which was appropriate for such a place. That evening we made our way to Hobart and spent the night at a hostel/pub (the hostel rooms were on the floor above the pub). It was cozy enough and the pub had a great, friendly atmosphere. Corinne went down to the pub to have a beer and listen to a band. I couldn't keep my eyes open and decided to stop trying to fight the inevitable and turned-in early. Saturday morning, we got up early and went down to the weekly, saturday market along the harbour-front. It was a great little market, although it was quite cool (mochas helped). We then made our way up inland, visiting a couple of historic towns along the way: Ross and Campbell Town. We arrived back in Launceston mid-afternoon and took the rest of the day exploring Cateract Gorge, full of great little walks/hikes and full of people out to enjoy the day. We then made our way back to Alvaro and Suzanne's place.

Tazzie was great! I'm so glad that we went and it was wonderful having the car to tour around. Although it was a little nerve-wracking at times, we wouldn't have gotten a real feel for the place if we hadn't have rented the car.

Angela and David

2006-04-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

'Roos

2006-04-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

Canberra - Parlement

2006-04-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Sydney Opera House

2006-04-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Sydney and Canberra

2006-04-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sydney was a fantastic city. We spent our second day there walking around the tourist areas of central Sydney. Gave ourselves a good workout! We visited St. Mary's Cathedral, Hyde Park (including a giant outdoor chess board), and Sydney Tower. We stopped for lunch at Market City in Chinatown, wandered around Darling Harbour, explored the Rocks, and finished off at Circular Quay.

My favourite area was the Rocks, which is the oldest part of Sydney. It's full of old brick buildings, many reminicient of old factories, and tiny lanes and alleys. It's really wonderful to see the old, eurpoean-looking bit of town in front of a backdrop of modern sky-scrapers. A fantastic contrast!

In the evening, we made our way (lugging our packs) to our first Servas homestay. We stayed 2 nights with Joyce Martin, a university prof. who teaches Sociology and Communications. She lives in a little bungalow in the suburb of North Ryde. It took about 30 minutes to get to her place from central Sydney. Joyce is a really wonderful lady and it was a nice change to stay in someone's home. She made us feel very welcome and comfortable.

I spent my last day in Sydney running errands. Nothing too exciting.

On March 31, we made our way by bus from Sydney to Canberra. It was nice to get a chance to see the countryside. What immediately caught my attention were the vast, open spaces and the big blue sky that went on forever. It was strangely compforting to see these elements again, although there was no mistaking it for North America witht he signs informing drivers to watch out for kangaroos and koalas!

Canberra was a lovely little city, spread out in the valleys between the large hills in the area. The greater area of the city is the size of London, but with a population of only 320,000. Now that's urban sprawl! It's a completely planned city, specifically chosen to be the sight of the nation's capital. It's also known as the garden city, with good cause. It's very treed with lots of green spaces and a large, man-made lake in the center. Even the parlement building is under a hill! When approaching the city, you can't see it until you're in it because of all the trees.

We stayed with Angela and David McAdam in Canberra. Angela is the daughter of Granny's very good friends, Pauline and Walter. They are lovely people, who made us feel very welcome and at home. It was like visiting old friends! We stayed with them for 3 nights. On Saturday (April 1), Angela took us around the city to see the parlement buildings and the National Gallery. The Parlement buildings are really modern, built into and under capital hill, with the idea that the people should be able to look down on their government rather than the government looking down on the people. On Sunday, we all went to the National Museum and then up to the Telstra tower, which had a fantastic view of Canberra. That evening, we went out to a Turkish resteraunt for dinner. Really tastey!

Yesturday, Corinne and I took the 8 hour bus ride from Canberra to Melbourne. We're now staying with Felicity, a friend that we met when she was visiting mutual friends in Calgary a few years ago. It's so nice to be able to visit people.

Cheers for now.

G'day Mate!

2006-03-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

So here I am in lovely Sydney. It's fantastic here! Such a beautiful city, full of wonderful contrasts. We spent yesterday afternoon walking from Kings Cross, where we stayed last night, around the main harbour front, and around the area surrounding the Opera House and Circular Quay. Along our meanderings, we took in:

Mrs. Macquaries Chair - A rock that is shaped like a chair on the edge of the harbour where a Mrs. Macquarie liked to sit and enjoy the view around the early 1800s. Exactly who Mrs. Macquarie was and why she was important, I'm not too sure, but apparently you're supposed to sit in the chair and make a wish. There were actually two rocks that looked like chairs and we couldn't figure out which was the actual chair, so we sat in both (took pictures, of course) and made our wishes...just to cover our bases. There were fantastic views of both the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House from here, so of course we stopped and took a rediculous number of pictures. It was totally surreal to see this in person, after having seen it so many times in photographs, posters, and on T.V. It was quite spectacular.

The Royal Botanical Gardens - This is a beautiful public park with a nice path to stroll along the harbour front. It was full of wonderful trees and plants that I don't know the name of, as well as cockateals.

The Sydney Opera House - Wonderful, of course. I decided to splurge and bought myself a ticket to a play for last night in one of the smaller theaters in the complex: "The Importance of Being Ernest". It was done by two guys, who played all nine characters ... including all the women. It was really funny!

Anyway, I'm running out of computer time, so I'll post the details of todays wanderings later. Sydney is really beautiful and I love it here! The weather is great...mid 20's and not nearly as humid as Thailand!

Cheers for now. I'll post more later, with some pictures if I can!

Some Final Thoughts on Thailand

2006-03-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's hard to believe that our month in Thailand is over. Although it was a bit of a challenge (not to mention my own personal struggle), it was a great adventure! The country was beautiful, the people were fantastic, and the food was great.

From Krabi, we took an ovrenight bus to Bangkok, which left us standing in the middle of the backpacker's district bleary-eyed early on Sunday morning. We made our way to our guest house in Chinatown and then spent the day exploring the weekend market and Siam Square. The weekend market was incredible! It was absolutely massive; a person could very easily get lost in the maze of stalls and tents. Just about everything under the sun was for sale: cloths, jewelery, food, plants, crats, supplies for crafts, pets, pet supplies, home decore, material, artwork.....and we only saw a small fraction of it! It was jam-packed with locals and tourists alike, and was pretty hot and close under the heat of the sun.

In search of other shopping experiences and a little A.C., we went to Siam Square, a posh area with modern-style malls. Some of the stores were really high end, while others had cheap knock-offs of the high end stuff. There were restaurants, an aquarium of sorts, food market, department store, opera hall, bowling ally, and outdoor concert venue where a public concert of sorts was on into the night. Along the walkways between the various buildings, vendors were hawking their wares. It was an interesting mix of the modern and traditional, inexpensive and very pricey, shopping styles. Part way through, we succumbed to temtation and treated ourselves to (gasp!) iced mocha's from Starbucks. I'm such a sucker for coffee shops!

We had a very hot and rather uncomfortable and restless sleep at our guest house (because of the heat) and were up at 5:30 the next morning to catch a train to the airport. Although our flight didn't leave until 4:00pm, we wanted to use the train to save money (only 10 Baht per person instead of 400 Baht per person for a taxi!) and to make sure that Corinne could get on the flight. We had a little mix up when we booked the tickets and didn't realize until we were well into Thailand that the date on Corinne's ticket was March 30 instead of March 27. Luckily, there was room on the March 27 flights, so we both flew together.

After seven hours of waiting at the Bangkok airport, a 2.5 hour flight to Singapore, a 1 hour stop-over in Singapore there's free internet at that airport!), and a 7.5 hour flight to Sydney, we arrived here in Sydney bleary-eyed but very happy to be here. We've yet to explore the city (doing laundry right now), but from first glance, it looks wonderful!

Our trip to Thailand was an excellent experience and I met a lot of really wonderful people there. It was also a time of self-discovery and personal growth that at times was not very easy. But all in all, I'm very glad we went there and I'm taking alot back with me. However, I'm very happy to be in Oz!

Islands of the Andaman Coast

2006-03-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

May and Malee at the Drunken Sailor

2006-03-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

Our Guest House Room in Krabi. What Luxury!

2006-03-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

Our Bamboo Bungalow on the Island

2006-03-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

From Lanta to Krabi (again)

2006-03-23T04:05:00.000-07:00

Just to give you a glipse of some of the (mis)adventures when traveling from one place to another:

About 5 days ago, Corinne and I asked the guys who ran our bungalow on Ko Lanta if they could book us tickets for the night train from Trang to Bangkok for the evening of March 25, hearing that they tend to book up really fast. They said "Sure. No problem. No worries. We do everything for you". Great!

Well, the next day I asked them if they had booked our tickets yet. No one seemed to remember that I had asked yesturday, but they said "Sure. No problem. No worries." Okay.

This dance continued for a few more days, until yesterday, I asked again about our tickets and they again did not seem to remember my asking for them. They said, okay, sure, we'll call. So I sat and waited for them to call. Then they came back and said they think they had 2 tickets for us, but not sleeper, and what day was it you wanted to go?

You can well imagine that I wasn't terribly impressed at this point, although now that I've safely made it to my next destination, it's kind of funny. So I told them to cancel the tickets, as they obviously did not have a clue what I was asking for. Corinne and down the hill to the little "town" and approached one of the travel agencies. The man there phoned the train station and informed us that the tickets for the night train from Trang to Bangkok were all sold out for March 25.

Hmmm. Okay. Now what.

Well, how about a bus?

Yep, the travel agent said he could book us a night bus but it would have to be from Krabi to Bangkok, instead of from Trang. Okay, I guess we're going back to Krabi. One problem. We had already bought minibus tickets for March 23 (today) to take us from Ko Lanta to Trang. Thankfully, this was the same travel agent that we had bought the minibus tickets from, and he said he could change the tickets for no charge. Whew!

Now, previous to this whole bit, we had informed the guys at our bungalow that we would be leaving on March 23 to catch a minibus. We also asked if they could drive us to the place where we needed to catch the bus. "Sure. No worries. Okay. 11am" .... I should not have been surprized by what happened. 11am rolls around this morning, we're waiting for them to drive us to catch the bus, and they choose this time to inform us that they will not drive us because we did not book our minibus tickets through them. At this point, I was more than a little mad. Pissed off, actually. So we phoned the travel agent from "town", explained our dilemma, and asked if he could arrange a ride for us. He wasn't terribly happy about it, as we had told him the day before that our bungalow would drive us. Not to mention it was more than a little last minute. We had to leave immediately. Bless his heart, he got us a ride.

That over with, we experienced a rather exciting drive in a minivan with a driver that was an angry little man with no front teeth who was weaving in and out of traffic like a maniac in order to shave a few seconds off his commute time. And the van itself sounded a bit dodgey.

I'm happy to say that we've made it to Krabi safe and sound, having met a new friend along the way. A Danish girl, Kim, who's on the last 2 weeks of her 7 month trip to South America, Australia, and SE Asia. She's on her own, so she's sharing a room with Corinne and I at the same place we stayed at the last time we were in Krabi: the Chan Cha Lay Guest House. This place is spotless with toilets that flush. We even treated ourselves and got a room with a private bathroom. Such luxury! After our bungalow, this place feels like a 5 star hotel (not that the bungalow didn't have a rustic kind of charm)! The shower's kind of cool. It's open air (no roof), so we get to shower under the stars tonight.

We're planning on keeping a relatively low profile for our remaining 4 days in Thailand. It's gone by both quickly and slowly....but with all the personal and travel struggles, it's been an amazing experience. However, I am looking forward to heading off to Australia.

Now it's time for supper at that wonderful (and cheap!) night market.

Kantiang Bay

2006-03-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

Sawadee kah ("Hello")

I'm having a quiet day here today and want to take the opportunity to give my general impressions of Kantiang Bay, where we're staying on Ko Lanta.

The area itself is a small bay of white sand and rocks. The beach is split in two, one side for the really fancy resort and the other side for the rest of us, although there's really nothing keeping us from using the fancy side. There are about 3 or 4 little "resort" opperations besides the fancy one, all clustered on the north side of the bay at verious elevations up a hill that overlooks the bay. Our "resort" is on the top, hence the name "Top View". It's quite a hike up to it from the beach, but it keeps us in shape!

Outside of resort area is a small strip of shops that service the tourist industry. Only about 300 people live here and the nearest town is the main town of Saladin where the ferry docks from the rest of Krabbi and Phuket province. It's about a 15 - 20 minute drive from Kantiang Bay. The vast majority of the locals here are muslim, with a few budhists. The running joke here is that the budhists serve the alcohol and the muslims serve the food. All the people here are really kind, with laid-back, sunny dispositions. Wherever we go, everyone always says "hi" and asks how we're doing and where we're going.

In addition to the human population, there are a variety of small animals; domestic cats, monkeys, geckos, and the odd lizard. The cats here are really funny. Because it's so hot all the time, the cats are both very lazy and quite skinny. They're like rag dolls, sleeping most of the time. The monkeys provide quite a lot of entertainment, scrambling around the trees at evening, night, and early in the morning. However, they can become a little frustrating when they bang around on the roof at night. Not to mention the occasional theft of some possesion from an unattended balcony. The gecko's are quite sweet, small little creatures that scurry around and chirp during the evenings. Although Corinne doesn't think they're terribly cute when they occasionally poop on her when she's lounging on our balcony in the evening. I told her it's probably good luck, but I don't think she was impressed.

We've met some really wonderful friends here. Most of our time is spent hanging out at a local cafe called the Drunken Sailor. It sounds like a pub, but it doesn't serve any alcohol. When I asked May, the owner, about it, she said that it's named after a flower vine called a "Drunken Sailor". May is really sweet. She's 24 years old and owns and runs the cafe on her own, with a little help from some friends. It's a small place, and she lives with her boyfriend, Jim, on the second floor. On a lazy afternoon or evening, you'll find us hanging out in May's cafe, visiting with May, Jim, Malee (the tatoo artist that gave Corinne her tatoo), Sandra (a Swiss artist that has been here for a while), and Alex (a Swedish guy that has also made this place a second home), to name a few. All really sweet and wonderful people. It will be sad to leave them. Not to mention May's cooking, which I will miss very much, too!

The other haunt that we frequent at night if we're not watching movies at the Drunken Sailor, is the Why Not Bar. This is a ramshackle little open-air bar right on the beach. It's full of low tables and cushions for lounging on the floor and the place has a very rastaferian air to it. Alex works here when he's in Thailand. There's always someone to chat with into the night there.

Life here progresses at a relaxed, leisurly pace, and music is never absent long. Soft jazz coming from cafes, just about any type of music coming from the small bars, someone lazily strumming a guitar, people singing to themselves. Even the muslim call to prayer that can be heard 5 times a day. It's all wonderful to listen to, and never intrusive. Even the sounds of the Thai people talking has a soft, lyrical, and cheerful sing-song sound to it.

Although I am still struggling with homesickness, I will miss this place when I leave. The place, the sounds, and most importantly the people have been a balm to my soul.

Now it's just after 2pm. I think I'll wander back to the Drunken Sailor, lounge in a bean bag "chair", have a snack, and stick my nose into a copy of a Harry Potter book that I found.

Four Island Tour

2006-03-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

Today, Corinne and I, along with a few other people, took a longboat tour of 4 nearby islands. We left our beach (Ao Kantiang) at 9am and went south along our island (Ko Lanta) to pick up a few other people staying at other beaches. From there, we headed to Ko Ma for some snorkling. The boat trip there took nearly 1 hour and was pretty choppy in places. We got more than a little wet from the spray, but it was fun. The snorkeling was really good, too. Lots of different kinds of fish and coral, and not as many other tours there as my trip to Phi Phi yesterday.

We then went to the Emerald Cave on Ko Muk. We had to swim from our longboat through the cave, which was pretty low and quite dark right in the middle. Our guide had a little trouble with his flashlight when we entered the cave, leading to more than a little confusion and a little fright at the pitch black of the cave. We made it through to the other side to find ourselves in a a beautiful little lagoon, completely secluded. It was surrouned by very high cliffs; the only way in or out is through the cave. It's a popular place for tours to stop, and today was no exception. There were several other tours there, making our passage through the cave a little cramped at times. When we got to the lagoon, it was funny to listen to the calls and uncertain sounds of the tour groups approaching. There was one group of Asian tourists that were really cute, singing and calling out relplys as they came through the cave and out into the lagoon in a long string of yellow life-vested swimmers of all ages.

We wormed or way back out through the cave and back to our longboat, heading next for lunch on a stunning white-sand beach on Ko Kradan. We hung-out on the shore for about an hour, eating, sleeping, swimming. Corinne built sand castles while I snoozed under the shade of a tree. The water was post-card picture-perfect blue green and the sand was amazingly soft. The water was perfect for swimming in, with only a light surf.

After lunch, we headed for our last island, Ko Chuek, for a little more snorkling. I think I'm getting the hang of this! Although I shortened my time snorkling there when I spotted some jellyfish. With all the bug bites I have, I didn't really feel the need to add jellyfish stings to the collection.

We made it back to our bungalow around 5pm to find that we both had gotten a little more sun then we should have. I bare a striking resembalance to an over-grown lobster...not that I expect much sympathy from those of you enduring the lovely white "spring" of the frozen north. But still, ouch! I tried to stay in the shade when I could and I re-applyed my sun screen twice. But that was no match for the combination of sun and water. Now I've got those really sexy tan (or in my case burn) lines that all the bikini babes our here have...although I don't feel particularly sexy with them!

Now to close out the day, I'm going to watch Corinne get a tatoo, using the traditional bamboo technique (don't worry, I'm not going to join her). After that, supper and bed. And maybe a short hunt for some aloe.

Cheers from the very patriotic red and white skinned girl.

Ko Phi Phi

2006-03-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

Today Sarah (the girl from California who is staying at the same place as me) and I did a day-trip to Ko Phi Phi. It's actually two islands, Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh. Phi Phi Don is a really resorty little island that was devistated by the tsunami 15 months ago. There was still some rubble lying around from the effects of the disaster, but it appears to be recovering quickly. Phi Phi Leh is the smaller of the two islands and is a national park with no accomodation or development on it.

We got up early to catch an 8:00 ferry ride to Phi Phi Don. Sarah and I both thought that we had simply purchased the fare for the ferry and that we would wonder the island on our own. To our surprise, we were herded off the ferry to a tour group. Apparently we had paid for a longboat tour of Phi Phi Leh! We joined two couples on a longboat, one from Poland and another from Italy, really great people.

The boat took us on a trip around Phi Phi Leh. We passed by what's known as Viking Cave to take pictures of it. I'm not entirely sure what the significance is of the cave, but it looked like the kind of place that pirates would have used to stash their booty. Then we went to a lagoon to do some snorkeling - my first time! I had a little trouble with my mask, which kept filling with water. It was neat, but I came back to the boat after struggleing with the mask and swallowing a fair share of salt water.

We then went to another little bay and went onto a tiny beach for lunch. From there, we went around the remainder of the island and then stopped at one last beach to do some more snorkeling. This time, I found a mask that fit properly and discovered how much fun it is! The tour guys through left-over friut from lunch into the water, which caused the fish to swarm around it. I swam through clusters of fish, and even saw a nice big baracuda (about 2 feet long)! The coral was really beautiful, too.

We then headed back to Phi Phi Don to wander on our own. The longboat trip was good, but a bit short. It felt a bit rushed, but the scenery was just spectacular. Great towering cliffs that decend into clear blue-green lagoons.

We took the ferry back to Ko Lanta at 3:00 and arrived at the main town at about 4:15 to find ourselves in a downpour. I didn't mind, since we had been wet all day anyway. It was actually really refreshing. I think it's the only time I've felt a little chilly on this whole trip, and it was a welcome feeling.

Now it's time for supper and another movie ("Walk the Line" tonight).

News from Ko Lanta

2006-03-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Well, I've come to the edge and found my way back. Although I teetered over the edge and I'm still stumbling somewhat. Yesterday I made it over a threshold. I woke up with the intense need to come home as soon as possible. I spent the morning running around like a fool trying to contact Singapore Airlines to try and change my tickets to fly home at the end of March. Fortunately, I was unable to do it, due to the lack of fax machines on this little secluded beach. Thanks to that, and another traveler much more experienced than me, I've made peace with my backpack for the time being and have decided to carry on to Australia, at least for a bit.

We've been staying in a little bamboo bungalow overlooking a bay on Ko Lanta, one of the islands on the Andaman coast. The atmosphere here is really laid back and people are genuinely warm and friendly. It's quite a little community of locals and carefree travelers, where you soon get to know everyone. We're staying here for at least 3 more nights, maybe more. Neither of us feel any immediate desire to continue moving. If we're happy here, we'll finish our last week and a half of Thailand here. If we get bored, we'll move on.

After my little freak-out session yesterday, the day settled down and quickly filled itself with not much. I tought Chip (the owner of the resort), Corinne, Arron (from Australia), and Sarah (from California) how to play the card game Zap. It was an instant hit! After that, the five of us climbed down a steep slope to the rocky shore below to swim from the cliffs to the beach. We then slowly made our way back up the big hill to our resort. By the time we got to the top, we had a little thunder storm. Nothing too big, but really refreshing with some lovely lightening. The rain must have knocked out the power for a bit, because when we went back to our bungalows to shower and change, we found ourselves in the dark. I'm glad I brought my head lamp with me!

Us girls then made our way down to a little cafe called the Drunken Sailor for supper and to watch the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha". Although a little different from the book, the film was one of the most visually beautiful films I've seen. Really stunning! We then finished off the night at a local bar on the beach called the "Why Not Bar" (a very rastaferian feel), chatting, drinking cocktails, and (yes) singing. We stumbled home at 3 am and crashed. A very satisfying day.

So, I'm going to continue on to Australia. I'm looking forward to visiting with Angela and David in Canberra and with Falicity in Melbourne. That will take about 2 weeks. Around the time I'm in Canberra (first weekend in April), I'll take another look inward and decide if I want to continue on to Cairns or go back to Calgary. I think that the decision will be much easier at that time, regardless of what I choose. I'll have seen two countries and have visited with the people I wanted to see. It will be a 6 week trip by then. Okay to continue and equally okay to head home. The next time, I won't be in this place of panic and I won't feel any guilt or remose regardless of my decision.

Things are good. (despite my several dozen mosquito bites!)

P.S. I use the term "resort" very loosly in this posting, simply because that's what it's called: the Top View Resort. However, it's very basic accomodation, with it's fair share of dust and bugs. Still the people are taking very good care of us and the views from the place really are "tops". I would like to post some pictures for you, but internet is very slow here and I'm not sure that it would work. I'll have to wait until we get to a more urban area.

Self-Discovery

2006-03-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

I've had an important bit of self-realization over the last couple of days, thanks to everything that I've been experiencing personally. I've discovered that I am a purpose-driven person. It's not that I need to have things to do to occupy my mind and hide behind. It's more that I'm a goal-oriented person, and when I take up something big like this, I need to have a purpose in mind. This trip was all about running away, making a clean break after my life as a student, and to let go of all responsibility for a while. Much to my amazment, I've discovered that I like having some responsibility, I get energized from having somthing to work towards. The last time I backpacked throughout eastern europe, it was with a school course. So every day, I had a purpose. I was always working towards something. This time, I'm not. True, there has been culture shock and it is very tiring moving around from place-to-place without a base, but I'm wandering aimlessly. In europe, we moved around constantly, always on the go. And there was some culutre shock, although I'm much more familiar with eastern european culture than asian culture. But still, we spent most of our time in places where we didn't know the language. What anchored me was having a purpose.

And so, I've pretty well come to the conclusion that 4 weeks of aimless backpacking is enough. I'm not very good at being listless for a long period of time, espetially if I'm not in familiar surroundings or situations. I think it would have been different if I had come here for work or for some kind of a project. I don't have any regrets. In fact, this realization has been a true gift, and I feel content and happy. Yes, I'm homesick, I miss family, friends, a kitchen and a closet. But I'm also ready to grab on to my next goal and to move forward.

2006-03-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Swimming in the stream on a hot afternoon - very refreshing!

2006-03-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

Prehistoric cave painting

2006-03-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Shack on the water to catch fish and shell fish

2006-03-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

2006-03-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Kayaking in Krabi

2006-03-12T04:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone.

Thanks so much for all the love, support, and advice that you have sent my way. I will certainly make my decision with great care and trust my heart.

Today was a great day! We went on a kayaking trip through the mangroves and caves nearby. We were picked up at our guest house at 8am, taking a little while to drive around and pick up other people for the tour and then on to the restaurant at Bor Thor, our base for the day, situated on the mangroves. There were 9 people taking the tour including Corinne and I. There was a couple from Sweden, a couple from England, and a couple from Germany with their grown son. Corinne and I were quite surprised to find that we were the youngest by quite a bit. But it was a great group of people. The tour guides were all wonderful people, always smiling and quick to joke and laugh.

We paddled through the mangroves and through a number of limestone caves, lincluding Tham Lod Tai, Tham Khoa Wong, and Tham Lod Nua. These limestone caves were full of wonderful stalactites and stalagmites, and were open to the mangroves on either end, so we did not need any artificial light to get through (although it did get a bit dark at times and hard to see....all part of the fun!). Any description I give about the mangroves and the caves won't do them justice, so I'll see if I can attach some photos for you (although no promises....downloading photos can be a bit of a challenge at times!). Everything was very lush and green. We passed sheds on the water that were set up to catch the oysters, crabs, fish, and clams that are found in the mangroves.

The last cave we visited, Tham Pee Hau Toh, was full of prehistoric paintings. Really cool to see. This cave was a bit higher than the water line, so we got out of our kayaks and explored on foot. It was interesting to see the lack of protection these paintings had. We could walk right up to them and touch them if we wanted. Nothing to protect them. Plus, some people had left a little art of their own on the walls quite close to the paintings!

Halfway through the day, we returned back to the restaurant for a bite of lunch before continuing on to the remainder of the caves. At the end of the day, they took us to a local swimming hole, Tha Pom, where we jumped into the stream and swam with the locals. Being a very hot Sunday afternoon, the place was packed! A couple of Thai girls were comparing the brown of their skin to the white of mine, laughing. It was pretty funny. I stand out a bit here, but everyone is very kind.

At the end of the day, they dropped us off at our guest house, where I showered and tried to doctor my sunburned legs. They're pretty red! Although with the combination of open air kayaks, sun, and salt water, I'm not that surprised. Hopefully it will turn into a beautiful tan, and not peel. We'll see.

Tomorrow morning, we're off by boat to Ko Lanta, an island about 2 hours away, for a little lounging on the beach. We'll be there for at least 5 nights.

With regards to the length of my trip, the more I think about it, the more coming home after Thailand feels right. I'm not upset. I'm writing this with a clear, relaxed mind. And I don't think I'll regret coming home early. It's not so much about missing home and family (which I do, of course), so much as it's about not wanting to travel any longer than the 4 weeks. I think backpacking in Thailand for 4 weeks, a truly wonderful experience, moving around and living out of a 60L bag, is enough for now.

Corinne and I have talked extensively about it, and she fully supports me. She does not feel that I'm abandoning her and she has no ill feelings about me going home early. In fact, she completely understands, having gone through the same thing when she traveled after school. Plus, she feels perfectly safe continuing her travels on her own, meeting up with some friends in Australia. She also mentioned that my leaving early may be better for our friendship than if we continued together. After 4 solid months, we may not have liked eachother very much! In any case, I know I won't be abandoning her or giving up on her. We're simply taking different forks in the road. And I'm so greatful for her support and friendship. I would never leave her if she or I felt that she would be upset or feel uncomfortable with our splitting up.

I'm not making this decision lightly, on the spur of the moment, or in an upset state of mind. In fact, I havn't made the decision 100% yet. But I am leaning in the direction of coming home in 2 weeks. It just feels right. And I don't think I'll have any regrets. It just feels like the right time.

Personal DNA Map

2006-03-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

After reading Evelyn's blog, I decided to do the test myself.

I'm a Faithful Artist.

Here's the link to my results:
http://personaldna.com/report.php?k=PjKixtGxUZQCkQg-DH-CDAAD-1568
What do you think?

Time for a little honesty. Advice, please!

2006-03-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I've been censoring this blog quite a bit, only talking about the great things that are going on. But I have to be honest that I've been feeling really homesick throughout this whole trip. Some of you already know this, having received long e-mails from me about it. I thought that, given enough time, everything would settle down a bit. But it really hasn't. Every morning, I wake up and have a private battle with myself to keep going, when all I really want to do is come home. Maybe I took on too big a challenge too soon after school, not giving myself any time to decompress. My poor family had to endure a sobbing phone call on Thursday night, Calgary time. I've planned this trip for so long, and paid a fair bit of money for it. But I don't want to waste my time in these beautiful places feeling sad. I've felt so lost, lately! I keep asking myself what I'm doing here, and I can't seem to remember the answer. I hate to worry you guys, or sound like a whiney, spoiled child, but I could really use some advice. I'm seriously considering coming home early. This morning, I told myself that I should plan to go home after Thailand. After that, I felt much, much better. But I don't want to give up too early.

I don't want to live with any regrets. I don't want to regret giving up on this trip. I also don't want to regret continuing with this trip and not enjoying it. The thought of staying longer makes me panic a bit. Although the thought of leaving early makes me sad and a little disappointed in myself for not being stronger.

I'm not sure what to do. Any advice?

Ayutthaya and Hua Hin

2006-03-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the train from Ayutthaya to Bangkok and then another train from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Our time in Ayutthaya was pretty relaxed. Just wandered the streets a bit by bicycle (although that wasn't terribly relaxing, although quite fun as long as we didn't think too much about all the traffic zooming past!). Corinne and I took separate turns to bike down to the ruins and have a look. I didn't spend much time there. They were nice and historically impressive, but not much different from Old Sukothai, which I liked more, and so I didn't take any photos.

We met some great people at our guest house, which was a friendly, cozy place with a patio, small bar, and a balcony. I met travelers from France, the U.S., Thailand, Czech Republic, and Wales. Nice people. The young Czech/Thai couple we met had travelled extensively throughout New Zealand, and gave us some good ideas. They were a funny couple, and the Czech guy had been traveling for over 1 year! He was lamenting having to go back home, but I guess the world cup (soccer) is going to be held in the Czech Republic this year and, being a big soccer fan, he had to be home for that. When asking about things in the past, he counted years based on the World Cup and knew where each of them had been hosted for the past 20 years. Pretty funny! His Thai girlfriend, who was really sweet, made fun of him for it. I think he may be an even bigger fan than you, Stephen! (little cousin Stephen, that is).

We went out for supper on March 7 at a little street vendor run by a Thai family just down from our guest house. The smell of good food, the friendly cook who wouldn't take no for an answer, and the general lack of little wild dogs that roam the place after dark and protect their territory was more than enough to entice us. The food was great, of course, and the people we're wonderful! They had a little boy who sat with us and played a game of "what's this called" in Thai and English. For example, I would point to a chair and say "chair" and he would then give me the Thai word for it. It's things like this that really make the best of traveling! We then had drinks and exchanged stories with a middle-aged couple from Wales, braving the misquitos to enjoy the company. The wife was origionaly from Australia, and they were on vaction to visit them, spending 2 weeks in Thailand first. The husband (Welsh) tried to scare us with wild stories of poisonous spiders under toilet seats, killer jelly fish, sharks, and snakes that attack. But the wife just shook her head and said that the thing we have to worry about most in Australia is the Auzzie boys!

Hua Hin was quite a shock to the sences after our travels north. It's extremely touristy! It's developed into a beach/golf resort for rich europeans. In the northern cities, we were stared at as we walked down the street beacuse of our (and mostly my) fair skin. Here, we're were stared at by the rich europeans because we were backpackers. I prefere the first kind of attention we got! We find that the locals here are not qutie as friendly as the Thais up north, probably because this place is overrun by caucasians. It's hard to find a Thai restaurant here and the wonderful street-side food stalls are almost non-existant except in the market areas. Lots of "european" restaurants, especially Italian! We're avoiding that, aiming for the little places away from the major tourist center instead. There's even a Burger King and a Subway! We're avoiding that, too. Although we did crumble off our high horses last night and bought some Gelatto (Italian Ice Creme). It's much more expensive here, too. However, the night market was fun. We're planning on eating there tonight. Between markets and higer prices, our wallets are getting quite a work-out here and we're looking forward to finding a quiet beach somewhere that's a bit cheaper. Although we may be fooling ourselves. Some of the beach activities look really fun and I think I'll have to indulge. I figure Thailand is the place to do it, since it is still relatively cheap. Plus, it's activities that I couldn't really do back home.

Cheers for now!

Old Sukhothai

2006-03-06T04:50:00.000-07:00

Yesturday we took a bus to Sukhothai Historical Park, about 2 hours west of Phistanulok for a day trip. Sukhothai is considered to be the first capital city of Thailand and the historical park is full of spectacular ruins. We met a guy, Chris, from Chicago on the way up there. It's true that when you travel, you meet up with other travelers all the time, pack on back and Lonely Planet in hand. I guess we're all pretty predictable! We rented bikes for the day to cycle around the 7 km squared park. At the entrance, we were approached by young girls attending a weekend english camp. As an assignment, they needed to ask us some questions, like "What is your name", "What do you like best about Thailand", Where are you from", etc. They were so sweet! All shy glances and giggles. I guess little girls don't differ that much the world round.

We decided it would be a good idea to split up to give ourselves some alone time for the sake of sanity and our friendship. It's great that we can be so honest with eachother about when we need to be on our own and are quick to forgive our little spats. The ruins are interspersed wtih green space, moats, lakes, and trees. I wandered around for a while and then, when the heat got to be a little too much and I noticed even the locals heading for shelter, I found a quiet spot near a moat under a tree to read and nap.

Corinne and I met up later in the afternoon, she having run into Chris again. The three of us then went out of the main park to explore some of the other ruins near by. All in all a good afternoon, although I did struggle with the heat mid-day. You know it's hot when the locals are heading for the shade and the air-con buildings!

Last night, we found a little soup stand to eat at outside the Phistanulok train station where a local market sets up everynight. For a great bowl of soup and a litre of water, it only cost us 15 Baht.....less than 50 cents! Then we split up again, Corinne to go check out something at the night market we had been at the night before by the river, and me to try to find a phone to call home...which did not work.

This morning we took a train (5 hours) to Ayuthaya, only about 1 hour or so north of Bangkok. It's another former capital with more ruins. After this, we'll head south and find some beaches! We're both looking forward to finding a beach, staying put for a few days, and doing nothing in particular other than soaking up the sun, reading, watching beautiful sunsets and checking out beautiful people!

Picures of Sukhothai Historical Park

Phistanulok

2006-03-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

We are now in a city called Phistanulok. We traveled south from Chang Mai this morning (a 6 hour ride) and it was the first chance I got to really see the country-side. Very beautiful and very different from anything I've seen before. We traveled from more hilly/mountainous (although not like our mountains!) land in the north to more gentle land here. The hills were all misty, like a picture, becuase of the humidity. The last part of the trip went through farm land, growing rice. So green! But the buildings are ramshackle and many people are poor. Everything is a little on the dirty side, and the smells of food, flower, car exhaust, and garbage are quite strong due to the density of the people and the heat. It is very HOT here. I have to be careful to not get overheated, although Corinne thrives in this temperature.

There's not much in this city. We're using it for a jumping ground to get to Sukothai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is about a 2 hour bus ride away. We'll go there as a day trip tomorrow and then come back to our guest house in Phistanulok.

All the places we have stayed in have been nice, although simple. So far, my favourite was the one in Chang Mai. I miss it already!

Another new experience for me is I'm a very visable foreigner. I do not blend in at all, with my white skin and blonde hair, I stand out like a sore thumb. Not to mention being a tourist as well. Most places, people have been polite and have not stared. But in the short time I've been here, I've got a lot more open stares and calls than I'm entirely comfortable with. I think it's a very good learning experience to be a visible minority. Hopefully it will help me to better understand what others go through back home and to be more sensitive to it. It's always good to walk in another's shoes for a bit.

On a side note, I'm finding that I'm struggling with homesickness a little more than I did the last time I backpacked. You would think that it should be less, as I'm a little older and I've done this before (although different countries and a shorter time). I think I'm experiencing culture shock more, not to mention the release after the struggles of last year and maybe a little the realization of how long this trip is. I'm thinking of it as a semester abroad, which helps as semesters always go by fairly quickly and it's a time unit I'm VERY familiar with. It's a bit silly, really. I'm a grown women and many friends my age have lived away from home for much longer. Maybe this is something that everyone has to go through. It's not bad, just always present. I think it will ease in Australia.

Miss you guys lots and I'm thinking of you.

Pictures, finally!

2006-03-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

A wat in Bangkok

Doi Suthep

Akira, our Japanese friend, at the falls in Doi Pui National Park

More Chang Mai

2006-03-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to take it easy, do some laundry, plan our trip south, and a few other small errands. A good idea, as today is very hot, and we're both moving at a sloth's pace. So now's a good time to catch you up on what we did yesterday. We had quite a wonderful day. Started the day lazily (pretty common for us these days!) and after breakfast, caught a mini-bus from Chang Mai to Doi Suthep, a peak about 16 km outside of the city, to visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. A mini-bus is a pick-up truck that has 2 rows of benches in the bed, one along each side, and a cover that can be open-air. At the bus stop we met a Japanese guy, Akira, who had just finished university and had spent the last month traveling around SE Asia. We shared the mini-bus up to the wat and then sort of kidnapped him for the rest of the day. From the wat parking lot, we had to walk 300 steps up to the temple grounds. The grounds were quite large and very beautiful, mostly open air with some indoor sanctuaries along the perimeter. There were many people worshipping, and it was interesting to respectfully watch them ringing the small bells around the stupa pagoda for fortune, lighting incense and yellow candles, and worshiping with bamboo sticks (I think) and lotus flowers. There was a nice view of Chang Mai and the surrounding valley from a view point outside the proper wat grounds, although it was very hazy.

After the wat, we hired another mini-bus driver to take us up to a hill tribe village (Meo) on Doi Pui (another peak). It was lined with stalls were locals were selling handicrafts, fairly touristy but still worth while. And very inexpensive. I bought a small purse for 30B and a larger one for 120B (about $1 and $4 respectively). The people live in ramshackle houses made of whatever materials are available; tin, tires, leaves, cardboard, wood scraps. The hill tribe people have a special license from the Thai government to grow opium for their own use, and we could see the plants encircling the village. Maybe that's why the village people were so nice and happy!

After extensive browsing, we took the same mini-bus (the driver waited for us) down to an entrance into Doi Pui National Park where we got out and took a hike along the Mon Tha Than falls. This was a series of 6 pretty little waterfalls along a dirt trail that was pretty steep in places. It was hot, humid, and we were dripping by the end. But it sure felt good. If I'm going to be sweaty, I would like to earn it! We finished off a good day chatting at a patio pub back in the city, enjoying a well-deserved beer (which tasted so good!) and a good meal.

All-together a very satisfying day! I'm so relieved that things have gotten better. We're hitting our groove, getting accustomed to the climate, culture, and time zone. Tomorrow, we're going to start heading back south.

Keep the comments coming. I really enjoy reading them! And feel free to drop an e-mail or two.

Cheers

PS Evelyn, it looks like we won't be doing any elephant trekking. After talking to a guy on the train to Chang Mai, it sounded like it wasn't really worth the 8 hour bus ride to Chang Rai just for a 1 hour trek.

Chiang Mai

2006-03-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today has been infinately better than the last two days, although yesturday wasn't bad. We spent yesturday morning looking for the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok to register ourselves...took us forever to find the place because we kept getting lost (who, me?). By the afternoon we decided to lay low and hung out at a park, trying to beat the heat and the noise. Then we went back to our guest house, got our packs, and rode the bus to the train station to catch an over-night train to Chang Mai. We decided to be cheap and took the 2nd class sleeper with air con instead of the first class. It was basic, but comfortable and full of fellow travelers. The seats on the train folded and a compartment over each seating pair came down to make rows of bunks along the walls of the train, with a little curtain for privacy. It kinda felt like being back at summer camp! Plus, each train car was locked after 10pm and there were guards on the train that made sure nothing was stolen and all the passengers were kept safe while we slept. The staff on the train were very nice and took good care of us!

We arrived in Chang Mai at 9am this morning and, after a little bit of confusion, managed to figure out how to use the public phones and called a guest house to book a night. The place we're staying at is called "Lamchang House", a converted wooden house that has a rustic feel, with a really nice Thai family running it. Nothing fancy but cozy and comfortable. Much nicer than our place in Bangkok, although tonight will be our first night without A.C. and it is HOT here! (30-35 degrees C). Not to mention humid. We're pretty well sweaty and smelling all the time. I don't know how the local Thais look so clean and fresh!

We wandered around after we settled into our room looking for a place to rent bikes. 1.5 hours later, we settled for some old street bikes that our place was renting out for 30Bht /day. To put it in perspective, 1 Canadian dollar is about 33 Bht...so we're doing really well here. Our 13 hour train ride here only cost us about $25 Canadian, and the guest house we're staying at tonight is only about $5/night for both of us combined! We took our rickety bikes and cycled around the city. It's small enough that just about everything is within bike distance. We visited the "Three Kings Monument" and then went on to Wat Phra Singh, a temple recommended by the Tans. The design is really beautiful, both inside and out. I have pictures but I forgot to bring the cable I need to down-load pictures from my camera to the computer. Hopefully I'll have pictures here on my next post. There were some monks sitting in the temple that were there to talk to visitors. It's a way for novices to practice their english and for us travelers to find out about Thailand, Thai cuture, and Buddism. We chatted with a novice for a bit, who was just wonderful. It turned out that he was our age (24) and had commited himself to being a monk for life.

A Thai man was chatting with the monks there and told me that he had been a monk also and had tought novices for 8 years at that place. He left that practice and took up other employment as a taxi-driver. He offered to take Corinne and I and back from Bo Sang for only 100Bht...cheap. Bo Sang is a village (street) outside of the proper city of Chang Mai where the making of local hand crafts is shown to tourists, with the opportunity to buy stuff, of course. After our experience in Bangkok, we were fairly reluctant to take him up on his offer. But the monk supported him and after humming and hawing, we took him up on his offer. It turned out well. We went to a place that makes jewlery with precious gems, a place that specializes in lacquered items (boxes, vases, furniture, etc), a place that makes Thai silk, and a place that makes persian-style rugs with silk. It was very touristy, set up to show visitors first how these products are made and then bringing you into a very nice shop to show finished items for sale. There were tour busses that had broght in people at each of the stops except that last one. However, it was all very interesting, and I managed to get out of there without too much damage to my wallet. No small feat!

My favourite was the place where woven articles were for sale, including Persian rugs. We were the only ones in the shop, full of high-priced items that we obviously couldn't afford. Still, one of the owners (it's a family-run business) took the time to explain everything to us and answered all our questions. The rugs were the highlight of the place, hand made and incredible original works of art. An averaged-sized rug took 16 months to make! And when a rug is finished, the weaver never does the same one again. They truely view each rug as a work of art...which they are. Each thread on these rugs is individually knoted, with as many as 2000 in a single row! The tradition of this art form is passed on exclusively through family lines, and there is worry that as younger generations look for ways to earn money now, unable to take the years necessary to complete single rugs, that the art form is starting to fade and may be lost. Although this is a Persian form, they work here in Thailand because they can get silk and labour cheaper.

It's now evening here and we're going to head off and find ourselves some supper. I'm much relieved that our experience in Bangkok was not a prelude to what was to follow. Even locals here said that 2 days in Bangkok was enough and that Chang Mai is a much nicer city. I agree.

Take care all and thanks for the encouraging comments. Hopefully I'll have some pictures for you posted soon.

Cheers!

Bangkok Blues

2006-02-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well, this is not really how I wanted my first posting from Thailand to turn out. We arrived here safe and sound, and have relatively decent accommodation. Corinne and I have wandered the city, and it's interesting. However, neither of us like it here...although we were fore-warned. We'll be taking some other traveler's advice (the Tans, Kalen) and head on out of this city as soon as we can...hopefully tomorrow evening if all goes well. It's just an insane city...really noisy and crowded. Not to mention folks trying to con us anyway they can. I think we got completely ripped off on our taxi ride to the guest house. We also found ourselves at a political demonstration this evening after someone told us that a night market had been opened in honour of a particular monk's birthday. After feeling funny vibes, we got out of there fast. Then, on our way back to our guest house, someone working for a temple (I think) fast-talked us into taking a tuk-tuk ride (which in itself was fun) to see the TAT (a government sponsered tourism company) and ask about a one day special 20% discount for train tickets to Chang Mai (where we're headed next). We ducked out of that one, after feeling more bad vibes, and have made it safely back to our area.

It's not that our safety has been threatened at all. It's just a really crazy city and we want to get out of it to see the things we came here to see. I've been warned not to base my anticipated impression of Thailand on Bangkok, and I'm going to heed that advice. If I hadn't had such rave reviews about this country from trusted friends, I would be feeling pretty uncertain right now. But the next post will be much brighter!

I don't want anyone to feel any aprehension for us. Like I said, we are safe and healthy. Our flights over here were good, as was our stay in Tokyo. We just need to get out of the city and find the Thailand we've heard so much about.

Don't worry...I'm not!

Cheers and love.

Blog Updates

2006-02-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around and added a few more features to my blog. On the right side, I've added a link to my newly-created photo album, courtesy of Yahoo. My plan is to put all of my travel photos there, so that I'll only post the best or most interesting ones directly on the blog. I've also listed the sites of 2 of my friend's photo albums. Next I've added links to fellow blogger's sites. Corinne's site is the first on the list (C My Adventures), as she's my fellow explorer and will have more stories and pictures of our trip...not to mention incriminating evidence! Last, I've added a section that has links to maps of the places were headed.

And what have I learned from doing all this? That blogging is far too addictive and I should stop before my eye-balls fall out.

Only 4 more sleeps to go!!!

(and so much yet to do ... the ultimate test is yet to come ... will all my crap actually fit into my pack?)

Defence Success!

2006-01-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

I successfully defended today and after a few minor edits and additions to my document, I can submit the final copy and be done, done, done!!!!! No more school for me! Now that I have those letters after my name, I should be treated with the respect I deserve.....(although my dad informs me that I've always been treated with the respect I desereve.....somehow I think our opinions about said respect differ.....

Cheers all. Let the celebrations begin!

P.S. hopefully now you'll have a much saner version of me.....no more random outbursts or rants. Thanks to those who put up with them. Using Corinne's words, I think I've found my cure for "leaky eye syndrome"

Welcome!

2006-01-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

In anticipation of my up-coming travels, I've been threatening to set up my own blog (and harassing some others to do the same) for a while now. So here it is! Not much here for the moment and it will probably be a while before I post any more, but at least I've got it started. So feel free to follow me on my adventures!

Enjoy