Synopsis

In the immortal words of The Grateful Dead: "What a long strange trip it's been."

From gazing at the awe inspiring art in Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum (post-coffeehouse), to Paris's Mussee D'Orsay, Madrid's Museo de Prado, Barcelona's Picasso Museo and through to Rome's Vatican City.

Bearing witness to the ancient ruins of Rome's colossal Colosseo and Foro Romano, to Greece's Acropolis and Panthenon, to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples in Cambodia.

Devastated by the genocidal memorials of Poland's Auschwitz and Birkenau and by the horrors of Cambodia's Killing Fields and S-21 torture facilities.

Impressed by the spiritually inspired creations of the Sacre Coeur overlooking Paris to Gaudi's Sagrado Familia in Barcelona. From Michaelangelo's canvased Sistine Chapel to the Dalai Lama's Buddhist temple in McCleod Ganj, India. And by the thousands of Wats (temples), Churches and Synagogues dedicated to Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha and the Hindu Gods.

Enticed into the water to bathe in the Mediterranean, Jet-ski in the Gulf of Thailand, skinny dip on X-mass eve in Cambodia, and float lazily down the Song River in an inner-tube sipping world class Beer Laos. Thrilled by the chance to learn scuba diving in Koh Tao and horrified by being left at sea while diving in Australia. From wishing I had a surfboard to catch the standing wave in Germany's Englisher Park Isar river, to taking my undersized short-board out in double overhead surf at Margaret River Main break and all along the expansive coast Western Australia.

But while seeing all these incredible things the one continually inspiring factor along the way were the fellow travelers I met. It was a genuine pleasure to make their acquaintances and I wish them all my best.

Yes, it has been a long (but not long enough), strange (wonderfully strange) trip. And I don't regret a single second!
Yours Truly,
DJ Wolinsky

A friend of mine who writes for a local newspaper asked me to give him a short summary of the trip. This just came out. For all those who don't have access to The Islander Newspaper, I share it with you.

The inevitable question one receives after returning from a year abroad is, "Are you glad to be home?". Honestly, I must answer that with a "NO!".

I'm glad to be able to see my family and friends, but it would be so much better if they were to come visit me abroad! Things are so much more interesting and alive while traveling. Also, one gets to meet more new friends than Ferris Bueller would accumulate over a lifetime. And every guesthouse Mom & Pop and every hostel Brother & Sister becomes a part of your extended family.

While away friends would tell me that nothing has changed back at home. Now that I have returned, I realize that they are right except that now there are more houses, more businesses and more traffic. I loved growing up on the NJ shore, but it will never be the same and that's a shame.

To anyone who cares to listen I implore you to travel. I was lucky and got away for a long period, but that doesn't really matter. Take whatever time you can put aside and get out there to explore. Forget the itinerary and timetables. Don't plan it all out. Just go and experience the wonderful moments as they occur in the present. You know, the present is a "present". The problem is that if you don't open up your present right away it's gone and you can't get it back. But then it's never too late to learn because there is always another one coming. On the road, if you are mindful, it's easy to enjoy one present after another. It's a parade of gifts and it is definately worth the effort.

After 36 years on this big blue globe, this past year traveling abroad has been the best one yet. Now the only question is "Where to next??". As soon as I come up with an answer I'll see ya on the road.....

Well my last stop on this world tour is infamous Pattaya. 24/7, 365 hedonism!! Enough said!

As they say in America, "What happens in Vegas, STAYS IN VEGAS!!!"

In that spirit I'm not gonna blog about it or post any pics with the exception of the attached pic which I think sums up Pattaya nicely. You'll just have to ask me about it in person. And maybe if you're lucky I'll share a few of the pics;)

So after 4 continents, 18 countries, 51 localities, 338 days and innumerable memories my trip like all good things (and bad) is coming to an end.

To all my family and friends at home, I look forward to seeing you again shortly.

To all my new friends I've met on the road, I hope to see you again someday. You are all an inspiration and I'll will treasure our times together. You all have a standing invite to visit me if you're ever in my neck of the woods.

Till we meet again, Farewell
DJ

VangVieng and southern Laos

So today it's Kirk's turn to be sick. That's 3 for 3. He was puking all the way down the street as we walked to get our bus tickets to Vang Vieng.We took a minibus to Vang and the scenery through the winding mountain roads was beautiful. Poor Kirk, he's not looking to well and was almost set off again when the pretty Laos Co-pilot got car sick. Along the way we got stopped for over 40 minutes at a police check point. Never did figure out why?

We eventually arrived around 3pm and tried to get into Riverside Bungalows, but they were booked up and had to go next door to ChampaLao Bungalows. That was fine 'cause they are closer to the cool spots and cheaper. There Duong told us how to avoid getting into trouble with the police and then we decided to immediately test out our new found knowledge.

You see the bars here are also Coffee Shops ala Amsterdam. So we sat down at The Smile Bar and had breakfast including a cup of Laos Coffee which is undrinkable Mud. Really horrible stuff! And then bought a bag of good "Coffee" to brew up. Much nicer.Ok, so I'll sum up the next few days: lying in hammocks, lying in tubes going down the river, lying in our bungalows, sitting around bonfires at night, chillin, relaxing and chillin some more. It's just that kind of place!!

The tubing is fun if a little slow at this time of the year. At some points it seemed like we weren't moving at all. But it's nice to slowly and aimlessly drift down stream past bars, huts or even just a guy with a cooler selling Beer Laos. Along the way the way the bars have swings and ziplines to plunge into the water and hopefully not break your neck.

So before we relaxed into a coma we decided to move on to south to Vientienne, Laos capitol city. If for only one day. So we went to Buddha Park and it was worth a visit. Lots and lots of cement statues.

Then we were off to an area they call 4000 islands where the Mekong fans out it's width to accomadate them all. It's even slower and more relaxed down on Don Det, the island we stayed on. So basically we carried on at a snails pace and the highlight was the waterfall. Actually, not so much a waterfall as a large plateau of cascades with serious amounts of water moving even though it was the dry season.

So we only needed a few days there. At the rate we were slowing down we would soon start developing rust so it was time to travel back to Thailand viase Pakse into Chom Mek, Thailand. A little used border crossing, well at least for westerners. After paying the $1 holiday surcharge at the border (it's Chinese New Year! - Happy New Year!!) we had a quick lunch which gave us all the shits. Next we continued on to Ubon Ratchathani which is very much off the backpacking trail. In fact, we only saw one group of farang the entire time there. But then we were only there 1 day to make our way to Pattaya. Infamous Pattaya. The undisputed 24/7, 365 hedonism capitol of the world.

Ok. So it's two days before I'll be home and I'm gonna pretty much break it off here. My job is done. Well almost. ......

Heading into Laos

So Brad decides to come along to Laos and joins me for the backtrack bus ride to Chiang Mai. We arrive and as our Tuk Tuk drives past The Local I spot Kirk and Jody having some lunch. I introduced everyone, we had some lunch and checked into The New Zealander Guesthouse across the street.

We then went looking for bus tickets up to the border of Laos. At first it looked like we wouldn't be able to get a bus for two days. Luckily we did wind up finding a bus for noon the next day. With that out of the way all we had to do was relax and wait for dinner time to roll around.
When it did roll around we had another round of Mexican food at the Salsa Kitchen. Then we had nothing better to do but relax, sleep and await breakfast time.

At which time we had another round of Bagel and coffee breakfasts at the Bagel Cafe. Then off to catch our bus. A nice 5 hour mini bus drive on which I finished Goldstein's "One Dharma" and handed it over to Brad to read. On the bus we met Simon/Kathryn (Eng/Colorado) and Sky/Ben (Eng/Oz) and we all arrived ~5:30pm. The border closes at 5pm so we would spend the night here in Chiang Khong.

After checking into a snotty landlady's guesthouse we had a nice view of the full moon rising over the Laos mountains on the other side of the Mekong. While walking down the main street (the only street, really) a Scottish Expat of three years pulled up in his Toyota Hilux Pickup and offered us a lift. But since we had no idea where to eat we declined. He wasn't much help with restaurant suggestions, but he was very friendly.

We gave Bamboo Restaurant a try and settled on the deck to enjoy some Mexican food with an up close view of the Mekong. The owner had obviously taken a fair share of abuse from travelers and was rather defensive. But he quickly warmed up to us respectful folk. He even prefaced the dinner with the question "Have you ever had real Mexican food?" "Why, yes." "Oh, too bad. Cause I'm no Mexican, hope you like."Could have fooled us! The food was really excellent and we even broke down and had some homemade brownies to cap off the evening.

Up at 6:30 in the morning for breakfast and then a short hike of about a half a km to the border even though a Tuk tuk driver told us it was 5km!!After skipping across the Mekong into Laos we procured our 15 day Visas and bought our Slow Boat tickets for a two day ride down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Brad decided to take the speed boat, but in the end wound up getting stuck there for a few days chasing a girl (about the only girl there!)

for anyone heading into the area: There is a new option available which we really wanted to take, but time became a factor. You can now take an "eco tour" into the national forests, sleep in the tree tops, see the monkeys and fly along the tree tops in an extensive zip cable system for 3 days. Then take the Ou Nam river down to Luang Prabang which is supposed to be great. Next Time!

So around noon we got on the boat and I took a seat on the cushionless wood bench. Luckily I thought ahead and stuffed a towel in a stuff sack to cushion my arse. And somehow I had the two seater bench to my self. (who needs deodorant anyway).

Jody and Kirk are a few rows ahead. Against the wall behind me are the English girls who seem to be following me thru Thailand and Laos. To the side, a Belguim, Behind me Spainards, In front Europeans. A French guy who thinks he's Spanish plays a few entertaining songs on guitar and even a little Flamenco.

After a short lunch break Kirk and I had a few Beer Laos (BTW-World class beer, not like that Thai swill!!!) and played some backgammon. I beat him three in a row and then he turned around and did the same to me. We still haven't had a tie breaker? Then we shared a few tunes on his Ipod and suddenly we were there in Pak Beng, our stop for the night.

We all file off of the boat onto a very steep 80 ft. high sand dune while local kids carry our oversized backpacks (some two at a time) across a narrow wooden plank ashore. Grabbing our bags we make the difficult ascent, barely able to get a foothold in the shifting sands.
We weren't there more than a minute and a boy has offered us weed and a room. We got there and the price doubled so we got another room. He tried to rip us off on the green (brown) stuff too!

I awoke at 3am and had to vomit. I had just barely enough time as I tried to calmly find my torch, flip flops and make to the bathroom. It was short and sweet and then went back to bed. Dodgy food I guess.

As we were putting our bags in the back of the boat the following morning we noticed there was a lot of space there. So we decided to squat back there for the second day of the trip. OK, it is right next to the engine, but I had my earplugs and there was enough space for us all to lie about and take in the Mekong views in relative comfort.

My stomach was still a bit crooked in the morning and I was trying to avoid the bathroom because the previous boat only had a squatter and with 2 inches of water(???) sloshing around. But I was pleasantly suprised to find this boat had a proper toilet and with that and a few Oreo's my stomach was as good as new. :)

Near Luang Prabang we passed Buddha Cave and around 4pm arrived. We walked around for a while trying to find the recommended Vilay Guesthouse, but after getting misdirected we hailed a tuk tuk and got a ride there. Had dinner and walked thru the night market (pretty large) and admired the wares for sale: bedspreads, t-shirts, food, lamps, etc.

In the evening we went to check out The Hive Bar, along the way locals "ppssst, pssst"-ing trying to sell us opium or grass. After a beer we went down the street to Lao Lao Garden where we and others from the boat gathered around the bonfire for an evening of swapping stories.

We awoke the next morn and had some really great bagels and coffee at Jo Ma's Cafe. Unfortunately Jody wasn't feeling very well at all, so she went back to her room to work past the dodgy dinner we had and Kirk and I took a walk aroung Luang Prabang. Saw some more nice Wats and took in the quite becoming French architecture as we made our way to where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet. We thought we'd keep up with the French theme and find some wine and cheese to munch on. We found wine, but no luck with the cheese. We also were unable to find motobikes to rent. Apparently they don't rent them to farangs here because if you get hurt the nearest decent medical attention is an air flight away.

In the evening Jody felt better, but wasn't ready for the 50 cent street buffet so instead we went for some really tasty Indian food. Then we took a meandering walk to Lonely Planet reccommended Mylak Bar. A nice place with rugby on tv, comfortable chairs and a european feel to it. Later we went on over to Lao Lao Garden for more drinks and to wish Ben/Sky farewell as they are off for a three day trek.

The next morning we were planning on going to see a waterfall, but I awoke to a cold overcast sky and rolled over for more sleep. Eventually Jody knocked on my door and we went again to Jo Ma's for breakfast. Afterwards we got on the internet and upon exiting were pleasantly suprised to see that the sun had come out. So the waterfall trip is back on. We found a driver to take us there, but we weren't sure which waterfall we wanted to go to. The driver didn't speak English so he was no help and in the end we pointed to a waterfall picture in his truck and said "take us there".

It turned out to be a good choice. The other waterfall is where all the tourists go and we found out later that it was standing room only there. The Tad Se waterfall was practically empty. Maybe there were 8 other people there. And we even got to take a short boat ride to get there. BTW- there cabins would be an excellent place to spend a night.

We hiked up to the top straight off. It's not very high but we did get a little bit of a rock climb in at the top. No obvious trails up there so we climbed back down, peered into a cave and then found a pool and had a refreshing dip in the chilly, clean, clear water. Grabbed a round of Beer Lao and drank sitting on the stools in the shallow pool of the waterfall. Quiet, Peaceful, great sun and temperature. After a few hours we hiked back down and woke up the napping boy for a ride back to the other shore.

After a nice bakery lunch in town we climbed up the 300 or so steps to the top of Phousi Mountain. The Phu Si wat caps the mountain which has a commanding 360 view of Luang. Up there I met a young monk of two years. I heard that many of the boys join for a few years to get educated and then leave the Sangha so I asked him how long he intended to be a monk. He said he was in for life. Good Karma! There was a fair amount to see up there including: Buddha's footprint, Big Reclining Buddha, Buddha Cave and a few other pieces.

In the evening I ventured to try the 50 cent street buffet and was not dissappointed. Then a little pampering with an oil massage. Ended up again around the fire at Lao Lao Garden. A troop of jugglers from Brazil/Italy were there, "Jugglers without Borders". The English girls were there too and when things shut down they invited us across the street to the gay bar. No thanks, it's not worth the hassel, besides we're getting up earlier to move on to VangVieng.

Stay tuned......

Pai, Thailand

Pai is a quiet town in Northern Thailand. The type where a few years ago the police had nothing better to do than kick the dogs off of the stoop. Recently it's become popular with backpackers, but they still don't have much to do. You can walk thru the main part of town at 11:30pm and feel like you're the only one there alive. Typically though, I found myself walking home closer to 4am as luckily I found that there is one (and only one) place to go hang out after hours. Upon arriving in Pai I was escorted on a moto across the Pai river to the bungalow where I would tender my stay. My very own river front pad where you really felt away from it all and close to the environment.

I spent a lot of time there reading and watching the Pai river flow gently downstream as the occasional bamboo raft or saffron robed monks passed by with beautiful lush moutains framing the valley.

They had a flash flood recently which knocked out a considerable percentage of the bungalows along the river. A concern that I didn't overlook, but since everything was rebuilt on stilts I felt it was not a huge concern. Of course, I was ready to high tail it out of there at the first sign of rain clouds. Fortunately though, after the morning sun burnt off the daily morning mist it was nothing but bright sunshine followed by a few downright chilly nights.

After dumping my packs off I crossed back over the river via the newly constructed 2 foot wide bamboo bridge and ran into Dave (England working in Holland) whom we had met in Chiang Mai a few days earlier. We walked into town for food and drinks and so I could get a feel for my new surroundings. Spent a good part of the evening just sitting at a sidewalk table sipping Heinikens and watching Pai pass on by. A group of older Americans (Lake Tahoe) sat down with us and I was shocked but happy to hear that the one's Thai girlfriend who looked 13 was in fact 24. I.D. please.

The next day I spent walking all over the town and towards evening I was starting to wonder if I would stay much longer. The town is Chill. Very Chill. I just wasn't used to the pace. I needed to find something or someone interesting to pass the time. So I walked around in a bored state searching every table in every bar or restaurant for someone having a converstation I could intrude upon. But it was a quiet night. Apparently the town was bustling a few days ago for New Years, but now a vacumn has been created by the mass exodus.

I saw in one dimly lit restaurant two girls and one guy having a conversation which looked promising. But I made the mistake of going to grab an ice coffee and when I returned they were gone and the restuarant was shut tight. Not to worry though, our paths would soon cross.
Continuing on I was suprised to have yet another unlikely rendevous with Shimrit, an Israeli girl (with friend) whom I had taken a Reiki class with in Mcleod Ganj, India some 4 or 5 months previous. Small world. I joined them for some food at Mama Falafel (They are Israeli!) and we left with two Thai girls joining us for drinks at Ting Tang.

The staff at Ting Tang were exceptionally warm and friendly as were the fires to warm up next to. I was talking with a few English/Aussie guys when the trio I had spotted earlier walked in. A few minutes later I managed to muscle in on their conversation, but it didn't take much. Brad (S. African living in Germany) and Ali (D.C.) were engrossed in each other so her friend Cate (NYC) was more than happy to have someone to talk with.

We talked until they kicked us out and all made plans to meet for breakfast and rent motos to have a look at the surrounding waterfalls and have a soak in the hot springs. So we ate our eggs and porridge and then each rented motos (~$2.50\day). Cate wasn't very experienced riding and Ali had never been on a moto so Brad and I gave the girls a quick lesson and then we were off hoping for the best.

First stop, Hot Springs. Up near the top the water is hot enough to boil eggs, but below a French couple pointed out a "romatic" pool where we had a nice time soaking in the hot tub like natural spring waters.

There were two drawbacks though. One was the tiny little leeches, but they're harmless. The other were smaller pin worms which Brad first noticed. We didn't think much about them (there weren't any danger or warning signs, at least we hadn't noticed any.) until later that night when Brad reported that he had pissed one out!! Great! Brad checked with a doctor the next day and found out that they are harmless unless they get inside you. So he got some antibiotics and since I felt reasonably sure that nothing had entered me I gambled that I was right and just kept a close watch for any symptoms. So far so good.

Second stop was Pai Canyon where we forced the girls into a crash course in off roading. They made us proud. Unfortunately, Brad was nursing a particularly sore ankle as the result of a crash sustained while trying to keep up the previous day with a Thai motocross champ so we didn't hike through the canyon.

Third stop was to the Mor Paeng Waterfall. After a beautiful 10km ride through the Thai scenery we arrived and stripped down for a dip. The water was freezing so all we dipped was our feet and had a short climb up the waterfall. On the road in all the native town woman were raising their hands up to their mouths, making a smoking gesture. It took me a minute to realize that they weren't asking for smokes, but were indeed selling smoke! We were having a really great time with the girls so it was very disappointing that they had to leave on the 3:30pm bus out of town. They nearly missed that bus due to the fact that Ali was riding very slow. Not that we would have minded. I learned later that she was going slow because on the ride up to the waterfall she nearly had a serious crash into a pole. Full on speed wobbles. Brad couldn't fathom how she pulled out of it, but luckily she did. Later Brad wouldn't be as lucky.

So we dropped the girls off at the bus station and said our farewells, had some lunch and got back on the motos to check out one last waterfall. After crawling at a snails pace with the girls all morning we took the opportunity to eek out every last bit of horsepower the 125cc motos had. Reaching speeds of 100km/hr we were having a great time and turned onto the rode to the waterfall. We were screaming through twisty turns with me in the lead when I noticed that the next tight turn was covered in sand. Uh Oh!! I have plenty of riding experience and knew straight away we were in a serious predicament. Realizing straight away that if we tried to negotiate the turn in our lane we would have slid out straight away and probably been decapitated by the gaurd rail. Without the tires and horsepower to power slide the rear tire around oval track style I deduced our only chance for survival would be to use both lanes and the outside shoulder. I only hoped that Brad would follow my line. He did.

I managed to remain upright and safe, but Brad had to get on the brakes the last few feet to avoid running up my back and had a low speed lay down. His front wheel gently bumping my rear wheel as he came to a stop sustaining some nice scraps on his one good leg, hands , hip and strained his shoulder. Nothing serious, but what would have been serious is if the huge truck that stopped 10 ft. in front of us had come 2 seconds earlier. In that case you would probably have been reading about this in an obituary instead of a blog! Needless to say we didn't get to the waterfall, but instead headed back to patch Brad up and count our blessings. We found a pharmacy and the local sweet lady behind the counter donned rubber gloves and played the role of nurse. She even threw in some pain killers, gratis.

The next morning I made sure to get to that last waterfall before returning the moto. Later in the week we attended the big concert in town. "Caraboo", Thailands favorite band was in town. Of course, the lyrics were all in Thai so although they were a decent band we enjoyed the opening band's rock and reggae covers more.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing during the days and visiting mainly two bars. The Blue Lagoon, an Aussie SAS expat's bar with the only decent pool table in town and some live music. I even got to sit in on congas for a few songs. Undoubtably though the most entertaining place in town was Bebop. They have a really talented house band and we were treated one night to an equally talented jazz band. Bebop closes down at 1am so normally afterwards we would wind up at Bamboo light which is the afterhours bar I mentioned earlier. Sit back around the fires and socialize with the other night owls till the wee hours of the morning.
When I first arrived in Pai I was wondering if I'd stay even two days. In the end I spent over a week there! Once you slow down to the pace it really is a nice place to spend time. Just don't get cocky on the motos!!!!
:)

Pics posting shortly.......

New Years in Chang Mai

After buying yet another pair of flip flops (they keep disappearing)we all meet up at the travel agent to catch our bus to Chang Mai. There I was supposed to receive my Laos 30 day visa, but as it turns out the embassy was closed so I'll have to settle for a 15 day visa at the border.

The bus was supposed to leave at 6:30pm, but we all wound up sitting on the side of the road until about 8pm because there was some problem with the driver. We suspected he was drunk. It was a decent bus, but had very little legroom. Kirk who is fairly tall was sitting behind me so I was nice and didn't recline, but that cost me another night's sleep. But by being awake I did get to witness a Thai custom of the driver pulling over in the middle of nowhere to purchase a few wreaths of flowers for good luck.

After driving all night we finally made our crawl thru the Chang Mai mountains at a snails pace. In town we pulled into a bus station where we transferred to local pick up truck transport. Piling out the of the truck Minesh led us to the guesthouse he stayed at previously, but they were full so we settled into The S.K. Guesthouse on Soi #9. Less than $4each for a decent fan room with ensuite and a pool. We checked in and went next door to the English owned "The Local" for some breakfast. Jody and Kirk got the Big English breakfast which included the biggest fattest sausages I've ever seen. What kind of sausage it was is still up for debate. I caught up on my lost sleep all afternoon. Then awoke to have a tasty Indian dinner of Marsala Dosas and Pakoras.
After dinner we went back to warm up for the evening at The Local where finally my pool game came together and I managed to go undefeated. Next stop was to Roots, Rock, Reggae to ring in the New Year. The band was just getting started and we ordered a bucket of Red Bull/Vodka which lasted about 2 minutes before it was dry.
It was the beginning of a really great drunken night. I brought an Austrian girl into the mix cause she was on her own and we all played with the Thai children selling roses. Lots of dancing, lots of buckets, lots of hugs and kisses to ring in the New Year.It must have been around 3am when we left in a drunken stupor back to The Local where things were way too quiet. That didn't last too long though as we quickly got things livened up by turning up the music, stripping our shirts off and getting up for some table and bar top dancing. Unfortunatley from this point on I really don't remember anything. Not even the chick fight that happened. But I'm assured it was all a great time. As overkill we took some liter beers back to our room and passed around Kirk's bottle of single malt scotch. Of course, drinking single malt at that stage is nothing but alcohol abuse for which I do appologize. Went to bed just before sunrise. One of the funnest New Year's ever!
Awoke around noon still very intoxicated and had some breakfast before heading back to bed. Awaking later we all went to dinner @ "Jerusalem Falafel" and I got an eggplant Mousakka, but it just didn't have that Thai authenticity :) Walked back thru a very large and very crowded New Year's day market which really wasn't fun in our condition, but interesting.
That evening I caught a cold and spent most of the night awake because I couldn't breathe. At 6am I went walking around the still sleeping town. This whole trip I have been craving bagels and cream cheese of which there are none to be found. But I got excited when I came across the Bagel Cafe. Unfortunately they were closed all day. That's OK. I've waited 10 months, I can wait another day. Later that day we went back to The Local to piece together the previous evening, play pool and catch some Premier League Football.

Then we were off to check out some local Thai Boxing. We learned that many of the Thai beers have Formaldihyde in them so we switched to Heinekins and asked our Chinese hostess to sit a couple of ladies in the remaining two seats at our table. And she did. A couple of Danish coeds. With ringside seats we watched the fighters go thru their dance like rituals and bless each corner while Thai music blarred thru the PA. Altogether we watched around 10 fights with fighters between 90 and 165lbs all literally kicking the crap out of each other while the locals made bets and cheered. Incidently, the kicks are brutal but the knee and elbow strikes are the knockout moves.
We also played a couple of games of pool with the Danishes and things were going well until the very end of the evening when Minesh had some kind of brain seizure and decided to jump ship and hit on a French girl. Foolish, very foolish! Of course the girls were rightfully offended and quickly made there exit. Disgusted we too made our exit and left Minesh to learn his lesson. Along the way home we stopped so Kirk and Jody could get some street vendor soup, congratulated a boxer who happened to be there and went back to the Local for a beer.
It wasn't long before Minesh showed up: Head hanging, tail between his legs and profusely appologetic. He took the frog to a bar where she promptly left him for a friend. Live and Learn.

In the morning I finally got my bagel and cream cheese. For our last dinner together we went to The Salsa Kitchen for some nice Mexican food. As there 6pm bus to Bangkok arrived I made plans to catch up with Jody and Kirk in a few days and wished Minesh good luck with the rest of his trip to China and India. As for me, I'm off to the sleepy little town of Pai in search of.......

Christmas in Communist Cambodia

Time to head to the beaches of Sihinoukville, Cambodia for x-mas. Four of us cram into a Tuk Tuk with a slipping transmission which causes us to wonder if we will make it to the bus station. And also if it might be faster to walk! Arrived to be greeted by the Giant Golden Lions dominating the central round about of Sihinoukville. Accepted rides from some moto drivers to help us find rooms. Eventually we wound up at the English owned "Monkey Republic" for a reasonable $6nt per room. Cheap draft beer, heaping portions of decent food, incredibly strong Vietnemese coffee, Free Pool table, Free (but totally lame) Foos ball table, hammocks to chill in and a cute spunky Canadian waitress (Mel).

We all agreed to do as little as possible here. We succeded. On our first full day there I didn't even leave the property till we went to "Bamboo Light" for a really excellent Indian smorgasborg.

Dec. 22nd 2005: 3 more shopping days left. But we don't care, we're off to the beach. A nice leisurely stroll down a picturesque 4 mile long beach passing Monks, Bars, Restaurants, masseuses, pedicurists and child hawkers selling their wares: fruit, handmade bracelets, flowers, etc.

Settled into the beach loungers at Chivas Lounge and withing minutes Laura is kicked back and receiving a pedicure from a woman and 2 little girls. Isabella wades in the water, Minesh begins reading, Hanna checks out the items for sale, Robin poses for pics in the water and I go for a nice long swim in the beautiful 75 degree water.

Spent the afternoon reading "The Quiet American-Graham Greene" and watching the others get overly pampered. I was gonna play some pool, but got scared off when Minesh got beat soundly by a local 70lb woman.
That evening we had another great meal at "Holy Cow": Veggie Pasta and beer Laos. For desert I insisted we all try the "Vegan Chocolate Love Sponge cake with ice cream and chocolate Love Juice"!! How could we not give it a try.

We had been trying to rent motos for ourselves to cruise around on, but they have been all booked out. It seems that Sihoukville is a very popular place to spend the holiday. So we settled for rides to the town market to stock up on this and that. I also picked up a present for the guesthouse Secret Santa gift exchange ($2 limit).

X-mas Eve Day: We awoke to find the power had gone out. No worries though. We're taking a longtail boat trip to 3 of the small neighboring islands. A 45 minute boat ride brought us to our first stop, a small cove to do some snorkeling. Plenty of shallow coral which was good because the visibility was 5 meters at best. Spotted some nice small fish and tons of tons of beautiful huge Sea Urchins staring at us with their jewel like silver and blue eyes. Had to be careful though as many were barely below the surface. Off to another island for some beach time. Minesh and I gave the volleyball court a go, but with only the two of us playing it didn't last too long. After they gave us lunch we were guided thru an island jungle trail to sample another beach.

After leaving the island we had one more stop for another snorkel session which was much the same as earlier.Returned around 4pm, showered and got some motos to drive us across town to Victory Hill thru a huge traffic jam brought on by the Revlon Show. It was pretty humerous to witness a half a dozen decked out models in the spotlights, walking the runway, each holding out a single stick of lip garnish.

Making our way past the show we arrived at "La Trattoria" for what is reportedly the best pizza in town. A sweet old lady served our beer, wine, and salads while downstairs her Italian husband prepared the pizzas. They took a while to arrive, but all agreed it was worth the wait.

With our bellies full it was time to bring on the festivities. The big party is on the beach at "Utopia" and they even supplied free moto transportation there (not back). Robin, Minesh and I each chipped in $10 for a drink kitty and drank RedBull/Vodkas all night. I think we even had a little change left over! Good times! I tried my hand at the fire chains. Got covered from head to toe in black carbon soot from nailing myself, but managed not to catch myself on fire. Robin was nearly killed by some rightfully pissed off locals when he tossed a table on to the fire to keep it going. Fortunately, the Aussie owner intervened and after an agreed compensation the Cambodians backed off, though still visibly irked. We washed off the soot with a late morning skinny dip and then prepared to leave. Searched for our flip flops that we left at the door, but they were gone so we had to settle for the last three pairs available. And I had just spent 90 cents on a brand new pair! That's the fourth pair that have gone missing. (Business opportunity: LoJack for sandals!)

Christmas morning we all exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. I received from Tim (Oz) a humorous, but not so glamorous gift of $2 worth of 100 Riel bills. They are worth 2.5 cents each so it made an impressive wad of worthless cash! We all chilled on the beach for the rest of the day among all the little inquisitive Cambodian children who were all smiles and wishing everyone "Happy X-mas".We all wished Robin farewell because he is headed off to Sydney. The following day Minesh and I were able to finally get ahold of a moto so we took the opportunity to cruise around the area taking in the landscapes.

I decided to go back up thru Thailand with Minesh before heading to Laos. We said goodbyes to the girls and decide to avoid the road and instead take the 4 hour boat ride to Koh Kong on the Cambodian border to spend one last night in the country. We arrived at "The Blue Gecko" and each got our own room for $2.50. It's a brand new guesthouse and only opened the night before. We were there first two paying customers. Relaxing on the patio, we talked with the owner, Carl (Oz) and his beautiful Cambodian wife and baby boy while "Shorty" the cute local barmaid kept the beers coming.

Carl said, if only for laughs, we Have to check out the local "Chicken Ranch" so we went down for a look. Barely stepping off the motos we were immediately escorted by the ladies to a table for a beer and a gander. Then we took a walk thru the gauntlet where again we were immediately accosted by the ladies. A beautiful, but extremely quiet young lady attached to my hip even though we told them we were only looking. Having seen the show we made our way back to cap off the evening at the Blue Gecko.
And so we cross the border into Trat, Thailand. Timing it perfectly we immediately caught a bus up to Bangkok were we will secure Visas, Minesh for China and I for Laos. But there is no way were are spending New Years in Bangkok. For that we are headed north to Chang Mai........

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

At the bustling bus station in the morning surrounded by Cambodians selling newspapers, fruit, baguettes etc. It was a good bus this time and the paved roads were heartily welcomed as the flat deep green and wet Cambodian countryside slips past. At our first stop a Cambodian guy befriended me telling me his story and showing me his travel pics.

Arrived in the Cambodian capitol of Phnom Penh and found a tourist agent and recieved a map. Located the address for the guest house where the group was staying. Grabbed a moto driver (mopeds are the main type of transportation here. Cars are only for the privelaged elite)and weaved thru the no rules crazy traffic to Guesthouse Sister #9. Had lunch and awaited the crew who were off taking in the sites. BTW: there is a heavy French influence here. They even have a Charles du Gaulle Boulevard!

Isabella wound up coming to Cambodia afterall and she was the first person I saw arrive. Robin and Minesh showed up shortly after there tour of The Killing Fields, S-21 Genocide museum and shooting off Ak-47s and Colt 45 guns at the interestingly named "Happy Club" shooting range. They introduced me to the others of the crew: Laura/Hanna (Canada), Paul (Can), Brian (Scotland) and Dave (Oz). We hung out on the chill patio overlooking the lake and playing pool (All pool tables in Cambodia are competition sized snooker tables: odd for such a short race of people.) into the night.

Saw some of the crew off in the morning, they're headed up to Siem Reap but will be back in a few days. Paul stayed back and we decided to check some sites. After a short moto ride we entered the National museum and had a look at the rooms filled with increasingly larger and larger statues of Buddha, Shiva, Vushnu, Ginesh, Mama Buddha, lingas, Nagas, etc. After finishing up with some ancient jewelry and 2nd century B.C. drums and flutes we took lunch at a Cambodian noodle shop. All locals and all noodles, the lunch came to a meager $1.25!

We walked to the Royal palace next. First thru the Throne room which is adorned in gold and impressive. A smaller version of Thailands, but unfortunatley no pics were allowed. Strolled thru the grounds admiring the buildings, gardens and stupas. We entered the Silver Pagoda next. It's name comes from the hundreds and hundreds of solid silver floor tiles each weighing over 2 lbs. Of course there was a plethora of Buddha statues, but the two standouts are the 200lb gold Buddha adorned with 2084 diamonds and high above all the rest is the Emerald Buddha. Unfortunately, again no pics were allowed. Lastly we had a look at the shrine to Buddha's footprint. Now I know why he walked around barefoot. He couldn't have possibly found footwear to fit his 18ft. foot!!!

Next up on the agenda is the Killing Fields Memorial. My moto driver, Rain, dropped me off at what is actually a very small area where some 9000 bodies were unearthed and they have built a towering stupa to house the skulls as an eery reminder. After the Nazis the world said "Never Again", so you have to wonder how Pol Pot, Ankor and the Khmer Rouge were able to do it all over again in Cambodia a mere 25 years later. Or maybe "Never" isn't so far away.
After the Killing Fields, Rain took me to "The Happy Club" which is a pricey tourist trap were you can fire off all kinds of weapons such as Ak-47s, M-16s, Colt 45s, Lugers and even a grenade launcher!! I took a look at the menu, but didn't eat.

A short moto ride brought us to the S-21 Genocial Center. Got there just in time for the documentary movie and then witnessed the torture implements, gallows, cells, interogation rooms, skulls, forensic wound studies, photos of the dead, and their stories. The same sureal feeling as in Aushwitz/Berkinow, but not quite as intense.

After that all I could do was head back to the Guesthouse to drown my sorrows with Tim (New Zealand) who has been working in -40 degree Mongolia and Joel (Germany) who is here on holiday with his Cambodian wife and says there is no doubt about it. When he retires in 10 years he's permantely moving to Cambodia.

So that is about it from Phnom Penh. All that is left to do is wait for the crew to come back from Siem Reap and then we are all headed to the beach for X-mas!!!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!

Next stop Cambodia

Arriving back Bangkok once again I headed to my usual guesthouse and almost walked right past it. It had been totally renovated, unfortunately they didn't have any singles available so I searched on. It must be a busy time because a number of guest houses were full, but I wound up getting a room on Khao San rd. at Dio where I stayed my first night in Bangkok.

Apparently I'll be flying home sooner than expected which puts a crimp in my plans so I'm wondering around trying to decide how to spend my last weeks. Wrote Robin (met him in Czech. Rep.) as I know he is in Thailand. Got a report back that the weather and attitudes in Phuket were lousy and he was heading off to Cambodia. So I decide to skip Phuket. I guess I'll go do some more diving and head to the East coast islands again.

I was just getting things together for heading south when I walked out on the busy street and guess who I see. It's Robin and his friend Minesh (they met in S. America). Another unlikely reunion on the road. We took a taxi to the weekend market which is huge and very busy. Walked through the narrow labrinyths of cramped stalls selling food, clothes, souvenirs, etc.
Later that night we decided to give Thai boxing a look. So we went out to the stadium, but we couldn't get tickets for $6 like we were told. It was more like $60! Oh well, if you've seen one guy get the shit kicked out of him, you've seen them all.

The next night after I had got my ticket for the 7am bus to Cambodia we began by grabbing a table on the street and enjoyed some drinks while taking in the characters of Khoa San. Anna (Czech) and Dean (Irish) joined us for the evening. I learned that Dean is a walking catastrophe who has had most of his bones broken at least once and even had his face torn off once. He says that's why he looks young for his age (40)!! We went upstairs where Minesh managed to save a cute Belgium girl (Isabella) from her date. At closing we took them all to little Khao San to continue the flow of beer. Around 4am it was definately time to call it a night. I tried to get Isabella to come to Cambodia but she had to wait for some visas so Minesh will just have to work on her tomorrow. They have the luxury of another day before they fly while I'm getting on a bus in 3 hours.

Got to the bus stop in the morning and Shino (Japenese) reminded me about needing passport photos for the Cambodian Visa. Of course, I had forgotten about them, but luckily I still had a few with me. We had a very pleasant drive through the green landscape of Cambodia down to the border. Stopped on the Thai side for a change of bus and lunch. Paid about $5 too much for the "Express Visa service". But it was fast. In fact faster than my lunch which I had to shovel in to avoid missing the bus!!

Next was our walk across the border. Nothing out of the ordinary. But for God's sake don't get suckered into changing your money at the border like I did. A big rip off epecially considering that you can use the U.S. dollar everywhere in Laos contrary to what I was told. In fact, all the prices are in U.S. dollars!

So now we hop on to the Cambodian bus. Of course it is nowhere near as comfortable as the Thai bus. And you can't even compare the roads because there really almost isn't one. A year ago the 150km journey took 10-12 hours. Today it's a speedy 7 hour trip. Unpaved! A Free Vibrating Massage!

Made a stop three hours into the journey and met Migella. French with a sicilian family where she has been working as a tour guide. Says the Italians "Break her balls!". Later we made another very short stop I think to say hello to the bus drivers cousin. We stepped out of the bus and were greeted by a handful of cheery young girls all very cheeky. They'd put out there hand out to shake and take it away at the last second and run it thru there hair. Point to your chest and say "what's this?" flicking your nose if you look. They'd ask where you were from and then reel of the name of your capitol. Very smart and friendly. One gave me a friendship bracelot.
Arriving in Siem Reap around 8:30pm we dropped off most of the passengers and then the last four of us were dropped off at the Golden Temple Villa. A nice place. Spotless rooms, bathroom with tub!, cable TV, balcony, and a really good restaurant.

When I got down from my room the three Japanese guys were negotiating with a tourist agent about getting a temple tour and subsequent nights at the hotel. They did pretty well. So we booked a driver for the following day and sat down for some food. Oddly enough there was very little in the way of Cambodian food on the menu so we all got pizzas and pasta along with Beer Laos which are really quite nice. Shino has lived and worked in the US but the other two guys were pretty shy about speaking English. Despite this we had a pleasant dinner and taught each other a few words.

Then we were off to get some rest for we were to leave for the Temples of Angkor at 5am to catch the sunrise. After morning coffee we arrived at the Temples area and each paid the steep entrance fee of $20. In the pitch black we walk along side thousands of other tourists, mostly Japanese. Sat in front of the silhouetted spires in contemplation awaiting the sun's daily entrance. The sun rose behind the temple making it difficult to get good pics, but it was a nice one although not breathtaking.
The main temple (Angkor) and ground takes up a huge amount of space. There is the main structure, a few smaller structures, lotus ponds, many buddha statues, and bas-reliefs telling of the king and his exploits. These temples were built under Hindu influences, but later when the buddhists moved in it must have been difficult for the monks to continually walk past the thousands of voluptuous half naked female bas -reliefs throughout the temple.

After breakfast we continued on to discover the other smaller yet no less impressive temples. We had a bus and driver so we skipped the elephant ride. We climbed lots of steps that day. Steep and narrow ones. You really had to climb them sideways because you could only get half you r foot on them. All in all I think we saw 8 or 9 temples. In the afternoon our driver who used to be a landmine worker until they cut his salary took us back for lunch and a short break.
Just before sundown we headed back to climb a small mountain for sunset. It was nearly standing room only. Sunset was nice, but again not spectacular. In fact, I got nicer pics after the sun had set and darkness settled in.
On the way back we stopped at our travel agents office and Ms. Meas Kanha offered me a job. I like to think it was because she is a shrewd business woman with an eye for talent, but it was probably just because I can speakith the kings Inglish;)

For more background info with a professional touch check out Robin's report at http://www.moderngonzo.com/reports/angkor.html

See ya

A Diving Mis-Adventure

Penny and his dad, I.P., picked me up in the morning and we drove to the dive shop to pick up our equipment. Then a leisurely drive to the Bunbury boat ramps and launched the 18' craft into the water.

As we cruised out to sea I thought it was the iced coffee that was making my stomach rumble, but with hindsight perhaps it was trying to tell me something else like "turn around!" And that is what I should have done the moment that I.P. dropped our dive buoy/flag overboard in 22meters of water with only 15 meters of weighted line! Gone! They just don't work very well when they're below water.
So I.P. hit the "Man overboard" on the GPS to mark the spot. No worries. I figured we'd jump over and retrieve the buoy. But no, apparently we weren't even at the right spot and so we moved. Leaving the buoy behind.

If I wasn't half asleep still I might then have realized that I had incorrectly assumed that because Penny was an experienced diver that his father had some experience also. Boy was I wrong.

So we got to the spot, geared up each complete with a speargun and crayfish snares and dove over. Penny took awhile getting down because of equalization problems, but that happens. We eventually had a good look around the shallow reef formations, but didn't see one cray! There was one group of very large fish I found which I took aim at, but Penny signaled not to shoot. I wasn't sure if it was because they weren't good eating or because those big fish might have towed me along for a considerable distance. As we'll later see, depending on the direction they would have dragged me, it might have been a good thing.

So we surfaced empty handed from our first dive, but what can you do. We then cruised to another spot and dove in for our second look. The pickings were scarce but we faired a little better this time bagging a cray and a pink snapper. I surfaced a little before Penny due to air usage and found that the boat wasn't where we left it?!? I.P. in his infinite wisdom broke the number one rule for a boat captain. He took up anchor and moved to do some fishing! And remember how he sunk our dive flag earlier.

Well a minute later Penny surfaced 50m from me. We both started waving and yelling to attract I.P.'s attention. I could have sworn that he waved back and then took up the anchor. The problem was that he then proceeded to drive off in the wrong direction.

Bewildered all we could do was wonder what the hell was going on in I.P.'s head. Probably not much more than hollow echoes of wind pass thru his ears. So Penny is yelling, screaming and calling his dad every name in the book. I'm floating and figuring that he will realize his mistake and turn around any second. But about a half hour later just as Penny stops his ranting we lost site of the boat completely and we knew we were in for a long day.

Two choices: 1)stay put or 2) swim for shore. Well the dunes on the shore didn't look to far so we opted for the swim. Incidently, earlier I.P. commented that we were close enough to shore to swim if anything happened. How prophetic! Unfortunately the dunes on the shore are about 100-150 ft. and very misleading. Throughout it all I just tried to remain equanimous and keep kicking, but of course it's naturally going to pop into your head that you are very definately shark bait at the moment.

Penny and I started a fair distance apart and although you're never supposed to leave your dive buddy, he opted for the everyman for himself theory. I was fully geared up and with fins that didn't do well on the surface and he started pulling away which at first didn't bother me because we honestly didn't think we were that far out. Boy were we wrong!

After about an hour with no boats in site I started wondering what the hell was going on. Surely I.P. must have raised an alarm. Then the wind started to pick up making the seas a little bit rough. After about 2 hours I started to get pissed. I got site of some trucks moving on the dunes, but you could barely make them out, driving home the fact that we were still very far away from shore. After 2.5 hours I was taking bets with myself on whether or not we could reach the shore by sunset. Lessening the odds was the fact that my body was starting to protest. Particularly my ankles, shins, hips and neck. It was at this point that I started debating whether or not to drop the gear to make better time.

Luckily I saw three boats cruising in a line further in shore. I knew or at least hoped they were looking for us. They were I.P., "Top Dog" and the sea rescue boat. The rescue boat actually had passed by Penny twice without spotting him cause all three guys aboard were staring straight out the windshield! Some really great rescue skills there. Penny was spotted first by the "Top Dog" skippered by Pete Cole who turned out to be good friends of the Guppy's. Shortly afterwards I was fished out of the water. A big "Good on ya" to Pete and his friend! We learned that the resuce helicoptor was minutes away from lifting off.

They radioed to the rescue boat that we were aboard and they asked what about our condition. Pete told them we were both safely enjoying a beer and so all three boats cruised back to harbor. But not before stopping along side some of Pete's mates who generously gave us a couple of fresh cray sandwiches to fuel up on.

Back on shore, while I stayed as far away from I.P. as I could to avoid strangling him we were greeted by Gup and Birch who had driven out to the beach to look for us when they heard we were lost. Of course we got on the piss right away. All that for 1 cray and 1 snapper!! They were tasty, but needless to say not worth it. But as with every drama it makes for a good story. And in the end we only suffered exhaustion and a sunburn.

Never did get an real appology! Did get a couple of bullshit versions printed in the paper. Apparently I.P. skewed the facts to try and save face. But the lies were transparent and everyone could see right through them. They lost more than a couple of friends over this episode.

So there you have it. My time in Australia. A lot of beer, a couple of girls, nice sites, fun parties, some surf, much hard work, mostly crappy weather, a car accident and getting lost at sea. I never would have thought that the most likely place to wind up using accident insurance would have be OZ!

Finally I would like to give huge thanks to The Guppys (and friends) for being so good to me. Unbelievably good! I owe you big!

Now it's back to Bangkok and then off to Cambodia.

Cheers,
DJ

Australia V

Had a normal day on Monday. On Tuesday Billy and I went down to Dunsborough to install a couple of windows and sliding glass doors. We disassembled all the pieces and packed them onto the ute and drove down. Arrived and inspected the gyprockers' work and found it amiss. They didn't finish it correctly with reveals and neither of the windows were cut right or even level for that matter so the windows aren't going to fit. One of the doors was alright but the other we had to do some work on to get it to fit. Oh well, I guess 1 out of 4 isn't bad. To make matters worse we realized that the screen doors we were given were the wrong size also. So we did all that we could and then stopped by on the way home at "The Shack". It's a $7 million beach front estate they're working on.

On thursday I was really feeling like going out, but after work Greg invited me over to meet his misses, Amanda, his mother-in-law and baby girl Lisa or "squid" as she is affectionately called. Had a few beers and was entertained by Greg's stoner cocateau.

On Friday we were flat out right up to the end of the day. Fifteen year old aboriginal Johnathon who is racking up some work experience was there to help us out though. Gup and I were planning on going up to visit his sister Kirsty on Rotto island for the weekend, but he had to work on Saturday. That in conjunction with the fact that Jame's Birthday party was canceled was enough to bag the trip. Which is a shame because I've heard really great things about that place.

Decided not to go out, but get some rest because Penny is picking me up at 6am for a surf. Checked out North/South point in the morning but they weren't happening. Another couple of spots also weren't happening except for one spot which was lit up! But too big for a 6'0" board so we wound up surfing Boranup again. This time it was much more set up with solid head high rights and lefts. Nice and glassy also for about an hour when the wind switched and chewed it up. Four by foured it out of there and enjoyed a nice sunny drive home. In the avo Penny and Gup went to a concert "a Day on the Green", but since I wasn't into the bands or the steep ticket price I decided to hang out with Birch, Joe and Amy. We hung out with his mate Matt and talked about going out, but never did. Eventually Gup and one of his sisters friends showed up, but didn't stay long. We were too pissed to drive home so Amy and I were given a spare bedroom to crash in. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas :)

Next Monday was a killer. Did a few deliveries in the morning and then @ 2pm a forty foot sea container from Bali arrived packed to the gills with much too heavy items. Clint (on a bum knee he wrecked jumping his mini 125cc cycle), Wayne and I attacked it and had it unpacked in 3 hours. With only three tragedies: 2 beers split and Clint got his hand crushed a little bit. Nothing compared to his knee though! The next day I learned Wayne got shit from his girlfriend cause she thought he'd stayed late just drinking. If she had only known! Completely exhausted none of us made it passed 8:30 before going to bed.

The radio advertising for the Bali pieces started and on Friday they had sold $4000 worth of stuff before I even got there. Unfortunately that meant that less than an hour before knocking off we had to deliver some of the much too heavy features. As Greg and I pulled away he realized that he forgot his phone so we backed back in, retrieved the phone and then Ray decided at the last second to give us another Bali delivery on the opposite side of town. And at Beer O'clock on a Friday!!

So we loaded up and made the first delivery. Then off to the last one of the day. Well we pulled up to drop the thing off, but didn't get off that simply. The wife, the mother and the kids all really wanted it set up before the husband arrived. Not our job, but we gave in. Big mistake. The tube was too long. We tried cutting it but it wasn't rubber and just shattered. The pump was too big so the feature wouldn't set up right. And after several attempts to put it together we realized that the base had cracked. Some of the pieces are about as tough as crusty toothpaste regardless of their immense weight. So we were pissed and she was disappointed, but their is another one back at the workshop so we can do an exchange. Got back and managed to get one altogether and found a smaller water pump. The one we had been given looked something like Niagra falls. But by now it was past quitting time so we called it a day.

Earlier in the day I had gone to the post office and paid my $32 for a rock lobster fishing license because Penny is taking me diving for Crayfish Saturday morning. But I'll save that adventure (nay, fiasco) for the next blog. Let's just say for now that we made the newspapers.

PS. I'm back in Bangkok. I found out that my return ticket must be used earlier than expected. It turns out that it must be used one year from date of issue, not from the day the trip begins. So I'm changing plans as I write this. I'm leaning towards touring Laos and Cambodia and maybe finishing up with some time down in the islands, but anything can happen. Projected return date right now is Jan 20th, but I may extend that a week or two. I'll keep ya'll posted.
So stay tuned.

I guess this could be considered a season cliff hanger because if I head off tomorrow I may not be able to blog again for a while. Who knows what internet service is like in Laos/Cambodia??!!

Margaret's, Moonshine and Music

So what started out as a two day job is actually a 5-6 day job, but there could be worse places to be than the picturesque wine country of Margaret River. Gup and I drove down together and two apprentices followed in their car. Billy brought up the rear with the flatbed truck loaded down with a couple tons of gyprock and such.

We arrived in the drizzly morning and had a peek at the main break. It was sort of small by Margaret’s standards. It was still a solid six foot though. Then Gup had to talk the apprentices to the worksite because they were lost. I think they may have a half of a brain between them. We had to wait for the rain to let up before we could completely unload the sheets of gyprock, but it wasn’t long before we got started.

We got a fair bit done, but the highlight of the day was provided by the owner’s parents. (The names have been changed to protect the innocent.) After work Tom and Toni treated us to a nice little sitdown. Toni had made up a snack tray and Tom brought out his moonshine. Really great stuff! Bourbons and whiskeys that put the big companies to shame. I’m spoiled now and don’t think I’ll ever be able to drink that mass produced swill ever again after sampling Tom’s creations. It can be done quicker, but it takes him about 3 weeks to make a batch due to the extra filtering. And it’s well worth the wait. I have to get a hold of a still. The difference really is like night and day. So shortly before we started seeing double we took our leave and went to check in to the Prevely Caravan Park, our home for the week. It was an OK cottage with a kitchen, bath and three bedrooms. The boys had the bunks in one room, Gup had a comfortable double bed in another room and I got the chilly outer room on a very chilly evening. There was an electric heater which I commandeered, but the power went out for the evening shortly after I went to bed so it was no help. Oh well, at least the café next door served up a lovely pizza.

Continued plugging away the next day, but things got a bit frustrating when the boys were having problems getting the measurements and cuts right on a tricky pyramid shaped ceiling with crossbeams to complicate matters. On the bright side Tom and Toni saved the day again providing snacks and homemade booze to cap off the day.

We arrived the next morning at 6:30am to make up for some lost time. After yesterday’s overpriced and mediocre breakfast took way to long to arrive, we decided to forgo breakfast, but Tom & Toni made us some coffees and breakfast sandwiches. So we worked through lunch fueled on that because it was taking too much time to finish the garage. In the end it turned out to be a 12 hour day with barely a break, but it went quickly and once again Tom & Toni came through with after work treats.

The next morning Pete came down to give us a hand flushing the rooms and we just made our 3pm deadline for finishing up. All that was left to do is the sanding and that can wait till Monday. So we packed up and I got a sandwich for the rainy ride back to Bunbury. Arrived at the workshop and joined the crew for some Bali Bingtangs. I was upset to see that they knocked out a wall while we were gone because I was looking forward to doing some of the smashing. But the new showroom is started to take shape. In fact the transformations which have taken place in the short time that I’ve been around is really remarkable.

On Saturday Dan & Mez came down from Perth for the weekend. First we all went to the factory to pick up some gear so Dan can do a repair. He needs to fix the hole he punched in his brother’s (Snail) ceiling in the excitement of the Grand Final Footy game. By the time Gup and I arrive, Dan has already mixed up enough mud to repair the whole ceiling! Gup winds up fixing the hole for them while we play with the dogs, kids and their toys.

Gup topped of the hole and then we left to top off the cooler with a box of Coronas. We drove out to Wellington Dam because it’s really beautiful up in that area and as a bonus we heard that the dam is overflowing from all the rain we’ve been getting. Well, it was beautiful, but it wasn’t overflowing. It was close though with the water right up to the brim. On the way back we stopped over at Penny’s for a beer and some prawns. Then we all split up to get showers before going to see Gyroscope @ The Prince. Two opening bands played as the bar filled up. Then Gyroscope who are getting a lot of airplay took the stage and performed a great set. It was a really good evening until towards the end when I got some heartburn from something spicy I ate. Then on top of that I got the hic-cups which exasperated things and on top of that my neck/shoulders really started bothering me. Needless to say by the end of the show I wasn’t really keen on keeping things going, but everyone else was so we wondered over to The Flemington. They kept drinking, but I downshifted to water. When it was time to go we had to line up in a huge cue for a taxi. Dan wasn’t pleased about that and made no attempt to hold in his contempt, but eventually we commandeered a ride in a taxi van with a lone guy heading to Karry Park and made it home.

The next morning I passed whatever was giving me heartburn, but my neck was extremely stiff and killing me. Went for a morning drive with Gup for some coffees and then came back to the house. We were just chillin comfortably on the Bali bamboo patio loungers when Joe and Amy showed up. They had been drinking all morning and were pretty pissed. Gup and Penny decided to go for a surf, but I decided to rest my neck and hang with the girls. And so another week has gone by……

Australia IV

October 24, 2005

So I awoke and had an uneventful day. That is until Clint drove me home that evening. I thought NJ was the only place that had to deal with the infamous traffic circles. Nope. Western Australia has recently installed them everywhere!! And just like in NJ, most people here have no idea how to navigate them correctly. Here the bigger ones are two lanes all the way around and that is what contributed to this accident.

The first guy was already on the circle and beginnin his exit. The second guy was entering and nearly forced the first guy off into a fork in the road. The second guy then panicked and stop dead in the middle of the lane. Being focused on the veering car to the right, it was too late when Clint saw the moron who completely came to a stop for no good reason a few meters ahead of us. SCREECH, SKID, CRASH BOOM BAM. We got very intimate with the Nissan Patrol. One just like the Patrol Gup recently bought. Which is good for Gup because when I inspected the damage to the Patrol I couldn’t find any except for the shattered rear window glass on the ground. Tough trucks! Not so for the Triton truck we were driving. Smashed. It wound up being totaled. No injuries luckily. We all pulled over and Clint called the police. They asked if anyone was drunk or hurt because otherwise they won’t bother to come out to the scene. I guess they are too busy setting up the radar speed cameras! Or maybe they’re still very busy working on the latest serious crime case. Which probably happened 3-4 years ago! We got the Triton towed to the yard and Gup picked me up and we went to The Prince for a couple of beers. Gup’s parents are in Bali this week so they won’t find out about the loss until next week. The good news is that it was insured for $10,000. The bad news is that it was really only worth $1000.

To celebrate the conclusion of hump day we went to the Hiway Hotel. An interesting place. A raffle for a bottle of booze, free sausages to snack on, and a very large hottie in a bikini serving drinks. Then Gup wanted to meet a work mate of his over at The Prince so we did. Gup got to talking to cutie, Shauntele, a cocky and sort of annoying counselor of some sort. God help her victims, I mean patients. I was also introduced to her friend Bridget who was bartending, just finishing her shift and not at all annoying. We hung out till it was closing time and then continued to hang out, drink and play pool with Tim the closer. Eventually Gup wanted to leave but reckoned I should stay. So I did. But that just meant I got home at 2:30 am and very intoxicated on a school night. The next morning, needless to say, was difficult and I bonked hard at 2:30pm, but I made it through the day. Pay backs are a bitch.

Friday night we went with some of Gup’s mates to see Ash Grumfield at The Parade. He’s a pretty decent solo guitarist/vocalist, but I spent most of the time socializing. There I got to meet two of Gup’s uncles, among others. Including a nice Brazilian girl until Penny scared her off. Just another jealous married guy spoiling the single guys fun.

I found out that the job Gup was going to be working on down at Margaret River looks now like it won’t happen. So we probably won’t be moving down there. Which means I probably won’t re-up my visa for another 3 months. Besides winter is still hanging on and I’m starting to doubt if summer will ever even get here?! And when it does it’s being been predicted it’s going to be a record hot scorcher. And of course the swell will suffer.

Monday night we packed up some gear because we are headed down to Margaret River for the rest of the week. So as I’m sulking because I won’t get any Halloween candy this holiday due to the fact that the Aussies don’t celebrate it, we drove down south. It is however still a bit of a holiday here this year because the Melbourne Cup falls on this day. It’s “the race that stops the nation!!” And for a few minutes it actually does. Everyone seems glued to the race either via the media or the TAB off track betting sites. During lunch we went into town and thought we might place a bet. The lines at the TAB were out the door and our lunch hour would have expired before getting the bet in. One person reportedly laid one million on Makybe Diva and wound up winning another three million as Diva became the first horse in Aussie history to win three Melbourne Cups in a row.

So that brings me into November. Slowly, but surely. One bit at a time. Hey I'm only three weeks behind ;)

Coming up shortly: our week in Margaret River.

Australia III

Friday. October 14th 2005 Week 30

Woody picked me up and we drove south from Perth. After checking a few spots we wound up surfing Margarets Main break. The locals were calling it four foot. We would measure it up as a solid 8 foot. There were about 15 guys out so it wasn’t really crowded. This first
paddle out at this spot spun me out a bit. All the locals were riding 7-8ft., 3 inch thick boards and half of them were wearing helmets! Here I am paddling out for the first time on a 6’0” and of course, no cranium protection. Anyway, I survived my first experience with the infamous break unscathed, but wished I had a good 6’6” to ride.

Afterwards we checked in again at the hostel and after getting a late start moseyed over to The Wine Bar. We savored a nice Margaret Merlot when a hot blonde pretended to be interested in the painting behind my shoulder. So we chatted up the Queensland
export and eventually her South African/Aussie friend Mel joined her. It turned out that Woody and Mel had met previously. Eventually as they chased us out of the Wine Bar we decided to check out The Three Bears, but Deb wasn't in the mood. I tried to get her to go, but no go. Then I tried to get her to take me home, but she wasn't going for that either. So we headed over with Mel to suck down more beer and some Tequilla shots. There was a DJ spinning and one seriously out of his head guy who freaked me out a bit. Closed down that place too.

Grabbed some coffee in the morning and headed to Margaret's Southside to surf with about 12 other guys on some just slightly smaller surf. With yesterday behind me I was feeling pretty stoked to get out there until I began the long paddle out. A guy was just paddling ashore and his head was split open with blood pouring from the wound. He actually asked me "how ya going?" "Yeah Good, Are you alright!?" "Yeah, no worries!" Gets ya thinking about the helmet thing.

Anyway, I got my fair share without eating the reef and after getting a few pics from the
overlooking parking lot we went to The Bootleg for lunch. Enjoyed some food and microbrewed beer in the nice sunny Margaret River countryside. Woody is heading back up to Perth so I hitch a ride up to Gup's house in Bunbury.

We head straight to The Parade's beer garden on the river to drink jugs of Carlton with Penny and family. Then we went over to Penny's with a carton and needless to say we played ping pong and drank them all. Birch and his soon to be wife came by and when I
began speaking to her she asked me why I was speaking with an American accent. Well, she is blonde.
Slept in, chilled out, watched a disturbing movie suggested by Gup called "Saw", had another yummy meal prepared by Mrs. Guppy, watched a guy win a million bucks on "Who Wants to be a millionaire", and went to bed having for the first time in the trip the unpleasant
realization that in the morning I will have to wake up to go to work ;(

Gup's brother Clinton picked me up in the morning and the grind began. They nearly broke me the first day ;) It's been a real long time since I worked and a real, real long time since I worked this hard. All I'm gonna say is that concrete is nice only when it's beneath your feet!! Tuesday was better when I got to help frame up, Gyp rock, flush and sand a room. Later in the week we put in a drop ceiling.

Gup got tickets for the International Rules Footy game so we headed up to Perth after lunch for the Ireland vs. Australia football match. Tailgated at Dan and Mez's place and walked over to Subiaco Stadium. Watched with Gups' parents as Australia trounced on Ireland.
As a side note: apparently I was able to locate the most popular mens room in the stadium because in the time it took I could have walked 2km to my car, gone in a empty bottle, stopped on the way back for a tofu dog and leisurely walked back to my seat!!!

Got another surf in on Sunday. Penny along with his mate Stewart picked me up at 6am for the 250km drive down to Hamelin Bay. Boranup that day wasn't really anything to write home about: a shifty chest high beach break. Got some lunch in smalltown Margaret River. Dripped beet juice on my new white t-shirt. That evening we went to The Prince and had some drinks with Birch, Joe and her mate Amy. Listened to a couple of live bands and capped off the evening with a jaunt for kebabs. Always kebabs! Ya know, late night pizza by the slice would kill here! The market is wide open. Hell, I alone could probably sustain it.

Just a short blog this time. Sorry. I know I'm behind, but it's all down in the journal , so I'll post more soon. Wishing everyone an early "Happy Thanksgiving!!" And remember, really we are all turkeys. :)

Australia II

Wed. 9/28/05 Day 200

Another windy day so I chilled at home during the day and was going to check out James’ first gig with his band, The Hole Beneath, but in the end he suggested that Paul and I go to Clancy’s in Subiaco. So we did. A nice restaurant/bar with lots of students, good beer and good music supplied by the The Raggabeats (Reggae).

Thursday
Another windy day. Gotta really think about taking up Kite Surfing which is very popular here. I took a long bike ride down to the Swan River and Nedlands Yacht club. Thought I might be able to locate the hubcap which I knocked off of James’ car when I took it to get some lunch. I’m not used to the curbs jumping out at ya from the left side of the road:)
Got home and we headed back to The Deen for my second Salsa class where we get to dance with partners. Passed the class but the bike ride early in the day had me stuffed so I didn’t really do any more dancing that night. Afterwards we went for kebabs again since the Chinese Noodle place was closing. In general everything in W.A. closes really early, with the exception on Thursday which is late night retail day when most stores are open until 9pm.

Friday
Windy Again! Went out to The Funk Club which was having a benefit night for the New Orleans relief. It started with the houseband who were ok, but they had a female drummer who just wasn’t cutting it. Next up was a traditional N.O. Brass Band who were really fun. One more funk band after that, but again the drummer was not up to par. Just too timid. Looked like he was afraid of hurting the drums!? A DJ spun tunes which we danced to with Thaedra, Fiona and Jucinta. Things closed down at the Funk Club around 1am so we took Jucinta to another place which was spinning HipHop. The dance floor had only two ladies on it, but we got out there anyway and got things going for awhile. On the way out James chatted up a couple of ladies so we dropped off Jucinta and then headed back for some fishing. But by the time we got back the ladies had gone so we actually went back to pick up Jucinta and took her home for a spa. At least we’d get a massage.

Saturday
Windy Again!! Will it ever let up? Walked down to the beach with Paul. He wound up buying a 2mm Farmer John wetsuit to go along with all the sailing equipment he bought earlier in the day. I called up Gup and he said he’d be coming up Wednesday to buy his new truck so it looked like I would be heading back down with him. I was gonna head down to the Stamford, but Paul and Toni came home and we had a spa. Not much later James came home and forced round 2 in the spa when he brought home 2 cuties. I just wonder if their mothers knew their cradles had been robbed!! Bad James, Bad. Sent them on their way and got into bed ~5am.

Sunday
Woke up and had a big breakfast with Paul, Toni and James. Then Paul and Toni took me for a ride into Freemantle which is south Perth. We checked out the weekend market and Perth’s oldest buildings, a mere 100 years, maybe. Had some coffee in a sidewalk café and then drove to Kings Park. A popular place with gardens and great views of the city. Paul’s mom came over to spend the night outside the yoga ashram and to straighten up the bachelor pad. Capped off the evening the friends coming over for a nice barbecue. I couldn’t resist and had to buy some prawns for the cliché, “shrimps on the barbi”.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet. On Tuesday we went to a different club for Salsa lessons, but we arrived late so instead of taking the class I just watched. Thursday there was a bit of sunshine so I rode down to the beach and hung out for a while. Apparently the kids are off from school because there are way too many of them to all be playing hookie. Went to The Stamford later that night with Paul. Got to talking with a young lady, but it wasn’t long before the boyfriend made his presence known ;(

Paul introduced me to a friend of his. “Woody” is an IT guy working for BHP mines who seems to have a pretty cush job. He makes good coin and has a 8 day on/ 6 day off schedule. He’s a pretty hardcore surfer, literally driving 1000’s of Kilometers every month, mostly by himself, searching out waves. Mostly he surfs a little up north at Lancelin which he talks up big time. The offroad trek keeps the crowds down and he says he often gets epic surf pretty much to himself. He also speaks very highly of the surf on Rotto island (~1hr ferry from Perth). He reckons its better than Bali!! As there is excellent diving there also. I’m definitely putting it on my to do list.

Anyway, he’s just bought a house in Dunsborough which is between Bunbury and Margaret River. He’s going down to Bunbury the following day to sign some papers and then go for a surf. He extended an invite to me which I eagerly accepted being stoked to have someone with good local wave knowledge show me the breaks down south.

Woke up, packed up my gear and had a little breakfast. We hit the road ~10am. Stopped for lunch in Mandurah which is a relatively small town by U.S. standards, but it was completely packed. Road traffic and shopping congestion. With all the hustle and bustle it seemed like a holiday even though it was midday on Friday.

We continued on down the road with Woody spurting off names of the local trees and wildlife. I got to see my first Kangaroo. Actually it turned out to be a Wallabee, slightly smaller and dark in color. We arrived in Bunbury and he signed his papers. I obviously hadn’t gotten a ride down with Gup and had been playing phone tag with him so I asked Woody to drive down to his work site and located him. I found out that I hadn’t missed him up in Perth, he never came up. He found a truck down in Bunbury and should be getting it in a day or two. Our business being taken care of, it was now time to find some surf. We drove south and checked a bunch of spots; North Point (right), South Point (left), Gullitines, Huzza’s (“A” frame beach break) and finally surfed Gallows. Onshore, 3-4 lefts over reef, shifty and not all that good. But we got wet and caught a few. When he took his board out from his board bag I found out why they call him “Woody”. He builds his own Balsa wood boards. Pretty nice looking thing and light. But he said it took him 50 boards to get it right!

Afterwards we drove back to Dunsborough to get some accomadations for the night and checked into the Best Western Hotel/hostel. Dunsborough is a small town. Center city is one block in each direction. We got some fish n’ chips for dinner and then went to the bottle shop and bought 2 bottles of cheap Margaret River Merlot which was a mistake. Bottom of the barrel, pure crap! But of course we managed to get some down before heading to the Wine Bar. We cleansed the swill from our palates with a couple of drinks and then bought a proper bottle of Margaret Merlot which was as good as the first bottle was bad. Chatted up a trio of ladies, but they were about as interesting as drying paint. So we went to The Three Bears to check out the live music. I’m still not sure whether they were a cover band or not? The first song we heard was Radiohead, but everything after that was unrecognizable! Pretty bad.

Saturday
Woke up and felt like dog doodoo. Made some coffee and Woody offered me a “Wheatix” which I promptly chomped on thinking it was a granola bar. It was in fact not a granola bar but an over sized, dry (bone dry) “Wheatie”. After having a good laugh at me I received some milk to wash down the wheat dust in my mouth. Went off and checked another bunch of spots. We surfed “Smiths Beach” just north of “Supertubes” cause there weren’t any super tubes. Got to surf some fun chest to head, rights and lefts, on a nice sunny day. Then we had to cut the session and head back to Perth because Woody had a wedding to go to at 4pm. He dropped me off at 3:45pm. Oh well, I guess he can be on time to his friends next wedding ;)

I then met Matt who was moving back into Paul’s place. He had lived there before, went to America and England for a year and a half and now he’s back and taking over my room. I cooked up some dinner, hopped into the shower and was just drying off when the taxi arrived to take us to the Paddington Pub. We arrived to a long line out the door. Entered after ~15 minutes and bought a jug of Carlton. Went in further to check out a cover band which was decent. Danced a bit, but was just generally tired out from the earlier surf. Later we figured we would have a better chance of hailing a cab if we walked away from the pub so we walked towards home with Paul hobbling on leg he injured while playing hockey. Of course it started raining. Just as I thought we were in for a very wet evening we miraculously hailed a cab and got home.

The next morning I took a bike ride to Hilary’s inlet and checked out an overpriced dive shop. Followed that with a drive down to the beach for lunch where Paul got roped into a sobriety check point where the fuzz was forcing everyone to take the blow test, in the middle of the day!!

On Wednesday we went to The Bog in Northbridge to check out James’ band, The Hole Beneath. For visuals the club played ZZ Top videos behind the stage?! After the gig we went back to Clancy’s to jam out to the reggae of the RaggaBeats. Tailed some girls back to their place for a nightcap and stopped on the way home for munchies and a perhaps the best hot chocolate ever.

The next night Woody showed up and we put him to work eradicating a computer virus and cleaning up the registry. He’s heading back down south in the morning so we’re going for another surf. He said he would pick me up a 6am, so I really should have gone to bed earlier than 2:30am. But I guess I can sleep when I’m dead……….