The Great Train Adventure

WTF have I gotten myself into... the train is derelict the toilet has no seat, I have too many bags... oh boy... this is gonna be one very entertaiing train ride....
The cabbie that took me to the train station ripped me off, so I left his doors open when I left the cab... bastard...

Ok, after a while the train wasnt so bad, had the whole row to myself for a while, now the beds are out and made for me.. I'm lying down on ma tummy... aiight not anymore..

I had a weird dream last night... it was like I was at an amusement park and was climbing a staircase shaped like a DNA Dopuble-Helix to the sky and then it tips and feels like a roller coaster.... but it was weird becuase there was color in the dream... blue skies, red and blue ladder steps and white clouds in the sky... freaky...

So here's a bit of a different twist on my writing skills...

I would recommend taking the train to ChiangMai from Bangkok. However, make sure that you take the one that starts in the day, and get a bottom bed with Aircon if you can't stand the heat. Because I am sweating worse than Ron Jeremy at a gangbang...

Once you get to the train station, grab any water or goodies you might want for the 15 hour or so train ride. Remember, once you are on the train, that's it amigo, you're on for the long haul. Oh, and go to the loo & take care of all yo business, you don't wanna have to use the crapper on the train.

Once on board, you'll find that it's not quite qhat you expected. Seen Eurotrip? Yeah, it ain'g that cozy... think pale green walls & floors, Royal Blue cushions with a...I'd like to say brushed aluminium but it's more like 10 year old stainless steel walmart cutlery colored...

Once settled, make friends, enjoy the views of the majestic countryside with trees & marshes & rivers, creeks, hills, mountains, the odd sunset or powerplant, if you're lucky you may even see the odd outdoor aerobics class with people wearing all sorts of brightly colored clothing, you'll also get to see birds fluttering over the mountain ranges if you're lucky... all jokes aside.. the view is pretty breathtaking.

The train stops plenty, so be prepared to be jarred out of your seat if you decide to doze off or nap while sitting. The seats are pretty wide so you'll have no worries if you're carrying a few bags (there's also a luggage ladder) or if it's just a matter of a few extra pounds... however, I don't recomend putting THAT on a luggage ladder... eeew..

Gaze aimlessly into the distance as vendor after vendor walk by with water, Pocky, cream soda Fanta (mmm) wet peanuts & dried fish (The only thing I didn't try). They have lots more, but the main task is to be able to identify it.

Ride the sugar high... ride.. sally ride...

Once the sun goes down, your seat turns into a bed with white sheets a pillow & blankey for your nightime comfort & pleaseure... oh and you get a Satin flavoured blue curtain for privacy... ya know, in case you & the dried fish want to get better acquainted...

Oh & if you end up in a fan compartment... it's no good at night with the curtains.. so either strip down or sweat it out.. either way, the smell from the loo will keep you dreaming pleasant thoughts all night.

If it's before 9:30 grab some grub from the kitchen at the front of the train. The food is pretty good and cooked fresh..mmmm... chicken with Cashew nutz... with rice and water... at a very pricey 100 baht...

You will find that your sleepytime was more comfortable and enjoyable than you imagines. You will wake up feeling refreshed, warm, sweaty & having to go to the loo, don't fret, it'll only happen a few times throughout the night.

Rise and Shine princess, it's time to disembark the train & be on your way, hurry up, the cleaners are coming...

I'm Impressed

I must say, I just took a look at the stats counter and I'm getting a lot of hits on this site... FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE LOOKING FOR PROSTITUTES IN DUBAI maybe that will help the search a little better....

You can call me Abhishek

Aiight, so I'm in lovely humid, cloudy Bangkok, Why the hell does the bad weather always have to follow me? huh?

anyhoo, got me bags, the airport wasn't very busy thank goodness, it kinda reminded me of the airport in Nairobi... same signs and all (of course in Thai and not Swahili)... hopped on the Airport bus to Khaosan Road which is near the Hotel (yes, HOTEL) that I am staying at... get off the bus at the stop, I have no freakin clue where the hotel is, everybody is doin their own thing, it smells, it's humid, I'm slippin in an out of conciousness (as I am now, so pardon the spelling) I have tuk tuk drivers offering to take me to the hotel, tours of the city, people selling food on the street, I ask a few people where the hotel is, they point down strange alleys... a little freaked out much... but it's ok, I finally wander down one of the alleys and after a while, I find the hotel, man is it ever nice... thanks to hostelworld.com I got a good rate, about 1000 baht for the nite, I check in and tell the guy I'll stay another nite as well seeing as how I 'm not feeling well, I ain't gonna go to another hotel tomorrow, and they charge me 1400 baht for the second nite... I guess I should have booked it in advance... oh its about 30 baht to 1 Canadian dollar... I can't do math.. so whatever...

my room is nice, got a tv in it, my own bathroom :) YAY, aircon, a window that opens... room... its amazing what you take for granted until you have to stay in Hostels... not saying that I don't miss travelling in luxury and staying in Fairmonts and Deltas and Sheratons and Crowe Plaza's etc...etc...

as soon as I get to the room, it's some water, a tylenol and my bed, ... slept for a good few hours... not all at once, had to get up and use the toilet quite a few times... but it's ok, we're on a first name basis now...

finally drag my ass out of bed, watch a bit of TV (ok I was still in bed doing this) but I cannot remember the last time I was able to lie on my stomach, on a bed (or floor) and watch tv... what a great feeling.... :) I ordered room service :) :) you can tell I'm milking the luxury here. Soup and fruit.. mmm.. about all I could put into my stomach before it started going gurgle gurgle gurgle...

got the hell out of the hotel, again..hotel... :) and made my way to the STA travel office to do my ticket changes... have to change the moscow ticket ... again... this time they were nice... they said, cancel it and leave it open... no charge...woohooo...., but on the way there the "taxi" driver took me to a place for tour and ticket prices in Thailand... the dude I spoke to was a bit of a greaseball, but I told him to give me the price and I'll come back and see him sometime... now the "taxi" I took had a price of 260 Baht... I thought for the 40 minute drive to the STA office was not bad... anyways, more on that later... we get to STA, I do my stuff, use the toilet there, and then wander around the streets, not even 2 minutes after leaving the offices, some guy says hi, asks where I'm from, and then proceeds to take me to a suit shop (which I was looking for) and then a few travel agencies... now there was a deal in the airline magazine for 3 suits 3 shirts and a plethora of other clothing for $199 US, but apparently you'll never be able to get out of the store with that deal.. it's all about the options and upgrades, so I settle on a place for 2 suits, 2 shirts, 2 ties for (after really bargaining) 13,500 Baht so not a bad price, especially considering the suits are custom tailored, no off the rack lets alter it, full on custom... I picked the material, the style, the button placement etc... and the didn't try to upsell me... I think it had to do with the fact that they were indian, and as far as I go now, so am I, I mean my grandfather is from there and seeing as nobody beleives that I am Canadian... Indian works if it gets me a discount ;) I'm such a discount whore... lol

one of the dudes that works there, says I look like Abhishek Bachchan, the son of a very famous indian actor, Amitabh.



I don't see the resemblance, but it's the second time I've heard the same comment... personally I think I'm much better looking... but oh well, they'll hire ANYBODY in Bollywood these days ... ;)

aiight, so my handy dandy tour guide takes me from the tailor (after they took da measurements and all) across mad traffic [did you know McDonalds delivers here?]

wow, I just asked the guy if he closes at 10, he says they only close when there are no people... they are so nice here, in some ways, the customer service kicks ass

the drivers and motorcycles and buses are mad crazy here.... we hit a couple of travel places, but they all to expensive... but you gotta love the service, everywhere I went I got free water (it's 5baht for a bottle of water, that's real cheap) and at one place they gave me Mangosteens and Lychees.. mmm... but I didn't buy anything from them... lol... by now it was pouring rain,... like madness... I managed to find another travel place (my tour guide had vanished) and didn't get a good deal out of that guy either, but it wasn't bad... so I waited for the 5 Baht bus to Khaosan road... get on the bus that I was supposed to take (as per everyones advice) and they have no clue, they tell me to take another bus, which doesn't run on this road... ummm. ok then... so I take a real taxi... and guess what.. it cost me 61 baht... bloody hell ripoff hotel taxi cabs... grr.... whatever, it's all good I guess....

get back to the hotel and one of the taxi guys marches me down the hall, hands me a phone... it's the creepy guy from the travel agency... eewww... like fuck off... I tell him I'll come see him tomorrow... dude, leave me alone..
grabbed some grub, had some soupy stuff that was nice and spicy and flavorful, onion rings, and mushed potatoes with gravy... I barely ate any of it, but forced myself to eat the onion rings b/c it was the most pleasing to my stomach at the time... checked out the pool, it was closed... and I think then I jumped on the net, and went back to my room, and went to bed after watching the telly... :)

at least it was nice and warm... but I kept waking up in the middle of the night to go to the loo again.... thanks to some pepto and immodium I was doing much better... but I'd run out of Tylenol... :(

by morning I got up, around 9 ish I think it was, had an extremely long shower after watching some news... BBC rocks, and George W. Bush is a moron... gotta love the "We will stay in Iraq until the job is done" umm. don't you mean until the oil pipeline is completed? it would have been so much easier to give the billions you spent on war to the petroleum companies, R&D'ed alternative fuels, and subsidized the new equipment for the american public, instead of killing lots of people and basically pissing everybody off (I saw a shirt at the market here, with a pic of the Prez, with a hitler 'stash and the slogan 'War Criminal') lemme get this straight Mr. Bush... you will no longer sit by and wait for your enemies to attack you,, so you will bring the fight to them? riight, and detaining people without reason in Cuba and denying them their freedom so that you can be free.. wait, isn't that a form of opression in itself? oh and so when say, Iran or North Korea decides to launch a Pre-Emptive strike against the US... oh no.. wait, they wouldn't do that, I mean, that would be considered an act of Terrorism... wouldn't it... or if they decided to detain American citizens for any random reason and 'classify' such reason in the interests of national security? gimme a bloody break, you would be down their ass so fast, it would put MJ to shame... /end rant

anyways, I wandered the streets, checked out the markets, lots of cool stuff, found a travel agency, booked most of my stuff, Overnight Train to Chiang Mai, Cooking class in Thai food, 1 Day trek through the jungle (on an Elephant.. now I dont ride animals anymore.. but I am making an exception on this one), bamboo rafting, flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Koh Samui, accomodation, Advanced Padi Dive course, etc.. etc... should be good times, and I'll be able to make the Black moon party in Koh Pan ngan !!! Partay!!!

I thought after all the shopping around I had gotten a good deal, and then I checked online... man... I suck at this,.. the online flights were sooo much cheaper :( oh well, live and learn... but I did manage to snag quite a few peterpan gold cards... he he... oh and they make great fake Id's here... any suggestions on what I should get? someone gimme a funny name or something... the only thing I can think of is to be born on June 6th 1966 and have my name be Your Daddy only because Lucifer the dammed might be a little to creepy...

anyways, got all the travel sorted, told the taxi guys to call their Don and advise him that I found a cheaper deal... went back to my room, oh ya, get this, 2 rolls of toilet paper in 36 hours... isn't that gross??

Me eat, had soup (again) and spring rolls...mmm... was able to eat more at this point... went back to the room, and then it was off to the tailors... got a meter taxi... the first taxi had no clue where the hell to take me, but it's a good thing the second one knew how to read the map on the back of the receipt... make sure not to lose receipt...

got fitted, added some details, changed some stuff, felt pretty alright... one 3 button and one 2 button, looks pretty sharp, getting coin pockets installed and special deep pockets for the jacket... they asked if I wanted the special gun pocket in the sleeve that one american cop had put it his... I'm like.. ummm... umm... no...

Guess who I saw when I left the tailor? it was my buddy from yesterday.. walked a bit with him, gave him a tip for his help (he'll get a commision from the dudes at the tailors as well) and then I decided to take a Tuk Tuk for the ride back to the hotel area... what a mad ride... these things are nimble, you are so close to everything that may hit you, kill you or run you down... and the smog and pollution... yech... no bloody wonder people wear those face mask things that surgeons wear.

wandered the streets again, this is fun, exploring the smelly, dirty, cheap world of Bangkok... bought myself a pair of speakers, a travel adaptor, and get this... a Ninja Star... I've always wanted a Ninja star, ever since like 6th grade... and now I have one.. :) don't know what I'll do with it, but I have one... I guess it's good that I didn't buy the Taser that they had on sale, or the butterfly knife... dunno how I'd explain that one to customs..

now as if I didn't have enough fun already... he he... I now have Blue Hair. My entire head, all of it, is blue... it actually looks kinda hot if I do say so myself... in a freakish green day, punk rock, what the hell have you been smoking/inhaling/shooting/snorting/freebasing kind of way -- Blue.

Ate at this really interesing lounge / bar, basically the food was from the place I had lunch at (it's next door) but the music was awesome, the DJ was using these Pioneer CDJ-800 units that did a really good job of scratching and stuff.. I was very impressed. so after getting one of the bar girls to translate for me, I bought his entire collection, 14 CD's worth of MP3's that he will deliver tomorrow (I hope). should be some good tunes... I can load them all up on my handy dandy 20GB Mp3 Player that now works and has decent battery life, and that I have speakers for... woohooo!

anyways, now I am all caught up, I am at the internet shop writing this and so far bangkok is up to date... I probably have missed quite a bit, like the freakish mutant dogs that roam the streets, or the store that had like 5-8 Bichon Shit-Dogs in the showroom, or the roasted ducks on trolley carts, the persistent drivers that are willing to take you anywhere you need to go... or the fact that the term Ladyboy is very common (eew)... wait, I'm closing my eyes, and scanning my recent documents folder of my brain to see if I missed anything else.... oh ya, the hair color... 500 baht...

I'm spent

Damp Denial Desperation Disappointment

In Bangkok, safe and sound. Now I'm gonna try and keep current with this trip and posting, and when I have some spare time in the next few weeks, pop up all my East Coast Australia adventures....

Left for the Airport in Sydney and it was pissing rain like nobody's business. got soaked, took the train to the Airport, stood in a crazy ass line to check in, the girl behind the counter was nice though, she got me a Bulkhead Window!! leg room for the 12hour flight from Sydney to Melbourne to Bangkok.

I got "Randomly" selected for Explosive testing... she checked my bags to see if I was carrying a bomb...like whatever.. but she was cute.. I should have just told her.."you know baby, I AM the BOMB" ;) ... d'ya think that would have gone over well? or maybe... I could have told the ticket clerk when she asked for my ticket "You mean my one way ticket to paradise" in my best arab voice...lol...

Went down to the Airport lounge... and lo and behold, they would not let me in, b/c the lounge is operated by Emirates at a certain time...sucks ass...

Ok, Why is it that whenever I am leaving a country I get sick? I think I had the chills and the sweats and they were rotating amongst each other... I'm not old enough to be going through menopause.

The flight from Sydney to Melbourne was uneventful, made friends with 2 people in my row that were going to Katmandu for a vacation... now that's what I call an exotic destination.

so we get off da plane in Melbourne, I find out that Raghav is playing in Nairobi on July 9th :( I wanna go.... but oh well... it was good to touch base with the fam again, talked to the old man for a bit, and then back on the plane, and this is where the fun begins.

get back on the plane, ready to take a nap, when they deliver the menus for dinner, ok fine, as it is I'm feeling a little sick, (read ALOT sick) and all of a sudden there is freezing cold air, like freezing, I was literally shivering, the 2 girls next to me were cold too. So we tell the guy, and he takes a look and it seems to be fixed... ummm nope, freezing again, so we've all got 2 blankets on us, the lady behind us is Really hot and so it's like their air circ is messed up. Oh and as far as the nap goes, the food didn't come until about 45 minutes later... I mean I could have at least gotten a bit of a nap.

The food was Absolute Shit, the only good thing in the whole plate was the bread roll and the butter, the beef tasted like dog, the chocolate mouse was bitter, the salad had this flavor to it, kinda like dandilion :(

ok, so now, I try to sleep, aint bloody happening, too godammn cold... brr.. tunndi... so I call the guy over again, at this point he's like, I'm sorry, it's at 24 degrees, and it's probably because of where you are from that you feel cold, (the lady in the row behind us was really warm [and not brown] ) umm hello... I'm from Canada... we invented cold??!?!? then wrote the book, patented it, franchised it, sold it to microsoft, and still had time to make a primetime reality show about it... Buddy... You're Fired!

Got a few zzz's until I was woken up by some wicked turbulence, engine whine, big ups and downs... I usually love turbulence, and really enjoyed this one, but I do admit I put my bag under the seat in the event that it went flying... but it was fun, even more so because it sounded like the engines were being denied a steady stream of air, and then they banked the plane to avoid the 'draft' as well as dropping down a few hundred feet I guess.

so whatever, I froze... and froze...and froze.. inbetween a few bouts of sleep that I was able to get, now of course every hour or two I was going to the can... good ol' stomach upset...at one point when I was in there, some lady banged open my door... honey, what part of OCCUPIED don't you bloody understand?... and then back to my cold seat.. so I was frigid by about... say... I think... 2:30am.. so I sat in the can... for about.. ummm... 45 minutes... it was nice and warm in there, spent a good part of it asleep... couldn't think of any better way... :)

finally it was almost time to land. Breakfast was SHIT again, and I couldn't even think of a good thing.. ok the fruit plate was ok... and get this, as the plane is landing, one of the trolleys comes out of the thingamajiggy it sits in and glasses and cutlery and food go crashing into the other trolleys... not a good thing to hear while a 747 is touching down now is it?

I was very very glad to be off that plane... Thank you Thai Airways... you made flying history in my books....

Updates

Sorry for all the one liners... I have notes from the last 3 weeks and will update the blog with them as soon as I have time. I do also have new pictures up and will get them out, again, when I get a free moment... didn't get home till about 4am last nite :) and off to an Aussie Rules game tonite... and then on Monday I fly to Thailand...

Stay Tuned....

Back in Sydney!

home sweet home ;)

No Skydive for me :(

It rained bloody all day, so I did not get to throw myself out of a plane... :(

Skydiving

Whassup Y'all? I'm about to go to bed, and then wake up, and then.... throw myself out of a plane at 14,000 feet or so, hit a max speed of about 350km/h and then hope that the parachute opens...

I'll let you know how it goes... if you don't hear back from me...... :)

Long ass bus ride

Just got to Hervey Bay after a 12 hour bus ride :( man I thought it would be easy to sleep on one of those things, but it ain't, I'm still knackered (tired). Good thing I have internet to kill time until the next bus takes me to Rainbow Beach, then I can Chill.

Back from the Whitsunday Islands

I made it back from my Sailing Trip! now off for a 13 hour bus ride

Magnetic Island

This by far has to be the best place I have been so far!!! it's like a freakin resort that should cost gajillions of dollars per night. Base Backpackers on Magnetic Island, I don't even think words can describe how awesomely beautiful the view it, I mean you are RIGHT...RIGHT on the beach, no 5 minute walk, or beach views or any bullshit like that... you are... right... on ... the ... beach... it's beautiful! the showers were amazing... lots of water pressure, I took forever of course... it's a cheap massage for my aching neck and back... :(

The bus ride here from Mission was pretty alright, I had a wickedly yummy Toasted egg sandwich and this shake made with some green shit called Spirulina, not bad, the sandwich was awesome...

The entire front of the bus was Canadian beleive it or not, from all over, Whistler, Vancouver, Ontario, Nova Scotia, it's nutz how many of them are on the east coast... craziness... Saw the movie Serendipity on the bus,... never seen it before, it's not bad, chic flic about fate and destiny and all of that shit...

I get to my room after my shower, and guess who's in it? Angelika, this is madness insofar as running into people you know.. crazy eh? it was Bingo night, so played some Bingo, didn't win, which was shit, but some girl won a champagne breakfast and shizzy, pretty awesome deal...


So sunny!!! went to Horseshoe Bay, ate, read the paper and chilled by the beach until the ants ate me alive... damn green ants... Yech! Apparently about 2000 Army/Navy from the US are here in Townsville to do some training with the Aussie's... picked 'em out right away on the beach when a hispanic chic walked up to one of her mates and said "D'ya think if I leave this on the beach, someone would JACK IT?" he he, gotta love the slang... Saw a wild Koala Bear and it's baby on it's back... so cute 'n cuddly...awww.... met yet another Canadian on the main strip...

Fed some wild Rock Wallabees... they are so cute.. like a cross between a squirrel a rat and a Kangaroo... picture my sister with more facial hair than she has now, a black nose, eating a full leaf of lettuce... oh, don't forget the long hairy tail for balance... ha ha...

After feeding the wallabees, there was a rock formation overlooking the water below, so of course I had to climb it like the genius I am "I am SMRT" ... "SMRT"
got some pics at the top... YAY! the bus driver was not impressed...hehe... hit the net, ran into Jo again, so random.. and then went back into my room, only to find... 3 cute American girls there... :) ate showered and then met another canadian...there's way too many of us out here... by the end of the nite, I had consumed 3 Cappucino's met heaps (another Aussie word) of people, Danced my ass off like crazy, it was good to have so many people to dance with... by the end of the night, most people were right fucked out of there heads, there were a few that were on all sorts of shit, and then I laughed with these other Canadian guys at these 2 fleetingly drunk girls try to skinny dip in the ocean... ha ha... didn't happen, the one kept trying to get up for like 10 minutes, and kept falling down when another wave came in... poor girl.. but it was quite funny...... she made it back to shore, and was sitting on a rock.... and in slo-mo, fell over sideways... muhahahhahahaha.... oh did I mention that all they were wearing were Panties? lol... she's gonna be hurtin in the morning...

finally dragged my ass back to the room, and a short while later was pissing myself laughing at James from England and Emily from DC beak off at each other... it was so funny to hear them try and talk, James was trying to get some sleep and Emily was just having a good time with him.. got some audio of it, as soon as it's up I'll a let ch'y'allz know! way too funny tho... lines like, "if you talk again I'll spank you", "What are you my mother?", the funny part was, it was James offering to do the spanking.... Momma James...lol...

The next morning, I saw a wicked Sunrise way too early in the morning :) ah the simple free things in life.

Leave of Absence

Hehe....I'm gonna be leaving Magnetic Island, (AMAZING PLACE) tomorrow morning. Will be Sailing for a few days, and then a 13 hour bus ride overnight, and then onto Fraser Island for a 2 day guided 4x4 tour. So I won't have much time to be updating y'all.. I'll be back in action by the 18th I figure.. will be in Boring Brisbane by then and have a few days to relax.

Ta!

Thanks for the kind words Betty, feel free to use any of the stories and let people know about this site!

Mission Beach

Got back from Cape Tribulation, checked into Gilligans... what an amazing place to stay, party party party... the bathrooms are all ensuite and seperate and the atmosphere is one big party if I haven't mentioned it already. went to the Woolshed and chilled, came back early, gotta be up for my bus to Mission Beach. Got the bus in the morning after getting lost going to the bus station! just made it, grabbed the bus and got off in Mission Beach, didn't have prebooked accomodation, but I ran into Angelika (she was getting on the bus) and she stayed at Treehouse YHA. I figured why not check it out. Not a bad place, nice and relaxing. They have a pool on a deck that overlooks the rainforest. What a view!!! Sam threw Eniat into the pool with all her clothes on.. it was classic, read a bit of my book, I'm starting to get into this reading thing again. Did a Cannonball into the pool... ya, it's not that deep, ended up kneeling on the bottom of the pool...he he... kinda fun tho.

Went to a place called Dunk Island, it was so nice, like a patch of blue sky was only hovering above the island, took a fast catamaran over, nice beach, awesome resort that must cost an arm and a leg to stay at b/c it's right on the beach. there was an airstrip there, reminded me a lot of Tarapoa in Ecuador when I was down there, middle of nowhere and all you's got is this resort!

Got to be Enviro again, didn't walk on the Mangrove roots that were on the beach, walked around them as much as possible... didn't pick up any shells or mess with the bits of Coral... the view was breathtaking and incredible as is most of the stuff I see here... don't know how or why anybody can not be happy seeing all of it regularly.

got back to town, went to grab some food, can you beleive it, they have ... yup.. POUTINE!!! they call it chips 'n' cheese 'n' gravy... but it's the same thing... had a burger, ran into Jo from Cape Trib on the street, it's amazing how many people you keep running into on a regular basis, even though all the schedules are chaotic and different... strange azz...

Almost went for a swim at nite, but chickened out when I realized how cold it would be.... the stars were awesome tho, so clear in the sky... it's amazing the crap we see with the light pollution in the major city centres....

I hung out on the couch reading the paper, haven't read the news in ages, have no clue what's going on in the world. petted one of the cats that lives at the hostel...big and fat she was... reminded me of a cat I knew a while ago... Ginger.. and there was one there that reminded me of Cesar... had a coffee, learnt and shared some offensive jokes.

Rainforest Trek

Wow, just got back from a trek through the rainforest... I know.. me, jungle, bugs.. but it was fun! went with one of the guys from my room. We headed up the dirt road through the rainforest, up hill and downhill, you could hear and see the beach/coast at some points... until we came to almost the top, which was Emmagen Creek. you had to have a 4x4 to cross the creek, the Land Cruisers were having a blast going through there... once there, we took a "path" it was not very clear, but it did the trick, to an area of the creek where you could swim... all the while looking out for Spiders and Snakes... and these really nasty vines that had thorns that stuck like velcro to your clothes..., got a couple scratches and stuff, but nothing major...

the creek was awesome, clear water, cold, you could see the rocks underneath...and then it started to rain... and rain... so we didn't bother getting into the water, just headed back down the path to the road. From here we were told that there was a path to the beach and we could walk back on the beach, took a bit to find the path, but when we did, it was a short trek into the rainforest again, and voila, beach...rocks...and water... what an awesome view, coming out of this forest, hitting a clearing and seeing the blue water at your doorstep... and the best part about this is, that in the entire 4 hour trek we did, we saw maybe about 10-12 people TOTAL!!! that's cool!

We headed down the beach admiring the views, walking along the sandy coastline, until we came across lots of big rocks... had to climb over about 3 or 4 sets of these rocks to get back onto sand 'n beach.. pretty crazy shit, especially when it started to rain.. luckily our timing was just right and we were able to hide under 2 big rocks until the rain stopped, but then the rocks were very very slippery on the way back in. Saw Sea cucumbers in the shallow waters, lots of crabs, mini lizards, and lots of shells... there were these patterns made out of balls of sand along the beach... I think from crabs.. one of them was in the shape of an umm... Cannabis Leaf is the PC term I think :) had to take a pic... too funny to pass up. Took quite about an hour and a half I think and we made it back to the hostel which is right on the beach.. kinda.. had a big bowl of potato wedges and a Banana Smoothie and now I'm writing this up for y'allz... gonna go hit the beach in a bitski..and then back on the bus to Cairns....

On a side note, its really strange, but I've become more environmentally concious... I know... me of all people... as we were walking back along the beach, it was easier in some cases to walk along these banks of coral that sit in the sand when the tide goes out, but I chose to walk on the rocks, instead of trampling on some innocent living coral... found that to be a tad odd...

Partay

Got back from dive course, shower, laundry, no time for nap.. WOOLSHED!!!

Partied, made friends, great pics...

slept in till 1 on Sat, chilled at mexi rest, booked rest of trip, ate, WOOLSHED!!!

lots of dancing, great times, and to bed by 2:45 only to wake up at 6:00 to get a bus to Cape Tribulation.

Tired as heck, sneaked a free buffet brekky... met some people from Montreal, the US, and Switzerland... pretty cool bunch... took a nice trek through the rainforest with the guided tour, saw crocodiles from a boat, at lunch at a beautiful beach, had brekky and coffee in Port Douglas, checked into my accomodations in the Cape... everybody else was staying at another resort called PK's... will find out how it was when I get on the bus later tomorrow..... basically I got caught up with my personal journal, figured out my timetable for the next few weeks, ate, and ate... yummy... food... and then it was off to bed pretty early. Slept till about 7ish and checked to see if it was nice enough to take a dive trip...nope it aint', so passed out again till about 9:30ish.. checked out of the hostel, grabbed brekky and lo and behold, it was nice and sunny....would have made for some damn good diving....

That's Mr. Certified Open Water Diver...!

Just got back from a 4 day dive course, I am now, with 5 dives and over 100 minutes under the water, a Certified Open Water Diver!!!! YAY, I can dive anywhere in the world now, to a depth of 18m or 60 feet.

Weather was shit, the water was choppy as hell and visibility was as bad as 3m..yech, but I made it, despite a fear of heights, mild Claustrophobia, and a real distaste for saltwater... :)

more later