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My Initiation into the Backpacking Underworld

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Over the past few months I’ve been getting disapproving looks from people when I say I’m a backpacker, yet have never been to Bangkok. A few times people have even started stories only to trail off with “Oh, you’ve never been, I forgot…”

Well, I’m finally in the club.

I was expecting big things when I arrived on Khao San Road, the backpacker ‘ghetto’ of Bangkok. A traveller I spoke to in Malaysia said she could only stick it for about 10 minutes and had to get away. Other bloggers have described it as the scariest place they’ve ever seen. This guy had me more than a little nervous. I was expecting a dark gloomy alley where people get to and from their hotel as quickly as possible – like my old haunt, Stuart Lane in Calcutta.
[read on]

I’m off on an adventure…

Monday, May 19th, 2008

For 3 weeks* I was commuter in Kuala Lumpur. My daily routine involved skipping across 7 lanes of traffic, jumping on the monorail in time to catch the connecting train after which I would sprint to get the bus to my place of study. I have to wait for my pottery to be fired and glazed (i.e. turned from clay to ceramic) and I don’t see much point in waiting in KL.
So I’m off to Thailand to see what all the fuss is about that place. I’ve noticed over the last few months people have been giving me disapproving looks when I claim to be a backpacker but have never been to Bangkok. I’m going to be initiated into the backpacker gang by spending time in their ghetto, Khao San Road.

Photos of the pottery wil be up when I get back. Can’t let you see it til it’s done!

* I realise I posted the first pottery blog 4 days ago, but it really was 3 weeks, I just fell a bit behind on the blog with all the white sandy beaches and all…..

Potting around Kuala Lumpur

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
I couldn't resist the pun in the title considering how many I have been hurled at me over the last few weeks! After leaving the paradise island of Tioman, I headed back to Kuala Lumpur and got settled into life ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photos from the Deep Blue

Monday, May 12th, 2008
It's really hard to take photos underwater, most of the ones I took came out blue and dull, as colour fades as you go deeper. Here are a few I think are ok. First a quick photo of the place ... [Continue reading this entry]

In Search of White Sand

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
After a few days of Pangkor Island I really wasn’t expecting much from Tioman. But Pulau Tioman, on the other side of Malaysia, was a world apart from that other place. I only went there to kill a few days ... [Continue reading this entry]