Visiting Emperor Nasi Goreng

Saturday 20 September 2008

“Corfu. Four sun-filled days on the beautiful Greek island of Corfu. Windsurf, waterski, parasail, swim or just soak up the sun. Get off the beaten track in an open-top 4-wheel drive jeep or cruise along the coast. At night, enjoy the local cuisine and try your hand (or feet) at Greek dancing.” Contiki Itinerary.

I was sunburnt and a still a little bit giggly that meant I still had some alcohol in the system somewhere. But the sunburn had gone to me looking and feeling like I was just permentely blushing so I counted that as a plus. As for the giggling well I just annoyed my brain with those.

I was now ready for another day that turned into a whole long day of doing nothing.

Well it was until we found out that the long board going out from the pebbles where we were laying on the beautifully warm beach, was actually a watersports deck.

In our defense there wasn’t actually anyone near the place in the last few days. But we soon found out that they offered donut rides, banana tubes, waterskiing and a few other fun things for a really cheap price. Only about 10 euro for a ride because there was so many of us at once. Sometimes there was an advantage these people following me all the time.

   

I spent most of the afternoon laughing myself stupid watching a lot of the group crash and burn, some of them doing quite impressive feats as they crashed into the water. The group on the banana ride was particulary fun as every single one of them fell into the water not two metres away from the dock.

Finally there was a space free and three of us, me, Kristy and Kath went on the donut ride. It was the best fun ever. Kath fell off twice and Kristy once as we sort of crashed into ech other, but not once did I fall off.

In fact I think I inraged the driver as I was laughing hysterically the whole time. Towards the end he was really trying to get us off for real as we did these huge circles as we hit the waves. But he wasn’t successful.

Back on land and still a bit giggly every watched as Kelly took a turn on waterskiing, which wasn’t really waterskiing per say it was Kelly holding onto a pole that was sticking out the side of the boat and trying to stay up. She did a pretty good job as the driver took her slowly around the water.

The afternoon passed as we watched everyone have a go before we returned to the camp and watched Paula hoping to make her cook faster. Like usual it didn’t work.

After that it was back to the bar and more drinks for mostly everyone, I just took to playing pool while everyone staggered around a bit. Eventually when everyone started to go skinny dipping again I headed back.

I crashed into the same pole that I had the night before, before I managed to find my tent.

Friday 19 September 2008

“Corfu. Four sun-filled days on the beautiful Greek island of Corfu. Windsurf, waterski, parasail, swim or just soak up the sun. Get off the beaten track in an open-top 4-wheel drive jeep or cruise along the coast. At night, enjoy the local cuisine and try your hand (or feet) at Greek dancing.” Contiki Itinerary.

I woke up burning. There was a hissing sound as flames poured off me, Kristy ran screaming out of the tent. My skin had gone past sunburn and I was now feeling as though I had been chucked in the fire for years.

I had forgotten to bring sunscreen with me. I had forgotten a lot of things I was supposed to bring on this trip: sunscreen, warm clothes, thongs, a flashlight, my brain.

For a long while I just lay there willing my skin to stop hurting, it didn’t work and I eventually got out of the tent. That was a bad idea, the sun it hurts, everything was red.

I finally moved over to where everyone was staring at Paula. If I had any empathy left I would have felt sorry for her, we always started the day with staring at Paula trying to make her cook faster. We were a rather one tracked group.

Somehow the group had stolen some chairs and tables making this the first time in what felt like forever we were eating like sane people. Usually we were just given our food and we sort of plonked ourselves on the ground.

I was sitting there staring at nothing as the sun finally landed on my face. Complete agony. This agony was helped by almost everyone commenting on how red I looked. Thank you Captain Obvious. I’m not sure what response they wanted me to give so I just sort of shrugged at them while mentally contemplating various ways I could make their heads spontaenously combust.

I was rather short tempered when I was in pain.

I was going to spend the rest of the day in the tent, there was nothing planned today but it got suprisingly hot in there so I thought to venture out onto the beach again.

My burnt brain wasn’t functioning that well as I sort of lay there as the sun moved to where my shade was hiding. Damn sun.

Though I have to say that although I was burnt the Mediterranean sun was not as bad as the Pacific sun, it just felt warm not blazing hot so I counted that as a blessing.

Much of the day was spent hiding from the sun and wandering around the campsite. Apart from a little shop, a pool and a resturant there was nothing to do but lie on the beach.

We all took advantage of that to do nothing for once after almost three weeks of non stop moving.

Nothing really started happening until after dark. We all stared at Paula who was now making us dinner. Bridget and Kevin had both disappeared into thin air and we had no idea where they had gone. I think at least Bridget was a little bit sick of us, though I’m sure I don’t know why.

After dinner we all pretty much headed towards the pubs on the boardwalk. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. There wasn’t a single Greek to be seen, even the barpeople weren’t native as they all spoke english, which was kind of a disappointment I was hoping to meet at least a few locals.

We spent a long night drinking away the nights as everyone started to play pool, which just got worse the longer we were drinking.

Eventually a little too much alcohol was put in the system as some of us decided that skinny dipping was a good idea in the still warm water not a meter in front of us. About then I decided to head in for the night while I could still remember where it was that my tent was.

That proved almost impossible as I got back and realised that all the tents looked the same at close to one in the morning. I may have banged into a few unfornately placed trees before I found my way back to the tent. But the important part was that I found my way back.

 Thursday 18 September 2008 "Corfu. Four sun-filled days on the beautiful Greek island of Corfu. Windsurf, waterski, parasail, swim or just soak up the sun. Get off the beaten track in an open-top 4-wheel drive jeep or cruise along the coast. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wednesday 17 September 2008 "Today is your chance to explore the ancient ruins of Pompeii with a local guide. Later we take in the beautiful scenery of southern Italy as we travel east to board our overnight ferry to Greece." Contiki ... [Continue reading this entry]

 Tuesday 16 September 2008 "After leaving Rome we head south to Naples to board our complimentary motor boat to the island of Capri. After exploring the island we rejoin our boat and set sail to Sorrento situated on Italy's stunning Amalfi ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monday 15 September 2008 “Two full days to discover this amazing city. Time to visit the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel, enjoy lunch in the piazzas, or maybe shop along the Via del Corso. Sample some delato and pizza and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monday 15 September 2008 “Two full days to discover this amazing city. Time to visit the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel, enjoy lunch in the piazzas, or maybe shop along the Via del Corso. Sample some delato and pizza and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monday 15 September 2008 “Two full days to discover this amazing city. Time to visit the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel, enjoy lunch in the piazzas, or maybe shop along the Via del Corso. Sample some delato and pizza and ... [Continue reading this entry]