Around The World With 30 Litres On My Back

G’day! 

Im sure the news has hit you that Melbourne is melting. I can vouch for that – Im here in Australia and I dont think I have ever had to drink so much water in my life!!! We are talking temperatures of 43 degrees and ma ybe some more, its crippling and today public transport is free to make up for all the problems there have been with train tracks buckling and trams consequently being rammed with people. But Im still having a great time besides, am currently staying with my friends Fiona and Nick up in Brunswick (thank you guys xx), but I was in St Kilda for a bit and am spending a lot of time wandering around, and have been to Brighton. A lot! Yep there’s a Brighton here in Melbourne for when you want to feel closer to home, haha!

So, second time around I wondered if they were actually going to let me into the country. Melbourne Airport, 2.15am or so, march up to passport control, passport stamped, I walk away a little before flicking it open to reveal my new stamp, ha haaaaaa! Im in!! And no questions about how long Ill be staying or anything! I took a flight 1.40pm on Friday, direct via a change in Dubai (Starbucks coffee in Dubai works out at about £5!!!) and then a short one in Singapore. Emirates. They were good but no new films so I watched some of my old faves, All About Eve and An Affair To Remember. And they are pretty old, eh??I had a pretty rough time with20jetlag when I arrived. I finally got to my hostel around 5am, Id jumped on a bus to the city (I was the only person on it!) and was really lairy with a cabbie (girl travelling alone at 4am – you have to be!) who did take me to St Kilda from th ere and thank goodness the hostel had my reservation and stuff. Went to sleep as soon as I got in with thoughts of cockroaches on melatonin but woke up at 9 the following morning (still 10pm at home!!) so I got up and showered but felt so depressed and just exhausted so I went back to sleep at 10. As I fell asleep, I told myself that it was OK if I wanted to stay in bed all day. This was my time so I could do what I want, ha! I did eventually wake up at 4 in the afternoon!  At that point I really had to drag myself out of bed and get with the programme so I grabbed a bottle of water, stepped out and as soon as I got into the sunshine and heard the tinny click-click-click of the pedestrian crossing, I remembered why I was here. I spent my first day refamilarising myself with St Kilda – this is where I stayed when I first came to Melbourne backpacking 4 years ago – went to the beach, busy, busy, walked around, then I got on a tram into the city and walked around there too. Not much going on there, everywhere was quiet. Headed back to St Kilda when it got dark around 8.30pm or so and stopped off at an ice cream place and noticed a Canadian girl also on her own buying ice cream. Now, usua lly as a backpacker you can just go up to people and start talking shit and I thought I should make at least one friend today to alleviate this gloom of having flown direct but you know what? I just couldnt be bothered. So I didnt. And that was OK. I think that ice cream and a banana was all I could eat that day. 

Headed to the hostel – St Kilda Beach House btw – and thought Id quickly check emails. As it turned out I needed to get some kind of code from reception – some bloke on a computer told me – so I went to get one, came back, and the mood I was in, I could have just not told helpful bloke that I had managed to get a code, but I did and conversation was struck! Guy from Brighton (the one in England yeah yeah), my guardian angel! In 5 minutes we went from talking about logging on to jetlag (he had just flown in from 5 days in Thailand so was still a bit shaky) to how long we were staying to life back home. I liked him already, we had lots to talk about, and then he invited me out for a drink! We talked and talked and talked and I was so grateful that somebody so cool had turned up at just the right moment. I even went to sleep happier although the jetlag sleep pattern continued for at least another 3 or 4 days. And as all stories like this go, after that first night, I never saw him again… 

The weekend I landed was a party weekend as Australia Day was celebrated on20Monday 26th, and being a public holiday, everyone goes out raving. That day there was a massive gig called Big Day Out with Arctic Monkeys, Ting Tings, Prodigy and loads of Aussie bands Id never heard of. I walked back into my room aft er a shower on the Monday to find a new room mate, a Kiwi guy who was also a Neil Young fanatic. He offered me a ticket for half the price – still $100 – and said I HAD to see Neil Young (really???) but despite all the advice everyone has given me about taking up every opportunity that comes my way I thought about it and decided not to. And instead I went to Brighton Beach and hung out there and then spent some time listening to my iPod and reading at St Kilda Botanical Gardens. Which was a lovely way to spend the day. 

Yesterday was really nice – I met up with a friend from home, Ben (Larry you are a diamond) and a cousin, Feriel – Ben has just arrived so it was cool showing him the ropes and suggesting places to stay and places to see and Feriel has lived here for 8 years after moving from London so it was interesting getting her take on working here (she works in finance, oo-er) and what its really like to live here and stuff. Im due to meet up with an old friend, Katie, who I met in Bangkok some years ago so that should be cool too. I do have some long-lost cousins here but having trouble getting in touch!

So, for the past few days the temperatures have=2 0soared into the 40s so I have been seeking shelter at every opportunity although the shade isnt even that much cooler. Its crazy going to sit on the beach in this weather (the Aussies might not agree with me) but actually I have to say, the girls on the beaches are looking fiiiine but have not noticed any nice men. Where are the hot guys? So, I went to an open air cinema at the Royal Botanical Gardens the other evening – www.moonlight.com.au and there they all were, running in the park, hubba hubba, sorry I wasnt looking really, no. hahaha! I also went to Brighton to see Slumdog Millionaire – OH MY GOD!!!! YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM!!!! I have a stupid big fat grin on my face whenever I think about it. Brilliant film! It did cost me $16 to see though which is nearly £8. Things are actually not so cheap in Oz. Water is a big expense. A small bottle can cost £1 and if you’re after Evian, good luck. I think I really will have to make use of my working visa if Im going to spend some time here without coming home penniless. But with 20,000 backpackers looking for work in Melbourne, earning $13/hour as a shots girl in a nightclub could be the way to go….! 

Lotsa love, 

Farrah

PS. By the way Shireen – I think you are lying about Golden Gaytime aren’t you? You just want me to get my head bashed in – I cant find it in any sweet shops! And yeah, by the time I post the Havaianas, its cheaper for you to get them online!

PPS. My tremendous chums who emailed and texted when I needed you most – NW, LC, BA, LZ, RH, AK, MM, AA, LW – you are truly special xxx

SNOW!!!

Yep, its all over the news here! Any excuse for you guys not to go to work! Seriously, keep warm just as we are trying to keep cool overhere hee hee!!

So Im now in Adelaide on a very short stopover – I left Melbourne on Tuesday. I was sad to leave but its always good to go when you still enjoy being somewhere. On Friday I was in St Kilda having a coffee, waiting to meet up with my mate Ben and two Aborigine guys walked past and were just staring at me to the point where it felt really uncomfortable and the people on the next table noticed and they leant over and said “you should hide!” I just carried on drinking my coffee and writing my postcard…. about 10 minutes later, I heard a voice… : “Sister… SISTER! Hey sister!!” I looked up and it was the two guys again. They said, “Hey are you Aborigine?” I started laughing and said that wherever I went people thought I was one of them and they started laughing and said I looked like their sister hahahahaha! When they realised I was English they said it was good of me to come over and visit their country and they hoped I enjoyed my visit. We shook hands and they introduced themselves and then they went on their way!

By the way anyone who doesnt have my mobile overhere its +61 404 651 629. I turn my phone off when Im asleep so Linda, dont worry about calling me when you’re drunk!
Also, some pics of Melbourne: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=212725&l=53783&id=535680087

Im finding more and more as I settle back into a backpacker mentality that you do have to lay yourself open to opportunities and meeting random people and taking up offers that come your way. However, some opportunities you really should not take up, like if some musclehead on St Kilda persistently tries to buy you coffee (I told you there were no hot men on the beach). Some you really should. Like if your friend says you should hook up with some rockstars in Adelaide and they offer you a place to stay (Larry, again, you little sparkler, everyone needs a friend like you!), you should say yes! My friend Laura met Craig and Lili in Las Vegas and was a bridesmaid when they got married (Married in Vegas?? I love them already!!) and she suggested I meet them when I get to Adelaide. We made contact on Facebook and Lili immediately invited me to stay but being oh so English I said oh no dont worry Ill sort myself out and all that so I booked into a hostel but Craig offered to show me around town while I was here so we met up and again the offer to stay came so I accepted and here I am in this rather amazing house in the Adelaide Hills! Craig and Lili are the most kindest people and they have 2 wicked dogs – Max, a Rottweiler and Gomez – Im not sure what he is, but hes small with a lot of hair in his eyes and runs around like he’s on speed 😉 Craig is singer with BBSteal, they are on www.myspace.com/bbsteal Im just touched by all the people I have met who have offered help and stuff and Im finding more and more that Aussies are incredibly hospitable and when they invite you over they mean it! Adelaide is really hot – it hit 46 degrees the day I arrived and yesterday Craig showed me around the beaches, Glenelg, Henley, Semaphore and then we had Vietnamese for lunch. Craig and I have very similar views on politics and stuff so its been good talking to him about issues that most people wont talk about in case they get shot hahahaha! We walked around the Botanical Gardens a nd MH, you mentioned Norwood – we went for a drink there, it was actually a really nice suburb hahahahaha!! Its been really cool hanging out with them and if I hadnt met up with them I would still be in the middle of the City of Churches thinking there was bugger all to do. In fact, the night I arrived, I went for a walk and everything was quiet and closed. Where Melbourne had been bustling and people were out and about, here it was just … dead. It was like a poor man’s Christchurch. Honestly!! The hostel I stayed in for 1 night was nice and people staying there were nice too but despite having 2 fans blowing, the window and door open, it was too hot to sleep! The Adelaide Hills are much cooler..in all senses..!

So this evening Ill be getting on the Indian Pacific for 2 nights – ill get to Perth on Saturday morning (Ben should be flying in if his flight can leave England hahaha!) Wish me luck. Then again, I didnt come to Planet Earth for a simple life – that would be just too easy…

See you in Western Australia!

Fxx

Hey everyone

Im now in the deepest greenest gorgeous-smelling Southern Forests area of Western Australia. I made it to Perth and am now exploring the south coast and working my way round from Albany to Margaret River and back up to Perth.

The Indian Pacific was bloody good fun. After a day bushwalking in the Adelaide Hills with Craig the rock star where we spotted koalas, possums, turtles and -eek- poisonous hopping ants, it was time to head west and so I boarded the train which would take 2 nights to cross the Nullabor Plain. I had absolutely no idea what to expect apart from huge expanses of desert. So many people warned me off doing the train at all and when I said Id do the cheap seats they were even more like WHHHAAAAT??? and reviews I read were not favourable. I think Bill Bryson in ‘Down Under’ even suggests its not a good idea (do not quote me on that – I will find out as I just got it for my birthday), but as you know, I never listen to anyone so of course, this was a journey for me! I’ve travelled on overnight trains through Thailand alone and they were fine so I expected that this would be a similar if not better experience. Craig and Lili teased me and said that they heard a huge team of WeightWatchers would be on my train but I got on and it was full of … BACKPACKERS! ALRIGHT!!! PARTY TRAIN!!! The seats were comfy, larger than airline seats and almost fully reclining. I sat next to a Japanese student called Nao all the way and=2 0she was great. The other side of the aisle and behind we had some German backpackers and a couple of guys. And we’ve all exchanged contacts so thats nice. Yes, there were times when you felt the scenery was on pause but I slept all of the 2nd afternoon (as one of the German girls said, ”I cant believe you slept all day!”) Sleeping was not a problem although the first night fully through the desert was quite cold so if you ever take this trip and dont fork out for your own cabin (boring – you’d never meet anyone) take a blanket. The staff were all really cool and friendly. The food wasnt too expensive and it was OK but loads of people take their own. From the train I saw kangaroos hopping away and that was pretty magic. I saw the stars really brightly at night. And we stopped at a couple of places – Cook, a ghost town – Im not even sure why the bones remain – and Kalgoorlie – a gold rush town where men still go to mine and – ahem – enjoy the company of the ladies of the night – I tried to get some pics of dollies but they started screaming and running indoors. I was with one of the guys off the train. We laughed at them and went off to eat pizza.

Some pics of Adelaide and the train: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213654&id=535680087&l=2fac4

In Perth I stayed with my friends Frank and Andy. I met them some years ago in Koh Samui when I hijacked their taxi (if I emailed you on my RTW trip you’ll know who Im talking about) and they just havent managed to get rid of me since (And I love you so much boys xx). My first story about Perth begins the day I arrived. Frank picked me up from the station and left me in his house to get on and he went to work. I sorted myself out, worked out how to get a bus into town and so on and was about to leave the house when I saw a massive yellow thing jump off the wall. I froze. I ran into Franks room and picked up a Havaiana and threw it at the yellow thing. It jumped!! OH MY GOD!! A MASSIVE JUMPING YELLOW SPIDER!!!! I shrieked and grabbed my stuff and ran out of the house!!! Even though it was boiling hot outside, I was shivering all over. I texted some friends to see if they could identify the spider. I texted Frank. And I texted Andy who was due to fly in from Malaysia that afternoon, warning him there was a yellow jumping thing in the house. I went straight to a bookshop in the city and looked up what it could be, keeping the spider pictures at arms length and sort of half keeping the pages closed. There was something called a grey spider. I thought it might be that but none of the descriptions said these spiders jump. My friends texted back to say that as long as it wasnt black and red then dont worry. But arrrggghh yuk I was pretty shook up. Later on in the day, Andy contacted me to say he was back so I headed back to the house. He asked me where my kangaroo was. I was like, what? And he said ý ellow, jumping thing?’and I told him what happened and he replied ever so calmly…óhhh the grasshopper?? I put him ooutside..’. <sigh of relief and eyeball roll>.

The evening I arrived in Perth, Ben also flew in from London! He was a bit jetlagged but nothing as bad as I was as his flight was considerably shorter than mine, minus the stopover in Singapore and not going as far as Melbourne! Actually, I think I fell asleep before him that night! Perth was just hot, hot, hot! We spent a lot of time at the beaches; Cottesloe and Scarborough, had drinks in Fremantle and spent all day riding bikes and playing with Quokkas on Rottnest Island. During this time Australia also witnessed its worst bushfires ever. Very sad stuff guys. One man was on TV saying ‘I lost my 2 kids mate” . So matter of fact, so, but we’ve got to get on and help each other through this.

I also had my birthday last week and I had a lovely day! Thanks so much everyone for birthday wishes, emails, texts, calls and so on!!! I was rather touched 🙂 Frank and Andy were amazing and made me a very naughty breakfast of french toast, fruit, cream and coffee, Ben managed to bring extra pressies from back home for me and then the boys took me to the Hippo Grill at Hilary’s Boat Harbour and I had an extra special time at the Aquarium of Western Australia and touched a shark and flirted with a sea lion (he was soooo adorable) before meeting up with a very old school friend also called Ben20who I havent seen in 20 years despite us both living in the same village until our early twenties!! He is very well and has now moved out here with his girlfriend. It wasnt weird at all, we had loads to talk about and hopefully we shall meet up again!

So now Ben and I are touring the cool forests (and watching out for bushfire!). We got a hire car and drove 5 hours straight down to Albany (and missed out on seeing the most talked about beach at Two People Bay because of EXTREME fire risk and have made our way through the hippy town of Denmark, hugged some giant Tingle trees and we are now in Pemberton ready to climb the giant Gloucester tree which reaches I believe 60 feet? The beaches down here are amazing. We have hooked up with people that we have been staying with in the hostels and gone to see turquoise waters. We even watched a man fishing a shark the other evening – he cut his tail off but still he wriggled! We are staying in a dorm with some crazy guys – one, French guy, William is going for a run tomorrow morning and is taking me with him because I havent been running since I got to Australia – Its been too hot!! – so um, we’ll see how I do waking up at 7am and running for the first time in 3 weeks… ouch!

Will post some pics up of Perth and our little road trip next time – havent had time to upload them all yet! And by the way, I have a new word – BOGAN! Its what they call chavs overhere, hee hee hee!!!!

Lots of love xxxxx

Get the most troublesome bit out of the way first

We decided to take the very long and very straight Albany Highway all the way down to Albany and work our way back round the coast to Perth . This drive took 5 hours and took us alongside mountain ranges and through English-looking green woods and then through bleak scrub not unlike Dartmoor . Pick up free maps at info centres which surprisingly are MUCH better than the ones you pay for!

Charge up the iPod

Aussie radio stations have a fondness for playing Midnight Oil. Without the MP3 connector I would have had to sing. Ben would not have been happy.

Take loads of water, enough snacky food for 3 days and always fill up on petrol

We always tried to have about 5 litres of water between us in the car and at least half a tank of petrol – there are stretches of road with absolutely NOTHING for miles and miles and no other cars. The roads are long and it can be tiring so its good to stop for a quick snack now and again. However, I don’t think either of us wants to see another can of tuna for a loooong time!

Get some of that antibacterial hand stuff and tissues

You never know when you will need to stop for a wee at the side of the road. Watch out for snakes and kick yourself when you drive round the next corner and find a 5-star deluxe toilet with soap.

Pay attention to the many crosses at the side of the road.

Every so often and usually always under a tree will lie a cross with someone’s name and date of death on it.

Tell Ben that he is a wonderful person

“Please can you look where you are driving!”

Make friends with the many people you will meet in hostels who are living there

We seemed to end up in dorms with people on working visas who had made it their permanent home. This was not a bad=2 0thing – they left their laptops and things lying around which made it feel safe to leave valuables in the room but they bloody woke us up early.

Take the time to eat every kind of cake you would never dare eat in England

Lamingtons, Bestings, Melting Moments. Full of fat, cream and sugar. Eat them, who cares?? The bakeries here are a national institution and make the best cakes for very little money.

Learn to LOVE coffee

Coffee is a major business in WA. Coffee is advertised more than beer and its almost impossible to get a bad coffee. Even a crappy looking petrol station will have a good coffee machine to give you a buzz. Every type of coffee you can think of.

Tell Farrah that she is a wonderful person

“Oh for gods sake!”

Don’t risk getting caught in a bushfire

In Albany , everyone raved about Two Peoples Beach so we tried to go check it out. The road leading to the beach was 16km long with no side roads and lined both sides by forest. Just as we turned in we saw a sign saying the beach was closed due to EXTREME fire risk. We continued gingerly for about 3km then decided that it was not worth the risk – we aren’t locals, we don’t know how seriously to take these things so we decided to leave well alone. We returned to a café at the top of the road and were told by the staff that they had never seen the warning before and that everyone was a bit wary given the situatio n in Victoria . We also missed a bushfire in Prevelly where we based ourselves for Margaret River by a week and when we went to sleep at night we did so with knowledge of our nearest exit – run for the sea!!!!

Stay at the Blue Wren in Denmark and hang out with your room mates

Ahhh, a lovely hostel with a great big golden Labrador and chooks living under the house. Here we met Janine, Shaunagh and Gareth. We went to see the sunset at the beach together and took Shaunagh and Gareth to look at Giant Tingle trees in the Valley of the Giants. I can now tell the difference between yellow, red and Rates tingles. I am such a geek.

Always have emergency back up dinner in the boot

Days are light until 8pm, it didn’t get dark until 8.30pm at the start of our road trip. By the time you get some place and check in its pushing 9pm. Almost everywhere in these rural areas shut at 9. Its good to have a packet of 50c noodles in the bag somewhere. But we didn’t eat them until the very end of our trip….

Appreciate how beautiful life is away from the city despite it being not so easy.

Pictures of Perth : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=217860&id=535680087&l=3c5b7

Look for stars in Pemberton

Pemberton is an old timber t own in the middle of national park territory. Its perfect for looking at stars at night. We took some head torches out so we could find our way home. The locals found this highly amusing. I told them I was looking for mining work in Kalgoorlie .

Climb the Gloucester Tree

Bloody hell. Im never doing that again!!! A huge 60m Karri tree with spikes sticking out, a few people sat at the bottom said they tried to climb it but had returned because the vertigo had got too much for them. It wasn’t the heights that worried me but the strength to climb up without any help!! If you missed a step or fell to the side there was only one way to go – down!! So, wearing my trusty Merrells, I took one spike and then another. I felt my arms pull, I ached but I kept going. And this was after running a couple of k with the mad Frenchman from our hostel.  There’s a lookout built on top and once I was up there I was shaking! Shaking but so glad I did it! Ben went one be tter and also climbed the Bicentennial Tree. Nutter.

Tell Ben that he is a wonderful person

“If you keep looking out of the back window Im going to make you map read. I don’t care if it makes you feel sick, just look at the road!”

Fill your tummy with goodies in Margaret River

Wine tasting, chocolate, olives, marron, venison, fudge, coffee, its all going down in Margaret River ! We visited some wineries. Ben was very gentlemanly and offered to drive. As it happened I didn’t like much of what I tasted. Ben bought a bottle of red which I couldn’t take – I pas sed out after one glass (haha no jokes about me being a lightweight please) But boy oh boy, chocolate!!! But it melted as quickly as we ate it so sorry I cant send you any! Also visited a cave!

Marvel at the beaches along the way

White sand, turquoise water. Keep your bathers on every day, plan time to make several stops at every bit of pretty beach.

Laugh at the ‘chi chi’ people in Dunsborough

Nice town, nice beach but where did all these rah rahs come from?

Walk the jetty at Busselton

Every time you look up you think you are nearer the end. You are not. Its 2km long.

Find your inner peace by swimming with dolphins at Bunbury

Im glad that we left Bunbury til the end. A lovely place and we stayed in a really good hostel too with hammocks and places to chill out. The sunsets were sublime. We woke up early every day to go spot dolphins. One morning we arrived to find that we had missed them by a couple of minutes and they had been interacting for nearly half an hour. BUT! They returned about 5 times that morning and swam up and down past our legs with curiosity. Ben was a happy boy and ended up eating the muffin he refused to eat when he thought he had missed out on seeing dolphins YET AGAIN (Ben always seems to miss dolphins by split seconds on his travels haha).

Make a quick decision on what to do with those last few days before Ben returns to the cold, grey and damp of England

Not enough time to do the coast north of Perth up to Monkey Mia and Exmouth as planned so we went as far as Cervantes and visited the Pinnacles desert which is full of weird limestone formations. The best time to go is just before sunset when the sun is low and to be back in town before it gets completely dark. On arriving in Cervantes we noticed a bushfire!! An electricity pole had caught fire resulting in a power cut for the town. The blaze was quickly put out but it did mean that all the shops shut up for the day, no ATMs worked and that we would have to live by oil lamp that night. However, the power came back on about 9pm and Ben, as determined as he was to not eat those 50c noodles, insisted we see if anything was open. Nope. We had noodles for dinner. They were good.

Tell Farrah that she is a wonderful person

“Will you just shut up???”

Visit all those places the Lonely Planet makes very little mention of

Such as Yanchep National Park where we saw koalas, had the privilege of being jumped past by kangaroos and sat in warm sunshine on green grass by a big lake where pelicans ate fish. And Farrah ate chocolate. Yeah!

Say bye bye to Ben, look back on your photos and decide what to do next…

Until my next adventure, here are some pikchush: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221804&id=535680087&l=43fa6

Hello everyone!!

This is my last email to you from Australia! Im afraid that I have decided now to go home and face English weather, doom and gloom 🙁 But at least its almost Spring and the clocks go forward soon 🙂  Have thoroughly loved my time in Oz and the last 3 weeks have been just bloody amazing! I have spent time in Perth with my old school friend Ben and his lovely lady Kris, met up with another old friend, Tracey who moved out here and is now married with kids, let Andy and Frank look after me, been kidnapped by drag queens (er yeah Im in recovery as I write hahaa) and seen parts of Australia many Aussies have never seen!

First of all I made the decision to stay and make use of my working visa. Unfortunately, despite many cups of coffee, phone calls and me practically forcing my way into production companies for a ‘chat’, TV work is extremely thin on the ground in Perth. Yep, I could have gone to Sydney, where a friend gleefully managed to land a top job within days of stepping off the plane, but in my eyes, starting again in Sydney just wasn’t something I felt 100% about – its a big city and learning to make friends again, build contacts up from scratch, etc… I just didnt feel it was right for me right now when I do it so much in London and I just felt more comfortable doing that in Perth but Sydney is TV central…However, right at the 11th hour I managed to land a shooting gig on a zombie movie and luckily my availability fitted in with them so yippee, I have Australian experience to slap on my CV as well as stuff covered in green body paint and strawberry jam. Yum!

Due to lack of work I decided to be creative with the time I planned to carry on in Australia. I decided that staying in Australia indefinitely by means of getting a day job wasn’t what I wanted to do so rather than sit around waiting for work in the time Id given myself, I headed off to the Outback! Yep, almost 2 weeks messing about in Alice Springs, camping out under the stars without a tent in Uluru and then living underground in Coober Pedy. A very fun experience. Alice Springs was full of flies and has a dry river running through it! I made some great friends in my hostel with whom I went out partying, culminating in being thrown out of Lasseters Casino and so returning to the hostel and making use of a cheap bag of goon (errrr!) which resulted in sore heads the next day. Many Aboriginals live in the Alice so I took the opportunity to use the Cultural Centre and find out more about Australia’s indigineous people but somehow ended up learing more about the Muslim Cameleers who came from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to creat the Ghan railroads that run through the middle of Oz. I also walked right under the web of a golden orb spider and they are bloody HUGE!!!! It didnt scare me although it did freak me out – its so big, I was just in awe of it, its about the size of my hand. Seeing it ensured that any other spiders I saw from then on would not be a problem because they’d never be as big as that one, euuurrrgghh!

My trip to Uluru was totally amazing. I slept out in a sleeping bag in the middle of nowhere, had ants crawl on me, mosquitoes bite me, frogs jump on me, wind howl at me, rain pour on me… and I loved it!! There were some girly girls in our group who didnt want to pee in the bushes, moaned a little about staying in a creek with no facilities and slapped full make up on at 5.30am. They were really nice but they really stood out – the rest of us just got on with it! We did stay in some campgrounds so we had access to kitchens and showers and we all made dinner together every night and Im proud to say that I now have a great little group of friends who I hope to see again when we’re all back in Europe.

Uluru has real holy significance to the Indigineous people but it wasn’t until I did a 10km walk around the base did it really hit home how spiritual it was. Yeah you see pictures of it all the time but not until you get there does it take on meaning. We watched sunset and sunrise over the rock, hiked through Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and had some very crazy fun in Coober Pedy where Opal Miners have made a killing! We ended our trip through the red centre in Adelaide and with my new friends went to see some of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I did plan to meet up with Craig the rockstar and Lili from my earlier visit but we both ended up being so busy!

“There’s big rock in the middle of Australia? You’re shitting me!”
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=230372&id=535680087&l=6f4ef4f9f6

And so back to Perth to get ready for the return to England. I have thought and thought about staying on but my reluctance to go to Sydney and lack of work in Perth doesnt give me a heap of reasons to stay here especially when I am running incredibly low on funds and am hitting my last $122 as I write – Of course there are a number of people and things in England to come back to!!! – I have made some tremendous friends here, experienced some really magic and special things, revisited other friends and discovered  how hospitable and laid back the culture is here and for that, Im so grateful, you all know who you are. Im sad to come home and have had many propositions from the gorgeous gay friends I have made offering marriage so that I dont have to come home (hahahaha) and as my beautiful drag queen friend Maddie told me…”Just click your heels together and think of us…you’ll be back”…

And so people, that is the end of my travelling for now but as always, watch this space…
Farrah xx

Ho Chi Minh City is hot! Like, really hot. Today we hit 34 degrees! And Im not going to complain, even though I have felt a bit faint and exhausted through the day. So, my first adventure in over 3 years. Loving it! Got here on Saturday evening after a pleasant 18 hr journey via Hong Kong on Cathay. Already arranged hotel from home via email; didnt know what to expect – would the taxi driver turn up? Would I be shown some dodgy cellar room? But Im pleased that word-of-mouth didnt lead me astray. Im staying at the very pleasant Madame Cuc184, just off the busy Khao San Road-like Bui Vien Street. Im up on the 6th floor and there’s no lift but I get a comfy sleep for $16 a night with brek and dinner of spring rolls and noodles included so can’t complain. Area very quiet after midnight though, not keen on walking back alone at that time. Staff fab. House doggie cute. But havent had rabies shots so dont dare play with it.

Sorted self out on Saturday and then went to find Minna, who was staying in the more upscale Dong Khoi area. My phone tells me it should only take 20 minutes to reach her but as its my first experience of crossing the roadin Vietnam, I take an hour to find her. Sheer motorcycle madness. Fearless. As are the locals who confidently stride out into the road. Bikes and cars either slow down or swerve around them. I stand at the kerb and look on aghast. I have tried to do as the locals do but end up getting beeped at. Im sure thats not whats supposed to happen.

I find Minna and feel safe. We go for some drinks at a very cool open courtyard dressed up in fairy lights. Cheap. 15 quid for a round of 6 drinks. She walks me back to my hotel and I fall asleep in the heat. Did not sleep so good on the plane so Im hoping that jetlag will pass me by.

Minna headed up north on the train towards Hue after that; I stayed in Saigon to explore! We both spent some time being a bit ill in our first 24 hrs. I think its just about getting used to the heat and cuisine rather than eating/doing anything dodgy. I woke up the next day at10.30am. Perfect. I missed breakfast at the hotel so made for the nearest ‘safe’ place to get a coffee and you’ll call me a cop-out for this but I went to Gloria Jeans and got a cappuccino rather than brave a local stall for some civet coffee. The reason for this is Im just not feeling fearless enough yet to communicate with the locals. Give me a bit of time and Ill be eating beef noodle soup off the streets but 3 days in and I feel like I need someone to show me the ropes… I dont feel like the crazy backpacker I used to be. Yet.

So coffee and warm banana muffin downed (for 115000 vnd, about £3.50, would have been far cheaper at a street stall) I ventured off to see the Reunification Palace. Been asked a lot if I want a motorcycle ride. Since coming off a bike in Cuba I dont think so. Im sure these guys are way way too experienced to get clumsy but I just cant risk going to a foreign hospital again. I have seen people carrying TVs on the back of bikes and seen girls riding in heels but … oh I might get on one..

Anyway, the Palace… so it was the President’s Palace and it was very much like a less sumptuous, less ostentatious Grand Pavillion. It has the same rooms for the same function as Brighton’s very own but just.. less showy. I was interested to learn about Vietnam’s history there as I actually didnt know so much before I came here. I learnt a great deal about the Vietnam War at the War Remnants Museum. Very sad and I felt really angry to see that the US government dont really learn do they? And we dont know why the US came to Vietnam. They just like to meddle. Anyways, I was just learning about Agent Orange when I had to leave as the Museum was closing. Id like to go back and learn some more. The Lonely Planet warns that the Museum uses a lot of propaganda. I dont really understand how you explain away a bunch of nutters murdering children and the elderly and then reading that one Senator (or ex?) Bob Kerry stood down after admitting he was involved in such atrocities. I mean… Spoke to a Vietnamese guy who says Vietnam has a history of war so he wasnt going to point blame; he’d be happy to welcome an American here, just as he would anyone else.

I stopped at a cafe near Notre Dame Cathedral for beef noodles. They were yum! I watched the world go by for a bit, then went for a wander. I found the local mosque! Its in a cluster of halal restaurants – actually, I see a few halal restaurants in and around Saigon and a few men here and there with their bonnets and also some women in the hijab so there’s definitely an Islamic presence here. I ate some ice cream and went off back to my hotel to chill.

Today I went on a little trip! I met some nice girls at my hotel who informed me they were leaving after 3 weeks touring the country. I had a good breakfast of bread (oops), eggs and banana and then I got on a little bus to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was probably a 2hrdrive away from the city? I hung out with a Norwegian girl who told me she was leaving. I learnt a lot about the Viet Cong. I tried to get in the tunnel but had to backtrack – them were small!! Some Japanese lads from the bus did it and they came out looking like they were gonna die! Some other people went further than me but came back out again! Those who managed it said it was pitch black and they were crawling on their hands and knees. Eeek! Had some manioc, just like the Viet Cong. Have had it before but never with sugar and peanuts. Was good! Got on the bus and fell asleep.

Got back to town and had a bit of a wander. A girl who sidled up to me to cross the road revealed herself to be from Crystal Palace and touring Vietnam because she too, had missed it out on her RTW trip! She told me that she was leaving tomorrow.

Have had a couple of mosquito bites and I fancy an ice cream before bed. My writings not what it was, Hopefully next account will be better. If you want to pretend that you are here, just walk on the pavement outside Heals on Tottenham Court Road and close your eys. Smells the same, I kid you not! Will write some more soon…

So far, Saigon, so good
I enjoyed my last day in HCMC for now walking around before setting off to explore new territory. I woke up pretty late. So late in fact that the girl working at the hotel commented “I can’t believe you woke up at midday… And missed breakfast!” Well those who know me know that lazy lie-ins are not unusual for me, but I did feel embarrased having a stranger comment on it…!

I tried my first Vietnamese coffee. Yeah, OK, not from a street seller; from a posh hotel cafe, Lanmien, haha. It was nice. Strong black coffee, bit ‘spicy’ if that doesn’t sound weird, and drunk with condensed milk, which actually made they whole drink taste like chocolate. Yum but must try not to have too many…

And on to my 2nd visit to the War Remnants Museum. I was really enjoying my walk and bought a coconut from a man on the street for about 50p. I was enjoying drinking it and enjoying the sun. I thought about having some lunch pretty soon as I missed breakfast before going to the museum, so dug out my Lonely Planet. It said there were a couple of nice lunch places just up the road from there, so I reached  the museum and carried on walking, enjoying my coconut. I finished it and almost immediately my stomach gurgled. A strange hot feeling and a pressure below. Damn it! I needed a toilet. Fast! I rushed to the restaurant as highlighted by Lonely Planet. Damn it! No longer there!! So scurried into a local bar where lots of local men were smoking…not the best choice but a necessary choice.

I never used to use a Lonely Planet. I did my solo RTW trip without a map or a book. OK, maybe local maps once I got there. Why am I now depending on guide books when I used to be a real pro at turning up somewhere with no accommodation booked and no idea who I would meet or where I would eat? Sad that naive me has gone into hiding.

So… disaster averted. Decided to have some noodles at this bar and went to the museum. Fascinating to discover the upper floor was exhibiting photographs as taken by war photo journalists, one a Brit called Larry Burrows (who became a casualty of war in Laos). Great stuff.

The next day I was no longer running for the loo and was ready to move on to Cambodia! Ill return to HCMC at the end of my trip to fly home. As I walked to the bus station, I felt worried.. sad.. but why? I think I’ve become complacent, stuck. I’d been here 4 days and there’s so much to see. Why did I feel anxious about moving on? Getting too comfortable in old skin; need to force oneself to push off and discover!

And once I felt able to being open, I started to enjoy the ride. While waiting for the bus, a strange man started to hover. I looked at him. He looked at me. I thought about asking if he was OK (I would have started jabbering without hesitation on many other trips) and then he asked me if I had seen his friend? He was looking to say goodbye to his friend with “long hair and a beard”. He was having a bit of trouble conversing. I asked him where he was from. “France” he replied. So I told him I spoke French & we started jabbering! He told me he played the violin and that he had originally come to Asia because he had a Chinese girlfriend, and in English, added “She was a bit crazy” (keep running this over in my mind for a giggle – the way he said it hahaha) and he told me that he used to wander into Angkor Wat after hours and play his violin and security would wander the grounds trying to work out where the sound was coming from. He told me to remember this when I visit. I shall.

Soon, I was asked to get on the bus. Sure enough, Monsieur Violin’s friend was already on the bus and sat across from me. We didnt talk though. I was still tired – dunno why – heat? still jetlagged? – and slept all the way to the border.

Phnom Penh – Good enough to eat?!

So, border controls and visas were not an issue. I have a multiple entry Vietnam visa bought over the internet and paid for on arrival (US $50 + $25 online) and also paid for my Cambodia visa online for $25. Could still pay at immigration if needed to. Just queue up, they stamp you on exit at Moc Bai and then you go a little way into Bavet in Cambodia and they stamp you again. My immigration officer asked me where I was going.

“Phnom Penh”

“And then?”

“Siem Reap. To see Angkor Wat”.

“And then?”

“Maybe Laos. Then back to Vietnam”

“And then you come to see me again, OK!”

It was a cute little moment.

Once through the controls we went a tiny way again and we stopped for lunch. Thanks to Madame Cuc’s breakfast I didnt feel the need for a cooked lunch. Neither did the French hippy dude. I never got his name but he told me he was a lorry driver in France and he would work for 4 months of the year and then bum around Asia the rest of the time. He had tried to open a bookshop in China but said it was too complicated to work out. He was cool. He paid for a coke for me and he had a coffee. We were rather hurried by the bus crew. I thought about having an emergency wee but so rushed were we I just thought, no probs, there’s a toilet on board.

So on the bus, I finished my coke. After about 20 minutes I knew I needed the loo. So I went to the back of the bus and to my shock, horror, the door was well and truly blocked. By piles and piles of packages of rice! I sighed and went down to the front of the bus. The crew were asleep (obv not driver!). I tried to wake them but they were well and truly out of it. I sat back down and tried to enjoy the lush and green countryside. I told the hippy dude and he shrugged in a French kind of way. 20 minutes later I knew I would really need the toilet so I walked back to the back and tried to move some of the packs myself. They weren’t heavy but the pile went deep down and I just thought maybe we would stop again soon. I couldnt be the only person needing a wee? I went to wake one of the crew up again. He woke up and I told him I needed the loo. He came to the back and saw what my problem was. He gestured to me that it would be OK and he walked back down, sat down and fell asleep again! This time, hippy dude became concerned for me and walked to the back of the bus to see the problem for himself. He now understood what a problem this was and together we lifted the packs together and chucked them on the empty back seats. A woman, I think she may have been Vietnamese, her husband, certainly could communicate with the crew, came to help and then her husband came to say the crew had said we’d be stopping in 5 minutes. Well, we continued to unload and deblock anyway. We came down to the final pack blocking the door from opening. I felt so excited. Hippy dude tried to open the door. It was locked on the outside but the lock wouldnt slide. Oh no! But then I shook it a little, it gave, slid away, Hippy Dude opened the door and… found more stuff inside!!! NOOOOOOOOOO! “Ah… non plus!” said Hippy, rather dejected. We both went and sat down. I didnt even have a pot to piss in.

Crewman finally came up to see what exactly was going on because maybe-Vietnamese woman alerted him that 5 mins had passed and I still needed the loo (she may have too but perhaps too ladylike to admit). I saw crewman go to the back and start to empty the toilet of all these packs. Yes oh yes oh yes!!!! He came down about 5 minutes later and said I could go to the loo. Oh boyyyyyy!! Never been so happy! I ran to the back, sat down, didnt even shut the door and let go! I didnt even mind that the seat was scorching hot! Happy, I went back to my seat and fell asleep. And in all… my bladder was waiting almost 100 minutes for relief.

At least I didn’t drink a coconut today.

So… Phnom Penh. At first glanced looked like Chiang Mai in Thailand. But not as pretty. HCMC had a lot of French influence. It reminded me a lot of Port Louis on my island. I wasnt sure if I was going to like PP. A tuk tuk driver took me to my hotel – www.bluetonguecafe.com

I’d been told to get a room by the lake but after trying to work out where to stay around the lake and reading bad review after bad review regarding bed bugs, uncleanliness and being hassled to buy drugs I just thought bugger it, spend a bit more and stay somewhere nice. So I have! But what I made up for by not staying at the lake I lost elsewhere; constant requests to take bike rides, moto rides, tuk tuks… ahhhh! It would have been OK if it wasnt so relentless! I got pretty tired of it all to be honest. I wandered around the riverside where it seems life is abuzz, stopped by a cafe for some ice cream, and thought about calling it a day. I got talking to a waitress. Her English was very good. She told me she too had travelled around SE Asia (she didnt like Thailand). We talked about Cambodia’s history and she told me foreigners knew more than her own people. She also advised against walking around at night alone and gave me a good well-lit route back to my hotel (and a safer way than I had planned originally), which worked. Bonne nuite, Farrah!

Finally I get it

I tried to wake up at 7am to get a good headstart on seeing things today. I failed miserably and got up at 9am instead. Wanted to get breakfast pretty quick so went downstairs without doing my hair or putting any make up on. It’s about time I left my western face at home. I got chatting to the waiter. He paid me a compliment and said I looked very young. Well that was enough for me. Buh-bye Monsieur Dior and off out I went.

There were 2 things I wanted to visit in Phnom Penh; S21 and the Killing Fields. S21 was the concentration camp during Pol Pots regime. It was exactly as they left it. Old beds upon which they tortured prisoners. The gallows. The barbed wire. I read a lot about its history, the Khmer Rouge, and looked at every photo of those who died. They deserved to be given attention; every man, woman and child. I spent a good, maybe 2hrs, reading and digesting everything and though it was sad, terrifying and made me angry, I felt somehow as if I had seen so much horror already, maybe from what we see on the news daily, that I felt largely unaffected. Towards the end of touring the former prison, a young girl approached me and introduced me to an old man. This man was one of only 7 survivors. I immediately burst into tears and then wouldn’t stop. I’m sad now as I write.

I had some lunch across the road at a beautiful cafe, the Boddhi Tree and arranged with the owner for his friend to take me to the killing fields in his tuk tuk, a good 35 minute ride. At first I was scared of riding all that way in a tuk tuk but I soon sat back, remembered how to be carefree, and enjoyed the ride.

The killing fields is where prisoners came to be executed. It’s strange that in Buddhist thought you must be buried for your soul to rest, but there are thousands of skulls and bone parts on display. I treated the whole site as a graveyard and with respect. I saw several teeth and even part of a jaw in the ground off the path; as time goes by and rains come and go, body parts and clothing emerges from the ground. The best I could do as I walked around was ask god to bless these poor, poor people. When I went to meet my driver at the end I spoke to his friend (cambodians speak more English than their Vietnamese counterparts I find). I said I was very sorry for him, his family and his country. He said it was a very long time ago but I was very lucky to come from England. Indeed, I am.

Back in town, I felt a new warmth for Phnom Penh. I smiled at everyone asking if I wanted a ride. I even joked with a couple of the drivers I came across. And I really noticed how many old white men really reckoned themselves for having a fine young Cambodian filly on their arm.

My time in Phnom Penh ended on a bit of a downer – I woke up to find my right arm and shoulder covered in about 50 red blotches. On closer inspection I then found bites all over my body. It was horrid. It looked horrid. And the more I thought about it, the more horrid it seemed. I put on a sleeved t-shirt and tried to forget about it.

The bus journey to Siem Reap cost $11 and took 6 hours. Not bad considering the distance covered and the views of the lush green coutryside that came with it. Rural Cambodians seem to live in homes on stilts with big ditches built out the front; I expect during wet season these fill up and provide a ready-made pool. Or maybe just a watering hole.

My first impression of Siem Reap didnt excite me. The bus station was on a new road with new buildings. But once my tuk tuk drove through a park and over an old bridge and past colonial style buildings I knew I would like it. My guesthouse was just slightly off the main drag and down an undeveloped but busy road. It was bright and spacious and I hoped that whatever had attacked me last night hadnt travelled with me to finish the job 🙁

I went for a wander around town. Although there were still the same offers of rides as in Phnom Penh, it seemed less urgent here in Siem Reap. A bit more laid back. I got some ice cream and walked up to the National Museum across the Royal Gardens.

It’s always when you’re a bit under the weather that you feel a bit lonely. You dont have a friend to check in on you and ask if you’re OK. I hadnt met anyone at my guesthouse and all I seemed to see in the way of travellers in Siem Reap was couples! A bit fed up, I went and sat in a really expensive restaurant. Had I been feeling a bit more up to it I might have braved the market and sat with another solo traveller but at that moment I felt the only way to stop my arm and shoulder itching was to splurge on food. And good Khmer food it was; catfish amok – catfish, oooh I ate one of those cute moustachioed fish! – eel – I tried to enjoy it but the thought of slimy and slippery kept coming into my head, and for afters, sweet mungbean. Slimy but very tasty. I went back to my room and watched some telly. I had a big day the next day.

I was going to see Angkor Wat.

It was a hot, hot morning. A mini bus full of people in the heat with several bottles of water. We climbed all over crumbling temples in the Angkor complex and oohed and ahhed at ancient carvings. I made some friends which was nice; 2 Dutch guys (of course), an Austrian, a couple of Germans and a fellow English person. Oh and some Aussies and an ex-pat American. But guess what? They were all leaving the next day!!! WHATTTTTT!? Anyways, we enjoyed the day, we learnt some history, we got to see the bas relief that told teh story of the churning of the milk (ha haa Rob!) but it wasnt until we climbed a big hill, Phnom Bakheng, for sunset that I fully appreciated how amazing Angkor would have been in its day and of course now. The crazy thing is, about a million people lived in this city when at the time, only 50000 people lived in London. I think the city was deserted when all the resources got used up.

That evening me and my new friends arranged to have dinner and have some drinks on Pub Street which was great fun. The guys got beer. At 50 cents a bottle it was a good deal. My dinner cost $1. Last night it cost me $20.We laughed and laughed and laughed and left in the early hours of the morning.

I spent a couple of more days exploring the ancient ruins and more temples.  I went to watch the sunrise too over Angkor Wat which was just amazing.  I ended up doing a much smaller tour with just 2 other people which was fun too but we just didnt gel like our other group. But a lasting memory Ill have that makes me laugh every time I think about it happened at one of the temples. An old priest if you will, was blessing 2 French girls, tying flowers around their wrists and dabbing them with water that he was blessing. They were like “oooh this is like really cosmic man” and they were really getting into it (funny in itself) and then they asked him if he was at the temple evryday to which he grinned a toothless grin and said in English “No I go home every day”. It had me and everyone else pissing ourselves laughing. Maybe you had to be there..!

I slept with the lights on the rest of the time in Siem Reap. Apparently bed bugs dont like it. I didnt see any more bites. At least I dont think so. But being alone gave me more time than necessary to worry about these things. I was paranoid that they’s dome to Siem Reap with me from Phnom Penh. Sometimes they looked like they were fading. Other times they were super itchy. Getting a mosquito bite was a relief in a strange way. As for the anti malarials, so far so good. No cramping and havent had to use the Buscopan either.

Maybe another reason I was feeling weird was that I was going to miss Cambodia. I had been really affected by the history in Phnom Penh and just so touched by the generosity, friendliness and kindness of the Cambodians. Moving on was always going to happen. I had got comfortable at my guesthouse and liked my little walk into town every day. One evening a woman had asked me to help her feed her baby. She needed milk. Formula milk. It cost $8! $8!! Really??? Does it cost that much at home?! She was so grateful. But it didnt feel good. It just made me feel sad.

Vientiane

And on to Laos! I was a bit dubious about the safety record of Lao Airlines but apparently they haven’t had a crash since 2000. So that’s OK then. Siem Reap airport was very modern and kind of hi-tec, a stark contrast to the rest of the country. I discussed this with Simon, a guy Id met on my 2nd trip to Angkor and who happened to be getting a flight the same time as me but to Vietnam. I had thought about getting a long distance bus to Pakse and to go exploring the 4000 islands and coo at Irrawaddy dolphins but that wouldn’t really leave me enough time to see the rest of Vietnam. No. Flight straight to Vientiane would be more convenient.

And it was, it was very pleasant. We didn’t have to fly up too high so I got a great overhead view of Cambodian rice paddies and rivers. They gave us food. A ham and cheese sandwich and a doughnuts filled with green cream. I chucked the ham. The green cream was good. I like the sugary bread here but boy oh boy I am going to suffer. Wheat+sugar=VERY BAD TUMMY!

We landed in Pakse after an hour. Here, we’d pick up more passengers and go on to Vientiane. I like the name Vientiane. It looks nice written down but you say it veen-chan.

Upon landing,  Japanese guys bounded off the plane and as they ran down the stairs onto the concourse, they shouted really excitedly, “Ohhh LAOS!”. They were funny. Then this guy at the bottom was checking if we were stopping at Pakse or going to Vientiane. They didnt understand what he was after so I explained to them “Oh. This isnt Vientiane? Where are we?” Funny boys.

I had to get a visa on arrival which cost $35. Aussies get it for $30 as 2 Aussie girls pointed out to me. Damn it, I was 4 dollars short. One of the girls offered it to me (the milk of traveller kindness) but turned out you can pay by card so I did. On the last leg to Vientiane, they gave us food. A ham and cheese sandwich and a doughnuts filled with green cream. I chucked the ham. The green cream was good. Yes.

Arrival in Vientiane was OK. You pay 55000 kip for a taxi to the city centre. Apparently if you walk 500m to the airport gate you can flag down a tuk tuk but I couldnt be bothered with my big backpack so I paid the equivalent of $7 (and probably the most Id ever pay for a ride that wasnt long-distance) and got in with the nice taxi man. Now here’s something: I didnt book accommodation!! I just asked the taxi to take me to the best spot. And he did. He dropped me outside quite a smart guesthouse which I later found on tripadvisor had 4 or maybe even 5 out of 5 and was smack bang in the middle of cafes and bars and between the Mekong River and the main drag. Result. Well worth paying that 55000 kip. I got  a great night’s sleep there and bed bugs became a worry of the past.

Had a nice wander around the city and eventually made it to the river for sunset. It made me happy being at the Mekong; it made me feel not so far away from Cambodia. Oh and they have daily displays of dance exercise!! It’s brilliant! I saw a couple of westerners at the back. Great stuff. People would buy snacks from the adjoining night market and sit on the grass and watch. I felt a bit bleurgggh after all that sugary bread so had a really simple supper of a rice fritter and some barbecued prawns on a stick for under £1. Bargain! Later on, I sat at a cafe round the corner from my guesthouse and got talking to a really nice English couple who’d been teaching English in Korea. They were having a quick holiday before flying to Madrid to teach English there. We chatted until we were thrown out – at 10.30pm! Vientiane, as many other Laos towns apparently, has a curfew. Everything shuts down by midnight and a lot of guesthouses lock their doors. Rah!

On my second day in Laos I started to experience some weird feelings in my tummy. Not sick or cramping. Like butterflies. Except every wave of butterflies was making me dash to the toilet! Oh god, oh god, it was really bad. Maybe the malarone was kicking in? Maybe it was the sugary bread? It wasnt nice. I visited the national monument and climbed Laos’ equivalent of the Arc de Triomphe, the Patuxai. I really hoped the views would be fab but the city’s quite flat so the view wasnt that interesting. I also read about UXOs in Laos. Apparently Laos is the world’s most bombed country. The Cope Centre rehabilitates those who have been maimed by cluster bombs. I wanted to check it out. I walked for ages and was quite far out of the city but really couldnt tell where I was going. I stopped with some locals and through mime and pointing they worked out where I wanted to go. A nice man offered to take me on his motorbike. I was hesitant. He was able to tell me it was only another 500m up the road. Oh yeah, OK, why not, so got on the back of the bike and off we went. The ride was OK but Im still pretty nervous after that accident so many years ago now. Never will be my preferred method of transport again but there you go.

The Cope Centre is housed in a pretty courtyard and some of the staff are English. Its really informative and there are loads of films you can watch about people who’ve had legs and arms blown off but who, thanks to this place, have learnt to walk and rebuild their lives. I met a young boy there called Peter Kim. He had lost his hands and was partially blinded too. He was really chatty and told me he wanted a girlfriend. When I told him how old I was to his 20 years, he asked me to have children quick, a daughter that he might be able to date, haha. The thing that struck me about this place was how upbeat everything and peoples’ stories were. A big contrast to S21. I guess those Cambodians have lost their lives. These Laotians can still make a go of things. I liked it and I felt privileged to talk to Peter and also privileged that I live in a country without the daily fear of running into a bomb.

Vang Vieng

OK… so Vang Vieng… I’d be warned off going because it’s touristy and has no culture and is full of kids getting drunk. Looking at my trip so far, I guess it’s been rich in learning about these countries. It hasnt exactly been a party. But as I said to Simon at Siem Reap airport, I think it might be time for a bit of fun! I got picked up at my guesthouse and chucked in the back of an already packed songthaew. We went round the streets and packed a couple of more people in and then we stopped in a car park by the river. The driver got out, came round the back to us and said quite simply, “Get out!”. So we did. We stood in the car park, bemused, all looking puzzled at each other surrounded by our bags and the songthaew drove off! He came back about 10 minutes later with another load of people. We hoped that the main bus would pick us all up from here. About 20 minutes later, it did. It was already full of people though and the crew offered plastic chairs to 2 unfortunates who didnt get a seat (WHAT!) until a nice couple offered to seat their 2 youngsters on their laps. For 4 hours. Fab.

I slept for a lot of the journey and firmly plugged my wobbly tummy up with buscopan. Apparently this is a secret weapon against stomach cramping although its sold to relieve IBS. Had I known about this years ago I might never have suffered another bad period. I was given it to counteract any cramping I might get from the malarone (which Im on for at least another fortnight). Side effects: constipation. Perfect for a long bus journey where I might need to make a dash for it.

What I saw of the countryside looked pretty. Not sure, I didnt get a window seat and the windows were tinted. Shame because I hear Vientiane to Vang Vieng is a pretty drive. What I did notice was that suddenly I was surrounded by mountains. Huges karsts. Amazing! We arrived and were given vague directions to our hotels. I had booked beforehand this time as I had heard of a really cute hostel with puppies and I really wanted to stay there. A girl who had been on my songthaew in the morning ran up behind me and asked if she could come with me. Sure, I said and off we went.

Champa Lao did not disappoint. It’s set on a road just off the main drag and just a little set back from the river. Again, a perfect location. I had booked a really cool bamboo hut. It was basic but it was brilliant. Luckily my new friend bagged the last room! And the puppies? yeah, they were there and sooooo cute. I cuddled them but they were more interested in sleeping.

I had decided that unless something major happened I only wanted to spend a night in Vang Vieng. I was most keen on going tubing and wasnt really that up for kayaking or caving here although you can do those things if you don’t want to get loaded. It’s a pretty enough town without having to “do teh touristy thing” if you dont want to. And if you’re lucky enough to stay in a cool place then all the better. My new friend, Jiang, from Shanghai, decided to stay a few days purely based on our hostel and she’s definitely not up for getting wrecked.

So I sorted myself out and dragged Jiang off to go tubing! We didnt get going til 4.30pm or so and we hadnt even got in the water before we were being encouraged to down shots of whisky! Basically you have bars set all along the river and you just tube down and get pulled in to drink at each one. We set our tubes down in the river and Jiang managed to let go of hers. Id already floated off. I managed to get people drinking at the next bar to stop her ring from floating downriver and I got out to wait at the next stop which wasnt too far. I was greeted by an Aussie who then tried to pur whiskey down me. Some Lao guys were encouraging him! Definitely a change from the demure. Jiang caught up with me and we set off again. Except, I floated off and Jiang just sort of… sat there.

I floated off and watched cows drinking from the river, Lao girls going crazy dancing on platforms and our very own stumbling drunk onto decks to try the aerial slides; 2 Aussies have died here very recently. Just saying innit…

Stopped at the Fluid bar which was quite a way down to get some food. I hadnt actually eaten all day out of fear for needing the toilet on the bus, haha. They had a fire roaring outside and though it wasnt cold and teh river wasnt cold, it was really nice to stand next to it for a bit. I finished my sandwich and Jiang showed up! She’d made it, but she’d had enough and was going to find a tuk tuk home.

I continued to float on my tube. Sunset came but the river was still busy. About 2km from the end point, people started to get out and jump in tuktuks back to town. I wanted to keep going. It was still not that dark and I could see a couple of people ahead so I kept going.

About half an hour later, I realised that everything was very still. Lizard chirping was very loud. It was dark. It had just suddenly happened. I called out, “Hello..” but no reply. I called again and the 2 girls who’d been ahead called back. OK they were still there. They shouted back to keep going, it was only as far as teh lights in teh distance. Hmmn, that didnt seems so bad. So about 10 minutes later I got there and realsied it wasnt the end. The girls were on the banks negotiating a ride back with some tuktuk drivers. I joined them. Water is weird in the dark.

When I returned my tube I was surprised to be asked where “my Chinese friend” was. Where was Jiang? I wasnt too worried given that she was always somewhere behind me. It turned out that she had got a tuk tuk but refused to pay the fare as she thought it was too much and had got a ride with an Italian guy on a bike. She didnt want to carry her tube so had let it go and in doing so, lost her deposit so she’d thought, sod it and gone for a drink with the Italian. Funny girl!

We met the Italian, Giovanni, for dinner after playing with the puppies for a bit. After dinner we went to check out the parties that Vang Vieng is “famed” for. The main town observes curfew; all the partying goes on on the island in the middle of the river. On the way there, we watched people stumbling back to town drunk; bit like Croydon on a Friday night. Yep.

The parties were full of buckets. It was like Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan except nobody seemed to be over 25. It didnt feel as inclusive as the Full Moon Party. Drunkies jumped through a hoop of fire, the Lao boys kept dousing it in alcohol so the flames got higher and higher each time. An old guy tried it and hit the rope. Everyone cheered him anyway.

I had a good sleep under my mosquito net. I didn’t mind that I could hear music drifting across from the island as I fell asleep. I also had a good breakfast overlooking the river to look forward to in the morning.

The bus to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng is meant to take 6 or 7 hours. We set off at about 11 and bingo, I got a window seat. I spent a lot of the journey reading a story my friend had written off my phone. I read quite far down and then realised the rest of it hadnt downloaded and with no wifi to help me carry on, I fell asleep. Just as well. When I woke up I looked out of the window. The view was magnificent. Green hills and mountains for as far as the eye could see. One problem: sheer drops with not a lot in the way of a barrier. And if the wheels skidded, we weren’t going to have much of a hope of staying alive. I tried not to think about this too much; the drivers here do this journey frequently and I have lived to tell the tale. To be fair, our driver went very slowly until we ended up getting stuck behind some construction guys building the road ahead. To make up for the hour or so lost, the driver went really fast around bends and corners. It was OK though, I’ve had worse journeys.

We stopped for food twice and arrived at the bus station just before 7. We had to get a tuk tuk into town. Again, I hadnt booked but managed to get myself to the best part of town for backpackers – Ban Ho Xiang. I was really happy to find a little alley way lined with well-lit and pretty guesthouses. I went to the Xayana Guesthouse. Dorm beds were 3500 kip. They were full but had a single for 10000. I took it, this place looked cool.

I dumped my stuff and went for a little wander. The Night Market was right on my doorstep which was great. There seemed to be cliques of people together as well as the compulsory couples. I started to feel a bit out of it and tried to work out the best strategy to get talking to people.

I got some dinner and headed back to the hostel courtyard. There was a group of people sat in a corner laughing and drinking. I sat across from them to do some writing. They beckoned me over to sit with them. Yeah!! They were from Korea and spoke some good English. Turned out 2 of them also work in TV. I didn’t have to tell them I baked bread for a living.  People always think telly is glamorous and want to know more. Its been fun inventing new personas instead…

A couple of Japanese guys Id seen on the bus came by – they were staying across the way. And then we were joined by an Aussie, a couple of people from California and a really cool German guy (also in media!) who invited me to go to the waterfalls on a motorbike. Yikes. That would have been good but you know me and motorbikes… We partied on way past curfew and long after the front door was closed. It was only when we saw people stumbling back from the bowling alley (the only place in town you can get a drink after hours) that we realised how late it was. The Koreans had gone to bed (guess what..? They were leaving tomorrow) but the rest of the guys recognised these new drunkies and decided to join them for some drinks at their hostel. My new German friend asked me to come along but I was pretty knackered by now so I went to bed. All good.

I thought Id woken up pretty late the next day. Even the lads from last night were already having breakfast. We said morning and I headed off to do some wandering. I sat in a bakery and got a coffee. A guy sat down near me. I didnt pay him too much attention but it’s always interesting to people-watch and work out which other travellers might also be alone. I sat there for a long time just doing a bit of reading.

When I was ready to leave, I took my time walking down the main road, taking everything in. Id attempted to do this last night but most things start to close around 10pm, leaving just darkness. I saw the boy from earlier again in another cafe reading his book. I walked to the end of the peninsula,  where the Mekong converges with the Mae Kok River. Locals were swimming, saw some tourists sunbathing. Pretty idyllic.

The riverside was clearly where the older folk with dollar stayed. It was quiet. In fact the whole town was quiet. Where was everyone? I walked alongside the river and discovered that this breed of Lao man (touting for boat rides) was clearly not intimidated by western females. I think at one point I was followed for a few hundred metres but it was all pretty harmless.

It was too hot to do much so I wandered back into town and got an iced coffee and read.  I later went to visit the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre to learn about the different Lao people and their courtship rituals. It was very amusing!

I then made my way to an organisation called Big Brother Mouse which has been set up to help Laotians improve their English. They accept volunteers so I decided to give it a go! I was walking over when this American girl, Monica from NYC, stopped me to ask where the university was. Didnt have a clue but we got chatting anyway and she sounded interested in BBM so came with me.

I was expecting to read to a group of children but the group was mainly made up of young men. I listened to a 17 year old called Sivan read to me about dinosaurs. Mate, there were words, even I couldnt pronounce! Sivan came from a province 6hrs drive away but was working in a hotel to fund his way through college. He wants to return to his village as an English teacher. Monica was having a great time teaching a small group of lads how to say names of fruit and veg!

A monk turned up too. Monica and I weren’t sure if we were even allowed to look at him let alone talk to him but Sivan said we just weren’t allowed to touch him. He was a lovely chap and spoke English very well – he’d been learning for 2 years. He told me how he wanted to go to Thailand to see a doctor as he kept getting stomach cramps and had been for about 3 years every day. I really wanted to give him some buscopan but probably best not play doctor!

Monica left with another girl to take one of the boys to anotherEnglish class 20 minutes away. I decided to stay on at BBM, I was really enjoying finding out about these boys’ lives. It was really interesting learning why they wanted to speak English and also what their lives were like.

AT 7pm we finished and I found a great little place for dinner; I had noodles and a drink for 20,000 kip – just over £1.50!

I wandered a bit more and felt a bit more in place; Id met a great group of people yesterday and had had more interactions today. I decided to head back to the hostel to see if anyone was about. I passed the post office and heard some music coming from behind it so I decided to find out what was going on. I had to pass a security guard but he was asleep with 2 big empty bottles of Beer Lao next to him – don’t think he’d be a problem. I peered behind a wall and was excited to see a Lao party in full swing! People were drinking beerand dancing and they all looked happy. A couple of people noticed me and smiled. A man beckoned me over to dance. I wanted to but I had bags with me and I really wanted to share this with someone. I watched for  a few more moments and then headed round the  corner to the hostel.

There was an open air showing of Avatar in the courtyard. Quite a few people had gathered. This was good. I would sit down and watch too and then maybe find someone to come back to the Lao party. I decided to just go pick up some laundry Id left across the road that morning and come back. Then someone caught my eye. Sat at the back in a corner; the boy Id seen twice already today! So he was staying here too! Anyways I went over to pick up my clothes and mistakenly assumed a man sat outside to be an employee. Turned out he was a Japanese tourist. I invited him over to watch the film!

I got back and the bloody film had finished! A few older women started chatting. They included the boy in their conversation. In the meantime, the Japanese dude who’d been on my bus and had sat with us yesterday turned up so I got chatting to him. I told him about the Lao party but he didnt seem up for it. In fact it was already getting late – maybe about 11 by now. It was St Paddy’s night. Id clearly missed the party people somewhere. The women and the boy had gone to bed within half an hour. I sat outside and read. A couple of people Id met the night previous came back looking worn out. Didnt look like anyone was going to come Lao dancing with me. (I did ‘gatecrash’ a lunchtime performance at a school on my last day with Jiang. They were doing it outside and we stopped to watch, got asked to join in so we did. Everyone clapped haha)

The next day I went to play with elephants! I went for an elephant ride and fed my elephant sugar cane. She was cool. And very hungry. She kept pointing her trunk at me. I just wanted to give her a big hug. But probably not a good idea. Such long eyelashes. I wonder what they think about.

The two Aussie girls Id met at Vientiane airport were on this trip with me. We talked about where we’d gone and what we were doing. They had got lost in a National Park near Vientiane and they’d ended up phoning their parents who then phoned the Australian Embassy who then got “3 men in thongs (in hindsight not sure if they meant flipflops or pants) to come out with torches” to rescue them. I asked if they weren’t worried about snakes. “Snakes??” they asked…

Later on we went to visit Kuang Si waterfall which means Big Waterfall. It was beyooootiful! Turquoise water! But it was cold. I had a nice swim anyway. I didnt like the fish trying to eat my scabs. I also saw some really cool sun bears. Dont know much about their plight, Ill look it up when I get home, but I do remember seeing a bear being chained up as a pet from my first but brief visit to Laos many years ago. On the way back to town we stopped by a Hmong  tribal village. They were selling things I just didnt want to buy. It was difficult. I dont understand at what point  contentment with a a simple life ends and poverty starts. That put a bit of a downer on things.

Back at the hostel I got a visitor; Jiang! She’d made it to Luang Prabang but my place was full so she’d gone to stay by the river. We were going to go to the Night Market to meet her friend and get some dinner. But first there was something I had to do. Sat alone in a cafe across the road was the boy. He was reading his book. Maybe he just didnt enjoy company. Or maybe he was shy. Well, I just went over, introduced myself and invited him (Nick) out for some drinks later. I left it completely open and said MAYBE Ill see you later. Cool.

The food at the night market was fab. For 10000 kip (about 80p!!) you can eat whatever you like at the buffet – BBQ fish, chicken heads, eggs, salad, rice, noodles. Bargain! We ate it all up and then Jiang and I and Jiang’s friend, Natalia (from Spain) headed through a series of dark alleys to a very cool bar called Utopia – you need to see this – http://www.utopialuangprabang.com/ – and we got some loungers on a bamboo deck over the river to chill out on.

Quite a way into the evening I saw Nick. He did look like he was looking for us but he was with a girl. I later saw them sat very quietly at the front of the bar. I didnt want to go over and pester him, it had been a totally open invite.

Jiang and Natalia wanted to leave at a good hour. I wanted to stay and watch some breakdancing. So I did. I was a bit worried about navigating the dark alleys back to the main road but I had seen several people from my hostel so wasnt worried about getting back. However, soon it was moving on to midnight and nobody showed signs of leaving. I was tired so I left. I didnt talk to Nick so didnt ask if he’d walk back with me, haha. I got as far as the front and 2 older guys were leaving on a motorbike. I asked if they’d mind riding along side me as I walked. “Why, you are scared?” asked the passenger. “well… yeah” I said. When they found out I was from London they laughed at me. Apparently London is way scarier than a series of dark alleys in a foreign country. They took me a different route to the way we’d come. They turned left instead of right and took me across a bridge. And the road was right at the end! What?! It had taken us ages to get there when there’d been a simpler route all along.

The guys left me there and went in the opposite direction. All I had to do was walk up this road and Id be on the main thoroughfare. At that point a man appeared out of the shadows and asked if I wanted a tuktuk, No thanks. OK… you want opium…? marijuana..? WHAT?? Really?? You think Im gonna buy off you? Me, a lone woman and you a dodgy Lao. No way man! My image of Lao men as intimidated rather than intimidating was fast being washed away by the men of Luang Praband. I wasnt worried in terms of safety – there were loads of people ahead walking around. I was a just bit shocked as I heard of boys being asked constantly, especially in Siem Reap. But this was new for me.

The next morning I went to get breakfast at a bakery up the road. Guess who was sitting alone in that very place reading his book…?