BaBa Brent

It all started out with a Skype video call. Bobby discussed his willingness to skip work and jack up a 4day whirlwind tour of his home nation. The onus was then on me to go through the motions of booking flights and arranging visas. Even though it sounds hard to believe, it took me a frustrating 8hours of running around to organise my flight and re-entry visa. Japan can not be underestimated in this respect. Paper work, inflexibility to bend the rules and unclear instructions are just three things which add up to a lot of fluffing around, even for the basic of tasks. Enough whinging and to the story... Bobby picked me up from Taipei. Luckily, my arrival coincided with Bobby taking care of his sick Grandma *cough*. Pulling off this excuse is no easy ... read more

All too casual, we did not book and followed a random Kiwi and Brit to their place in Kowloon. This is where we met Peter. Slimebag Pete as I like to call him. SlimebagPete managed a rubbish dump which he called Taiwan Deluxe Hotel. Dealing with SlimeBag Pete was like dealing with a cannon. SlimeBag Pete demanded money upfront for 3nights. I ended up having a stand off for about 15minutes with him. I asked to see the room first, he retorted with YOU PAY NOW! Tired, we sufficed. I can see why he did not want to show me the room. The shower had no nozzle and water ran down the outside of the hose. The toilet did not flush. Leon was molested by bed bugs in his hallway suite (Slimebag Pete said Leon ... read more

Koh Tao is a wonderful little island of the Western Coast of Thailand. We arrived after an overnight boat. We slept like sardines with 40 others in the birth of the boat. It was quite an experience. The strangest thing was all the Thais got shunted on one side and all the whities on the other. (picture attached) Once on the island we refused to pay $2 ransom for a taxi so we decided to walk. Apparently I took the long way according to Leon, something I guess I will never be able to disprove. We found the cheapest dive of a place but it was really close to the action. In fact, out side our door was a pool table, bar and beach (in that order). Over a thai curry breakfast we met a ... read more

We took the overnight bus down to Phuket town. We eventually found our hostel after a whole lot of Thai taxi drivers we most unhelpful after we told them we were not going to give them any money. We spent our first day organising our trip, eating NZ$2 Thai food and crashing out. The hostel we stayed at was complete with DVD player and so was all good. The following day we had a bit more energy and took off on a Tuk Tuk bus to the seedy city of Patong. This place was jam packed with all the good stuff. It seemed by stepping in town you automatically hang a sign from your neck saying "I want to pay money to do perverted sh!t". We checked out the beach, which was bustling with parasailing ... read more

So to cut a long story short, I did not like French people. I do not speak a lick of French. I had no intention to go to France on this trip. However, like a Hollywood film - the hansome main character changed his mindset and ventured into the unknown. Oi oi! Initially I was in communication with Lara Thomas to visit over Easter in Paris. James Bourke contacted me later with the news he had a month contract in Nice starting the day I left London. So I planned to book a London - Paris - Nice - London. Fitting in 2 more friends in less than a week. My plan morphed and changed several times whilst I tried to organise making it a reality. Attempting to book flights late, at Easter and across ... read more