http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Deni/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Deni en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:10:06 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:10:06 +0000 Plans have changed. My grandfather passed away today. Have gone to Romania. Not sure when my trip will resume. Mum's flying over. Isn't it ironic how reunions always happen under the worst of circumstances...Take care everyone of each other. Love Deni. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Muntenia/Bucharest/blog-58931.html If you happened to be watching Italian MTv today at about 3pm you would have seen yours truly in the background tactfully avoiding the hosts running around with a mike interviewing people by hiding behind a bush Hehehe. So really I guess you would have only seen the bush...hmm... pAnyways. It's hard to imagine that just two short months ago this city was playing host to the Winter Olympics. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Piedmont/Turin/blog-55837.html Haha. What a punny title. Aren't I clever pOk not really...that was pretty lame. But it's true Venice is one giant maze. Makes me feel a lot like one of those poor rats running through Skinner's box sorry psych reference there yikes getting lamer by the minute hey...although I didn't receive an electric shock every time I fucked up and got lost. Lucky really else I'd be KFD Kentuck http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-54244.html It is always amusing when one goes travelling and comes across signs in different languages that have a completely different and often rude meaning in your own language or badly translated ones. Unfortunately there has been a distinct lack of amusing signs thus far in my travels... Unless you count the one saying have a nice trip halfway down the 300 odd stairs I climbed up to a temple in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-55811.html Picture this. A teeny tiny town on the coast. Population of 500 or so. One hostel. And who do I run into A bloke I knew in high school Small world or what Ah Cinque Terre. One word postcard. Seriously. What you see in the pictures is exactly what you get and ten times better in real life. It's unbelievably beautiful. And the weather I had whilst there was to die for. Perfect for the 12km http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-55810.html Yes those were the exact words that escaped my lips as I set eyes on David's arse. That is the famous Michelangelo statue of David sorry Dave Your arse is very nice too though hehe. Well a replica of it at least. Who would seriously pay over 10 euros to see the original when there is a toscale copy in the centre of Firenze Clearly I didn't. Firenze aka Florence for all you English http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-55807.html Ah the mating ritual of an Italian male. What a beautiful thing. Note the sarcasmIt goes something like this Boy sees girl. Boy walks next to girl. Boy asks to speak to girl to 'practice his English'. Girl starts walking the other way. Boy nonetheless follows girl. Boy continues to hassle girl despite being ignored. Boy tries to hold girl's hand. Girl tells him she's not interested. And drops http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-53440.html Ha ha Ha hahahaha Gimme a sec to get it all out of my system....hahahaha Ok I'm done now. Sorry bout that but the notion of Italians actually FOLLOWING road rules is highly laughable. Truly. Ha ha. Ok really I'm done. Let me explain...Driving along in Pasquale's car holding on for dear life and watching my knuckles turn a pasty white which was undoubtedly the colour of my face before http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-53439.html From Roma down south to the westcoast town of Napoli. Decided to take my chances and call the Napolese man Pasquale I met on the plane from Bangkok and boy did I hit the jackpot Was put up in a hotel room for the two nights I was there wined and dined yes I too was wondering what exactly he expected in return...luckily for me he was just a nice generous guy...I think... and driven aro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-53378.html So you like pizza right You may even LOVE pizza. I know I sure do...or rather did. But seriously give it two weeks where the cheapest and pretty much ONLY option for any meal involved refined white carbs and you will get sick of it too. Here it's an overkill. Walk down any street and you will see a minimum of 5 pizzerias 3 gelaterias 4 pastarias ok so I think I just made that up th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-53379.html Well mine certainly has So let me just say Buongiorno della Roma What a city What a country What people What life What suicidal traffic yet again... Only this time you have to look left before crossing a fact that I have to keep repeating to myself every time I come to a road. Yikes I'm just hoping I don't become roadkill any time in the near future. But when in Rome do as the Romans http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-50954.html Well not quite accurate. My last night in Thailand was actually spent on a damn freezing overnight train. Didn't get any sleep and had to be up at 5.30am. Not happy Jan s Anyway as my time in Thailand comes to an end I thought I might give a sort of overview of my time spent here. I'll try to do something like this after each country I visit...depending on how good the reviews are pSo. Thai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-50921.html I know what you're thinking. A monk. Religious guru. Not very exciting behind the scenes. Just meditation and prayer and whatnot. WRONG These people are really...well cool And how do I know this you may wonder In Chiang Mai northern Thailand the Lonely Planet guide came through once again and informed us mighty travellers about 'Monk Chat' held at a local Wat aka a temple. Yes that's rig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-50917.html Elephant riding. What more can I say It was just the most amazing experience We visited the Elephant Conservation Centre near Lampang northern Thailand today. As some of you may know the elephant happens to be my favourite animal therefore this was especially exciting for me. Firstly we watched the elephants bathe with their trainers scrubbing at them until they were squeaky clean well re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Lampang/blog-50295.html No seriously though best Pad Thai I've ever tasted came from a teeny tiny little stand in the middle of a night market in Sukothai. And for the right high price of 20 Baht roughly translates to 60 cents or so beat that Jack. The Thai people are seriously the best chefs. The food here is amazing everything from vegetable and meat dishes to curries to the wierd wonderful and exotic. And t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Sukhothai/blog-50293.html An interesting fact I picked up...Bangkok's real name is this tongue twister try saying it for yourself'Krungthep mahanakhon amon ratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amonipiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit' Meaning 'Great city of angels repository of divine gems great land unconquerable grand and prominent realm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-50289.html Ok. So I like nature. But I like my creature comforts as well. Here's how to combine the two...Leaving Bangkok two days ago we ie. my 8person tour group and I travelled approximately 5 hours by train then another hour by songteaw meaning 'two rows' so basically a pickup truck with two long benches in the back to the smaller city of Sukhothai in the north. We were dropped off at our accomm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Sukhothai/blog-49528.html 'Sawatdeeka' from Bangkok where I arrived to be greated by 30 degree heat and roughly 6070 humidity and this was at 6.30am mind This is now my second day spent here and I can tell you it's been an interesting experience so far. So I thought the best way to share my journey thus far was in the form of a 'how to' guide to Bangkok and NO this has nothing to do with anything sexual thankyo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-49113.html So here I am...1 hour before being whisked off to the airport...Wondering what the hell I'm doing... sAs I finished packing about half hour ago yes I am still in the habit of leaving important things to the last possible minute I weighed my previously reasonably light 6.5kg backpack only to discover it had grown substantially more plump on a diet of clothes toiletries and other essentials http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-48491.html