Emmet
Emmet Joined: July 2nd 2006
Logged in: March 12th 2011
Logged in: March 12th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Cheerio Aotearoa
I hope you'll excuse the length of this one, but due to being unencumbered with such annoyances as work, and having a 6 week mad dash to see the entire country, we did get up to rather a lot. I assure my faithful readers the next blog will return to the usual neglectful brevity. The Mauri driver dropped us off at the Jail around midnight, stiffling a chuckle at our answer to his usual tourist/customer/taximan politeness question "what ya got planned for NZ, bro?". "Ah, we're going to hire a camper van and cruise around, gonna be great". After a peaceful nights rest in the Jailhouse we sauntered down the stairs, lonely german guidebook in hand, ready to dial all of the hire companies and see who'd give us the best price, shortly finding out ... read more
When in Melbourne...
From the moment I was picked up at the airport I could see this was going to be a different kind of trip. The daily trucking of backpack and sundry from one sock-whiffing backpacker dorm to the next, beans and toast and takeout chicken, the same 8 buck goon-bags being held to new sunburnt faces every day, were to be left aside in earnest while I checked in to the Delmont ***** (currently being pursued by the Marriot group with a view to a high profile takeover) "Mi Casa es tu casa" invited Tim, unknowingly commencing two and a half months of having a leech attached to his previously reputable domicile. One neighbour on Delmont avenue complained "I was thinking of selling up and retiring in the Dandenong foothills but house prices on this damn street ... read more
Jack Johnson Album cover
Here's the last couple of months in WA briefly... I spent a week in Perth to begin with which was about a week more than I could afford and eight days more than I had money for. Perth is a nice city and coming from Singapore it felt very open, airy and free. The temperature was a bit of a surprise although it has warmed up a fair bit in the last couple of months. A week spent in a backpackers visiting local Irish bars was fun but a significant drain on long spent resources, so the inevitable evil was upon me. Time to seek employment. I visited a recruitment agency who were on the verge of convincing me telesales was the way forward. Sweat pouring down my face, twisting in the swivel chair of the ... read more
The Jungle Reclaims
Due to a mixture of technical difficulties and pure laziness/neglect I have not uploaded any photos since Vientiane about a 2 months ago, so this will be a mammoth blog covering Cambodia, Vietnam, second trip to Thailand and Malaysia. In brief, The rest of my trip through Laos was cool, someimes I was the only white person in town and it made for a few interesting situations and a total lack of communication. after Vientiane G and Phil headed on ahead to the Si Pan Don and I took it a little slower going down through Tha Khaek, the Bolaven Plateua (high altitude coffee, tea and waterfall growing area of Laos) and eventually Si Pan Don also. I did not know you could cultivate waterfalls until I went to southern Laos... The journey into Cambodia was ... read more
Slow Boat
Crossing into Laos it is immediately obvious how different things are to Thailand! This place is excellent, I have really come to love it and will probably spend more time here than in any other part of Southeast Asia. Houy Xai was the border crossing town in the north. After spending a quiet night there and missing the world cup final (didn't really care!) we got the 2 day slow boat to Louang Phrabang, This was an overcrowded extravaganza of different nationalities and personalities, and I met about 20 different travellers who I would continue to bump into for weeks. Pak Beng was a nuts gangster town which served as a stopover on night one, then on to Louang Phrabang the next day. Louang Phrabang was amazing, totally laid back and different in every way to ... read more
Intrepidation
Well I have finally got around to starting a proper blog - Bangkok to begin with I think! The trip over was filled with anticipation and once we hit Bangkok all the nervous excitement mixed with Singa and overflowed into a great first night out in budget city - Koh San Road. We met a few Irish guys who had been on the same flight as us... to be the first of many, far far too many. In fact I'll rename the place Thaireland. Bangkok was great for a few days but we soon got sick of scams and temples and took an amazing day out in Ayatthuya. A day touring around the ancient capital was refreshing and lots of fun. Also plenty of in transit entertainment from the sangthaw driver's little boy Lee. Getting back ... read more
