http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lindsay-Dawn/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lindsay Dawn en-us Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:21:38 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:21:38 +0000 Where do i even start This blog is going to be really enormous because it's the last five days of my trip but i'll try and tone it down don't worry haha. At least enjoy the pictures if anything I took the train from Katoomba back to Sydney and my hostel was a short walk from Central Station I strategically planned it this way. Friends that i had met along the way had been to this hoste http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-148754.html I woke up at the crack of dawn 450am to catch a 630am bus to Sydney. It was super quiet around Newcastle i guess i was the only one crazy enough to want to get up that early and head to Sydney The city was buzzing with rush hour traffic when we arrived three hours later i was pretty excited even though i would only be seeing Central Station that day I hopped a train to Katoomba and got http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Katoomba/blog-147795.html After watching the sunrise in Byron Bay i was too paranoid to go to sleep in case i didn't wake up i didn't want to miss my bus As it turns out the bus was an hour late i've never seen that in Oz because of the BluesFest traffic and because it was Easter weekend and my exhausting day was spent doing just about nothing So i was pretty tired when i got into Coff's Harbour. I stayed at a h http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Coffs-Harbour/blog-145333.html So the entire reason why i had to plan all the details of my trip as soon as i got to Australia was because of this darn place. The time that i wanted to be in Byron Bay there is some kind of massive blues festival here the 18th annual BluesFest and all the accomodation was booked up. So i had to sit down and plan out my entire trip so i could squeeze three days in at Byron Bay. But it's def http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-144230.html Funny how you keep running into the same people that are traveling in the same direction as you are I got into Noosa and ran into three guys that i'd roomed with in Mission Beach and then the three people that i'd been with on the Whitsunday trip. It was a reunion I stayed at the YHA Halse Lodge which is a pretty cool hostel very roomy and spacious. My roomies are three hilarious girls two http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa/blog-143234.html I find it really odd that I've met more people here from Edmonton than I've met from in Canada total. Isn't that weird Is there anyone left in Edmonton right now....or are they all with me in sunny Australia There were no Edmontonians with me on my trip to Fraser Island although i did meet two of them who were with a different group our first night camping but there were four Swedish gu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-142984.html Here is some interesting information about 1770 this town is the only one in Australia to have a number for its name. This is the spot where the famous explorer Captain James Cook sailed into Bustard Bay back in 1770. As far as i know it's not even really a town but a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides. Again like most places in Australia it's really really beautiful. We arriv http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/1770/blog-141349.html After Michelle left at the crack of dawn for home I moved onto Mission Beach. It's a very small coastal town very beautiful like all the places i have been and will be I stayed at a hostel called Scotty's very chilled and friendly. I didn't get many pictures of the actual beach because every time i had time to take pictures it would mysteriously start pouring. It didn't actually rain t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Magnetic-Island/blog-138804.html When i landed in Brisbane i couldn't believe i was actually in Australia. It's world's apart from Asia and even though it felt more like home it's still world's apart from that too. 24 hours of travel Bangkok to Singapore Singapore to Brisbane Brisbane to Cairns and i finally met up with a friendly face from home Michelle It's cool to just meet a friend in one of the most awesome plac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-138105.html The overnight train to Bangkok was awesome because i finally got to lay down and close my eyes. I was more comfortable in a tiny top bunk than i thought i would be Our train had a 70 minute delay so we arrived at about 930am instead. I got a great vibe from the city right away and cities haven't really been my fav here save for KL. We're staying in a backpacker part of town with lots of ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-136449.html We've encountered our first consistently cloudy and windy days here on Thong Nai Pan Noi not to say that it's still not warm and wonderful...just different There's quite a bit of surf here compared to the other beaches we've been at which is awesome because our bungalow is just steps from the beach and often the first thing i hear when i wake up are the waves crashing against the shore. I m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-133910.html Maybe it was because it seemed like a lot of work and to go to another island or another place on Ko PhaNgan or maybe we just loved it so much but Emily and I ditched Ko Tao and a spayoga resort called the Sanctuary in favor of Bottle Beach. We stayed six nights longer than any other place in Southeast Asia. But it really is an island paradise so i don't mind It's kind of nice to fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-133319.html So much for our dinner on the beach....cancelled because of RAIN of all things Oh well we ended up eating at this cool little restaurant with low tables where you sit on cushions on the floor. Very comfyBecause it had rained the night before it was marginally cooler when we set out for our snorkellingisland trip. It began at 11am well as close to 11am as you can get considering we are in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-130969.html Welcome to the Kingdom of Thailand As a member of one of 36 except countries i was granted a 30 day visa too bad i'm departing from here in a mere 25 days and we stayed first in the little town of Krabi overnight on our way to Ko Phi Phi. The day was long and rather uneventful although we did save about 20RM making our own way here instead of booking a tour and we spent an agonizing hour http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-129034.html I would say Langkawi is definitely one of the top two of my fav places in Malaysia. Today we had another great experience with our island hopping There are lots of tourist places that offer island hopping and after searching all around and not finding any that left in the afternoon we found the cheapest one leaving at 930am. It actually turned out quite perfectly because it wasn't too hot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Kedah-and-Perlis/Pulau-Langkawi/blog-128564.html I really thought we were going to beat the mosque awake our last morning in Penang but i was WRONG Even before my 630am alarm was set to go off i was wakened once again by the LOUD and now annoying sounds of the mosque prayers. So we were up in plenty of time to get ready and packed up. Except there was a mix up and our cab wasn't there at 715am like we had thought...so we were running al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Kedah-and-Perlis/Pulau-Langkawi/blog-127559.html This is where i get my chance to rant about the nightmare Georgetown was....i'm sure there are a lot of interesting and wonderful things about Georgetown but they definitely did not appear while i was there Our evening was good enough...nothing to complain about that. Great Indian food i tried Indian pizza it was FANTASTIC great company. We knew there was something up at the Oasis hotel w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Penang/blog-126622.html Tired tired so tired of the dripping sink The room Emily and i had in the Cameron Highlands had this sink that started out with a little drip and then three days later there was a steady stream coming from the underside of the sink. We had already filled up a garbage pail full of water...we became instant plummers last night and somehow with the work of some athletic tape and a brochure we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Penang/George-Town/blog-126285.html i thought i'd first have a little question and answer session here because there's a lot people want to knowi have no idea what the story is on the pink taxis see Pulau Pangkor. i haven't read anything about it they're just there i thought they were very cute. Very cozy with four people and lots of backpacks As for the scorpion farms the scorpions are kept in little glass containers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Tanah-Rata/blog-125842.html OK so it's really not that cold it's anywhere from 1720 degrees. But after 40 degrees it sure feels cold It was raining when we left Pulau Pangkor and when we got to the Cameron Highlands around 6pm i actually pulled out my fleece. Brrrrrr Emily and I travelled here with Klaas who we met on the island we sure feel safe walking around with a guy like him He's at least 2 heads tall http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Tanah-Rata/blog-125257.html