Mell's Guestbook




Comments
Date: 21st May 2012


Eh eh so you are now an undercovered officer ?! Somehow didn't see this serie of blog coming out but better late than never :-) really enjoyed ready these, felt like I would have been there, a day in Istanbul! so apple ? my favorite too here (well the double apple to be precised) cheers

From Blog: Apple tobacco - Emails from Istanbul, November, 2011
Date: 12th April 2012

Turkey
Turkey, and Israel for that matter are really great options for those living here in Germany. I don't know why I didnt notice the flight prices before, and take more advantage of them. 150 Euros return to Istanbul, and 250 return to Tel Aviv including taxes. Exotic locations right on my doorstep! I did want to put off visiting Turkey, until I was old enough for the 19 year olds to not notice me too much, because I heard the men in Turkey are the most terrible in the world for sexual harassment. After visiting Italy when I was 22 and thinking those were the worst ones, I didnt want to experience what could be even worse, since those ones did not even feature on the world worst list. Thank goodness men who are old enough to notice me have had years of improving their communication with women, since they were 19. Im off to Israel this October, now that I have got a new passport with no Iranian visa in it. Iranian visas dont do a traveller any favours for getting in and out of countries which have opinionated customs and immigration officers. :)

From Blog: Apple tobacco - Emails from Istanbul, November, 2011
Date: 12th April 2012


Ah, Mel, I'm so jealous of your Turkey travels. #1 on my list of places I want to visit someday. Glad to hear the touts sound better under control than some other regions. Thanks so much for your comments, esp. the one about the shark eyes, or rather, the kid with the shark eyes. So funny. I keep on breaking into a fit of laughter each time I think of it. :)

From Blog: Apple tobacco - Emails from Istanbul, November, 2011
Date: 9th April 2012

Can't wait to read more
Happy Travels!

From Blog: Apple tobacco - Emails from Istanbul, November, 2011
Date: 7th March 2012

GINGER COFFEE
Had heaps of ginger, tea & sugar in Java...ginger, coffee & sugar in Sumatra...have to give it a go...with the Sumatran coffee we picked up in Jakarta...mmm.

From Blog: Lazy Dayz - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 25th February 2012

Glad to see you blogging again!
We were worried about you as you hadn't blogged for several weeks. You mention at the end of your blog that you will be going to Bangkok soon...that was last August. Your end of year comments on the Forum mentioned Germany so have you been there since August? Anyway, glad to see you are following chipsandgravy. That gives him 5 nominations so I might as well give him one too, and hope TB makes an exception for Blogger of the Week.

From Blog: The guesthouse by the lake and Cafe 44 - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 22nd January 2012


Hey Mell! That coffee is indeed tasty, and the lady that produces it is, as you say, an exceptional woman. I still have a little left. Might just go make myself a cup now!

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 19th January 2012

:)
Thanks for the explanation Dave. It is probably a good thing that we didnt know about the greebies, before drinking the coffee. :)

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 19th January 2012

The coffee...
... delicious! slighty nutty, mild, with a complete lack of bitterness...

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 18th January 2012

ENZYMES
Australian Customs told us that during the ingestion process when the civet cat has the coffee beans inside its gut, enzymes are produced so that when expelled, the partly digested coffee beans contain those enzymes. They say the roasting process is not as extensive as with other coffee beans...presumably to retain that special flavour...and the enzymes (and I presume any associated greebies) are not purged to the satisfaction of Customs. Shit coffee is afterall shit coffee..!

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 18th January 2012

Shit coffee
It really would be upsetting if the customs take it, in Australia, Europe... It is pretty much irreplacable there, unless you are willing to pay an incredible price for it. It is affordable if you buy it from the coffee producers in Sumatra etc, but that means you would need to add the cost of an airline ticket to Sumatra onto it. ;) What have the Australian customs got against it, anyway?

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 18th January 2012

KOPI LEWAK...AKA SHIT COFFEE
As we declared wood & coffee from Java at Sydney Customs his only query was "I hope its not Lewak coffee as we won't let it in. People say it costs them a lot and get upset when we take it off them." C'est la vie Mell & Ali...enjoy the Lewak (civet) coffee.

From Blog: coffee - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 5th January 2012

Hello Home and Away :)
The good thing about TravelBlog is, it only keeps me as busy as I want it to. :) I make my blogs at a leisurely pace, mostly because there is no hurry to get them out there.

From Blog: Nicey, Spicey west Sumatra - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 4th January 2012

Hi
You are taking awhile to publish your blogs. I hope it isn't TB keeping you busy, but you having a great time in Sumatra...if that's where you still are. An earlier blog said that you planned to be there a year.

From Blog: Nicey, Spicey west Sumatra - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 16th December 2011

Good luck :P
I remember seeing Amorphophallus titanum in flower at Kew Gardens in London during 2002. God it stank like you wouldn't believe. The odour makes rotting flesh smell tame in comparison.

From Blog: Going west - Emails from Sumatra, August 2011
Date: 7th November 2011


Billy the Ikea shelf! Looks just like him ;)

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 6th November 2011

India
''I'm sure we'll meet outside of TB again whether it is KL or another place!'' If you get bored, next August or September, meet us in India. It is just spitting distance from where you are, isn't it? ;)

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 6th November 2011


Is that Billy to the right of the coffee machine??? I can't believe he made it all the way to Malaysia...crazy globalisation!

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 2nd November 2011

Travelling with Kids!
Mell your blogs make me crack up - I can just imagine how much you wouldve been freaking out losing Lydia and I can also imagine how she wouldve been annoyed at you sending the police to find her...my own sons have done the same but not overseas!! You are a braver woman than I am! Glad all turned out well :)

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 31st October 2011


Great that you were able to visit Travelblog Towers again. The beanbags are a nice, colourful addition to the office, and the Star Wars paraphernalia add some character too. Wonder what changes will await your third visit? Regardless of the changes, I'm sure that shirt hanging on the wall will still be there - it was in same place when I visited in April!

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 31st October 2011

Mel
It was great meeting you and your family. I'm sure we'll meet outside of TB again whether it is KL or another place! Say hello to fam! xoxo~~

From Blog: Hippy trippy TravelBlog Towers V2.0 - Emails from Kuala Lumpur, August 2011
Date: 18th October 2011


test

From Blog: Balmy, Palmy south east Asia - Emails of August 2011
Date: 6th October 2011

very cool Mell
Damn that is old!!

From Blog: Bangkok bargains - Emails from Bangkok, August 2011
Date: 6th October 2011

Why is he doing that?
I have no idea why he is taking the photo. A band of police came alone before the steet cleaners appeared, and ordered street sellers, backpackers...to clear themselves and all belongings out of the way and then photographed the scene. Maybe he took another photo later for the before and after, for the police records of his days work completed.

From Blog: Bangkok bargains - Emails from Bangkok, August 2011





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