I kinda forgot how intense the Australian accent is. (Note that Paul got confused for an Australian today, by an Australian, which was amusing.) It's not "Sid-nee" but "SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED-NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." I shouldn't probably laugh too much though, as I was constantly mocked at work with my "wa-der" needs rather than "wat-er." Yesterday was a bit tiring, as we felt a bit jet lagged even though the time difference is only three hours from Singapore. Think the issue is that you're not exhausted enough to fall straight asleep, but you end up staying awake until the wee hours, and are [View Full Entry]

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After a very uneventful (though longish) flight from Singapore, we're now in Sydney. Unsurprisingly enough, most of the in-flight entertainment revolved in some way around Heath Ledger, although we watched a very funny stand-up Australian comedian called Carl Barron. Some of his impressions of his father reminded me more than a little of my future father-in-law. Accommodation is good - very clean, newly renovated hostel, so it's nice not to have to shower in a stall with a three-inch gap in the hanging-off door. We're meeting up with Paul's friend Alyssa shortly for lunch, and tonight we're [View Full Entry]

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So this is it - our last night in Asia, as we leave Singapore tomorrow morning for Australia. Paul and I were saying this morning that it's probably a good time, as we're both feeling a bit tired and burnt out... and weary from the neverending heat. It will be good to relax at Paul's parents' place for a few weeks in New Zealand (when we finally make it to Hamilton!) before we start our enormous Africa trip. We've not done a whole lot in Singapore, truthfully. We've taken a look at some of the main sites - Raffles Hotel, some [View Full Entry]

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Back on the web again to work out a bit of what's happening in New Zealand. (We've decided not to rent a campervan, and go with a car instead. A bit disappointing since it would be fun, but when we broke down the costs and realized that the van costs four times more than the car, the car won out in a big way. It wouldn't have been four times more fun to take a van.) Today has been very lazy, actually - it's scorching hot, and we're both tired after walking miles and miles around the city for the past [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we received the fantabulous news that Paul has been approved for Canadian permanent residency, so all we need to do is send his passport for a stamp. This is actually a bit harder than it seems, given that we have only sixty days to do this, and we're travelling for well over the next sixty, and therefore Paul needs his passport. We've decided to see if we can get an express service while we're in Sydney (where they issue the stamps for New Zealanders) or, failing that, will courier his passport the day we arrive in New Zealand. We're there [View Full Entry]

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Alrighty - I tried to upload some photos, but it was taken ages so I've ditched that for now. I was easily able to upload them onto Facebook though, so if you're on there you can have a look if interested. I'll try again soon. Today was spent doing a few errands and hanging out in wherever was air conditioned to beat the heat. Last night was a bit embarrassing in our dorm room, though. I was wearing earplugs (as is necessary) and almost asleep when I saw two bright flashes. In my daze I thought Paul was being jerky and [View Full Entry]

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We're now in Singapore, where it is pouring rain. Not too bad, considering it's the first real rain we've had since we embarked on our trip, but it does complicate things a bit. Like walking outside. We arrived in Singapore with little fanfare (other than the obligatory airline warnings about the death penalty for drug traffickers.) We flew on a relatively new Australian budget airline called Tiger Airways, and we found it really good - new planes, left and arrived on time (early even), so I'd definitely recommend them for Asian and Australian flights. We also saw one of the new [View Full Entry]

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We arrived back in Saigon last night after a looooooong, loooooooong bus ride from Mui Ne. The roads in Vietnam are relatively reasonable, and the buses in reasonably good condition, but it still took us 11 hours to drive 400km. So by the time we arrived back I was more than a little exhausted. Nha Trang was good fun, although I spent the most disappointing day of our trip on our last full day there. I was so excited about going snorkelling, especially in one of Asia's best dive spots - and the company supplied us with THE worst snorkelling equipment [View Full Entry]

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Amber: Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but I ordered a poached egg. Waiter: This is a poached egg. Amber: No, this is a boiled egg. (Amber is aware that it is a boiled egg because it is still in a shell, and far too hot to handle, much less eat.) Waiter: (long pause) Poached egg. Amber: (Decides to ignore that both poached and boiled eggs were on the menu, and therefore perhaps a poached egg means a boiled egg and vice versa.) I also asked for peanut butter for my toast. Waiter: This is peanut butter. Amber: No, this is [View Full Entry]

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Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. As soon as I flipped on the light, what should I see but a thumb-sized cockroach scuttling across the floor. Those of you who know me well may wonder how I managed to so clearly see a roach in the middle of the night when I would be without my much-needed corrective lenses. It is a strange but true fact: last night when I woke up, I was having dreams that I was covered in bugs, so when I got out of bed, I dug [View Full Entry]

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