cheroux
Chris Joined: October 17th 2008
Logged in: November 2nd 2009
Logged in: November 2nd 2009
Travel Blog Posts
So here it goes. Annette 20 year old and I specified had took a whale shark tour so I joined her unfortunately we haven't seen one that day. The tour operator can explain it by all kind of reason (wind, swell, moon,,,) but the fact is they decided to go anyway even if this was not the best condition and it was unlikely we see some. Cancelling the tour that days means losing money for him. For Annette it was already her second tried and for me I was schedule the following week ( of course the company was not taking a full boat of 2nd timer (6 only out of 12 on the boat) which would means no revenus that day so they spread them and that where I realized the queus was long which ... read more
Once at Perth i wanted to relaxe so I plan to stay one week. I wanted to travel with another person for that leg of the trip so I needed time to find some other traveller heading north. For the few first night I stayed near the city center of Perth in the bar district. For some reason I didn't fit in those hostel and the people were not inclusive. Worst people were watching soccer and clubbing at night and comming back very drunk...maybe because they were young british. So I decided to move to Perth nearest beach which was in another neigborhood of Perth. The hostel there was recommanded and alcoolh free. I meet fews peoples it was better but still I notice some group of people were hanging together in some rooms during the ... read more
After Tasmania, I returned to Melbourne to meet with Joe, Claudette and Nina who had planned the easter weekend in great ocean road region. We visited the most popular site around our camping. Then I went back to Melbourne and work a bit on my van to improved and fix little details noted during the Tasmania and great ocean road trip. Belived me now, buy everything you might need in Melbourne or Sydney otherwise it will get expensive and hard to find if you head for the west coast. I miss a power converter, fishing gear, body board by the time I realize it, shop for it it was late in the trip and expensive.Nevertheless I was ready for the leg Melbourne-Perth In Mebourne I publish/advertised to other backpacker in hostel and on the web 2 ... read more
From Australia I have to make my way back to study MBA in China. After almost 6 months in Australia I had to plan the next leg of my travel. My Australia visa was running out and low cost airline have good deal if you plan in advance. So at the beginning of July I start looking for flight to Asia and I found a good deal at the beginning of august for Kuala Lumpur (KL). I also booked a flight from KL to Laos thinking I could make my way to China. I contacted some CS (couchsurfing) friends in KL and I planned to meet them. I started to advertise my Van on forum but the Australian winter is not the best time to sell a van to backpacker. I am not in a hurry ... read more
After more than 5 weeks in Melbourne, I was starting to get too confortable and I was abusing my host hospitality. Also it was getting colder so I had to make a move. My contacts suggested me to go to Tasmania before it get too cold. So Just before Easter I did 7 days travelling in Tasmania to test the van and the functionnality. I was also travelling alone during that week. I took a cabin to make sure I would get a good night of sleep on the ferry. I took a share 4 beds cabin. It cost a bit more that 200$. I arrived in Davonport at 7 am and I headed for Cradle Mountain. It was gray, raining at the mountain. There was many hike but it was not pleasant to walk in ... read more
I arrived in Australia febuary 24th. I was able to reach my parents's contacts in Australia the day before I took my flight. For few weeks I was not able to log into my gmail account so some emails didn't get through. I arrived in Melbourne at 2 am and Simon was waiting for me with a board with my name on it. I took plane so many time this was the first time someone was waiting for me with a board with my name on it. Simon didn't know who to expect. Usually someone in sabatical year is probably close to retired. He was not expecting a 33 year old backpacker. I did introduced myself in the email but I didn't put much detail since I assumed that i would have be introduced by ... read more
Feb 7th, I got to Lankawi Malaysia a nice island. I was well prepared. I spoke to some backpacker before and I knew a few hostel to go. Some people from the boat shared a taxi to the cenang beach so I joined them. Two swedish girl also asked to be dropped in that beach but once there they didn't know where to go. I asked the driver where were few hostels I knew and they were all around were he stopped in a walking distance. I asked the swidish girl if they knew where they were staying but they had no idea. They were a bit lost or not prepared. We started to look for a hostel together. We end up reading an ad on a palm tree and headed for that hostel the rainbow ... read more
The trip in China finished abruptly. It was very cold, I didn't meet people I was supposed to and a new year eve was not well planned. I had the chance of being with two Chineses girls who took me around Shanghai during my short stay. I had to head for warmer climate quickly. Looking at it now, I should have headed south toward Thailand while I was in Kunming instead of going north in Chengdu and Shanghai. The center of China was cold and houses didn't have heating system and also most of the tourist site were too cold to go. I was not well prepared for Thailand. They don't speak english as well as I was told. I would have gotten a translator program if i knew. The typical tourist route suggested in lonely ... read more
Now I am on my own. I arrived in Guilin and left my backpack at the airport luggage storage. I was a bit stressed with all the warning I got mainly from chinese, I prefered travelling light for this first leg of the trip. I was planning to go directly to Yangshuo. The airport shuttle was bringing us close to the bus terminal but quite far from Guilin old town. So I didn't take time to visit Guilin. In Yangshuo the town was much more relax and I the stress did diminish. Yangshuo is a very plesant town. As soon as I arrived to the IYH I met a english girl that wanted to go cycling around. It was a good way to discover the area and the temperature nice. The day after I met a ... read more
After HK, I have spent a week in Guangzhou at a friend's house and to get acustom to China. I arrived sunday morning the 14th just in time for his brunch at is flat with other french teachers from his university. I had the guest bedroom just for me. What a difference after a week in the dormatory of youth hostel. I think the stress of arriving in China and the lack of sleep in HK did catch up. I sleep more than 18 hours from sunday afternoon up to monday morning. Monday afternoon the 15th, I went with David girlfriend's Nini to buy a SIM card and visit the neigborhood so I can find my way. At night for dinner we meet David, and Nini friend Even. We had a typical Guanzhou meal: many small ... read more























