matt_werner

OK, rather than putting the same stuff in many emails, I put it all together here. Sat 17/07/10 - Fly SYD SIN, catch up with a friend there for a day Mon 19/07/10 - Fly SIN JNB early, then JNB NBO, arrive mid afternoon Tue 20/07/10 Sat 24/07/10 Maasai village stay & help with school project + game drives on the Masai Mara (US$750). Nelson has organised this. Sat 24/07/10 Tue 27/07/10 2 days Nairobi sightseeing I guess - going to include the Nairobi animal orphanage after seeing photos of people patting cheetahs there Tue 27/07/10 Fly NBO KGL, start Rwanda tour similar to http://www.zebracountry.rw/gorilla_gisenyi.html (includes US$500 for gorilla permit) Fri 30/07/10 Fly KGL Kilimanjaro, then pickup to M... read more

Was up at 6am to spark up and get my arse to the course for the run. Headed in with some Americans that were staying in another room but had my guts decide they wanted to get rid of the tap water I had drunk at 4am along the way. Portable toilet block was out of paper, so after hassling the cleaning guy for some got the Cabury squirts out of the way then made my way to the entry gate to get into the course. Damn there was a lot of people there. Just getting through the gate was a squeeze, I hadn't been expecting there to be this many people here. Mostly guys but there was a few girls in there as well - but it turned out they were just there to soak ... read more

Much less tourists was the first thing that came to mind, so the hot Spanish girls stand out even more lol. Puts first week of uni to shame. The green on the pedestrian crossings here dont beep, they make a bird style tweet. Gives me a chuckle. Was 39 degrees the day I arrived and had a wander around but was just a dry heat so much more bearable than Barcelona. Checked out a few things in the arvo, went out for tapas and a couple of beers at night with some American guys from the hostel. Did a walking tour the next day that was alright, run by the local tourist office. Checked out some other things like the Egyptian temple and El Retiro park, and saw the rest of the things that interested me ... read more

Well it is still just as hot and humid here. Cant do anything without breaking a sweat, even blinking lol. Been seeing a few things... Did a walking tour around the old town, which was the original city the Romans founded. Guy doing it was pretty good, throwing in plenty of jokes (like going to the highest point in the old town which has an elevation of 16m above sea level.. he said "any Dutch people here prepare for a nose bleed and altitude sickness" but I think the rest of the people on the tour were retards because only me and another guy were laughing at them) with his knowledge. They put on a free beer at the end, I ended up with three ("just one wont do for an Aussie" lol) then went and ... read more

Dramas getting here... the only morning buses that went past the B&B were too late to get me onto the correct trains to connect with my cheap flight to Barcelona, so I ended up wandering around St Malo for a few hours then getting the TGV into Paris in the afternoon, then an overnight train from Paris down to Spain. A lot more expensive than in eastern Europe... Was rather hot when I got here at lunchtime yesterday, reminded me of the days at home when I just lay in front of the fan and do nothing all day... which was pretty much what I did. Got some washing done, spent an hour trying to find an ATM that would accept my credit card, then after dinner time had a walk around a bit. Dont quite ... read more

Said good bye to everyone in the morning then on the train to Bayeux, which took about 2 hours. Liked the town straight away, quiet little place, fair share of tourists but it was nice. Checked in then went for a walk around town and checked out the Normandy invasion museum, was pretty good actually. And it had everythi8ng in French AND English which was very helpful. A local couchsurfer Nathalie came round and got me later and we had a walk around town before dinner, during which bands were setting up for the music night, which was held all over France apparently, to mark the official start of summer (21st June). Once we got out from dinner there was a lot of people around in the streets and bands playing, a nice atmosphere with everyone ... read more

Seems everyone has a bad French restaurant experience and I have one now too. Didnt do much during the day, was feeling a bit over it, so hung out and chatted with other people then went and did some washing. The rest of them came back about 6pm and we had a couple of drinks then headed off into town to go to dinner at about 8pm, deciding somewhere in the Latin quarter. Got out from the Metro and picked a restaurant close by, James using his French that he was practising on everyone and getting pretty good with. Some of the girls had eaten and didnt want anything, the rest of us took the meal deal of entree, main and dessert. Got our drinks fine, then had a bit of a shuffle as a group ... read more

Went out the Palace of Versailles yesterday, dont know why I bothered really. Took 35 mins at the train station to buy the bloody ticket (France and their ticket booths, why cant they just get their ticket machines accepting notes?) and some old farts are whinging about shit and holding up the line... and its always LOCAL or American old farts. . Feel asleep about 50000 times on the train on the way out there, then followed the crowd down to it. As usual there was about 20 guys all trying to sell the same crappy stuff outside the gates, until one spied a police car and they all ran like hell carrying all their crap, highlight of the trip. Chatting with a few people in the line then inside. Nothing that I hadnt seen before ... read more

Seems there are a lot of illegals in Paris as well selling, well attempting to sell, crap to tourists just like in Rome. This time it is stupid little Eiffel Towers, some even light up. But the same mode of operation, 20 guys all walking around or with blankets down on the ground in close to each other near the Eiffel Tower. Some try to sell you bottles of wine to have with a picnic I guess. And they are still selling those wind-up bird things with the rubber band powering the flapping wings that Dad about back in 1984!! Got here around 2pm, checked in then went on a walking tour around most of the central things at 4pm. Was a general one and was pretty good. Guide was impressed by my confidence crossing the ... read more

I had never got the idea of putting mayonnaise on hot chips, it was always tomato sauce, but after getting some fries from the main square in Brugge with the different kind of mayonnaise to what we have in Australia it makes sense. Pretty tasty. My few days in Brugge were pretty good. Got there late-ish and didnt see much the first night despite the sun being up until 10:30pm, ran into some Aussies in the main square and chatted to them for a while then went back to the hostel and crashed out. Jumped on a canal cruise the next morning with some people from the hostel. NOT the one the hostel talked about where the guys make up not-quite-true-but-funny stories about different things in town, instead it some old guy when struggled to tell ... read more