LILIE TRAVEL THE WORLD

Alice Springs to Darwin 3 days 12th to 14th of June 2008

2008-06-22T20:48:00.001-07:00

This tour wasn't my favorite but I got to sit back and relax, basically it was all about driving 1300 kms in 3 days!
Our tour guide was a little strange, he called himself Sauce and here is the reason way... his family name is De Soyres and it s to make Soy Sauce, yeah I know worst reason for nickname ever!
A few more ppl joined our tour while a few left (the Danish Boys, the Scottish Couple and the Canadian Guy) and we got on boards 2 more japanese, 5 more englishs: dani, dom, becka, linda and Mark and 1 more french from Quimper.
(La Bretagne en Force ahaha)
The first night we stopped at a kettle Station, it was pretty funky to be surrounded by cows, chickens, kangaouroos in the middle of the Outback..
Second night we reached Katherine Gorge, the highlight of this tour!
But during those 2 days we stopped at a few places such as the Devils Marbles (some more rock formation), Daly Waters Pub made of travellers junk but very funny ;)), Mataranka where we swam in some hot springs and everybody agreed with this heat it would have been nice to swim in cooler water.
The last day, 2 to 3 hours canoeing in the Katherine Gorge: Amazing! the first gorge was absolutely beautiful.. My arms ached for the next 2 days!!! lol
In the afternoon we took the road to Darwin stopped to see the Buffalo from Crocodile Dunde, I know so exciting and we finally got to Darwin at 6pm.
Darwin: sun, palm trees, pool in the hostel, feeling of holidays again lol
Anyway we all headed for our free meal at the Vic (Backpacked bar a must do in Darwin), anyway what was supposed to be an easy night to be on form for kakadu the next day turned out to be another of those crazy nights and on this I blame Mark and the danish Boys and also the free Drinks we won lol Damn you all I was in bits the next day!

Adelaide to Alice Springs - 6 days - 4th to 9th June 2008

2008-06-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

On the road again, to start with the beginning, here are the people I am travelling with:

UK: Becka

OZ: Megan, Dan & Karen

Scotland: Zoe & Allie

NZ: Margaret

Japan: Hitshko

Honk Kong: Sharon

Ireland: Claire

Holland: Elia

Denmark: Heine, Hendrik, Soarsen

Our tour guide: James is an exentric Aussie, in love with his country and its culture.

We left Adelaide at 6.30am with as the last time 2 hours to nap on the bus before our first breakfast stop.

The first day was mainly driving.. to our destination: Parachilna, we stoped at a few sights to discover some aboriginal workart. This drive was pretty quiet, we got to discover a bit more about each of us with our guide asking the right questions when we had to present each others such as why we decided to come to OZ, what we would bring on a desert island and what we would like to change in the world.
We finally made it to Parachilna, a small village: 9 inhabitants (no no there is no mispelling here it was really nine) where every night of the week apart from Tuesdays they get travellers like us so it can become quite animated at night :D
The most exciting things happening there are the Sunset at 5.20Pm (known as one of the best in Australia) and a train passing by at 10.20pm with its 46 wagons. Oh and they also have a local pub: la prairie.
As we traveled to Wilpena Pound, the vegetation becomes a lot more dry with smaller trees, rocks and sands. The weather isn't great at all as it s actually raining, of course that happens once a year and it has to be when I am there! so we had to cancel our walk through the Flinders range for a shorter walk (so glad I took this raincoat someone left at the hostel in Sydney :))
We are back at our accomodation pretty early, great excuse for a nap and a bit of reading, after dinner we mainly played a few card games as the Danish Boys carried with them a set of Uno cards and a set of Porn Cards (no comment guys!)
The next morning we are up at 4am for our drive to Coober Peddy (600 kms) to be on time to do a Mine Tour and for Sunset.
Coober Peddy is more famous for being the Capital of Opal in Austrlia, during summer the temperature reaches 50 degrees. People live mainly underground.
Before a law came out to stop people digging in town for Opal, they could end up digging in someone's house!
I was really glad to see this city, it is wicked in a way it's so different from anything you would ever see.
The town is mainly populated with Aboriginals.
We did our mine tour, but didn't see any sunset as it was too cloudy.
The next morning we left Coober Peddy for... Uluru. The excitement was rising up (well for me) as in a few hours I will finally get to see Uluru, Ayers Rock, the Red Centre from my own eyes :D.
As usual a long drive (another 600 kms) animated with our tour guide with some quizzes or little games such as Bingo Plates to keep people a little more awake than usual (ah yeah I didn't mention yet but I fell asleep about 10 000 times on my tour bus... for sure from now I can fall asleep anywhere lol).
A quick stop by the campsite to collect Champagne and Crackers.
Sunset at Uluru: celebration time (we made it lol) and it is sunny just a few clouds here and there :D. It was quite impressive as you could see the color of the rock changing as the sun went down, same effect the next day as the sun went up (only a lot more impressive it went from dark orange/red to bright orange: unbelievable).
It is also our first night camping and it s freezing cold so we all went around the fire, James played a bit of didjireedoo (aboriginal music instrument) and we drank to celebrate this great day.. I decided to sleep outside to enjoy the beauty of the stars, a sky like you don't see so frequently.. It s cold but it's woth it and comfi in the swag :D
The next day we walked around the rock for 2 hours, not much to see appart from a few aboriginal paintings. Sorry Ian I didn't get that picture of me on the top of the rock as aboriginal don't really like when people climb up of and also because about 40 people have died since that climb is open...
We then headed to the Olgas: Kata Tjuta, this sight isn't as open to public and what is happening there is still kept very secret. It is as impressive as Uluru only instead of 1 big rock it looks like loads of smaller Ulurus stuck together.
We camped in Kings Canyon this time I decided to sleep in the tent oh yeah it felt even colder outside than the previous night...
We did a 3 hours walk in Kings Canyon which was absolutely amazing!
After this walk we went for lunch and took the road back to Alice Springs another 4 hours drive till we get there... We ended up breaking down due to a lack of fuel but got quickly sorted thanks to another Adventure Tour Bus :D
We got to Alice Springs around 6pm, 1 hour to get ready (well I had fuck all left to wear after those 6 days lol) then we headed to Annie's Place a very well known backpacker Bar and Hostel.
While my group was very laid back / chilled out over the last 6 days. That night was absolutely madness with some of them dancing on the tables (no no not me I was taking pictures instead as for look what you did last night ahahah) and everybody getting way too drunk (well $10 for a jug of beer, $4.50 for a shot that s a winner ;)) including our tour guide. I ended up staying longer than everybody for talking too much with other backpackers or simply not being tired lol and by the time I patiently waited for a taxi to take me home, a police car pulled over and offered me a free lift back to my hostel... Nice one :D

Alice Springs counts 25000 people with a lot of Aboriginals. I didn't feel too secure there walking by myself. The Off License don't open before 2Pm, you can't buy more than 2 litres of Alcohol a day. This law is due from the excess of Aboriginal ppl, apparently they used to receive their Welfare Money every Tuesday and would spend it all in booze so the government had to close all the Liquor Stores on Tuesdays... Not sure if that was in all Northern Territory or in Tenant Creek (we stop there on my next tour).
Anyway there wasn't much to do so I spent my 2 days by the pool as the temperature was reaching 25 degrees and I started preparing my tan :D.

Melbourne to Alice Springs - 3 days - 31st of May to 2nd June 2008

2008-06-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

After my 2 hours sleep, I wake up in a rush at 6.00 am instead of 5.30am forcing me to take a cab to my pick up point.
Starting my tour at 7am, I hope on the bus, make myself comfortable despite the bus being freezing cold and get a few minutes nap in the first 2 hours we drive outside of Melbourne towards Surf City. Located just a few minutes before the Great Ocean Road, it's a good spot to purchase any brand clothing (surf brands) such as Rip Curls, Quicksilver and so...
It's also the occasion to meet up with the rest of the people travelling with me on this tour... so we are 11: 1 NZ: Greame, 1 Switz: Daniel, 1 Honk Kong: Sharon, 1 Germany: Korina, 1 English: Alistaire, 2 Deutshe: Paul & Lilia, 1 Korea and 1 Japan, whom I forgot their names (sorry girls), 1 Japan Miji and meee :D.
We started our Great Ocean Road drive, stoped at a few picture spot such as a sign we are entering the Great Ocean Road, a few nice beaches with great waves... home of the surfers, a bit later on we also stoped to see some koalas.. Those little cute things don't give much of a show as they sleep all day long and the only reason they would move would be to change their position to sleep or eat a few leaves from the Gumtrees where they are sleeping. In the Afternoon we stopped in the rainforest of Otway National Park before heading for sunset over the 12 apostles, we were really lucky we get a real multicolored sunset: pink, orange and purple colors :D
The following day we did a few stop at some rock and cliffs formation such as London Bridge, Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs and the Lorch Ard Cave, a story involving a ferry sanking in the 19th century and only 2 survivors who staied for a few days in this cave. I also did a helicopter ride over the 12 apostles which was actualy very amazing, first helicopter ride hopefully not last, I got a great great view and some nice pics :D
In the afternoon, we climbed the Pinnacle for 1 and 1/2 hour to get a splendid view over the Grampians :D.
On our last day we woke up really early to get a good sunrise over the Grampians, walked down to have a better look on the Mackenzie walk and finally did a bit of exercise and climbed Hollow Mountain... another 5 hours drive was waiting for us in the afternoon till we could get to Adelaide, we stopped a few times on the way checked out some Emu and walabis and also some Albinos Kangooroos.
This tour was pretty cool, the Great Ocean Road is certainly a thing not to be missed when you get to Asutralia, it's really pretty I wish I had done it during summer time though. My group were really nice and I was lucky I had Paul my drinking buddy to help me finishing those 4 litres of goone on the second night :D
Once we arrived in Adelaide I volounteered to cook dinner for the rest of the bus, Chicken Curry and Mango which cost each of us only $2 and we all were very full after it :D
Adelaide was alright, unfortunately I was pretty tired from those 3 days so didn't get to see much I walked around for a while and ended up playing pool for the rest of the day.. We also experienced something pretty strange for a Tuesday night, apart from McDonalds there is almost noway you can get cheap food in this city after 10PM .. for some weird reason the supermarket would close at 9pm to reopen at midnight... strange strange :D
Anyway a day is never enough to get a good idea on a city and I was more focused on what was waiting for me next....

Mebourne in 3 Days - 28 to 31st of May 2008

2008-06-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

After a 12 hours bus journey between Sydney and Melbourne I arrived at the bus station where I got offered a free lift from a travel agency:(Az Travels) to my hostel... I will be staying for 3 nights at the Ritz for Backpackers located on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. When I first walked in the hostel the first feeling I got was very similar to when I first went to the Wood Duck a small and cosy hostel, which is what I was hoping for :)... a bit tired from my bus journey I decided to head straight to bed and have a little nap before starting walking around the city.
Lucky I was to find some free pancakes left over from the free Morning Breakfast and hmm they actualy realy were yummi :D. Today I take it as my first day of holiday so easy and I walk mainly around St Kilda which would be the equivalent of Bondi in Sydney only less crowdy! There was a nice promenade along the beach and Fitzroy Street was full of little shops, it was really quiet mainly due to the fact we were in Winter! Once I am finished discovering this quiet beach village I headed back to the hostel and started meeting a few people from the hostel. Well as I am travelling by myself it's part of my daily life to meet new people ;). The next couple of days I walked around Melbourne City used the free bus which goes all around the city, went to the very famous Victoria s market where I bought: Nothing ;) discovered the amazing streets recommended by my Lonely Planet: Desgraves Street and Brunswick Street. Went out at night with few friends from the hostel... well holidays :D
I did hear a lot of Melbourne: You will love it, very nice city, much more human size than Sydney.. and it's really what I felt there. It's a city where the Culture and Arts are a lot more present than in Sydney nobody feels like they need to be someone and therefore have to own such things or wear such clothes. So Yeah Melbourne is getting into my Top 5 cities :D
Anyway back to my 3 days.. I had a really good time there it was a nice rest before starting my trip and after working like crazy over the past 2 months in Sydney. I met some great people, very friendly partied a bit too much the last night which meant 1 hour sleep before starting my 18 days bus tour to Darwin... (It sounded like a fun idea at that time ;))

Leaving Sydney - 27th of May 2008

2008-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

The big day finally arrived... and my journey continues through Australia. It wasn't a real goodbye as I will be returning to Sydney at east twice before leaving Australia.
No leaving parties, just goodbye to Cindy who helped me so much since I first arrived at the Wood Duck Inn...

Travelling

2008-05-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have to say since I have started travelling 4 months ago, I probably have never felt so alive... I really live the present moment and don't worry as much about my future, my career, getting a house, car, or simply having a family... Most of yous will probably thing come on Lilie you are only 24 you have all your life ahead of you to worry about those things, well that s what I think too although I remember those 4 weeks I spent in France before I started this trip and the way it brought me back to reality well the french reality

I guess this isn't the way I have decided to live my life... I don't know what tomorrow is made off therefore I will enjoy today, and will enjoy tomorrow and look back at yesterday and smile...

My quote of the week:

“I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.”

A weekend in Sydney

2008-05-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

After all this time I have spent in Sydney I realised I never really told you what I was getting up to when I didn't have to work... Well first of all when staurday morning arrives... I don't mind staying in bed a bit longer and getting a little bit more than my weekly 6 hours sleep. I then go for breakfast without having to worry to wash everybody s dishes and only at that time I realise it is time to relax.
Last weekend I switched my friday night shift to sunday night and headed out with my workmates, after all those time I have turned their invitation down it was finally about time I showed them I am up for a bit of partying too. So we headed to Oxford steet (I also call it rainbow street) for a happy hour drink, the schooners (a tiny bit smaller than pints) for $2.5 and shots for $5. We spent a great night ending up in some random party in Surry Hills which was so different from the made in Dublin parties (maybe we were just at a wrong party) lol.
The following day I did what I love most since I started this trip and went to Paddington to discover the so heard about Paddington Market. This lovely market, full of home made clothes or handicrafts is the home to originality. From jewelery, to fairy lights passing by Palm Reading this boho style market would easily satisfy every woman in the world. Sometimes I wish I wasnt a backpacker and could afford all those beautiful things, well I can afford them but my backpack cant carry them around the world :D
Paddington is a neighborhood (I forgot how to spell this word woops) very near from where I am living now... it smells of nice food - I bought a strawberry covered with chocolate (iced) for $1.50, my 2 favorite things in the world reunited in 1: Heaven!, expensive and trendy clothes, fashion... It s the kind of place I would easily see myself living in, full of little eateries, cosie shops and so much vintage stuff... No high building only 3 storey houses around!
After my little tour around the market... I didnt buy anything but managed to get free seaweed for my sushis!
Finally back at the hostel I sat in The Tv Room for a while and went off to rent a few dvds for the night and ended up watching 3 movies in a row... Finally this hostel has such a big homy feeling, now it's winter we don't get as many 1 night people and most of the people here have been for more than a week so it s like a very big family...
Sunday comes and the sun is still shining :D My wisdom tooth (bottom right) is hurting today not so much of a good sign so I staied in the hostel read and took a sunbath until 3PM... Pizza time at Hugo's Bar Pizza.
That was a tip I got off Micheal when I first arrived in Sydney... Half price pizza from 3 to 5pm I have since been there hmmm too many times I guess lol
But for sure among the best pizza I have ever tried!
Followed with a few beers at O'Malleys it is time to return to the hostel and start my night shift...
So Here I am, Tuesday night, about get my wisdom tooth removed on Thursday and I am not feeling very comfortable about this, after a funky experience I have had younger when I had to get a top tooth removed and my beloved dentist had to give me anesthetic about 10 times and it ended up in numbing my tongue more than my tooth..
I have had to reschedule a little my travel plans as I have to be in Sydney on Monday to get my stitches out so I will be leaving for Melbourne on Tuesday night and start my trip un to Melbourne on Saturday morning...

My Home away from home ... My bed at the hostel... You should recognise it especially for those who have been in my place before.. the african wall thingy and the fairy lights I wouldnt survive without fairy lights :D

Austrlian Fashion:

Still in Sydney but not for so long...

2008-05-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ah la la I am really not being very good at updating my blog... I am really sorry
I guess it's mainly due to the fact that my life here at the moment is spent working and saving up loads of money to travel more more more :)
Well I have now been in Sydney for more than 2 months and I still think it s an amazing city, it will come in my top 5 cities in the world I think.
But at the same time I am very looking forward to moving on and travelling again. Sometimes I realise how lazy I am to avoid working for 12 months... but guess what I don't care :) Those 12 months are certainly the only 12 consecutive months in my life I will ever be able to experience what I am experiencing now... an amazing journey :)
I am still working in Australia s biggest bank during the day... 8 to 4.30pm and now doing the Night Manager at my hostel which involves working from 8pm till 8am... Don't worry I don't have to stay up all night.. I can just go to bed but always keep my phone on. Basically I have to close and clean the kitchen at 11pm the next day wake up really early to clean up the mess from the night before wait till 8am and run to the bank to make my files...
So I don't get much time to enjoy my Sydney life anymore but I have enjoyed it quite a lot over the last 2 months so I don't really mind...
My main goal is to save up as much money and spoil myself with some wicked trips around OZ and even return to South East Asia....
Yeap here is my new plan as you all know I always change my mind lol so I am leaving Sydney in 2 weeks.. ouiiiiii :) heading down to Melbourne and from the 29th of May travel from Melbourne to Darwin by bus (18 days journey all included, food + accomodation) I will finally experience the real Australia.. Can't wait :D Once I get to Darwin I will then fly to Singapore and spend 1 month with Vicky around Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, maybe Cambodia, Bali??? we will see wherever the wind will bring us :D
I will return to ossieland end of July and only 1 month left till my sister arrives and we get on some crazy trip around the East Coast :D
Well this is it for my plans...
I will certainly update my blog this weekend with some more pictures... the partys at the hostel, my day trip at the blue mountains...

The Wood duck Inn

2008-04-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

So long.... since my last update

2008-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Almost a month has passed by since I last updated my blog... can't believe how fast time goes.
Well first I really want to apologise to anybody who was wondering why I wasn't updating my blog lately, let's say I was slightly busy :)
So let's start with the beginning lol, now I have been working for Australia s biggest bank for 4 weeks ah no 5... hmmm I am not even sure anymore lol the job is pretty easy doesnt require much effort or even sleep at night + I get to listen to some music (my ipod) while working so from time to time I switch onto Michel Thomas Spanish lesson... I have to be ready for my trip in Mexico and Agentina ah oui!
That s the second thing you probably don't know yet I am booking an extra country to my trip: Agentina for 1 month from mid november to mid december and will be spending Xmas and New Years on a mexican beach drinking coronas for a dollar and eating nachos lol well that s the plan for now.
I am still sleeping in the same hostel, it's a bit like my new home, I finally didn't decide myself to move in anywhere in Sydney maybe I was a little afraid of that settling down feeling... or simply enjoying the hostel fun...
I should be sending you some pictures of my room soon but at the moment it's a huge mess from the 2 new guys who loved in last Tuesday... I am sharing my room with a canadian guy who will be staying the same lenght as me and we might travel together for a while down to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road in June (ok all my family I stop you here, he is the kind of guy who prefers men to women ;))
We had quite a number of ppl passing by our room, from the weirdest Taiwanese gay guy.. I can't describe him you have to meet him to understand!!!
I am stil cooking for my hostel mate like a crazy french cook... and organised last sunday a french evening with home made chocolate cakes... crepes and so and Amelie :D
It was good although they all rushed on the food pretty quick... (I took note: Backpackers are always starving no matter what time it is lol)
I have met some amazing ppl at the hostel, Marjolein, Vicky with whom we dressed up as school girls for a free drink at the gaff, Lara, Ben and Joel (the best english guys you can encounter!), the canadians... but they all come and go :) but definetely some good friends to visit once back @ home and for Marjolein see you in Mexico!!!!!
I would almost forget what is keeping me away from Internet... well as I finish at the bank everyday at 4.30pm... it only takes me 10 minutes to go home so I am once again cleaning the hostel in the afternoons.. every 2 weeks for 1 hour and a half or for 3 hours so then I pay half or no accomodation at all... which means more spending money.. or saving money to go on some crazy adventures around OZ.
As for what I spend my spare time on... well when Marjolein was still around we kept ourselves busy doing some drinking games with the canadians... since she left it's been a lot more quiet some relaxed evenings cooking for some friends or watching movies. During day time not much more sightseeing... went a few more time to Bondi Beach, shopping, going to some markets, eating a fish and chips at watson bay... or having a relaxed day with a book on the fooftop.
I hope you are all keeping well though and I send you all my love :)

School Night

Marjolein & Me

Free beers at the Ice Bar ;) Thumbs Up

1, 2, 3, 4, 5......25!!!!

2008-03-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what went through my mind on Tuesday night when I decided to offer to cook Pad Thai for all the hostel.... and 26 people signed up to get Pad Thai on Wednesday night...
Fearing it would exceed 20 people I was far from thinking so many people would be interested in trying my cuisine...
So after work I went on to my Thai Supermarket, get 3 blocks of tofu, 5 packs of rice noodles, some chives, beansprouts, taramind juice, garlic... a wok.... and I started cooking at 7pm... Cooking 1 dish at a time (much nicer that way!) I had the best kitchen assistant Marjolein, who would crush, cut, mix while I would be cooking we finally stopped at 10pm, exhausted but I really had a lot of fun... I only charged 2 dollards per person which covered my grocery cost and everybody seemed fairly happy and full by the end of the night.
Mission accomplished I am now a Pad Thai master :D

I sit in the office while my heart beats for more travels

2008-03-17T20:39:00.001-07:00

Today was my first day in work and title of this post summarise pretty well how I felt today ....

HAPPY PADDYS DAY

2008-03-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

We celebrated it yesterday, with a parade going through Sydney City Centre and a band playing U2 in Hyde Park.... and guess what.. It was full of drunk Irish People lolol

To all the Irish and the wannabe Irish: Happy St Patrick's Day !!!!!

What to do when you have a week off in Sydney?

2008-03-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well chill out on the rooftop of the Wood Duck Inn, go to the beach, go for a walk, enjoy the sun, walk around the city centre.... so many options...

Finally I spent my monday and tuesday in Manly which I really enjoyed, nice quiet beach... on wednesday as I was forced to clean every step in the hostel part of my morning cleaning task I was late and a bit tired to make my way anywhere, so I just fell asleep in Hyde Park. Finally on Friday, I used all the strengths I had left to walk from Coggee to Bondi.. An amazing walk, the scenerey is just beautiful, on the way you go through 2 more beaches where ppl are either sunbathing, enjoying a bbq (yeah there are free public bbqs on all of sydney's beach!) or surfing... and I finally got to the most famous beach in all Australia (well I think as I heard this name so many times!) which wasn't so impressive but still the sand was really soft (pictures of the walk below). On Saturday I went to the cosiest neighborood: Glebe, surrounded with Library hiding a little cafe at the back, it felt like a place where I would see myself living. I headed to the market in the morning nothing compared to the markets in Thailand but there was still loads of interesting stuff to buy... I took this opportunity to get a new book, well not so new as I purchased The Alchemist, I read some years ago but it felt right to read it again now.

I finally spent my afternoon working on my tan on Coggee beach and went for my first swim in the Tasmanian Sea (well a bit colder than the sea in Thailand but you could still get in without shivering as you would obviously do if you were swimming in Brittany!!!)

That same night, I ended up going out with a few ppl from the hostel which was really good fun, we went out for a few drinks in the Gaff hmm sorry a few free drinks :D and ended up in a place called Candys... well the music wasnt so good, I think they need our european Djs, as I had already experienced 2 weeks ago the same feeling... a dj playing the same beat over and over again so it turned out to be an early night watching Scary Movie 4 in the TV Room :D

Apart from all that, I am doing really well, I have met up with loads of people here although I miss you all, I am quite happy to be where I am now :)

No longer jobless...

2008-03-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

After a week searching for work I finally got offered a very easy position in Australia's biggest bank: Westpak... I spent a week my morning cleaning and my afternoon going to interviews and was very much happy to get offered this job (Admin) last Thursday... Now I can finally relax and enjoy Sydney. As I am starting on the 17th of March (St Partick's day) I am now still cleaning the hostel in the morning and in the afternoon I am heading to the sun... to the beach... simply having a good time ... Today I was in Manly... on shelly beach :) after a ferry ride (30 minutes approx), I walked for another 20 minutes to finally relax there.. a nap, a bit a reading... as th sun starting to go down I made my way back to the ferry to enjoy an amzing scenery on my way back ... Sunset.. and Sydney's city lights, really nice! Manly is a very nice place... if it wasnt that far from the city centre I would probably consider to move there... but for now I am enjoying a bit too much the backpacker life where I am so I am thinking to stay in the hostel till I get tired of it. I will give you more news very soon, my internet credit is running out now :(

As long as it keeps me going

2008-03-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Here we are, already 6 days in Sydney almost a week... It has been a month since I last staied that long in the same place the only thing is I don't feel bored at all!!! While a week ago I was feeling completely confused, in need of more travels... meeting new people seeing new things... I now can say that I really really like Sydney... Let's go back to when everything turned pink again lol.. Well I reckon it was Friday and even more Saturday... The SUN is here and it s so hot here when it s sunny and it s so much nicer I can just walk around the city, take a nap in one of their numerous parks and so...
On Friday night I met Michael (A made in Sydney Aussie I met at the down under exhibition last October in Dublin) who took me out, well invited me to join him in a Sydney standard night out with Australians... I am really grateful to him for taking me out... It was a great and fun night although I didn't feel too comfortable in my thai clothes lolol + as a backpacker you don't get the chance to go out so much with aussies, you obviously wander around the backpacker places instead. Anyway that night really opened my appetite to discover a lot more about Sydney's night life.
On Saturday: Mardi Gras! The 2nd biggest gay & lesbian pride in the world. Before that I met Laurent (qui passe par ailleurs le bonjour a Titi, Caro & Manue ;)) who has been living in Australia for already 2 years... It was good to see him and hear about his experience, I think he really likes it a lot here.. I wouldn't be surprised if he staied another 2 more years ;)
Anyway we headed together to the Mardi Gras, which was Crazy, Nuts!!! People dressed up everywhere, people drinking in the streets, parks....
The parade was good although a little disapointing I was expecting something a little bigger, unfortunately most of the parade was about people walking on the ground.. so being at the back we happened to miss a good bit :( After that we headed to Scruffy Murphys, full of backpackers, girls dressing up as the YMCA band and dancing on the bar lol.. I met a few people including an english with whom I talked about Thailand... aahhh Thailand!
Sunday, rest, I joined Emilie and her boyfriend (I met Emilie in Thailand) we wondered around the city, searched for a place where to eat and finally ended up in Hungry Jacks lol
Since Monday I have started my new cleaning jobs at the hostel... stairs up and down and up and down lol...clean, clean, clean lol and in the afternoon Interviews... I am fully interviews booked for the afternoons... on Monday a marketing company, today recruitment agencies... after 6 days in Sydney I already hear about Sponsorship ... Interesting ;) Next 2 days more interviews and hopefully Friday ... rest :D
The backpacker life here is amazing! there are organised nights all week long, free drinks, meals, cheap drinks, cheap movies... the choice is huge and I happen to stay in the best place in Sydney, 5 minutes walk from the business centre... 5 minutes walk from the night life centre lol
Last night I organised the first sushi night, everybody in the hostel was quite impressed with my skill lol
So to summarise a little: I really like it here, it's fun and full of opportunities + loads of ppl to meet and share experiences with...
I have to go there is a cockroach walking around the computer and this one is quite big.
PS: Ian, now I know what you meant and understand how you felt when you were talking to me about OZ... It's just as you said, amazing!

And the adventure continues - without Tuk-Tuk ;)

2008-02-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well as I said on my post yesterday I finally arrived safely in Sydney. The Hostel I am staying in is called the Wood Duck Inn and located in Sydney City Centre which couldn't be any better for a first week! Once in the hostel I hurried to get a warm shower but no hot water left and get some breakfast. Instead of heading to bed I talked with a few people hanging around the hostel just to discover a bit further about Sydney and Australia. Most of the people I have met so far are only here for a week or 2 and then will continue on travelling. In my case I am fitting in the working case lol. In the afternoon I met a friend that I had met at the Down Under Exhibition it was nice to see a fimiliar face in this unfamiliar place :) the afternoon I went to check out the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.. It's great to see them with my own eyes and not only in pictures. Sydney seems like a very nice city, despite its huge size you can easily make your way around the centre without the feeling of being completely lost and the sea is there which is a Plus :D

Ko Pha Ngan - Full Moon Party pictures

2008-02-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

Live Your dream don't dream your life

2008-02-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Koh Pha Ngan Follow up

2008-02-27T11:54:00.000-08:00

My experience in Koh Pha Ngan will certainly remain my best time in Thailand. Even if I enjoyed the all of it, this place will be on my coming back list! Instead of heading to the crazy HadRin, I decided to make my way to Thong Nai Pan. Thong Nai Pan has beaches: Yai and Noi. As I found a cool accomodation on Yai my choice between the 2 was made. Each beach is 20 minutes walk from each other, that you can also replace by a boat or taxi ride. I staied in Thai Terrace Bungalow, not located on the beach but in the village there was a total of 8 bungalow surrounded by a tropical cosy garden. It really felf like home, we could sit down in the evening to enjoy a beer Chang and relax.
I arrived on Monday 18th of February and was followed a few hours later by Ivan. The main goal of this little vacation was = RELAXING. My day to day life was summerised with: breakfast, sunbathing, swimming, sunbathing, eating, reading (I finished The Witch of Portobello by Cohelo thx luce and have now started A million Little Pieces by James Frey) , sleeping... The weather was amazing until Sunday I experienced: no electricity, thunders and so...
In the evening we would warm up for the so famous full moon party... Wednesday night in the Funky Buddha: good music, cheap drinks ;), Following night the Hideaway on Thong Nai Pan Noi (that night I ended up losing everybody but without any problem got a taxi back to my beach... while the taxi driver invited me to lay down at the back of her truck and enjoy the stars and the moon lol) Following 2 nights rest.. well almost I first had to convince a Canadian living on Noi Beach that Yai was better lol Not sure it really worked lol! And to finalize all those warm up partys, Full Moon Party on Sunday night.. I started a night getting paint some crazy stuff on my body (Greg you gotta explain me why the "Hi Mom" on my back lololol), drunk way too much buckets and ended in hurting myself a little.. I don't know how but my eye looks now very blue and purple not so so good lol... Drinks Drinks...
As I lost my paint friends I ended up finding all the backpackersthai guys from Yai at the first bar and had a crazy, excellent time...
It's probably what I enjoyed the most in Yai, the fact that we werent so many tourists, the atmosphere was very chilled out and everybody got to meet everybody.. By the end we were all kind of friends...
But I had to leave this little paradise... very sad indeed but the adventure continues....
Another boat bus trip back to Bangkok where I got to meet some more ppl who for sure were interested to discover what happened to me with this black eye...lol
Ah Lilie!!!

Joyeux Anniversaire Audrey... Mwah!

2008-02-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

Ko Pha - Ngan 18 to 25 Feb

2008-02-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Ko Phan Gan on the 18th, Ivan joined me a few hours later... I previously rented a bungalow on Thong Nai Pan Yai beach... This place is amazing, it's a paradise... I love it so much I don't feel like leaving it... Ivan left this morning, so was I supposed to until they changed the full Moon party to the 24th instead of 22nd.. So I am staying 2 more nights than I first planned and will be back in Bangkok on the 26th at 5am to take my plane 12 hours later...

I will write a lot more about this week in Ko phan gan later at the moment I really wanted to let you know where I was and showing you a few pictures :)

KO Phi Phi 16 to 17 Feb

2008-02-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

On the boat from Phuket town to Ko Phi Phi.. we saw the famous Beach from the Movie "the beach" (called here Maya Beach) but I could only realise that it completely lost its paradise idea... with like 20 boats full of tourists and a beach completely crowded... Once we arrived in Ko Phi Phi we took a boat (taxi boat) down to Long Beach as the lonely planet was recommending it to be the most beautiful and the best for Snorkelling ;)... and it was really amazing... Clear water -Perfect white sand a little Paradise, we didn't get too much hassle finding a bungalow but the prices are really high... probably the after Tsunami effect ?... Anyway I enjoyed a day doing nothing, only swimming, getting dry/tan... drinking some fruit shakes... reading a bit... and it was really good after the 3 weeks I spent in the Mainland :D The same night we went back to the harbour where all the action was / a night out drinking was the plan :D we got there and headed for a pizza, I had Penne Carbonara and it was hmmm :D then we got our bucket (Samsang / Coke / Redbull ) and played a few drinking card games before hitting the dancefloor... Surprising enough I met the 3 Swedish guys I also met in Ko Chang... The night out was good certainly not the best! but enjoyable enough... the next day we had to take the boat at 2pm so I enjoyed the beach for another few hours before making my way down to the boat...

I don't think Ko Phi Phi is as nice as it used to be before the Movie but also the Tsunami... we could see a few pictures of the before after and it lost a bit of its charm although the island remain the most beautiful I have seen in Thailand... A pity all those resorts took the opportunity to set there straight after the Tsunami though :(

On my way to Phuket 13 to 15 Feb

2008-02-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

After Pai, I headed back to Chang Mai got the night bus from there to Bangkok, 12 hours later I finally arrived (8am) and booked my ticket to go down to Phuket the same day. Only a few hours to kill, but enough for a shower some shopping but bot to sleep :(... At 6PM, goodbyes with Pete that I will certainly go and visit in Brisbane sometimes between the next few months...
I took my bus and finally got there at 1PM the next day.... 18 Hours Journey!!! There I met Ivan and he took me at the back of his scooter to the place where he was staying since a month for his Thai Boxing training... Luckily I only staied a night there... Phuket town looks like Bangkok the only difference is that there is the sea lol... Anyway after a good night sleep we headed the next morning to Ko Phi Phi...

Pai - Monday 11/02 to 13/02

2008-02-18T02:35:00.000-08:00

My Lonely planet said of this city to be the most chilled out in Thailand and I can only confirm. 4 hours away from Chang Mai (by bus), probably the craziest drive I have yet experienced, going up and down the mountains, full of tricky curves on our way we spent half of the time on the oposite side of the road not knowing what would be there after the next curve. The driver could only bip to aware (can I say that in english?) the car/bus/motorcycle coming but I got really scared about 2, 3 times when the car coming in front of us didn't slow down.... But an highlight was that we travelled in the evening and the sunset on the mountain was amazing maybe better than on the beach!

Anyway we finally arrived in Pai, got ourself a lovely bungalow near the river... once we dropped our bags we went for a walk around the city and I couldnt help myself but only notice that this town had maybe more tourists than Thai People! Probably due to the fact that the weekend before was the reggae festival (for the Global Warming)... And Pai is the perfect city for reggae music with most of thai men with dreadlocks and continusly listening to Bob Marley :D The town was full of little comfortable eateries / bars... If I had more time I would have definetely see myself staying there for more than 2 days... Anyway chill out is good but sightseeing was on our timetable the day following our arrival... and we went on with our motorbike to see the Hot Springs (at the very top the water temperature would reach 80 degrees and it was smelling like boiled eggs).... then went to see the Pai Canyon and finally a waterfall ... It was an amzing drive around.. Pai s surroundings are absolutely beautiful!

Anyway... Back to Chang Mai on the 13.. Pete was going back to Bangkok the same night with the night train and for me cheaper option: the Night bus

Chang Mai... End

2008-02-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

Where did I last leave you, I reckon when I completed my Thai Massage course. Well after those 5 days of hard brain labour lol I decided to take on another massage course: Oil Massage and Aromatherapy. This course was a lot more pleasant than the previous one: Given in an amazing spa, every morning we would get a home made tea (I asked for their recipe but secret of the spa!) and would then carry on with the course. First receiving the lesson, Second practicing and third receiving the massage. Hmm that was excellent and well worth it! (Spa Mantra - Chang Mai).

The course over I was feeling tired of those 7 days learning and practicing but am definetely happy to have discovered a part of the Thai Culture.

The following days, I headed with Joanne (Classmate) to Doi Suthep and got a good view overlooking Chang Mai citym unfortunately it was a bit cloudy that day and we didn't get there at the right time it was packed with tourists... but so far probably my number 1 of THai Temples. Next time I will try to get there very early in the morning ... around 8am for the sunrise and hear the monks chanting...

We mostly spent our nights between the front restaurant of Daret's (the guesthouse where we were staying), a little back street within the Moat also famous as the backpacker street: full of funky lights, good international food (I would definetely recommend the Mexican Restaurant!!!) and live bands.. ending up my evenings with a chang, near a fire listening to Thai musicians singing famous english tunes. And finally maybe my favorite the roof top bar... and half covered roof the rule: No Shoes, everybody siting on the floor perfect spot to meet people! (but there was a lack of Shisha lolol)

During those 10 days... I met some really good people as well as interesting.. A psychic told me a bit more about me but not my future as she couldnt really see it.... and also told me about the color of my aura: Yellow... for those interested here is a link that you can read about the Yellow Aura: http://www.geocities.com/goddesslit/yellowaura.html and a few more people who told me a bit more about: Zen Buddhism, Reiki, Western Australia and Asia

It was a very interesting week... that might change my future and direct me towards some new interests...

Joyeux Anniversaire Maman

2008-02-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

Joyeux Anniversaire Maman
Pas de video cette fois ci, mais a tout de suite au tel / webcam :D
Plein de Gros Bisou
Je pense fort a vous ...

Happy Birthday Noeline and Clemence

2008-02-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

Coucou Clemence et Noeline,
Je vous souhaite un tres joyeux anniversaire... et vous envoie plein plein de gros Bisou de Thailande.
Je viens juste de terminer mon cours de Massage Thailandais qui etait tres interessant :D... Toujours a Chang Mai je devrai bientot descendre vers les belles plages Thailandaises.
Je pense tres fort a toutes les deux et plein de bisou a votre Maman et votre Papa aussi :)

Petite Video devant ma guesthouse, j'espere que vous entendrez ce que je dis :)

You want Massache :)

2008-02-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

I passed the test of my Thai Massage course.. I am now entitled to give Massage for 1 to 1h30 on anybody!

However I only learnt Front Massage, Feet Massage, Hand Massage and a bit shoulder massage...

Tomorrow I will start the Aromatherapy, Oil Massage Course... Can't wait for it! I should then be able to perform an oil Massage and a stretching one :D

Chang Mai - Follow up

2008-02-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

Hmm I am just realising it's been already 6 days since I last updated my blog, sorry about that, but lucky you I made up a list 2 days ago of the things I had to mention in my new post :D So let's start with the beginning..
2 days after we first arrived in Chang Mai, we tasted the Thai Rain :( unfortunately.. A day with continuous rain, I didn't have a clue on what to do... sightseeing becoming less attractive under the rain :(. So after breakfast we walked our way to some various little shops (I actually found an amazing shop, walls made of stones, it's all narrow and very traditional... they were offering acrylic painting with some quotes of happiness and wisdom... loved it! I remember this one "Live your dream and don't dream your life") and finally a tuk tuk driver offered us a tour for 30 Baths an hour to the handicraft road... I knew what it was to be like and for sure wasn't wrong :D He brought us to a silk factory (I ignored silk was made that way), to a huge jewellery/silver shop - factory, a carpet shop and paper umbrella store... It was good to see all those things and even if you felt the pressure to buy something (with someone following every of your moves!) I didn't buy anything :D.
Finally the next day we took a thai cooking course and that was some real fun! First I learned how to cook 7 thai dishes and also our chef was the funniest thai man we yet met...
Part of those 7 dishes I learned how to make, Pad Thai :D, Chicken in coconut milk, Chicken with Cashew nuts, Chicken in green curry, Papaya Salad (very spicy), Spring Rolls (that s a winner for me I always wondered how to make them :)) and finally for the sweet tooth Mango with Sticky Rice (and yes Gorka I can confirm it kicks ass... very very good)... anyway all those dishes were easy enough to make and wouldn't take more than 5 minutes! Now you just have to wait 11 more months before I can cook any of those for you :D
That night we went to an Irish Pub and followed the opening game of the 6 Nations: Ireland vs Italy... I was happy to see Pete encouraging his team as back in Ireland he wouldn't really watch the match :)
Next day... sun sun sun :) The Californian girl we met in Ko Chang advised me on that temple where there is an english lecture about Buddhism every Sunday @ 3 PM so that was the main thing I wanted to do that day... I took my 2 feet and decided to walk half of the way (as it was like 5 kilometres away) and finally I didnt see the time pass and walked too far, at that stage I wanted to get a taxi as i was a bit lost, I waved at a few of them and instead of stopping the simply waved back at me.. lol
So I asked my way to a shop and they gave me few directions in English... Finally a thai woman stopped her car next to me and asked me if I was going to Wat Umong which was the case lol and she happily gave me a lift to my final point... how nice :)
Wat Umong was amazing only a few metres from the main city a big forest with a few underground chapels and loads of quotes of wisdom and happiness in Thai and English on the trees.... very peaceful... I went to the class but didn't get to learn that much about Buddhism unfortunately.
I finally returned to the centre with a taxi that time :)
Few hours later we headed back to the Irish Pub and I watched the Frenchies kick the asses of the Scottish (Allez les bleus!!!)
Right now I have started my Thai Massage course and am enjoying every second of it, the first day wasn't easy... But Pete will do a good cobaye!!! he he anyway he isn't complaining lol
Classmates are nice, from all around the world, It s good to meet people and discover their own experience and what is bringing them to Thailand...
I have also decided to take the Aromatherapy, Herbal, Oil Massage next weekend or next week depending on my timetable :) That is really what I want to learn!!! Once again you will have to wait about 11 months before I can give you one of my fantastic massages :D Hopefully I will find a few volunteers to practice on in Australia ....
I have also decided to stay longer in Thailand, minimum 1 more week, I have to reschedule my flight ticket check the available dates and will let you know when I will land in Sydney :D
Ok I am checking my list now on the things I was supposed to say and it looks like I covered everything :D
Ah Yeah I will have to give a good description of Chang Mai, but that will be for another post :)
And finally, just a few hours ago our class was offered to go to a Spa Steam Room (they have a Spa next door to the scool) and waou that felt really nice and their Spa is so beautiful!!!! I wish I could open one of those in Europe ....

Chang Mai - Back to School!

2008-01-31T19:34:00.000-08:00

Chang Mai, that was the place I wanted to go most and here I am.... and yes yes yes I am loving it :D It reminds me of Ubud in Bali only bigger and noiser lol There is no comparison with Bangkok well I dont think, in Chang Mai you can easily walk around without feeling completely lost. It s very human size and people here are exremly friendly.
It s full of little streets hiding little restaurants.. it s very peaceful as you happen to eat next to a water fountain...
And I want to make the most of this place, today I have been touring around, collection information of every kind... and the result is I will be taking a Thai Cooking Course (market tour, 7 dishes, recipe book) on saturday and from Monday I will be starting my Thai Massage Classe.
It will last for 5 days with 6 hours a day, so I wont be leaving Chang Mai before more than a week. I will be doing it in ITM (Internation Training Massage) I went there today and saw they got very good teachers and equipment (3500 Baths - 70 euros). After that I will have to find some time to get the Oil Massage course but for sure I wont leave Thailand before getting that course too.
I am very delighted about it, my brain is getting a bit lazy lately .. well I am on holiday lol so it will be very enjoyable to learn new things!

A special Thank You to Erika who welped me to find this school ;)

The Smoke Jumper - Nicholas Evans

2008-01-31T19:28:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading this book, which I got advised from Dani (an Italian friend I met during my 1st year in Dublin). I started reading it in October but for some reasons never went further than the first 50 pages. So I brought it with me to Thailand and really enjoyed reading it. All in english, it was easy to read and didn't ask for a double effort to understand and create the books universe in my mind. A beautiful story of friendship, love and real facts (War Kid Soldiers in Uganda).
I am now looking for advises on a next book to read, would you recommend me anything?
Merci :D

Sukhothai

2008-01-31T19:21:00.000-08:00

Before heading to Chang Mai, we stopped for 2 nights in Sukhothai. Nothing exciting about this little town located half way between Bangkok and Chang Mau but worth a visit to its historical park. The Meuang Kao (old city) features 45 sq km of temple ruins. Following few recommendations we rented bicycles and cycled around for the all day well 9am to 3pm. The ruins were very impressive and we managed to make our way around very easily. Of course we kept the best for the end: Wat Si Chum - buddha statute of 11.30 metres wide!
By then my bum was getting too painful to carry on. Happily I brought back the bike and hoped in the first taxi-truck to get back to the guest house. A siesta seemed the perfect deal to end that day. We staied in Baan Thai guest house, I would highly recommend it, very friendly and relaxing with a lovely front garden with a few "beds" where I could lay down to read.
No more cycling plan for at least another week :D

Bangkok

2008-01-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

The question is how to feel comfortable in this estrange city which counts over 8 million inhabitants. My answer was once again to head to the backpacker district. We then went to Ranmbuttri Road for accomodation. There we got cheap rooms and warm water shower, a little heaven compared to the bungalow where we staied on Ko Chang. But that street isnt only made of guest houses there are also loads of resataurant bars as well as street restaurants and bars (cheaper option). My menu: anything appart from Western Food!!!

To entertain our nights, smoking shisha in the roof terrace of a bar looking over Khao San, a movie at my home guest house (where we met loads of good people and heard loads of interesting stories) and also dancing (for me) with the thai girls in Gulliver and meeting loads of people from all around the world!

That s what my life in Bangkok was for the last 4 days.

And to keep our days busy, we first got into one of those tourist trap (but it got us to see 3 places in 1 day) anyway, we went to the floating Market (2 hours away from Bangkok, it s like a floating town which became a very touristy attraction... on a boat, you are stuck in traffic jams between other boats full of tourist but also boats full of handicrafts or food), then the Bridge on the river and finally the Tiger Temple.

Next day: The weekend Market... Damn that is some mad place indeed!!! It said on my Lonely Planet there you could buy anything well I confirm from clothes, shoes, glasses, sun glasses, handicrafts, antiques, jewellery, puppies, fishes, birds, cats, food, drinks... all that at very good prices... This place is huge and packed with people if you want to go there, try to get early in the Morning as from 2PM it really starts getting hotter and hotter!
I bought only 2 tops, I am not a shopping addict and could find similar clothes on Khao San :D

We finally spent our last day touring a little around Bangkok and saw the very well known temple: Wat PO.

We arrived today in Sukhothai for another 2 nights before heading to Chang Mai (which will be my culture week, I wanna see, learn, try everything!)

Bye Bye Koh Chang, Hello Bangkok

2008-01-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

After spending 4 days in Koh Chang, enjoyed the weather, swam in the warm sea, worked on my tan, met a few lovely people, ate loads of thai food, drunk few fruit shakes, smoke loads of shisha (apple and grape flavours) having shared my bathroom with a family of frog (mum, dad and their child lol)... we finally took the ferry back to the Mainland to start with the real Thailand!

Staying in Bangkok for the next three days (visit of the floating market, bridge of the river kwai, the weekend market, Wat Pho...) we will then head North and I will surely keep you updated with the places we will visit :D

But to my biggest surprise... look who I found this time on Khao San Road... amazing no?

Full Moon Party

2008-01-25T02:24:00.000-08:00

Ah la la we all heard over and over again about the Full Moon Party held in Koh Pah-Ngan..

Well as we only arrived in Thailand on the 17th and the full Moon Party was on the 22nd I have to say I didnt yet feel ready about going there... which is why I chose Koh Chang to start our Thai Adventure.

But The full Moon Party is also on every island that night, so it was in Koh Chang..

With a few beaches separated by loads of kilometres we had to chose on where would be the best to party and we happened to meet some Crazy American/Swedish who dragged us with them to Lonely beach only to find that the party was the following day (euh?) but we took a 10 minutes path which led us to Siam beach where all the party goers were dancing drinking off buckets and for a few of them swimming...

It probably wasnt the best party I have ever been too, but how cool is that to dance in the sand!!!

That little adventure also reminded me of Inaki always looking for a party in Dublin lol

Sunset on the beach

2008-01-25T02:18:00.000-08:00

Breathtaking...

Koh Chang

2008-01-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

After Bangkok we headed to Koh Chang, I was in need of beach and sun :) After an 8 hour journey (bus, boat, taxi) we arrived at what is famously called: White Sand Beaches.

Well I have to say that there isn't much white sand, maybe more grey?

Anyway it's really beautiful but full of Germans who all have their personal Thai girls to keep them company.. it doesn't make me feel comfortable at all, so after a few hours I booked a boat to another island: Koh Mak (which is a lot smaller and supposed to be even more beautiful)...

I wouldn't advise anybody to stay on White Sand Beach it s smelly and noisy as they are building loads and loads of resorts

Bye Bye Bangkok

2008-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't get to see much of Bangkok as we schedule to stay there before Pete goes (for like 4 to 5 days) and then with Ivan before he goes too... I will also get my own time there and follow Erika s steps to take Thai Massage lessons :D
So as my bikini couldnt wait any longer we made our way to Ko Chang, only arrived few hours ago but very busy too!
Will certainly rent a bike tomorrow to explore a bit of the island

Pictures of sunsets, beautiful beaches to come soon.

The party street: Khao San Road

2008-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

I have to say I have heard a lot about this street also called the backpacker street. Finally what people told me and the image I got from them was the perfect description for this street.
In a few words: backpackers, crowd, noise and shopping

You would almost forget you are in Thailand if it wasn't for the Tuk Tuk drivers grabing your attention every two minutes as they would like to give you a tour of the city and bring you to their mates place lol

We didn't last long there only time for Pete to find some sunglasses and a new top (sleeveless ahah).

The heat gets us and we finally decide to relax for a while, we sit down in a little eatery on Rambutti Road to finally meet an English girl who has recently spent 7 weeks travelling around South Asia and 12 months in Australia. A few beers later she is joined by 2 canadian friends and they dragg us back to Khao San for some drinking in the streets. We encounter 2 lovely thai litlle girls selling roses, we are charmed by their confidence, their sense of humour and their love...

Bangkok me voila !!!

2008-01-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

We finally landed in Bangkok at 5pm (10am in Ireland)... the flight went very well but the movie selection wasn't so good lol
We took a taxi to Rambutti Road (parallele to Kho San Road) and easily found a place where to stay nothing fancy but quite cheap.
So here we are gathering around (I bought my first pair of flip flops :))) in the middle of all those backpackers...
It s very hot ah la la but so good.
For this post no picture yet I will start tomorrow, right now I am only thinking Pad Thai and dodo :D

Leaving Tomorrow

2008-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

While my facebook countdown now shows 23 hours left before the start of my trip, the excitement is going up and up and up....
I left Douce France last Sunday to return to Dublin, a last Goodbye to my family I will probably not see them for another year.. and I am already back to Dublin, it doesnt feel as if I left a month ago..
Tiphaine welcomed me like nobody would and I am very thankful ma titi :) MERCI
And here I am running around Dublin sorting out my last bits and pieces meeting with some of the people who made Dublin so special for me (Caro, Inaki, Nacho, John, Ivan...) it feels good to be with them they give me loads of positive energy to start the trip :)
And I also have a special thoughts for the few I didnt get the chance to meet...
Well I am ready well I think, my backpack is winking at me lol, getting impatient lolol
I am thinking to create a mini poll on that blog with the question:
Do you think Lilie will stay in OZ?
According to most of yous it's yes so far.... well we ll say but to be honest it's not part of my plans (so is saying Lilie who was only supposed to stay in Dublin 5 months lololol)
Bye Bye Europe and see you sooon :)
Next Blog Entry from Bangkok :D

Quote to follow

2008-01-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

le passe ne t'appartient plus, vis aujourd'hui car c'est le reve de demain

2 WEEKS LEFT

2008-01-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

In exactly 2 weeks, I will finally arrive in Bangkok and start my world tour. But for now I feel like only at that moment I will realise I have left everything to live a real adventure... Well real adventure is a big word for someone travelling to Thailand and Australia mostly but it's my big adventure which took me 2 years to "organise"...

Although Pete will be with me, my closest friends will become my Lonely Planet, my backpack and a diairy (I have never wrote a diairy in my life but few people advised me to do so and I am going to follow their advise!!!) + this blog which I will make sure to update each time I will reach a computer...

For now I am still in France, during the winter time there is not much to do so I get loads and loads of information and prepare myself (dentists, insurances, doctor, injections...) but I am also starting in making a little Itinary...

With Pete starting this world trip with me he is also going to fly earlier than I to OZ which could leave me spending 2 weeks alone. I am not really scared to the idea to be on my own because it's Thailand and for sure it will be hard not to meet people!!! Anyway for those 2 weeks my timetable is already booked... It says: Thai Massage Courses, Aromatherapy, Thai Cuisine Classes, Maybe Yoga Classes (probably around the Chiang Mai Province) and Visit of Angkor Wat... After that I should have a week left in Thailand so I intend to meet Ivan who will be in Phuket I now have to suggest him wether he would or not be interested in going to the Full Moon Party which will be on the 22nd...

So that's for my second part in Thailand, for the first with Pete we plan to enjoy the sun, the beaches and visit some temples... just have to decide on where... I am open to any suggestion :D

I am now officially starting a Countdown :D

My facebook shows:
12 Days 19 Hours 10 Minutes

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

I wish you all the very best for this new year, may your life be filled with Happiness and Love...
And also loads of new adventures!
I hope you are ready to follow me for 1 year on this blog:)
Loads of Love
xxx
Lilie

PARIS

2008-01-01T02:02:00.000-08:00

Paris, Capital of Food, Designers, Romance and architecture...

When you visit this city, it isn't 1 second spent you don't spoil your eyes with the beauty of the French Capital...

Myself from Brittany and having been to Paris a good few times, it was then a big pleasure for me to give a little tour of this city to a very good friend.

Landing back from Madrid in Paris Beauvais around 7.30pm, after a bus, few metro lines, a warm shower and finding Marie Eve on Place Saint Michel. We decided to take Michael to a very typical french food restaurant on the menu: Snails and Raclette hmmm. We then headed to a cosy French Pub with not so many french dickheads which made the night quite perfect :D

The next day... no time to waste, with a sunny day we had to make the most of the only day we could spend sightseeing... Montmarte.. Le Cafe d'Amelie... Les Champs Elysees... L'Arc de Triomphe... La Tour Eiffel... Les bateaux Parisiens... not so so bad in like 6 hours :) and plenty of excellent pictures !!!!

Finally we had our last dinner... onion soup and duck confit.... Very heavy food but it s so so nice hmmm :D + I had to make sure that apart from the english talking it will be the only non french thing we would do that weekend !!!

And it was already time for the Goodbyes... 1 year will fly quick and we will have a lot more to talk about when we will meet again :)

Time for me to go home....The next day... Christmas with my family

MADRID

2007-12-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

I finally left Dublin, but couldn't leave Europe without visiting the Spanish Capital: Madrid.

My suitcase back in France and 2-3 days to catch up with my family and I was already on my way to Madrid, the guys (Gorka, Inaki, Dani, Luismi & Ivan) promised me I would have a really good time and I was right to believe them (anyway they never disappointed me in Dublin ;)).

Landing at 10pm, no time for a rest, direction the city centre for Tapas and Drinks ... The food is really good, for all those who went to Spanish Tapas Bar in Dublin well same kind of food but the triple of quantity!! for the drinks... Bah there is nothing to say about La Rioja! This wine can't disappoint you!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't our best friend as it was raining for most of the 3 days I stayed there..

We mostly ate and partaked... well the real Spanish Life!

But the last day Gorka gave me a great tour (by car) for like 2 hours which was enough to see the main sights... of course visiting Madrid during Winter Time isn't as good as Summer Time but it didn't stop me from loving this city....

Maybe I will make it some days my new Home Town ?? To continue.... :D

Goodbye Dublin

2007-12-30T00:48:00.000-08:00

After 3 Years and 4 Months spent in Ireland, it is finally time for me to fly towards some new adventures…

When I will shut my eyes, I will remember the most amazing experience I have yet had, remember the 4 different places I have lived in, the 9 jobs I had/did, the Dublin life: the pubs, the irish music, the beers I am still not liking, O’Connell Street with its 10 fast foods (if not more?), the Spire meeting point, the changing weather (I am a witness of the 4 seasons in 1 day!), this Multicultural City… And a lot lot more…

But it’s nothing compared to the People I met! Thank you so so much for everything, you definitely changed my life, opened my eyes to a lot lot of new things and gave me this new passion which is travelling. I will definitely miss you but will surely be bringing you with me around the World (in my heart and in pictures :D)

Travelling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return.
But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes...