Diving Fantastic

Well hello all once again :) Well it certainly has been a long time
since an update from me . . Sitting in an internet cafe in Siem Reap
in Cambodia, and boy have we seen a lot since the last time. Heaps of
Thailand, Laos and now Cambodia. Well where were we last time ahh yes
heading back into Malaysia to the Perhentien islands for a spot of
scuba diving. Suppose I should give you the edited highlights :) hmm
we'll see.

Arriving here was certainly an experience with 1.5m waves across the
whole of Long Beach making the landing in a 6ft tinny an interesting
experience to say the least. What is it with all of these tropical
beaches and surf?? Have to say that this is one really remote place,
everything is brought in by boat and then ferried to the beach in
little tinnies, hard work for all those locals. And the one pub on the
beach certainly does a good trade in Tiger's and some really dodgy
polish vodka.

Well here we decided to do our PADI openwater scuba diving and I have
to say it was heaps of fun and we are now confirmed diving addicts.
Since here we have been diving at Ko Phi-Phi, and Ko Tao and are
planning on doing some more diving in Vietnam in Nah Trang in about 10
days time bring on the diving!! So far we have seen some pretty cool
stuff, sharks, schools of tuna, trevally, giant moray eels, fishing
nets wrapped around Chumpon pinnacle . . but my favourite was still
the green sea turtle just a majestic animal.

The scariest experience so far diving was being attacked by the
infamous titan trigger fish in Ko Tao Trevor . . . quite a scary
experience I have to say. He seemed to like me for some reason, the
dive master was like if we see a trigger get behind me and I'll take
the attack . . . but Trevor didn't like that plan he prefered me!!

After the Perhentians and another lazy drive through the 20 army
checkpoints in the now famous southern Thai provinces we were in Ko
Lanta, hmmm not exactly paradise, dusty, dry and a muddy beach. Not
very many people here either because of the Tsunami but really no
damage at all.

We decided that a day cruise to Phi-Phi would be a good idea as we
really wanted to see Maya bay. This was an awesome day out this place
is amazingly beautiful. I can't describe how amazing it is just wait
for the photos . . we had lunch at a resort on Long Beach on Phi-Phi
Don that was hardly damaged at all and after finding out the price to
stay we headed here for 3 days. Spent some time in Ton-Sai which is
still showing the destruction of the Tsunami and will for a long time
to come. It is strewn with ruble but is slowly being cleaned up but it
is still worth going here its a fantastic place to visit. Can't
recommend it highly enough!!

After Phi-Phi we were back to Ko Phan-Ngan for a couple more crazy
nights out and a stopover on the way to Ko Tao where we went diving
and I got to watch my first live super12 game. "Go the Tahs" how well
are they going this year??

Bangkok was the next stop and we were there for 3 days but the first
day was Songkran . . . WOW what an experience!! We headed into the Kho
San Road area with 100,000 Thais and tourists for the biggest water
fight I have ever seen, we got drenched in the bus on the way there as
people threw buckets of water in through the windows. If you ever get
the chance definitely a must see.

We caught the overnight train up to Nong Khai and crossed the
friendship bridge and there we were in Laos. Vientiane is a really
cool place (well actually really really hot 40+) but the people are
sooo laid back almost asleep really, and they have the best beer in
the world Beer Lao hmmmm and we can get it here in Sie Reap yay!! Saw
the "vertical runway" an arc d'triumphe ripp of that was built with
the concrete that was supposed to be used in the new runway at
Vientiane airport, the biggest golden stupa you are ever likely to see
and had a couple of cruisy nights out in the old colonial town.

From here we headed to Vang Vieng a sleepy little town on a river with
massive limestone hills, rice paddies and . . tubing :) This was a
relly cool way to sopend a day, inan inner tube floating down the
river being pulled into the bank by locals selling you beer lao to be
consumed while continuing the journey . . ahh fantastic.

Next stop Luan Prabang a sleepy colonial town on the Mekong river with
heaps and heaps of cool temples and the largest number of monks I have
ever seen. After a day of wandering the temples and the market we
spent the last day here on a day trip to some caves, hill tribe
villages and the water fall. Boy was the water at the falls cold . . .
probably the same temp as the water in the ocean at home but hey that
was cold after being in the andaman at 30+.

Hmm next was the boat ride from hell!! Two days of agony on the mekong
river ahh 12 hours a day in a seat that was too smal for a 10 year old
to ssit in. I couldn't stand up in the boat and the bathroom . . .
hmmm well it was fun, not!

Next stop Thailand again, after crossing the border hmm what border
them most lax I have ever seen you kind of had to find the hidden
customs place on the Laos side on the bus and we were in Chiang Mai.
This is a really cool little city and after a massive night with one
of the other aussies we met on the boat we had a wander around the
city saw some of the temples, markets and shops, we settled in to the
eating festival of 2005, well actually a two day cooking course which
was fantastic but we had to eat everything that we ate hmmm
beautiful!!

Back to Bangkok again ang more 40+ days man its hot in that city.
Another day of air con shopping malls and then met up with Alva, Meher
and the little Alva's was really good to catch up with them. You
should see the appartment they have in Bangkok wow. Decided the best
way to get to Siem Reap was independant . . . grrr 5.55am train, tuk,
visa and then cab from the border. It was actually a pretty easy day
if a long one, have to say though its way better than it used to be 3
years ago and Siem Reap is almost unrecognisable heaps and heaps of
development here now. Going out to Ankor Wat for sunset tonight and
then on to Vietnam after a stop in Phnom Pehn.

So well there you have it the uber-update of the last few weeks
(months) well I have to say Laos has been the most enjoyable place we
have been yet but hey we still have a long way to go yet. So until
next time travel well!

Party Time

Well yes thats right its time for another update from paradise, and well we have finally arrived . . . The last update was from Kuching or cat city in Borneo and we are quite a long way from there now :) In fact we are in Ko Pha-ngan warming up for a reunion with Anna and Belinda and some full on party action :) can't wait bring it on!!

Still have not got any photos of the camera yet but don't worry I will sometime soon and then I'll post the photos somewhere. Was looking throughthem the other day I think there might actually be a couple of all right ones :) we live in hope anyway.

Well since Kuching we have been through some pretty cool places and spent some time on some really nice beaches. Bring on the beach time I say. We started out flying to KL where we spent about a week checking out the sights, browsing the markets in china town etc. This was pretty cool lots and lots of fake watches, t-shirts etc just a pity we have so long left on the trip really so we bought nothing . . . to long to carry it with us hopfully we will be able to get some in Bankok or maybe even China we live in hope.

Took a day trip out to the Batau Caves near KL and the place was an absolute mess!! The hindu thriv blah blah was on about 4 days before we went out there and at the peak there had been 2 million people there . . . man the rubbish that 4 million people leave . . . ah well it was kinda cool to see it thought 273 very steep steps up into the cave and then lots of monkeys, roosters, cows, goats etc etc was definitely and experience.

We also spent a day at the water park in KL Sunway lagoon, this was dfo a welcome relief from the heat and hunidity. Thay have a wave pool there that has an 8 foot wave, unfortunately it wasn't running the day we were there but that would be kinda cool!

After KL we hoped on a bus and went up to Pulau Pankor for our first real beach time. I'd forgotten how cool this little island is. Lots of nice sand cheap meals and no clouds we had a blissfull time. Heaps and heaps of hornbills here in the evenings that would fly into the tree you were lying under and start hunting for bugs in the tree. It was really kinda cool.

The bus trip from Lumut up to Penang, hmm where to start . . . this was way hairy I mean really hairy this guy thought he was Michael Shumaker but in a friking bus!! I thought we were going to die. A couple of times cars, trucks going the other way had to leave the road tyo avaoid an accident as we were overtaking trucks . . . not good.

We went to Penang for Chinese New Year and we were a little disappointed as there was not much happening here at that time. Seems to be more of a family thing really. And of course firecrackers were banned in Malaysia now so was not as noisy as it might otherwise have been. Was still fun got to see Lion and Dragon dances and lots of drummers.

The beaches in Penang were a real let down. I know this is the first area where we had been that the Tsunami had hit but the damaged from that (if there was any) was not visible at all. Its just well the water was murky not very inviting so we swiftly moved on to Lankawi. This was a good move a beautiful stretch of white sand and water that was a little murky but heaps clearer than Penang.

A couple of decent restaurants, a nice reggae bar on the beach an even better sunset coktail bar and well paradise found. Oh and did I mention it's duty free as well . . . hmm cheap beer and well really really cheap Bombay . . . about $11 a litre hmmm G&T.

The place we stayed at in Lamkawi was right on the beach . . . our balcony about 10m of sand then the water it was fantastic never seen a better location than that :)

We now sit in Thailand and boy the trip up here was kinda interesting two full on 12h days to get here, getting stiffed rippedoff, etc etc but hey we made it, we have a place to stay for the full moon and its all good :)

Will update a gain soon but in the mean time "party hard"

Borneo bound

Well Hello we are currently in Kuching in Sarawak and for the first
time since we left it is pouring with rain :( . .

We are having a fantastic time around the place and have seen some
amazing things over the last ten days. Starting in Pulau Labuan where
we managed to find a cruisy little "Kedi Kopi" or street restaurant
where we were able to drink 750ml Carlsbergs at the princly price of
RM3.70 or about $1.20 hmmmm cheap beer what more can you want to relax
into a new holiday! Unfortunately not all the places have been that
cheap it's only because its a duty free island . . . hmm going to have
to find some more of those bring on Lankawi I say.

Did a lot of sitting by the pool, drinking, eating and sitting by the
pool in Labuan it was great just what we needed after all the fuss and
planning before we left. We had one lovely walk along our first
tropical beach here at where we got of the local bus and then walked a
couple of km's down the beach not realising that of course the bus
turned off about 20m after we got off d'oh. After an hour of no busses
going past decided we really should just walk back to see what the
story was at worst we were going to have to go to the resort we saw
5km up the road and call a cab we were very confused untill we saw the
side street . . lesson learned always walk back along the route the
bus came from . .

Next was of to KK which had become like a second home for us as we
used this as a base for exploring some of the wonders of Sabah. The
first one was of to Mount Kinabalu which is an extremely impressive
mountain. Can't really say more than that actually it's just well
amazing!! We did some walks in the rainforest and enjoyed the cool
mountain air hmm in fact wished that we had had winter clothing it was
cold up there. Was glad we weren't climbing it we saw in the paper the
day before we went up that the only place yhat you can stay at on the
climb half way up was rat infested and 75% of people got food
poisoning no thanks. I'll stick with mee goreng belly thanks!!

Next was of on our 3 day tour to the turtle islands, sepilok Oran-Utan
centre and the Kinabatangan river. The flight at 7am was waaayyyyy
tooo early!! I don't do 5.15 very well which Jane will confirm! Met
our guide Joel (pronounced jo-elle go figure) who we got to know
really well over the next three days as we were the only people on
this tour. Was OK when we stayed on Selingan (turtle island) but was
weird in a resort on the river being the only ones there. There was
like 6 staff just for the two of us . . .

Pulau Salingan just over the Phillipines border is an extremely pretty
island, but lacks much of a swimming beach but we enjoyed the relaxing
in the afternoon after the early rising. But hey we weren't here for
the swimming. This is the only island in the world where turtles come
ashore to lay eggs 360 days a year!! After dinner and interminable
games of uno as you are not allowed to walk around the island after
6pm so you don't disturb the turtles we eventually got to see a mother
green turtly laying her eggs. This was a rare moment and both of us
were in awe. After the rangers moved the eggs to the hatchery and
buried the eggs in an imitation nest.

The next stage of the evenning was one of the most amazing things I
have ever seen. We were given a hatchling turtle to hold so small they
were less than 1 hour from hatching amazing and then they were taken
down to the beach and were released onto the sand and 40 little
turtles made there way to the water and swam free . . amazing
experience.

After Salingan off to Sepilok the next morning where we saw the
feeding of the Orangs that are being released into the wild. They are
truely amazing animals and we were lucky enough to have 7 orangs
attend this feeding session. After Sepilok we were down to the
Kinabatangan river and an afternoon sunset cruise of the river where
we saw many different types of wildlife, Long-tailed and pig-trailed
macacques, Probiscuss monkeys, lots of birds kingfishers herons etc
and the best was a mother bearded pig and her 5 piglets apparently a
rather rare spotting it was pretty cool. Unfortunately there were no
Orangs, we were really hoping to see one in the wild.

Next morning off to Gomontong caves and into on of the biggest caves I
have ever seen. Unfortunately it was filled with guano and it stank of
ammonia, sort of ruined the experience . . . and I have never ever
seen soooo many cockroaches . . On the walk back to the carpark
through the jungle we were lucky enough to see some red leaf monkeys
apparently a rather rare sighting Joel had never seen them in the wild
before cool I say. On the drive out of Gomontong finally we got to see
the elusive Orang in the wild!! A nice big semi mature male with the
begginings of his face plate. This was a truly amazing sight as well
one that will stay with me for a long time.

Back In KK we went out to our favourite little island Manukan where we
had spent a day before and spent the day lazing around, sunbathing and
snorkling. I was amazed at the number of fich here thousands and
thousand it was really a beatiful place to spend an afternoon.

And from there we have now moved on to Kuching. I'll keep you updated
and when I get ther photos from the camera I'll load them into our
gallery and send you the links.

Untill next time

Nick and Jane

smokeless w4 & breakage

hooray . . . its been over 4 weeks since i had my last ciggie!! a mojor acheivement for me i'll have to say and i feel much better about the whole thing:)

winter break also kicked some serious butt! drumattic twins as expected ripped the roof of the hordern, man they were fantastic! ltj bukem and mc conrad hmm need i say more, they more than lived up to my expectations. they were fantastic!

been reliving the whole night over and over by re-listening to the sets. as they were broadcast and someone recorded hmm to be able to re-listen and enjoy all over again kicks some serious butt!

cyall later enjoy life

smokeless d2

ah well its been a whole day without cigarettes now . . . wow aren't i good! hmm well ok maybe not deserving of any medals yet but it was well not too bad a day really when it comes down to it

the one thing that i will say about the whole thing though is that the second day is way way harder than the first day and its not fair!! i was hoping that it would get easier! well ok it's fair enough i know the whole thing is going to be much much harder than well anything else i am going to be doing in the next couple of months

well back to work and getting on with other things rather than dwelling on the whole i can't have a cigarette thing :)

warrior's

woohooo the stanton warriors are coming to town!!

can't wait they were fan'bloody'tastic at field day and i'm sure they'll kill it again this time

smokeless

well i thought that the first day of not smoking would be a good time to start my own little corner of cyber-space . . . hmm ok well i have some small bits elsewhere but alays wanted to have a blog so here we are :)

i'm supposing that no one will actually be reading this space hmm well really at all and is more just a space for me to dump useless and random thoughts whenever i feel the need

must remember this when we are travelling as would be a good place to dump thoughts and travel stories as well woohooo travelling we will come too very shortly

and of course the real reason that i have decided to do this is just a way for me to vent my frustrations with no more nicotine, hmm going well so far but hey its only been 6 hours or so . . argh its going to be a long and tough road i bet :) oh well better to be doing it now than dying of smoking related illnesses early in life

must say though the patches work a treat, well at least seem to have my cravings under control today at least. i have previously tried the gum but hmm apart from the fact that work was a biatch at the time and well i lasted all of three days before started smoking again . . . not a real good effort that one was it

so looking to make it a better effort this time, gonna quit good a proper!