We finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur (or KL as the locals call it) and were a bit wrecked and let-lagged from our flight, so our first day was a bit of a right-off. Yesterday though we headed around Little India and Chinatown, which weren't as intimidating as I thought they might be. I got a nice pair of polarized shades for about €12 after a bit of haggling. Nice. I also got my feet eaten by fish (doctor fish I think), which nibble off all the dead skin on your feet. You can put yourself in up to your neck but I don't think I'ld be up for that! It's a really odd feeling, like having dozens of ticklish kisses planted on your feet and I giggled my head off for a bout 5 minutes before I got used to it.
KL is a bit odd really, there's a mad mix of people wearing hijabs and full-on Islamic robes then you'll see some Chinese girl in a miniskirt and highheels and that's reflected in the amazing mosques and the swarm of markets and shopping centres around the town. The people are pretty friendly, although they tend to talk very quietly so it's hard to hear them.
Unfortunately the Petronas Towers are closed to the public on a Monday (boo-urns) but we headed out to the amazing Batu Caves, which are a karst cave system that holds various Hindu shrines. In the heat and humidity the 272 steps up to the temple entrance are hard work but definitely worth it. The temples are scattered amid vaulted arches in the rock, with water and light dripping from openings hundreds of feet overhead. The monkeys freaked E out a little but probably not as much as the doctor fish would have.
After a very hectic few weeks we're leaving the land down-under. Apologies about the lack of posts since we got here, as I said it's been quite a busy period.
After leaving Sydney and the madness of Mardi Gras (and the strangely small seeming Opera House) we headed to Melbourne where my mate Mick was getting married! It was bit of a shock to arrive and be launched straight into a mad Goon fuelled stag night but it was deadly. As a note I did not drink any Goon, it has fish in it. Wine should only have grapes in it. No Fish!
We hung around in Melbourne a few days and the wedding was an absolutely beautiful affair in a pavilion in the city's Botnaic Gardens. After that we flew up to Brisbane – 2 hour flight vs. 16 hour bus? No contest – which is a really nice laid back and arty kind of town. Lots of wandering around markets, galleries and an odd beach right in the middle of the city. Also it had the heaviest rain I've ever seen, it was jumping 6" back of the ground when in fell.
We've been in Byron Bay for the past week, soaking up the sun and generally getting into the whole surfer/hippy vibe that permeates through the town. I've been to a yoga class, had a massage and spent an hour in a flotation tank (which was a bit of a mad trip, I started to have weird lucid dreams about aboriginal people dressed in black with purple faces). The surfing has been pretty cool too, I did a bit of body-boarding yesterday, the waves were perfect. The beach we're on was also "clothing optional" and there was one free spirit dancing around in the nip, which was quite funny. Sorry lads, no photos.
Anyhoo, we're off to South-East Asia for a few months, I think the whole California/New Zealand/Australia leg has started to blend into one big blob. I know a few of you will start giving out syaing "you've only been in Oz for like 3 weeks!" but in fairness, most people come here to (A) work, which we're not doing and (B) get drunk, which I can do a lot cheaper in Asia and (C) there's too many Irish people around, which I tend to avoid back in Ireland… ;) Talk to ye in Asia.
We flew into Sydney and unbeknownst to us it was LGBT Mardi Gras! All of the hostels and hotels in the city were pretty much packed ot the rafters so we had to stay in some flea pit near Chinatown. Needless to say Elaine wasn't very impressed with it (neither was I for that matter) and coupled with the fact that we we're both feeling a bit ill from our last night in Fiji; not what you think, Elaine had an insect bite and I got a dodgy belly from some spaghetti bolognese...
Saying that though, the rank conditions of our hostel forced us out onto the streets and we made our way to where the Mardi Gras parade was kicking off. There were tonnes of folk there for some gay pride — men dressed as women, women dressed as men, men and women not dressed at all. It was pretty cool to see and the whole vibe was great, up to a point. There were a lot of folks out that went a bit too far with the drinking and we saw a few casualties by the relatively early time of 10pm.
Maybe we caught Sydney at the wrong time, or maybe it was a combination of our surroundings and feeling poorly, but we didn't really like the city too much and moved onto Melbourne pretty quickly — more on that soon!
Ok maybe I haven't gotten that bad yet. One of the highlights of being in the hell-hole that weas Sydney was a cool Star Wars exhibition on in a nearby museum. They had original models and costumes from all the films which made we wet myself a bit…
You can take the geek out of Ireland, but he'll always find some Star Wars stuff! Glayvin!
As we stayed on the one island in Fiji for so long we got to know the locals pretty well. They liked Elaine lots and taught her some Fijian dances. That's her in the middle. Watch out for the mad Wes Brown look-a-like called Labs on the far left, he's s a mover!
Sorry for the delay in transmissions, we've been laying about on a tropical island for the last week. It's a tough life… But hopefully all you loyal listners will be glad to know I'm back from paradise.
We stayed for 5 days in White Sandy Beach Resort. There wasn't much to do except go to the beach (about 5 metres from our bure), lie in a hammock, maybe go back to the beach, have a snorkel, back to the hammock, have a nap. That was pretty much it for 5 whole, gloriously lazy days. Elaine did some Fijian dancing with the island ladies at night and I played some touch mickey… er, I mean touch Rugby with the lads. Jackpot.
The place was really amazing and it was a welcome rest after a hectic 4 weeks in New Zealand.
After Elaine's dive off a cliff in the Abel Tasman, she got the call from Sly to head back to Hollywood to star in a remake of the "classic" Cliffhanger. She's been working out because she is not ready. In 6 weeks she will be ready, but I will be BIGGER!
You have to do some tramping in New Zealand, and being a bit of a tramp myself it felt really good to leave the bus behind and get back to nature. I was a bit worried about Elaine, but it turned out she was a tramp too. We spent four days walking the Abel Tasman Coastal Track and met some nice people on the way, including a Spanish guy who used to come over as a Spanish student to Ballybrack back in the day. The world is too small!
I found a great walking stick (which I called Whizzbat, Elaine called hers Slim) and it really helped going up over the ridges and headlands. Unfortunately it made me look like Moses, but it came in handy for parting the seas…
There were some great moments– sleeping in the giant hut bunks with 7 other people (keys in the bowl folks) and barely making a tidal crossing on the Awaroa Estuary and getting soaked.
Oh and Elaine fell off a cliff. She's ok though, Sylvester Stallone wants her for Cliffhanger II.
I had to repack my bag the other day and in the process of such I found a few US Dollars tucked away safely. Too safely! So I thought it would be a cool idea to talk about the types of currency I'm using along my travels. So here goes!
The United States dollar (sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of currency of the United StatesCoinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains (27.0 g) of silver (depending on purity). The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents. and was defined by the
Taken over by the Congress of the Confederation of the United States on July 6, 1785, the U.S. dollar is the currency most used in international transactions. Although U.S. dollar is a fiat currency, several countries use it as their official currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. (Source Wikipedia).
I find the US Dollar a bit shit really; it's badly designed and looks gank (that's a technical term folks). All the notes are the same size which makes it really hard to tell what you're handing out and the coins don't tell you how much they're worth, they only say nickle or dime or quarter. Bloody stupid currency.
Plus it smells funny, maybe it's all the cocaine in them…
After a very hectic few weeks we're leaving the land down-under. Apologies about the lack of posts since we got here, as I said it's been quite a busy period.
We flew into Sydney and unbeknownst to us it was LGBT Mardi Gras! All of the hostels and hotels in the city were pretty much packed ot the rafters so we had to stay in some flea pit near Chinatown. Needless to say Elaine wasn't very impressed with it (neither was I for that matter) and coupled with the fact that we we're both feeling a bit ill from our last night in Fiji; not what you think, Elaine had an insect bite and I got a dodgy belly from some spaghetti bolognese...
Ok maybe I haven't gotten that bad yet. One of the highlights of being in the hell-hole that weas Sydney was a cool Star Wars exhibition on in a nearby museum. They had original models and costumes from all the films which made we wet myself a bit…
Sorry for the delay in transmissions, we've been laying about on a tropical island for the last week. It's a tough life… But hopefully all you loyal listners will be glad to know I'm back from paradise.
After Elaine's dive off a cliff in the Abel Tasman, she got the call from Sly to head back to Hollywood to star in a remake of the "classic" Cliffhanger. She's been working out because she is not ready. In 6 weeks she will be ready, but I will be BIGGER!
You have to do some tramping in New Zealand, and being a bit of a tramp myself it felt really good to leave the bus behind and get back to nature. I was a bit worried about Elaine, but it turned out she was a tramp too. We spent four days walking the Abel Tasman Coastal Track and met some nice people on the way, including a Spanish guy who used to come over as a Spanish student to Ballybrack back in the day. The world is too small!
I had to repack my bag the other day and in the process of such I found a few US Dollars tucked away safely. Too safely! So I thought it would be a cool idea to talk about the types of currency I'm using along my travels. So here goes!