One short day, in Bangkok

The post title is for Billy Diskette (Autocorrect has a much better spelling of your last name).

After leaving everyone behind, and staying an extra night in Koh Samui (much to my disliking of having to pay 500 baht for a hotel room with ants crawling all over me), I booked a boat, bus and train ticket to Bangkok.

At that point, I wasn't sure what I was going to do in Bangkok, but all I know is I wanted to start there, so I made plans to go there.

Later on in the day, I had heard back from a volunteer organization called Isara that I had emailed a little while ago, advising me that if I wanted, I could head up to Nong Khai as soon as I wanted. I booked a train ticket for the night I arrived in Bangkok, and thus my one day in Bangkok was born.



lost trying to find the Canadian embassy.

The Boat, Bus and Train Ride
I started off with having to get a cab from the harbor; it was totally normal, except this one lady and her husband. They were basically having a fight, in a language that I do not speak (I think it might have been Russian?) in the back of the cab right behind me. Then that escalated into them yelling at each other - which was totally making everyone in the cab feel comfortable, and then the lady insisted on putting her Iphone on full volume, without headphones, of course playing Ai Se Eu Te Pego, three times in the cab, singling along every time.

We had got to the harbor, and the boat was late by an hour - which kind of panicked me, but after I found out my ticket was 6:40 and not 5:40 I was a little less worried. And sitting across from me was none other than the Russian Lady and her agressive husband, playing Ai Se Eu Te Pego, 4-5 times, I lost count.

While we were waiting, the boat was very late, as I mentioned, so the husband started to get a little angry. He went over to the food counter of the waiting area, and started demanding that they give him answers... Everyone in the pavilion was sharing the same smile, as it escalated into the entire staff of the food counter yelling at him, and him yelling back and storming off to the ticket agent across the road. I was nearly on the ground laughing.

Long story short, the ferry came, and we all got on it. I settled down into reading a book, and what did I hear but "delícia delícia, assim você me mata" as the lady sang along very loudly on the boat. Turns out despite trying to choose the seats where they wouldn't sit, they had sat one across and one behind me; I was thrilled. 

At the end of the boat ride, I had my backpack on, and was waiting to get off the boat, when not the 300 other people on the boat, but none other than the husband and wife, got up behind me. The husband, grabbed my backpack while it was on my back, and started rocking it back and forth. He was a rather large man, so I didn't feel like being confrontational. Instead I just turned him around and gave him the biggest death stare imaginable. To which he responded "Why you no smile?"

At that point I was thinking many a things to say in return, along the lines of "Why you THINK I no smile?" but the only thing that came out of my mouth at the time, was to pretend I didn't speak English... so of course, I uttered...

"Non, je n'ai pas d'argent"
"What?"
"no engleesh"
"huh?"
"nooooon"

I don't know why, but that gave me a large satisfaction with the whole situation. Partly because that guy had just rocked somebody's bag, and had absolutely no way of explaining his joking intentions. I just couldn't get over the fact of how rude they both were... Jeeeze, travel to see another country and be immersed in it's culture, not force yours upon them.

Anyways, long story short, I boarded a sleeper train, and it was actually very comfortable, and I awoke the next day, 6AM in Bangkok. 

Bangkok
I basically did a bunch of stuff, it's a crazy city, and I'm excited to go back, even if just for another day. I spent the day walking around, loving life, riding the sky train, the underground, seeing skyfall in imax (Not pleased with the ending at all), purchasing 700 baht worth of books, etc.

Not really much happened other than that, I basically wandered around the Central World area of BKK, and checked out the malls, stores, and sights. I'll post some more pictures of it when I can. After, when I ran out of things to do, I tried to find the Canadian Embassy for fun.

Good lord, you would think this place was a clandestine operation... I could not find it anywhere. Walking past the US embassy, with it's high walls, barbed wire, and flags everywhere, I thought that I would easily be able to find the Canadian one... especially since I had it's location on a map.

It took me over an hour, I wandered back streets, back alleyways, until I eventually came across a tall building that I wandered into by chance, due to it having no signs on it what-so-ever. I expected to see Canadian flags, since that's the international representation of Canada, for those who can't read, or who aren't anglo/francophones... but I did find one Canadian flag.

It was on a piece of paper, and the  flag was no bigger than my thumb. On the paper, at the information desk of this tower, it said Canadian Embassy / Embassie Canadienne (or however the french spelling goes). I then got out my passport, and asked if I could go into the tower to see the embassy... I was told that I could not. 

Kind of freaky, despite being a Canadian citizen, that  I was not allowed into the embassy, nor was able to even find it due to lack of representation... but whatever. I wonder if others have this problem. This is really the only problem I've had with Canada so far. Other than that, being a Canadian abroad affords me tons of opportunity, people are instantly nice to me when they see the maple leaf on my backpack, and a lot of people tell me that they love Canadians for some unknown reason to them, only that they're very polite and nice. I'm so proud that my country has this stereotype... and that I get to convince everyone that I live in a barren winter wasteland surrounded by polar bears, and igloos. 

Anyways, after that I went back to the train station, and caught the night train to Nong Khai... I fell asleep immediately, and didn't wake up until 8 in the morning, which means I slept for 11 hours on a train with people yelling, the cars moving, and loud sudden grinding sounds from the tracks... I must have been tired. 

I also met an old couple from Belgium, who spoke absolutely no English, and no Thai... seulement francais. It gave me the opportunity to speak with them in french, without having the ability to use ANY English words, which was very difficult, but it also showed me that I can now string together full conversations in french, and if I don't know the word (like enseingner) I can put together a sentence that will help them tell the word to me (The Professor _______ the students in class). Despite asking them to "parle lentement" I was pretty proud of myself for carrying on about an hour's worth of conversation in french. 

Going Solo

Instead of writing a long post, I've decided to split up my procrastination in blogging into three separate posts, this being the first, and outlining what happened in Koh Samui. I don't have a memory card reader, so I hope you can do without a few pictures for now.

Koh Samui
After we left the Kao Sok rainforest, we decided to head up to the island of Koh Samui, we caught two buses (connecting through Surat Thani) and a boat to the island. We expected the island to be along the same lines as Ko Phi Phi, but it was very different.

When we got to the island, we needed a 45 minute cab ride across it, to get from where the pier was, to where the hostels were, but that was alright, because it was just100 baht, which is cheap. Once we got to the island, we found a hotel to stay at, and were only planning on staying there for one night. The plan after that was to catch the ferry out tomorrow for the full moon party on Koh Phangnan.

This is where I deviated from the plan.

Going Solo
After doing a lot of thinking, researching, and sleeping on ideas, I decided that I wanted to deviate from the group, and do some traveling alone. I had worried about the loneliness and inability to have someone to share experiences with, but after some research, I found that the pros definitely outweighed the cons.

When the others booked their ferry tickets, I decided to hold back, not sure what I wanted to do, but that essentially made up my mind, and having to say goodbye to them, and watching them all get in the van with their packs, and me remain behind in the hotel was a real eye opener.

I do feel sad about not being with them sometimes, but overall I think this is something that I have to do, and I'm not regretting it at the moment. Immediately after I realized I was on my own, I started noticing a lot of things more. I was free to do whatever I wanted, without weighing it with a group decision, and I had the opportunities to go, stop, and talk to people as I pleased. I noticed more things in thai culture, and was forced to use more of the thai language, and do things for myself. It also breeds social skills, as it forces you to interact with people that you might not regularly interact with when you're in a group. More on that in other blogs.

All in all, though I do miss the people I was traveling with, it was something that had to be done, and where I am now (I'll explain in later blogs) could not have come without me leaving.

Highlights of Koh Samui

• Everything being a ridicuolusly expensive price
• Ron the dog, who I got to spend some quality time with after everyone left
• Having to keep a chocolate ice cream bar away from Ron, so he wouldn't die. 
• Standing for the entire boat ride, in order not to pay 30 baht to sit in the VIP room (which was NO different than the other rooms) but mainly as to not hurt my pride.
• Chilling on the beach with people from Brazil at 2 in the morning, insisting that the Jesus statue in Rio was giving the peace signs, not holding it's arms out.
•   The flash flooding that kept happening because of the insane rain.

Arrived in Krabi

After catching the ferry for Krabi from phi phi, we arrived with the intention of going to railay beach, but when a figured out it would be a dark boat ride for just one night, we decided to stay in a guest house in Krabi town for the night.
We haven't gone out yet, but were going to get some food for a bit.
We booked a bus trip for tomorrow which will take us into the rainforest up north where we will spend the night, so that should be lots of fun!

***

Right now I'm writing this from basically a tree house with wifi, there are ids running around and screaming, mosquitos everywhere, and I can't get the wifi to connect, but I've had a good day so far.

When we were in Krabi, we happened to be there on one of the nights that the night market was open on, which was really fun. We went there and tried new foods, including some 5 baht pastry that was delicious, and some mystery chicken on a stick, which tasted a lot like Nandos, so I liked that.
There were carnival games, and music, food stalls and even a wooden furniture stall… it was really strange, but really cool at the same time.

After that, we went back and stayed in our dodgy, but nice rooms… After sleeping in a few hostels, you learn to appreciate a non-rock-hard (but not soft by any means) bed, and a fan on the ceiling.
The next day we woke up, and boarded a bus to Khao Sok National Park, which is a little more North of Phuket. That's where I am right now. The bus ride took a few hours, and soon we had arrived in a 160 million year old rainforest, surrounded by Thailand's finest flour and fauna.

We decided to book a tour through the lake, jungle and some caves for the next day (today) and we paid quite a bit of money for it - which I wasn't too pleased about (About 1500 baht, including another night's stay) but it's over now, and I had a good time.

We started off our day by boarding a bus for an hour bus trip up into the National Park, and we had to pay an entrance fee of 100 baht with our student cards. Once we got there, we immediately boarded a long boat with 4 other people, and were making our way through the 29 year old lake in Southern Thailand.

The boat ride took about an hour, and we had finally arrived in the raft house, which was basically like a floating dock, with a bunch of huts attached. We ate some lunch, and then got some time for swimming and kayaking around the large lake. The water was apparently 15-20 meters deep (I couldn't get anywhere near the bottom… despite trying several times) so I started doing dives and flips off the dock, which was pretty fun. The other's aren't too much of swimmers, it must be the Canadian in me.


After we got our fill of food, swimming, and in my case, flips and diving, we boarded the boat again for a 5 minute journey to a dock down river. We got off the boat, and were on our "trek" through the jungle, which was incredibly similar to a hike through the Niagara escarpment, just different plants.
You should have seen me in that jungle… I was basically Legolas. My Canadian instincts were going crazy, and I was hiking through right behind the tour guide no problem, loving life, and keeping chill, while a bunch of the others were fighting through the mud and the trees.
After about an hour's (2 kilometre) hike, we had arrived at a cave entrance, and were picking leeches off our bodies. We then donned head lamps, and entered a cave through an entrance that was difficult to stand up in. A few went back, but most of us kept through, and we went about 100 meters in the cave.

There were fish swimming, leeches, spiders, and all sorts of awesome creatures in this cave, as the water was rushing past our feet. At times we had to swim carrying our valuables above our heads, in freezing cold water, in pitch black. It was definitely a cool experience. We got to swim one by one down a narrow passageway where we could see a waterfall, but due to the wet season and flooding, we didn't go any further than that.

Right now the largest insect I've ever seen is flying around the room making a lot of noise, and is chilling on the ceiling above my head, with the many lizards that are also there.
I finally got the wifi working, which means I only have to stay here for 15 more minutes as my pictures upload with that terrible insect thing, which seems hellbent on not staying still and chilling out.
After we got out of the cave, we did a bit more intense hiking, free climbing up a few rocks (nothing serious) and fighting off more plants on less taken trails, it was pretty fun.
We eventually found our way back to the boat, and jungle house, where we sat, swam, and ate pineapple and watermelon for a little bit, before catching the 1 hour longboat ride back as the sun set.
All in all it was a pretty cool day, and we got up to a lot. Despite it costing a lot, I'm glad I did it. I've just got to start saving a lot more money now.


Semester Two NewsSo I was offered a place in residence at City University Hong Kong, which is very good news. I still haven't heard from the actual school as to whether or not I was accepted yet, but signs are looking good. I'm gonna send a few emails to confirm that everything's alright, and then I can make my payments. All I have to do from there is wait for my Visa, and then somehow make arrangements with Billy to get my luggage to me… Still not sure how that's going to work, but I'm sure it will find it's way home, as it does have my laptop in it.

I'm looking more into coming home early in May now, and trying to get a job at my Uni, so that I can work up some more money. I think that I might be going slightly into debt at the end of my CityU Journey.

Seriously, I don't know what this bug is, and I respect all living things immensely, but I want it dead.
I'm also excited to do my medical internship over Christmas, as it will give me something to do, instead of being stranded from my family all alone! I have no concerns working on Christmas, as it's still a regular day, when people need help with things, and I've done it for the past 2-3 years.

What's NextTomorrow we have a bus / bus / ferry ticket booked to Koh Samui, which is an island off the East cost of Thailand. We don't have a hostel booked yet, but I think we're going to do that tonight, or when we get there. We should spend one or two nights there, I think.

After that we are getting a boat to Koh Phagan, where the full moon party is. I'm not really too keen on going to the full moon party, but I'm kind of stuck with it.

It's basically a bunch of white tourists getting absolutely, ridiculously intoxicated, on a beach, all night, while people spike drinks, pour outdated alcohol, and police arrest you for the slightest thing. There's certain types of immaturity that I embrace, it's healthy, but stuff like this is most definitely not for me, as my first response is to say "grow up, and get real". Whatever, sorry about the rant, I lost the person on the trip who shares the same feelings as me on this matter, everyone else seems to be fine with killing off thousands of their neurons.

That brings me to a second rant kind of a thing… Being here there's really nothing to do but the things around you, and not being in contact with a lot of people leaves me a lot of time with my thoughts (which is probably something that should happen). I feel myself getting a little bit bored, because there are things that I want to do, projects I want to complete, but have no way to complete them until yet.
I'm on the opportunity of a lifetime, but all I can think about is work, which is really strange. I guess that instead of enjoying the world for myself (which I've done plenty of) I want to make it a better place for others… I don't know.

I'm excited to get back to University, and also to get back to Brock. I'm pumped to learn some more immunology, and I'm really hoping to get a second and final year as an RLS member again, because there's a bunch of things that I've learned that I think I can bring to it.
My pictures are taking forever to load, it looks like I'll be stuck with that bug for a while longer.

Anyways, after Koh Phagnan, we will be heading up to Koh Tao,  which is another island, similar to the last two. After that, we'll head back to the mainland (Chumpton I think) and catch the train up to Bangkok for a few days (hopefully longer if I get my way) before heading up North to Chiang Mai, and other places in Northern Thailand. After that point, I will leave everyone and start my medical internship.

After it finishes, I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but chances are I'll be chilling on my own in Bangkok for a week, and then flying into Hong Kong on the 7th of January for my first day at City University HK!



That's it for now, stay sweet!

Wifi on Phi Phi

Well, I finally found some steady wifi, so as I write this I'm sitting at the restaurant with my friends waiting for our meal.


Ko Phi Phi has been absolutely amazing. The island itself is crazy small, so you can walk around it in less than 10 minutes. The beaches are amazing, you can walk out for a kilometre before you can't touch, and the water is so clear you can see your feet on the ground. There are no waves, and the water is still and warm.

Now I'm writing from in my bed at the hostel, as gangham style plays softly in the background... I use the term softly loosely. I do not have wifi, but I can find some later, and tell you all about my phi phi adventures.

I've lost track of the days of the week, I honestly don't know what day it is, so I'll say this instead... Day 1.

We left Phuket and got a taxi to the harbour, after which we boarded a 3 story ferry to ko phi phi. It was the whitest, multicultural boat I've ever been on. 90 percent of people were white skinned, but all from different places, I heard Irish, Scottish, Australian, Swedish (Yennifer), Californian, and even a few Canadians.

When we first got to the island, it was insane trying to get people off the boat, and it looked like it was going to rain. We were then taken to our hostel, which had been over booked, and had to pay 200 baht more for an air conditioned room, in which the owner would enter every night when he thought we were asleep, and raise the temperature 10 degrees to presumably save him money.

Anyways, we got food, checked out the beach, which was amazing, and then got ready to go out for the night.

This island is definitely a party island. We walked through a number of different bars on the beach, and watched some of the fire dancing, and some of the drunk 20 somethings get burned from trying to jump in the fire skipping rope. After that, Rachael wasn't feeling too well, so I agreed to go back to the room with her. Strange things happened that night, I won't say anything, just that it involved Shaun, Jess, and me trying to wake Rachael to get the aforementioned people to stop doing what they were doing...

The next day we had booked a boat trip, and apparently I was the only one excited about it once we got on the boat, and the sick / hungover people felt the rocking.

Our first stop was monkey beach, where we kept our distance after last time. After a quick stop, our little wooden boat took us to a bay on ko phi phi don, where the water was deep enough to dive... So of course I did, off the side of the boat, so much fun.

After that, we got taken to another bay, where the water was twice as deep, but we were able to see the bottom, along with the coral and fish. We strapped on snorkelling gear, and I put on my dysfunctional flippers, and we were off the boat floating around.

While everyone else on the root felt content with just floating at the surface looking down, Jack and I took it upon ourselves to dive down to the bottom, which I would say was about 20 feet. I only dove down all the way once... And that was a stupid mistake. I should have known to turn back when the water started to get freezing cold, but I wanted to see that colourful fish so bad. Long story short, my ears popped, hard, and after feeling instant pain I turned right around and swam towards the surface.

A little while later, I was actually swimming with a school of colourful fish about 8 feet underwater. I was like "this is awesome, the fish have accepted me as one of their own". That went on for quite a while, and I could even touch some of the fish...

Then came the jellyfish. The sings on my arms, legs, and shoulders I could deal with, but when I got stung on my lip I was like "I'm done" and decided to get out, swimming face first into the off boat prop, because I was so focused on my underwater dolphin kick...

The boat then took us to Maya bay, which is the beach you always see pictures of when somebody talks about paradise. The sand was actually fluffy soft, the mountains were beautiful, and the water was calm. I climbed a steep rock, and got lost in a jungle looking for ice cream, but had a good time there.

The boat then took us to watch the sunset, and Beth and I sat on the bow the whole time as a peacefulness washed over all of us, it was awesome.

The next day we decided to rent some bikes, it was actually pretty fun, despite the island being so small. We biked for a it around it, and ran into trees, and people, due to the fact that we had no brakes. After that, we decided to hike up to the viewpoint to catch the sunset. Literally climbed a mountain in 10 minutes, it was bloody exhausting.

I had to say goodbye to Rachael a few minutes ago, who decided to catch the ferry and a plan home to Perth instead of continuing on. She will be missed but it's for the best, because I think she was missing home a lot. I feel really bad because she was sick the entire time, so never got to enjoy herself as much, but she was a good friend, and I hope to see her again one day!

We're moving on to our next "island" which is Krabi, or Railay or something... not really sure, we're just sort of figuring it out as we go...

I also applied for a medical internship in a Chiang Mai hospital today. I had to pay quite a bit of money (around 1000 dollars) but it seems the norm for volunteer projects abroad, etc. Since accommodation and most meals are included, etc. It involves shadowing doctors, and getting some OR time, so it seems like it will be a lot of fun. I'm just hoping that for the money I paid, that I'll get a good experience out of it. I can justify spending 1000 dollars out of my Curtin scholarship towards a 2 week intensive medical education project, as long as I get some good experiences, memories, and inspirations out of it... Plus, who needs a flight home, really...

I'm in an internet cafe right now, and they charge 2 baht by the minute, but my pictures are taking forever to upload... I'm not too pleased here, since they've made enough money off me sending frantic emails, but whatever, it'll be around 2 dollars, so I reckon that's okay.

I need to start watching my money more carefully now that I'm down a grand, and start eating at less expensive places (despite a full restaurant meal here being only about 3-5 dollars.

Shaving off all my hair has been good for the heat, but I do miss it terribly. I'm definitely growing it back out again from now on.

But I've gotta go catch a ferry, so until next time, see ya later!

Sawatdee!

What's up bloggers?

Right now I'm writing this on my phone, in the hostel in Phuket. I'll post it with pictures tomorrow when I have access to a real computer. We landed in Phuket international airport and caught a mini bus to Phuket town, where we are staying in an Irish hostel... Weird, I know.

Anyways, as always with me I disliked the first day in a new place, but we did get to eat some fried rice and check out the night market, which was a lot of fun. After buying a lonely planet guide for Thailand, we discovered that there is not a lot of things to do in Phuket. That being said, we made plans to stay here for one day (today) and move on to ko phi phi for the next day.

Today we mostly spent wandering and complaining about the heat, but we did do something fun. We hired a tuk tuk to take us up a mountain to the big buddha and some of the best views of Phuket. While we were there, we wrote names on marble stones to be used in the re-construction of the buddha, and then we all got blessed by a monk, who wished us "happiness, long life, and goodluck." That was pretty cool looking back at it, though the bracelet he gave us fell off immediately, so I don't know if that cancels out the magical powers or what have you... :/

See the pictures I've included. Rachael and I went to the theatre tonight to see skyfall, however after being told that it was full, we decided to see the new twilight movie with Thai subtitles, I'm not going to comment on the movie, but it was 3 Canadian dollars, so I liked that a lot.

I decided to finally cut my dreads off, they were itchy and really bugging me. I had to shave my head, so RIP long blonde hair, and hello balding for a few weeks. Seriously, I've got a major Mike Mackett style haircut going on right now.

***

Today I'm uploading the pictures, and we're going to be leaving Phuket in a few hours. We're getting a cab to the harbour, and then a speed boat all the way to ko phi phi, which is an island off the east coast of Phuket. You know all those desktop wallpapers you see of beaches and stuff? They're from this island... which I'm pretty excited about.

I'm not too excited about the hostel, since we got the cheapest one, and it has the worst reviews, but as long as I get a mosquito net I am sure I can deal with it. The mosquitos here tend to not like me as much as they do everyone else, but I still get bit once in a while, and I'd like to avoid that.

After Ko Phi Phi, we're going to be going to another island, and then two more after that, eventually ending up in Ko Phangan for the full moon party. As of this point, I'm not too sold over on the idea of the full moon party, considering it's about 3000 drunk 20 year olds on a beach, binge drinking all night,  getting drinks spiked, etc. Apparently there are police there, and they will arrest you for anything, and are just looking for a bribe to get out of it. A lot of things that I've heard about the police here mention a lot of them being corrupt, so I'm a little weary of that... We'll see how everything plays out though. If I do decide to go, I doubt there's going to be drinking, considering I haven't drank once on this trip so far, as opposed to everyone else's 10+ times; just not my thing anymore... Does this mean I'm getting old?

Okay, anyways, I'm going to have a cold shower (the best thing in the world here, the worst thing in the world in Canada), finish packing, and get some breakfast, so I'll see you all the next time I can update this.

Peace!

Jettin' all around the world.

What up, my fellow travelers?

Favourite moment of the Singapore Airport: Rachael loudly talking about the angry birds display:

"Oh look guys, it's that bomb! It's that one that's a bomb!"

Right now I'm enjoying some free internet access at the Singapore airport... and I've got to say, it's probably the nicest airport I've ever been in. They've got a weird layout though, I'm technically already "boarded" on my flight, though I'm in some sort of weird glass hamster cage.

We're off to Phuket in a little bit, and then straight to our hostel, which will probably be a challenge with the language barrier, etc.

I'm gonna research some more stuff before my internet time goes out though, so just here's a few things right now.

• I can't post any pictures, but I will soon.
• I now have dreadlocks, it's a love hate relationship, since there is basically rubber cement in my hair, and they constantly feel dirty, and I'm not totally liking the look... but whatever, live life while you're young, put glue in your hair, pay 30 dollars for it. :D
• Bali was lots of fun, but I'm excited to get out of the "touristy" area, and experience some raw Thailand.

That's about it for now. See all you homies later!

Happy trailsszzszzzz.

Bali 2.0

Let me start off by saying that it's incredibly hot. Like, incredibly. Thankfully my room has air con, but I'm sitting in the open air lobby right now, dying in the heat; I'll get used to it, eventually... I hope.

We got up to quite a lot in the past few days, lots of going out, and lots of adventures. Today is Wednesday (I think) and we are spending it just chilling in the hotel by the pool, going to a pool party later at a fancier hotel, and then going out tonight - a pretty chill vacationesque day I would say.

I can't remember everything we did, but I have a few stories for you guys:

Playing Temple Run in the Temples
Yesterday we hired a car for the day, and somehow (I still don't know how we even did it) managed to navigate our way through the insane - signless streets of Bali, across the entire island, to two separate places on opposite sides, and back to our hotel; it took us 12 hours, but was insanely fun.

The first place we went was the Besakih temple, (not counting the small local temple we stopped off at first). We had to purchase sarongs (which are like little skirts to cover your knees) and wear them at all times inside the temple. We also had to pay for a tour guide, and tickets in (probably a scam) but it only ended up costing us about 8 dollars in total, which I'd say is not too bad.

Our tour guide took us on a tour or the largest temple in Bali, and we learned a lot, and got to take some amazing pictures of the 1300 year old place. We also were pressured by a 6 year old girl named Jimjam (that's not her actual name, it's just what I remember it to be) into buying her post cards for "ten thousand rrrrrrrupiahs"; she was an expert salesperson.

After the temple, we went on to the Monkey forest in Ubud, where we got to purchase bananas and feed them to the monkeys... Now, don't be fooled by the pictures - I enjoyed this location, but the others did not. The monkeys were viscous. The moment we walked in, one clinged to Rachael's sarong and started growling at her for her bananas. Sean was attacked, and even bitten by the monkeys (which are probably rabid) but it didn't break the skin, so they're all cool.

I suspected (from observation and common sense) that the fat ones were the more aggressive dominant ones, because they could scare tourists, and get bananas, ergo get super fat. We were told not to hide the bananas from the monkeys, because they could find them, but I decided to take my chances, and was very successful, only being attacked by one monkey. I decided to feed most of my bananas to the small monkeys, which were much less aggressive, and would even climb you to get the bananas.

As we were leaving, Beth got some crisps, and as soon as she opened the bag, a monkey dashed out of the park, across the road, across all the traffic, jumped, grabbed the bag, and ran up a tree with it.

Overall though, it was pretty fun, it kept freaking me out how much like humans they resemble, and how predictable their behavior can be based on our own basic instincts and impulses.

Angry Spanish ladies and pouring rain
This one is a story where my mother will be proud of me for. After we returned the rental car, we were absolutely starving, due to the fact that collectively we had eaten one popsicle, and a few fantas. We decided to go to the first restaurant we found, but something seemed off about it.

Everything was good after ordering our food, and everyone seemed into high spirits. 45 minutes later, and our food still hadn't arrived (despite being the only ones in the restaurant, and the most complicated dish being chicken parm) we were not too impressed, and I was basically falling asleep at the table.

Finally the food comes, and me and Shaun got what we ordered, a Margarita pizza each. I took one bite, and told the table it's the worst pizza I've ever eaten; Shaun agreed. After eating half of it, because we were starving, we couldn't eat anymore, because it was actually making me feel sick. It was not fully cooked, it was cold, and it felt like I was just eating cheesy dough.

Now... I don't normally complain, so I kept my voice down for the initial things. I was just going to be quiet about it, but Shaun talked to the waitress and wanted some sort of compensation, like a discount. The waitress was really nice, and tried to balance our needs, with the manager's wants, but the waitress kept coming back saying that the boss said that she would give no discount, blah blah blah... Long story short, the boss came over.

She was a Spanish lady, who had a tone of... let's say "sallope-ness" to her. She immediately came over and said "Who's pizza was not cooked?" to which Shaun and I put up our hands "I tried it myself, it was fine" she replied, to which Shaun said something along the lines of "the crust was not cooked at all" and something else. She immediately replied "well, we are a restaurant, not a pizza place, we're not equipped to cook the crust" in an extremely condescending tone...

That was the point where I lost it. 

I don't really remember much, because I go into like, some sort of anger/frustration/confrontation blackout when I talk to someone, but I basically said the following to her, without interruption;

"You have to understand where we're coming from here. My friends and I rented a car for the day, and drove all over Bali, and the only thing we've had collectively between us was a popsicle and a couple of fantas. So when we come to the restaurant, and we're waiting 45 minutes for all of our meals, and I'm falling alseep at the table, I'm not too impressed. Then on top of that, when we finally get our food, it's not cooked, and I eat half of it anyways, because I'm absolutely starving. I'm not trying to be mean, but to be honest, it doesn't seem fair because after this we're probably going to have to go somewhere else to get some more food, because this mean isn't satisfying, because when I come to a restaurant, I expect to leave feeling more satisfied, not more sick than I was when I came in."

Add awkward pause.

"Well we wouldn't want you to feel sick" and then she walked away.

The waitress came back later and told us we'd get 35% off our bill, not much, but a lot more than the previous 0%.

I'm not normally a complainer, but honestly, if you're not equipped to cook pizzas properly, don't put pizzas on the menu. If I'm paying 75,000 rupiahs for a pizza, I want it to be good, because I can go somewhere else and get it for 50,000.

Part 2
We spent the night out, and a few people in the group did mushrooms (which are legal here, despite marijuana evoking the death penalty... I don't even...). Despite the legality, and low medical risks, I don't think it's something I'm going to partake in. Of course I've always wanted to experience synesthesia, but I just wouldn't feel safe being in this country and not being in control of my own actions (which probably explains why I'm not drinking either). Oh well, c'est la vie.

Anyways, after the bar, Rachael, Beth and I decided to walk home. We tried to get cabs, but the drivers were demanding 70,000 rupiahs, when we had gotten them before for 30k... not happening. As we were walking home, it started pouring, and we absolutely loved it. We walked through the streets, trying not to fall in the holes in the sidewalk through a bloody thunderstorm... Not the safest thing, but these are the things you will remember. We were singing the entire way back.

Rachael almost got robbed by children, who tried to sell me bracelets because I was in the front, but when I walked past them, they swarmed her at the back, and I saw them go for her purse. I stopped and got behind her, and told her to clutch it, and they all ran away... Crazy... We actually tried to get pick pocketed by a family and their five under 10 year old children.

All in all though, it's pretty safe - just as safe as Curtin and Karawara, and I'm enjoying it. I'm really considering dreads at the moment, but we'll see.

Anyways, gotta go to a pool party, so I'll see you later!

P.S. I didn't go to the pool party, we're going to the beach instead!

P.P.S. - Mum, I'm not buying new shorts, these ones have history, and work just fine. (See picture above).