So I've now been at the job for about a week and a half and I'm still enjoying it (despite still not being fully used to the 4am starts every day!) and he's given me the job on a full basis now, rather than just the month trial shift I was originally on, so I've obviously been doing pretty well.
I've also discovered that I live directly opposite the only other guy at the yard that works basically every shift (it's a small world!) - who has a car, so I'm getting free lifts to and from work every day, which is amazing. So I've given up on looking for a car, at least until I get a bit more money, but I did buy a bike the other day ($60 for a little single-gear thing that's pretty good, except for the fact that the chain keeps coming off!) I'm earning a decent amount too, as I'm on $15/h (just over 10 quid) and working a good 50 hours or so every week. My boss has also said that, in a couple of weeks, he'll put my pay up a bit and start training me up more in the handling/husbandry aspects of the job, which'll be cool. Most of the horses on the yard are reasonably sane, at least for racehorses! I'm still spending too much, but hopefully that'll stop soon as it's just stuff I need to get me settled in the new house and the area - food, a few new clothes, etc.
I also spent half of my first day off at the near(ish)by Dreamworld Theme Park on Sunday, getting a yearly ticket (just $110 compared to $80 for a single-entry ticket), which also covers me for the waterpark next door! So I expect I'll be spending plenty of time there, now that it'll be a LOT cheaper since I've already got my ticket! The park's really good too. Probably not quite the size of Alton Towers, but it does have plenty of great rides (and, as I say, the waterpark next door) - the best of which was probably the Giant Drop - the tallest free-fall ride in the world, at 119 metres tall! Although I was gutted that I didn't get round to riding the (from the sounds of it at least) rocket-powered Tower of Terror II, which builds up its speed on the flat in a dark tunnel before suddenly launching about halfway up the Giant Drop tower and falling back down. All facing backwards! There were several other really good coasters there too that I did get on, but still plenty more to see next time (as I only got there at about 1.30pm, and the park closes at 5pm!)
At least I didn't have to spend any money (except losing a $20 bet to my boss!) on the 3-course meal, ringside seats and beers all night at the local boxing - as my boss paid for all of it! He's pretty loaded and very generous with his money. In all, a pretty good boss to work for! I was very annoyed though, that I managed to sleep through half of the last fight, which was an epic title bout, as it was about 11pm by that point (well past my bedtime out here!) and I'd had a fair few beers! But I did see some other good fights, and at least half of the amazing final fight. The guy that eventually won (after a 12th round KO I think) had been profusely bleeding from above his eye since about the 2nd round, which goes some way to show how good a fight it was!
Since I'm still enjoying it, and my boss is happy with me, I've discussed it with him and decided I'll stay for the 6 months that my visa allows (as I mentioned last time), then spend what I've saved up on seeing the rest of Australia for a couple of months. I'm also hoping to do fruit-picking work wherever I go (there are companies that set you up for doing exactly that), just to fund my travels a bit more and to hopefully ensure I come back to the UK with a bit of money still in my pocket. Although this might get blown on a trip to New Zealand before I come back, as I've been told it's an unmissable country, so it'd be a waste not to see it while I'm down here! But that's a decision I can easily put off for a good few months after a little research into how much extra it'd cost for flights etc. Basically though, it's looking like Easter time or something before I'm back I reckon - possibly a bit later.
As always though, keep reading the new posts and I'll keep people updated! (For those that are interested anyways, the rest of you can piss off!)
'Til next time, Andy xx
Monday, 27 August 2012
Friday, 17 August 2012
I Now Have a (Kind Of) Life in Australia!
Well! Again, I've been very busy in the last few days. I've got an Australian mobile number (which I'll post on my Facebook profile for anyone desperate to hear my voice!), sorted myself somewhere to live, got in contact with various people about cars, started a job and got an Australian bank account! Presumably, somewhere in the ethos, there is also a tax file number trying to find its way to me, although it's not yet found its way to either my email address or my hostel!
As always, I'll start my story from the start! Which, I'll pretend, is when I arrived in Brisbane - although a lot of this had already happened when I wrote my last update! After a long a boring coach journey, at least made far more tolerable by the fact that Frolicking (a nickname based on her German surname, which I won't reveal for some kind of privacy reason, as that seems to be what people do on the internet!) was with me for most of it, so I had someone to chat to. It was also made more interesting, although probably more infuriating, when an old Aussie guy (in his mid-late 60s I'd guess) started chatting to me from across the aisle (completely ignoring the fact that I conspicuously got out my book and kept trying to read it instead of giving him proper replies). At least he was nice and quite knowledgeable about racehorses, and wished me good luck with it (as did a random woman that'd been sitting behind him, as we got off the bus, which was nice - she'd obviously just overheard the conversation!) The frustrating part though, apart from not being allowed to read, was that he somehow (I'm still not sure how) got onto the subject of: racism (he was against it, although he sounded less convincing when he started talking about muslims), the Chinese/Indians and rich/poor people! Apparently, although global warming is a myth (sigh), we will - within 30 years or so - all be forced to wear gas masks permanently, due to the pollution caused by China and India who (combined I think), in the last 10 years, have caused 'more pollution' than the rest of the world did, put together, in the last 100 years. Although the Chinese government will be found out for the dictators and liars that they are and overthrown by its people within the next 10 years (possible, but I think it'll take longer!) The muslims are also going to cause world war 3, I'm guessing through the terrorist acts that all muslims perform as part of their religious duties. I think what he was most passionate about though, was his idea that the poor (i.e. not rich) people of the world will rise up as one (I think he was saying within my lifetime) and overthrow the world's governments, because the distribution of wealth is unfair. Kind of like in the new Batman film, which I have FINALLY been able to watch! I do kind of wish I'd probed further into who and how this would come about, but I finally got a chance to read my book, while he fell asleep!
I got to Brisbane fine though, and on time after my 9 hour coach journey, and found my hostel (Brisbane Base Central - which was booked for me by OutBackPackers). Once I'd checked in and walked up to the 3rd floor, as the (presumably oldest in Brisbane - it even still had a manually opening grille) lift wasn't working, I dumped my stuff and went for a nice meal ($19 for a nice pizza and beer from somewhere in the centre, don't remember the name - but it's got about 15 different stalls serving one restaurant, a strange set up!) before going to bed and, for once, managing not to slip into a coma for half the next day, after doing some washing and getting some overpriced internet. I would NOT recommend this hostel, to anyone! It's overpriced ($28 for an 8-person dorm), the laundry's standard ($3 wash, $3 dry, although quite old machines), the internet's overpriced ($4p/h, although that is the same as my current hostel), the aforementioned lift barely works and the toilets were literally a few minute's walk from my room (annoying, after attempting to rehydrate that day by downing loads of water). The toilets and showers were also very dingy/dirty, I think I may have caught AIDS when I went in without shoes on. So I booked another hostel (Bunk, in the Fortitude Valley area, right next to Chinatown) - which is much, much better! Not without its faults, but it's cheaper (for a 6-person dorm), the lift works, the rooms are nicer (with clean, modern toilets & showers ensuite) and you get a (small) free meal from the bar 4 nights a week and $1 spit roast on Sundays, along with a free cocktail on arrival! That's where I've been based since Sunday night (tonight being Friday) and I would definitely recommend Bunk - as would many others, as it's been voted Queensland's hostel of the year 4 times I think, and named Australia's 4th best hostel! Oh, it also has a small, free swimming pool/jacuzzi for guests!
From that base of operations, I've successfully managed to sort my life out over here - sorting out accommodation (I'm to be a lodger, close to my work, with someone else my kind of age coming in soon hopefully, in a nice, modern little townhouse with a pool, $160 + around $20 utilities, double room and a lovely resident dog!), I've listed it as my address for both my SIM card activation and for my new bank account (they don't mind passing on post) and have also been searching Gumtree for a 2nd hand car (for less than about $700, which is difficult if you want it to work!) I have also looked round Brisbane and seen some of the main sights, although it's not really a sightseeing city, including chilling on the city beach a couple of days (nice, but only just warm enough to sunbathe a bit), seeing the botanic gardens (meh, not that impressive actually!) and the Roma St Parklands (much nicer!) But I shall be moving into the house tomorrow afternoon, so I'll actually be a little sad to leave the hostel!
Yesterday, I also started my job - although that was just a little trial shift, I only did an hour and a half - and had my first real shift today, working from 6am to about 12.30pm (half of that I was the only one on the yard with all these expensive racehorses, so my criminal record check must have been clean!), which was absolutely fucking knackering, as I basically mucked out 6 large beds of shavings, half of which hadn't been done properly in a few weeks, meaning I removed and re-made the best part of 6 hot beds (where the pissy bedding is allowed to build up to the point of decomposition to provide more heat). This, as I'm sure anyone who's done it before, is not an easy task to do in 20 degree sun on not a lot of sleep (I got up at 4.30am) on your first day at a job! But, I did it, and I've earned about $90 today, cash-in-hand for the first month, which is a trial period for us to see if it's working out. I did though, spend an hour's wages on travel (almost anyway, it's $7 each way!) and another hour and a half's wages on food when I got back (a massive KFC bucket with a banana nutella crepe for desert at the local food court). I've also spent about half an hour's wages today on other food and a book, and my hostel last night cost $29 (as I just renewed the night before I was due to check out). So, really, I've only come away with about an hour's profit for the day, which is rather depressing! But it'll be much cheaper once I'm living in the house, as I'll spend less on travel (hopefully nothing if I get lifts/a bike, very little if I get a car) and food (not eating out helps!) So I should save up a decent amount and hopefully extend my stay to go see the rest of Australia once I finish the job (although I think he wants me to work for the full year of my visa, and just transfer me to one of his other 2 companies when my full allowed 6 months with 1 employer is up, although I can't see that happening!)
I can't think of anything else I want to say, so I'll say what I always do: stay tuned for the next update! Although there probably won't be that many more after this for a while, as life will probably get a little monotonous while I'm working and saving. But I will update it when I feel I've got enough to say!
Much love to everyone,
Andy xx
As always, I'll start my story from the start! Which, I'll pretend, is when I arrived in Brisbane - although a lot of this had already happened when I wrote my last update! After a long a boring coach journey, at least made far more tolerable by the fact that Frolicking (a nickname based on her German surname, which I won't reveal for some kind of privacy reason, as that seems to be what people do on the internet!) was with me for most of it, so I had someone to chat to. It was also made more interesting, although probably more infuriating, when an old Aussie guy (in his mid-late 60s I'd guess) started chatting to me from across the aisle (completely ignoring the fact that I conspicuously got out my book and kept trying to read it instead of giving him proper replies). At least he was nice and quite knowledgeable about racehorses, and wished me good luck with it (as did a random woman that'd been sitting behind him, as we got off the bus, which was nice - she'd obviously just overheard the conversation!) The frustrating part though, apart from not being allowed to read, was that he somehow (I'm still not sure how) got onto the subject of: racism (he was against it, although he sounded less convincing when he started talking about muslims), the Chinese/Indians and rich/poor people! Apparently, although global warming is a myth (sigh), we will - within 30 years or so - all be forced to wear gas masks permanently, due to the pollution caused by China and India who (combined I think), in the last 10 years, have caused 'more pollution' than the rest of the world did, put together, in the last 100 years. Although the Chinese government will be found out for the dictators and liars that they are and overthrown by its people within the next 10 years (possible, but I think it'll take longer!) The muslims are also going to cause world war 3, I'm guessing through the terrorist acts that all muslims perform as part of their religious duties. I think what he was most passionate about though, was his idea that the poor (i.e. not rich) people of the world will rise up as one (I think he was saying within my lifetime) and overthrow the world's governments, because the distribution of wealth is unfair. Kind of like in the new Batman film, which I have FINALLY been able to watch! I do kind of wish I'd probed further into who and how this would come about, but I finally got a chance to read my book, while he fell asleep!
I got to Brisbane fine though, and on time after my 9 hour coach journey, and found my hostel (Brisbane Base Central - which was booked for me by OutBackPackers). Once I'd checked in and walked up to the 3rd floor, as the (presumably oldest in Brisbane - it even still had a manually opening grille) lift wasn't working, I dumped my stuff and went for a nice meal ($19 for a nice pizza and beer from somewhere in the centre, don't remember the name - but it's got about 15 different stalls serving one restaurant, a strange set up!) before going to bed and, for once, managing not to slip into a coma for half the next day, after doing some washing and getting some overpriced internet. I would NOT recommend this hostel, to anyone! It's overpriced ($28 for an 8-person dorm), the laundry's standard ($3 wash, $3 dry, although quite old machines), the internet's overpriced ($4p/h, although that is the same as my current hostel), the aforementioned lift barely works and the toilets were literally a few minute's walk from my room (annoying, after attempting to rehydrate that day by downing loads of water). The toilets and showers were also very dingy/dirty, I think I may have caught AIDS when I went in without shoes on. So I booked another hostel (Bunk, in the Fortitude Valley area, right next to Chinatown) - which is much, much better! Not without its faults, but it's cheaper (for a 6-person dorm), the lift works, the rooms are nicer (with clean, modern toilets & showers ensuite) and you get a (small) free meal from the bar 4 nights a week and $1 spit roast on Sundays, along with a free cocktail on arrival! That's where I've been based since Sunday night (tonight being Friday) and I would definitely recommend Bunk - as would many others, as it's been voted Queensland's hostel of the year 4 times I think, and named Australia's 4th best hostel! Oh, it also has a small, free swimming pool/jacuzzi for guests!
From that base of operations, I've successfully managed to sort my life out over here - sorting out accommodation (I'm to be a lodger, close to my work, with someone else my kind of age coming in soon hopefully, in a nice, modern little townhouse with a pool, $160 + around $20 utilities, double room and a lovely resident dog!), I've listed it as my address for both my SIM card activation and for my new bank account (they don't mind passing on post) and have also been searching Gumtree for a 2nd hand car (for less than about $700, which is difficult if you want it to work!) I have also looked round Brisbane and seen some of the main sights, although it's not really a sightseeing city, including chilling on the city beach a couple of days (nice, but only just warm enough to sunbathe a bit), seeing the botanic gardens (meh, not that impressive actually!) and the Roma St Parklands (much nicer!) But I shall be moving into the house tomorrow afternoon, so I'll actually be a little sad to leave the hostel!
Yesterday, I also started my job - although that was just a little trial shift, I only did an hour and a half - and had my first real shift today, working from 6am to about 12.30pm (half of that I was the only one on the yard with all these expensive racehorses, so my criminal record check must have been clean!), which was absolutely fucking knackering, as I basically mucked out 6 large beds of shavings, half of which hadn't been done properly in a few weeks, meaning I removed and re-made the best part of 6 hot beds (where the pissy bedding is allowed to build up to the point of decomposition to provide more heat). This, as I'm sure anyone who's done it before, is not an easy task to do in 20 degree sun on not a lot of sleep (I got up at 4.30am) on your first day at a job! But, I did it, and I've earned about $90 today, cash-in-hand for the first month, which is a trial period for us to see if it's working out. I did though, spend an hour's wages on travel (almost anyway, it's $7 each way!) and another hour and a half's wages on food when I got back (a massive KFC bucket with a banana nutella crepe for desert at the local food court). I've also spent about half an hour's wages today on other food and a book, and my hostel last night cost $29 (as I just renewed the night before I was due to check out). So, really, I've only come away with about an hour's profit for the day, which is rather depressing! But it'll be much cheaper once I'm living in the house, as I'll spend less on travel (hopefully nothing if I get lifts/a bike, very little if I get a car) and food (not eating out helps!) So I should save up a decent amount and hopefully extend my stay to go see the rest of Australia once I finish the job (although I think he wants me to work for the full year of my visa, and just transfer me to one of his other 2 companies when my full allowed 6 months with 1 employer is up, although I can't see that happening!)
I can't think of anything else I want to say, so I'll say what I always do: stay tuned for the next update! Although there probably won't be that many more after this for a while, as life will probably get a little monotonous while I'm working and saving. But I will update it when I feel I've got enough to say!
Much love to everyone,
Andy xx
Monday, 13 August 2012
Scary Times Ahead: Starting a New Job
This feels like a really overdue update, but I guess it's really only been 9 days or something since my last one! It's probably to do with the lack of contact I've had with the outside world again last week, but I should be used to that from Cambodia! I think the week also seemed longer than it was because so much stuff was crammed into it and there always seemed to be something happening (although frustratingly little sometimes!)
Another thing that makes it seem like such a long time since the last one is that I kept remembering that I'd not told you all a rather important part of my last night in Sydney in my last post (sad, I know!) I actually didn't just go straight back to my hostel for food and Braveheart after my chips and beer. When I got back to Sydney, I then walked across Harbour Bridge and back, taking plenty more photos along the way! But there's not really much to say about that, other than that it happened, I got some amazing photos (some of the best of my trip so far) and it was knackering after such a long day already! So I'll get straight onto talking about my farm course.
I got picked up from Sydney Base Hostel at 10.30am (I think) with no real trouble, actually managing to dive into a book shop on the way and pick up a new book (The Life of Pi), as I'd just finished the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and couldn't handle the thought of a week with no book if I'd have anything like as much time for reading as I did in Cambodia! The first thing I was told though, by Pheobe (the girl picking us up, who works on the course after doing it herself a few months ago) was that I look like 'a very strange human being' and that I scared her slightly; which made me think a) this could be a long week and b) I'm not going to like this girl much! She did get more tolerable as the week went on though, and she was alright by the end (possibly because she actually thought I was about the most normal person there by then!) She explained it was partly my bouncy walk and partly the fact I was wearing my Wednesday shirt, sponsored by the Children's Hospital, which obviously has a picture of Pudsey Bear on the front; she just didn't bother taking in the fact it was a sports shirt, not just a random Pudsey Bear shirt! The drive was otherwise boring and uneventful, taking about 6 hours to get out to the course, near Koonabarabran in New South Wales.
We then had barely any introduction to the surroundings etc., except for Pheobe telling us on the bus the rules for 'beer cricket' (every time you're handed an alcoholic beverage, you have to shout 'not out' before someone appeals with 'howzat', or you down it, although this game didn't get played once in the week!) and the 'game of life' (if you say the word 'mine', or 'mein' for the 9 Germans on the course, out of 12 of us, with any meaning, you had to immediately stop what you're doing and do 10 push ups), which got played far too much! Craig (the guy whose farm it is and who runs the course) told us that the only other rule for that night was that we weren't allowed to be seen without a beer in our hands! Which suited me fine, but is quite an expensive rule at $2 per can, especially when we were told that about the only money we'd need for the week was enough for the pub on Wednesday night! But it definitely made for a fun night, sitting around the campfire, playing drinking games and asking questions that some of the others felt were slightly too personal, Craig and Pheobe having one-track-minds when it comes to sex!
Monday morning was pretty easy to cope with with a hangover, except for the extreme cold (which was horrible every morning, hungover or not!) as we just had a talk from Craig about what the course would be like, then went into town with Pheobe to get some essential stuff (boots, gloves and hats for those that didn't have suitable ones) and set up bank accounts, although it turned out to be a bank holiday, so I couldn't set up an Aussie account annoyingly, so I've spent more money in card fees than I should have. I won't bother going into detail about every day, but it was mostly quite fun work - motorbike riding, horse riding, quad riding, sheep/cattle mustering and fence building took up most of the week, being about the most common/important skills to have on farms in the Outback. I did learn one or two things: I'm pretty shite at fence-building (digging holes for the posts, straining wires tight and tieing them together) and I crumble more under pressure than I thought (Craig was very harsh with his criticism sometimes and put a lot of pressure on everyone). Other things, I knew alread: I'm also shite at motorbike riding, but I'm decent on a quad and particularly good on horseback - Craig said on Friday evening that I'd restored his faith in male horse riders, being about the first good male rider he's had on the course in at least a few months, probably more!
The rest of the week after Sunday night though, saw a massive dive in the sociability of most of the other people on the course in the evenings - with half the people barely even sitting out with us, never mind staying out drinking. Which annoyed Pheobe and Craig no end - although, having talked to some of the others (all of whom I got on with), I think it's partly the fact of money (I hardly drank anything Monday night or Tuesday until I'd definitely sorted a job) and partly the German culture that prevented most of them (9 of the 12 people on the course being German!) from really being comfortable drinking etc. around their employers/teachers or whatever Pheobe and Craig classed as! Whenever those two weren't around though, everyone was much less quiet and more fun to hang around with.
I was disappointed on Tuesday night when I rang the employer they'd set up for me, as it sounded like a cool job, but the guy turned me down, I think because I didn't have enough experience. The job was mostly mustering on horseback, camping out for weeks at a time (Brokeback Mountain style, but hopefully without the gay love affair) and yard building. So he asked first whether I could ride horses - with which I was obviously able to big myself up, having ridden for over 15 years - but then went on to ask: did I have experience in fence building, welding or joinery and did I own a vehicle, all of which were basically no. So he said that for now it was a no but that, if he changed his mind, he would definitely let OutBackPackers (the company that run the course) know by the end of the week. Half an hour after I told Craig though, he'd already been on the phone to another potential employer and I talked to them and bagged myself the job, which is looking after racehorses at a professional stables just outside Brisbane (Steele Ryan Racing, if anyone wants to Google them). Not entirely sure when I'll start yet, as I've got to wait for the criminal record check to come through, but it should be late this week/early next week, by which time I hope to have bought a car and sorted out somewhere a bit closer to live (at the moment, I'm staying in Bunk Hostel in Brisbane, which is great and very good value, but too much for somewhere to live!)
I'll leave this post here though, as I'm quickly running out of pre-paid time on the internet (it takes me unnecessary amounts of time and effort to write these!) I'll probably update again sometime in the next few days to talk about Brisbane and my searches for a car/houseshare.
Until then, goodbye again,
Andy.
Another thing that makes it seem like such a long time since the last one is that I kept remembering that I'd not told you all a rather important part of my last night in Sydney in my last post (sad, I know!) I actually didn't just go straight back to my hostel for food and Braveheart after my chips and beer. When I got back to Sydney, I then walked across Harbour Bridge and back, taking plenty more photos along the way! But there's not really much to say about that, other than that it happened, I got some amazing photos (some of the best of my trip so far) and it was knackering after such a long day already! So I'll get straight onto talking about my farm course.
I got picked up from Sydney Base Hostel at 10.30am (I think) with no real trouble, actually managing to dive into a book shop on the way and pick up a new book (The Life of Pi), as I'd just finished the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and couldn't handle the thought of a week with no book if I'd have anything like as much time for reading as I did in Cambodia! The first thing I was told though, by Pheobe (the girl picking us up, who works on the course after doing it herself a few months ago) was that I look like 'a very strange human being' and that I scared her slightly; which made me think a) this could be a long week and b) I'm not going to like this girl much! She did get more tolerable as the week went on though, and she was alright by the end (possibly because she actually thought I was about the most normal person there by then!) She explained it was partly my bouncy walk and partly the fact I was wearing my Wednesday shirt, sponsored by the Children's Hospital, which obviously has a picture of Pudsey Bear on the front; she just didn't bother taking in the fact it was a sports shirt, not just a random Pudsey Bear shirt! The drive was otherwise boring and uneventful, taking about 6 hours to get out to the course, near Koonabarabran in New South Wales.
We then had barely any introduction to the surroundings etc., except for Pheobe telling us on the bus the rules for 'beer cricket' (every time you're handed an alcoholic beverage, you have to shout 'not out' before someone appeals with 'howzat', or you down it, although this game didn't get played once in the week!) and the 'game of life' (if you say the word 'mine', or 'mein' for the 9 Germans on the course, out of 12 of us, with any meaning, you had to immediately stop what you're doing and do 10 push ups), which got played far too much! Craig (the guy whose farm it is and who runs the course) told us that the only other rule for that night was that we weren't allowed to be seen without a beer in our hands! Which suited me fine, but is quite an expensive rule at $2 per can, especially when we were told that about the only money we'd need for the week was enough for the pub on Wednesday night! But it definitely made for a fun night, sitting around the campfire, playing drinking games and asking questions that some of the others felt were slightly too personal, Craig and Pheobe having one-track-minds when it comes to sex!
Monday morning was pretty easy to cope with with a hangover, except for the extreme cold (which was horrible every morning, hungover or not!) as we just had a talk from Craig about what the course would be like, then went into town with Pheobe to get some essential stuff (boots, gloves and hats for those that didn't have suitable ones) and set up bank accounts, although it turned out to be a bank holiday, so I couldn't set up an Aussie account annoyingly, so I've spent more money in card fees than I should have. I won't bother going into detail about every day, but it was mostly quite fun work - motorbike riding, horse riding, quad riding, sheep/cattle mustering and fence building took up most of the week, being about the most common/important skills to have on farms in the Outback. I did learn one or two things: I'm pretty shite at fence-building (digging holes for the posts, straining wires tight and tieing them together) and I crumble more under pressure than I thought (Craig was very harsh with his criticism sometimes and put a lot of pressure on everyone). Other things, I knew alread: I'm also shite at motorbike riding, but I'm decent on a quad and particularly good on horseback - Craig said on Friday evening that I'd restored his faith in male horse riders, being about the first good male rider he's had on the course in at least a few months, probably more!
The rest of the week after Sunday night though, saw a massive dive in the sociability of most of the other people on the course in the evenings - with half the people barely even sitting out with us, never mind staying out drinking. Which annoyed Pheobe and Craig no end - although, having talked to some of the others (all of whom I got on with), I think it's partly the fact of money (I hardly drank anything Monday night or Tuesday until I'd definitely sorted a job) and partly the German culture that prevented most of them (9 of the 12 people on the course being German!) from really being comfortable drinking etc. around their employers/teachers or whatever Pheobe and Craig classed as! Whenever those two weren't around though, everyone was much less quiet and more fun to hang around with.
I was disappointed on Tuesday night when I rang the employer they'd set up for me, as it sounded like a cool job, but the guy turned me down, I think because I didn't have enough experience. The job was mostly mustering on horseback, camping out for weeks at a time (Brokeback Mountain style, but hopefully without the gay love affair) and yard building. So he asked first whether I could ride horses - with which I was obviously able to big myself up, having ridden for over 15 years - but then went on to ask: did I have experience in fence building, welding or joinery and did I own a vehicle, all of which were basically no. So he said that for now it was a no but that, if he changed his mind, he would definitely let OutBackPackers (the company that run the course) know by the end of the week. Half an hour after I told Craig though, he'd already been on the phone to another potential employer and I talked to them and bagged myself the job, which is looking after racehorses at a professional stables just outside Brisbane (Steele Ryan Racing, if anyone wants to Google them). Not entirely sure when I'll start yet, as I've got to wait for the criminal record check to come through, but it should be late this week/early next week, by which time I hope to have bought a car and sorted out somewhere a bit closer to live (at the moment, I'm staying in Bunk Hostel in Brisbane, which is great and very good value, but too much for somewhere to live!)
I'll leave this post here though, as I'm quickly running out of pre-paid time on the internet (it takes me unnecessary amounts of time and effort to write these!) I'll probably update again sometime in the next few days to talk about Brisbane and my searches for a car/houseshare.
Until then, goodbye again,
Andy.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Last Days of Sydney
Well, I've been pretty fecking busy the last few days and my legs are really aching/chafing from all the walking and crouching/craning to get the best pictures! I also apologise for the fact that I'm therefore going to be writing this very sloppily, as I'm knackered, but I want to write this now as I don't know when I'll next have internet access. At least I'm going to be sitting on a coach most of tomorrow though on the way to my farm familiarisation course, which I think is about 4 hours outside Sydney, with somewhere scenic to stop off and add to the >700 photos I've taken and kept since I've been gone! That's nothing even approaching the number I've actually taken though, having deleted about half I reckon.
As I said, I went to the zoo on Thursday and, as I also said, managed to spend far too much money; but I at least managed to do a lot of stuff, and didn't spend QUITE as much as I could have! I went over to the zoo on the train/bus, paid my entrance fee (with the 15% off coupon in my free map from the airport) and began my photo-taking mission! I won't bother going into the specifics of anything much, but I think my favourite pictures are of the snow leopard, which was beautiful. The whole day was awesome and I managed to get round pretty much every single exhibit but, annoyingly, the platypus there was also hiding! As was the orang-utan (although at least I've seen orang-utans before!) It was knackering and expensive, but well worth it - I would definitely recommend it to anyone remotely interested in animals who's visiting Sydney. The spag bol I cooked at the hostel that night has also lasted me all 3 remaining nights, which has been a welcome relief to the wallet (the ingredients costing me a total of around $10, which I'd be pretty lucky to pay for a single takeaway in Sydney!)
That morning (Thursday), I'd picked up a 'free things to do in Sydney' map from the hostel reception and had, during the course of the day, decided I'd do the two free [though with a donation at the end to thank the guide, as it's her business] tours they offered for Friday (yesterday). So I set out to meet between Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral (both very nice buildings) for 10.30am and met up with the tour guide and the rest of the 20(ish)-strong group for the 2.5h tour round half of Sydney (all on foot), learning plenty of its history and stories. The lass was great and totally deserved the absolute killing she and her boyfriend [who did the evening tour] must make from it (two tours in the day and one in the evening, 7 days a week, with at least 20 people on each one, giving a donation of at least, I'd reckon, an average of $10 per person.....) The evening tour probably wasn't quite as good, but still really interesting - about all the murder stories and history of the area around the first landing site, where the convicts were mostly contained. Between the first one ending and the second beginning, I got the (free) ferry over to Cockatoo Island, which was a massive shipping yard during the war (along with other functions before) and has now been converted into many different art exhibits. It's all really well done - educational, entertaining and often stunning - and was yet another opportunity to walk around for several hours, taking a hell of a lot of photos!
Today, I had the least relaxing beach day ever, as I decided to visit three different beaches in a day, at opposite ends of the city! Thankfully though, I've had plenty of food today to keep me going! After a couple of slices of toast and jam at the hostel, I got a day-ticket for all the public transport around the city - train, bus and ferry - for $21, which saved me a LOT today, as the first beach is on an island which is a $15 (return) ferry ride away, every trip on the train/metro is $3.40 and the buses are even more! Before getting the ferry though, I went up to the observatory tower near Circular Quay (between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, with amazing views of both, so I could have pictures infront of them in my Sheffield Wednesday shirt! The first beach, on Manly Island, was nice, but too crowded for my liking, I also wanted to get back so I could train/bus it over to the other beaches, so I had some lunch (a steak & onions sandwich, with a dessert of a massive cheese & bacon corn puffs bag and an iced coffee) before getting the ferry back over the water to the main city. Although obviously not without taking a few photos first! Once I finally got over to the famous Bondi Beach, it was about 2pm and again crowded, but even more beautiful. So I stayed there for an hour or so of paddling, picture taking and sunbathing, before heading over to the third beach - which was another bus ride and a half-hour walk away. This one, being so inaccessible from the main city, was much more secluded - although, being a nudist beach, the few people that were there were certainly not worth taking pictures with! Eurotrip got it right - just naked, pervy old men and a group of shy teenagers that sat in a corner giggling (then me, of course, sunbathing in another corner!)
Once the sun had started to go down, I walked quickly back to the nearest village and wandered round, looking for somewhere to have some more food and a beer for the $10 I had left in my pocket, which is a difficult task around here! But, as I was looking at the menu for another place, the owner came out (who'd been behind the bar) and, after talking for a minute, said he could do me a deal for a bowl of chips and a beer for my $10. He also, seeing as I was the only customer for most of the time I was there (it was a couple of minutes away from the waterfront), sat chatting to me. The beer and the chips, apart from being very reasonable, were particularly nice and I told him I'd give as much good rep as I could! So, if anyone's ever in the area (right by where the no. 380 terminates at Watson's Bay), visit Glimpse Bar + Kitchen! After that, I came back and finished off my spag bol, sat down to write this about 2 hours ago and keep getting distracted by Facebook, Twitter, SWFC news and mostly Braveheart (which is on right behind me, with a drunk Scotsman giving loud commentary on every scene!) But I'll now sign off to concentrate on the rest of Braveheart and the Wednesday game kicking off in 10 minutes, pack for tomorrow and get some much needed sleep! Thankfully my bag now smells of fish a lot less than it did after it somehow got something spilt on it in the bottom of the night bus I got from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap! But - now that I've wiped it over, covered it in Lynx and washed all the clothes inside which had also got wet and smelly - it's almost unnoticeable!
'Til next time, Andy xx
As I said, I went to the zoo on Thursday and, as I also said, managed to spend far too much money; but I at least managed to do a lot of stuff, and didn't spend QUITE as much as I could have! I went over to the zoo on the train/bus, paid my entrance fee (with the 15% off coupon in my free map from the airport) and began my photo-taking mission! I won't bother going into the specifics of anything much, but I think my favourite pictures are of the snow leopard, which was beautiful. The whole day was awesome and I managed to get round pretty much every single exhibit but, annoyingly, the platypus there was also hiding! As was the orang-utan (although at least I've seen orang-utans before!) It was knackering and expensive, but well worth it - I would definitely recommend it to anyone remotely interested in animals who's visiting Sydney. The spag bol I cooked at the hostel that night has also lasted me all 3 remaining nights, which has been a welcome relief to the wallet (the ingredients costing me a total of around $10, which I'd be pretty lucky to pay for a single takeaway in Sydney!)
That morning (Thursday), I'd picked up a 'free things to do in Sydney' map from the hostel reception and had, during the course of the day, decided I'd do the two free [though with a donation at the end to thank the guide, as it's her business] tours they offered for Friday (yesterday). So I set out to meet between Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral (both very nice buildings) for 10.30am and met up with the tour guide and the rest of the 20(ish)-strong group for the 2.5h tour round half of Sydney (all on foot), learning plenty of its history and stories. The lass was great and totally deserved the absolute killing she and her boyfriend [who did the evening tour] must make from it (two tours in the day and one in the evening, 7 days a week, with at least 20 people on each one, giving a donation of at least, I'd reckon, an average of $10 per person.....) The evening tour probably wasn't quite as good, but still really interesting - about all the murder stories and history of the area around the first landing site, where the convicts were mostly contained. Between the first one ending and the second beginning, I got the (free) ferry over to Cockatoo Island, which was a massive shipping yard during the war (along with other functions before) and has now been converted into many different art exhibits. It's all really well done - educational, entertaining and often stunning - and was yet another opportunity to walk around for several hours, taking a hell of a lot of photos!
Today, I had the least relaxing beach day ever, as I decided to visit three different beaches in a day, at opposite ends of the city! Thankfully though, I've had plenty of food today to keep me going! After a couple of slices of toast and jam at the hostel, I got a day-ticket for all the public transport around the city - train, bus and ferry - for $21, which saved me a LOT today, as the first beach is on an island which is a $15 (return) ferry ride away, every trip on the train/metro is $3.40 and the buses are even more! Before getting the ferry though, I went up to the observatory tower near Circular Quay (between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, with amazing views of both, so I could have pictures infront of them in my Sheffield Wednesday shirt! The first beach, on Manly Island, was nice, but too crowded for my liking, I also wanted to get back so I could train/bus it over to the other beaches, so I had some lunch (a steak & onions sandwich, with a dessert of a massive cheese & bacon corn puffs bag and an iced coffee) before getting the ferry back over the water to the main city. Although obviously not without taking a few photos first! Once I finally got over to the famous Bondi Beach, it was about 2pm and again crowded, but even more beautiful. So I stayed there for an hour or so of paddling, picture taking and sunbathing, before heading over to the third beach - which was another bus ride and a half-hour walk away. This one, being so inaccessible from the main city, was much more secluded - although, being a nudist beach, the few people that were there were certainly not worth taking pictures with! Eurotrip got it right - just naked, pervy old men and a group of shy teenagers that sat in a corner giggling (then me, of course, sunbathing in another corner!)
Once the sun had started to go down, I walked quickly back to the nearest village and wandered round, looking for somewhere to have some more food and a beer for the $10 I had left in my pocket, which is a difficult task around here! But, as I was looking at the menu for another place, the owner came out (who'd been behind the bar) and, after talking for a minute, said he could do me a deal for a bowl of chips and a beer for my $10. He also, seeing as I was the only customer for most of the time I was there (it was a couple of minutes away from the waterfront), sat chatting to me. The beer and the chips, apart from being very reasonable, were particularly nice and I told him I'd give as much good rep as I could! So, if anyone's ever in the area (right by where the no. 380 terminates at Watson's Bay), visit Glimpse Bar + Kitchen! After that, I came back and finished off my spag bol, sat down to write this about 2 hours ago and keep getting distracted by Facebook, Twitter, SWFC news and mostly Braveheart (which is on right behind me, with a drunk Scotsman giving loud commentary on every scene!) But I'll now sign off to concentrate on the rest of Braveheart and the Wednesday game kicking off in 10 minutes, pack for tomorrow and get some much needed sleep! Thankfully my bag now smells of fish a lot less than it did after it somehow got something spilt on it in the bottom of the night bus I got from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap! But - now that I've wiped it over, covered it in Lynx and washed all the clothes inside which had also got wet and smelly - it's almost unnoticeable!
'Til next time, Andy xx
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
New Beginnings: The Land of Aus!
Right. I'm back. On a different site, because the first one was apparently full of spyware and horrible stuff that'll infect people's computers... But I'm pretty sure Google+ won't do that!
Again, I'll start where I left off last time - having just got back from the Temples after 4 different tuk tuk drivers! I think the most important thing to tell you all is that I did get some Angkor beer that evening, so I sat and drank that while killing time on the internet (it's an obsession!) after having been for a quick look round the Old Market. But while I was killing time, the first two tuk tuk drivers came in (obviously they knew where I was staying), asking what had happened to me etc. But they were quite nice about it, claiming that he had been waiting at the other side but obviously just hadn't spotted me coming out. So I paid them half the money we'd agreed on in the morning (a well-deserved $7.50) and explained that I was debating whether to go to Angkor Wat again in the morning for sunrise because I didn't want to pay the $20 for another entry ticket. The second brother then explained to me that there's actually another temple where a lot of people go to see the sunrise, where they don't insist on any entry fees, so I agreed to meet him at 5am outside my hostel to go there in the morning instead (for another $7).
For a while after that, I was still just killing time on the internet (creating fantasy football teams and the likes!) and was just about to go to bed, after he appeared again first saying we'd go on motorbike rather than tuk tuk (which was fine by me, although I should have haggled him down to less money, as they're always cheaper) and secondly inviting me to come drink with him and his mates just outside the hostel. At first, I tried to politely refuse so I could go to bed, but he insisted and, because of the culture I've mentioned before, I obviously had to go with him to avoid causing offence! In the end though, it was quite cool - I just stayed for a couple of beers before making my excuses, and his mates were all quite sound (most same age as me, 23.) I also wanted to get to bed as soon as I could if I was getting up at 4.30am so that I didn't leave him waiting for the 2nd time in 2 days! But I got up no trouble and met him at 5am to go to this other, lesser known temple to watch the sunrise. Which was extremely disappointing and not worth either the early start or the $7, half-hour (each way) moto ride! There were no bright, wonderful colours or anything, just a gradual brightening of the sky because it was so overcast. Obviously this was extremely frustrating, but at least I didn't pay another $20 entry fee to see it at Angkor Wat!
So I went back to the hostel and chilled there for the day before being picked up for my bus back to Phnom Penh (which I'd booked at the hostel the night before) at 12.45. I also tried to look for quick, cheapish things to do in Siem Reap for a morning, but failed to find anything that sounded feasible or good! The bus back to Phnom Penh was fine, apart from the compulsory annoying Cambodian karaoke blasting out at full volume pretty much the whole way! I also didn't want to sleep too much so that I was tired for the plane the next day and could get plenty of sleep on there. It also took rather longer than I thought - I'd been told it was like 4 hours or something, but it turned out to be more like 6 or 7! So I didn't arrive at my hostel (the Velkommen Backpackers again) until about 8pm, by which time I was famished and quite tired!
So, after quickly finding my room and dumping my stuff, I went straight back out to the 'happy herb pizza' place I'd heard about from Louis (the old intern on my project), which is exactly what it sounds like! I then got a medium pizza (happy pizza, of course) and proceeded to eat it all but without getting very stoned, which must be to do with the 10 years of hardcore drug abuse [note to parents: don't worry, that is a joke!], so I got myself a pre-rolled joint to smoke. Thankfully it wasn't the same kind of strength that they give you in Amsterdam, so it just got me nicely baked instead of being off my face! I then went back to the hostel and held barely intelligible conversations with people at the bar over a couple of pints and went to bed before I fell asleep at the bar or spent the $8 I needed for a moto to the airport on Monday!
Unfortunately, this meant I could barely sleep on the flight, so I just got a bit drunk instead for free (to the annoyance of the Singapore Airlines hostesses who had to keep bringing me whiskey!) I did get a couple of hours though and I'd mostly sobered up by the time I got to Sydney, so I just got the Shuttle Bus to my hostel and went out to explore the world-famous landmarks, first stop: the Opera House! Forgot my camera again, but it doesn't really matter because I'll be here for another 4 nights, so I can get it anytime. I then came back, knackered and in need of a good powernap, which I went for at about 6pm. Unfortunately, my powernap turned into a siesta, then a sleep and finally a coma, before I woke up 16 hours later (a new personal record for me!) at 10am.
But at least I definitely wasn't sleep deprived, and I set out in the morning to see the aquarium (which I should have booked online, as it's only $24.50 instead of the $35 I had to pay in person!) I did remember my camera, but annoyingly it ran out of battery after about 10 minutes, and I didn't see the platypus, which was half the reason I paid that much money to go in (in was apparently in its burrow or whatever and didn't come out while I was there.) Tomorrow, I'll be going to the zoo and paying the even more extortionate price to get in there (I think it's $45 usually, but I've got a 15% off coupon, so I'll at least get $7 or whatever off that.)
Don't know what I'm doing the rest of my 3 days or whatever it is I have left, but I'm sure I'll find a way to spend far too much money on doing far too little! Generally seems to be what I do when I'm travelling!
Hope everyone & everything's cool back home.
Andy x
Again, I'll start where I left off last time - having just got back from the Temples after 4 different tuk tuk drivers! I think the most important thing to tell you all is that I did get some Angkor beer that evening, so I sat and drank that while killing time on the internet (it's an obsession!) after having been for a quick look round the Old Market. But while I was killing time, the first two tuk tuk drivers came in (obviously they knew where I was staying), asking what had happened to me etc. But they were quite nice about it, claiming that he had been waiting at the other side but obviously just hadn't spotted me coming out. So I paid them half the money we'd agreed on in the morning (a well-deserved $7.50) and explained that I was debating whether to go to Angkor Wat again in the morning for sunrise because I didn't want to pay the $20 for another entry ticket. The second brother then explained to me that there's actually another temple where a lot of people go to see the sunrise, where they don't insist on any entry fees, so I agreed to meet him at 5am outside my hostel to go there in the morning instead (for another $7).
For a while after that, I was still just killing time on the internet (creating fantasy football teams and the likes!) and was just about to go to bed, after he appeared again first saying we'd go on motorbike rather than tuk tuk (which was fine by me, although I should have haggled him down to less money, as they're always cheaper) and secondly inviting me to come drink with him and his mates just outside the hostel. At first, I tried to politely refuse so I could go to bed, but he insisted and, because of the culture I've mentioned before, I obviously had to go with him to avoid causing offence! In the end though, it was quite cool - I just stayed for a couple of beers before making my excuses, and his mates were all quite sound (most same age as me, 23.) I also wanted to get to bed as soon as I could if I was getting up at 4.30am so that I didn't leave him waiting for the 2nd time in 2 days! But I got up no trouble and met him at 5am to go to this other, lesser known temple to watch the sunrise. Which was extremely disappointing and not worth either the early start or the $7, half-hour (each way) moto ride! There were no bright, wonderful colours or anything, just a gradual brightening of the sky because it was so overcast. Obviously this was extremely frustrating, but at least I didn't pay another $20 entry fee to see it at Angkor Wat!
So I went back to the hostel and chilled there for the day before being picked up for my bus back to Phnom Penh (which I'd booked at the hostel the night before) at 12.45. I also tried to look for quick, cheapish things to do in Siem Reap for a morning, but failed to find anything that sounded feasible or good! The bus back to Phnom Penh was fine, apart from the compulsory annoying Cambodian karaoke blasting out at full volume pretty much the whole way! I also didn't want to sleep too much so that I was tired for the plane the next day and could get plenty of sleep on there. It also took rather longer than I thought - I'd been told it was like 4 hours or something, but it turned out to be more like 6 or 7! So I didn't arrive at my hostel (the Velkommen Backpackers again) until about 8pm, by which time I was famished and quite tired!
So, after quickly finding my room and dumping my stuff, I went straight back out to the 'happy herb pizza' place I'd heard about from Louis (the old intern on my project), which is exactly what it sounds like! I then got a medium pizza (happy pizza, of course) and proceeded to eat it all but without getting very stoned, which must be to do with the 10 years of hardcore drug abuse [note to parents: don't worry, that is a joke!], so I got myself a pre-rolled joint to smoke. Thankfully it wasn't the same kind of strength that they give you in Amsterdam, so it just got me nicely baked instead of being off my face! I then went back to the hostel and held barely intelligible conversations with people at the bar over a couple of pints and went to bed before I fell asleep at the bar or spent the $8 I needed for a moto to the airport on Monday!
Unfortunately, this meant I could barely sleep on the flight, so I just got a bit drunk instead for free (to the annoyance of the Singapore Airlines hostesses who had to keep bringing me whiskey!) I did get a couple of hours though and I'd mostly sobered up by the time I got to Sydney, so I just got the Shuttle Bus to my hostel and went out to explore the world-famous landmarks, first stop: the Opera House! Forgot my camera again, but it doesn't really matter because I'll be here for another 4 nights, so I can get it anytime. I then came back, knackered and in need of a good powernap, which I went for at about 6pm. Unfortunately, my powernap turned into a siesta, then a sleep and finally a coma, before I woke up 16 hours later (a new personal record for me!) at 10am.
But at least I definitely wasn't sleep deprived, and I set out in the morning to see the aquarium (which I should have booked online, as it's only $24.50 instead of the $35 I had to pay in person!) I did remember my camera, but annoyingly it ran out of battery after about 10 minutes, and I didn't see the platypus, which was half the reason I paid that much money to go in (in was apparently in its burrow or whatever and didn't come out while I was there.) Tomorrow, I'll be going to the zoo and paying the even more extortionate price to get in there (I think it's $45 usually, but I've got a 15% off coupon, so I'll at least get $7 or whatever off that.)
Don't know what I'm doing the rest of my 3 days or whatever it is I have left, but I'm sure I'll find a way to spend far too much money on doing far too little! Generally seems to be what I do when I'm travelling!
Hope everyone & everything's cool back home.
Andy x
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Another Part 2!
Should have mentioned some of the other highlights of the project, such as amazing sunsets, a beautiful beach, other great snorkels, partying on a boat with gay fishermen and drunken playground challenge (getting from one side of our playground to the other, without touching the sand or following the route of the person before you, while very inebriated and only getting more so!)
I also have a tan. :)
End of an Era - I've Finished the Project!
Hi again!
Finally back on the mainland again, now having finished the project. Where I had an amazing time and met plenty of awesome people, however much Frontier got wrong about it! Anyone inclined to do something like this, I would definitely reccommend it (although go straight through Marine Conservation Cambodia, not Frontier/Outreach etc.) But I'll start from where I left off in my last post. The 3-island tour was great fun and, although I didn't see many fish etc., I did see some stuff and got to see about the best beach I've ever been to in my life. The sand was golden-white, the waves were a perfect size (just enough to body-surf, but not big enough to drown me!) and the little beach huts had hammocks outside which were pretty much fair game. On the Monday, we didn't bother hiring out cycles or anything, we just had a chill day around the hostel/beach, which was very welcome after a very active weekend!
I then went back to the island as planned on the Tuesday for my last two-and-a-half weeks on the project. Since coming back, I did more snorkelling than the first week; going out almost every day, when weather and energy levels allowed! The best snorkel I had was definitely when we went to another nearby island and swam around there - when about the first thing I saw was a pair of barracuda and the last thing I saw before getting back in the boat was a ray! Which was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far! I decided against getting my PADI Open Water qualification in the end, as I thought, because it would have been stretching my funds too far really. But I'm thinking, if I earn some money when I'm in Australia, I'll go see the rest of the country and maybe even get my PADI course diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which would be amazing! We also, of course, did plenty more of the other work on the project - the playground building, rubbish collecting/burning and teaching. And, obviously, plenty more getting drunk on $2 whiskey bottles and 50 cent beers! A lot of the rubbish collection - apart from obviously being mucky work in itself - was rather annoying, as most of the villagers just sat in their houses, drinking beer and watching us carry all their rubbish around in the pissing rain! Which definitely did make you wonder sometimes why you were bothering to help them at all... but I must say that the majority of the islanders were all really nice and good fun.
But I'm still basically no less annoyed at Frontier for completely mis-describing the project and forcing us all to buy a lot of stuff we didn't actually need (malaria tablets, mosquito nets, first aid kits, long-sleeved tops, etc.) I'm obviously now back on mainland, in Sihanoukville, in the same internet café as before, next door to the same hostel I stayed at last time, where I've just had my first full English in God-knows-how-long!! Everyone else still on the project came back with me today and are all staying there (except Javier, the soundest, most down-to-Earth 18 year old Mexican billionaire you'll ever meet!) The rest of them are staying for a couple of days to see Sihanoukville, then either carrying on their travelling or going back to the project.
But I'm, like I said last time, getting the night bus over to Siem Reap tonight at 8pm, so I should get there at 3-4am and will hopefully have time to get to the Ankor Wat temples, via my hostel, in time to watch the sun rise! I'm then staying in a hostel in Siem Reap for one night (which I should probably book...), before seeing some of the city and maybe going back to the temples if I feel I've missed much out tomorrow. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I'll get the bus back to Phnom Penh, stay one night in the same hostel as last time (the Velkommen Backpackers) before flying out to Sydney! I'm really looking forward to seeing the temples, seeing Sydney, doing my farm course and seeing what job I get and the end of it (and where in Australia it is!) But first to delete 95% of the 150 new emails I've had since I was last here!
Bye until my next installment! Love, Andy xx
Finally back on the mainland again, now having finished the project. Where I had an amazing time and met plenty of awesome people, however much Frontier got wrong about it! Anyone inclined to do something like this, I would definitely reccommend it (although go straight through Marine Conservation Cambodia, not Frontier/Outreach etc.) But I'll start from where I left off in my last post. The 3-island tour was great fun and, although I didn't see many fish etc., I did see some stuff and got to see about the best beach I've ever been to in my life. The sand was golden-white, the waves were a perfect size (just enough to body-surf, but not big enough to drown me!) and the little beach huts had hammocks outside which were pretty much fair game. On the Monday, we didn't bother hiring out cycles or anything, we just had a chill day around the hostel/beach, which was very welcome after a very active weekend!
I then went back to the island as planned on the Tuesday for my last two-and-a-half weeks on the project. Since coming back, I did more snorkelling than the first week; going out almost every day, when weather and energy levels allowed! The best snorkel I had was definitely when we went to another nearby island and swam around there - when about the first thing I saw was a pair of barracuda and the last thing I saw before getting back in the boat was a ray! Which was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far! I decided against getting my PADI Open Water qualification in the end, as I thought, because it would have been stretching my funds too far really. But I'm thinking, if I earn some money when I'm in Australia, I'll go see the rest of the country and maybe even get my PADI course diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which would be amazing! We also, of course, did plenty more of the other work on the project - the playground building, rubbish collecting/burning and teaching. And, obviously, plenty more getting drunk on $2 whiskey bottles and 50 cent beers! A lot of the rubbish collection - apart from obviously being mucky work in itself - was rather annoying, as most of the villagers just sat in their houses, drinking beer and watching us carry all their rubbish around in the pissing rain! Which definitely did make you wonder sometimes why you were bothering to help them at all... but I must say that the majority of the islanders were all really nice and good fun.
But I'm still basically no less annoyed at Frontier for completely mis-describing the project and forcing us all to buy a lot of stuff we didn't actually need (malaria tablets, mosquito nets, first aid kits, long-sleeved tops, etc.) I'm obviously now back on mainland, in Sihanoukville, in the same internet café as before, next door to the same hostel I stayed at last time, where I've just had my first full English in God-knows-how-long!! Everyone else still on the project came back with me today and are all staying there (except Javier, the soundest, most down-to-Earth 18 year old Mexican billionaire you'll ever meet!) The rest of them are staying for a couple of days to see Sihanoukville, then either carrying on their travelling or going back to the project.
But I'm, like I said last time, getting the night bus over to Siem Reap tonight at 8pm, so I should get there at 3-4am and will hopefully have time to get to the Ankor Wat temples, via my hostel, in time to watch the sun rise! I'm then staying in a hostel in Siem Reap for one night (which I should probably book...), before seeing some of the city and maybe going back to the temples if I feel I've missed much out tomorrow. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I'll get the bus back to Phnom Penh, stay one night in the same hostel as last time (the Velkommen Backpackers) before flying out to Sydney! I'm really looking forward to seeing the temples, seeing Sydney, doing my farm course and seeing what job I get and the end of it (and where in Australia it is!) But first to delete 95% of the 150 new emails I've had since I was last here!
Bye until my next installment! Love, Andy xx
End of the First Week (Part 2)
So I think I said it might be 3 weeks until my next post, but I was kind of forgetting that I'm on the mainland until Tuesday now, so I've actually got plenty of time to update again and tell you all about the project! It has been fun so far, although I've got to give Frontier some seriously bad rep first off...
Firstly, the project isn't how it was described: we were told that we'd be able to choose to do as much or as little beach conservation/snorkelling/community development/teaching as we wanted, and basically tailor it to our own specific desires. This just isn't true, or at least not to any kind of the same degree, as all the volunteers do a pretty equal share of all of it (except the '"conservation", which basically doesn't exist, and was one of the main things that attracted me to the project.) Secondly, for this reason, the people that (I think) paid less than me to do the community development program, and the people who certainly paid more than me to do the marine conservation and diving project, are all doing exactly the same as me! Thirdly, Frontier told me that a) I would not be able to dive, except in my free time and b) if I wanted to do a PADI Open Water course, I would have to arrange it out here with a local dive school and they would get me the "discounted" rate of 230 quid. But, in reality, I can do my Open Water Course for $100 with the people I'm working with, at an extra cost of $10 per dive or something, which is considerably cheaper and would have prepared me for diving! The other people on the same snorkelling project as me are also allowed to dive as much as they want for the small extra fee if they've got their PADI qualification.
Thirdly [Ed: Fourtly], I am paying somewhere in the region of 200 quid per week for this project, because I booked it through Frontier, who claim to get great discounts etc. for their customers. Had I booked it straight through MCC (the people I'm actually working with here), it would have cost about $200 per week (about 130 quid)! I have absolutely no idea what Frontier, a registered '"non profit" organisation, are doing with this extra 70 pounds a week unless the answer is "making a profit"! From what I can see, I'm paying this as commission to a glorified travel agent who don't even seem to know anything about the course they're sending me on! Which is highlighted by the fact that, before I came out, I had an email from them asking me to email them ASAP after I got to my project to confirm that everything is alright. They then emailed me (and the others with Frontier) again this week (not an automated message, an actual person sending a personalised message to us), reminding us to email him, which suggests he has no idea that we have no access to the internet at our project! It's only by choice that I've come back to the mainland this weekend to see Sihanoukville and contact the outside world.
Lastly, they lied. Or, at least, failed to tell us when something that was previously (and in fact still) on their website changed. They claimed that they could arrange an airport pickup (i.e. from Phnom Penh, transferring us to the project) the same day as our project started. When I emailed (just a couple of weeks before I came out), asking what the arrangements were, as I was actually flying in a few days before my project, I was told that an airport pickup does not exist for this project (by a project co-ordinator, who should definitely know!) I assumed I'd imagined seeing something about an airport pickup and thought no more, until I was looking at the project details about a week later on their website, which still mentioned an airport pickup could be arranged by them "for an additional fee", by which time I'd made other arrangements and couldn't be bothered to email again in the short time I had by that point! I can't say I'm TOO annoyed about this on my own behalf, except that two of the girls I've come to the mainland with (Ams and Kirti [Ed: Becca and Amy]) had booked their flights to arrive the day of their project, banking on this airport pickup, which Frontier then refused to supply! Meaning that they arrived 2 days after me, despite having booked (and paid) for their project to start on the same date as mine!
So, in all, I'm not too happy with Frontier right now and will be sending them a very angry complaint email when I finish and am also considering asking for a partial refund, as I was also hoping this project would give me some relevant experience for what I want to do (wildlife conservation), which I told them; because of the fact that the conservation aspect of this project doesn't really exist (despite the fact that Frontier made quite a big deal of the marine surveys we would be doing)! So I think, on these grounds, I think I'm fully entitled to some money back from them. I've also just remembered that they also told us that excessive drunkeness would not be tolerated, but (as I said yesterday) alcohol is so cheap and the locals are so happy to drink with us, that excessive drunkeness is more like mandatory! We were told on arrival pretty much, that if any of the locals invite us for a drink (which happens quite a bit), it's disrespectful to refuse, so we have to go have a beer with them! Which usually I wouldn't mind, but I'm not bothered about getting smashed every night out here, I do that enough back home! I did get semi-tipsy last night and feel no ill-effects this morning, although I realised that I forgot to take my malaria tablet last night, so it may not be conclusive proof that they've stopped mixing badly with alcohol!
But enough ranting! Most of the people on the project are great and I really get on with almost all of them. I have been snorkelling once, which was awesome, and I saw plenty of pretty little fish. smiley It's also been quite fun to teach the little local kids one day, although very hard work keeping them suitably entertained, as their version of school is rather different to ours! It's basically voluntary and, with only two classrooms, they're basically grouped into 'little kids' and 'big kids', meaning that some of them are way ahead of the others; especially as it's all done by us volunteers, who are coming and going constantly! Seeing as school's this relaxed, they're basically allowed to just get up and wander about all they like, included wandering into the big kids' classroom and causing havoc in there! But it's very rewarding teaching them little bits of useful English, like the numbers and the colours. We've also been putting the finishing touches to a little playground that other volunteers before us have recently built, so we've been sanding and painting it, which is all quite fun (although not what I signed up for!)
Now onto my activities this weekend. I came back on the supply boat with everyone else from the project on Friday (some people didn't particularly want to come back, but they decided it wasn't worth just staying for one or two people, so we all came back) morning. We then checked into the hostel that the other two girls I'm with (Becca and Amy who, apart from being the only other Northerners, are actually from Sheffield!) stayed in before they came to the project, which is all nice! We've all got the one room to ourselves at $3 per person per night, so certainly can't complain! We decided to do quite a bit of sightseeing stuff, as Ams and Kirti are leaving the project next week, and the rest of us are thinking we may not come back again before we leave. I've also decided, after hearing so much good stuff and having a couple of days between my project ending and my flight to Sydney, that I'll take the night bus to Siem Reap and have a day there, which shouldn't really cost much more than just going straight back to Phnom Penh.
The first thing we wanted to do was to feed the wild monkeys near Independence beach at sunset, which sounded amazing. So we got a tuk tuk over to the beach a couple of hours before sunset and chilled there for a bit before walking up the road to find these monkeys. Which, after seperately asking a couple of local workers, all of whom seemed to know the word "monkey" and little, if any, other English words! But we found them without too much hassle and bought some nuts to feed them, along with the relatively few other tourists that were around. It was truly amazing, to just pour some of these nuts into your hand (keeping firm hold of the bag, which Becca failed to do and had them stolen by a particularly cheeky monkey!) and have them just come up to you and just start picking them up to eat! So expect me to be tagged in some pretty great Facebook pictures involving monkeys (I managed to forget my own camera, but the others all had theirs.)
After this amazing experience, we came back to the hostel, had a meal (by candlelight, after the generator had blown!) and went out for a few drinks along the beach, unfortunately failing to find a shishe place, which Im hoping we go to tonight. Today, we'd planned to go to the local waterfalls in a national park, so we got up at 8am to set off for about 9 in a tuk tuk the hostel arranged for us. We got a great price, of just $15 between us, there and back, for these waterfalls which are about an hour away! We got there and started walking round, taking pictures from the rocks and the little rickety wooden viewing platforms (one of which Amy managed to fall through and break her camera!) They were really beautiful and we got plenty of pictures (I remembered my own camera this time), including quite a few of us paddling around in the river and even climbing half way up these small falls. I managed to slip over on my way back out, on a particularly slippy rock, but I can't say the wet bum/back really mattered with the weather like it was again today.
Sihanoukville is very definitely one of the best cities I've ever visited (and I've visited plenty!), it's really nice. Just great weather (when it's not raining, which - to say it's monsoon season - isn't that much), really cheap, lovely people and a beautiful place. Tomorrow we've arranged a tour of the local islands (although I think Becca and Amy are just having a chill day on the beach) for $15, including food, transport to 3 different islands, a local guide and the hire of snorkelling equipment! It was just far too great a deal to miss out on! Then Monday we're either hiring out some bikes and going for a cycle round the area, or we'll just have another beach day for all four of us!
Then it's back to the island and the project on Tuesday afternoon on the supply boat, although a couple of the others on the project are going back on Sunday instead. So I'm not looking forward to using non-flushing toilets or the abundance of rice again, but it should be good getting some more snorkelling in and possibly (just maybe) arranging my PADI Open Water qualification, although I think I may just leave that, as there's surprisingly little to see out here and I'm not sure about my funds stretching that far!
Will keep you updated when I can, but I warn you again, it may not be for 3 weeks or so until I bother posting again. Apologies for the length of these (I think this is somehow even longer than yesterday's, probably due to the ranting!)
Peace out, Andy xx
Firstly, the project isn't how it was described: we were told that we'd be able to choose to do as much or as little beach conservation/snorkelling/community development/teaching as we wanted, and basically tailor it to our own specific desires. This just isn't true, or at least not to any kind of the same degree, as all the volunteers do a pretty equal share of all of it (except the '"conservation", which basically doesn't exist, and was one of the main things that attracted me to the project.) Secondly, for this reason, the people that (I think) paid less than me to do the community development program, and the people who certainly paid more than me to do the marine conservation and diving project, are all doing exactly the same as me! Thirdly, Frontier told me that a) I would not be able to dive, except in my free time and b) if I wanted to do a PADI Open Water course, I would have to arrange it out here with a local dive school and they would get me the "discounted" rate of 230 quid. But, in reality, I can do my Open Water Course for $100 with the people I'm working with, at an extra cost of $10 per dive or something, which is considerably cheaper and would have prepared me for diving! The other people on the same snorkelling project as me are also allowed to dive as much as they want for the small extra fee if they've got their PADI qualification.
Thirdly [Ed: Fourtly], I am paying somewhere in the region of 200 quid per week for this project, because I booked it through Frontier, who claim to get great discounts etc. for their customers. Had I booked it straight through MCC (the people I'm actually working with here), it would have cost about $200 per week (about 130 quid)! I have absolutely no idea what Frontier, a registered '"non profit" organisation, are doing with this extra 70 pounds a week unless the answer is "making a profit"! From what I can see, I'm paying this as commission to a glorified travel agent who don't even seem to know anything about the course they're sending me on! Which is highlighted by the fact that, before I came out, I had an email from them asking me to email them ASAP after I got to my project to confirm that everything is alright. They then emailed me (and the others with Frontier) again this week (not an automated message, an actual person sending a personalised message to us), reminding us to email him, which suggests he has no idea that we have no access to the internet at our project! It's only by choice that I've come back to the mainland this weekend to see Sihanoukville and contact the outside world.
Lastly, they lied. Or, at least, failed to tell us when something that was previously (and in fact still) on their website changed. They claimed that they could arrange an airport pickup (i.e. from Phnom Penh, transferring us to the project) the same day as our project started. When I emailed (just a couple of weeks before I came out), asking what the arrangements were, as I was actually flying in a few days before my project, I was told that an airport pickup does not exist for this project (by a project co-ordinator, who should definitely know!) I assumed I'd imagined seeing something about an airport pickup and thought no more, until I was looking at the project details about a week later on their website, which still mentioned an airport pickup could be arranged by them "for an additional fee", by which time I'd made other arrangements and couldn't be bothered to email again in the short time I had by that point! I can't say I'm TOO annoyed about this on my own behalf, except that two of the girls I've come to the mainland with (Ams and Kirti [Ed: Becca and Amy]) had booked their flights to arrive the day of their project, banking on this airport pickup, which Frontier then refused to supply! Meaning that they arrived 2 days after me, despite having booked (and paid) for their project to start on the same date as mine!
So, in all, I'm not too happy with Frontier right now and will be sending them a very angry complaint email when I finish and am also considering asking for a partial refund, as I was also hoping this project would give me some relevant experience for what I want to do (wildlife conservation), which I told them; because of the fact that the conservation aspect of this project doesn't really exist (despite the fact that Frontier made quite a big deal of the marine surveys we would be doing)! So I think, on these grounds, I think I'm fully entitled to some money back from them. I've also just remembered that they also told us that excessive drunkeness would not be tolerated, but (as I said yesterday) alcohol is so cheap and the locals are so happy to drink with us, that excessive drunkeness is more like mandatory! We were told on arrival pretty much, that if any of the locals invite us for a drink (which happens quite a bit), it's disrespectful to refuse, so we have to go have a beer with them! Which usually I wouldn't mind, but I'm not bothered about getting smashed every night out here, I do that enough back home! I did get semi-tipsy last night and feel no ill-effects this morning, although I realised that I forgot to take my malaria tablet last night, so it may not be conclusive proof that they've stopped mixing badly with alcohol!
But enough ranting! Most of the people on the project are great and I really get on with almost all of them. I have been snorkelling once, which was awesome, and I saw plenty of pretty little fish. smiley It's also been quite fun to teach the little local kids one day, although very hard work keeping them suitably entertained, as their version of school is rather different to ours! It's basically voluntary and, with only two classrooms, they're basically grouped into 'little kids' and 'big kids', meaning that some of them are way ahead of the others; especially as it's all done by us volunteers, who are coming and going constantly! Seeing as school's this relaxed, they're basically allowed to just get up and wander about all they like, included wandering into the big kids' classroom and causing havoc in there! But it's very rewarding teaching them little bits of useful English, like the numbers and the colours. We've also been putting the finishing touches to a little playground that other volunteers before us have recently built, so we've been sanding and painting it, which is all quite fun (although not what I signed up for!)
Now onto my activities this weekend. I came back on the supply boat with everyone else from the project on Friday (some people didn't particularly want to come back, but they decided it wasn't worth just staying for one or two people, so we all came back) morning. We then checked into the hostel that the other two girls I'm with (Becca and Amy who, apart from being the only other Northerners, are actually from Sheffield!) stayed in before they came to the project, which is all nice! We've all got the one room to ourselves at $3 per person per night, so certainly can't complain! We decided to do quite a bit of sightseeing stuff, as Ams and Kirti are leaving the project next week, and the rest of us are thinking we may not come back again before we leave. I've also decided, after hearing so much good stuff and having a couple of days between my project ending and my flight to Sydney, that I'll take the night bus to Siem Reap and have a day there, which shouldn't really cost much more than just going straight back to Phnom Penh.
The first thing we wanted to do was to feed the wild monkeys near Independence beach at sunset, which sounded amazing. So we got a tuk tuk over to the beach a couple of hours before sunset and chilled there for a bit before walking up the road to find these monkeys. Which, after seperately asking a couple of local workers, all of whom seemed to know the word "monkey" and little, if any, other English words! But we found them without too much hassle and bought some nuts to feed them, along with the relatively few other tourists that were around. It was truly amazing, to just pour some of these nuts into your hand (keeping firm hold of the bag, which Becca failed to do and had them stolen by a particularly cheeky monkey!) and have them just come up to you and just start picking them up to eat! So expect me to be tagged in some pretty great Facebook pictures involving monkeys (I managed to forget my own camera, but the others all had theirs.)
After this amazing experience, we came back to the hostel, had a meal (by candlelight, after the generator had blown!) and went out for a few drinks along the beach, unfortunately failing to find a shishe place, which Im hoping we go to tonight. Today, we'd planned to go to the local waterfalls in a national park, so we got up at 8am to set off for about 9 in a tuk tuk the hostel arranged for us. We got a great price, of just $15 between us, there and back, for these waterfalls which are about an hour away! We got there and started walking round, taking pictures from the rocks and the little rickety wooden viewing platforms (one of which Amy managed to fall through and break her camera!) They were really beautiful and we got plenty of pictures (I remembered my own camera this time), including quite a few of us paddling around in the river and even climbing half way up these small falls. I managed to slip over on my way back out, on a particularly slippy rock, but I can't say the wet bum/back really mattered with the weather like it was again today.
Sihanoukville is very definitely one of the best cities I've ever visited (and I've visited plenty!), it's really nice. Just great weather (when it's not raining, which - to say it's monsoon season - isn't that much), really cheap, lovely people and a beautiful place. Tomorrow we've arranged a tour of the local islands (although I think Becca and Amy are just having a chill day on the beach) for $15, including food, transport to 3 different islands, a local guide and the hire of snorkelling equipment! It was just far too great a deal to miss out on! Then Monday we're either hiring out some bikes and going for a cycle round the area, or we'll just have another beach day for all four of us!
Then it's back to the island and the project on Tuesday afternoon on the supply boat, although a couple of the others on the project are going back on Sunday instead. So I'm not looking forward to using non-flushing toilets or the abundance of rice again, but it should be good getting some more snorkelling in and possibly (just maybe) arranging my PADI Open Water qualification, although I think I may just leave that, as there's surprisingly little to see out here and I'm not sure about my funds stretching that far!
Will keep you updated when I can, but I warn you again, it may not be for 3 weeks or so until I bother posting again. Apologies for the length of these (I think this is somehow even longer than yesterday's, probably due to the ranting!)
Peace out, Andy xx
End of the First Week
(From the 7th July 2012):
Using Blogger now instead of the WallInside site I was using because that's apparently full of spyware and horrible stuff like that! So welcome to my new blog, I'll just start by copying in all my old posts.
Hi everyone!
Thought I'd create a blog to keep people updated about my travels! Easier than facebooking/emailing everyone! Have been in Cambodia now for a week, of which there's definitely been ups and downs! Arrived all fine after a very tiring but uneventful journey including flying from Manchester-Singapore (via a 2-hour stop in Munich), waiting in Singapore airport for about 8 hours (where most of you will probably have seen/liked my status about how amazing it is!) then another 2 hours from Singapore to Phnom Penh, where I had to wait around at passport control etc. for about 30 minutes before I even got my visa. Luckily I'd managed to email my hostel using the FREE internet at Singapore airport to arrange an airport pickup, so there was a taxi waiting for me there!
Got to the hostel after a long 30 minutes or so in the taxi, which only cost me around US$10. But thankfully the hostel (Velkcommen Backpackers) was nice and I managed to just dump my stuff, go for a really nice meal (a crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo platter with whiskey sauce and chips) and just pass out for over 13 hours, which then sorted out any jetlag! I then explored Phnom Penh on the Saturday, which proved to be just as tiring as the journey, but at least more interesting! I first walked from my hostel over towards the Independence Monument and was hoping to get there, see that and wander over to the Royal Palace, via some food, for about the time it re-opened for the day at 2pm. But I got stopped about halfway by a random tuk-tuk driver who claimed to recognise me because he'd been outside my hostel that morning or something (I'm not entirely sure, I was still getting used to the Cambodian version of speaking English, which basically involves missing out the middle of every word and hoping people get the jist of it!) who said I was better going to the killing fields first, then he'd drop me back at the genocide museum and I could then walk over and see the Independence Monument and the Royal Palace.
So I got to the killing fields, which is a mass grave where Cambodians were detained and soon killed during the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol. Pot, while my friend the tuk tuk driver (who kept saying how alike we were because I had no mama or papa, just like him...) waited outside. The killing fields were amazing and interesting (and obviously devastating), basically going into every gruesome detail in a very well done audio tour about the whole way in which about 20,000 people were brutally killed by their own people during a period in which over a quarter of the entire population was killed during a period barely more than 3 years! The main monument to them all there was also a tall building with large glass windows from which 1000s of the people's skulls faced out at you! It took about an hour to walk around and was worth far, far more than the $5 I paid for it and my friend was waiting there to take me back to the museum about it all in the main town as agreed (probably because we agreed I'd pay him the $20 when he dropped me off again!)
The genocide museum was slightly less interesting to be honest, although still educational and moving. The group of buildings used to be a school in the pre-Khmer Rouge days, until they abandoned the silly notion of schools and converted it to a prison in which they could torture people until they confessed to false crimes, usually spying for the CIA or KGB, so they could then be transported to the killing fields and bludgeoned to death along with their other innocent countrymen! I then walked over to the independence monument, which was all covered in scaffolding and nothing to see while they cleaned it (I think.) I was also extremely hungry by this time and didn't have much time until the royal palace was due to close at 5pm, so I rushed over there (by which point I was horribly sweaty, all this having taken place in 30 degree heat and probably near 100% humidity!), but couldn't actually work out where the main entrance was, so I just walked all the way round and admired the bits I could see from the outside! I'm hoping to have some time to see it when I'm back in Phnom Penh and overstaying my visa for a day (which I am assured is only a $5 charge!) before my flight to Sydney on the 30th. I then had a meal near the palace, having to leave my nice camera with them while I walked down the road to find a cash machine after I'd eaten because I'd forgotten how many places don't accept either Visa or Mastercard out here!!
So, in all, a very tiring first day in Cambodia! But I had a nap when I got back to the hostel and went out for a meal and some drinks with the manager there, having a very enjoyable Asian hotpot and trying frog for the first time! Getting up in the morning though was a massive struggle, although thankfully my coach down to Sihanoukville wasn't until 12pm, and I soon realised it was more than a hangover when I started feeling light-headed and sick! I was strongly considering staying in Phnom Penh for another night and making my way down to the project the next day, but I manned up and got on the horrible, sweaty bus anyway, which then insisted on playing Cambodian karaoke/"comedy" TV and hooting excessively loudly and agressively whenever we were trying to pass anyone on the road (i.e. every 30 seconds or so). Despite the bus ride from hell and a less-than-enjoyable night in Big John's hostel (not so much for the place, although it wasn't inspiring) mostly because I felt sick and dizzy whenever I moved and couldn't sleep on my back because my kidneys hurt too much. In the end, I was glad I manned up because when I finally got down to the port, met some of the other volunteers/interns/co-ordinators and got the supply boat over to Koh Rong island, I realised they're actually just once every few days or so, so it wouldn't have been too easy to just stay an extra night and make my own way down!
But I got to the project fine, although still feeling a little light headed and sick, but nothing I decided a heavy night of drinking couldn't cure! So I joined everyone at the 'bar' (i.e. one of the locals selling a few beers/whiskeys for 15 cents per can of beer from his front porch on the pier) after inspecting the living quarters and eating some food, surprisingly including rice, which comes with breakfast, lunch and tea out there! But we went out and got to know all the other volunteers etc., old and new and had a good night in which I would say I was maybe on the drunk side of tipsy, but certainly no more than that. But when I woke up in the morning, I again realised it was far more than just a normal hangover and proceeded to throw up several times, drink some water, throw it back up and go back to bed for a few hours; kinda missing the first morning of my project, but it was monsooning all over the place, so no one could really do anything anyway! My explanation for my extreme reaction to getting drunk both those times is because of my malaria tablets, in which most of my symptoms are described as side effects, although it doesn't say anything about mixing with alcohol! I also then spent a couple of days to fully recover from that episode too!
But the project has been amazing so far and I would tell you all about it, except I'm starving and want to get back to the hostel to go get something to eat with the other volunteers I've come over to the mainland with for the weekend! So you'll have to wait for the next installment, which will probably be in about 3 weeks when I leave the project!
Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too boring, but I never know much or how little detail to include in these things!
Lots of love, Andy. xx
Using Blogger now instead of the WallInside site I was using because that's apparently full of spyware and horrible stuff like that! So welcome to my new blog, I'll just start by copying in all my old posts.
Hi everyone!
Thought I'd create a blog to keep people updated about my travels! Easier than facebooking/emailing everyone! Have been in Cambodia now for a week, of which there's definitely been ups and downs! Arrived all fine after a very tiring but uneventful journey including flying from Manchester-Singapore (via a 2-hour stop in Munich), waiting in Singapore airport for about 8 hours (where most of you will probably have seen/liked my status about how amazing it is!) then another 2 hours from Singapore to Phnom Penh, where I had to wait around at passport control etc. for about 30 minutes before I even got my visa. Luckily I'd managed to email my hostel using the FREE internet at Singapore airport to arrange an airport pickup, so there was a taxi waiting for me there!
Got to the hostel after a long 30 minutes or so in the taxi, which only cost me around US$10. But thankfully the hostel (Velkcommen Backpackers) was nice and I managed to just dump my stuff, go for a really nice meal (a crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo platter with whiskey sauce and chips) and just pass out for over 13 hours, which then sorted out any jetlag! I then explored Phnom Penh on the Saturday, which proved to be just as tiring as the journey, but at least more interesting! I first walked from my hostel over towards the Independence Monument and was hoping to get there, see that and wander over to the Royal Palace, via some food, for about the time it re-opened for the day at 2pm. But I got stopped about halfway by a random tuk-tuk driver who claimed to recognise me because he'd been outside my hostel that morning or something (I'm not entirely sure, I was still getting used to the Cambodian version of speaking English, which basically involves missing out the middle of every word and hoping people get the jist of it!) who said I was better going to the killing fields first, then he'd drop me back at the genocide museum and I could then walk over and see the Independence Monument and the Royal Palace.
So I got to the killing fields, which is a mass grave where Cambodians were detained and soon killed during the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol. Pot, while my friend the tuk tuk driver (who kept saying how alike we were because I had no mama or papa, just like him...) waited outside. The killing fields were amazing and interesting (and obviously devastating), basically going into every gruesome detail in a very well done audio tour about the whole way in which about 20,000 people were brutally killed by their own people during a period in which over a quarter of the entire population was killed during a period barely more than 3 years! The main monument to them all there was also a tall building with large glass windows from which 1000s of the people's skulls faced out at you! It took about an hour to walk around and was worth far, far more than the $5 I paid for it and my friend was waiting there to take me back to the museum about it all in the main town as agreed (probably because we agreed I'd pay him the $20 when he dropped me off again!)
The genocide museum was slightly less interesting to be honest, although still educational and moving. The group of buildings used to be a school in the pre-Khmer Rouge days, until they abandoned the silly notion of schools and converted it to a prison in which they could torture people until they confessed to false crimes, usually spying for the CIA or KGB, so they could then be transported to the killing fields and bludgeoned to death along with their other innocent countrymen! I then walked over to the independence monument, which was all covered in scaffolding and nothing to see while they cleaned it (I think.) I was also extremely hungry by this time and didn't have much time until the royal palace was due to close at 5pm, so I rushed over there (by which point I was horribly sweaty, all this having taken place in 30 degree heat and probably near 100% humidity!), but couldn't actually work out where the main entrance was, so I just walked all the way round and admired the bits I could see from the outside! I'm hoping to have some time to see it when I'm back in Phnom Penh and overstaying my visa for a day (which I am assured is only a $5 charge!) before my flight to Sydney on the 30th. I then had a meal near the palace, having to leave my nice camera with them while I walked down the road to find a cash machine after I'd eaten because I'd forgotten how many places don't accept either Visa or Mastercard out here!!
So, in all, a very tiring first day in Cambodia! But I had a nap when I got back to the hostel and went out for a meal and some drinks with the manager there, having a very enjoyable Asian hotpot and trying frog for the first time! Getting up in the morning though was a massive struggle, although thankfully my coach down to Sihanoukville wasn't until 12pm, and I soon realised it was more than a hangover when I started feeling light-headed and sick! I was strongly considering staying in Phnom Penh for another night and making my way down to the project the next day, but I manned up and got on the horrible, sweaty bus anyway, which then insisted on playing Cambodian karaoke/"comedy" TV and hooting excessively loudly and agressively whenever we were trying to pass anyone on the road (i.e. every 30 seconds or so). Despite the bus ride from hell and a less-than-enjoyable night in Big John's hostel (not so much for the place, although it wasn't inspiring) mostly because I felt sick and dizzy whenever I moved and couldn't sleep on my back because my kidneys hurt too much. In the end, I was glad I manned up because when I finally got down to the port, met some of the other volunteers/interns/co-ordinators and got the supply boat over to Koh Rong island, I realised they're actually just once every few days or so, so it wouldn't have been too easy to just stay an extra night and make my own way down!
But I got to the project fine, although still feeling a little light headed and sick, but nothing I decided a heavy night of drinking couldn't cure! So I joined everyone at the 'bar' (i.e. one of the locals selling a few beers/whiskeys for 15 cents per can of beer from his front porch on the pier) after inspecting the living quarters and eating some food, surprisingly including rice, which comes with breakfast, lunch and tea out there! But we went out and got to know all the other volunteers etc., old and new and had a good night in which I would say I was maybe on the drunk side of tipsy, but certainly no more than that. But when I woke up in the morning, I again realised it was far more than just a normal hangover and proceeded to throw up several times, drink some water, throw it back up and go back to bed for a few hours; kinda missing the first morning of my project, but it was monsooning all over the place, so no one could really do anything anyway! My explanation for my extreme reaction to getting drunk both those times is because of my malaria tablets, in which most of my symptoms are described as side effects, although it doesn't say anything about mixing with alcohol! I also then spent a couple of days to fully recover from that episode too!
But the project has been amazing so far and I would tell you all about it, except I'm starving and want to get back to the hostel to go get something to eat with the other volunteers I've come over to the mainland with for the weekend! So you'll have to wait for the next installment, which will probably be in about 3 weeks when I leave the project!
Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too boring, but I never know much or how little detail to include in these things!
Lots of love, Andy. xx
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