maddie and james' big asia trip blog

photos from sri lanka!

2007-02-03T05:54:03Z

ok folks here is some of our photographic magic from sri lanka - it isn't all because there is another card we need to put on cd, but will do that when we get back to bangers.
the man with the sign!!

unawatuna beach - about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from aaron's house.

palm tree at unawatuna

unawatuna at night

aaron's house!

aaron's living room

a monkey in kandy

fire walking in kandy at the kandy dancers show

taking the train

at the elephant orphanage!

elephants taking a bath!

baby elephants playing!

james at the botanic gardens

xoxoxo
mad

photos from sri lanka! remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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flames, steps and elephants (again)

2007-02-03T05:36:40Z

ok sorry for the delay but it is easy to get caught up and then be too tired!

i think i got up to sunday, which was... cooking course at Pad Thai Cooking School. we got up and they picked us up in one of those trucks with seats in the back and we were taken to one of the local markets to learn about vegies and herbs. there were about 14 people or so in the course, so we huddled around our teacher and she explained about lemongrass, thai eggplant, different kinds of ginger and i can't remember what else! she was very funny, every time someone pointed a camera at her she stopped mid-sentence, put her fingers up in the peace sign and said 'sexy!'. she then showed us some curry paste and how they make coconut milk.

after letting us roam around the market for a while, we were bundled back in the truck and taken about 20 minutes out of town to the cooking school. it was a big room with woks and stoves on one side, a tall table with stools in the middle and a low table with cushions on the other side. we learnt how to make pad thai, tom yum soup with prawns, spring rolls, green curry, chicken with cashew nuts and banana in coconut cream. it was all delicious! they made it really easy for us, everything was in seperate bowls and step by step instructions. the teachers were really funny, when we were crushing garlic with the side of our knifes she says, 'STANDBY' then.. 'SMASH!! SMASH!! IT IS YOUR EXBOYFRIEND!! HARDER!!' then when we were chopping something into small pieces 'FASTER!! FASTER!!'.

the other people in the course were pretty nice, lots of aussies, some czechs, some french, an american, a canadian, and some israelis. all in all the day was really good and not very expensive either. don't expect me to be cooking for any of you - james had kindly volunteered his skills though!

that night we went shopping at the night bazaar which wasn't as good as i had been expecting, so much of the same touristy stuff. james bought a singha t-shirt which i have claimed as mine, and a chelsea soccer top. he was very pleased. we took a tuk tuk home and organised for the driver to pick us up the next day at noon to take us to doi suthep.

so on monday morning we did a bit of shopping i think maybe.. it seems like a long time ago. anyway the tuk tuk picked us up and dropped us at chiang mai zoo, where we got a pickup truck to take us up a mountain where the temple of doi suthep is. the ride was horrible. twisting and turning while staring out the back of the truck. i felt so sick! so when we got to the temple i had to sit down for a while. then we tackled the 300 steps up to the temple. woohoo! the view of chiang mai was pretty cool but it was hot so we gambled and bought icecreams when the labels were in thai. i got a really nice coconut one but james got a weird mint/listerine one. haha.

anyway then we had a look round the temple - very pretty and back down the steps to another horrible ride down the mountain. yuk. then we grabbed another tuk tuk and went to central airport plaza - a big shopping centre. felt very western there. i bought a skirt and then we went back to julies for sleep.

on tuesday we had to get up bright and early because we were going trekking! i love that they call it that when you do barely any trekking type things. anyway, we got picked up in a minibus with 4 french peoples, and taken to an elephant camp. it didnt feel really good seeing the elephants chained up and then having to carry us, but we swallow our consciences and got on. woo! it was fun! it was a bit scary, hoping to not fall off, but we walked around for about an hour and took lots of photos.

after that we got back in the minibus and went to a village of a local hilltribe. it didn't really look like a village with homestay huts for overnight treks and a long stall with souvenirs set up but we saw roosters that they breed for fighting. we then set off for the trek part, up a hill bit and to a waterfall. really pretty. after james fell in (no not really) we trekked a bit more to field of soya plants, said hi to some buffalo and then to another hilltribe village. little girls about 6 or 7 years old ran up with bracelets made from cotton and seeds yelling '5 baht! 5 baht!'. it was a bit sad. after that we got back into the minibus and went to have lunch at a local restaurant. it was yummy, sweet and sour vegies, soup and potato curry. we chatted to some english people who are going to australia next. they were nice.

then we went to the pier for bamboo rafting! yay! we took off our shoes and valuables and sat down on this long raft made of bamboo sticks tied together and our driverman set off down the river. it was fun, your bum gets very cold and wet and the thai guy kept leaning his weight to one side so that you got drenched. he thought it was very funny.

after that we went back home. it was a really good day, but tiring. on wednesday we got up to do a bit more shopping and then pick up some laundry (yay! clean clothes!) and then get the train at 3.40pm. we'd only been able to get aircon tickets, but it wasn't very bad. we played dice and cards and then got some dinner from a really nice and funny thai guy. after that, we pulled out the beds and slept. apparently i threw my book at james' bum but i have no recollection of that whatsoever.

woke up early because the train was arriving at 6am, and got off the train and then left our bags at the left luggage stand and headed to khao san for breakfast. we had booked a room for that night but we couldnt check in till after 12. had breakfast, used the net a bit and then decided to see a movie. ah yes what we always do in bangkok when we are tired and have time to kill. we saw a thai documentary called Final Score, about 4 thai students doing year 12. it was pretty good, one scene i liked:
son: why do you guys love each other? what made you fall in love with mum, dad?
dad: some one farted on the boat.
son: was it you mum?
mum: dont be ridiculous!
hehehe.

anyway then we check in to donna guesthouse, very clean and nice, only 2 minutes from khao san. had some dinner, got another henna tattoo (butterfly - hey i'm trying to be a real khao san backpacker!) and went to bed. we had to get up early in the morning for the flight at 10:50. we got to the airport at 8 and checked in no problems. the flight was short and we got a taxi really easy to come here. khao lak sunset resort. it is strange staying a resort. you don't have to see any thai people besides in the reception and restaurant if you dont want to. weird. full of brown middle aged europeans wearing skimpy bathers.
last night we walked into town and bought some groceries and then had some dinner after a swim in the pool.

today we got up for free buffet breakfast (came with the room) and then james went for a swim and i read a while before coming to write this.

miss you all so much, under 3 weeks to go now

xoxoxo
mad.

flames, steps and elephants (again) remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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leaving sri lanka... :-( coming back to thailand... :-)

2007-01-31T03:57:18Z

alright! last time i updated was in sri lanka i think. we spent our last taking priscilla (aaron's mum) out for lunch in galle. aaron was so busy with the opening of his showroom that she hadn't been out much. we were happy to take her, she is lovely. we went to a nice restaurant in galle fort and then walked around and looked at some really nice souvenir places that we must have missed before. we had brownies and icecream for dessert and then went back to aaron's to pack.

i don't like packing.

we had a light dinner of eggs and toast and then at about 7pm we said a sad goodbye to priscilla and the house and got into the van. we stopped at the showroom where aaron was still working to say goodbye. i must say that after we left i got a little teary.

the ride to colombo took about 4 hours, and we tried to sleep most of the way. got to the airport and checked in, and then had a coffee while we waited for our flight. we got on and ate dinner, and then tried again to sleep, but it was difficult. stupid economy class. arrived in the huge but corrupted and cracking new bangkok airport and lugged our bags up to the domestic level. we asked the lady at the information desk to point us to the airline which was cheap but didn't crash and she said air asia. we bought return flights to phuket, because that will make going to khao lak much much much easier. they weren't very expensive either. we then went to the top floor to have breakfast. god we were tired. that was about at 7.30am and our train didnt leave for chiang mai till 10pm.

we needed to book one night in bangkok for when we got back from chiang mai, and decided to try somewhere closer to khao san. we took a taxi into the city, and found a place called donna guesthouse. it looked really clean and quiet, so we booked and paid for one night. it is nice to know we have somewhere booked and organised. after that we jumped in a taxi - which is hard to do when it isn't pulled over and you have huge backpacks - and went to the station. they have left baggage storage there, so we left our big bags and went to find a post office. after much hassle, we finally found one near the station and a really nice guy helped us organise sending a package home. we've sent it to james' house because it contains many presents and we don't trust my house with it!

after that, we went to mahboonkrong - a huge shopping centre - and watched a movie - night at the museum. it was the only thing on! and we were stuffed.

anyway, then we did some shopping and trundled back to the train station. after some time on the net, a guard told us to get on the train, even though it was only about 8.40pm. we did, and the train was really cool. two bunks on top of each other, i had top, james had bottom. we had pillows and a towel blanket thing and a curtain that pulled across the bed. and a fan!

we fell asleep ok and i slept pretty well, except that they didn't turn the lights off so when i did wake up i was really disorientated and couldn't figure out the time. james had a window and i didn't. james didn't sleep that well, he kept banging his head. poor thing.

anyway, we woke up about 8 am and i scooched down into james bed and we watched the thai countryside fly by. a thai guy came through selling breakfast, which was toast eggs ham and butter and juice. it was ok. after that we folded the bottom bed into seats and read the rest of the way.

the first thing we did when we got into chiang mai was buy tickets home. but we could only get airconditioning, which we've heard makes it too cold. oh well we'll just have to wait and see.

then we jumped into a tuk tuk (much bigger than sri lankans ones) and got to julie's guesthouse. it was really nice, pretty big and we opted for a superior room (bout 5 bucks more) so we had our own bathroom and really nice mattress. the walls are painted really nice. and the place has a restaurant and a lovely back garden to eat in. and a free pool table!

that arvo we were just really tired so we ate and read and slept. oh and coco (the thai guy at reception) helped us book a 1 day cooking course and a 1 day "wimps" trek.

the next day we got up and decided to just have a walk around the city. first stop was a bookshop (as always) and we bought a really cool nancy chandler's map of the city. it was really helpful and pointed us to a couple of gorgeous shops, in which i bought some presents for some people! yay! chiang mai has a much different atmosphere to bangkok. there are lots of tourists here and lots of guesthouses but it all seems much more relaxed somehow.

that night we'd arranged to have dinner with maddie o'hare - dad's friend pat o'hare's daughter. she lives in chiang mai, just about to move to bangkok but has been living here for about 4 years. she is english and about 28 i think. we met here at the tha pae gate, she was a bit late so we looked around in the market for a while and bought some new playing cards. when we met her she suggested a really really good vegetarian restaurant. we had a really great time with her, she was so nice. after dinner we went to a rooftop bar and had some drinks. we didn't stay out too late because we had to be up early on sunday for the cooking course.

my fingers are sore from typing so much! i'll finish this tomorrow in bangkok, and i'll post some photos then too.

hope everyone is well.
love love love
mad

leaving sri lanka... :-( coming back to thailand... :-) remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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mirissa!

2007-01-25T06:17:14Z

hey guys. so we're back in galle at aaron's house, and i'd better catch you up on how mirissa was.

we took the 2pm train there on thursday last week, which was full of school kids who stared at us the whole way. we got off at weligama and grabbed a tuk tuk to ocean moon, our guesthouse. it consisted of a house set back from the beach, and then 9 cabanas set towards the beach. a cabana is just a freestanding room with a bathroom. and a table and chairs out the front. ours was about 20 metres from the beach.

the beach was so beautiful. so peaceful. not very long, but really nice sand and nice waves, big but not scary. we went for a swim and then had dinner at our guesthouse.

the next morning we got up early and went for a swim. we had such fun jumping the waves and diving under the big ones. the beach was great because it was really shallow, you had to walk out really far for it to get deep. then we went next door to mirissa beach wadiya restaurant and had a big breakfast of fruit, tea, eggs, and lots of toast. we sat and watched the waves break. heaven.

after that we had to take a tuk tuk into matara, the nearest big town. we went to the bank and discovered the annoyance of 2000 rupee bills, and visited the bookshop and the supermarket.

back to mirissa for more swimming and eating and general lying around reading. for dinner we walked down to a restaurant called seafresh. at about 6pm all the restaurants pull their tables and chairs down onto the sand and serve dinner there. its so cool. james loved the food at seafresh, because they literally catch the food that afternoon.

the next day was just filled with lots more swimming and reading and eating and then more swimming. we made friends with a guy who worked at the place next door, he is a surfer and is saving up to go to bali. he organised for his brother to take us out on his boat to go snorkelling. we could rent snorkels from the restaurant.

so on sunday morning we rocked up and were taken in a tuk tuk to a fishing harbour and jumped in this guys boat. needless to say, he didn't speak any english except hello. another guy got in too, and they took about 20 minutes to get the boat going. the water was amazing. so clear and beautiful and the scenery is just gorgeous. palm trees everywhere and everything is so green and lush. we passed a couple of fishing boats, including one with about 15 guys hanging off it. we stopped near some rocks and jumped out to snorkel. the fish are really cool and james had never gone snorkelling before so he loved it. the men pulled us back into the boat with some difficulty, we are such awkward white people. i got a big bruise under my arm from falling over in the boat.

then we went for more just cruising around and james was even allowed to steer! woo! we stopped at this tiny tiny little bay which had purple sand! it was really dark purple up the top and then lighter towards the water and then it mixed with all the yellow sand. james did more snorkelling, but my mask broke. the guys tried to fix it but made it super small so i wore it for a while and then had deep red outlines around my face. so cool.

after showing us some shells and crabs, the guys took us back to the harbour. we then went to the brothers house and had a fanta with the family. really nice people. after that we went home and i slept a lot. i'd caught a cold. my throat was hurting so bad and i had big bad headaches. james had dinner by himself at seafresh while i slept.

the next day i felt better, but not great, so while james swam i ate and read. i slept more and we had a late lunch next door. i felt ok at dinner so we went and had dinner at seafresh, where i forgot to mention but they have this huge bonfire on the beach every night. really cool.

the bad thing about mirissa was the flies and mosquitos. everywhere all the time so many of them! arrgh! and the sand. we tracked sand everywhere, in the bathroom, in the bed, all through our clothes and hair.

anyway, on tuesday we took a train from matara. the slow train. it was practically empty but it wasnt that slow between station. but it stopped for like 20 minutes at each station. we didnt mind, we weren't in a rush and it is so much fun to hang out the side of the train and wave at everyone going past.

so we arrived back at aaron's house about 2pm yesterday. he is really really busy because he is opening a showroom/shop for his businesses tomorrow, so there is lots to be done. priscilla (aaron's mum) came back from the showroom and we took her down to the beach for a drink and some snacks before dinner.

last night i was really tired so i went to bed straight after dinner.
i miss everyone lots. everyone should comment on this entry, i want to know who is reading!

xoxoxo
love
mad

mirissa! remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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kandy.. in which our heros see elephants and monkeys

2007-01-30T11:26:11Z

hey everyone

yesterday, we got up early and missed the lovely breakfast of pineapple, yoghurt, eggs and toast that our guesthouse puts on, and took the 7am train to Rambukkana. it was a nice train ride, we were in second class which was pretty empty.

when we got to rambukkana, we took a tuk tuk to.. the ELEPHANT ORPHANAGE! it cost 1000 rupees to get in, which is the foreigner price - about $12 - but for a local it costs about 50 rupees. we trudged up the hill and then encountered 70 elephants just standing round, being elephants. the orphanage started with 5 elephants, but keeps the babies that are born there as well as taking in orphans who have been abandoned. we were urged by the sri lankan men working there to touch the elephants and have photos with them, which was followed by a demand for a tip! i touched a big manly elephant and a baby one that only had one ear after it was attacked by a predator and abandoned. it's name is pandu. after looking at them all, we went down to feeding at 9.15am, which is where they had two babies chained up and they feed them milk from bottles. they are so interesting to stare at. then at 10am, the elephants are lead down the main st of pinnawala, past all the many many souvenir shops, to the river. the river isnt very deep, but it is very wide. we watched them all trundle into the river, all 70 of them. some of them just stood around, while others lay down. james had particular fun watching three tiny babies playfight with each other. some of the elephants walked across to the other side of the river and climbed up the bank which was very amusing to watch. it was so strange being so close to so many of these amazing creatures!

after watching them for an hour and a bit we walked back up the street and did some souvenir shopping. we hadn't really done any real souvenir shopping till then so james bought a present for his mum and one for alex and i got a really super cool, super touristy sri lanka t-shirt. we also bought another memory card for the camera.

after that we took yet another tuk tuk back to rambukkana station and caught the train back to kandy. it was really full so we had to stand up, which wasnt that bad actually. there was a nice old sri lanka woman who showed us the best way to stand and then me and james amused the other passengers with our stupid games. the scenery is beautiful too.

we got back to our guesthouse very tired and hot, so after a shower and some reading and cards, we decided to have dinner at a resteraunt about 3 doors down from where we were staying. it was nice, but very empty, it's strange being the only people in the place.

then on tuesday, we got up to the sound of lots of children yelling and crying. our guesthouse is 3 floors, the top two being rooms and the ground floor is a preschool. and tuesday was the first day of the school year so there were some unhappy campers. we had a lovely breakfast and then grabbed a tuk tuk to the botanic gardens, which are about 6 kms from kandy. they are beautiful. they are the biggest in sri lanka and we saw some really strange and cool plants. things like cannonball trees, lots of palm trees including double coconut palms, sausage trees, rubber trees, a javan fig tree which covers an area of 1600 sq ms. we also saw a group of monkeys, who james wanted to watch play all day. i finally dragged him away when some of them began to run at us. we took some interesting photos.. and then took a tuk tuk back. we went to rams for lunch, the indian resteraunt we had dinner at the other night. wrote some postcards and had really yummy food - vegetarian thali, rice, roti and 7 little dishes with samples of curry and veg and chutney and yoghurt. then we went to the internet cafe and the bookshop.

that night we ventured across to the temple of the tooth, where they supposedly have buddha's tooth. it wasn't that interesting, lots of people and you don't get to see the tooth. you just get ushered past a doorway where you can glimpse the thing that is holding the tooth. which is supposedly just a replica anyway.

we went to bed early coz on wednesday we had to get up early for the 6.30am train. we'd booked tickets on the intercity express, so we had reserved seats in second class. i had lots of fun sticking my head out the window and waving to all the sri lankan people we went past.

we got to colombo station, where everyone is really helpful, whether you need help or not! we got second class tickets on the next train to galle - 9.30am, about an hour wait - and then as the train was pulling up a deaf man showed us where to wait and then jumped on and grabbed seats for us. he then asked for a donation to the school for the deaf where he works, which we gave willingly coz he was really nice and funny. i hope he's legit, he showed us id and seemed ok.

so on the train i finished my 15th or so book and had to start james' book. we were going backwards the whole time and it was very bumpy. when we arrived at galle we were asked by so many guys f we needed a tuk tuk, but we'd called mandula and asked him to pick us up. he came and then we went to a hotel near the beach and picked up aaron's mum, priscilla, who'd been having lunch and we squeezed in the tuk tuk back here. we lazed around last night, aaron made yummy dinner and i fell asleep early.

today we are taking a 2pm train to weligama, and from there a tuk tuk to mirissa. i don't know what the internet situation is down there so if you don't here from us (on the blog) for 5 days thats why.

xoxo
miss everyone lots and lots
mad

kandy.. in which our heros see elephants and monkeys remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Galle, Kandy and the little engine that couldn't....

2007-01-14T08:46:28Z

good afternoon to all our readers, i hope you're all well.
we are currently sitting in a dinky little internet cafe in some side street of the lovely city of Kandy, we've been here a total of 2 days, with 3 more to go, but before i ramble on about Kandy i have to update you about our last few days in Galle.

i think Maddie got as far as last last Monday in Galle, so i suppose I'll start with Tuesday.
Tuesday was washed out, it rained all day, so we had another lazy day reading, watching the cricket (go the aussies) and just watching the rain come down. it might sound pretty miserable but it wasn't all bad, the rain really brings out the amazing colours of the wildlife and the landscape when the sun shines.
Wednesday was another day at the beach, lounging about in the water and on the sand. we started up the other end of unawatuna and walked around till we got back to the lovely imesh restaurant. maddie unfortunately got a splintr in her big toe from a mean rock, which caused a resonable amount of pain, but don't worry all is better now (almost) we got some lovely sunset photos of the beach that hopefully will be posted in the not to distant future.
Thursday was repeat of Tuesdays but without the short periods of sunlight. so once again it kept us indoors, except for a hour or so, when i braved the rain to tuk-tuk it into galle to do some shopping before aaron arrived. (also i had to purchase some more books for maddie, we've been away 20 days and she's read 12 books.) that afternoon aaron arrived back with his mother from thailand. But friday was when it all happened.

On friday we were up and out of the house early to go to kandy, the first part of our journey was very uneventful, we managed to get seats in second class for the 3hr trip to colombo. the scenery along the railroad was fantastic, lots of white sandy beaches and tropical forests plus lots of waving children. we got to colombo, but found out the the first class tickets were sold out, which was a bummer because there is an observation deck on that train, and amazingly so was second class, so we coughed up our 160rupees ($2) and braved it in 3rd class. it was an all in scramble, lots of pushing and shoving to get seats but we did (thank you maddie). the majority of the trip was relaxing and 3rd class isn't that bad. but things took a turn for the worst. the train broke down!!!! 10kms from Kandy. so we followed everyone out and up the bus shelters this short but nervy hike consisted of a 4m walk across a plank no bigger than my hand (and you know how small my hands are) which was made all the more worse by the damp conditions and rubber crocs. but we made it. we got the first tuk tuk we could and resumed our journey to kandy. we did get lost though, our driver was sure he knew the way, but didn't, so we ended with another 20min detour. We eventually arrived at our guest house 90 mins late but in one piece.

we've been in kandy for 2 days now, yesterday we walked alot, around Kandy and through the Udawattakelle Sanctuary, full of beautiful trees and foliage and lots of cheeky monkeys that enjoyed chasing after maddie. in the evening we went to the Kandyan Arts Assoc. & Cultural Center to see some traditional singing dancing and firewalking, Yes FIREWALKING, and not just hot coals either, full on flames, those crazy sri lankans. todays been uneventful forecast for lots of rain, so our plans to go the botanical gardens have been postponed, and since its sunday Kandy is very busy. one overwhelmingly good aspect of Kandy is the Food, its incredibly good and a lot more traditional than the western foods of unawatuna.

thats all for now, but i'm sure maddie will edit and add things i've forgotten.
Lots of Love
J

Galle, Kandy and the little engine that couldn't.... remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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sri lanka

2007-01-07T06:52:44Z

hey everyone! sorry i haven't updated in a few days. we've been taking it slow.

lets see.. the last couple of days that we had in bangkok we pretty much spent sitting round reading, eating, playing cards and generally relaxing. we got some new books to read, put our photos on cd and then onto the blog, bought the new sri lanka lonely planet and some more pirated cds.

we left for the airport at 6pm on wednesday got through all the customs stuff fine and then waited around coz we were there so early! the plane took off about 11pm. unfortunately we were in the two seats that back on to the door, so we couldnt recline our seats, but the people in front of us reclined theirs right back into our faces. woohoo. i slept some, but james didnt at all. we got off the plane in colombo at bout 1.30am local time and then made our way through the airport to find the man with the sign! aaron had arranged a man with a van to pick us up. we got into his van and then started the 3 and a half hour trip to galle. the drive was long and windy and i did sleep a lot. it was kind of disorientating to keep waking up and having no idea where you were whatsoever.

anyway, finally made it to aaron's house at about 4.45am. the house is gorgeous. there isn't any glass on the windows, just bars. its all wooden and the gardens are beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere. anyway on thursday i slept a lot and then aaron made us delicious dinner.

aaron runs two businesses on his property, one a plant nursery and the other a ceramic pot company. so on friday we met aaron's business partner roshan and his employees. everyone is really nice. aaron called a friend of his, mandula, who lives around the corner and who drives a tuktuk and he took us into unawatuna beach. he dropped us off at roshan's mother's resteraunt which is right on the beach. this bay is absolutely gorgeous. think paradise and you are half way there. so we laid around on the beach, went for a swim, had lunch (james had tiger prawns), laid around some more and then raju who works at the resteraunt, and also has a tuktuk took us home. we watched a dvd (aaron has a big collection) and had a nice dinner.

yesterday we got up late, and mandula took us into galle in his tuktuk. it is gorgeous here, but you can still see wreckage and damage from the tsunami. aaron was building his office at the time and when the tsunami hit he took the building crews down to unawatuna and helped rebuild. the cricket ground is still under repair - :-( in galle we went to the bank, and then went for a drive around the fort. i'lll write more bout that when we've been there properly. we stopped quickly at the grocery store as aaron calls it and then came home for more relaxing.

aaron told us yesterday about the bombs here. we don't feel unsafe at all. we are very comfortable. but we will be and always are sensible.

aaron leaves tonight for thailand, to meet his mother who is flying in from the US and then they'll be back on thursday. on friday we are going to take a train to kandy, which is in the hills and then maybe another train to ella. we arent sure yet.

xoxox
miss you all so much
mad

sri lanka remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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photos from bangkok

2007-01-03T09:11:35Z

traffic lights have numbers which count down the time to go! i love these things, and we should def have them in aus.

there is so much traffic here. and people don't really mind the rules of one side of the road is for one way and the other is off limits.

this is at the grand palace.

isn't james the coolest?

in front of the pagodas at wat pho.

the reclining buddha at wat pho. it is so huge! and on the bottom of the feet is a mother of pearl mosaic.

crazy busy market in chinatown

woo! beer on khao san road!

maddie on khao san road.

going tuk tuk crazy!

at wat arun. it's a cambodian inspired design.

the view of bangkok from the golden mountain.

new years eve party at the shanti lodge!

enjoy.
xox
mad

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bombs and bangkok

2007-01-01T11:39:14Z

hi everyone
so to begin - we are fine. so if you were worrying - don't. ma - don't.

yesterday morning we got up and took a taxi to the train station and then the skytrain to chatuchak market. it was huge! i have photos from above it, the skytrain goes over it, so if we ever figure out the photo thing i can show you. it's like the queen vic market, only like 20 times the size and better stuff too. they sell everything. pretty much everything. art, clothes, souvenirs, clothes, lamps, puppies, fish, fishtanks, birds, bird cages, shoes, fountains, water features, kittens, squirrels, jewellery, stationary, electronics and more. the puppies were so cute, but at the same time so so so sad. the squirrels were just weird. we kinda just walked around and around without a clue. we did see this one stall with really cool arty stuff but then we lost it. we walked around and around and then found it! yay! i bought jessca and hannah presents from there. i couldn't resist the stuff was really cool, the guys were really nice as well they had an exhibition in tokyo and they are preparing for one in new york. oh the other thing we bought was some wooden puzzles coz the shanti lodge, where we are staying, had a new years party last night and they had a gift exchange. you had to buy and wrap a present worth at least 100 baht (3 bucks) and then we got to choose a number and it corresponded to a present. i got a nice little journal and james got... toiletries! the shanti lodge and my mother think alike.

the party was going well and i was dancing with the thai girls that work here and drinking beer with james coz we are real men. then this guy came in and started telling us and some other foreigners that he'd been watching cnn in the next guesthouse and that bombs were going off in bangkok. yeah. so that was a bit scary. anyway, he told the manager and she didn't seem so concerned. lots of people started looking it up on the net and reading about it kinda made me feel better. nothing seemed to be near us. we figured we would just stay here for the night, which we were probably going to do anyway. then the manager came up and said to be safe to stay here and stay away from all the crowds. so me and james went to bed. we only went upstairs to lie down for a second and then we were both asleep. whoops. so much for staying up till midnight. at midnight we did wake up and watch the fireworks from our window.

so today we sat around. i finished the 5th book i have read since we've been here. now i need a new one! then we decided to go back to the movies. it is so cheap to go gold class. we saw the holiday which i liked. james said it was corny, but thats why i liked it. now we're back here for dinner.

i've never been anywhere with real violence before. i don't feel unsafe. i guess i just feel unsettled maybe. it doesn't matter though coz we leave in just two sleeps. sri lanka - here we come!

happy new year, may it be filled with love, laughter, icecream, chocolate, stationery and fairy lights.

xox
mad

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and introducing.. even more bangkok!

2006-12-30T09:47:44Z

so we didnt end up going out for dinner on thursday night, just ate here instead. the food is soo good and soo cheap! i could just sit around and eat all day.

yesterday we got up and had nice cold showers. they are horrible at first, i just feel like screaming, but by the end they are quite nice, refreshing. then we read for a while and then walked down to khao san road. we.. i can't realy remember what we did there, probably just looked in shops and ate thai donuts oh and james bought a top i think or was that another day but i know that when we got back i had a nap. i'm just really relaxed ok?!

anyway, last night we ventured out to patpong night market, notorious home of the pingpong shows. we were offered lots of shows, with menus including p***y write letter, p***y cut banana and lots more. needless to say we kindly refused the invitations. the market itself wasn't that interesting, mostly fake designer stuff, james did buy some pirated dvds and I bought a nose stud, its green and pretty but it was cheap so i don't know how long it will last. i liked walking up and down the street with the "sexy girl bars" and peeking inside the open doors. mostly girls in bikinis gyrating, looking very bored, though i did spot a few ladyboys. we tried to find somewhere to eat but couldn't find somewhere we liked so decided to take a taxi back to khao san. this turned out to be harder than we thought. we stopped about 5 taxis, but maybe because it was patpong, or because we are such tourists, they wouldn't turn on their meters. instead they offered to take us for 200 or 250 baht. with a meter on it should be about 70 baht. so we argued with a couple and then bargained with a very nice tuk tuk driver who agreed to take us for 100. man those tuk tuks go fast! it was so much fun, but james did think we were going to die. so at the end of the trip he gave the driver an extra 40 baht in gratitude for us not dying.

we had a rather bland dinner on khao san (mental note not to go back to that resteraunt) and then i had some pineapple on a stick and james had banana pancake covered in condensed milk and chocolate. it was so good. and so gone in 20 seconds. I barganied for and a bought a green bracelet and a very pretty blue top. we spied the new indonesian lonely planet but wanted to make sure it was the one we needed. we walked to a tiny bar near our guesthouse and had a couple of beers while listening to a really good jazz cover band. i had to drag james away though because very unlike me, i was falling asleep.

this morning we slept in late and had a leisurely breakfast before walking to golden mountain. it is an artificial hill created by rama someone and finished by rama someone else (oh yeah i am so learning history here!) it has lots of steps up and up and on the way there are these big bells which everyone rings as they go past. they make such a clanging noise that the whole way up its clang clang clang. lots of fun to make big noises!
the view was pretty cool, you could see heaps of bangkok, but with the sun being the sun and therefore pretty hot, and the steps being lots we were so drenched with sweat when we got up the top.

after that, james successfully navigated (no there wasn't one point where we thought we were completely lost until we saw a street sign and realised we were exactly where we were meant to be) us to tha tien pier, where we caught the ferry and visited wat arun or the temple of dawn, which we coud visit the other day because of james' lack of pants. (he was wearing shorts). it was very cool, huge points made from mosaics made from broken china.

caught the ferry back and then a cab back here. had some lunch and now just sitting round. bangkok is amazing but sometimes i feel like i could just sit and eat and read all day. life's hard ain't it?

tomorrow we are planning on getting up early and going to the chatuchak weekend market. our guesthouse is having a party for new years so maybe we'll stay here for that or else go down to khao san.

lots of hugs and kisses.
i miss you all, almost as much as i miss vegemite.
xo
mad

and introducing.. even more bangkok! remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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more bangkok

2006-12-28T12:09:51Z

hey everyone, thanks for the comments!

lets see.. where did i leave off? ok so we went to khao san road for dinner. it is so strange there. Busybusybusy but not with thai people with so many farangs (foreigners). you get asked a lot to eat somewhere, go somewhere, buy something. we walked up and down shaking our heads! there are lots of stalls with fake cds and t-shirts and jewellery, but as you walk down the road the same stalls seem to pop up again and again. james thinks that one person buys them all and just puts them 5 metres apart from each other, kind of like 7-11. which there are lots of here as well, it is even fun to look around 7-11 at all the strange asian things that are strange and asian.

anyway at khao san james bought a shirt and some cds, and i got a henna tattoo of a bird on my ankle. it was fun having it done by a really nice thai woman, she made me sit down and then pulled my leg onto her lap and worked away. then instructed me not to move for 30 minutes and to be very careful. james just wandered away for a while. we could've walked up and down all night, looking at the stalls, the backpackers who look like they've been here for years, the hippies, oh and the thai man dressed up as jack sparrow from pirates of the carribean. james liked him. but instead we sat down for dinner, quite nice and james loved the cheap beer. then we ambled home again.

this morning we didn't really have any plans, because even though the guidebook is full of things to do and see, we really want to relax a bit and not go to touristy things just because they are touristy things. so we had a leisurely breakfast and then james decided we should go on a train and boat. it just so happens that bangkok has both of these! how coincidental! we took a taxi to the skytrain terminal and then caught the very modern and clean skytrain to the boat terminal. the skytrain gave good views but it was only a short trip. we saw a park that we want to visit which as a ferris wheel in it. woo!

the boat terminal turned out to be a great idea because they have a ticket for 100 baht (about 3 bucks) which gives you unlimited stops up and down the river all day. yes! taking the boat was great, really fun and relaxing. we took the boat to chinatown and got caught up in a very cramped very busy market. everyone pushing through. bought some pink rope to tie to my bag to distinguish it from james'. then we went back to the boat and caught it to wat arun, but forgot that because it's a temple we need long pants so we will go there another day. took the boat back to khao san. we had some lunch and then decided to take a tuktuk home. we were wary of doing this at all the whole time we are here because there are so many stories about dodgy tuktuk drivers and there isn't a meter so.. but we decided we had to experience it once, and the drive from khao san is short. after arguing with one dodgy driver who wanted to take us to some tailors first (we dropped him), we found a nice guy to take us home. it was fun, i wish that the drivers werent dodgy and it was cheaper.

when we got back here we've just sat around playing jenga and cards and james went to get the bangkok post. played more cards and then here i am. james wants to go get dinner somewhere tonight and then tomorrow we might go to that park and then to a night market tomorrow night.

xo
mad

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bangkok!

2006-12-27T06:56:29Z

hey everyone

well we're here!
i'll start in melbourne. after eating far too much xmas pudding, we went out to the airport. got a little bit teary saying goodbye to the folks and then walked through those doors of no return. the flight was looong. i watched 2 movies and jay watched 3. i tried to sleep some but jay couldn't sleep at all really. i learnt that jay gets a bit freaked out during take off and landing and he confessed that when we landed he was pushing his feet hard against the floor so as to help the plane slow down! we landed in bangkok after 9 hours, and made our way out of the huge new airport.

we got in line for a taxi and after the driver called someone for directions, he drove us on this huge freeway into bangkok. the traffic here is insane. some of you may know that i am not really fond of traffic and crossing roads but i am doing surprisingly well considering how crazy it is here. to get across the road you just have to walk in front of cars, as jay says you have to 'suck it up and go'! oh and the traffic lights have counters which count down to the light changing - they are so cool! we arrived at our guesthouse - the shanti - lodge and we were shown to our room. it is small but very clean and nice. the walls are so thin you can here everything. but the lodge is about a 15 minute walk from the main backpacker "ghetto" - khao san road - so it isn't really loud here at night.

yesterday our body clocks were still on australian time, so we got up early and went for a walk. bangkok is busy and full of people. how observant am i? the smells are so different here and there are so many of them. lots of people approach you to buy things and be taken places, you learn very quickly to shake your head no. on the way i bought a much needed watch, it is so cool - its pink with the king and queen on it. it is strange being in a place with a monarchy. we walked to khao san road, and even though it was 10am bangkok time, james said it was still 2pm australian time according to his body and so he had a beer. we sat near these irish backpackers who were very obviously still drunk from the night before. we are planning on going to khao san for dinner tonight whch should be interesting.

after the walk yesterday we took a quick trip back to shanti and then caught a taxi to MBK which is a huge shopping centre. so many shops. we were there to get a simcard for my phone, and we were successful, so if anyone wants to call, let me know and i'll give you the number. we had lunch at MBK and then the tiredness from the flight was catching up with us. at 2pm we felt like the day should be over. so we decided to go to gold class cinemas, because here they cost about 10 bucks. we saw eragon, which was light and fluffy and i only fell asleep right at the end!

last night we had dinner here at shanti which has a really good resteraunt. we went to bed early.

this morning we got up early and had very "refreshing" cold showers before setting out for the temples. we walked about half an hour to see the grand palace and the temple of the emerald buddha. beautiful buildings everywhere you look. then we walked to wat pho which is where you can see the sitting, standing and reclining buddha. we had a tour guide named weko, who told us really interesting stuff about the history and the religion. the reclining buddha is huge! 46 metres long and 15 metres high and the whole thing is covered in gold leaf. apparently this is the last pose of the buddha before he reached nirvana.

now we are back at the guesthouse and i am stuffed. we have lots planned for the rest of the week. floating markets, cabaret, night markets, boat trips.

i miss everyone lots. we feel very safe and we're excited about going to sri lanka and seeing aaron next week. james says hi.
xoxo
mad

ps. leave lots of comments!

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we leave tomorrow!

2006-12-24T01:48:17Z

we leave tomorrow!
tomorrow, christmas day, we will be boarding a flight at 5.30pm direct from melbourne to bangkok.

i'm almost finished packing and james.. well.. james has a backpack!

merry christmas

xox
mad

we leave tomorrow! remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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welcome to our blog

2006-12-20T23:04:01Z

hey everyone welcome to our blog

hopefully we have enough time to update here and let you know how the travels are going.

we are in the process of finalising everything before we leave on monday!

xox
mad

welcome to our blog remains copyright of the author madandjaap, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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