Czech please...

Prague for the weekend... luvverly. It certainly is too. A valentines weekend away as a surprise for Kat. Not quite up to the secrecy involved with my Steward Island weekend, but she was pleasantly surpised with my choice of location I think. Although I actually think she was more impressed with the man at the airport with the 'Kat and Rob' sign, especially since he was waiting with a black Merc... bonus!

The Riverside Hotel was sweet too, lunxurius in the old part of town, 10 minutes from the Charles Bridge, one of the main tourist attractions in Prague.

The town itself is beautiful, and I'm sure it would be pretty exciting for our architect friends. You can eat and drink cheaply if you avoid the tourist traps which are near the main attractions, with 50p pints and meals costing a few quid being the norm. Even a pig like me couldn't finish the plate of meat and dumplings!
Right, here's a couple more pics to show what I'm talking about.

Love is in the air..

Valentines eh... hope you're all having a good one!

I've been told off for writing too much in these blog entries, so this one will be short and sweet. Not a great deal has happened over the last couple of weeks.

We have managed to explore a bit more of London, taking in the museums, seeing Cirque du soleil (impressive stuff) and SHOPPING in Covent Garden. However, still working on the job thing, but getting closer by the day, which is good, cause it's very easy to spend money here!

So here's a couple of local pictures - see, it's not that bad! You NZ architects out there would love it.

A touch of class...

I like weekends. People do interesting things at weekends. Some people do nothing but laze about at home at weekends. Admittedly I have done that before, but whenever possible I do like to do something.

This weekend we caught up with some of the uni-crew at their place it Putney... luvverly area that is. They haven't changed a bit! A typical 'boys' flat, I was particularly impressed with the contents of their freezer... good, healthy organic vegatables..... honest mum.

Saturday night we caught up with the uni ladies at a charity ball. After a nice pre-party session consisting of a game of 'F#$K YOU', we donned the DJ's and headed for the ball. Looking smart we were.

It was really good to see everyone again, and we larged it on the dancefloor, even incorporating a few of the 'Ceroc' moves we learnt the other week... albeit in some drunken, we kinda/kinda don't know what we're doing, but who cares sort of way... great fun.

Sunday we had a walk around Putney, through the park and around the Palace, a very 'family' orientated area. Too many sideways glances from Kat as the push-chairs rolled by for my liking though. Managed to avoid most of them.

This will make you laugh. Putney is only 18 miles from where we live, but it took one and a half hours to get there. And that's in average traffic. Isn't London great?

You see that though - that's sunshine that is!

The importance of being idle

Good title for an Oasis song I think. It's also what I'm feeling like at the moment, a bit idle! Having now not worked for... some time and desperate to get back into things. It's been a slow going for me, with about 30 job applications and just a single response so far. Still, it's potentially a good one, so fingers crossed.

Kat on the other hand has had great success. She's currently temping at Deloitte, with other options in the pipeline too. I'll not say too much here, but things are looking rosy for her... proud of the gal.

Well, had a couple of weeks here now and feeling much better (finally). Still, I went out for a run last night with Kat, Cass and Steve and nearly died.... seem to have lost a lot of fitness since we left NZ. Now why would that be? Speaking of runnning, we went for a long one a few days back early in the morning, across the frosted fields. It actually looked quite nice. The hills weren't quite as steep as Queenstown, but still enough to have us gagging for breath.

The attitude of people of London ranges from funny to disgusting. Drivers are aggressive all the time. Litter and dumping is a huge problem. I was walking through town yesterday when a guy finished his pack of nuts and basically threw the packet straight at me. There was a bin about 2 metres further on his left. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen people dropping cans and just want to give them a slap and point out the nearest bin. I would, but for the fear of being stabbed or shot if I did! Anyway, enough of the eco-warrior rant.

The photo's here then. The first one's the view from the front room of the flat. The second ones the local pub (which we haven't been in yet!). They were both taken early in the morning, so a little dark and grey... but that's kind of how it always looks in winter! No, it's not that bad, really. Today it's sunny and is topping out at 3 degrees - roll on Summer!


Things in the flat are working out well. We got the stuff back from NZ, but I had to shed a few tears and sell my amp and give my speakers to my brother. There's just no way they'd fit in here. Still, you can't have everything.

Have caught up with a few people since I've been back, but we're heading to a ball on Saturday night, so should see a few more. No one has grown a second head while we've been away. In fact, they are pretty much all doing the same things they were when we left. For more coin though of course.

Here's a view over London from Alexandra palace, which is on our back doorstep. It's on the 'long' running route and offers a good view over London on a clear day... I'm told.

Ok, more positively. Shows. Entertainment. Cheap flights. Shopping. Oh yes, that's what it's all about. Sadly, I don't yet have the money to go splashing out, but hopefuly I soon will have. The West end has loads and loads of shows on all the time, so I imagine we'll frequent a fair few of these. Shopping is unlimited here, although a recent trip down Oxford street was almost enough to put me off! I did my ignorant tourist bit on the way back too, diving into the closing doors of the tube train mistakingly thinking that they'd stop rather than dismember me. Wrong. Brusised and embarrassed I was, but the others had a good giggle. Briliant.

I like Tesco. It's started doing everything... not just food. I bought some work shirts there (positive thinking) for 4 quid each, bargain. And they survived the initial wash, which you have to do to avoid the obvious "I've just bought this shirt" look. They also do househould stuff, toys, DVD's and electronics, therefore giving the male half of a relationship an escape from the games of trolley dodgems that go on in these aisled supermarkets.

For those UK mates, here's a great site which I've been reading up on since being back to save all kinds of money. No nonsense advice on everything from savings and loans to cheapest telephone calls. A good read, especially for tight ar$es like me!

Oh, and if you want to find out the cheapest petrol in your area, go here. And if you want to find out how much people paid for their houses, go here. See, you do get something useful from reading my waffle.

One final thing for now. We did Ceroc last week. It's a dancing thing baby, yeah.

Simply put, it is the sexy side of Salsa meets the energy of Rock n Roll. Gene Kelly dances with Jennifer Lopez.

To me, it's like old school jive. Not that I'm that old, but I've seen Grease. Good fun though I must admit and a welcome venture out of the flat. Man I need a job. Speaking of which, I have 2 new e-mails with a potential 2582 jobs. Off I go then...

Welcome to Lun-dun

Well, here we are. After seeing in the new year in Nottingham and catching up with a few mates there, we're finally 'down South' to begin our new adventure. Our transport down her was our new £925 '96 Astra, a dark purple 'P' reg beast, with 5dr's and central locking... the essential requirements. Why? I'm too lazy now to get out of my drivers seat to fold it forward and let people in the back. People forgetting to lock their doors (not naming any names) means central locking is crucial too. The drive down from Skegness in the new 'mo-beel' was going great until we got to London and had to stop at traffic lights. Dip the clutch... and... nothing, the engine cut out. Great. From then on, every stop resulted in the same thing. We knew it needed a new exhaust sensor, which we've now got fitted thanks to Steve, so fingers crossed it's all good from now on. Does bare feet on oak laminate flooring count as touching wood?

The purple warrior (suggested names on a postcard please) was only the beginning of my 2006 troubles. My first night in the new flat was a sleepless one, with my chest suddenly deciding to fill with some ghost-busters-esque slime, which made breathing and consequently sleeping bloody difficult. 2 days, no sleep and 2 midnight trips to A & E later, I'm cleared of having anything more than than a bad chest infection. This is good news, especially seeing the doctors '?Pneumonia + recent return from Thailand' comment on my assessment card. I was beginning to think I shouldn't have eaten all that Thai chicken after all! The inhaler they gave me on the second visit has done a great job of replacing the 'nebulizer' (cool name) that brought my panic, asthma attack-like breathing fits under control. I can truly sympathise with those with asthma now, as it's a bloody scary feeling when you can't get your breath. 3 days without sleeping a wink drives you to the brink of insanity too! By the 3rd night I was pulling my hair out and driving myself silly. Thank god I'm finally on the recovery side of the ordeal though (think I'll find some proper wood this time).

So you're reading this new 2006 blog entry. Which means that I'm back on the net. Even as a self-confessed computer nerd, I didn't realise how much I'd miss not having access to all the wonderful information and communication tools it offers. Looking for a second had car, checking out the broandband net deals, the latest mobile phone deals, train times, banking, recipe's, car maintenance, looking for jobs, are all things I've needed to hold off on until I got to my brothers to take over his computer! But now I'm back online in London....wa ha ha ha.....

So London then. The capital. The big one. Haven't seen much of it yet admittedly. In fact I know the flat inside out and that's about it. There's a 24hr Tesco about 3 miles away, with an IKEA a bit further on. Oh yeah, the hospitals about 3 miles away too. The flat itself is a small, tidy (very) affair, 10 minutes walk to the tube station, which I assume will be the way of getting to work (when I get around to it).

TV... is great! I've must say I've really missed the comedy and sense of humour of the brits, dry, rude, crude and witty, it's just... different. Radio is good too, Radio 1 is back on in the car, with the usual voices bringing good cheer to counter-balance the grey skies and crowded roads. Footbal, oh yeah, good to have football back. Had a great ill weekend watching the FA cup 3rd round games. On my single excursion to IKEA I caught a glimpse of a local Powerleague ground, so it'll be 5-a-side for me again soon.

Organic food. What's all that about? Well, it seems everyone has gone organic mad since we left, and supermarkets here are devoting 'heaps' of space to organic foods, which are much better than traditional evil chmemical foods, but are also about 20% more expensive... funny that. It also seems that stores have gone over the top with their names, so a fresh chicken is now labelled 'Free Range, corn fed, stress free, killed nicely chicken'... well nearly.

Rights that's enough waffle at the moment. Better start looking for a job before I forget what work is.

Back in good old (cold) blighty!

Merry Xmas, ho ho ho and all that. Weird to be back!

HOW COLD IS IT! Nice to have snow on the ground though, makes the place look nice (going all soft aren't I).

Had a good xmas in Skeggie with Kat and family, being fed and watered from all angles continuously for 3 days..... brilliant! Bored everyone to death with the 727 photo's we had printed out in Bankok - for a wonderful 3p each... result!

Yes, I admit it... I am "Mr. Tight" at the moment. After NZ and especially after Thailand I simply cannot bare spending money! My mind cannot escape the 'Rip off Britain' mode, but I'll get back into things soon enough.... when I get a (da-da-daaaaaaar) JOB.

Right, enough about the working thing. Looking forward to new years in Nottingham before heading down to London for the new year... and the new adventure!

Happy New Year!

Chilled out and ready for some shopping!

I am an advanced open water diver! After 5 days of cancellations due to the windy weather conditions, we finally got to finish the course today... as they had to take us out because it's our last day on the island!

The weather conditions weren't great still (too windy!) so we were the only ones going out, which meant we had the entire boat to ourselves... result! The 1st dive was pants, with <1m vis, but the 2nd and 3rd were pretty cool, lots of nemo-esque fishes and corals to oogle.

So back to Bankok tomorrow to get the xmas pressies before we start the 13hr thai airways slog back to blighty. Thai airways are decent enough, but there's none of that all singing, all dancing screen per person jazz that Cathay and co have these days, just the lonely old single screen in the middle for everyone to rubberneck at!

Koh Chang, Chang Beer and diving!

Sitting in the morning sun....... I'll be sitting when the evein' comes......

Well, we finally made it to Koh Chang, Thailands 2nd biggest island (after Phuket), but it's relatively unspoilt at the mo, although there's a lot of development going on everywhere as usual! We started off staying in Bungalows on 'Lonely beach' (which is anything but), but after 2 nights of partying hard in a pretty damn basic (can't stand up) hut, we moved up the road for some peace and quiet in an upgraded air-con, bug free, shower (cold!) outside amongst the palm trees place. It also has the added bonus of you being able to sleep at night without being hammered, as the place on the beach front was bangin' till 5a.m. - we're getting too old for that sh!t.

MOPEDS BABY YEAH! Alright, a step down from my 600 Bandit, but the 100cc chicken chasers are so much fun to zip around the island on. For 3 quid, you can get one with a full tank and go exploring for the day, which is cool as there's less developed areas on the east of the island. We've met numerous back-packers here with scooter injuries though, so I've avoided trying to pull wheelies (especially with Kat on the back!) and pulling a 'stoppie' (endo) is not an option as the front brake is so crap! When I mentioned this to the renter, they said you can use the back one.... thai style! You really have seen nothing until you've seen a whole family (6!) on one of these things though.... (photo coming later!)

So the other thing we're onto is the 'advanced scuba' diving course. 2 days, 4 (or 5 hopefully) dives and a bit of education. We did the 1st day yesterday and the swell was huge, the boat was all over the show, but once you got underwater it was pretty magic. The 'vis' was pretty bad (5-10m because of the wind), but there was plenty to see and it was a great feeling just to get underwater again. Today was cancelled because of the wind, so fingers crossed for a belter tomorrow. Wish I had an underwater camera case to get some jaws style photo's though (you listening santa?).

Also looks like we'll be booking onto a fishing trip (lets see if it can compare to Stewart Island in NZ) and a day of snorkelling - there's no rest for the wicked! We'll be back in Bankok on the 20th for the last two nights in a luxury hotel..... well luxury in that it has a hot shower and pool anyway! And then of course it's the flight back to blighty.....

Anyone got any new years plans sorted yet?

Pattacake Pattacake, many a single man

Quick stop here in Pataya. Single, old, fat men everywhere... not empty handed ones though! Money gets you lots of 'extra curricular' activities in this town!

So we headed east instead of South in the end, since the weather down there is still 'pants'. Touch wood we'll be on Ko Chang island tomorrow lunchtime for some beach action.

Not long till xmas - send your pressie lists!

Rain rain, go away!

With with just over two weeks to go we're looking at heading south to chill out in the sun................. BUT IT'S RAINING...... everywhere!

Everyone we spoke to coming up from there have seen nothing but rain these last couple of weeks, and indeed it's still monsoon season on the eastern side (Ko Samui etc...) Gonna head down there tomorrow night and check it out anyway.

At the mo we're in Kanuchuburi - where the old 'Bridge over the river Kwai' is. Lots of touristy things to do, we've studied both the museums and learnt about the building of the railway during WWII..... tragic. Pretty powerful stuff. There's a beautiful waterfall here too, where we did some swimming and sliding over the rocks - best quality water we've been in since NZ. You certainly wouldn't want to swim in the river around bankok!

Kat made a funny comment the other day, which all those of you who've been to Thailand will appreciate.

"Why is it that there's so many wild dogs on the street, but no dog s#*t anywhere?"

What Wat is what?

Ok, so we made it back from Laos on the overnight train frm the border... MUCH better than the cramped private coaches, which seem to have bugger all air conditioning, crap DVD movies blasted out by speakers that are only capable of producing bass, and stop ramdomly for breakdowns, shoddy toilet stops or tourist food traps from the drivers brothers-nephews-sisters joint!

So the train is the way, sleeping in a bunk with the legs stretched out - well they would be for anyone but lanky old me anyway! Ear plugs are 'THE BEST' thing a traveller can buy before heading away, and have turned many a potential nights disasterous sleep (roosters all night, early morning monk parades etc.) into zzzzz land. It's only a little bit more than the coaches too.... top tip from the Dazzler.

So Laos was good! Do feel like the total tourist though, doing the 2 day slow boat trip on a cramped old wreck, but we stopped off at Lam Phrabang for a few days, hooked up with a couple of English and a Canadian who we had a good laugh with for the week. The next place was Vang Vieng, which I mentioned before... then off to the capital, Ventiane. The highlight of that was Kat and I 'hangin' with the young monks, who invited us over while we were peering into their temple ('wat'..... the thai word for temple). One was practicing his English on me, querying the old xmas lark and what Santa Claus is all about, which is kinda hard to explain... especially the link between the religious aspect of the festival and the commerical spectacle as it exists today. Not sure whether the poor guy understood or not, especially since his day started at 4 a.m. with a prayer (every day) and ended at 8p.m..... so the 'not everyone' who is Christian goes to church at xmas (never mind every Sunday!) was an interesting idea for him!

Meanwhile, Kat was engaged in a frantic battle of the brains of 5 other monk boys, who were taking her on at a game of draughts. They play the French variant (I think!) - 10x10 squares and 4 rows of pieces. She lost the first game, but obviously won the second (with the aid of the monks)! The monks loved it, taking the pi$$ out of the monk that lost, but all laughing... would've made for a great photo.... but alas, I only have it ready for the obligatory 'wat' photo's!

So what's a wat then? Well today in the old capital of Thailand we've seen about 10 of the things..... ruins this time, but still impressive nontheless. We saw the glorious new shiny ones in Bankok before we headed North, but these almost have more 'character and appeal'.... even if once you've seen one giant budda sitting, lying, reclining etc... you've pretty much seen them all!

So it's back to Bankok at the weekend to drop off the shopping at Amars place, then down South for the last couple of weeks of relaxing on the beach. Bring on the sunshine......

Trains, plains and the cheap alternative

Short and sweet this one... in Vang Vieng in Laos, which is a tourist town which to the eye is a cross between a bomb site and blackpool... in the town. Its saving grace is the river and the funky hilled background scenery. You can go tubing, kayaking etc... down the river and check out the local caves.

However, we ain't done any of that yet due to a bit of a session last night! (Those who's been here will know what I mean!) Still, at a quid a day for accomodation you can afford to waste a day. The 24 hour 'Friends' places here are hilarious though!

Oh for those in NZ, WE SOLD THE CAR!!! (Thank you Cynthia.x)

Cruising along the river

...on a 2 day trip into Laos. Yup 2 7 hour days on the boat is enough to drive you insane. Hannah was right to suggest to avoid it, cause it's cramped (especially for a daddy long legs like me) and the scnery doesn't change much for 2 days.... i.e. brown river.... green hills. Still, met a couple of new friends on the boat though. Sounds really bad, but after seeing the amazing scenery in NZ, the river cruise is not that impressive. What is cool though is the architecture, the temples, the people etc.....

So we're in Lam Phra Bang (or something) in Laos now, which is very similar to Thailand, but the people are much friendlier and actually take 'no' for an answer! It's no cheaper than Thailand (in this area anyway), which we didn't expect, as the guidebooks implied it would be. Gonna check 'Pussy mountain' out today (AYE!) which has another temple on it.... then it's time for a bike hire to cycle out to the big ass waterfall (30km) which will be good, as we've done bugger all exercise since we left! ...and we have the running shoes with us too.

It's actually quite a bit cooler at the moment, which is good, as I'm sick of sweating like a 'white boy' and actually had to wear jeans and a long sleeved top for the boat trip... hardly exciting news I know! So more importantly, the local beer here is 'Beer Lao', which is only 5% and 55p a pint, which is a refreshingly lightweight change from the 6.5% 70p 'Beer Chang' which we were getting mullered on in Thailand!

Gonna be spending a few more days in Laos before we go back to Bankok to catch up with Maz and Amar for a 4 quid all you can eat Japanese Sushi/Sashimi/Teriyaki fest. Speaking of food, we're on for a 9 course feast tonight for a few quid too! It's amazing how tight (me... tight?..... surely not...) you get in these places, doing the old Del boy negotiations to save yourself 50p or so! BUT HEY, YOU HAVE TO! Otherwise these boys will be putting up the prices for the white boys even more, which we don't need. You can clearly see the difference in the price that the locals pay for things as opposed to the 'farrang' .... foreingers.

Seen a bit of footy on the telly here which is a result too! Did catch the England vs. Argentina game the other week too - 3-2 baby yeah! Was kinda weird watching it in the hotel; we booked a room with a TV that night as the bars closed at 1a.m. and it wasn't on till 3a.m.! Sure I managed to wake a few people in there when the boy wonder put his 2 headers in - altogether now... ING...GER.....LAND....!

Everywhere you go here people keep chickens, but no sign of any bird flu around at the mo. We've actually been monching away on the old poultry since we've been here with no worries (so far).... mozzie bites are more of an issue! 'Cause everyone and there dog here owns chickens, they have a rooster too. Contrary to childhood beliefs of cock-a-doodle-doing only at dawn each day, these noisy buggers go for it all day and night, in a constant challenge of male superiority with the other boys in the area.... Top tip for travellers - BUY SOME EARPLUGS!

Right, had the brekkie baguette and beer, so off to take some Japanese photo's and annoy 'tuk tuk' drivers by asking them if they'd like a 'tuk tuk' before they ask us!

Sa-wa-dee......

Elephants, hill tribes and jungle food

Alright peeps. Just got back from the 3 day trek we talked about last time. There was 8 of us (2 POM's, 2 Kiwi's, 3 Ozzies and a Canadian), an awesome group, which really made the trip a success. Stayed in the bamboo huts up in the mountains, played footy with the kids, let off fireworks etc... good fun. The kiwi-couple had fire poi's with them (which ended up being nicked overnight at the second village... another story) so put on a show for the village too, which they'd never seen before and thouroughly enjoyed. Nice to give them something back, as it's kinda strange waltzing into their village and eyeing them 'zoo-like'.

The elephant ride was really cool, but you felt for the elephants as the thai guys threatened them with sticks or catapults in order to keep them moving. Amazing creatures that deserve respect, I got to ride on the head too!

The funniest part of the trip was the bamboo rafting on the river on the last day - 3 rafts on a river, with us in good spirits. We lasted about 2 minutes before we started splashing the other boats, then jumped on them pirate style to push before off. Eventually, we took apart the bindings so the rafts came apart. The tour guide at the end of the run was cracking up with us lot 'swimming' in to power the delapidated raft!

Going for a meal tonight with the guys from the trip - the food was nice on the trip, but I can't wait to get my teeth into a peppered steak!

Will try and upload a couple of photo's before I sign off!

Chillin'in Chang Mai

Air conditioning...... what a wonderful thing. You certainly miss it when you don't have it, especially in 30-35c of heat!

Well, we've headed up North to Thailands 2nd biggest city, Chang mai - just in time for the Full Moon festival, which is a slightly different affair to the Full Moon Party that you hear about in Thailand. On the 16th November each year, the little ol'Thai folk have a mass street parade, light lots of candles on floating flower things to let go down the river, and release small hot air balloons, all with the intention of getting rid of the evil spirits and having a more prosperous following year..... good stuff! We've been in the thick of it for the last two nights now and the parades have been fantastic, with a displays of traditional dancing, fire eating, dressing up etc..... but the best thing in the parade was a full on boogie'ing donkey. I don't know how many years of torturous training it went through to get there, but it sure looked cool! We joined in on the flower lighting/balloon releaseing too, although our first attempt at sending up the balloon went tits up! We bought a cheap-ass one from a group of students, and when we lit the fuel it released a fireball of flame and some ominous black smoke. Everyone around took cover as we tried to keep hold of the damn thing until it filled with hot air and would take off, but the heat got too much too quick and we sort of launched it skywards with a hope that it would make it! However, the wind caught it and it sailed up into the nearest tree - panic time! I thought the damn thing was gonna set the tree alight and we'd be the bloody foreigners recking the joint, but luckily it escaped the clutches of the branches before going out and plopping back into the river to start it's sad journey downstream. We looked like proper muppets too, all a bit embarrasing and not a good way to clense the evil demons - the thais around us certainly had a good laugh! Oh well, we managed to release another last night with success, so there's hope for us yet!

Chang Mai is a few degrees cooler than Bankok and has less pollution, I much prefer it. There's less hassle on the streets and a much more chilled feel. We've had a couple of lazy days, which is great after all of the manic travelling. The bus up here was a 12 hour overnight affair, bloody awful... think we'll splash out on an air fair for the next long-haul trip!



We're off for the 3 day trekking trip tomorrow in the hills, which I think everyone who comes here does.... we're apparently doing the 'non-tourist' trip.... yeah right.... of course.... All the usual fun and games though, elephant riding, bamboo rafting etc.... you know the score.

After that it's a journey up to Laos, followed by the 2 day slow boat trip (Sorry Hannah, we booked it before your advice not too!) and eventually we'll head South.

Alright, enough waffle, gotta get this damn external CD writer working to get the photo's sorted out!

A BIG THANK-YOU to those that e-mailed me back after the last post... now let's see if I can get a couple of photo's onto this thing!

Oh yeah, we did a Thai cooking course the other day too, so be prepared to be impressed with some xmas red curry when I get back!

Bankok Ladyboys!

Ok - we're still alive! Been a while since we last wrote with any news, but made it up from Sydney (which I thought was a great city) to Bankok, which I think is a CRAZY city! Cheap as chips, but busier than Hong Kong and the traffice is nuts - 12km in a taxi took 2 hours!

We stayed for 2 nights in a cheapy Backpackers joint around the corner from Kao Sang road, which is the main backpackers area in Bankok, and also convenient to go see the Grand Palace, temples etc... It was clean, but basic, and we spent the last 2 in a slightly upgraded guest house, which has a pool and HOT WATER! It's scorching hot and humid here - 32/33 and pretty damn sweaty. Confused the poor buggers at the airport when I turned up with my snowboard bag!

You get hassled about every 5 seconds here. Tuk tuk drivers are a pain in the ar$e, and the usual scams have been tried by everyone - but we've been advised of them by mates and our trusty guidebook, so so far (touch wood) we haven't been done!

The food is err.... good - if you venture off the main streets, where you get noodles and chicken, noodles and pork, or noodles and vegetables for about 50p. The 'American Style' breakfast I had one morning consisted of an egg boiled to extinction (no soldier dippig here!), two pathetic strips of bacon and a couple of slices of toast......... not good! What is good is the ice coffee (hmm......) and the spicy beef salads. Thinking I'm hardcore with the chillies, I went for the spicy salad and consequently got laughed at for about half an hour by Kat as she watched about 5 pints of sweat run down my face. 45 minutes, 2 glasses of water, a beer, an ice coffee and a large glass of milk later I had the damn thing polished off!

We've managed to catch up with both Maz and Amar since we've been here. Both are happy and well, and both are getting married to Thai birds next year! We also bumped into our friend from New Zealand randomly while at a bar - it's a small world!

Drinks are cheap - with a 6.5% 750ml Chang bear costing 40p in the 7-11, or 1 pound 10p in the pub. You can sit on the street with a 'bucket of strong coctail' for 3 quid, which did a great trick of getting us hammered the other night.

Kao san road bussles day and night and to be honest, we're now pretty sick of it! We went to MBK today, which is a 7-storey shopping mall, which has everything you can imagine at pretty cheap prices. Once we've done the travelling around and end up back here I can see a monster shopping trip on the cards!

In an hour or 2 we're leaving Bankok (wahoo!) to head up North to Chang Mai, where we've booked onto a few 'proper' tourist trips; the trekking, elephant riding, bamboo rafting etc.... It's actually the full-moon festival on the 17th, where they make a big thing of it up there and have boat racing, lots of candles on lotus flowers on the river...... and apparently isn't to be missed since we've timed the trip so well..... hmmm..... good salesman speak I'd say! - we'll see. We also booked on a Thai cooking course up there, so prepare to be amazed by our authentic green curry when we get back at xmas.

To be honest, I'm looking forward to getting up there to chill a little, without the hussle and bussle of here. We checked out the temples (very impressive and colourful) and have seen the ladyboys, the thai boxing etc... so Bankok for now is done and dusted.

After a week in Chang Mai, we'll be heading up into Laos for a 2 day boat trip. It's a requirement really, as we need to go out of the country to renew the visa on re-entry.... I'm really looking forward to heading down South after that to the islands - Phuket, Pipi Kao tao etc... I can see some scuba diving on the cards

Oh yeah - saw the England vs. Argentina game last night- GOOD SH!T.... the boy wonder did good - slightly odd listening to the Thai commentary though at 3 in the morning! We'd been up Pat Pong earlier with Amar and Maz, and Kat got to experience the famous lady-boys that I'd been fooled with last time I was here! Luckily, she was fooled too.... so I'm not that blind/naive after all...

Seems we also beat Oz and NZ at Rugby too - pity we left that perfomance till we left!

Ok - getting hot in here and we've gotta get moving.... send some news if you have some!

Sydney - the Travelling begins!

Leaving Queenstown was a sad, sad day; not least because most of our mates turned up to a last day farewell lunch, but luckily we were in a true rush and left quickly before the blubbering got underway!

We caught up with Jero, Shanna and Tai in Christchhurch (who we used to live with before heading to Queenstown) which was cool, before flying up to Auckland the next morning. Luckily we saw Cynthia and Trev at Auckland airport, who'd just got back from their Asian mission (sans luggage - ha ha!) so got to say a proper good-bye to them too. We had to leave them the car, as some F'wit had said they'd buy it on the last night, but changed their mind in the morning - lesson learned - trust no-one!

SYDNEY ROCKS! It reminds me a lot of Hong Kong, but without the smog! There's loadsa shops, restaurants, bars etc.... but really nice beaches too (Manly, Bondi etc...). Bev and Chris came up from Camberra for the weekend too. It was great to see them, and of course we had a good old drinking sesh Friday and Saturday nights. Rach and Todd caught up with us Saturday too, so we all trundled around a few (too poncy) bars in the search of some real 'cheese', which we found about 2 a.m.!

We went over to the zoo yesterday, which is pretty cool, although being a roasting hot Sunday there were loadsa kids there.... GEEZUS... a flamethrower was needed to sort some of the screaming little bu$$ers out! The bird show was the highlight of the day and it looks like I got a few good photo's, so I'll try ad get them up on the blog at some stage.

Gutted my IPod's kicked the bucket after doing the latest (12-10-2005) update on the firmware - a warning for you 4th Gen 40gb ownders - don't do it! Was gonna store the photo's on that as I travel around, but looks like I'm gonna be paying over the odds at internet cafe's now!

Right, getting the 'get off the blody computer' line from Kat, so enough from me for now... more when we get to Thailand.

Last day at work!

Ello all. So today's the last day at work here in Queenstown for Kat and I. Crown relocations have been and packed up our stuff on Wednesday, so the house is looking a little barer. Add to that the impromptu sale of the remaining stuff in the house at a BBQ we had with mates on Thursday and we've got very little left!

So yes, a little sad at the mo.... looking out across the lake really makes you wonder what we're doing - but it still feels right to move... we'll see!

We don't actually leave till next Thursday, when we're flying to Sydney and spending the first 2 nights there with Bev and Chris in a flash hotel! NICE!

Then it's off to Bankok to see Mr. Brooks and his bride to be, before exploring the country and avoiding the poultry!!! We don't get much news on the bird flu here in NZ; they're pretty laid back about it.

Stewart Island - The secret weekend

Well as you may or may not know it's my birthday on Thursday. Last Wednesday was also the birthday of a good mate here - James. Between us, we've been trying in vain to organise something for everyone for the weekend.

To cut a long story short, Kat and Erin (James' bird) had sorted out a surprise weekend in Stewart island, which started with us being called unexpectedly home from work Friday lunchtime to be bound and blindfolded, before being herded in the back of a car! We then endured a two and a half hour trip to god knows where (Bluff) where we were finally relieved of the blindfolds on the back of a boat, where we were met (totally unexpectedly) by 10 of our mates - BRILLIANT! I'd spent most of last week moaning about how crap everyone was for dropping out of James and I's weekend, when in fact the crafty buggers had been plotting this whole weekend months in advance - SNEAKY!

Stewart island is a tad bigger than Malaysia and sits about 30km from the bottom of NZ. It's a protected island and a natural haven for lots of rare species and native birds/animals. There's a population of 300, 1 pub, 1 shop and a lot of beautiful bays!

When we got there Friday evening, right on cue a seal came out of the water just in front of the "batch" (kiwi holiday home) and had a roll around on the beach, much to our entertainment!

We spend the evening eating and drinking lots, playing the drinking game "F#$K YOU" and having a great time. At midnight, we celebrated the start of national nude day in style by running straight of the house into the sea, ditching the clothes on the way and heading in for a skinny-dip! After only a couple of minutes (It's only about 12 degress in the water !), we finally retired about 1a.m. nice and early for the 'surprise' fishing trip the next day.

Fishing in NZ is quality, there's shedloads of fish and they're HUNGRY! 8 Of us went out on the boat (a couple were too hungover... shocking) and between us we landed about 30-40 Blue-Cod. Made a mighty lunch on the boat with some bread and mussels on the side. The 76 year old Captain Birdseye bloke even got us some Paua, which you have to try if you ever go to NZ...

In the afternoon we played Hacky Sacky on the beach and had a U.K. Vs. NZ/OZ game of footy, which we shockingly lost!

More fun and games in the evening, with some naked laps for the boys around the house in celebration of the end of national nude day!

Alright, tiring writing this.... Sunday we went on a semi-sub (glass-bottomed boat type thingy), saw lots of fish etc etc...

Had a wicked weekend - great surprise, good mates, good laugh, gonna be sad to leave!!!

Here's a couple more - The gang, Kats monster fish, the girls in action and the boys chilling!