Newsflash, Aussie Style

Even in times of conflict, the prime minister likes to look good! He forgot that it's not becoming for a grown man to throw a wobbly.

Bondi Beach

It's just about winter in Australia, but I hear that you can barely find a spot on Bondi Beach come summer. With easy access to Sydney and great surfing, it's hard to beat. This is also a big party destination for New Year's Eve.

Sydney Opera House

I still can't believe I saw the Opera House in person! It ranks up there as one of my favorite stops of the year. The location boasts incredible views across the harbor, and the views of the building are amazing in their own right. It looks different from every angle. I thought the "sails" were made of concrete, but when you're up close, it's easy to see that they are covered in over 1 million Swedish tiles (refer to the 2nd picture).

The 1-hour tour of the building's interior and theatres was very informative and interesting. I have to say... the history of this building is kind of fascinating. For example, did you know an American judge rescued this design from the discard pile during a 1955 architectural competition? The project went way over time and over budget, forcing Danish lead architect Jorn Utzon to resign in the middle of construction. He fled the country. A team of Australians finished the job. Sometime in the 1990s, the Opera House reached out to Utzon and his architect son to help with plans to refurbish the interior. Utzon made amends with the Opera House, but he died in 2008 without ever having returned to Australia.

Sydney City

Postcard From My Momma

I tried to call home before I left Bangkok, but I got the answering machine. Mom later sent an email to explain her absence. I got such a kick out of this email that I submitted it to the website Postcards from Yo Momma. It is a collection of funny and unintentionally funny correspondence from mothers to their children in the electronic age.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/2009/05/05/moms-gone-wild/

Please click the "add 1" button to make this one of the site's most highly rated submissions!

This isn't the first time mom has gone wild. She enjoys the moonshine every now and again.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Oy! Oy! Oy!

I'm very excited to spend the next week in Australia! I fly into Sydney tomorrow morning and have 8 days to fill before I fly out of Melbourne on May 15. For 3 of those days, I have decided to try one of those backpacker tour buses. I've never done this before, but it should be a good way to meet people. I might not like the rigid schedule, but I can do whatever I want on my 5 free days, so it all evens out.

If you look at Melbourne and Sydney on a map, you'll see that I'm covering just a tiny bit of the country. I wish I could do more, but this is better than nothing. I guess I'll have to plan a return trip next year. Who's in??

Welcome Back

Thai Airways would not let me re-route my flight, so I had to come back to Auckland. If I were to do anything differently on this trip, I would buy a series of one-way tickets instead of these roundtrips. Sometimes a girl changes her mind!

I was bummed to have to fly all the way back here for no good reason, but I changed my mind the minute I stepped foot in the airport. How weird is this... it felt kind of like home! The accents were endearing; I gave someone directions; I appreciated the Kiwi kindness. The handsome immigration officer chatted me up about my time in New Zealand, my more recent travels, and my future plans. He stamped my passport, gave me a big smile, and a warm "welcome back!" Aww, I love this place.

With the overnight flight, I think I set a personal record of 32 sleepless hours. I was up all day in Bangkok, up during the whole flight, and hit the ground running in Auckland. I thought I was going to have a full row of 3 seats to myself to stretch out, but some A-hole hopped in the empty seat just as I was about to get comfy. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane, but I did watch 4 - count 'em 4! - movies. Update your Netflix queue accordingly:

• Marley and Me - I expected this to be a mindless rom com, but it was a mindless tearjerker.
• Nights in Rodanthe - Diane Lane and Richard Gere were a great pair in Unfaithful (such a hot movie), but this reunion is a flop. The movie is based on one of those sappy Nicholas Sparks novels. That tells you all you need to know.
• Lakeview Terrace - This movies rides on Crash's coattails (race, police, relationships), but it was pretty good. I always enjoy Samuel L.
• Little Miss Sunshine - Still makes me laugh out loud! Steve Carrell is a god.

Big Spender

Think way back to when I first landed in Bangkok and discovered my bank accounts had been frozen. Out of the 15+ phone calls I made to the bank that afternoon, I charged one to my credit card because the stupid "call us collect from overseas" number wasn't working. I think that call was cut off in less than a minute. Imagine my shock when I recently learned that I was charged $50 US! That translates to about 1800 Thai bhat, making it - BY FAR - the single most expensive purchase I made during an entire month in Thailand. Grrr.

Sad, but true - the month in Thailand is over. It went so fast! I'm back in Bangkok and I fly out tomorrow (with 24 hours to spare on my visa!). Destination still unknown. I have a flight to Auckland, but I'm trying to change it to Sydney. I should know by tomorrow morning. If I have to go Auckland, I may fly to Australia for a short visit later in the week. Everything is still up in the air due to my limited funds and indecisiveness, but things are definitely drawing to a close :(

One more fabulous Thai island picture for old time's sake. Is that a Corona commercial, or what?!

Diamonds on the Soles of His Shoes

By special request, I am posting these pictures of the Reclining Buddha that resides in Bangkok's Wat Pho temple. This is irrefutable proof that Kelly does NOT have the biggest feet in Thailand. Snap!

Snack Attack

Thailand has a dark side that I've been hiding from you, dear readers. It stinks! A strong breeze can make you lose your lunch. I'm not sure what's to blame. It's probably a combination of factors - raw sewage, hot garbage, tuk-tuk exhaust fumes, burning flesh singed by motorbike engines, dead fish, fried rice, reefer, underage prostitute sweat. (Thanks to Liz K for her contributions to the list of potential offenders!)

The plethora of stray animals may also play a role. This country is littered with unwanted cats and dogs -- based on my unscientific observations, mostly small breed dogs in the north and cats (often tail-less) in the south. Many appear to be pregnant or in a post-natal state. It's sad, and I'm not even an animal lover.

Insects also abound. I've seen more cockroaches in the last month than I've seen in my entire life. Ants of varying size and color, mosquitoes, spiders, flies, dragonflies, etc. The only hotel room in which I have not encountered bugs is the fancy place Kelly and I stayed at in Phi Phi. And that place had geckos crawling on the wall!!

I've had no choice but to deal with these bugs head-on. You can't get all girly about it when you're by yourself. When I returned to my Railay hotel room one night, I flicked on the light and saw a GIANT cockroach scurry across the bathroom floor. I found a sturdy shoe and took care of business. At least my sneakers finally saw some action in Thailand... it tends to be a flip-floppy kind of place. I then reached for some toilet paper to clean up the mess (this bathroom came with its own TP... bonus!). When I pulled my hand away, my finger was spotted with brown goo. I yelped out loud! It was late... I was alone... I was shaken up about the cockroach killing, and thought I was covered in more bug guts.

Then I realized it was chocolate. I can't resist those late night food stalls! Fried Thai pancake with banana and nutella - mmm mmm good.

Railay Beach - Island Hop Last Stop

After Phuket, I set sail for Railay. This journey was another pieced together mess, of course. It's the only way to travel! It went something like this.

• Picked up in Patong at 7am for a 30 minute shuttle ride to the Phuket pier.
• 1.5 hour ferry ride to the town of Krabi. This would have been almost bearable if not for the 5 SCREAMING children and their negligent parents. I'm not proud of it, but I gave a little boy a very dirty look. It shut him up for about 2 seconds.
• Boarded another minibus in Krabi. We drove for about 10 meters before we were stopped by someone banging on the windshield.
• I then transferred myself and all my luggage to a songthaew (pick-up truck taxi).
• I got off the sawngthaew and sat at the Krabi pier for about 5 minutes.
• I got back ON the sangthaew and we drove about 50 meters further down the riverbank.
• I walked about 30 meters back UP the riverbank towards the pier to board the longtail boat.
• 30 minutes longboat ride to Railay Beach.

This beach is very small. It was the first time I arrived in a place and wasn't immediately surrounded by shouting touts offering to take me here and there. This means I was hiking up and down the beach trying to find a hotel in 95 degree weather with 30 pounds of luggage. I passed up a few places that didn't meet my standards. Honestly, the place I chose wasn't much better and I think I got ripped off, but I was too tired and sweaty to care.

The beach was definitely worth the effort. I'll let Lonely Planet set the scene: "Hiding behind a layer of impenetrable cliffs, the gorgeous isthmus of Railay could easily serve as a fantasy cover for a Harlequin romance. It is possibly the most stunning beach location in all of Thailand, home to emerald silk water punctuated by surreal limestone formations, honey-hued beaches and psychedelic sunsets." It later describes the sunsets as orgasmic. Now, I don't know that I'd give it quite that much credit, but I sure don't have any complaints.

Railay was the most chill place I've been to in Thailand (unsure if I'm cool enough to use the word "chill," but it's the most accurate description). It's relatively quiet and has just a few bars and restaurants. All the bars are open-air bamboo shacks with low tables and pillow seating. It was really easy to meet people without the thump of techno music ringing in your ears.

Unfortunately, I was only able to spend 2 nights here. I would have been happy to laze away more time eating pad thai, drinking Beer Chang, listening to reggae, wearing flowy clothes and chunky jewelry... Instead, I took a 16-hour start-to-finish overnight boat/sangthaew/bus ride back to Bangkok. As the Thais would say - "same same, but different." I've come to learn that this saying means "total opposites."

Side story: Many of the Railay residents are Muslim. It's really something to see these women walking on the beach in closed-toed shoes, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats, scarves, gloves... all the while trying to sell sarongs and soft drinks to topless Western sunbathers. Talk about a land of contrasts!