Isnt she just beautiful, bless her.
(you know me and south East Asia kiddies, more to follow)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cambodia
Isnt she just beautiful, bless her.
(you know me and south East Asia kiddies, more to follow)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Planes, Trains and confusing airports - The country that is...... Thailand
Its official. Thailand is my favorite. Mals beginning to agree.
Easy to see why. Here's an idea of what we've been upto, good and bad and indifferent, Thai style. Kopkoooonkahh
The things I love about Thailand.
1. The People
Ah lads, they are just so friendly. All you hear morning to night is 'sawaaadeekaaaa' (hello) and Velcom! Cuteness. Sure, half of them are trying to sell you a thai massage, get you into their bar or get into a tuk tuk for a fare that will cost 80p but they're so smiley, happy and friendly, you cant help but love em.
2. The Food
So Mal and I are foodies as Im sure ye all know. Well, we were in our element when we arrived in Bangkok sampling all the local delicacies for the next few days.....Pad Thai, Green chicken curry, Noodles and shrimp, each for a quid made by some 80 year old on the side of the street. Authentic or wha....until.......yes, both of us.... for 4 days. We reckon it was a green curry but OMG the 4 days were WORTH IT. The curry was out of this world. Twas a local place called Pangea on Phi phi Island made by a local (funnily enough). Tasty is not just the word. Spicy. YUM. A few Immodium later and when things got bad (!) an antibiotic, and sure half a stone less (every cloud, girls) we were right as rain and ready to leave Phi Phi. We're a little more careful these days. Can't wait for 4 weeks in India (sweet lantern)
3. The Scuba Diving
We've become these two narly annoying people who look like they know what they're doing on a boat as we attach all our diving gear together as everyone else look on (I copy Mal ha). Australia was amazing for the diving (Cairns) but holy moly you cant beat Phi Phi for the diving. For starters, and Mal will agree with me on this wont you Mal ! Our diving instructor was called Chris from Stockholm and lets just say, could beat any local thai boxer in a heartbeat. He worked out twice a day & had all these mad tattoos over the bod. Mal was impressed with his muscles in a envious way that guys get about other guys in shape.
I was just impressed!
Chris was a cool bloke, very enthusiastic about us getting our Advanced Open Water Course which meant us doing 5 dives in 2 days. We saw huge turtles, all kinds of fish and to top it all off swam with 5 x black tip reef sharks who swam around us -they were about 6 ft in length....amazing. We surfaced and Mal noticed he had a nose bleed and we couldnt stop laughing. Sure tis grand, theres only 5 sharks 3 metres below us and theres blood in the water! Never got into the boat so fast (clambered over Mal, sorry hubbie)
4. Thai Massages
U wan massage, Velcom! Ah how can you resist......200 baht (5 quid) for an hour. Just be careful which one you ask for though -they vary, vastly! Oil massage they like to massage everywhere apparently. So an american just told me at our cookery course today. Nearly spilt my coke as I took a sip.....Im gonna have one later this evening for research purposes. I'll let you know how I get on.
5. Thai Cookery courses
We did ours today and it was a laugh. Cost us 900 baht (a tenner). We were picked up by 'Boom' (hello my name Boom, only once yes not boom boom) and we were brought to a local market. Learnt all about the veggies, diff kind of eggs (there are 3 kinds, did you know that?!). We had a few Germans in our group who thought they were hilarious vit zer jokes. Ve say zom joke. No, youre not funny mate. Snore. Mal and I need to work on our tolerance, I am aware of this.
Anyway, as all this tom foolery was going on, I looked around the market and saw lsomething live jumping up and down in a bucket going mental. I soon realised they were live frogs as the market dear who was about 90 came over and grabbed a few from the bucket. Hey, steady you're hurting the frog dude! The frogs went mental as they were manhandled and put into a plastic bag. I know, a plastic bag - let them breathe for Christs sake! They were trying to get out of the bag in a last chance saloon kinda way. Yer wan showed no mercy and then completely out of the blue let out this mighty roar of a burp. Charming! I jumped it was that loud.And then I started to laugh. Had to muffle the laugh -the one teaching the course glared at me as she was teaching us about Bok Choi. The poor Frogs.
The cookery course was excellent. Learnt a good few more dishes that I'll sample at home. Homemade dipping sauce for spring rolls, Spicy papya salad and my fav chicken coconut soup. Its delish....There were a few yanks in our group aged from 40 to 60 and they all loved Mals accent, twas kinda funny actually. It was like he was Ricky Martin or something. Everytime he opened his mouth, they were drooling!! Oh my, you sound so gorgeous. Sure he loved it. Sure he was nearly singing them a ballad by the end of the day. I shouldnt take my handsome hubbies accent for granted I know.
6. The kids.
I love Thai kids. They're so so cute, so well behaved, so chilled out. I feel a 2011 calendar coming on.
7. The markets.
Cheap cheap, Happy howahh, goo plice. Thats literally all you hear. T-Shirts do amuse me. Cheapo tees but gas stuff on them. Starbucks 'may the froth be with you' , game over picture with a stick man and women getting married (mal thought this was hilarious, eh hello!) and so on. I am in my element with all the fake gucci, prada, hermes. Bliss. So mean though, Ive no room in my bag! Booooo. Dont have a drink and go shopping though. I did that one night and felt so sorry for the chick selling the stuff, she was from Burma and got smuggled into Thailand to make a living and I just wanted to take her home and make her a ham sandwich. I bought a fake prada wallet for 600 baht. I know. robbed. But I felt sorry for her! Lesson to be learnt. Dont drink and shop -just say no!
8. Phi Phi Island
Ah Phi Phi. People, you HAVE to go. Its lush. Tiny little island 2 hours boat journey from Phuket that is beautiful. We visited Maya beach which is the beach in 'The Beach' movie. Stunning but packed with jabroney tourists who packed the beach out. Us too, i know, i know. We also went snorkling as well as the old diving and it was equally as good. Phi Phi was flattened by the Tsunami in 2004 and lots of buildings are still left as they were which is very sad to see. But on a positive note, they've rebuilt a lot and tourism is flourishing. Go visit.
Like everything, you have to take the good with the bad dont you? Here's a few NOs for me.
Things I Dont like about Thailand.
1. Thai men with long nails.
Honestly, its not clever and its not flattering. It doesnt make their fingers look any longer. Only means they tend to get dirty quite easily. One word-Scissors.
2. Krusty backpackers in Thailand.
We are backpacking. WE are clean, we always wear clean clothes and we look CLEAN. So why oh why oh whyyyyy are there these 'type' of travellers (mostly from Israel as we've found out) who think its cool to wear droopy trousers that are basically skirts, arm pits that scream Gilette and dreads that look like they need a SHAMPOO not to mention 55 braclets up their arm (from every country Ive visitied....dude). It just cant be hygenic. Does anyone know the answer to this?!!
3. Loving the food but then wishing you didnt love it so much. Nuff said. We're fine again! And lost the few lbs we totally put on in Australia, hurray.
4. Airports in Bangkok.
Let me explain.
Mal and I spent a few days in Bangkok chilling out and then we flew to Phuket to get the boat out to Phi Phi. We arranged to get a minibus to the airport in Bangkok from our hotel on the Khao san road. Of course Mal comes out with the 'Ger' joke i.e our flight is at 11.45am. Sue are we getting the bus at 7am?! cheeky....we get the bus at 9am. It takes an hour. We're chatting to our fellow passengers on the bus about travels. Its all nice and chilled. I even sip a diet coke to refresh myself. Nice.
We get to the airport and load our bags onto the trolley and head indoors. We look at the flight screen. Where's our flight? Thats wierd, its not there. I ask someone and they look at me like Ive said howya whats the craic. They're thai and havent a rashers. We go to the flight desk. Yer one looks at our travel documents and comes out with the ultimate cracker.......'ohhhhhh zis is not aiport. you neeeee other airport. hurray you have ze no time' WTF we are in the WRONG airport!!!! We look at each other and then our watches. Its 10am. Our flight is at 11.45am and closes at 11am. How long does it take to the other airport - 1 OWAH......we crack up laughing and leg it out of the airport doing wheelies with our trolley as we leg it to the taxi rank shouting at the same time 'quick quick, go to airport please the other one' to some taxi dude whos looking at us.
In fairness to him, we jumped into the taxi and say 'step on it jackson' and he did. About 140 KPH. Legend. He kept shaking his head saying 'u crazy people, why wrong airport, I charge 900 baht yes!' ah jayssussssss. ok ok ok, just get us there for 11am and we pay 900 baht (so its only 22 quid but in relatively speaking in thailand, that is ridiculas, robbed! ). Gunter as I nicknamed him did us proud. I mean, we could hardly look with the beeping and swerving in and out of cars on Bangkoks version of the M50. Nice way to see the city! Every 10 mins or so, I'd ask Gunter 'so we get there on time yes?' and he's like 'oooooh, ze many traffic, I go fast but i dont know, I try, u krazy people'. Ah all we could do was fasten our seatbelts and laugh. You know what? We sped up to the other airport at 10.59am, I legged it in ran up to the desk and got us through. YESSS.
(footnote - Dont you think the minibus company should have ASKED everyone on board the name of the airport? Crazy. Our airport was the main one. Yeah, yeah, we should also have asked but we were going to Charles De Gaulle not the small teenchy Beavais. A classic thai moment - 'ah feck it we dont need to check anything really!')
5. Toilets on trekking.
We did a 2 night 3 day Trek in the jungle up in northern Thailand. Gillian McKeith I was not! It was an experience, ours was pretty average this time but having done one years ago (mals head is melted), it was brillo. Anyway Ill just make one point and say having one toilet is a man made hut for one village is not good. For anyone.
6. Germans and the locals.
Hairy Grandads in yellow budgie smugglers by the pool canoodling with skinny 16 year old local Thai girls is not cool. They are not your 'girlfriend' you have paid for that priviledge for a week. Its ming. Its horrible. Its pervy. Its gross. The budgie smugglers are bad enough but jaysis, the two together is just WRONG! Get your own girlfriend back in Frankfurt thats your own age and also free on the bus. Money, love does not buy, PAL. (I feel so bad for these gorgeous girls, dont do it, Run Forest Run!!)
So thats it for now peeps. We love it here. Its bliss. Very chilled out, easy peasy travelling the past few weeks and nice and relaxed.
Off to Cambodia for 5 days to catch up with Damien and Moira. Oh and see a few Temples...
Over and out for now. Kopkoonkah, Sawaadeykah Sue (and of course Mr. B) xx
Easy to see why. Here's an idea of what we've been upto, good and bad and indifferent, Thai style. Kopkoooonkahh
The things I love about Thailand.
1. The People
Ah lads, they are just so friendly. All you hear morning to night is 'sawaaadeekaaaa' (hello) and Velcom! Cuteness. Sure, half of them are trying to sell you a thai massage, get you into their bar or get into a tuk tuk for a fare that will cost 80p but they're so smiley, happy and friendly, you cant help but love em.
2. The Food
So Mal and I are foodies as Im sure ye all know. Well, we were in our element when we arrived in Bangkok sampling all the local delicacies for the next few days.....Pad Thai, Green chicken curry, Noodles and shrimp, each for a quid made by some 80 year old on the side of the street. Authentic or wha....until.......yes, both of us.... for 4 days. We reckon it was a green curry but OMG the 4 days were WORTH IT. The curry was out of this world. Twas a local place called Pangea on Phi phi Island made by a local (funnily enough). Tasty is not just the word. Spicy. YUM. A few Immodium later and when things got bad (!) an antibiotic, and sure half a stone less (every cloud, girls) we were right as rain and ready to leave Phi Phi. We're a little more careful these days. Can't wait for 4 weeks in India (sweet lantern)
3. The Scuba Diving
We've become these two narly annoying people who look like they know what they're doing on a boat as we attach all our diving gear together as everyone else look on (I copy Mal ha). Australia was amazing for the diving (Cairns) but holy moly you cant beat Phi Phi for the diving. For starters, and Mal will agree with me on this wont you Mal ! Our diving instructor was called Chris from Stockholm and lets just say, could beat any local thai boxer in a heartbeat. He worked out twice a day & had all these mad tattoos over the bod. Mal was impressed with his muscles in a envious way that guys get about other guys in shape.
I was just impressed!
Chris was a cool bloke, very enthusiastic about us getting our Advanced Open Water Course which meant us doing 5 dives in 2 days. We saw huge turtles, all kinds of fish and to top it all off swam with 5 x black tip reef sharks who swam around us -they were about 6 ft in length....amazing. We surfaced and Mal noticed he had a nose bleed and we couldnt stop laughing. Sure tis grand, theres only 5 sharks 3 metres below us and theres blood in the water! Never got into the boat so fast (clambered over Mal, sorry hubbie)
4. Thai Massages
U wan massage, Velcom! Ah how can you resist......200 baht (5 quid) for an hour. Just be careful which one you ask for though -they vary, vastly! Oil massage they like to massage everywhere apparently. So an american just told me at our cookery course today. Nearly spilt my coke as I took a sip.....Im gonna have one later this evening for research purposes. I'll let you know how I get on.
5. Thai Cookery courses
We did ours today and it was a laugh. Cost us 900 baht (a tenner). We were picked up by 'Boom' (hello my name Boom, only once yes not boom boom) and we were brought to a local market. Learnt all about the veggies, diff kind of eggs (there are 3 kinds, did you know that?!). We had a few Germans in our group who thought they were hilarious vit zer jokes. Ve say zom joke. No, youre not funny mate. Snore. Mal and I need to work on our tolerance, I am aware of this.
Anyway, as all this tom foolery was going on, I looked around the market and saw lsomething live jumping up and down in a bucket going mental. I soon realised they were live frogs as the market dear who was about 90 came over and grabbed a few from the bucket. Hey, steady you're hurting the frog dude! The frogs went mental as they were manhandled and put into a plastic bag. I know, a plastic bag - let them breathe for Christs sake! They were trying to get out of the bag in a last chance saloon kinda way. Yer wan showed no mercy and then completely out of the blue let out this mighty roar of a burp. Charming! I jumped it was that loud.And then I started to laugh. Had to muffle the laugh -the one teaching the course glared at me as she was teaching us about Bok Choi. The poor Frogs.
The cookery course was excellent. Learnt a good few more dishes that I'll sample at home. Homemade dipping sauce for spring rolls, Spicy papya salad and my fav chicken coconut soup. Its delish....There were a few yanks in our group aged from 40 to 60 and they all loved Mals accent, twas kinda funny actually. It was like he was Ricky Martin or something. Everytime he opened his mouth, they were drooling!! Oh my, you sound so gorgeous. Sure he loved it. Sure he was nearly singing them a ballad by the end of the day. I shouldnt take my handsome hubbies accent for granted I know.
6. The kids.
I love Thai kids. They're so so cute, so well behaved, so chilled out. I feel a 2011 calendar coming on.
7. The markets.
Cheap cheap, Happy howahh, goo plice. Thats literally all you hear. T-Shirts do amuse me. Cheapo tees but gas stuff on them. Starbucks 'may the froth be with you' , game over picture with a stick man and women getting married (mal thought this was hilarious, eh hello!) and so on. I am in my element with all the fake gucci, prada, hermes. Bliss. So mean though, Ive no room in my bag! Booooo. Dont have a drink and go shopping though. I did that one night and felt so sorry for the chick selling the stuff, she was from Burma and got smuggled into Thailand to make a living and I just wanted to take her home and make her a ham sandwich. I bought a fake prada wallet for 600 baht. I know. robbed. But I felt sorry for her! Lesson to be learnt. Dont drink and shop -just say no!
8. Phi Phi Island
Ah Phi Phi. People, you HAVE to go. Its lush. Tiny little island 2 hours boat journey from Phuket that is beautiful. We visited Maya beach which is the beach in 'The Beach' movie. Stunning but packed with jabroney tourists who packed the beach out. Us too, i know, i know. We also went snorkling as well as the old diving and it was equally as good. Phi Phi was flattened by the Tsunami in 2004 and lots of buildings are still left as they were which is very sad to see. But on a positive note, they've rebuilt a lot and tourism is flourishing. Go visit.
Like everything, you have to take the good with the bad dont you? Here's a few NOs for me.
Things I Dont like about Thailand.
1. Thai men with long nails.
Honestly, its not clever and its not flattering. It doesnt make their fingers look any longer. Only means they tend to get dirty quite easily. One word-Scissors.
2. Krusty backpackers in Thailand.
We are backpacking. WE are clean, we always wear clean clothes and we look CLEAN. So why oh why oh whyyyyy are there these 'type' of travellers (mostly from Israel as we've found out) who think its cool to wear droopy trousers that are basically skirts, arm pits that scream Gilette and dreads that look like they need a SHAMPOO not to mention 55 braclets up their arm (from every country Ive visitied....dude). It just cant be hygenic. Does anyone know the answer to this?!!
3. Loving the food but then wishing you didnt love it so much. Nuff said. We're fine again! And lost the few lbs we totally put on in Australia, hurray.
4. Airports in Bangkok.
Let me explain.
Mal and I spent a few days in Bangkok chilling out and then we flew to Phuket to get the boat out to Phi Phi. We arranged to get a minibus to the airport in Bangkok from our hotel on the Khao san road. Of course Mal comes out with the 'Ger' joke i.e our flight is at 11.45am. Sue are we getting the bus at 7am?! cheeky....we get the bus at 9am. It takes an hour. We're chatting to our fellow passengers on the bus about travels. Its all nice and chilled. I even sip a diet coke to refresh myself. Nice.
We get to the airport and load our bags onto the trolley and head indoors. We look at the flight screen. Where's our flight? Thats wierd, its not there. I ask someone and they look at me like Ive said howya whats the craic. They're thai and havent a rashers. We go to the flight desk. Yer one looks at our travel documents and comes out with the ultimate cracker.......'ohhhhhh zis is not aiport. you neeeee other airport. hurray you have ze no time' WTF we are in the WRONG airport!!!! We look at each other and then our watches. Its 10am. Our flight is at 11.45am and closes at 11am. How long does it take to the other airport - 1 OWAH......we crack up laughing and leg it out of the airport doing wheelies with our trolley as we leg it to the taxi rank shouting at the same time 'quick quick, go to airport please the other one' to some taxi dude whos looking at us.
In fairness to him, we jumped into the taxi and say 'step on it jackson' and he did. About 140 KPH. Legend. He kept shaking his head saying 'u crazy people, why wrong airport, I charge 900 baht yes!' ah jayssussssss. ok ok ok, just get us there for 11am and we pay 900 baht (so its only 22 quid but in relatively speaking in thailand, that is ridiculas, robbed! ). Gunter as I nicknamed him did us proud. I mean, we could hardly look with the beeping and swerving in and out of cars on Bangkoks version of the M50. Nice way to see the city! Every 10 mins or so, I'd ask Gunter 'so we get there on time yes?' and he's like 'oooooh, ze many traffic, I go fast but i dont know, I try, u krazy people'. Ah all we could do was fasten our seatbelts and laugh. You know what? We sped up to the other airport at 10.59am, I legged it in ran up to the desk and got us through. YESSS.
(footnote - Dont you think the minibus company should have ASKED everyone on board the name of the airport? Crazy. Our airport was the main one. Yeah, yeah, we should also have asked but we were going to Charles De Gaulle not the small teenchy Beavais. A classic thai moment - 'ah feck it we dont need to check anything really!')
5. Toilets on trekking.
We did a 2 night 3 day Trek in the jungle up in northern Thailand. Gillian McKeith I was not! It was an experience, ours was pretty average this time but having done one years ago (mals head is melted), it was brillo. Anyway Ill just make one point and say having one toilet is a man made hut for one village is not good. For anyone.
6. Germans and the locals.
Hairy Grandads in yellow budgie smugglers by the pool canoodling with skinny 16 year old local Thai girls is not cool. They are not your 'girlfriend' you have paid for that priviledge for a week. Its ming. Its horrible. Its pervy. Its gross. The budgie smugglers are bad enough but jaysis, the two together is just WRONG! Get your own girlfriend back in Frankfurt thats your own age and also free on the bus. Money, love does not buy, PAL. (I feel so bad for these gorgeous girls, dont do it, Run Forest Run!!)
So thats it for now peeps. We love it here. Its bliss. Very chilled out, easy peasy travelling the past few weeks and nice and relaxed.
Off to Cambodia for 5 days to catch up with Damien and Moira. Oh and see a few Temples...
Over and out for now. Kopkoonkah, Sawaadeykah Sue (and of course Mr. B) xx
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The land Down Under.....
So we've come to the end of our 3 weeks in the land Down Under.
All together now, 'I come from the land down underrrrr'.....
Oz has been my favorite place in the world since I was lucky to backpack here in 199/2000 and then come back again very briefly in 2003 before NZ and the Lions Tour.
I felt pretty lucky to be able to come back and sample ALL the things I did back in the day albeit a little bit older (ahem) and a bit more cash (yay). It was the hubbies first time in Oz and once I stopped wrecking his head by comparing virtually everything to the 'last time I was in Oz' (yep thats v interesting sue to hear about the convenience store that isnt there anymore) , he realised that it was a pretty deadly place! Of course there are changes to the place, there'd be something wrong if everything was still ticking along in the 2003 pace (somehow I doubt that right now) so having thought about it as I lay in the sun and worked on the tan the past few weeks (weather has been lush), here are a few comments about Ozzie life.
Backpackers
What has happened to the real backpackers? Its all gone tecno obsesive. They are WAY more sophisticated then when we did the backpacking thing. For starters, they all have laptops. I kid you not. Mal and I were like the ancient pikies heading to the internet cafe emailing mates on our hotmail. Oh its all facebook these days people. Eh, eh, eh! Many a time as we stolled past Maccers and as I fought the urge for a Big Mac, we saw up to 10, 12 people all looking into their laptops (free wifi at maccers) and not a peep out of them. It was a bit eerie actually. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned craic, the banter, the cracking up laughing in the internet cafes as friends read emails from pals at home?? Nope, just the silence and tap tap tap on the keyboard. Yeah, fun.
There also arent half as many backpackers traveling around Oz which surprised us. I guess a lot of it has to do with the dollar (brutal compared to years ago!) and the overall cost of living over here. I remember back in my day (see what poor Mal has had to live with), we could buy a 4 litre casket of wine (called Goon) for 8 bucks. Now its about 16......rip off!(but very necessary). We invested in the good stuff for 20 bucks. Classy!
Customer Service.
Suffice to say Australia has a fabulas mix of people adding fun, diversity and culture to the place. I also have a few aussie pals whom I would deem very intelligent so needless to say they are not included in this small percentage of aussies.
Right, that aside, I have let rip on some thoughts. I thought several times Jeremy Beadle was gonna pop his small hand out and wave a little flag at us -some of the situations we found ourselves in with these 'customer service agents' were unreal. Its a small bunch of people who work in customer service. Cousin Paul summed it up perfectly last night. He said its a mixture of them a) not knowing and b) not caring. In a nutshell, they dont give a shite! Need some examples? ok.....
Example no.1 - Tour Desk, Magnums Hostel, Magnetic Island, Queensland
susan - hi, can I ask you about scooters and how much they are to hire?
girl - awwww yeah. Silence.
susan - great, so do you know how much they are?
girl - danno mate. Im only new but hey I drove a scooter with my mum and sister in new zealand, it was awesome.My sister and I took one scooter and hey it was rad.
susan -amazing. So, can you find out for me how much they are on this island?
how about I pop back in 15 mins?
girl - eh? silence.
susan - fabulas, I'll be back in 15 thanks so much!
25 minutes later....
susan - hi, its me!
girl - God that was fast, I havent done anything about it yet.
susan - (thinking) oh sweet lantern you thicko. (says) ok, will I come back in 10 mins? Just the scooter prices thats all I need.
girl - Ill do my best dahl.
25 mins later.....I go back to the desk and I get the prices. Amen.
Example 2- Reception, Goldsborough apartments in Sydney where we stayed
Susan- ring, ring, hi is that recpetion? Yes hi, we're in room 506 and we've just checked in.
I notice that the sheet on the bed doesnt fit. The matress is showing and its not very nice - its got quite a few hairs on the matress and we cant sleep on this. Can you send someone up to change the sheet for me?>
Reception (chinese accent) - what u wan? ohhhh sleet? ok. You like sleet.
Susan -Yes, a new sheet please.
Reception - you room pease
Susan - Room506. Can this be done before we head to sleep tonight, that would be great. Thanks a lot.
4 hours later we come back.There is a new sheet on the bed but the very same size as the last one. It still doesnt fit. We throw the bed spread quilt over it and sleep on that.
God Ive loads more but I will spare ye. You catch my drift though. They are thick!
Ayers Rock
Its a rock! In the desert.
They make you join bus groups for sunrise and sunset (both freezing, bring layers) which cost $500 each over 3 days. Crikey....Mal and I were like 'meh' when we saw it. You cant climb it either. They say its for weather reasons but its to do with the Aboringines not wanting folk to climb it. Fair enough I suppose.
In between sunrise and sunset there was feck all to do so I sat by the pool and read.My advice? Only if you wanna.....only if you really wanna!
Sydney Bridge Climb
I adore Sydney. Its one of my favorite cities in the world. Mal and I decided to do the bridge climb in Sydney and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day as we went into the office in the Rocks at Circular Quay to do the paperwork before getting breathalized (i kid you not) and told to put on these smashing looking grey 1 pieces.
So we're sitting down in the office, concentration face filling out the form, about 24,000 miles from home and Mal turns to me and says 'ahhhh JAYSUS'. I turn around and Ronan 'the schmile on your face' Keating plus family are standing in the queue. With sunglasses on. Inside. Yes peeps, Ronan, all 5 ft 1 of him, 'im a celebrity for being a muppet' was doing the bridge climb. The same day as us. In his sunglasses. I felt such a yearning to run over & pull down his trackie bottoms! I know....agressive or what?! I decided not to but bloody hell though, Ro and gang got the VIP treatment and ushered in before us. I was NOT impressed.
Firslty no-one puts baby in the corner (sorry, wrong movie). I dont believe in queues (i know it sounds a bit poncy but I dont) and I dont believe in paying in after queing (to pubs and the like)
But I appreciate that everyone who HAS TO QUEUE should queue. Capiche?
Rant over, we got ourselves sorted and told to wait for our instructor called Kylie. Chirpy Kylie arrived with a Hey u guyyys, how are you going? in the strrrrongest aussie accesnt ever. We passed the breathalizer test (so mature) and off we went. As Ro has recently been a very bold boy (did the dirt with a lap dancer on the boyzone tour and his mrs left him before taking him back) I had hoped I might see wee Ro dangling by a few threads on the harbour bridge with Yvonne laughing evily, pair of scissors in her hand. No such luck!
The climb itself was awesome. Bit scary at times but very safe. You're harnessed in all the way and no chance of anything happening. The views of Circular Quay, Opera House, Manly, and all surrounding areas were just amazing. I did ask Kylie if she had had any suicide jumpers (I know, the gerbil in my brain) but I had the cop on to ask when we got back on dry land....just in case she thought I was a wierdo. So peeps, We'd deffo reccomend the climb if you venture to Sydney. Its quite pricey but once in a lifetime and well worth it.
Our Hotel in Sydney.
We were staying 2 more nights in Sydney before we headed off to Asia. We booked online a hotel and yes alarm bells should have begun right there and then when we read the name 'Posh Hotel'.
As we drove from the airport, we both had visions of a crusty warehouse with a big sign with 'suckers' written on the front! So when we got there and sure enough 'Posh Hostel' was there, we thought right happy days, bring on the 2 days in Sydney. Slightly scarlet about the name tho.
We were greeted by a grand asian guy who simply said NO when I asked him if we could be upgraded as we were on honeymoon (if you dont ask and all that!). We were given our key and got to the room. Gorgeous. Clean. Spacious and very modern. We had been so wrong about the hotel. High fived Mal and said right, quick head to the loo to freshen up .....eh, where the F is the bathroom??? There was none. Everyone had to share a bathroom on the floor. What?? Posh me arse.
Whatsmore, the loo, ah here. When you actually need to use the loo, there was a small gap in the door so everyone walking by could see you! Scarlet. I went down to reception to change room. No can do. Fully booked. Few tears from Sue (upset that my fav city and we had booked this pretend Hotel). I wasnt happy about it but I got over it. Word of warning, any slightest hunch that the Hotel you booked is not what it seems, DONT BOOK IT!
Overall though, Oz was fantastic. Going back visiting Harris St where I lived in Sydney, Seeing my cousin Paul and Kim, walking round Darling Harbour, seeing the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, getting the Manly Ferry, seeing an orange (snore) rock in the desert, diving in Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef, bombing around Magnetic Island in a topless tropical moke we named 'Terry'. It was ace.
Oz has become pricey for sure, but its a fab country, so much to see and do. Very friendly people and gorgeous sumemr weather in November! The fact that we could also fully communicate with people (after 2 months in South America) was also a dream. Love being able to chat...(tis true)
Thats all for now peeps, we are heading to Thailand in the morning. Back to us not having a rashers what the locals are saying and us likely ordering dog from the menu. We head to Bangkok and then to Phi Phi to dive, chill, visit 'that' beach (from The Beach) and work on the tan. It is a tough one, I know I know. ah we're making the most of it and getting along famously. Arent we hubbie?! We then fly to Chang Mai and then onto Camobdia into Ankor Wat where we're gonna hook up with D & Moira for a few days (hey guys, chat on facebook with details x)
More about the Thai thing as it happens.
love Sue & Brick 'squire' Bradley x
All together now, 'I come from the land down underrrrr'.....
Oz has been my favorite place in the world since I was lucky to backpack here in 199/2000 and then come back again very briefly in 2003 before NZ and the Lions Tour.
I felt pretty lucky to be able to come back and sample ALL the things I did back in the day albeit a little bit older (ahem) and a bit more cash (yay). It was the hubbies first time in Oz and once I stopped wrecking his head by comparing virtually everything to the 'last time I was in Oz' (yep thats v interesting sue to hear about the convenience store that isnt there anymore) , he realised that it was a pretty deadly place! Of course there are changes to the place, there'd be something wrong if everything was still ticking along in the 2003 pace (somehow I doubt that right now) so having thought about it as I lay in the sun and worked on the tan the past few weeks (weather has been lush), here are a few comments about Ozzie life.
Backpackers
What has happened to the real backpackers? Its all gone tecno obsesive. They are WAY more sophisticated then when we did the backpacking thing. For starters, they all have laptops. I kid you not. Mal and I were like the ancient pikies heading to the internet cafe emailing mates on our hotmail. Oh its all facebook these days people. Eh, eh, eh! Many a time as we stolled past Maccers and as I fought the urge for a Big Mac, we saw up to 10, 12 people all looking into their laptops (free wifi at maccers) and not a peep out of them. It was a bit eerie actually. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned craic, the banter, the cracking up laughing in the internet cafes as friends read emails from pals at home?? Nope, just the silence and tap tap tap on the keyboard. Yeah, fun.
There also arent half as many backpackers traveling around Oz which surprised us. I guess a lot of it has to do with the dollar (brutal compared to years ago!) and the overall cost of living over here. I remember back in my day (see what poor Mal has had to live with), we could buy a 4 litre casket of wine (called Goon) for 8 bucks. Now its about 16......rip off!(but very necessary). We invested in the good stuff for 20 bucks. Classy!
Customer Service.
Suffice to say Australia has a fabulas mix of people adding fun, diversity and culture to the place. I also have a few aussie pals whom I would deem very intelligent so needless to say they are not included in this small percentage of aussies.
Right, that aside, I have let rip on some thoughts. I thought several times Jeremy Beadle was gonna pop his small hand out and wave a little flag at us -some of the situations we found ourselves in with these 'customer service agents' were unreal. Its a small bunch of people who work in customer service. Cousin Paul summed it up perfectly last night. He said its a mixture of them a) not knowing and b) not caring. In a nutshell, they dont give a shite! Need some examples? ok.....
Example no.1 - Tour Desk, Magnums Hostel, Magnetic Island, Queensland
susan - hi, can I ask you about scooters and how much they are to hire?
girl - awwww yeah. Silence.
susan - great, so do you know how much they are?
girl - danno mate. Im only new but hey I drove a scooter with my mum and sister in new zealand, it was awesome.My sister and I took one scooter and hey it was rad.
susan -amazing. So, can you find out for me how much they are on this island?
how about I pop back in 15 mins?
girl - eh? silence.
susan - fabulas, I'll be back in 15 thanks so much!
25 minutes later....
susan - hi, its me!
girl - God that was fast, I havent done anything about it yet.
susan - (thinking) oh sweet lantern you thicko. (says) ok, will I come back in 10 mins? Just the scooter prices thats all I need.
girl - Ill do my best dahl.
25 mins later.....I go back to the desk and I get the prices. Amen.
Example 2- Reception, Goldsborough apartments in Sydney where we stayed
Susan- ring, ring, hi is that recpetion? Yes hi, we're in room 506 and we've just checked in.
I notice that the sheet on the bed doesnt fit. The matress is showing and its not very nice - its got quite a few hairs on the matress and we cant sleep on this. Can you send someone up to change the sheet for me?>
Reception (chinese accent) - what u wan? ohhhh sleet? ok. You like sleet.
Susan -Yes, a new sheet please.
Reception - you room pease
Susan - Room506. Can this be done before we head to sleep tonight, that would be great. Thanks a lot.
4 hours later we come back.There is a new sheet on the bed but the very same size as the last one. It still doesnt fit. We throw the bed spread quilt over it and sleep on that.
God Ive loads more but I will spare ye. You catch my drift though. They are thick!
Ayers Rock
Its a rock! In the desert.
They make you join bus groups for sunrise and sunset (both freezing, bring layers) which cost $500 each over 3 days. Crikey....Mal and I were like 'meh' when we saw it. You cant climb it either. They say its for weather reasons but its to do with the Aboringines not wanting folk to climb it. Fair enough I suppose.
In between sunrise and sunset there was feck all to do so I sat by the pool and read.My advice? Only if you wanna.....only if you really wanna!
Sydney Bridge Climb
I adore Sydney. Its one of my favorite cities in the world. Mal and I decided to do the bridge climb in Sydney and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day as we went into the office in the Rocks at Circular Quay to do the paperwork before getting breathalized (i kid you not) and told to put on these smashing looking grey 1 pieces.
So we're sitting down in the office, concentration face filling out the form, about 24,000 miles from home and Mal turns to me and says 'ahhhh JAYSUS'. I turn around and Ronan 'the schmile on your face' Keating plus family are standing in the queue. With sunglasses on. Inside. Yes peeps, Ronan, all 5 ft 1 of him, 'im a celebrity for being a muppet' was doing the bridge climb. The same day as us. In his sunglasses. I felt such a yearning to run over & pull down his trackie bottoms! I know....agressive or what?! I decided not to but bloody hell though, Ro and gang got the VIP treatment and ushered in before us. I was NOT impressed.
Firslty no-one puts baby in the corner (sorry, wrong movie). I dont believe in queues (i know it sounds a bit poncy but I dont) and I dont believe in paying in after queing (to pubs and the like)
But I appreciate that everyone who HAS TO QUEUE should queue. Capiche?
Rant over, we got ourselves sorted and told to wait for our instructor called Kylie. Chirpy Kylie arrived with a Hey u guyyys, how are you going? in the strrrrongest aussie accesnt ever. We passed the breathalizer test (so mature) and off we went. As Ro has recently been a very bold boy (did the dirt with a lap dancer on the boyzone tour and his mrs left him before taking him back) I had hoped I might see wee Ro dangling by a few threads on the harbour bridge with Yvonne laughing evily, pair of scissors in her hand. No such luck!
The climb itself was awesome. Bit scary at times but very safe. You're harnessed in all the way and no chance of anything happening. The views of Circular Quay, Opera House, Manly, and all surrounding areas were just amazing. I did ask Kylie if she had had any suicide jumpers (I know, the gerbil in my brain) but I had the cop on to ask when we got back on dry land....just in case she thought I was a wierdo. So peeps, We'd deffo reccomend the climb if you venture to Sydney. Its quite pricey but once in a lifetime and well worth it.
Our Hotel in Sydney.
We were staying 2 more nights in Sydney before we headed off to Asia. We booked online a hotel and yes alarm bells should have begun right there and then when we read the name 'Posh Hotel'.
As we drove from the airport, we both had visions of a crusty warehouse with a big sign with 'suckers' written on the front! So when we got there and sure enough 'Posh Hostel' was there, we thought right happy days, bring on the 2 days in Sydney. Slightly scarlet about the name tho.
We were greeted by a grand asian guy who simply said NO when I asked him if we could be upgraded as we were on honeymoon (if you dont ask and all that!). We were given our key and got to the room. Gorgeous. Clean. Spacious and very modern. We had been so wrong about the hotel. High fived Mal and said right, quick head to the loo to freshen up .....eh, where the F is the bathroom??? There was none. Everyone had to share a bathroom on the floor. What?? Posh me arse.
Whatsmore, the loo, ah here. When you actually need to use the loo, there was a small gap in the door so everyone walking by could see you! Scarlet. I went down to reception to change room. No can do. Fully booked. Few tears from Sue (upset that my fav city and we had booked this pretend Hotel). I wasnt happy about it but I got over it. Word of warning, any slightest hunch that the Hotel you booked is not what it seems, DONT BOOK IT!
Overall though, Oz was fantastic. Going back visiting Harris St where I lived in Sydney, Seeing my cousin Paul and Kim, walking round Darling Harbour, seeing the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, getting the Manly Ferry, seeing an orange (snore) rock in the desert, diving in Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef, bombing around Magnetic Island in a topless tropical moke we named 'Terry'. It was ace.
Oz has become pricey for sure, but its a fab country, so much to see and do. Very friendly people and gorgeous sumemr weather in November! The fact that we could also fully communicate with people (after 2 months in South America) was also a dream. Love being able to chat...(tis true)
Thats all for now peeps, we are heading to Thailand in the morning. Back to us not having a rashers what the locals are saying and us likely ordering dog from the menu. We head to Bangkok and then to Phi Phi to dive, chill, visit 'that' beach (from The Beach) and work on the tan. It is a tough one, I know I know. ah we're making the most of it and getting along famously. Arent we hubbie?! We then fly to Chang Mai and then onto Camobdia into Ankor Wat where we're gonna hook up with D & Moira for a few days (hey guys, chat on facebook with details x)
More about the Thai thing as it happens.
love Sue & Brick 'squire' Bradley x
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Cousin Paul & Sue on the Ferry to Manly - Aw yeah, no worries!
Met up with Paul & Kim when we got to Sydney. It was fab seeing them, their stunning home and just chillin out in true Aussie Style. Paul even threw a few snags (ok they were sausages) on the bahbie for brekkie. Love it. Had a ball with them and took in all the sights. Opera House (did a mad jet boat thing where we all got drenches, great craic!), Harbour Bridge, George St, Manly to name a few things....
Paul loves it in Sydney and you can see why. Kim and him are unreal workers but God its paid off, their house is fab and a real home. The aussie accent is coming along nicely for Paul and fair dinkim mate, being here 9 years is gonna do that to ya.....check out the vid!
(Meeting them for a belated birthday dinner on our last night in Syd next week after our Whitsundays trip) byeeeeee
Paul loves it in Sydney and you can see why. Kim and him are unreal workers but God its paid off, their house is fab and a real home. The aussie accent is coming along nicely for Paul and fair dinkim mate, being here 9 years is gonna do that to ya.....check out the vid!
(Meeting them for a belated birthday dinner on our last night in Syd next week after our Whitsundays trip) byeeeeee
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Steak, dog walkers and diego Tango dancers in Buenos Aires
So we have come to the end of the South America adventure. Its been very interesting, a few eye openers, a few GEL places and all in all great to have done it. Buenos Aires was our last city in South America and twas certainly different!
We had huge expectations of Buenos Aires as a city and expected to be bowled over but we just werent. I guess our first impressions didnt help seeing a gazillion bags of rotting smelly rubbish on the roads. Sexy time. Apparently there was a bin strike for the few days before we arrived and a few days after so the whole of the city kinda nasty - you can just imagine the smells. Gross. At least we were back to speaking spanish!
We stayed in a place called The Art Hostel and it twas actually a fab place to chill out. Staff were local artistes (mostly overtly gay and your very best friend, I loved them) and brillo for the fab local knowledge. I'd deffo recommend this place. Met some cool people had the craic, banter and few beers in the bar each night.
The great thing about Argentina is it is so so so cheap. Mal and I being the foodies that we are (My Dad has already asked me have I got fat. Cheers pops) we asked Carlos at reception for a recommendation of great food, not too expensive (bless our naivety) and good craic. He looked at us when we said '"craic" so we replaced that word with 'good atmosphere'. He got it. Much better.
Fair play to Carlos, talk about getting us spot on. The restaurant was called "Siga La Vacha".which in its literal translation is Follow the Cow. I didnt take it personally! The place had a queue out the door, it was that popular.Get this right, you pay 79 pesos which is 15 QUID and you get all the salad, ALL the type of meat - chicken, sausage, and then there was the STEAKS.......rump, striploin, sirlion, fillet....you name it, you could have it. Mal couldnt believe his eyes, I reckon he literally was the happiest man in BA that night. Whatsmore, along with the food they threw in home fries, desert, a bottle of house wine and any soft drinks.I swear to God, I fell out of the place like a roundy. I was like an oompah loompah except taller and no dodgy orange skin. The next night, we had another AMAZING Meal. 2 fillet steaks with all the trimmings, huge fresh salad, house bottle of red and some water. 20 QUID. WTF! I truly recommend people to experience the food, it has to be done.
Tour-wise, we did the open air bus which was fine for most except I got a gammy pair of earphones so that was kinda shite! We were driving past all these buildings thinking "oh that looks nice wonder what it is!!".
If you meet me when I get back, dont ask me about BA and where to go. Got on and off at various stops which was cool.
Interesting random fact - BA are big on dog walking!
(I have realised on the trip that I just love dogs. I really do)
The dog walking in BA is coz most people live in apartments so they hire people to walk their dogs when they are at work. Talk about a cushy job except the dog walkers are such skivers! They are always in the park chatting to their mates drinking coffee whilst brutus and God knows what other names go mental on the leash all tied up. The poor little mites.
We went to this park one morning, Mal was doing what every normal tourist does - taking pictures of buildings. I spot the dogs and I was off. Good luck with the buildings Mal, I'll be back in 20 mins...Next thing, I spotted 3 lazy dog walkers by a bench and their 36 dogs all tied up! No joke, doing the aul maths, I reckoned each dog walker had about 12 in tow. So the owners were sitting down drinking coffee, laughing and gossiping ignorning the fact that there were a million dogs going MENTAL around the mini park. I was in my element! Then I noticed a few dogs that werent let run free and were tied up. They were probably the ones who would leg it off. One poor fella was so excited to see his mate running around the park and clearly wanted to join in the fun. Despite being tied to the fence, he made a feeble attempt to jump it, free himself and off to his mate. Not so. As he was jumping his goolies got stuck in the leash. I felt his pain (even though I dont have goolies). It was one of those moments where I tried to shout but nothing came out! His dog walker was oblivious, too busy chatting to her mate. So mean. There I was looking at this grimmacing dog caught up in his leash by his argentinian goolies. How on earth was I gonna try to explain the poor fellas trauma in spanish to the dog walker? Imagine if I had gone up and pointed at the dogs swollen crown jewels! I'd have been locked up. So I did what every other Irish person did. Nothing! Well, No I ran over to Mal and told him the story, he broke his shite laughing which made it worse. And then we walked off. God I am terrible.
What else about BA. Oh yes, we went to an area called La Boca. Apparently home of a very famous football team and also a really poor area. Met this funniest impersonator of Diego Maradonna. Mal got the pic taken, must put it up on line. Will do, I promise! They are obsessed with Diego, the amount of tatoos I saw with the number 10. Hadnt a rashers until the penny dropped...ahaaa!
Also did a Tango lesson and went to a show. Yep feel free to slag the hubbie, ha ....Twas all part of the 'show'' and fair play, he got the steps right! Dont think we'll be on 'Dancing with the Stars' soon though. Jees, its harder than it looks, no wonder the celebs loose stones, the stress of it all. The show itself was authentic. Lots of Diegos jmping in the air with tight trousers (steady) , doing splits and very fast stamping on the ground. The chicks were amazing. Gorge tango dresses and shoes to match. I was in heaven. We went to see the Eva Peron museum. Quite interesting to learn all about her. She died at 32 which was mad wasnt it? Very young. Her clothes & shoe collection were all behind glass to see, pretty stunning and very modern for the age. Maybe we're going back to that age though.... Took some pics to give to a pal back home who designs shoes. I couldnt believe my ears when I heard some gobshite canadian behind me ask someone 'who is eva peron''. No words necessary.
So yeah all in all, we came, we saw and we ate! BA is a good place to visit for sure but I would deffo add another dimension to Argentina with your visit, such as Patagonia etc.
Feel really lucky to have visited quite a few countries of South America but definately would say we only touched on the surface of the few that we visited - Peru, Brazil and Argentina. They are so massive, you need way more time. Will we come back? Dunno....lots more in the world to see.
And onwards to Aussie, aw yeah mate. The longest flight in the world apparently. Buenos Aires to Sydney, just the 15 hours. Holy hit. Not nervous at all.(yeah rat). I'm told we fly over the south pole and cross 14 different time zones. God knows what state I'll be in when we land down under.
I come from the land down under, c'mon everyone!!
We had huge expectations of Buenos Aires as a city and expected to be bowled over but we just werent. I guess our first impressions didnt help seeing a gazillion bags of rotting smelly rubbish on the roads. Sexy time. Apparently there was a bin strike for the few days before we arrived and a few days after so the whole of the city kinda nasty - you can just imagine the smells. Gross. At least we were back to speaking spanish!
We stayed in a place called The Art Hostel and it twas actually a fab place to chill out. Staff were local artistes (mostly overtly gay and your very best friend, I loved them) and brillo for the fab local knowledge. I'd deffo recommend this place. Met some cool people had the craic, banter and few beers in the bar each night.
The great thing about Argentina is it is so so so cheap. Mal and I being the foodies that we are (My Dad has already asked me have I got fat. Cheers pops) we asked Carlos at reception for a recommendation of great food, not too expensive (bless our naivety) and good craic. He looked at us when we said '"craic" so we replaced that word with 'good atmosphere'. He got it. Much better.
Fair play to Carlos, talk about getting us spot on. The restaurant was called "Siga La Vacha".which in its literal translation is Follow the Cow. I didnt take it personally! The place had a queue out the door, it was that popular.Get this right, you pay 79 pesos which is 15 QUID and you get all the salad, ALL the type of meat - chicken, sausage, and then there was the STEAKS.......rump, striploin, sirlion, fillet....you name it, you could have it. Mal couldnt believe his eyes, I reckon he literally was the happiest man in BA that night. Whatsmore, along with the food they threw in home fries, desert, a bottle of house wine and any soft drinks.I swear to God, I fell out of the place like a roundy. I was like an oompah loompah except taller and no dodgy orange skin. The next night, we had another AMAZING Meal. 2 fillet steaks with all the trimmings, huge fresh salad, house bottle of red and some water. 20 QUID. WTF! I truly recommend people to experience the food, it has to be done.
Tour-wise, we did the open air bus which was fine for most except I got a gammy pair of earphones so that was kinda shite! We were driving past all these buildings thinking "oh that looks nice wonder what it is!!".
If you meet me when I get back, dont ask me about BA and where to go. Got on and off at various stops which was cool.
Interesting random fact - BA are big on dog walking!
(I have realised on the trip that I just love dogs. I really do)
The dog walking in BA is coz most people live in apartments so they hire people to walk their dogs when they are at work. Talk about a cushy job except the dog walkers are such skivers! They are always in the park chatting to their mates drinking coffee whilst brutus and God knows what other names go mental on the leash all tied up. The poor little mites.
We went to this park one morning, Mal was doing what every normal tourist does - taking pictures of buildings. I spot the dogs and I was off. Good luck with the buildings Mal, I'll be back in 20 mins...Next thing, I spotted 3 lazy dog walkers by a bench and their 36 dogs all tied up! No joke, doing the aul maths, I reckoned each dog walker had about 12 in tow. So the owners were sitting down drinking coffee, laughing and gossiping ignorning the fact that there were a million dogs going MENTAL around the mini park. I was in my element! Then I noticed a few dogs that werent let run free and were tied up. They were probably the ones who would leg it off. One poor fella was so excited to see his mate running around the park and clearly wanted to join in the fun. Despite being tied to the fence, he made a feeble attempt to jump it, free himself and off to his mate. Not so. As he was jumping his goolies got stuck in the leash. I felt his pain (even though I dont have goolies). It was one of those moments where I tried to shout but nothing came out! His dog walker was oblivious, too busy chatting to her mate. So mean. There I was looking at this grimmacing dog caught up in his leash by his argentinian goolies. How on earth was I gonna try to explain the poor fellas trauma in spanish to the dog walker? Imagine if I had gone up and pointed at the dogs swollen crown jewels! I'd have been locked up. So I did what every other Irish person did. Nothing! Well, No I ran over to Mal and told him the story, he broke his shite laughing which made it worse. And then we walked off. God I am terrible.
What else about BA. Oh yes, we went to an area called La Boca. Apparently home of a very famous football team and also a really poor area. Met this funniest impersonator of Diego Maradonna. Mal got the pic taken, must put it up on line. Will do, I promise! They are obsessed with Diego, the amount of tatoos I saw with the number 10. Hadnt a rashers until the penny dropped...ahaaa!
Also did a Tango lesson and went to a show. Yep feel free to slag the hubbie, ha ....Twas all part of the 'show'' and fair play, he got the steps right! Dont think we'll be on 'Dancing with the Stars' soon though. Jees, its harder than it looks, no wonder the celebs loose stones, the stress of it all. The show itself was authentic. Lots of Diegos jmping in the air with tight trousers (steady) , doing splits and very fast stamping on the ground. The chicks were amazing. Gorge tango dresses and shoes to match. I was in heaven. We went to see the Eva Peron museum. Quite interesting to learn all about her. She died at 32 which was mad wasnt it? Very young. Her clothes & shoe collection were all behind glass to see, pretty stunning and very modern for the age. Maybe we're going back to that age though.... Took some pics to give to a pal back home who designs shoes. I couldnt believe my ears when I heard some gobshite canadian behind me ask someone 'who is eva peron''. No words necessary.
So yeah all in all, we came, we saw and we ate! BA is a good place to visit for sure but I would deffo add another dimension to Argentina with your visit, such as Patagonia etc.
Feel really lucky to have visited quite a few countries of South America but definately would say we only touched on the surface of the few that we visited - Peru, Brazil and Argentina. They are so massive, you need way more time. Will we come back? Dunno....lots more in the world to see.
And onwards to Aussie, aw yeah mate. The longest flight in the world apparently. Buenos Aires to Sydney, just the 15 hours. Holy hit. Not nervous at all.(yeah rat). I'm told we fly over the south pole and cross 14 different time zones. God knows what state I'll be in when we land down under.
I come from the land down under, c'mon everyone!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)