Final Destination - Malaga, Spain

We had talked a lot about where to go after Australia, it was probably going to be our last destination of the trip so it had to be somewhere good. I had 1 priority - sun! Russell only really cared that it was somewhere new. With it now being June, Asia was in monsoon season so that was a no go really so we thought about Europe. After looking at lots of flights and weather websites I came up with the idea of Malaga in Spain. We both love Spain & have never been to Malaga. The thing that really swung it was that Russell's cousin Steve & his fiance Ursula & son Tristan were in Malaga until the end of June as Ursula is from Malaga, perfect. 

Melbourne, Victoria.

Chapter 1. Meat flavoured party pies.

I read about an official music walking tour (and pub crawl) around the 'legendary' live music hub, St Kilda. With a map that I had tattooed in a key of stars and other scribblings we hopped on the tram. Starting with pints of bulmers and blue moon at a chain British pub, Elephant and Wheelbarrow. Then we headed to the George Hotel, now a collection of bars and pubs. Back in the 1970's and 80's, it was a major punk-rock venue. We shared a jug of Carlton beer in The White Room. Next (and probably my favourite) was St Killda Cellars. It may be a bottle 'o' (bottle shop) but it is also a bar and live music venue. I ordered a pint and noticed the sign behind the bar that said "PARTY PIES - ONLY $1" Cat grabbed a bottle of cider from the fridge and arriving at the bar she asked the half cut barman what flavour was the party pie? He replied "meat flavoured"

Smashing Sydney

"Hey Russ. Guess who is playing Sydney Opera House when we are there?" Cat asked as I finally joined her, poolside in Bali. "Pixies!!" Sheeeeeeet! We're going. Tickets booked and as soon as I could say "where is my mind" we were sat in our seats waiting for our favourite band. Full of anticipation and drinking our pocket wine the band walked on stage. But not to a standing ovation? In fact when the opener had finished, still no one had stood up. Then the second song with the same response. I could see two girls downstairs stood at the side of their seats dancing. Screw this, we're off!

Weird Australia

Tiny man in a tree

Home and unpacked. Real life isn't all its cracked up to be.

Preparing for Glastonbury Festival is helping. I wrote the following three posts while travelling around Australia. Here is the first one. 

Winter is in June and the water drains anti clockwise in a sink. Wolloomoollo? Who came up with these? Fannie bay? Booby island?? The street names are just as funny, Batman Avenue!! There are more deadly snakes here than the whole world combined. You can't walk into a supermarket and buy alcohol. You have to buy it at designated stores called Bootle-O's. They have drive through Bottles-O's. Seriously. Drive through?! The beaches and oceans are beautiful but off limits in half of them. If you are not stung to death by box jellyfish the crocodiles will eat a piece of you (crocs in the sea?) You can't take alcohol into a hostel in Darwin but you can take it into the Sydney opera house (hidden in your bag of course). You can pick up a very drinkable bottle of wine for $5 which is the same price as a 350ml bottle of domestic beer. When the country was becoming a country the people in charge could not decide on which city should be its capital. Deadlocked between the two only real contenders - Sydney or Melbourne. They grabbed a map and put a pin in the middle of the two and that's how the tiny farming town of Canberra became the capital of Australia.

Cairns, Queensland. Australia

We decided to go to Cairns & stay for 5 nights for 2 reasons - 1)The Great Barrier Reef 2) The weather. The weather was supposed to be nice in Cairns, in fact, they call it the sunshine state. I had a bit of a tantrum when we landed to grey skies & pouring rain.

Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Chapter 1. Give it some vegemite!

Mike of Mike's Whips must have gone to the David Beckham school of speaking. Amusing and strange were his soft tones. Volunteers lined up to crack whips. With one hand on their hips the other hand twirling a whip above their heads and Mike whispering instructions. "That's it mate, nah win the whip is behind ya hid pull it down towards the graand and behind ya. That's it mate. Nearly, nah give it some vegemite!

Birthday girl in Bali

We arrived in Bali 5 days before my birthday and every day felt like a birthday to me. Russell worked really hard to make sure I enjoyed the last few days of my 20's. He bought me presents & a Shellac manicure & pedicure, we ate at places I wanted to go to & we basically did what I wanted to do. Great way to see out my 20's.

Bali. Surfs up.

The beach is a little dirty. The sand has a muddy feel to it and the sea resembles the sea of Blackpool. But, the surf is good! Gnarly waves beat the hell out of me. I caught a few and loved it. My shorts and chest were badly damaged. Possibly by a shark. Possibly by the board.

Well over due Review

Believe it or not I haven't done a month review since 22nd March. I'm totally blaming it on crappy wifi, I have tried a few times to do it but haven't been able to. So I'm going to do a review from 22nd March to now. Then I guess the next one I do will be when we're back in sunny Leeds in the middle of June (ish).

Boracay - sunsets, beaches, eggs & more sunsets

Boracay was the reason we went to the Philippines, I had heard about the beautiful beaches & best sunsets in the world. The main beach most stay on is called White Beach & has 3 areas - Station 1, 2 & 3. Station 1 is the more expensive, luxurious accommodation, Station 2 is the mid-range area where most of the bars & restaurants are and Station 3 is cheaper & quieter. We chose to stay on Station 3 & we're glad we did. We walked to Station 2 each night along the beach for food & drinks but wouldn't have wanted to stay there - you could hardly move on the path it was so busy.

Peurto Galera

We were supposed to fly straight out of Manila to Boracay but had a change of heart last minute & decided to check out Puerto Galera which was just a 2 hour bus ride & then a 2 hour boat ride from Manila. There are 2 main areas in PG - Sabang & White Beach. We couldn't decide between the 2 so decided to do both as they're quite near to each other.

Philippines. Manila all filler, no thriller.

You will find yourself in Manila whether you like it or not if you travel to the Philippines. All roads lead to Manila. We have seen the capital three time in less than a month. The first impressions of Manila were all good. The customs guys were cool about the bullet keyring and the man inside the currency exchange kiosk said that I looked like Kurt Cobain. Nice compliment, but a lie. Leaving the airport with poverty under the cover of darkness. I found myself surrounded by all these stretched super shiny Jeeps. Manila's most popular form of public transport. The Jeepney.

Singapore. Day Four and Five.

Singapore has the coolest Chinatown we have ever seen. Home to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It's an impressive looking multi storied temple that has Buddha's tooth encased in a golden box which can be viewed via video link on an LCD TV. Very strange. There is also this 'secret rooftop garden' & giant prayer wheel. I'd read about the 'secret garden' & it had a sign pointing the way. Huge secret. We got lost around level 3 or 4 & walked around places where I don't think we should have been. It was pretty cool. Unlocking doors and walking outside onto the balcony facing Chinatown's Food Complex. I could see people playing chess & others taking a nap on the tiled benches. We lit Joss sticks & made a little prayer. I always find the offerings to Buddha very interesting. Strawberry Fanta must be a favourite of his as half empty cans are always at these shrines. Skittles was a new one.

Singapore. Day three.

We were centrally located near Bugis Junction. It was a cool area full of boutique shops. Private A/C room for £25 a night, which was much lower than any other accommodation that we could find. Too good to be true? Yeah. We didn't have a bathroom. The website was a little misleading to say the least. The shared bathroom was down a long flight of stairs. Bit of a pain but no big deal.

Singapore. Day one and two.

The Republic of Singapore is a sovereign city-state and island below Malaysia. It is one of the most densely populated countries on planet Earth. It is only 55km from one side to the other. It is unlike any other Southeast Asian country I have ever seen. And because of that, it is such a nice break from Southeast Asia. It is cleaner than clean. Someone told me that chewing gum is outlawed. The streets, the parks are flawless. Its public transport is brilliant! the MRT (Tube, Subway, whatever) is cheap and super convenient. Riding around all day for both of us on single ride tickets never cost any more than 10 Singapore dollars, which is about £5. The landscape of the country is amazing. The architecture is really cool and the public parks are so trippy.

Misery Business - Singapore Changi Airport

Singapore's Changi Airport is in the business of misery. We have flown in & out & both times were possibly the most frustrating & stressful times of our travels. Singapore is like a perfect city - so clean and sparkly but full of rules that must be adhered to, so I guess to keep it that way the airport has to be the same.

Hanoi. Vietnam.

Hanoi was the end of our Vietnamese tour and it started with a nineteen hour bus journey. The first four hours were on a rickety old bus with no A/C and broken chairs. The next fifteen hours were on the top bunk of a sleeper bus. Comfort was far from mine. At 5am three hours before we arrived in Hanoi the douchebag driver decided to replay the travel 'entertainment' which was the Vietnamese version of Pop Idol. At maximum volume. Shortly after this it started to rain. It didn't stop raining for a further five hours. I had been wondering where all this Vietnamese rain was. We found it in Hanoi.

Hoy! Hoi An, Vietnam.

I was recommended a vegetarian restaurant & place to stay by a Dutch guy on the booze cruise. After walking in circles for about an hour, while being offered tailor made suits by ladies on bicycles, we finally found the restaurant. We ate here 19 times & even did a cooking class. We have been meaning to do a cooking class since India but it just never happened.

Nha Trang, Little Moscow. Vietnam.

On the South China Sea. With a full band behind us we sang Wonderwall. The booze cruise was almost in full swing. The band knew a song for every country & we all took turns at embarrassing ourselves. With a floating bar in the middle of the sea. Trying to anchor yourself onto the bar with your feet & getting the next rum & pineapple 'cocktail' without getting any sea water in your plastic cup was not as easy as it sounds. Oh, and all the while, getting stung by jellyfish.

Delightful Da lat, Vietnam.

Loaded with a map that had been photocopied one hundred times and looked like an old man's tattoo, we headed out regardless. In search of Hằng Nga. Popularly known as the “Crazy House”. With lots of local help we found the Crazy House & it did live up to its name. Along the way we stopped for brunch at a street vendor. We bought baguettes with laughing cow cheese. Baguette, salad, one triangle of laughing cow cheese & sugar. SUGAR!? What the hell. All the sugar in my sandwich had gathered at one end. Half of the the sandwich was a regular cheese & salad the other was a doughnut.