Get the Elton John reference?! Yes, that's right, I went to see Elton John on Sunday and it was a massive highlight of another absolutely amazing weekend in Melbourne. I've had some awesome adventures over the last few weeks and actually become a tourist and taken some photos, which is rather unusual for me.
So my life over the last 4 weeks starts with a girl called Maddie. We work together in a call centre in North Richmond and when we met we just clicked. After getting to know her, and her sense of humour, I decided that she is me but born on the opposite side of the world, and straight edged, subtle yet oh so vital differences! We both love Westlife, and boybands in general, have a random as hell sense of fun and like to push a joke to the absolute limit of bad taste. She invited me down to hang out on the Eastside of Melbourne since I had spent all my time in the North and West so a few weeks ago I get on the train and mission down to Oakleigh. Once there I had a whirlwind of meeting new people, her sister and boyfriend Bianca and Allan, her brother and his girlfriend Tyson and Bianca, not her boyfriend Charlie and her mates Adin and Niraj. Now I'm not quite sure how it happened but somehow we ended up going for a drive to a street called Pin Oak Court. Normal suburban street in the Southern suburbs it would seem, except that I have seen the street many, many times. Every night of my childhood at 5.35pm on BBC1 to be precise. Yes, they had only gone and taken me to bloody Ramsay Street! I ran around like a child and got Raj to take tourist photos of me, he seemed extremely impressed with this!
It was also Raj's birthday that weekend so we ended up drinking and cruising around Melbourne until the wee hours and the next morning, or late afternoon to be more accurate, it was decided I would be taken to the Dandenong Mountains to a viewpoint up there! On the way I was having a bit of a moan about wanting a picture of me with a kangaroo warning sign and lo and behold we turn the next corner and there is a kangaroo sign ripe for the photo taking! T'was fate and once again Raj was photographer and I had a new profile picture for Facebook... The viewpoint was stunning with lovely views all over the city and it was a beautiful way to round off an extremely memorable and happy weekend...
Since that weekend I have been variously taken to - the Melbourne F1 track and had my picture taken on the podium, an array of beaches both in the East and West, seen a pigeon sized dog, been to Frankston, Oliver's Hill, got pulled over by the police with Maddie at the wheel of an interlocked car, driven to the Mornington Peninsular, been up to Arthur's Seat, got confused at Dandenong Market and been driven god knows how many hundreds of kms! It has been the most amazing few weeks and the company has made it all the more special. I never expected to do much tourist stuff here but I've had immense amounts of fun being shown around by the locals.
Australia was always meant to be a very functional part of my travels, I came here to make money and save to be able to travel again. Obviously I was going to have a life and hang out with mates but there have been some very unexpected turns of events which has taken my happiness levels to new heights. And to see Elton John live... Just tops it off! I was sooooo close to him, like mere feet away from a living legend! My seat was on the floor 15 rows from the front and I was impressed with that. Then about half way through his three hour set we were allowed to go up to the front of the stage and hell yeah I was there with bells on! I've been saying a lot recently about how much I want to dance the night away and I dam straight I get my wish at the gig! I was on my own and was boogying away like my life depended on it. Oh, and when I left my mate Raj randomly turns up to give me a lift home, unexpected kindness always touches me and I was made up when he let me blast Elton in the car on the way home when we were giving a lift to some randoms!
I'm having an amazing time, and long may it continue. The people I have come to know are great, and even though Maddie is off on her own travels around Asia I feel so lucky that she brought me into her life and has shared the special people in it with me. The trajectory I have ended up on is scary, exciting and interesting, watch this space!
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Nearly nine things after nearly nine months...
Can't quite get over how long it's been since I wrote anything on this blog! Whilst in Malaysia some pretty negative stuff happened in my life and I needed to get my head around it myself and couldn't share what was going on. Rest assured I have considered blogging quite a few times so here are some things that I've thought about on my travels...
1) Melbourne is the City of Benches. I think. Upon arrival in Australia it was decided, due to the extortionate price of cigarettes I would be a rollies smoker. Even though I had promised myself I would quit smoking if I was too poor to smoke normal ciggies, in Australia I am by no means on the bread line (anymore...) but baccy is conducive to saving money. Being a rollies smoker I have begun to need to take a perch occasionally to roll one, and there are benches everywhere! Maybe it's because I've got a use for somewhere to sit more frequently but I swear I've been anywhere with this many benches! Such an interesting observation to kick off with...
2) Bali is an Australian colony. Or it may as well be, it was like going to Benidorm on the way to the UK as a cultural introduction to the way Brits work. I lost count of the amount of times I had to say 'I'm not Australian' when bartering and trying desperately not to get ripped off. I had AUD$5 to live off every day after I had paid my accommodation and that is not a lot in a super tourist area, lucky I could speak Bahasa Indonesian enough to get across the point I am not a rich Aussie but a poor backpacker who had been living, working and earning in Malaysia so was as poor as the locals! It was an interesting experience, and got an amazing tattoo - 'The People You Love Become Ghosts Inside Of You And In This Way You Keep Them Alive' in my own handwriting, going down my spine. I love the sentiment, and means so much when I spend such a massive amount of time leaving behind amazing people and trying to take just a little bit of them away with me.
3) I have pretty darn good survival skills! I might not be able to survive in the outback, or jungle, or on a desert island, or anywhere that you may actually need to survive, but I'm alive and in Melbourne! I landed in Perth airport with $10 in assorted currencies, none of the Aussie Dollars, and a hell of a lot of hope and trust in the universe. After two weeks of living in a mates camper van and about a month couch surfing with a rather random Malay dude, I've managed to get a job that I'm good at and enjoy, I have a home and a whole life and shiz. Pretty proud of myself for being able to sort my life out without having to even try too much.
4) Ask the universe and it will provide. I have become a massive believer in Karma this year, and not that 'hope Karma will come and bite you in the ass' type stuff because that just goes against what Karma is about. I believe that if you ask the universe for something, and it comes from a place of love and happiness and with no greed, then you will get what you want. Whether it's blue hair dye, going to a bush doof, getting a picture with a kangaroo warning sign, or just to be happy, I have asked for all of this and I have received it, in the case of happiness I've got it in bucket loads! It feels like all the little thing I have done to help people, to be there for them and stuff is all coming back to me and the best thing is being a good person doesn't seem to be something I have to work at...
5) My capacity for change is far beyond what I ever thought it could be. In the last year and half, since I left the UK, I have changed more than I think at any other point in my life. Physically I've lost about 30kg or around 5 stone in weight and have dreadlocks, emotionally I have grown and developed to be able to understand myself and others more, I have seen stuff, done stuff and learned stuff that I would never have considered (knitting for example) and all without making any concious effort. Therefore I have decided to actually try and change stuff, so I've taken up learning Poi. I said ages ago in Malaysia that I couldn't do it and it was the type of thing that I couldn't do. Well having done a hell of a lot of stuff that I don't do, I thought why not give it a go. It's hard but it will be so rewarding when I can do it, and rock up to a bush doof and dance with fire.
6) Melbourne is full of crazy, strange, weird and wonderful people. I am one of them! Ego aside, this is a proper funky city, smack heads will chat to you on the train, homeless people will give you a personalised rap for a dollar, yarn bombing is normal, no one looks twice at my dreadlocks, everything is just normal! I've met more people than I can mention in one post although I'm sure I'll get round to one of them 'People I've Met' blogs at some point...
7) You can rock up to the Ramsay Street set at 6pm on a Saturday evening, park on it, and get a your mate to take pictures of you in front of the houses and drive away without anyone batting an eye lid. Amazing. You can also rock up to the F1 track, after cruising around it, and get a picture on the podium and there is no one else there at 2pm to give a dam about it.
8) No matter how far away from home you get you can still meet people who are just like yourself. I find it so hard to believe that there are people in Australia who get my weird sense of humour. I've figured out that people in Ormskirk have a very specific sense of humour and way of doing things that I have brought with me on my travels, and the people I've been hanging round with get it. Or tolerate it. Or ignore it and still like me. Either way, I have a massive appreciation for the great people back home and the strangeness that still binds us together no matter how far away we may be.
9) I have used up all inspiration. It's 10.30am so I forgive myself.
I will blog more! I've met an amazing friend who I've been hanging out with a lot over the last few weeks and he asked if I kept a diary or anything. Would have been impressive to point him to a well updated blog, but alas it was not possible... It kicked in my guilt though so JoBodia is back in your life!
1) Melbourne is the City of Benches. I think. Upon arrival in Australia it was decided, due to the extortionate price of cigarettes I would be a rollies smoker. Even though I had promised myself I would quit smoking if I was too poor to smoke normal ciggies, in Australia I am by no means on the bread line (anymore...) but baccy is conducive to saving money. Being a rollies smoker I have begun to need to take a perch occasionally to roll one, and there are benches everywhere! Maybe it's because I've got a use for somewhere to sit more frequently but I swear I've been anywhere with this many benches! Such an interesting observation to kick off with...
2) Bali is an Australian colony. Or it may as well be, it was like going to Benidorm on the way to the UK as a cultural introduction to the way Brits work. I lost count of the amount of times I had to say 'I'm not Australian' when bartering and trying desperately not to get ripped off. I had AUD$5 to live off every day after I had paid my accommodation and that is not a lot in a super tourist area, lucky I could speak Bahasa Indonesian enough to get across the point I am not a rich Aussie but a poor backpacker who had been living, working and earning in Malaysia so was as poor as the locals! It was an interesting experience, and got an amazing tattoo - 'The People You Love Become Ghosts Inside Of You And In This Way You Keep Them Alive' in my own handwriting, going down my spine. I love the sentiment, and means so much when I spend such a massive amount of time leaving behind amazing people and trying to take just a little bit of them away with me.
3) I have pretty darn good survival skills! I might not be able to survive in the outback, or jungle, or on a desert island, or anywhere that you may actually need to survive, but I'm alive and in Melbourne! I landed in Perth airport with $10 in assorted currencies, none of the Aussie Dollars, and a hell of a lot of hope and trust in the universe. After two weeks of living in a mates camper van and about a month couch surfing with a rather random Malay dude, I've managed to get a job that I'm good at and enjoy, I have a home and a whole life and shiz. Pretty proud of myself for being able to sort my life out without having to even try too much.
4) Ask the universe and it will provide. I have become a massive believer in Karma this year, and not that 'hope Karma will come and bite you in the ass' type stuff because that just goes against what Karma is about. I believe that if you ask the universe for something, and it comes from a place of love and happiness and with no greed, then you will get what you want. Whether it's blue hair dye, going to a bush doof, getting a picture with a kangaroo warning sign, or just to be happy, I have asked for all of this and I have received it, in the case of happiness I've got it in bucket loads! It feels like all the little thing I have done to help people, to be there for them and stuff is all coming back to me and the best thing is being a good person doesn't seem to be something I have to work at...
5) My capacity for change is far beyond what I ever thought it could be. In the last year and half, since I left the UK, I have changed more than I think at any other point in my life. Physically I've lost about 30kg or around 5 stone in weight and have dreadlocks, emotionally I have grown and developed to be able to understand myself and others more, I have seen stuff, done stuff and learned stuff that I would never have considered (knitting for example) and all without making any concious effort. Therefore I have decided to actually try and change stuff, so I've taken up learning Poi. I said ages ago in Malaysia that I couldn't do it and it was the type of thing that I couldn't do. Well having done a hell of a lot of stuff that I don't do, I thought why not give it a go. It's hard but it will be so rewarding when I can do it, and rock up to a bush doof and dance with fire.
6) Melbourne is full of crazy, strange, weird and wonderful people. I am one of them! Ego aside, this is a proper funky city, smack heads will chat to you on the train, homeless people will give you a personalised rap for a dollar, yarn bombing is normal, no one looks twice at my dreadlocks, everything is just normal! I've met more people than I can mention in one post although I'm sure I'll get round to one of them 'People I've Met' blogs at some point...
7) You can rock up to the Ramsay Street set at 6pm on a Saturday evening, park on it, and get a your mate to take pictures of you in front of the houses and drive away without anyone batting an eye lid. Amazing. You can also rock up to the F1 track, after cruising around it, and get a picture on the podium and there is no one else there at 2pm to give a dam about it.
8) No matter how far away from home you get you can still meet people who are just like yourself. I find it so hard to believe that there are people in Australia who get my weird sense of humour. I've figured out that people in Ormskirk have a very specific sense of humour and way of doing things that I have brought with me on my travels, and the people I've been hanging round with get it. Or tolerate it. Or ignore it and still like me. Either way, I have a massive appreciation for the great people back home and the strangeness that still binds us together no matter how far away we may be.
9) I have used up all inspiration. It's 10.30am so I forgive myself.
I will blog more! I've met an amazing friend who I've been hanging out with a lot over the last few weeks and he asked if I kept a diary or anything. Would have been impressive to point him to a well updated blog, but alas it was not possible... It kicked in my guilt though so JoBodia is back in your life!
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Dreads!!!
I had an epic night last night. Not epic as in amazing, just epic as in the normal sense of the word. Seven hours of hard, painstaking and sometimes painful work to put dreadlocks into the hair of one of my friends.
He's been growing his hair for a few months and I remember a while back I said I would do his dreads for him but I'm pretty sure I meant it in jest. when I got back to town I offered again not really expecting him to take me up on the offer. Then a couple of days ago he said he wanted them doing so we arranged it for last night. Having never done a full head of dreads from scratch I tried to overestimate the time and said about 6 hours. How wrong I was.
I went round at about midnight and he had just had a shower so we had to wait for his hair to dry. I explained some rules before I started that Winter had laid down for me... No wax, that is cheating and not proper dreadlocks. No shaving them off or taking them out in any way for a long long time, this is a big commitment. You have to name your fatty dread, it's not normally intentional to do a fatty it just kind of happens but it must have a name (FYI I don't have enough dreads for there to be a fatty but my favourite dread is called Patrick, as in Spongebob and Patrick). You have to learn to look after them, all the work that goes into them it's a shame for them to come out...
Rules laid down and we began at about 12.30am... The first one was a bit skinny, I had underestimated how much hair would need to go into the dread but for my first ever attempt at a dread with no prior work it came out pretty darn good. It wasn't the most comfortable of situations, I had made him sit on the floor and I was on the edge of his bed so the aching back set in pretty quickly. Doing the needle work is painstaking but enjoyble because it's an instant result, the figuring out of the placement of the dreads in a bit of a pain. You don't want them to be too uniform because that would look stupid, but there needs to be a neatness to is so when you weave your roots you're not going to put hair in the wrong dread and have them all mesh together...
Die Hard 2, Labyrinth, Back to the Future, classic films that passed the time even if I was watching them through squinting, sore eyes obscured by a mass of thick, curly black hair! This was probably the first time we had watched films together and neither of us fell asleep before the end, as much as I wanted to at some points... It got to about four dreads for the end and I swear he fell asleep resting his head on my leg as I was dreading the other side, the 'just resting my eyes' excuse was pulled out but I wasn't buying it. The last few were painful, I'd lost count of the amount of times I jabbed the needle right into my finger and there is definitely some of my blood in those locks.
Then it was finished. Everything ached, sore arse, numb arms, frozen back, aching and bloodied fingers. But it was worth it because they look pretty darn immense even if I do say so myself. The one right at the front needs weaving down a bit because it sticks up a wee bit too much and some of the ends need rounding off a little bit more but that will only take an hour or so and can be done over time. I crashed out pretty much stright away after sunrise about 7.20am and was awoken with him taking my lunch order and coming back with food for my poor aching body! I swear I will not be doing that again in a hurry but I'm glad I got to do something really cool for a very good friend who needed cheering up!
He's been growing his hair for a few months and I remember a while back I said I would do his dreads for him but I'm pretty sure I meant it in jest. when I got back to town I offered again not really expecting him to take me up on the offer. Then a couple of days ago he said he wanted them doing so we arranged it for last night. Having never done a full head of dreads from scratch I tried to overestimate the time and said about 6 hours. How wrong I was.
I went round at about midnight and he had just had a shower so we had to wait for his hair to dry. I explained some rules before I started that Winter had laid down for me... No wax, that is cheating and not proper dreadlocks. No shaving them off or taking them out in any way for a long long time, this is a big commitment. You have to name your fatty dread, it's not normally intentional to do a fatty it just kind of happens but it must have a name (FYI I don't have enough dreads for there to be a fatty but my favourite dread is called Patrick, as in Spongebob and Patrick). You have to learn to look after them, all the work that goes into them it's a shame for them to come out...
Rules laid down and we began at about 12.30am... The first one was a bit skinny, I had underestimated how much hair would need to go into the dread but for my first ever attempt at a dread with no prior work it came out pretty darn good. It wasn't the most comfortable of situations, I had made him sit on the floor and I was on the edge of his bed so the aching back set in pretty quickly. Doing the needle work is painstaking but enjoyble because it's an instant result, the figuring out of the placement of the dreads in a bit of a pain. You don't want them to be too uniform because that would look stupid, but there needs to be a neatness to is so when you weave your roots you're not going to put hair in the wrong dread and have them all mesh together...
Die Hard 2, Labyrinth, Back to the Future, classic films that passed the time even if I was watching them through squinting, sore eyes obscured by a mass of thick, curly black hair! This was probably the first time we had watched films together and neither of us fell asleep before the end, as much as I wanted to at some points... It got to about four dreads for the end and I swear he fell asleep resting his head on my leg as I was dreading the other side, the 'just resting my eyes' excuse was pulled out but I wasn't buying it. The last few were painful, I'd lost count of the amount of times I jabbed the needle right into my finger and there is definitely some of my blood in those locks.
Then it was finished. Everything ached, sore arse, numb arms, frozen back, aching and bloodied fingers. But it was worth it because they look pretty darn immense even if I do say so myself. The one right at the front needs weaving down a bit because it sticks up a wee bit too much and some of the ends need rounding off a little bit more but that will only take an hour or so and can be done over time. I crashed out pretty much stright away after sunrise about 7.20am and was awoken with him taking my lunch order and coming back with food for my poor aching body! I swear I will not be doing that again in a hurry but I'm glad I got to do something really cool for a very good friend who needed cheering up!
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Taipusam... Amaze!
I only ever seem to blog about Hindu festivals but I think it's because they're the most open and public and tend to get out on the streets to celebrate. Muslims tend to be reserved with their celebrations doing them mainly at home and Buddhists seem to concentrate theirs at temples.
From what I can gather Taipusam is a big prayer day asking for good luck and stuff. I know that's vague but from what I've read online and been told by friends it celebrates different things. This is what Wiki says about it - 'Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan.' This dance and carrying the Kavadi is what I saw today and it was pretty special.
I hitched down to Ringlet where the local parade was going on and wasn't sure what to expect. I know it Kuala Lumpur the festival is massive and the Kavadis are really elaborate and they do extreme piercings but I wasn't sure what a small town would be doing and if I was going to see any piercing. I love watching piercings and tattoos to try and understand how other people deal with pain, I 'zone out', just think about different things because I believe pain is mind over matter and if you don't think about it then you can't feel it.
When we arrived town looked pretty quiet and I thought it could be a bit of disappointment... We were told to walk 500m down the road and we would see the start of the festival and when we got there we saw some men praying wearing traditional dress and I was a bit bummed out, I want piercings and music!! I wasn't disappointed and a big Kavadi turned up covered in peacock feathers with a Hindu deity on the top, not sure which one and I wouldn't want to guess, but it was really elaborate and beautiful. A man turned up as well who looked pretty hardcore, long hair, tattoos and there seemed to just be an aura about him that said this dude means business.
After some prayers and offerings the action really got going and the man who was going to carry to peacock feather and deity contraption sat down under the harness and some other men started to hook the end of small chains through his upper arms. The hooks looked pretty thin and I don't think they would have hurt too much but he also looked like he was in a trance. From what I know people who do this will meditate and go into a sort of trance like state so they block out the pain, kind of how I deal with this stuff. After the hooks went through his arms the serious stuff started and he was pierced through his cheeks horizontally and then the tip of his tongue was pierced with a spear about 6 inches long so he couldn't put his tongue back in. It looked amazing and he didn't show any signs of pain and there didn't seem to be any blood. He started dancing and slowly made his way down the little hill and onto the road on the way to the temple.
Next was the dude who had the aura, he was getting limes attached to his back with similar little hooks, a row across his shoulders and a cluster near the bottom of his back. There seems to be a considerable weight on the hooks and when he stood up the skin visibly stretched. It looked amazing, the way someone would go through that for what they believe in. When he stood up he began to bless people, Hindus would kneel at his feet and stand up and have red powder pressed on their foreheads and Chinese would bow with their palms together and get the same red powder. This really struck me that the two religions and cultures would respect each other so much and allow each other to join in. After this a Chinese man with obviously Buddhist tattoos got his cheeks and tongue pierced and three spears through his forehead. The next Chinese man got spears with what looked like pretty heavy heads on put through the flesh on his neck and one in each bicep and forearm. When he was getting pierced the men doing it would spit orange juice on the wounds, I assume this is for antiseptic properties, it did look pretty minging though.
I can't figure out what the Chinese element of this was, three of them got pierced in total and some others had big axes that they were having knocked into their bellies, not enough to cut them but enough to leave marks. They weren't Hindu because as I say they had obviously Buddhist tattoos and I've asked a couple of Chinese people and they're not sure what I'm on about. If I find out I assure you I'll let you know!
After all the piercing excitement everyone started to walk towards town. The man with the limes had his whole face covered in the red powder he was blessing people with and kept stopping and dancing in the street with a massive staff he was carrying. It looked amazing if a little scary, I nearly got hit with the staff a couple of times! When we got to town there was another Chinese man who at first was rolling about on the floor getting soaked in water then he stood up and got a sword and started cutting his tongue. Not sure why, looked a bit scary so I went and follwed Lime Man again. When it got to about 1pm I thought I had seen enough of what I wanted to see and decided to hitch home.
It was an amazing experience and I'm rather glad I was in a small town to see it rather than in KL which sounds really manic and I'd probably be unlikely to get anywhere near as close as I did today. I got some amazing pictures and videos that are on Facebook. It really touched me the way the commuities came together, in town there were stalls offering juice out to everyone, I didn't want to take it at first but when I was offered it I felt rude saying no, and I'm pretty confident that there were two different festivals going on but each respected the other and I didn't feel out of place or unwelcome even when I was one of only three or four white faces in the crowd. A smile definitely goes a long way in these situations! So another festival experienced and I'm going to get one of my Hindu friends to explain things a lot more. I really feel like I'm getting a great cutural education in Malaysia, and I'm really loving it!
From what I can gather Taipusam is a big prayer day asking for good luck and stuff. I know that's vague but from what I've read online and been told by friends it celebrates different things. This is what Wiki says about it - 'Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan.' This dance and carrying the Kavadi is what I saw today and it was pretty special.
I hitched down to Ringlet where the local parade was going on and wasn't sure what to expect. I know it Kuala Lumpur the festival is massive and the Kavadis are really elaborate and they do extreme piercings but I wasn't sure what a small town would be doing and if I was going to see any piercing. I love watching piercings and tattoos to try and understand how other people deal with pain, I 'zone out', just think about different things because I believe pain is mind over matter and if you don't think about it then you can't feel it.
When we arrived town looked pretty quiet and I thought it could be a bit of disappointment... We were told to walk 500m down the road and we would see the start of the festival and when we got there we saw some men praying wearing traditional dress and I was a bit bummed out, I want piercings and music!! I wasn't disappointed and a big Kavadi turned up covered in peacock feathers with a Hindu deity on the top, not sure which one and I wouldn't want to guess, but it was really elaborate and beautiful. A man turned up as well who looked pretty hardcore, long hair, tattoos and there seemed to just be an aura about him that said this dude means business.
After some prayers and offerings the action really got going and the man who was going to carry to peacock feather and deity contraption sat down under the harness and some other men started to hook the end of small chains through his upper arms. The hooks looked pretty thin and I don't think they would have hurt too much but he also looked like he was in a trance. From what I know people who do this will meditate and go into a sort of trance like state so they block out the pain, kind of how I deal with this stuff. After the hooks went through his arms the serious stuff started and he was pierced through his cheeks horizontally and then the tip of his tongue was pierced with a spear about 6 inches long so he couldn't put his tongue back in. It looked amazing and he didn't show any signs of pain and there didn't seem to be any blood. He started dancing and slowly made his way down the little hill and onto the road on the way to the temple.
Next was the dude who had the aura, he was getting limes attached to his back with similar little hooks, a row across his shoulders and a cluster near the bottom of his back. There seems to be a considerable weight on the hooks and when he stood up the skin visibly stretched. It looked amazing, the way someone would go through that for what they believe in. When he stood up he began to bless people, Hindus would kneel at his feet and stand up and have red powder pressed on their foreheads and Chinese would bow with their palms together and get the same red powder. This really struck me that the two religions and cultures would respect each other so much and allow each other to join in. After this a Chinese man with obviously Buddhist tattoos got his cheeks and tongue pierced and three spears through his forehead. The next Chinese man got spears with what looked like pretty heavy heads on put through the flesh on his neck and one in each bicep and forearm. When he was getting pierced the men doing it would spit orange juice on the wounds, I assume this is for antiseptic properties, it did look pretty minging though.
I can't figure out what the Chinese element of this was, three of them got pierced in total and some others had big axes that they were having knocked into their bellies, not enough to cut them but enough to leave marks. They weren't Hindu because as I say they had obviously Buddhist tattoos and I've asked a couple of Chinese people and they're not sure what I'm on about. If I find out I assure you I'll let you know!
After all the piercing excitement everyone started to walk towards town. The man with the limes had his whole face covered in the red powder he was blessing people with and kept stopping and dancing in the street with a massive staff he was carrying. It looked amazing if a little scary, I nearly got hit with the staff a couple of times! When we got to town there was another Chinese man who at first was rolling about on the floor getting soaked in water then he stood up and got a sword and started cutting his tongue. Not sure why, looked a bit scary so I went and follwed Lime Man again. When it got to about 1pm I thought I had seen enough of what I wanted to see and decided to hitch home.
It was an amazing experience and I'm rather glad I was in a small town to see it rather than in KL which sounds really manic and I'd probably be unlikely to get anywhere near as close as I did today. I got some amazing pictures and videos that are on Facebook. It really touched me the way the commuities came together, in town there were stalls offering juice out to everyone, I didn't want to take it at first but when I was offered it I felt rude saying no, and I'm pretty confident that there were two different festivals going on but each respected the other and I didn't feel out of place or unwelcome even when I was one of only three or four white faces in the crowd. A smile definitely goes a long way in these situations! So another festival experienced and I'm going to get one of my Hindu friends to explain things a lot more. I really feel like I'm getting a great cutural education in Malaysia, and I'm really loving it!
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Homeward Bound
Malaysia is home now, so yes I was heading home from Cambodia. After hammering the partying and some bad experiences in Sihanoukville I decided that a couple of months detox in a safe comfortable place was in order so back to Cameron goes I...
Island time first though to top up the rather amazing and deep tan I had got before a couple of months of clouds and rain. The only island that I haven't done that would be open is Pulau Pangkor so that's where I headed without a clue where to go or what beaches to hit... Chinese New Year complicated matters, the queue for the boat was nuts, kids were fainting and everything and it took well over an hour to get on a ferry. Worth it. The island is the right side of developed, in the fact that it has roads and basic infrastructure but not too resorty and Western, it's mainly locals who go there so there isn't much catering to the white man's needs which I like.
Finding somewhere to stay was horrendous due to Chinese New Year but I struck gold with Nipah Guesthouse. The guys who run it are amazing, they have such pride in the place and want everyone to have a good time. Whilst I was there they got an email from Trip Adviser to say they had won an award for the top 25 places to stay in Malaysia and they were so happy. This place and the guys I met there really made my stay and it really helped start to restore my faith in travellers again.
There is something retorative yet tiring about hanging about on the beach. I love it, the sea breeze, jumping in the water when it gets too hot, trying sooo hard not to get sand on your beach towel and failing spectacularly, the strange mix of salt and sun lotion taste when you lick your lips, the sound of jet skis in the distance... I love all of it because it's so chilled, as much as I love doing stuff, I really love not doing stuff in the sun! I will go to some lengths for a good beach, not too much effort but enough! The dude at the guesthouse told us about a really quiet beach on the south of the island so me and seven guys I was hanging out with set out with a warning of a ten minute jungle trek to get there. As an regular readers will know, I hate the jungle and all that comes with it but to get to a beach I faced me fears! It was more like half an hour in the jungle, but this may have been because of my constant declarations of imminent death and irrational fear of any noise I didn't recognise, which is most of them...
The beach was stunning. There was a camp set up but no one there and we had the beach to ourselves. Jungle behind, left and right, sand at our feet and the ocean out in front, we all said how much it felt like the film 'The Beach', it really was paradise. We messed about in the sea with a Smurfs ball I had bought and made the Dutch dude carry, we lazed in the sun, lazed in the shade, lazed in the water, lazed on the beach some more then head back through the jungle after a good few hours of lazing. An absloute stunner of a beach and we kept saying how amazed we were that it was so undiscovered.
I feel this way about Malaysia in general, there is so much to see and do in this country. Beautiful islands, jungle if you're into that type of thing, the food is out of this world, yet people have never heard of it. Every knows the names of at least some of the Thai islands but I challenge anyone to name Malaysian islands, which I think are better because they are so unspoilt. Working in the tourism industry I tend to have this conversation quite a bit and the majority of people I speak to are really blown away with how great this country is, how easy it is to travel and stuff. I kind of want it to stay a little undiscovered, then I can be all expert on Malaysia when most people don't know what I'm on about!
After four, maybe five days on Pangkor (I love losing track of how long I've been places, sign I've had a good time) I headed back to the Highlands a few days earlier than planned when an opportunity to get back for free came up through the company I had worked for. A quick email to the boss and I had my job back and a minivan picking me up in the morning! It felt amazing to come up the mountain, kind of like the feeling you get on the motorway on the way back from the airport back home, kind of sad that it's back to the real world but happy to be home where things are normal. It does feel quite strange talking about Tanah Rata like this but I do love this place and feel so happy here, I really missed it when I was away.
So I get back to town and Karen hadn't told anyone I was coming so everyone at the Lodge was so shocked! Jue ran over to me to hug me, everyone wanted to know how long I was back for, where I had been, why I was here? Walking into town to see Bella and Deera I was stupidly excited, I needed a massive hug, the type only these girls can give me! It felt amazing, they were shocked at the colour of my skin because I was now darker than them, albeit in a different shade, they were shocked at how mch weight I had lost, the colour of my sun kissed hair, but they were so happy to see me which I really appreciated. I went back to see them in the evening and to get my make up done because I hadn't worn a scrap since I had last seen them and to generally hang out.
Then I saw my friend who I was hanging out with on Xmas day (see previous blogs), who has taken to wearing a cowboy hat which I can't quite decide if I like, and he started off by ignoring me. After such a raptuous reception I was not being ignored by such a good friend so I took him to task and by 1am I was in his catching up and hanging out. Next morning I needed some painkillers and he gave me some well strong ones and I went to get into bed with Deera for a few hours. Crazy dreams ensued for which he was duly thanked! The next night when I went round to watch a film he told me he was going to hide the painkillers, think he's got the measure of me by now! Hanging about town and at the Lodge was brilliant, so theraputic and relaxing and I was told I didn't have to start work until 1st Feb which gave me plenty of chill time.
I did, however, find out one thing that kind of annoyed me. I really want to go and see the Rafflesia again since I have it tattoo'd and all, but the trek is really long now because the off road trail is so screwed it has to be walked up instead. I'm not ready to put myself through that quite yet so I've decided to do some walking evey day so no one can take the piss at my fitness on the trek, only the falling over will provide the entertainment! Third night in town I went to see my friend again but by the time I showed up he was fast alseep so I took advantage of the chance to get a good night's kip, he looked rather confused when we woke up in the morning but I had been invited, honest! Sleepy boy strikes again!
Island time first though to top up the rather amazing and deep tan I had got before a couple of months of clouds and rain. The only island that I haven't done that would be open is Pulau Pangkor so that's where I headed without a clue where to go or what beaches to hit... Chinese New Year complicated matters, the queue for the boat was nuts, kids were fainting and everything and it took well over an hour to get on a ferry. Worth it. The island is the right side of developed, in the fact that it has roads and basic infrastructure but not too resorty and Western, it's mainly locals who go there so there isn't much catering to the white man's needs which I like.
Finding somewhere to stay was horrendous due to Chinese New Year but I struck gold with Nipah Guesthouse. The guys who run it are amazing, they have such pride in the place and want everyone to have a good time. Whilst I was there they got an email from Trip Adviser to say they had won an award for the top 25 places to stay in Malaysia and they were so happy. This place and the guys I met there really made my stay and it really helped start to restore my faith in travellers again.
There is something retorative yet tiring about hanging about on the beach. I love it, the sea breeze, jumping in the water when it gets too hot, trying sooo hard not to get sand on your beach towel and failing spectacularly, the strange mix of salt and sun lotion taste when you lick your lips, the sound of jet skis in the distance... I love all of it because it's so chilled, as much as I love doing stuff, I really love not doing stuff in the sun! I will go to some lengths for a good beach, not too much effort but enough! The dude at the guesthouse told us about a really quiet beach on the south of the island so me and seven guys I was hanging out with set out with a warning of a ten minute jungle trek to get there. As an regular readers will know, I hate the jungle and all that comes with it but to get to a beach I faced me fears! It was more like half an hour in the jungle, but this may have been because of my constant declarations of imminent death and irrational fear of any noise I didn't recognise, which is most of them...
The beach was stunning. There was a camp set up but no one there and we had the beach to ourselves. Jungle behind, left and right, sand at our feet and the ocean out in front, we all said how much it felt like the film 'The Beach', it really was paradise. We messed about in the sea with a Smurfs ball I had bought and made the Dutch dude carry, we lazed in the sun, lazed in the shade, lazed in the water, lazed on the beach some more then head back through the jungle after a good few hours of lazing. An absloute stunner of a beach and we kept saying how amazed we were that it was so undiscovered.
I feel this way about Malaysia in general, there is so much to see and do in this country. Beautiful islands, jungle if you're into that type of thing, the food is out of this world, yet people have never heard of it. Every knows the names of at least some of the Thai islands but I challenge anyone to name Malaysian islands, which I think are better because they are so unspoilt. Working in the tourism industry I tend to have this conversation quite a bit and the majority of people I speak to are really blown away with how great this country is, how easy it is to travel and stuff. I kind of want it to stay a little undiscovered, then I can be all expert on Malaysia when most people don't know what I'm on about!
After four, maybe five days on Pangkor (I love losing track of how long I've been places, sign I've had a good time) I headed back to the Highlands a few days earlier than planned when an opportunity to get back for free came up through the company I had worked for. A quick email to the boss and I had my job back and a minivan picking me up in the morning! It felt amazing to come up the mountain, kind of like the feeling you get on the motorway on the way back from the airport back home, kind of sad that it's back to the real world but happy to be home where things are normal. It does feel quite strange talking about Tanah Rata like this but I do love this place and feel so happy here, I really missed it when I was away.
So I get back to town and Karen hadn't told anyone I was coming so everyone at the Lodge was so shocked! Jue ran over to me to hug me, everyone wanted to know how long I was back for, where I had been, why I was here? Walking into town to see Bella and Deera I was stupidly excited, I needed a massive hug, the type only these girls can give me! It felt amazing, they were shocked at the colour of my skin because I was now darker than them, albeit in a different shade, they were shocked at how mch weight I had lost, the colour of my sun kissed hair, but they were so happy to see me which I really appreciated. I went back to see them in the evening and to get my make up done because I hadn't worn a scrap since I had last seen them and to generally hang out.
Then I saw my friend who I was hanging out with on Xmas day (see previous blogs), who has taken to wearing a cowboy hat which I can't quite decide if I like, and he started off by ignoring me. After such a raptuous reception I was not being ignored by such a good friend so I took him to task and by 1am I was in his catching up and hanging out. Next morning I needed some painkillers and he gave me some well strong ones and I went to get into bed with Deera for a few hours. Crazy dreams ensued for which he was duly thanked! The next night when I went round to watch a film he told me he was going to hide the painkillers, think he's got the measure of me by now! Hanging about town and at the Lodge was brilliant, so theraputic and relaxing and I was told I didn't have to start work until 1st Feb which gave me plenty of chill time.
I did, however, find out one thing that kind of annoyed me. I really want to go and see the Rafflesia again since I have it tattoo'd and all, but the trek is really long now because the off road trail is so screwed it has to be walked up instead. I'm not ready to put myself through that quite yet so I've decided to do some walking evey day so no one can take the piss at my fitness on the trek, only the falling over will provide the entertainment! Third night in town I went to see my friend again but by the time I showed up he was fast alseep so I took advantage of the chance to get a good night's kip, he looked rather confused when we woke up in the morning but I had been invited, honest! Sleepy boy strikes again!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Where to Start?!
Wow, it's been a hell of a long time since I wrote an update! A hell of a lot has happened and I'm not to sure how coherently I can communicate, and not sure what to actually put out there to the public as well. Here goes nothing...
So I left you with a hangover in Kuala Lumpur, suffering from servere liver abuse. Well that night I went back to the rooftop bar to finish off Jack, my theory being once Jack was finished I would try and catch the last bus to the airport. FAIL. I ended up getting smashed with Chris again and hailing a taxi, wasted off my cake at 4am in Chinatown and sleeping all the way to the airport. Those who have been to LCCT in KL will appreciate this is not the type of place to be halfway between drunk and hungover and I was a mess, slept all the way on the plane, had to get woken up by the steward (is this the politically correct term for them nowadays?) and got a well dodgy look off immigration in Cambodia with Jack on my breath getting my visa!
I've missed Cambodia, it's a healthy dose of crazy after so much realtive normality in Malaysia! As soon as I stepped out of the airport I felt my shoulders drop, my smile broaden and my eyes widen, the warmth, the tuk-tuk drivers hassling me, the car horns, all of this happens in Malaysia as well but in Cambodia it just feels more nuts, more intense and more Asian! So the first disaster of my trip within a trip happened when I got to my guesthouse, the handle on my bag broke! When I came travelling I made a concious decision to not have a backpack, a lot of the tattoos I want are going on my back and I have the studs in my back so I just don't think a backpack would work so I had a holdall on wheels but the pulling handle just snapped off. My most faithful travelling companion died and I had to bite the bullet and invest in a backpack. I wasn't impressed with where I was staying either, Top Banana Phnom Penh. When I stayed there a couple of years back on a very strong recommendation it was a proper chilled place playing the Stones and The Who and it was a load of hippies getting stoned and chatting, now it's all trendy dance music, flashpackers drinking cocktails and a bit too 'let's be really cool' for me. Cool should be effortless, the place had changed and I found this with everywhere I went back to in Cambodia.
After a couple of days chilling and wandering aimlessly around Phnom Penh (a great city for this, hard to get lost because the streets are all logically numbered, even if the houses on the street aren't) and then I got the bus to Kep. Hands down one of the worst bus journeys of my life. I was told the trip would be about four hours but I always take timings with a pinch of salt, 7 and half hours I was not expecting! First off, the air con leaked, all over me. And a few other people but it leaked on me! It was like Chinese water torture until the local girl sitting next to me had a genuis idea to bodge together a water catching thingy from a plastic bag and pure ingenuity. The journey was bumpy, crazy over taking, loud as fuck Khmer karaoke on the TV, locals demanding random toilet breaks but this is all par for the course. However, when the bus started to skid going round the corner and things felt a little out of control I panicked a little. Rightly so, when we came to a stop we all got off and the rear axel had snapped and the tire had blown out, we were lucky the bus was still upright and on the road! Loads of people started hitching lifts but as this was my first really disasterous bus journey I decided to stick it out and see what happened! Another bus turned up about 2 hours later half empty so those who had stayed jumped on and made it to Kep.
Kep is cute, small, quaint, full of locals... What I like in towns I go to and the added bonus of a beach! The first morning I went to some salt plains (pretty boring but a nice journey), a pepper plantation which was pretty interesting (the pepper industry was massive in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge pretty much wiped it out, it's slowly growing again now) and to some cave temples. These temples were the highlight, our guide was a 15 year old school kid with really good English and good local knowledge. The caves have some amazing shapes with them and after years of cloud gazing I'm pretty good at spotting random animals and shapes in the formations! The thing that touched me most was a shelf covered in Buddha heads. The Khmer Rouge wanted to wipe out religion, among many other things, so destroyed so many Buddha images and temples, so after their downfall the locals collected any remnants they could and stored them at these caves. Behind the shelf was a chamber where it is estimated over 200 locals and Vietnamese were slaughtered, including the uncle of our guide because he could say a few words in English. Heartbreaking.
After a day or two bumming about on the beach I went west down the coast to Sihanoukville. Not going to say too much about this place, except that it's been destroyed by arsehole holiday makers who just want to get drunk in 'exotic' and 'dangerous' places. Quote from a backpacker 'so who were these Khmer Rouge dudes then?', she hadn't even bothered to read and absorb the Lonely Planet chapter on local history which to me is just plain ignorant. So many people like this in Sihanoukville, it felt like Khao San Road-by-the-sea and not in a good way. Last time I was there there was a chilled hippy vibe, not so now. The only positive thing about this place is the phenomenal tattooist who did my lotus flower last time and did a fantastic job of my Rafflesia this time.
Back to Phnom Penh where for reasons that need not be disclosed I holed myself up in a hotel room and sought solace in my friends, back home and those I've met on the road. I sorted my head out enough to move places (after realising I had got my flight dates wrong by a week!) so I head to Kratie which really made my trip. I met a girl on the bus who had stayed at Daniel's Lodge when I was working there and forgave me for not recognising her and we shared a room in Kratie and generally hung out. Dolphin spotting on the Mekong River is a highlight of my life, let alone this trip! They would surface and exhale through the blow hole like a 'pffft', as if to say 'for god's sake, we're here, take your pictures, we're only having a play in the river'. It was so beautiful to see them in their natural habitat, it's a massive conservation project as they are the last species of fresh water dolphins (Irrawaddy Dolphins, FYI) left in the world, they don't feed them to encourage them to the site and most of the boat men used to do grenade fishing and other harmful things before they got on board with the project. Amazing day topped off by a beautiful Mekong sunset eating barbecued pork by the river. My faith was once again restored in Cambodia.
So there we are, my whistle stop trip around Cambodia in a quick blog... Nearly up to date so I'll leave my return to Malaysia for next time. Cambodia is still the place I want to spend my life, after I go to Aus to fund the plans me and my friends have developed. The people are amazing, every person over the age of about 30 is a hero to me, they obviously went through so much and they have just picked up their lives and got on with it. No one really dwells on the horrors that happened and I think that is amazing, they believe that anyone who was truly bad will get their karma in the next life. A beautiful attitude and a massive contrast to the Western attitude to genocide that I found in the concentration camps I've visited in Europe.
Cambodia, I love you and I will be back... But let's pretend Sihanoukville doesn't exist, hey?
So I left you with a hangover in Kuala Lumpur, suffering from servere liver abuse. Well that night I went back to the rooftop bar to finish off Jack, my theory being once Jack was finished I would try and catch the last bus to the airport. FAIL. I ended up getting smashed with Chris again and hailing a taxi, wasted off my cake at 4am in Chinatown and sleeping all the way to the airport. Those who have been to LCCT in KL will appreciate this is not the type of place to be halfway between drunk and hungover and I was a mess, slept all the way on the plane, had to get woken up by the steward (is this the politically correct term for them nowadays?) and got a well dodgy look off immigration in Cambodia with Jack on my breath getting my visa!
I've missed Cambodia, it's a healthy dose of crazy after so much realtive normality in Malaysia! As soon as I stepped out of the airport I felt my shoulders drop, my smile broaden and my eyes widen, the warmth, the tuk-tuk drivers hassling me, the car horns, all of this happens in Malaysia as well but in Cambodia it just feels more nuts, more intense and more Asian! So the first disaster of my trip within a trip happened when I got to my guesthouse, the handle on my bag broke! When I came travelling I made a concious decision to not have a backpack, a lot of the tattoos I want are going on my back and I have the studs in my back so I just don't think a backpack would work so I had a holdall on wheels but the pulling handle just snapped off. My most faithful travelling companion died and I had to bite the bullet and invest in a backpack. I wasn't impressed with where I was staying either, Top Banana Phnom Penh. When I stayed there a couple of years back on a very strong recommendation it was a proper chilled place playing the Stones and The Who and it was a load of hippies getting stoned and chatting, now it's all trendy dance music, flashpackers drinking cocktails and a bit too 'let's be really cool' for me. Cool should be effortless, the place had changed and I found this with everywhere I went back to in Cambodia.
After a couple of days chilling and wandering aimlessly around Phnom Penh (a great city for this, hard to get lost because the streets are all logically numbered, even if the houses on the street aren't) and then I got the bus to Kep. Hands down one of the worst bus journeys of my life. I was told the trip would be about four hours but I always take timings with a pinch of salt, 7 and half hours I was not expecting! First off, the air con leaked, all over me. And a few other people but it leaked on me! It was like Chinese water torture until the local girl sitting next to me had a genuis idea to bodge together a water catching thingy from a plastic bag and pure ingenuity. The journey was bumpy, crazy over taking, loud as fuck Khmer karaoke on the TV, locals demanding random toilet breaks but this is all par for the course. However, when the bus started to skid going round the corner and things felt a little out of control I panicked a little. Rightly so, when we came to a stop we all got off and the rear axel had snapped and the tire had blown out, we were lucky the bus was still upright and on the road! Loads of people started hitching lifts but as this was my first really disasterous bus journey I decided to stick it out and see what happened! Another bus turned up about 2 hours later half empty so those who had stayed jumped on and made it to Kep.
Kep is cute, small, quaint, full of locals... What I like in towns I go to and the added bonus of a beach! The first morning I went to some salt plains (pretty boring but a nice journey), a pepper plantation which was pretty interesting (the pepper industry was massive in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge pretty much wiped it out, it's slowly growing again now) and to some cave temples. These temples were the highlight, our guide was a 15 year old school kid with really good English and good local knowledge. The caves have some amazing shapes with them and after years of cloud gazing I'm pretty good at spotting random animals and shapes in the formations! The thing that touched me most was a shelf covered in Buddha heads. The Khmer Rouge wanted to wipe out religion, among many other things, so destroyed so many Buddha images and temples, so after their downfall the locals collected any remnants they could and stored them at these caves. Behind the shelf was a chamber where it is estimated over 200 locals and Vietnamese were slaughtered, including the uncle of our guide because he could say a few words in English. Heartbreaking.
After a day or two bumming about on the beach I went west down the coast to Sihanoukville. Not going to say too much about this place, except that it's been destroyed by arsehole holiday makers who just want to get drunk in 'exotic' and 'dangerous' places. Quote from a backpacker 'so who were these Khmer Rouge dudes then?', she hadn't even bothered to read and absorb the Lonely Planet chapter on local history which to me is just plain ignorant. So many people like this in Sihanoukville, it felt like Khao San Road-by-the-sea and not in a good way. Last time I was there there was a chilled hippy vibe, not so now. The only positive thing about this place is the phenomenal tattooist who did my lotus flower last time and did a fantastic job of my Rafflesia this time.
Back to Phnom Penh where for reasons that need not be disclosed I holed myself up in a hotel room and sought solace in my friends, back home and those I've met on the road. I sorted my head out enough to move places (after realising I had got my flight dates wrong by a week!) so I head to Kratie which really made my trip. I met a girl on the bus who had stayed at Daniel's Lodge when I was working there and forgave me for not recognising her and we shared a room in Kratie and generally hung out. Dolphin spotting on the Mekong River is a highlight of my life, let alone this trip! They would surface and exhale through the blow hole like a 'pffft', as if to say 'for god's sake, we're here, take your pictures, we're only having a play in the river'. It was so beautiful to see them in their natural habitat, it's a massive conservation project as they are the last species of fresh water dolphins (Irrawaddy Dolphins, FYI) left in the world, they don't feed them to encourage them to the site and most of the boat men used to do grenade fishing and other harmful things before they got on board with the project. Amazing day topped off by a beautiful Mekong sunset eating barbecued pork by the river. My faith was once again restored in Cambodia.
So there we are, my whistle stop trip around Cambodia in a quick blog... Nearly up to date so I'll leave my return to Malaysia for next time. Cambodia is still the place I want to spend my life, after I go to Aus to fund the plans me and my friends have developed. The people are amazing, every person over the age of about 30 is a hero to me, they obviously went through so much and they have just picked up their lives and got on with it. No one really dwells on the horrors that happened and I think that is amazing, they believe that anyone who was truly bad will get their karma in the next life. A beautiful attitude and a massive contrast to the Western attitude to genocide that I found in the concentration camps I've visited in Europe.
Cambodia, I love you and I will be back... But let's pretend Sihanoukville doesn't exist, hey?
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Jack and Stanley, How I've Missed Thee...
After a night in Penang and indulging in some amazing food (the best food in Malaysia by far, maybe even in Asia?) I got the ferry to Langkawi, a tropical, duty free island. This equated to more sun and alcohol than I had in months! I was going to spend New Years Eve here and have a great time whether my liver liked it or not.
I treated my time here like a holiday, I think I had about 10 days off work in the four and a half months I was in Cameron so I bloody deserved it. I decided not to be a tourist so no sight seeing, just beach and beer for a week. Met some great people in the hostel, everyone was there purposely for new year and were up for a party and we were a rather international crowd, Americans, Scots, Welsh, Hungarian, Dutch, Irish, the usual suspects of the travelling community minus the token Aussie which was strange, and I class Hungarians as 'the usual suspects' because you always have to have a random nationality in any group!
The drinking here was ridiculously cheap, a litre of Morgan's Spiced, Jack, Absolut, any decent spirit you could think of for a tenner or less. I can't think of anywhere in the world drink is this cheap when it's not knock off. After a few days of bumming about on the beach my tan was developing nicely, I'd nearly returned to my UK colour after so long in Cameron so to get the sun on my shoulders was pretty amazing! I won't bore you with drunken stories, but New Years Eve was pretty special. A load of people from the hostel went to the beach to watch the last sunset of the new year, armed with copious amounts of alcohol including some bottles of sparking wine for midnight, how very posh! We sat on the beach and attracted an ever increasing and diverse group of people and every hour we would toast to midnight somewhere else in the world until it was our turn. People were launching Chinese lanterns on the beach and the sky was full of them by midnight which looked beautiful and there were fireworks aplenty, this being Asia and all...
We counted down and popped our corks and went into the sea for midnight which was so cool. Last year I was dancing up and down Harebell Street in Liverpool, freezing my tits off with a car burning across the road and one year on I was on a tropical island with people I'd know for only a few days. Amazing. I tried to make it to sunrise but alas, it started raining and me and the Welsh girl I was with had attracted the attention of some locals who I wasn't getting a good vibe off so we went home about 7am after a great night on Pantai Cenang. A great way to see in the new year.
On the 3rd I hightailed it to KL and the journey was horrible, 7.45am I left my hostel, only arriving in KL and 9pm. After that nastiness I went straight up to the Rooftop Bar at Backpackers Travellers Inn, armed with a bottle of Jack and a desire to get it drunk before I left for Cambodia. I got absolutely twatted with the bar owner, Chris, and woke up in the dorm, on a top bunk (I wish there was a video of me climbing up there, the state I was in!) and seemed to be using my computer as a pillow. Good times...
I treated my time here like a holiday, I think I had about 10 days off work in the four and a half months I was in Cameron so I bloody deserved it. I decided not to be a tourist so no sight seeing, just beach and beer for a week. Met some great people in the hostel, everyone was there purposely for new year and were up for a party and we were a rather international crowd, Americans, Scots, Welsh, Hungarian, Dutch, Irish, the usual suspects of the travelling community minus the token Aussie which was strange, and I class Hungarians as 'the usual suspects' because you always have to have a random nationality in any group!
The drinking here was ridiculously cheap, a litre of Morgan's Spiced, Jack, Absolut, any decent spirit you could think of for a tenner or less. I can't think of anywhere in the world drink is this cheap when it's not knock off. After a few days of bumming about on the beach my tan was developing nicely, I'd nearly returned to my UK colour after so long in Cameron so to get the sun on my shoulders was pretty amazing! I won't bore you with drunken stories, but New Years Eve was pretty special. A load of people from the hostel went to the beach to watch the last sunset of the new year, armed with copious amounts of alcohol including some bottles of sparking wine for midnight, how very posh! We sat on the beach and attracted an ever increasing and diverse group of people and every hour we would toast to midnight somewhere else in the world until it was our turn. People were launching Chinese lanterns on the beach and the sky was full of them by midnight which looked beautiful and there were fireworks aplenty, this being Asia and all...
We counted down and popped our corks and went into the sea for midnight which was so cool. Last year I was dancing up and down Harebell Street in Liverpool, freezing my tits off with a car burning across the road and one year on I was on a tropical island with people I'd know for only a few days. Amazing. I tried to make it to sunrise but alas, it started raining and me and the Welsh girl I was with had attracted the attention of some locals who I wasn't getting a good vibe off so we went home about 7am after a great night on Pantai Cenang. A great way to see in the new year.
On the 3rd I hightailed it to KL and the journey was horrible, 7.45am I left my hostel, only arriving in KL and 9pm. After that nastiness I went straight up to the Rooftop Bar at Backpackers Travellers Inn, armed with a bottle of Jack and a desire to get it drunk before I left for Cambodia. I got absolutely twatted with the bar owner, Chris, and woke up in the dorm, on a top bunk (I wish there was a video of me climbing up there, the state I was in!) and seemed to be using my computer as a pillow. Good times...
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