Back home

I got up at 7am on my last morning on Phi Phi as I had to get the morning ferry back to Phuket. I headed down to the dock and boarded the ferry, climbed on to the top deck, put my bag on the floor under my head and promptly went to sleep. I woke up about five minutes away from Phuket. Which was nice. I disembarked and found a bike taxi driver, haggled the price to the airport to 300 Baht and hopped on the back. Around an hour later we got to the airport (it's a long way) and I grabbed a burger (first one in weeks) and then sat on a chair for about five and a half hours waiting for check in to open. Once I'd checked in aI headed through to the gate and spent another hour or so waiting to board my plane to KL.

After a couple of hours on the plane we landed at KL and I limped through the airport to my next gate, where I had a couple of hours wait until I could board my flight back to Heathrow. Once on board the plane (my first 747) I grabbed some sleep when I could, watched a load of movies and ate the average airline food.

Landing in Heathrow was weird, as I was officially home.

And that's it. Over. Until next time anyway.

Time for a Phi Phi

After a few days in Phuket I decided to head for Ko Phi Phi Don (known as Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee)), an island about 42 KM off the coast of Phuket. I headed down to Rasada Pier in Phuket, bought a ticket and then sat around for a couple of hours waiting for the ferry. Being a novice I sat inside the boat, not realising I could have perched on the top deck in the sunshine. A couple of hours later we docked at Phi Phi, and were immediately acosted by hundreds of touts all trying to get tourists to go to their hotel or guesthouse. Obviously, having nowhere to stay and no idea where I was heading I ignored all the touts completely, and headed in the general direction I thought a hostel I had heard about was in. Like I had a clue.

I followed a couple of backpackers through 'tourist town' and eventually found the hostel I was looking for ('The Rock'). I checked in, dumped my bags and headed off for some food. I got back to the hostel after my lunch and met the guys who were already staying in my dorm. We all had a bit of a chat and a beer, and then we all headed off for dinner, and more beer.

We headed off to Papaya, a restaurant Adam had heard about that did large portions for a few Baht more than the other restaurants. We got there, ordered, and it was then we noticed the fridge. There was a cat in it. Licking herself clean, as cats are prone to doing. It transpires that the cat jumps in the fridge when she gets too hot, and jumps out again once she's cooled down. Fridge Cat instantly became a talking point, and was visited many times over the next couple of weeks.

Ah yes, the portions. Jebus, they were huge! We learnt very quickly that when visiting Papaya that it's best to share a main course between two, as it's almost impossible to finish a main alone. Oh, and it was gooooood. If you're ever there, I recommend the Masaman Curry.

So after dinner we all headed back to the hostel where we had a few drinks, before heading down to Reggae bar, and then on to Hippies, a bar on the beach where everyone seems to congregate around midnight for the last two hours of music before the curfew.

Papaya, then drinks ending in Hippies became a pretty standard overall template for our evenings on Phi Phi, with some variations such as drinking games at the hostel before heading out. One night we all bought buckets (half a bottle of spirits, 1 can of coke, 1 Thai Red Bull (very small, flat and very strong) and some ice) and played 'Ring of Fire' (with international drinking rules on top) which got pretty messy.


Days usually consosted of hanging on the beach or on 'the stoop' (the walkway along the side of our dorm) relaxing. A few of us went up to Phi Phi viewpoint a couple of times as there's an awesome view.

On the way back from our first visit to the viewpoint, Lotta and I turned off the main street and headed for the beach, and spent an hour or so walking through the surf avoiding crabs and jellyfish, and enjoying the water. Ah yes, jellyfish - they were harmless enough, although they did feel weird when they were all floating around you whilst swimming.

On the second excursion to the viewpoint, a few of us decided to try and walk down the other side of the island as we'd heard there was a nice beach and a waterfall. Unfortunately, we got lost. We ended up walking through the forest for some time, and eventually stumbled upon a huge reservoir which was part of a building site. Undeterred we walked around the edge, and then scrambled down a very steep and dangerous hill in to more jungle. After hacking our way through the foliage for what seemed like forever we found a path, which we follwed and eventually arrived at a deserted beach. Jackpot! We all jumped straight in to the ocean with the frisbee and spent a few hours enjoying the water, before heading back to town (we actually found a much easier way back).

I ended up taking a completely different group of people back to the deserted beach (Lo Mu Dee) a few days later (taking the easier route) and discovered that the sea was infested with enourmous sea urchins (we hadn't noticed on the previous visit as the tide was in). I wouldn't be suprised if the nasty sting I got that caused my foot to swell to huge proprtions was an urchin sting...

So that gives you some idea of my time in Phi Phi. ;)

Wat Chalong and Ska Bar

Ok, so, Wat Chalong. Wat Chalong is Phuket's largest Buddhist Temple, located about 6KM south of Phuket Town. I took a walk down in the morning from the hostel, on a very hot day. The hot day thing is significant, because being a worldy traveller type person I was fully aware that you should be covered up when visiting a temple (shorts and T-shirts aren't really acceptable) so I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. I lost about 5 kilos on the walk.

I got to Wat Chalong and decided to have a walk around the grounds, doing my best to avoid the stray dogs which were lying around everywhere (they get well looked after by the monks) and admiring the various buildings. Someone decided to let off about a thousand firecrackers in a special firecracker-setting-off-hut just as I walked past, scaring the bejesus out of me and half a dozen farang standing nearby. Walking around I was appaled at the number of ignorant tourists who were dressed completely inappropriately - strappy tops, tight shorts etc. I wondered briefly if they would go to church in the UK dressed like that, scowled at them and made my way to the temple itself. I think.

I say I think because there were so many buildings it was hard to tell what was what. I'm pretty sure the building I headed for was the main temple as there were people praying there, which is usually a small clue. That said, there was a larger building with a couple of people praying, but I think that was something else.

The various temple buildings are unbelievable - gold and red with intricate details, large statues and all sorts of other things. I spent ages walking arounf the insides of the various buildings, doing my best not to offend anyone inadvertently (taking my shoes off, not pointing my feet at any Buddha images, not climbing the statues and mooning people, that sort of thing).

I guess really a guide would have been usefuol so I actually knew what I was looking at but it was very interesting nonetheless, and somehow calming too. Except for the firecrackers.

In the evening I popped back down to Kata beach, and this time I was successful in finding Ska Bar. Tucked in to the rocks at the south end of Kata Beach and built around a huge tree it's got to be one of the most chilled out bars in the world. They play reggae constantly and you can sit there enjoying a cold Singha watching the sun set over the sea. I recommend.

Kata on a Saturday night

I got dropped off in Kata yesterday evening by the guy who works at the hostel, and decided to hit a couple of bars. I found a nice bar just opposite Kata Beach and had a couple there, and then hitched a lift on some blokes motorbike to Kata Noi to search out a bar called 'Ska Bar' which I'd heard was a cool place to go. I never found it, just spent an hour walking in circles... I grabbed some dinner in a restaurant (after falling on my arse because the chair was broken) and then headed back to the bar for a few cocktails.

I grabbed a taxi back to the hostel and noticed a little cafe across the street, where I joined the family that worked there and theirt friends for a beer, and some unidentified shot. The woman knocked up some beef stuff and we all sat around drinking, eating and chatting. I think I managed to get a couple of photos before my batteries died...

Today has been a quiet day... Wat Chalang tomorrow I think!

Tom Yum's boots...

Jumped on the back of a motorcycle taxi to Kata beach this morning. I was going to rent a bike but there were too many police around so didn't seem like a great idea.... The beach is gorgeous, although I'm led to believe there are better ones. Stopped off for some Tom Yum in a little restaurant just off the beach, which with a beer and the obligatory rice set me back 180 Baht. That's about 3 quid.

Took the bus back to the hostel - I'm not sure it's supposed to come via here but gave the driver some tobacco in exchange for a Thai cigarette and had no problems getting him to drop me off... The bus is great - it putters along at about 10KPH (we were getting buzzed by mopeds) and struggles to get up hills, but it just doesn't matter - all the people in the cafes along the roadside smile and wave and it's awesome fun.

The Thai people are lovely (when they're not trying to fleece you - oh yeah, the motorbike driver quoted 300BHT to get to Kata - I said no and walked off, suddenly the fare was 150BHT! *grins*). They're really friendly and as long as you're polite and smile a lot they're lovely to chat to, even with the language barrier. I'm off to get the sand out of my clothes and then I may just have to see what happens in Phuket on a Saturday night!

Miss you all heaps. Really. ;)

Thailand

So I flew out of Sydney yesterday afternoon (an hour late but never mind) and touched down in Phuket at about 9pm, where I was immediately hit by the 25 degree heat. I was dog tired so accepted (almost) the first taxi fare I could get to the Hostel. That was when the fun began.

The taxi driver didn't know where the hostel was, although I had obviously checked he did before we left the airport. We ended up in the middle of nowhere with me on the phone to his controller trying to sort things out (meantime the taxi driver is looking at every little shack at the side of the road asking 'here?', 'here?'). We eventually asked some locals and they pointed us to the hostel, and then we discovered reception was shut. My taxi driver went for a leak up the wall of the hostel and spotted someone inside, who let me in and I managed to get a room. The trip took an hour and a half (it should have taken about 40 minutes) and at one point I was starting to think I was going to get murdered and have my stuff stolen. Trusting soul that I am, but I honestly know now how Ewan McGreggor felt when he went on the 'mad video game ride in the dark' to one of the hotels he stayed in on 'Long Way Round'.

Things are much better after some sleep (so hot though, so hard to sleep) - reception guy gave me a voucher for a free breakfast at the little store next door to the hostel, which was simple but delicious (fresh pineapple, toast and jam and some tea), and I'm now sitting here sweating like a Scouser in court at 8am. Time to go exploring I think!

Finishing off in Australia

So, after the Blue Mountains what did I get up to? I went to Palm Beach, which most people probably know better as 'Summer Bay'. We took the dog and got our knuckles rapped a couple of times as we really shouldn't have had her on the beach, but she was having a whale of a time so it only seemed fair to let her have a run. Luckily she didn't see the dolphins swimming just off the shore or we could have had problems.

Before we went to Palm Beach we went over to the national park on the other side of the pitt water where there were some fantastic views - I'm sure I'll get the photos uploaded at some point.

As I left Sydney, World Youth Day was in full swing, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and tease some pilgrims before I left. I headed down to Circular Quay where the crowd were gathering waiting for a glimpse of the Pope (who looks far too much like Joe Pesci for my liking), and mingled with the crowd enjoying the atmosphere. I then managed to get a quick snap of myself holding a sign saying 'Blessed are the cheesemakers' - it had to be quick as I didn't want to get lynched! I even saw the Pope's 'boatacade' - seriously, that's what it was called. I also got roped in to help a street performer do his show, where he juggled knives and flaming torches on a bike atop a 22 foot pole....

We also went out for Vietnamese food for Hannah's birthday, which was great - very similar to Thai food and who doesn't like Thai? Talking of which...

OZ update

So, what's new since the last update all that time ago?

Ok, the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour. Schmeh, I wasn't overly impressed with the museum itself, although it was ok I guess if you like your Australian Maritime History. Far more interesting (IMHO) were the war ship and subamrine located outside the museum which you could look around. The fact you had tour guides explaining everything helped, as I wouldn't have known what half the stuff I was looking at was otherwise. It was pretty cool, especially being in the submarine - it's crazy how cramped those things are.

Hannah and I popped over to Sydney Fish Market for lunch, which was nice - let's face it, you're not going to find fish much fresher than at the place the fishermen take it off the boat. I made a complete mess with the grilled Tiger Prawns but they were really good...

I had a really nice day out at Bondi, strolling along the beach and sitting in the sun on a balcony overlooking the sea. Bondi's not quite what I imagined, it's smaller for a start. It's a lovely beach though and the fact the weather held pretty much all day was a blessing. The surf wasn't too high whilst I was there although there were a few surfers there catching the odd wave.

Circular Quay is where you'll find the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Botanical Gardens. I spent some time hanging out by the Opera House taking photos and then headed for a stroll through the gardens. After that I headed over to the harbour bridge and walked across it (well, half way and back), where you can get some great views of the harbour. There was a guy being pinned to the floor and handcuffed by the police as I walked across, although I have no idea why. Probably trying to jump.....

After that I headed over to the Observatory and had a look around there, and also had a stroll through The Rocks, which I understand is the oldest part of Sydney - now home to trendy cafes and shops (and road works).

I spent an evening at my Aunt and Uncle's summer house up the coast, whicih was nice. It's way out in the Wop Wops and really quiet. We had to be up early on the Sunday morning though as we were headed in to the city for a Chinese breakfast, which was gorgeous. Lots of dishes, and lots of tea... Definitely recommended!

Manly Beach made fot a pleasant day out - it seemed a bit larger than Bondi, and the surf was definintely more in evidence. I got soaked walking down the beach but dried out fairly quickly as I walked back towards town. After a quick lunch I headed towards Shelly Beach, which is tucked around the corner of the shore and is far quieter, and very beautiful - it looks like something out of 'Lost'. I headed up behind Shelly Beach and found a path that takes you through some bush and eventually up on to some rocks that overlook Manly. It's a really lovely spot with some great views, well worth the climb which isn't particularly difficult.

The trip across to Manly is by ferry (ferries are easily the best way to get from one part of Sydney to another) so you can chill out for 30 minutes before going for coffee in Circular Quay on the way home. All good!

I headed up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains (which aren't blue). Maybe they're called the Blue Mountains because it's so bloody cold you start turning blue when you get there? There are loads of walks around the mountains that go from Katoomba so I did as many as I could. I started off at Echo Point and did the Cliff Edge walk, and then headed down towards Katoomba Cascades, before walking back up to Echo Point and heading for the Three Sisters and the Giant Stairway.

The Giant Stairway. God almighty, why did I do that? I walked down to the Three Sisters, saw the stairs and thought 'why not?' 900 or so steps later (and a very long way down) I reached the bottom, and then had to climb back up again. To say the stairs are steep is an understatement - at times they're almost vertical. It was really, really hard work to get back to the top (especially with my backpack) but I made it eventually. I headed to the hostel after that for some food and a nice sit down....


The next day I headed down to the Katoomba Falls Kiosk and from there down the Furber Steps walk. I went off on the Underfalls Walk to see Katoomba Falls, and then headed down to the bottom of the Furber steps. I had a walk through the rainforest and did the touristy walks down there, before getting the worlds steepest railway back out of the valley (it had taken 2 hours to walk down, I wasn't walking back up as well).

It's wet down under

So I've been in Oz for a couple of weeks now, living at Party House with my cousin Sam, and hanging with he, Hannah, and their respective other halves, Chris and Michelle.

I've not been up to huge amounts of stuff so far as I've needed some time to relax, and it's been pissing down with rain pretty much every day since I got here. We managed to get down to the dog track the other evening and it stayed dry, thankfully, and we've headed down to the Fish Market in Sydney, I've cooked some dinners for the Party House 5 (pictured below), been to the pub, the usual.


I headed down to Wildlife World at Darling Harbour yesterday which was a fun way tp spend an afternoon, the only disappointment being that the Funnel Web Spiders were really hard to see as they tend to hide in burrows... I managed to get some great photos whilst I was there though, although it was a shame the Taipan (the snake I most wanted to see) was hiding at the back of its tank. That said, the entrance fee was worth it just to see the Wombat, or 'Bear-pig' as it was dubbed by the American next to me who'd spent a good 20 minutes watching him and laughing at his antics. There were obviously Wallabys and Koalas, and they also had a cool collection of lizards and dragons - one of which you can see below. Oooh, the magic of t'interweb.


It's Tuesday today, which means quiz night down at the pub, which should be fun, and there's a big party on Friday so watch out Sydney!

Hopefully I'll be heading north soon in search of better weather, so keep an eye out in a couple of weeks for a more exciting update!

Photos

You may have noticed but I've got my photos up, finally. There's a link on the right hand side that'll take you straight there. I'll add more to the blog as I go too I would imagine....

Australian mobile number

Hi guys, my Aussie mobile number is: 00 61 41859 9637 - my UK mobile will be turned off pretty much most of the time but I'll check for text messages occasionally.

So I went to New Zealand, eh?

So, it's been a while since my last post - unfortunately I didn't have access to t'interweb whilst I was there, hence the lack of online presence. Rest assured though folks, I'm back!

So, back a couple of weeks - had a very long flight from LAX (worst airport in the world fact fans) and got almost no sleep, but never mind, got to watch some good movies which killed a few hours. We were nearly redirected to Christchurch (an hour from Auckland, and on the South Island) due to fog but luckily we managed to land. Just.

New Zealand is an amazing place - I spent a few days in Auckland relaxing, and headed over to Piha beach. It's a lovely place with black sand and very dangerous rips, and the drive across the mountains to reach it was amazing - the views are just incredible.

After a few days in Auckland we flew to Christchurch and took a minibus to Kaikoura, winding along the coastal road and schlepping up mountains at 10KPH. Kaikoura is a lovely place, nothing like seaside towns in England.

The hotel in Kaikoura was lovely - we had a large room with a kitchen, a balcony that was (literally) 20 feet from the ocean with views of the mountains on our left, and a spa bath that was very relaxing,, especially after swimming in the sea.

Ah yes, swimming in the sea. With dolphins. That had to be the most incredible thing I've ever done - we went out on a boat with wetsuits, snorkels and all that jazz, and pretty soon saw a pod of dolphins. Once we were given the signal to dive in we went and swam with the dolphins, who were playing with us - circling around us, jumping around, just amazing. We did four swims and each time there were hundreds of dolphins everywhere - you could just float and look down through your mask and they'd be swimming past you, underneath you... We swam for around an hour, saw two types of dolphins (dusky dolphins and common dolphins) and also saw some seals, and it was worth every penny. We nearly booked straight back on to the next tour when we got off the boat...

After Kaikoura we headed down to Dunedin, and once again nearly got sent back to Christchurch because of fog. We landed on the second attempt though...

Whilst in Dunedin (well, Taieri Mouth) we headed up to Alexandria for lunch, and stopped by the Clyde Dam, and we also went to a place on the Dunedin peninsula where you go on a tour on 8 wheel drive off road vehicles to see seals and penguins. We were really lucky because we ended up getting a private tour....

The rest of the trip was fairly laid back, with a few tours of Auckland and the harbour. We also popped over to Devonport for a walk on the beach which was a pleasant day out.

That's pretty much the New Zealand part of the trip - the photos should be going up very soon so keep an eye on http://www.flickr.com/photos/morals so you can see pics from the whole trip (Canada, USA and NZ).

Septic mobile

I'm leaving the States so my US mobile number is now useless - yo can still phone it if you like but it'll be a waste of time

Rollin'

So we went out for a few drinks last night in a super-stretched Escalade - I think there were about 24 of us in the car, with beers and 'champagne'. The limo was really good fun, although the music being played wasn't really to my taste. There wasn't a single guitar to be heard! Ended up in the Rainbow again, and I thought I saw Angelina Jolie but it turns out it wasn't here. There was also someone who looked very like Snoop although I'm not convinced it was him...

One of the guys staying in the hostel, John, learnt an important lesson last night. When you order a pizza and the waitress asks "are you sharing that with someone?" you might want to consider going for a smaller size....

It's really hot and sunny here today, for the first time since I got here. So, did we go to Venice Beach? Santa Monica Pier? Nope, we decided to go to the movies to watch Speed Racer at the Chinese Theatre (it has a huge screen so it seemed a good place to go watch it) - I've never seen such a bonkers movie, but it looked awesome on the large cinema screen.

I was also dragged kicking and screaming for lunch at Hooters. It says something when the most healthy lunch I've had in some time was Fish and Chips....

And so, the US leg of my trip is almost over. One more evening here and then I fly to New Zealand. That should be a fun flight - hopefully I'll sleep for the majority of the trip. Where did I put those Tylenol PM's?

Rough as pig shit

I feel terrible. Have had three nights on it - had Camp Freddy on Thursday, the pub crawl on Friday and last night we had a PJ party in the hostel. It would have been fine but Seth (the barman) decided I needed Margaritas and that I should have them for $2 even though I wasn't wearing PJ's, and then hooked me up with a free and very strong one for being cool. His words. I didn't even blow his whistle (if you really want to know, ask). I'm going to head to Jack in the box for a Beef, bacon, onion ring and BBQ sauce burger....

Le sange conduire l'autobus avec...

...Sandra Bullock. According to Eddie Izzard anyway. I only mention it because I (almost literally) bumped in to Sandra Bullock at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. That's todays star then, although she wasn't in a reasonably priced car. Just a silver dress and heels... ;)

Paint the whole world with a Rainbow!

So I'm in LA now - have been here a few days and the weather's been pretty crap so far. It's warm but it's a little overcast. It's almost weird seeing clouds after a week in Vegas, where clouds don't seem to exist. Which reminds me, we saw a few tornados as we drove from Vegas to LA - how cool is that? Unfortunately they didn't have bits of houses, trailers and cows spinning in them but still, pretty cool! Hoping the weather here gets better soon so I can go to Venice beach!

The guys have gone home now, but before they left we managed to find time for dinner in the Rainbow, followed by Camp Freddy at the Roxy. Guest stars included Tommy Lee, Jerry Cantrell, Duff and SLASH! Oh yes.

I went on a pub crawl with some guys from the hostel last night and managed to crawl in to bed at about 3:30 this morning, after one of the girls insisted on making pasta at half 2....

Umm, LA, what else? Famous people! Have seen a couple of semi-famous people, although the streets aren't crawling with them like you'd think... John 5, former member of Marilyn Manson, was crossing an intersection outside the restaurant we went to on our second night here, and I'm fully expecting to see someone really famous before I leave... Apparently Lemmy is likely to be at the Rainbow tonight but I'm not sure I'm going to head down as I'm feeling rough as shite after two nights on it... Life is so hard. ;o)

Bright light city gonna set my soul on fire

It's been a while since my last post, but that's because I was in Vegas and didn't stop long enough to get online. Vegas is crazy, there's always something going on.

We went to Stratosphere Tower on the strip while we were there, which is a casino with a 1,000 feet (ish) tall tower where you can look across Vegas. Oh, and there are three thrill rides at the top too. The first one fires you straight up in to the air in a seat, you can't see underneath you - all you can see is Vegas stretching away in front of you. Then there's the ride that sees you sliding straight off the edge of the tower, which is absolutely terrifying. Then there's the really insane one. You sit in a chair, get swung out from the tower so you're hanging above nothing except a very long drop. Then the chair tilts so you're facing down, and then you start spinning. I've never been so terrified in my life, but it was really really cool.



http://www.stratospherehotel.com/thrills/

We also played beer pong, where you place ten cups with beer in them at each end of a table, and throw ping pong balls at your opponents cups - every time you get the ball in they down a beer. Luckily the cups aren't full but it's still dangerous....

We also rode the roller coaster at New York New York, caught a gig at the Hard Rock hotel, and ate far too much...

In LA now, and going to take it easy for a week or so....

Colds, Pho and big trains

It's my last night in Seattle tonight, and I have a cold so I'm staying in and trying to get rid of it before we hit Vegas tomorrow. I just went for some Pho which has certainly helped clear my sinuses - that combined with the various vitamins and remedies should hopefully get me over the worst of it.

I'm going to miss Seattle, especially the hostel here in Ballard. Everyone here's made me feel so welcome and the place is just really homely - I'll be very suprised to find another hostel anywhere near as great as this one during the rest of my trip.

Yesterday we visited the Experience Music Project in Seattle, which was pretty neat - unfortunately I had to bail on the guys because I felt too rough to go out and do anything in the evening, which was a shame but still, I was bound to get ill at some point while I'm away.

Because I wasn't up to anything today I spent the day kicking around the hostel, chatting to one of the staff here, Alex, about music and coffee, and basically just taking it easy. Managed to do one cool thing today though, on the way back from getting eats. Over here in the States they have freight trains which are just huge - they just go on forever. I've been told they're something like half a mile long. We just happened to be at a spot where we could get up to the tracks as one went past, so we hopped out of the van and ran up the bank to the tracks, and stood feet from the train as it went past - there's something just amazing about being that close to thousands of tonnes of metal rumbling past you - I doubt I'll ever get the chance to do that again!

Next stop, Vegas. Bring it on...

Underground, overground, Wombling free...

So the guys have arrived here in Seattle, which is cool - spent most of the day with them yesterday once I managed to get myself downtown...

Seattle has a large area of the city which is underground, after a large fire in the 1890's started by a rather clever man who tried to put out a grease fire with water and a peice of wood soaked in turpentine, and further spread by the fire service who tried to use dynamite to stop the fire spreading in a town with buildings constructed from wood. They're pretty smart guys in the North West of America, as you can see.

The tour takes you through some of the old city which is now below the streets in Seattle, and it was pretty interesting - there's not an awful lot to actually see down there but you can at least visualise how things used to be. After that we grabbed lunch and had a few drinks, and met up with Tam and Chad, which was great.

Today though so far I've not done much more than kick around the hostel, which is cool as there were a load of new people here who checked in yesterday, and we have more arriving today. It's nice being able to just relax on the sofa and chat to random people, and you obviously meet people from all over the world with loads of stories.

Actually, why am I in the basement writing this? I'm off...

Ballard

I've moved from downtown Seattle to a hostel in Ballard, which is a little way out of downtown. The hostel's awesome, really chilled and friendly. It feels like being at someones house, but with a few more beds. Haven't done much since getting here except go for chilli dogs with one of the members of staf - there's a load of cushions in a corner by the fireplace and once you get comfy it's really dificult to find the motivation to move again....

Today's going to be fairly quiet by the looks of things - I'm waiting for the guys to arrive in Seattle but I have no idea what time they fly in. I may just hang out here and watch a movie in the basement lounge.

Oh and I finally met someone who didn't think I was an Aussie - admitedly she's German so was more likely to recognise my accent but still, makes a change to be recognised as a Brit. ;o)

I'm hoping to be able to upload some photos soon too! Probably.

I'm completely surrounded by assholes!

Yesterday was the first full day in Seattle, and it fecking rocked. After I managed to crawl out of my bunk and make it downstairs to the safety of the totally non-existent or illegal smoking room in the hostel, I decided to spend the morning constructively, by lounging on the sofa in the common room watching Spaceballs. I then sloped off to Jonny Rockets for a burger, not realising it would be big enough to fill Rick Waller...

The afternoon consisted of a visit to Kurt Cobain's old house, and the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee and Jimi Hendrix. How we managed to squeeze 10 people in to an SUV for 7 I'm not sure, but the police didn't seem to care so it can't have been that illegal.

We got back to the hostel in time for open mic night loaded down with beers, and after a few hours drinking in the hostel ended up in a few bars. By 'we' I mean me, Dan, and some girls whose name I can't remember but I know they came on the dead guy tour. Somehow we managed to end up in a bar with poledancers dancing to Van Halen. It's a weird place, Seattle.

U.S. phone number

Just a very quick update - my mobile phone number in the States is +1-206-303-8711. I'll be using this number until May 16th.

U.S and A

So, onwards, and I'm in Seattle. Flew in this afternoon on a little plane with propellers - one of those ones where you have to walk across the runway and climb the steps.... It's incredible the difference in quality between hostels - the one I'm in now (The Green Tortoise) is fantastic - free internet, a big common room where I can sit reading Dostoevsky so I look intelligent, clean showers.....

I've signed up for the 'Dead Guy Tour' tomorrow, which takes us to Jimi and Kurt's houses, so that should be interesting in a slightly morbid way...

Back a few days, because I forgot to write this first - went to the Vancouver Aquarium on my last day in Vancouver (so yesterday then - can you tell I'm tired?) which had some really excellent stuff going on. Managed to get some great photos from that trip, my personal favourite probably being the sloth chilling out in a tree. I know, I thought aquariums (aquarii?) were for fish too, but apparently you can have sloths and cockroaches too...

More soon kids.

Capilano

I spent this morning in Capilano, at the scariest bridge in the world - a 450 foot long, 230 foot high suspensio nbridge over a canyon. Not enjoying heights it was somewhat nervewracking the first time I crossed, but after I'd been across a few times I was actually starting to enjoy myself. The park also has a treetop walk thing where you walk about on platforms and bridges suspended between the trees - I felt like an Ewok.

I wanted to get some new trainers the other day so decided to take the skytrain to Metropolis. That's a mall, I didn't think Superman could help find me trainers... The mall is absolutely enourmous, with 470 shops. I worked out that if you spent 1 minute in each shop it would take 8 hours to visit them all. Didn't manage to get my sodding trainers though.

More next time, feel free to leave comments if you so wish.

Ditty xx

Bienvennue au Vancouver

Well, here I am, in Vancouver, stop 1 of my world trip. It's day 2, and I'm hoping I'm over the worst of the jet lag. Trying to get some sleep at 18:30 in a Hostel on a main road isn't easy, in case you were wondering.... ;o)

Was up very early to beat the rush for the shower, and then walked about a hundred blocks looking for a diner so I could have a nice healthy pancake breakfast. Well you have to don't you really?

Having found a suitable venue for breakfast and then having traipsed back to the hostel to get my stuff I hopped on a bus to Stanley Park. Vancouver's full of trolley buses (good for the environment) and they're really cheap too, which is a bonus. They also have bike racks on the front, which is totally bizarre.

Stanley Park's a huge place, surrounded by the sea and covered in woods, lakes, various statues, totem poles... I dread to think how far I walked but the views were definitely worth it. I was a little disappointed with Beaver Lake though, not a hint of beaver anywhere...

If the weather's good tomorrow I'm thinking of heading off to a really high, really long suspension bridge over a chasm in a forest, which should be interesting. Lay your bets now as to whether I get across without either freezing up completely, or crying like a girl.

Other than that not much else to report at this stage - I have photos to upload but can't do it from here so you'll have to wait. Hopefully up soon though.

Anyway, enough for now, I'm off to chill in downtown Vancouver...

A bientot

Still in the UK

Nothing much to say really, I'm still in the UK. Once I start traveling expect infrequent updates with news about what I'm up to. Oh, and you can check all my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/morals - if I bother uploading them! :o)