Good-bye Thailand

Whenever you sit in a bath for hours and start to get all wrinkly - that was a bit like the Songkran Water Festival.  A festival whereby the Thais welcome in the New Year - they use the Tamil calendar and their New Year is something ridiculous like 5114, not 2012 like we do.  It is a time of cleansing of themselves, their houses, everything and respect of their elders and Buddha. 3 whole days of getting absolutely saturated. Myself and a few of my friends could only manage one day of all the water before hibernating in someones house for the other 2 days. It was great fun. As soon a someone walked out of their door, they were attacked by people young and old throwing water everywhere and covering you with either perfume (which stank - if it was some fancy named expensive brand that was nice it would've been great), talc or orange paint.  Ice water was the worst, especially if you had to go indoors to the air conditioning, then most people started to freeze to death. 

There was an earthquake that occurred in Indonesia a few days before Songkran and whilst we were training in the gym an announcement came over the tannoy about stopping classes and staying away from certain parts of the island, as a tsunami wave was expected to hit 40 minutes later.  The earthquake hit Banda Acheh (where the last tsunmai destroyed thousands of lives and wreaked havoc) so some of the people in Phuket weren't taking any chances. Neither were some of us. 

So off we went back to our apartments, 3 of us jumped on Hermie my scooter and went to the nearest evacuation route - which was at the Big Buddha, which sits 6km high up on the hill (the same place the running of tyres on your shoulders occurs).  Myself and 2 other girls, Tina and Emma looked ridiculous all squashed on Hermie, legs and arms hanging over the scooter in any direction, trying to drive slowly and get up the hill as quickly as we could without falling off. We made it up with hundreds and hundreds of Thais all up there already. Everyone waited eagerly for the tsunami - we had a good view of the sea - hours passed and the all clear came.  There was a tsunami ok, but I suppose you could say a bit of a baby one. Actually, some people could probably cause more of a ripple if they had a bit of a 'wind' problem and let off in the sea. The tsunami wave was apparently 4ft high - even smaller than the tide coming in!  At least we were safe and no-one was taking any chances this time round. 

Have had my last week of classes and have now moved on from Phuket and am back in my little hotel in Bangkok, the one I was in before.  No more sweating constantly, no more tyres, no more Hermie the scooter :(  I had the most amazing time there and met so many fantastic people. Met so many people from everywhere around the globe and will keep in contact with a good few of them. Never met a Norwegian before, now I've met a handful. Well, let's just say I won't forget the likes of Tina, Nikita and Ted - 3 different characters, each from different parts of Norway - each totally different from the next, each adding a different dimension to my daily life, but all completely nuts (in a good way). Most of our waking hours were spent together: training, eating, going out, watching movies in each others room during rest times, going to the beach, going on the scooter... a few of us nearly morphing into each other in little ways. I suppose training at Tiger Muay Thai was a bit like being in a jail, but a brilliant jail at that, spending your life with these people. Thailand has been stunning - it's right up there with South America, beating Oz and NZ. The country is so pretty and the Thai people are just something else - and Thailand is known as the 'The Land of Smiles' - never did I meet an unhappy Thai person.  Every single one of them were charming, always willing to help and always smiling and saying hello, asking if you'll come back and visit.  They just love their Royal Family and their Buddhist religion, unlike many other countries in the world. The last 6 weeks have  just been fantastic, but time to move on again for my next destination...?

Laos - I'll be flying there in the next couple of days and have no idea what to expect. Looking forward to it and then it's back to South America and Cusco for 6 weeks of studying Spanish and volunteering again. After that, more travel to Columbia and Ecuador. I never plan too far in advance as things can change at the last minute, depending on what is happening at that particular time. That's just one of the many things I've learned over the last 10 months of travel.

Songkran with Nikita, Tina and Emma

Songkran Parade

Soaked on the streets

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People driving up to Big Buddha on the tsunami evactuation

Tsunami wave coming in?

Hermie the Scooter

Hermie is my scooter/motorbike and it is a he/she and keeping with tradition here in Thailand, it's a kind of lady-boy motorbike. Its name is Hermie (like a hermaphrodite which is both male and female) and I've been having a great time travelling all around the island most afternoons after training with people from the camp. On most days myself and another Norwegian guy sometimes go off to see the sights. To rent the bike for the week costs the equivalent of 20 pounds. All you need is payment, your passport, no insurance/driving skills needed whatsoever. You get shown how to turn the bike on and then off you go onto the roads of Thailand with all the other crazy drivers.

Here's my top 10 road tips for driving over here: -

1. Carry as many people on your bike if you want. A family of 5 squeezed on has been the most I've seen so far.
2. A 2 wheeled bike is like a juggernault on the road - place as much as you can on your bike - groceries, animals, coffins...
3. Buckle your child in between parents and other siblings - standing room is perfectly normal, as is sleeping on the back of your mother, as you travel at high speeds on the road.
4. Undercutting is the new over-taking.
5. Red lights can mean stop or go - whatever takes your fancy at that time.
6. Zebra crossings are just white stripes painted on the road to brighten it up - take your life in your hands if you decide to cross using it.
7. Roundabouts - circles of confusion. As long as you get on it wedged between other cars, you'll live - no giving way to the right over here.
8. U-turns are perfectly legal in the middle of a busy intersection.
9. Pot-holes, wild dogs, elephants, loose goats etc may find their way onto the road. If the monsoon rains start, take shelter under the nearest awning.
10. Safety clothing - dodgy helmet that escapes from your head over speeds of 60 kph. Flip-flops, shorts and singlets are perfect for the wind-chill and if you fall off you'll lose most of your skin to the road.

It has been great seeing all the sights with Hermie and the island of Phuket is just stunning. Not only do you get to see the sights but it's lovely driving through different streets with all the smells of street food being cooked as you whizz past. It's also great for drying out constant body sweat in the heat and humidity.

So what else has been happening? Obviously, I'm still training everyday and the Buddha runs with the tyres are getting easier. I've finished first in my group in the last couple of weeks and the tyre is becoming a friend. I've now been moved from 'Beginner' Muay Thai into the 'Intermediate' section - so that means I can break more bones as I'm a little bit better than before - so don't catch me on a bad day ;)

Yesterday, myself and 2 girls; one from Sweden and the other from Norway hired out bicycles (push bikes, not motorised scooters) and cycled for miles - my God, the hills over here nearly killed us all. The locals were looking as us as if we were crazy as no-one is on a bicycle here - all motorbikes, because the place is so hilly. We had to get the bikes back by 7pm, so at 6pm we were miles from Kata (the place where we hired the bikes) and managed to bike to Surin. It took us a few hours to get there, so we had about 45 minutes to get back. We managed to hitch a ride 3/4 of the way there (the Thais are just the lovliest of people who would do anything for you..Buddhism - what a lovely religion) and caught a tuk-tuk back (we were squashed into it!). Such fun.

Next weekend is 'Songkran' which is the Thai New Year and unlike us Westerners celebrating by getting drunk, falling out of pubs, singing Auld Lang Sang at midnight, the Thais celebrate by soaking everyone. From what I've heard, the soakings are bad, but great fun. The soaking of water starts at midnight and lasts for 2-3 whole days. Yes, all day long. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are wearing - if you are out on a street in Thailand, be prepared to get drenched. So we've all bought water-guns and are getting together to join in the fun. I'd say after my third drenching, I'll be getting hacked off - maybe I'll use my Muay Thai skills on someone? Nah, it should be good fun - if you can't beat em, join em. Watch this space!

Running up Big Buddha with a tyre

More tyre work on the beach

Me on Hermie the scooter

Nikita and Pernilla - our cycle day out. Here we are hitch-hiking

Bodyfit Beach Thursdays. Proof that I'm not the only nutter that does this.

Muay Thai training

Running up and down steps with tyres

Alive and (Muay Thai) kicking in Phuket

Doing really well and am alive and kicking (literally) here in Phuket. Haven't had much of a chance to get to a half decent computer as the power kept cutting out, computers didn't work...the usual, so this could be a long one catching up on over 2 weeks.

Arrived at my camp over 2 weeks ago in a 'fun' taxi journey from the airport, checked into my sauna of a room at around midnight and got a bit of sleep before starting my fitness regime the next day. Phuket is roasting hot - 38 degrees with humidity to add to that. So what do I do? Well, everyday, bar Sunday, I train 5 hours a day in this sweatbox. The mornings will start with Bodyfit. One day, participants could be running on a beach with tyres on their shoulders, throwing the tyre, sprinting from flag to flag, crawling around in the sand doing exercises for core strength & stability, running 6km up a hill to the Buddah (who sits up there grinning at us all like idiots as we die trying to get to the top)with a tyre on your shoulder, squatting in between flags, climbing up 50 steps backwards; running up and down steps with that tyre again (I've never taken a dislike to a round, black bit of rubber in my life as it bruises your shoulders/head as you run)...you get my drift I'm sure. This is just touching on the surface.  Yesterday as we all ran up and down hills with these tyres, a bus full of Japanese toursits got out and took lots of pictures. People look at us like we are completely insane, doing all these things in this heat. Or you'll have people relaxing on the beach in their loungers as teams of us run past, tyre in mid-air, telling us we are nuts.

Here at the fitness camp you can do all sorts - Western Boxing, Krabi Krabong, weights, spin, Muay Thai, yoga, Cross-fit and if someone was really nuts, they could start training at 6 am and finish at 8pm that night doing different exercises, but I've yet to meet that mental patient. I will either run, spin, lift weights and also do Muay Thai along with Bodyfit.  Enjoying the Muay Thai and think I could defend myself ok if someone tried to hit me.  Muay Thai is a form of kick-boxing and most of the kicking comes from your shins and not the foot. My shins have hardened (after 2 weeks of bruising kicking bags, trainers and classmates) - don't think I'll need shinguards the next time I play soccer.

At Muay Thai we all spend 2 and a half hours doing cardio, kicking, punching, sparring with each other and we all share a common bond...salty bodily fluid in the form of sweat and lots of it. The phrase 'Women glow' doesn't exactly fit in here. Within 5 minutes, everyone is saturated with sweat right through their clothes. We all end up running in each others sweat puddles that have landed on the floor, slipping off each other - it's so bad that my knees have started to sweat. Never in my life have my knees sweated.  After lessons, we all look like we've just been put through a washing machine, with the 'spin' bit broken - pure saturation.  But it's great - everyone gets on so well with each other and I've met so many people from every part of the globe (who like me, have also paid to torture themselves - so it's fantastic meeting like-minded/mental people).

I've enjoyed it so much, that instead of just staying here for 2 weeks, I've extended it for an extra month (and could go further after this). I did decide that my concentration camp of a room was nearly killing me and had to move out after 2 weeks. It was usually cooler outside my room at night; the fan that was constantly on to cool me down sounded like a jet engine starting up; most nights I lay in a pool of my own sweat trying to sleep; the TV had BBC News 24 all day long; a gekko (lizard) made a home in my room and croaked all night when I tried to sleep; the toilet was a walk outside to the end of the block and when you used it and threw toilet paper in the bin, about 60 mozzies flew out and tried to feast on you. All this led to a bit of sleep deprivation, which isn't good in this heat/for exercise so I found myself a new apartment not far from camp. In my new pad, I've 2 beds, a TV with loads of channels (even ITV is there), air conditioning, a bathroom etc. On site, is a restaurant, pool and massage...aahhh, the massages are bliss - Costs the equivalent of 2-3 pounds for a massage. Got a Thai massage with a friend and the wee Thai lady was jumping all over me, pulling my arms/legs in the strangest of places. An oil massage is much nicer/more relaxing.

Spent my first weekend away with 10 other people from the camp and went to Phi Phi Island and Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' was filmed). We caught a boat to the island, snorkelled in the turquoise waters, ate food and sang songs around the campfire, drank out of buckets (!), watched the sunset/sunrise, swam in the water with plankton that glowed around you, slept out under the stars - pure paradise on earth - apart from the fact that my legs/ass had been a feast for the local sandflies/mozzies.  It's hard to believe that these places were destroyed in the tsunami, but there are remiders everywhere and the Thai people are so resilient and have been building their lives back up.

The following week (last weekend) was St Patrick's Day. A crowd of us painted bits of our body in green (all we could find was green eye-liner) and I made a crap attempt at drawing shamrocks on peoples faces and we headed into the madness of Patong.  Patong is a bit of a sleazy but very fun tourist strip.  Here you'll bump into the lady-boys, women pole dancing on bars that open out onto the street, games of all sorts being played on the streets, food vendors selling food (that could probably food poison the unsuspecting drunk tourist falling out of a bar at stupid o'clock who is desperate to eat), bars of every nationality, offers of ping-pong shows being shoved in your face!  We all had a great night, quite literally drowned the shamrock (as no-one drinks during weekly training) and made it back to Chalong in a tuk-tuk singing lots of songs, in the wee small hours of the morning.

It's great here - everyone is so similar and are here to train, get fit, detox, ...whatever and we tend to bond easily because of that. People just hook up after training, jump on the back of some of their scooters (which can be hired for 4 pounds a day, without a licence or any prior motorbike experience), head to the beach, go for dinner, sightsee or check out the night markets (yes, I ate some fried witchety grubs/larvae along with Tina, a Norweigan friend - it was nice).  So all is good right now. Thailand is surpassing NZ and Oz - even after all the torture I'm putting myself through!

Wat Po, Bangkok

Phi Phi Island

Maya Bay - 'The Beach' was filmed here

My group sleeping out in Maya Bay

St Patrick's Day festivities

Bangkok - The City of Angels (?)

Arrived in Suvarnabhumi Airport safe and sound; followed the Thai/English signs to immigration/baggage collection (or what I thought it was). Ended up walking through the wrong entrance only to find myself being scanned and shipped up to departures to fly out of the airport that I just arrived into. My understanding of Thai just isn't quite what it used to be. Was able to get myself back down to immigration; joined the shortest queue (which took forever to move) and at this stage the passengers from my plane had long gone and I was eventually re-united with my pink duffel bag lying all on its lonesome on the floor by the carousel.

Staying in a place called Lat Krabang which is about 15 minutes taxi or 4 minutes in the Airport skytrain in a cheap, but really lovely family owned hotel who are just adorable. Big double bed, cable TV and a fridge stocked with free water, coke, noodles and coffee - what more could a girl ask for! And they have a free computer in the lobby, so decided to make use of it as I may not often get a chance to in the camp in Phuket.

This morning I decided to get up early and take a tour of Bangkok (known as the 'City of Angels/Siam City' or 'City of Scammers' more like) myself instead of taking a tour from these tour companies that charge a fortune for the same thing. Armed with a map and the following words of wisdom from Ritvic (the lovely owner of the hotel) in his broken English with a Thai accent which went something like this: "You take Skytrain/airport link purple line or Lad Krabang, change at Makkasan Road, walk 200 meteeerrr to MRT route, go to Siam...shopping, shopping, shopping...you like shopping? Then go to Hua Lamphong - China Town...wery big, nice bird nest soup - you like bird nest soup - you eat Thai? Afta you go to Templeee - lots of Templeee here - big Buddahhh, Grand Palace - you cross a rivaaaa - go to Pier 5...no ova pier...wery expensive - pirate people here, they charge 300 Baht..Pier 5 only 14 baht...much betta for tourist. Bless him, but I was getting confused at this stage so decided to figure it out myself.

So I caught a taxi up to the airport, jumped on the Airport Link to take me to Phyai Thai which is near the shopping area, but miles away from the toursity spots/temples I was looking for. Had several goes at getting a taxi for the right price cos here in Bangkok city, most taxi/tuk-tuk drivers just see you as a wallet/purse on legs and will try their best to screw you for a few extra Baht (don't blame them to be honest, I would probably do the same if I earned as little as they do).  Wanted to go to the Rattanakosin area near the Chao Phraya River where the Wat Po, Grand Palace and Big Buddah are (main tourist spots). First taxi driver in his 80's (thinkin an aul guy would be nice/honest) picked me up...got in, spoke a bit of Thai, told him where I wanted to go and aksed how much - he was chargin an arm and a leg and I asked him in Thai to turn on the meter (if they don't turn on the meter here, they charge whatever they like). The wee shite  came up with every excuse under the sun like 'big traffic jam, it costs more'. So I said no way, jumped out and caught another one. Got to Wat Po Temple - really stunning, took a few pictures and walked round to the Grand Palace.

Having visited Vietnam before and all the temples there, I totally forgot about the 'acceptable dress code' for the places around the Grand Palace and I rocked up in short, demin shorts with flip flops and a singlet. Realising my stupidity, I didn't even try to get into the Palace (as my nakedness would have offended the entire sacred ground and the Emerald Buddah would have cursed me) and saved myself the embarrassment of being turned away by some Thai soldier, feeling like a complete prostitute.

So off I wandered to the little market stalls across the street, opposite the Palace. Had done a tiny bit of research of Bangkok and a line in one of my notes read 'Never take a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace or Wat Po'. Obviously, I completely forgot about this and took a tuk-tuk right outside the Palace with the driver, who was a young lad, who spoke good English/very friendly said he'd take me to some temples that I told him I wanted to go to. It was really cheap - going for 40 Baht - which is the equivalent of 75p. Jumped into the tuk-tuk (which was one of my to-do things anyway) and whizzed round the streets and backstreets of Bangkok. Saw the temples that I wanted to go to and then the driver was going on about some price of petrol somewhere and that I could get cheap clothes/jewellery some place.

Rocked up to this 'gem store' and then remembered the little note to myself telling me not to get a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace came back to me!  Read that these guys around this area can bring you to these so called 'gem stores' and stupid foreigners go in and buy fake gems and get ripped off. Also, I read that they get a commission from these shops, so if tourists just walk in, they get a nice wee wage. So, remembering what I had read, I decided to play him at his own game and was like,  'Nah, I'm not into gems, don't like them, so you can take me back to the Grand Palace now...and oh by the way, you're not going to rip me off/scam me cos I know what you get out of this place, thanks very much!'. He was like, 'Oh please, just go in and look, please'... I never budged..think he was raging - I could just see him nearly cry cos he wasn't getting his commission or petrol voucher or whatever it was. Apparently it's a big scam over here.

Anyway, he was nice and took me back. I got the cheapest ever ride around Bangkok (well over an hour), saw the things that I wanted all for 75p; so I think it was 1-0 to me, versus the scammers. Instead of paying 9 - 15 thousand Baht for an organised tour, I spent less than 1000 Baht; about the equivalent of a tenner for transport, entrance into the places and some lunch.

Bangkok isn't the shithole that some people had said to me before. I quite like the city. It reminds me a bit of Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam - westernised and more wealthier, with more cars than mopheads, but still the poverty in the side-streets. There are skyscrapers across the city with golden temples and images of the King everywhere. There are lots of market stalls with people selling everything from used shoes, old cassettes, to food, to Buddhist monks roaming the streets - you name it, it's all here (have yet to see the lady-boys yet, but think it was a bit too early in the day). There's lots to keep your senses busy.  People are very friendly here and if you try and speak Thai, you'll be greeted with more smiles, an answer in English and less chance of being scammed, as you show them you are trying.

I got to see a few things, but this place is so vast, I've only touched the surface. Fly out to Phuket tomorrow evening to my camp, so hope to go into town in the morning and see another couple of things and maybe take a wee visit and get a Thai massage - here's hoping it's not one of those other 'massage' places, knowing my luck! ;)

Thailand calling

The slave trade is nearing its end - soon the shackles will be released and I'll be on my way to my next destination. Only one more week to go. Last week, it was mulching time and picking weeds in a very long driveway for hours (with the tiniest of forks). There is a new invention called weed-killer, but it seems to be avoided here. It would get the job done in a quicker time, with less hassle/sweat in the midday sun. One of the neighbours came along at one stage, felt sorry for myself and another German, Ivonne, and gave us a few refreshing drinks (cider) over the fence. We hid behind the car, like two little school-kids not wanting to get caught; but of course, we were found out after we had disappeared into his office to have another couple!  After that, we had the weeds picked within 10 minutes...just goes to show you the benefits of having a drink in the afternoon.  But, all in all, the work hasn't been too bad and our hosts are lovely though.

Have had my last big weekend in Sydney with friends, celebrating Jamesy's 30th birthday, having food thrown down our mouths in a Japanese restaurant in the city and then  we all went off into the city centre to finish the night off. Have said my good-byes to most people - it keeps getting easier and easier everytime I have to leave. Gotta say - Australia has been fantastic. Have met so many wonderful people and had the best of laughs with them. So much better than boring New Zealand. If I ever decide to emigrate to a developed country, then it would be Australia and especially Sydney. You just can't get bored with this city - it's amazing and not once have I ever felt threatened or my safety in danger, nor have I witnessed brawls in/outside bars (unlike some crappy bars at home). People of all nationalities live side by side in harmony with each other and the Aussies have been so welcoming and friendly.  It's no wonder people are moving over here in their droves.

This time next week, I'll be somewhere in the skies, heading towards Bangkok, Thailand. My wee nephew Ethan (4) asked his mum, "Is auntie Mary going to Thailand to get some ties?!" - aww bless him. I can't wait to get there and this time I will be back on the road on my own again. Am really looking forward to the unknown, different culture/language, witnessing all these talked about lady-boys, chaos on the roads with mopheads, tuk-tuks, temples, Happy Buddhas everywhere and the sights and smells of SE Asia on every street corner. Think it may be a bit like Vietnam when I travelled there 3 years ago, but a bit more touristy. Got my Thai visa here in Sydney and have been able to learn a tiny bit of Thai to get me by, but no doubt the pronunciation will be completely wrong and I'll end up in Bangladesh or somewhere.

My plans for Thailand? Well, I'll be spending 3 days in Bangkok, then I'm off to Phuket. The plan is to stay in Phuket for about 2 weeks and then after that, I haven't a clue. Decided it's better not to plan too much in advance, as you never really get to do all that you want to, so I'll go with the flow. Hope to get into Laos and Cambodia and would like to do a bit of volunteering here at some stage, so will figure that out closer to the time again, but if anyone knows of any good places to volunteer from their own experiences, feel free to email me.

So what's the torture in Phuket that I'll be doing? Well, I'm joining the local Buddhist monks high up in the mountain side, shaving my head and going to wear an orange dress for two weeks and sit like a Buddha humming and haaing in the lotus position. Nah, just joking - that would probably be an easy way out. I'm off to a type of camp in the 38 degree heat with 90 something percent humidity to do lots of training (trying to get back into some sort of fitness after the lack of it the last 7 months). It's in a place called Chalong and here I'll be getting up at dawn 6 days a week to do a daily boot camp fitness (which is apparently pretty gruelling) followed by yoga, running, mixed martial arts and a bit of Muay Thai for self-defence...nuts, I know. But I love all that sorta stuff and can't wait. I'll be living on the camp in a wee room, with my own bed, shared bathroom and wait for it...a fan...what luxury. No doubt, it'll be like a sauna and I'll be sweating bucket loads. Have been practising my 'wax-on, wax-off' techniques when I've been slaving away here painting and polishing - move over Karate Kid.

Apparently I've been told that there's a high threat of terrorism in Thailand. The most recent being 3 terrorist bomb explosions in Bangkok in mid February. Have checked the Travel Advice and obviously won't be visiting certain areas and have to exercise a high degree of caution...blah, blah, blah...will just be like home again. But check this out: I typed in travel advice to Northern Ireland on the Dept. of Foreign Affairs here in Australia and they have warned Aussies of a 'severe' threat of terrorist attacks and basically to stay away from N.I. as they could be caught up in violence - oh please - how ridiculous. So Bangkok should be safer than Belfast then!  Won't have a computer with me either (as I've been using Audrey's and she'll be taking it back as she's returning home again) so probably won't be online as much as I have been here in Oz and not sure what the internet situation is like in my camp, so if ya don't hear from me for a bit, don't be worrying...I'll be too busy with my karate chopping/Muay Thai techniques; but I'll try and update when I can.

Slave Labour

I can landscape garden now - check out my balded tree!

Ok, so one of the main reasons to be back down in Sydney was because of the promise of a paid job, with free accommodation, being treated "Like one of the family, you can have a free car and the room in the house is yours..don't worry, no more HelpX people if we've too many, we'll just turn them away and you'll both get a good wage" (our host, talking shite post Xmas 2011). Reality check end of Jan 2012 - our host again "There are 6 HelpXers at the minute, only place for you both is the shed for the next 4 weeks, we'll pay you, but will have to take 4 hours off you each day as you're getting a bed, oh and there's no car."

Now, these people are loaded; wife is a GP and he has his own business.  He's flying off to China in a few weeks - business class of course - cruises, the lot. When it comes to giving us a wage - well, it's less than the minimum wage over here in Oz. Most Aussies wouldn't get out of bed in the morning for it. In fact, working at the local KFC would probably pay us much more. Actually, maybe even cleaning the toilets with our tongues may earn more.

So what does our day consist of? Slavery and sweat, that's what! The first week was spent in the factory with the shampoo/conditioner products. Just think what a Chinese sweat shop may look like and you're pretty much there. We had 10, 000 gold and green shampoo bottles to fill. The song that was constantly ringing in my head was..'10, 000 green bottles sitting on a wall.' My job was to fill 250mls of shampoo by hand, pressing a foot pump to load the bottles and then passing them onto a small conveyor belt. Audrey had to place a lid on each bottle, tighten them and put them into a box. Talk about head melting - working like robots - I feel sorry for those Chinese people. If I ever see a green/gold shampoo bottle again, it'll be too soon. Sometimes the machine misbehaved or if I took my eye off the bottle for a split second I ended up spilling the contents everywhere. When this happened, the bottle in particular, was thrown to the nearest wall in anger, contents splattering everywhere. The wall was probably getting a good clean anyway, so there were no losers in the end.

The next few days were at the home working in the garden or a house that was to be rented out. Well, during these days we both became a landscape gardener, painter and decorator, cleaner, polyfilla person, window cleaner, spud picker, grub thrower to the chooks and cooks. First time ever using an electric saw - I had to trim back the bushes and shape them - well, they were trimmed back...balded more like with stumps growing out. It looks like autumn has arrived already after my handy work. 

The end of the week saw the both of us at the factory again. This time, it was the other one, which has lots of filling machines in boxes. Heavy wooden boxes, some looking like small coffins with machines in them, filled right up to near roof level. Floor space...there was none, because of all these wooden boxes. This time, we were Bob the Builder (in a feminine way, if that is ever possible?). Hammer, chisel, screwdriver, heavy duty gloves, crowbars to the ready.  Bang, bang, bang all day long, unscrewing the boxes and removing the sides, lifting heavy machinery, placing them in the correct area, filling a skip with excess wood, using a forklift truck (Auds had to use it to lift our boss up to try and unscrew a shelf at near ceiling level). Without prior training, he was lifted up alright, but there was one stage he nearly never made it down as the forklift had other ideas, jolting up and down. It was hilarious to watch.

Meanwhile, whilst we both work our asses off, our host/boss, stands and watches us, his belly getting bigger and bigger while we feed him 5 million rounds of bread and lobster paste for his lunch and make him several cups of tea. And at the end of the week it was pay-day (after asking at least 3 times for it)...yippee...well, not quite yippee, but I suppose it was better than nothing. They took the equivalent of $500 altogether off us for our accommodation (now this was a bed in a shed, not worth $5 and the food that we're eating). I have tuna and peas for lunch (costing $2 a day) and my own breakfast. Dinner is whatever leftovers from the previous night/week frozen in the freezer. Some days it's fresh though, but that's usually the weekend, when we're not there.

So yeah, I've had it with rich people - they do my head in - tight arsed bleep-bleeps (swear word being bleeped out there). Oh and the other millionaires from Queensland - they've had a complete breakdown since we left. To date there has been an attempted suicide with an overdose on tablets and wine, assault with a meat cleaver to the partner, assault of a mobile phone with a meat cleaver (which ended up in pieces), arrests, a night in the cells, an attempt to leave the country with the son, only to be stopped at immigration in the airport and now is in hiding from her partner who is mentally abusing her. And yes, being miles down the coast, we're both getting phone calls/Facebook messages asking for help from both parties. So that's another one to add to our ever growing list of jobs...trained shrinks. Whatever next. You couldn't believe this stuff, but it's actually happened - Audrey is my witness.

Two more weeks left of this slave labour and I'll just be ready to go to SE Asia. Have also booked a flight back to Peru at end of April to study Spanish and volunteer again in my favourite city of all - Cusco. Have loved Oz and especially Sydney, but there's just something about South America that's calling me back.

Some of the 10 000 green and gold shampoo bottles

Chinese sweatshop - here is my workstation

Looking really excited working with the conditioner

Auds in the fork-lift = danger!

How perfect is that to pack wood after breaking it down with a hammer/chisel - not bad for 2 girls!

Inside the factory

One More Angel in Heaven

Don’t really know how to begin this blog to be honest. Not sure if I should even be writing this, but I don’t care.  At the start of my travels I did place a warning saying that I would always write what my thoughts were at that particular moment. This blog is a change from the others. This one is for my beautiful aunt Anne who lost her very brave fight to cancer and who always followed me on my travels by reading my blogs, sending me emails commenting on my journey around the world and sending me text messages and even Skyping! So Anne, this one is for you. I can’t believe you’re gone, but I’ll blog to you, I suppose publicly, as it’s my way of saying good-bye, being miles away from home.  Others will get to swap stories with each other about you over the next few days, so here’s a bit of mine.

Over the last few years since your illness, it was a pleasure to be able to become closer to you.  Every week on days after work, I always looked forward to getting up to your house, to have long chats and clean that already clean house you had! Driving up that long lane of yours, hoping my wee car never got stuck in the ditch, going into your house to be greeted by the smell of a lovely wood-burn fire. The house was always boiling with your temperature thermometer reaching highs of over 26 degrees and that was sometimes in the middle of summer!!  People would be peeling off the layers of clothing, but you were so snug with the heat and would even add more layers onto yourself.

Of course, doctor’s orders were telling you that you had to rest, not to be over-exerting yourself, taking it easy…but did you listen? Of course not!  A few times I’d drive up to find you out on that half a mile lane of  yours picking up thorns and branches that had dropped from the bushes in the middle of a cold autumnal day, just in case “it would puncture people’s tyres as they drove up the lane.” Other times, I’d be inspecting the carpet closely to see what exactly I was to hoover up, only to find that you’d already done it, but you’d never listen and hated sitting around even when you were in pain.  

Loved our wee chats together – loved hearing the stories of yesteryear, when you were younger with my mum, whereby I was able to go home and quiz her on a few random things. And I thought my mum was an innocent child!! You never forgot anyone’s birthday either, whether they were babies or grown-ups. Cards to most nephews and nieces stop when they are 18 – not you, you kept going and every year there was always a wee card in the post. Even 2 weeks ago for my birthday, up in Marie Curie, you gave my mum some money to put into my bank to buy something. Well, I’ve decided I know what to buy with it.  You always travelled the length and breadth of Northern Ireland with Norman or others to wee coffee shops – you just loved a coffee with a wee bit of pastry or cake on the side. Every time I’d see you, you would inform me of the new place you’d been to and how you rated the coffee. To be honest, I don’t think there was a coffee shop left in the north that you hadn’t been to – you were ready to branch out into the European sector! So I’ll be finding a decent coffee shop somewhere here in Sydney, and raise a cup and a wee bun to you.  Mum told me today that you have something for me to do when I return home and will only find out then…I look forward to it, whatever it may be.

 ‘School’s out for summer’ will always remind me of you as we both took to the dance-floor on your Wedding Day last year and boogied away to it. You never sat down that day either – up bopping around ‘til the late evening.  You were always a trooper and a brave one at that. You never gave up, you suffered in silence and fought the good fight until the end – no more suffering now. To those closest to Anne, I send my sympathies – you all know who you are – you are in my thoughts.

Maybe one day, we will see each other again.  It hasn’t registered properly yet that you’re gone.  Rest in peace and miss you loads – a wonderful aunt and a good friend.  Thanks for the memories xxx

Anne and me xx



Singing 'School's out for Summer'

Cafe latte



Found a French coffee shop in Sydney - ate a yummy apple turnover!