Without Direction

Well I had to get out of Thailand in a hurry, as my visa was about to run out, so I settled on heading to Laos.
So, I’m in the sleepy capital of Laos, Vientiane, on the Mekong river. Vientiane is not like any capital I’ve even been to. It’s more like a sleepy village. Laos is poor country, and you can see it everywhere, beggars, bad roads etc.

Main street, Vientiane, Laos.

However it’s a charming town. The people are very friendly, and the Lao language is very similar to Thai which is handy because I can actually talk a little bit Thai now-a-days!! Thai is my kind of language, no grammer! I’ve been visiting various Wat’s and the Lao Museum, which in the usually Asian style is more like a school project, by a kid in the communist party

I’ll be heading north to Vang Vieng in couple of days. It’s hot today so I’m off to drink a Beer Lao, @ Euro 0.80 ! Enjoy!

I’ve been going though quite a few books, but since I have to sell, or give them away, I can’t always remember what I’ve read, so I thought I’d post the last few so I can remember them when I get back…

The Full Montezuma — by Peter Moore

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Sailing with Mohammed: A True Yachting Adventure in Asia and the Middle East by Tony Farrington

On the Road — by Jack Kerouac (Dig it)
Cloud Atlas : A Novel — by David Mitchell

A Burnt-Out Case (Twentieth Century Classics) — by Graham Greene

Brighton Rock - by Graham Greene

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Travels with My Aunt -by Graham Greene

Around the World in 78 Days by Nicholas Coleridge

Consider Phlebas — by Iain M. Banks

Cannery Row — by John Steinbeck

Catfish and Mandala : A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam — by Andrew X. Pham

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel — by Susanna Clarke (very good, pengo, you’ll like this)
Digital Fortress by Dan Browne (some sort of madness drove me to see how bad this was- I wasn’t disappointed. I had that McDonalds feeling after I read it)

Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

A Land of Two Halves : An Accidental Tour of New Zealand (Paperback) -
by Joe Bennett

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream -
by Hunter S. Thompson

Are You Experienced? (Paperback) - by William Sutcliffe

Brave New World (Paperback) - by Aldous Huxley

Vernon God Little (Paperback) - by DBC Pierre

Hi guys, well I’m back in Thailand, in Krabi right now. Luckly I missed the bombings at the border areas I crossed yesterday. That area has been a little tense in the last while. There was a increased military presence there, and I met some travelers in Malaysia, who were told not to cross there or came across in the train with high security onboard. Well I think we can all agree that planting bombs isn’t the right way to gain independance, but check out how the Thai government dealt with it.

Yes I will.

My first resting stop in Malaysia was Tioman, a small Island of the East coast. Tioman has several little villages , some with little beaches, scattered across the Island, some of which are connected by “roads”, some are only reached by boat.

I stayed in Air Batang (ABC). Since Malaysia is a Muslim country there is a nice friendly sign at the pier.

No beer then. While actually there was. Mayalsia might be a Muslim country but its very towards other religions, ideals etc. So infact there were plenty of beer being sold (and drunk) by Non Muslims, and Muslims alike. Its only people who are Muslim who are prohibated by law.
The island had really great snorkelling , great swimming and OK beaches. I spent most of my time split between the above. Lazy days. A good deal of eating too, trying the local foods, Roti Canai, Sambals etc.. It turned out that the Island has a Duty Free. Cans of beer cost about Euro 0.40 each!!

One day I decided to cross the Island and cross over the middle of the Island to Juara.

Here is the route…

(click for bigger pic)

It was a 11 Mile round trip though the rain forrest. It was hot and humid, the jungle is full of lizards and monkeys (pics below), and the going was tough and steep. But it was pretty great being in the middle of rain forrest by myself.

Juara itself was a pretty little bay, but it was the journey that made it fun not the destination. When I arrived back to ABC, the locals on seeing my clothes soaked with sweat, laughed and said “Juara!!! ha! good walk! ”

I stayed on the Island for a week before heading to my next port of call on the East coast, Malacca.

Monkeys and Lizards!

Well I’m back in Singapore! Pretty good to be back in Asia, well sort of Asia. Even managed to get upgraded to first class on the plane from Oz. And yes it MUCH better then the slums in the back….more champagne sir? Anyway…

Although I really didn’t enjoy Singapore the last times, it actually grown on me. I mean its not Asia or Europe, its still a little too clean and perfect,but actually its a pretty nice place. Little India and China town are cool. The Zoo and it’s night tour is really cool. Electronics are cheap. People are nice. You feel safe everywhere you go. …Well except if are smoking a joint, then you’ll be killed by the government, but besides that!

Look at the lovely pictures !

Plastic Buddhas. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, this will come back as plastic chop sticks.

Little India - best food in town.

you can see why lift refurbishment is the number one election issue !!!

Fraser Island, north of Brisbane , is the worlds largest sand island. Its pretty beautiful, with rain forests, perched lakes, and lots of white sand! The only way to get around the island is to travel by 4WD, which is great fun. This is the only place I’ve been to where the main street appears and disappears with the tide! I did most of the driving on the Island, which was fine with me. We had a huge 11 person 4WD, to drive around. This thing was BIG! We camped for the 2 nights. Unfortuataly we had 2 of the most vile type of Irish girls in the world with us. You know the type, whiney fools who miss their home comforts and complain all the time. Complaining about the cold for gods’sake. Only time they had a smile was in the company of mentally ill kid, which obviously reminded them of their moronic friends back home, should have feed them to the Dingos…… o.k. where was I?? Oh yeah check out my ride!!!

My bad photos are worth a 1000 of my bad words…..
The main highway..

Side street….

Mother of all roof racks (spot the Itialian boys bags? - we’re going camping guys!)

Beautiful perched lake

Part of my sail training was to be able to recognise differenet types of vessels, their direction of travel etc. at night. This is done by decoding the various different light patterns the vessel has on display. Here is my favorite one:

This is one you really want to avoid,it’s a Minesweeper, less than 50m long, seen from ahead, under way, coming straight for you!!!

Well guys, my time in Australia is about to come to an end. Tomorrow I am off to Singapore. Australia has been great, and I’m sad to go, but its a long way home; and my visa runs out on Sunday!! I got to Melbourne on Tuesday, hopped on the plane from Cairns, where I was relaxing after 10 days at Sea!! Yes folks I’m now officially a sailor! Check me out!

I spent 7 days, on a yacht called the 007, learning to sail in the Whitsundays, a beautiful set of Islands, 74 of them in total. We had great sailing weather, 20 - 30 knots some days, rain, sun, wind, calm, we had it all. We lived aboard for the 7 days, so we did some night sailing too, which is a interesting feeling. After the weeks training I had earned my Competent Crew sailing Cert. something I’ve wanted to do for about 10 years!! As well as the sailing there was plenty of time for Snorkelling on the Reefs , chilling Whitehaven beach, dolphin, shark, ray, turtle spotting, and drinking and BBQs. Yes of course we had a BBQ on the yacht, this is OZ!

I also had 3 days aboard a large sailing yacht, the Eureka II, big boat = big fun, fast!!