Needles and tablets

One little problem with adventuring to fabulous, far-away places is that they have some nasty bugs and diseases.  Because we were quite spontaneous in booking our holiday, we kind of neglected to think about vaccinations until a bit later.

It turns out there is a pretty long list of recommended vaccinations for Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

We found, among the huge amount of travel advice out there, that the website My Vaccination was pretty good as it provides clear information about recommended vaccinations in an easy to use way.

Mum is not a fan of vaccinations at all, which I can understand, but I don’t want to risk getting some awful disease that might haunt me for the rest of my lift when I could have just got a jab.

We got the name of a travel doctor from our travel agent and so made an appointment.  The benefit of going to travel doctor rather than a GP is that they are going to have all the vaccinations there and ready.  After much discussion with the doctor, he convinced us to get Hepatitis A and B (which we need to get two more of before the end of the year!), Typhoid and Influenza, and then I had to get Tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis one, but Mum has had that recently because of a dog bite.

Mum bravely went first… which I think didn’t turn out that well for me because I had to watch her get needles put into her arm first.  I went next to get my four needles – two in each arm.  I was OK with the first two, but when the third one went in I started to feel really nauseous.  Then all black started to close in my vision and the doctor told me to lay down on the bed.  I laid down for a while – I felt much better on the bed – while the doctor talked about malaria tablets with Mum.  I started to feel fine, so we went out to pay.  Vaccinations are so expensive!  Mum very generously paid for me (possibly because I got some sympathy for near-feinting).   The bill racked up to $150 for Mum and $180 for me… I guess I’m lucky to not expect to pay at the doctors, I usually flash my Medicare card and it’s all good.   I can’t be sure if it was shock from the bill or the needles again, but I my vision started to go all black again and a went all wobbly.  The doctor was walking past at the time and rushed my over to lay down before hooking me up to a blood pressure machine and beepy thing to measure my heart rate on my finger.  It was quite dramatic, but once I was feeling a bit better again, the lady at reception brought me a scotch finger biscuit.  I had to wait a little while before I was allowed to drive home, which makes sense.

Luckily over the next few days all I had were sore arms.  After experience getting the needles, I really hope I don’t get sick on holidays!

Adventuring to Asia

Usually I write a blog after an exciting holiday, but I thought I might try something different and update you before I go.

Since Canada, I’ve realised just how much of the world I need to see.  Mum and I have been thinking about going to explore Asia a bit more for a while.  We recently went to Phuket, which was great, but a relaxing holiday rather than a cultural experience.  When I was 14 we went to Sabah, which was amazing.  We went around the cities in Malaysia, but also went on a little boat down the Kinabatangan river where toilets by the side of the river were holes in a jetty.  We saw orangutans and crocodiles in the wild and had to watch out for piranhas in the river.  It was such an eye-opening experience.

Mum and I decided we were ready for a cultural holiday again.  After weeks of thought and speculation, we decided a small group tour would be a good idea.  We don’t usually do tours, and like to make our own way, but because we are so busy with uni/work these days, the idea of booking a tour and knowing all accommodation and transport is organised is pretty appealing.

We wanted to make sure we weren’t in a big group though – I don’t like big tour groups because it’s like you always take the line with you!  We ended up finding a company called G-Adventures, and really liked their style.  I’m not trying to advertise these guys, I don’t even know if their any good get, but in their brochure they say: “It’s your world, you should come and see it sometime.”  I am willinging to accept that invitation.  We also really like that the group size is a maximum of 15 people, so hopefully we will get to meet some interesting travellers without being too big of a group.  The range of transport this tour uses sounds awesome too – Train, local bus, aircon bus, river boat, tuk-tuk, songthaew, taxi, cyclo and plane.

So we decided we liked the look of this tour, and went down to the travel agent to enquire more about the accommodation and so on.  When we got there we learned that there was a 15% special off all tours if they were booked by that day!  So… we booked it.  And considering we booked the tour (and had to pay in full), we had to book flights shortly after aswell.

So it a very short time… we booked.  We went from considering a holiday to going in a just a few days…

This is the route we will be taking:

Our Tour Route

Our itinerary looks a little something like this (B means we get break fast and D means we get dinner):

Day 1 Bangkok

Arrive in Bangkok at any time.

Day 2 Bangkok (B)

Guided longboat tour of Bangkok’s klongs and Wat Po. Optional Grand Palace and National Museum visit. Overnight train to Chiang Mai.

Day 3 Chiang Mai

Guided Doi Suthep temple tour. Many other options available, including cooking school, bike ride, elephant ride, night market visit etc.

Day 4 Chiang Khong

Head to Chiang Khong via Wat Rong Khun and enjoy your first view of the mighty Mekong.

Day 5 Mekong River

Travel by traditional barge down the Mekong. Border crossing into Laos.

Day 6-8 Luang Prabang (3B, 1D)

Guided tour of Pak Ou Caves, the Ethnology Museum and Kuang-Sii Waterfalls, included local home meal. Optional cooking school, temple visits, night market shopping, bike rides, hiking, elephant treks.

Days 9-10 Vang Vieng (B)

Optional bike rides, swimming, cave exploring, countryside visits.

Day 11 Vientiane

Optional temple visits, national museum, explore highlights of this town.

Day 12-13 Hanoi (2B)

Visit Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, stilt house and presidential palace. Water puppets ticket. Optional tour of Temple of Literature, museums, Hoa Lo Prison. Flight from Vientiane–Hanoi on Day 12.

Day 14 Hanoi (B)

Depart at any time.

I am getting so excited, and there is so much to do for such a short time.  We go in just 5 weeks!

I will keep you posted as our preparations develop!

Meeting the wax people

For mother’s day this year, we went to check out the new Madam Tussaud’s wax museum at Darling Harbour.  There was a pretty good representation of people relevant to Australia and we had fun.  As we walked in we were met by Captain Cook and Arthur Phillip (who was just waiting for a high-five).

High-fiving Arthur Phillip

There was a room of political figures – who are surprisingly short.  One theme I found throughout the whole museum was that the figures were shorter and skinnier than I expected.  It is possible that because I usually see these figures on television, they are stretched out to be fatter than there are, and they seem bigger (possibly) because you assume people who are in positions of power to be tall… An odd assumption maybe, but I just naturally assume prime ministers to be taller than me, but apparently that is not the case.

Mum and a surprisingly skinny Bob Hawke

Mum giving an important address in front of Julia Gillard

Mum admiring the queen while she sits in her Majesty’s seat

Apparently the figures are eerily accurate.  They measure absolutely everything.  Although we all knew the figures were wax, it was so interesting to examine these people we have become familiar with one way or another up close.

David caddying for Greg Norman

Barry admiring Don Bradman

I really enjoying checking out Don Bradman, a man who I am too young to have seen in real life when he was in his prime.  To look at someone in their youth when they are now dead is quite eerie.  These wax figures somewhat act as intensely comprehensive photographs.

Dancing with Sandy

It was weird to feel a bit of a buzz when I saw a figure that I am so familiar with.  When I was little I watched Grease many, many times, and so to see Sandy standing on the Shake ride made me want to run up and dance next to her… except of cause she was made of wax.  It was still very cool though.

Playing bass for Jimmy Barnes

There were also really cool props to play with and “enhance the experience”.  I particularly enjoyed playing bass for Jimmy Barnes.  His stance was so cool.  I was outshone by Mum as a bassist for Jimmy Barnes though, she just had the right attitude.

Mum and Jimmy – his photo makes me laugh every time

Posing with Michael Jackson

It was also really interesting to see depictions of people I knew by their work, but not their faces.  To look Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson in the face was a fascinating experience.  I do wonder though, how they get the measurements for people who died a long time ago.  Surely a lot of it is speculation, as I doubt they would exhume their remains in the name of a wax sculpture… at least I hope not.

Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson

Linking arms with Einstein

When the sculptures are in a context (such as Einstein in front of a blackboard with written on it) you feel as though their personality comes through a little.  Now I know this seems crazy, and it has been said that I have a wild imagination, but it’s pretty cool.

Checking out old Albert – he was quite short

The most excited I was the whole time was probably sitting at the table with Rove.  When I was in year 6, I was allowed to stay up until 10:30pm to watch Rove Live.  This is the latest I was allowed to be up all week and I looked forward to Tuesday nights with enthusiasm.  I felt like I was living the dream of my 11 year old self when I giddily sat down as a guest of the wax Rove McManus.

I was excited to be a guest of even the wax Rove

Some of the figures were posed in such a life-like way it seemed like they might come alive at any moment… this was definitely the case when I went to meet Bert Newton’s hug.

So good to see Bert

The range of people presented kept my attention, and the costuming and detail of the sets was amazing as well.

David visiting Home and Away

Admiring the extravagant Dame Edna

Audrey Hepburn was surprisingly little

A very tall Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

Grandma and Bruce Willis

Startruck by a very cool wax Johnny Depp

All in all, we had a lovely mother’s day and enjoyed the creepy and fascinating experience of Madam Tussaud’s wax works in Darling Harbour.  It’s a very interesting way to get a closer look at people we know from areas other than our personal lives, and in a very odd way, makes celebrities and historical figures more human.

Back in Sydney

After 9 wonderful days of relaxing above blue water and filling our bellies with delicious food, we arrived back in Sydney.  On the last night of the cruise, I told Mum to ring me in the morning if there was something really worth getting up for, otherwise I’d be at breakfast at 8.  At 6am I got a call from Mum telling me to come up to her room (she had a balcony), the view was worth looking at.  So out the door and up the stairs I ran to look outside.

Arriving in Sydney

The view was worth getting up for.  We arrived in Sydney at about 6am, just as the sun was rising.  The view of the Opera House and city skyline was just lovely in the morning light.

Our city

Heading toward the Harbour Bridge

Little ferry

I was waiting patiently for this little ferry (well, little from our perspective) to line up the the buildings and Opera House.  When t did, I was very impressed:

Ferry, Opera house, City

Looking at the Harbour Bridge

Operaahhh

Just our icons in one little frame

After admiring the iconic architecture of Sydney, we docked.  It was bizarre to be stationary again after 9 days of rocking.  We had our last breakfast at the buffet, a restaurant that had the best view in the world.  Every morning we had a different amazing view, and today it was the best one in Sydney.  So after a holiday of fun, relaxing and food, we left the lovely cruise with full bellies and smiles.  It was back to the business of the real world. but the real world seems a lot more manageable when you’ve been lying in the sun for 9 days.

Cocktails on Deck

Day 8 marked our last full sea day.  It was amusing how on this day all the laptops, textbooks and highlighters came out – including my own.  When we realised we would be in Sydney the next day (Monday) there were a whole heap of things that needed to be done by then.  Of course, we were still on holidays and so made plenty of time for fun.

Swimming on the deck

The water in the pool was quite cold, but great.  When the ship rocked the water rolled up and down the pool.  It had waves and was very fun to float in.  It was funny to see just how much the ship rocked and just how much we were used to its sway by day 8.

Relaxing with a round of cocktails on deck

I had been saying I would buy a round of cocktails all holiday, and so finally plucked up the courage to hand over my card on the last day.  Mum and Mark got raspberry coladas – which were amazing, Barry got a classic strawberry daiquiri, grandma had a kiwi-lime cooler (very refreshing) and I had an amazing cocktail that was called something like BCH… I don’t remember  its name, but it was fantastic: full of coconut, banana, rum and cream.  I would have another right now actually…

An angelic Grandma with a Kiwi-lime cooler

The cruise was largely about what we could consumer: food, drink and entertainment.  Every sense was stimulated all the time.  My eyes had a good time on this cruise, but we were generally at dinner or engaged in some activity when the sun went down, so I really wanted to watch the sunset on our last night.  Unfortunately, that night decided to be cloudy, but it was still quite lovely.

Sunset at sea

With the dramatic filter on my camera it had a different level of impressiveness.

Dramatic sunset

Mark and I were playing around on he deck and drawing inspiration from that famous Titanic scene at the bow of the ship… and Mum took some photos.

Hug on deck 14

Looking at the ocean

Getting our Titanic pose on

Maybe I will go for a swim…

and dip

Still tourists

Floating back home

Back on the ship we started to head home.  I didn’t particularly want to leave the pacific paradise and head back to the hard work and late nights that waited for me in Sydney.  The plus side of a cruise, however, is that even once you start the journey home, there is still time for fun.  In oyr last precious two days we discovered the joy of shuffleboard.  We had seen this shuffleboard thing a few days ago on the Pacific Daily (the little newspaper that is delivered to your cabin each morning), but hadn’t made it down to deck seven, portside to check it out.  So we finnally went dow to check it out and saw people hitting this large puck like thing with a long stick onto something that resembled a hopscotch game… it was awesome.

We picked up the sticks and gave it a go… we weren’t very good.  You had to allow for the movement of the ship, as well as avoid the dreaded minus 10 points square…  Even though we had only had five minutes experience, Mum and David and Mark and I formed teams and decided to enter the knock out competition.

Daid playing shuffleboard

Mum was pretty good

See the concentration on Mark’s face?

I got really into it

Surprisingly, after just a few turns we all got the hang of the game and made it through to the next round – which we both won.  Mark and I ended up fighting Mum and David in the semi-finals, and in a very close game, we won.  We got to the final and finished a proud second.  We even won a P&O stubbie holder (don’t underestimate the value of these, they cost a fortune in the gift shop.)

After our success (I was pretty darn happy with second) we celebrated with some cocktails.  Cocktails were ever so tasty on the cruise.  Things became tricky however, when I couldn’t tell if I was tipsy or not.  When I drink alcohol, the first thing to go is my sense of balance.  So it was quite confusing to me that the walls were always moving up and down and I staggered down the halls, no matter how many cocktails.  I found the best way to tell if you are drunk or not was: if it’s the boat rocking; everyone sways with you, if you’re drunk; you sway alone.

Cocktail night

Barry and Mum at The Orient

Grandma and Grandpa

Blue Sky Green Pines Clear Water

On day six of our cruise we arrived at the Isle of Pines.  I had heard a lot about the Ilse of Pines, but never been there.  It pretty much lived up to my expectations with beautiful white sand, stunningly clear blue water and impressive pine trees.

Lovely white beach

We got on the tender boats again travelled across some rough water to arrive at the island.  We quickly visited the famous sacred rock on the island (it was much bigger than I expected) before getting ready for our tour.

The sacred rock

We’d booked a tour to ‘snorkel the natural aquarium’ and so headed off on a bus.  As we travelled we got to see the surprisingly diverse landscape of the small island.  After about 20 minutes we arrived at our destination, got out and walked into the ocean.  Well, it wasn’t open ocean, but the water was salty.  We had to leave our shoes on so we didn’t step on anything bitey as we walked through the water.  The scenery was definitely worth looking at.

Walking through the water to the natural aquarium

Grandma was a bit too short for the deep water

Clear water and Pine Trees

Strolling by the clear water

After a short walk we arrived at the natural aquarium.  It is protected area where many fish have decided to call home.  As it turned out, we probably couldn’t have chosen a better tour for that day.  It was quite windy, but because where we were was so protected the snorkelling was wonderful.  The fish there were so confident too! As I swam over them they didn’t flinch, just went about their business.

Mark excited about the natural aquarium

Not a bad view

Blue sky

The water was wonderfully clear and we had a great time with the friendly fish.

Tall palms and a pine

Tender/life boat

After snorkelling we walked around a very small market area to get some last minute souvenirs.  There was an engine that had been underwater for so long coral had started to grow on it.  The sign read: “Thank you, do not touch me, I am very fragile.  I stayed 18 years under the water. Will try to keep it like that another 20 or so.”

Motor covered in coral

Saying goodbye to the Ilse of Pines

Lots to do at Lifou

On day 5 of our cruise on the Pacific Pearl we stopped in at Lifou.  Lifou is bigger than Mystery Island, with villages and churches.  We didn’t have a tour booked for Lifou and were determined to figure out things on the island for ourselves.

 

looking at the ship from Lifou

It is so different visiting an island from a cruise ship as opposed to with another form of travel.  Especially if you go on a tour, you are protected in a little bubble, use Australian money and probably pay about 5 times as much as you would if going it alone.  Because we’ve travelled quite a bit before, we found it pretty frustrating to wait in the big tour lines and stay with groups of people.  So it sounds like a great idea to ditch the tour and make your own tracks… but when we got onto the island, everyone went off to their tour groups and we felt a bit lost.  We asked some locals at the market stalls what was good to do (“go on a tour” was their reply) and eventually found out there were some caves a short walk away.

On the island

View of the ship

We started walking up a hill along a road and passed a lot of people coming the other way.  We asked them if they’d found they cave, but they’d all given up and come back.  It was really hot, but we figured we should keep trying.  We finally saw a church, and around the side were a few men sitting in front of a sign pointing toward the caves.  After a bit of bargaining we managed to get a good price for six people to be let through to the path.

We went that way...

Big snazzy tree

The path got rockier and the trees ot bigger as we continued toward the cave.  I think Grandma and Grandpa got more than they bargained for when we had to climb through tight spaces and down wet rocks.  The managed with a smile and held on to the thick ship rope that lined the path (we wondered if someone had traded some rope from the ship for access to the caves at some point).

Into the cave

Inside the cave was very dark and (I didn’t know this until later, but) there was a local man hiding in the shadows making a growling sound… it was scary.  My view of this man changed when he handed me a waterproof torch.  The cave was dark but there was a large pool of water below us.  “Jump”, the man said… and so after a but of encouragement, I did.

I jumped in

The water was fresh and not too cold.  It was really beautiful… but until other people joined me it was a little scary.  The rocks were limestone and when we shone the torch down we could see tunnels that seemed to go forever.  Tree roots hung down from the rocks and looked a little bit like monsters in the torchlight… the whole place was scary and beautiful.

It was dark

and very deep

and a little scary

After Mum, Mark, David and I swam for a while we headed back up the path to see what else we could do on Lifou.

We saw a rather large snail

Grandma and Mum having fun

Mum, David, Mark and I decided to walk a bit more to try to find some snorkelling.  On the way we saw a pen of piglets and their mum.  They were adorable, all oinky and nuzzling away at coconut husks.

Happy piglet in a bed of coconuts

We followed the road until we found a lovely view of the ocean where lots of people from the ship were snorkelling.  Now it was stunning and the coral was great, but I want to take this opportunity to tell anyone who will listen that you should not stand on coral and you should certainly not break it.  Coral are animals and take a very long time to grow.  They are very sensitive and it is a very BAD idea to kill them.  I really wanted to yell this out to all the people snorkelling, because if they keep treating it they way they were, they will be very confused when there’s none left next time they visit.

Beautiful view on Lifou

The water was very blue

On a more positive note, we didn’t break any coral, but instead walked up the hill to a new church and took in some views.

Mum and the ship

Looking out to sea

Hibiscus

Walking back

Good spot for snorkelling

Mum and I jumped in the water to check out the coral and fish.  It wasn’t as good as where we snorkelled on Mystery Island, but it was absolutely lovely.  There was such a great array of fish and some (unbroken) coral too.  Fish have such curious little personalities, I bet they are just gawking at the big langky things that hover above them with amazed looks on their faces.  We look at the fish and the fish look at us – win, win.

Bums up, eyes down

David climbing to get a coconut

Back on land, David and Mark got us some coconuts for lunch.  David has picked up some pretty impressive skills for hours of watching Bear Grylls and managed to collect a few coconuts; some for the flesh and some for the milk.

Mark smashing open the coconut

David was a coconut serving pro

They opened them up for us and practically put them on a platter.  It was a delicious feast.

Mum checking out the coconut milk

Mmm coconut

We made our way back to the tender boats to get back on ship.  while in line we were looking out to the ocean and a sea turtle popped his head through the surface of the water.  Soon there was an another and another and we watched these magnificant creatures swim around while we waited to be taken back tot he Pacific Pearl.  It was the best show I had seen yet.

This is where the turtles kept popping up to say goodbye to us

Back on the boat there was another good show (not quite as good as the turtles in my opinion though) as Pacific Cirque twirled around on deck.

Pacific Cirque on board

Sunset over crowd

Our day on Lifou was amazing; we swam in a cave, snorkelled and saw turtles.  In my book, that’s a win.