Australia - Western Australia, Perth : First Impressions

First impressions count.

Perth - cold, expensive, boring.

First day here and I'm already bored. Maybe I should make a friend...??

Weird fact - the only person I know in this part of the country is MYSELF!

Hope Sydney is gonna be better cos otherwise I'll be home sooner than I expected...

Hello From Penang In Malaysia

When I went to check-in at the airport today, I deliberately chose a male counter person.

Why?

Cos my luggage was overweight!! Just give them a big cheesy smile and they let you away with a few kgs!

Seriously! Cos when I was flying with N from Chiangmai to Bangkok, he went to this female counter person. His charm failed. We were told to repack! Bi-atch!

The guy actually said "your luggage is overweight!" and I opened my eyes like real big (that always works!!) and offered to repack. He flirted. I fake giggled. And that was all it took to get my extra kgs. :)

Pay More Get Less

Left Chiang Mai to return to Bangkok.

Stayed at Hip hotel last week but it was only 2 stars - name of place was apt cos it was indeed hip and modern.

Decided to upgrade when returning to bangkok - pay twice as much and booked Swiss Lodge - 3 stars.

After a long day of waiting around at the airport due to delayed flight, I had high expectations of a really lovely hotel.

It's not. Decor is ancient. Room is tiny. Looks unclean. Bed is not very comfy. Very disappointed.

Chiang Mai hotel - Manathai Village - was amazing! Cheapest of the lot but the best so far.

Innuendoes Alert

The funniest (unintentional) farewell message I received from my friend H - in the form of voicemail

"...have fun exploring Down Below!"

Erm, excuse me?!! Lol

Work part 1

Obviously, I'm heading Down Under to find a job. I can't afford to be job-less for too long. Besides, I come from a family with good working ethics bordering on workaholicism!!

My agency has suggested a job which starts in November 2009 till June 2010 which sounds like a dream for my one year visa in Oz. The only downside is that it's not situated in Sydney, where I was planning to stay in. It's in the state Victoria - south west of Melbourne.

What to do?

Well, I told my agency to promote me for the job! Await contact...

Sydney sounds dreamy but after I made the decision to go there, 3 people I know ALSO chucked their jobs and are heading there too.

Sorry but I don't want it to be a Glasgow/Edinburgh mini reunion in Sydney! Sigh...

Anyway, we'll see what happens...

Home Sweet Home

It's almost a week since I left my family and friends in the uk. It was a tearful farewell.

But then I switched over to holiday mode - that was fun! No work, meeting friends, eating out, chilling out and having fun...

Novelty is wearing thin slightly and I am beginning to miss home comforts. It's probably cos out here, where I basically know noone (this also includes N cos we're not best mates; very superficial - in fact, we piss each other off every day - it's only been the 4th day! Glad we're separating in 2 days! Also glad he doesn't read my blogs!); it's really hard to know who to trust.

Don't think it's possible to trust many people in thailand cos they really are out to con you here!

1. Conned to buy some fake gems
2. Conned by taxi and tuk tuk drivers - overcharging all the time
3. Conned by sellers - overpriced goods once they realise you're a tourist
4. Conned by tour guide - the price he quoted didn't even include tickets to the actual tour! Basically paid him to take a few photos! Ripoff!!

Okay, prices here are dirt cheap and people are poorer and more hardworking than those lazybones back home who don't work but claim benefits; but still!

Wish people would just be honest.

Out here, I have learnt to be less gullible and I should trust noone.

I miss home.

Eyes water...

Conquering Fears

I am a big scaredy cat! Scared of too many things...

However, last year after life-changing events, I decided to try and tackle my fears every time I go to another country.

I am scared of the waters and I can't swim but in Greece July 2008, I went scuba diving.

I am scared of heights and rollercoaster rides but in Singapore December 2008, I went on this open-air skyride and saw amazing views of the city's manmade beach Sentosa.

I am scared of animals - small and big. A dog coming near me has made me cry in front of all my friends. It's like they're drawn to my fear!

However, today in Thailand, I challenged myself and was pleasantly surprised :-

1. I voluntarily fed an elephant; let an elephant lift me up with it's trunk; rode on an elephant BAREBACK on my own!

2. I stroked a medium and large sized tiger. They were called Sausage and Meatball. I tickled and massaged their stomachs till they turned on their back with paws up in the air. (Note : N got scared)

3. I let a big monkey sit on my lap. Then I held this 1-month-old baby monkey crawl up and down my arms, back, shoulders and head. It was so darn cute. When I held it in my hands for a photo opp, it got scared and it peed! Lovely!

All this without my usual whining and squealing and running away from an animal!

Please be proud of my achievements cos I am!

Insert a smiley face here

Xoxo

Lies

It suddenly dawned on me today that there are 3 phrases that are commonly abused by men. They say it, but do NOT mean it.

The 1-worded phrase = Promise!

The 2-worded phrase = I'm sorry!

The 3-worded phrase = I love you!

Today, I had the greatest pleasure of getting the "I'm sorry" phrase with no sincerity to it AT ALL cos it was follwed by this a few minutes later... "Get a grip!"

Like seriously, WTF?!!

Walking Disaster part 1

This travelling trip is about self-discovery too. I am officially a walking disaster! So there was the mishaps of travelling to Bangkok; but I've also been injuring myself in chiang mai.

Chiang mai is a beautiful city up north of Thailand where one can escape the touristy feel of Bangkok and offers a true flavour of Thailand. Anyway, I am here with my friend N. I say friend now but we may become enemies at the end of travels. Lol.

And just an important point to note - no romance. Please! I just want to clarify that cos I hate all the gossip surrounding my love life. Not interested; don't bother!

I went to take a shower while N watched tv. There are no locks in the toilet; just curtains. The shower was lovely and felt so refreshing after a long day of sightseeing and shopping at the night market. So I get out the shower; put one foot on the marble stone floor and skid! I fly up into the air and head towards the hand basin; I quickly grab the edge before I fly into the curtains. Emergency landing onto the hard marbled floor successful - Lol. My ass suffered the most. Lovely bruise formation.

The smartest thing I did was to NOT scream! Imagine if N rushed inside to see me in my lovely naked unflattering position! If it were the old traditional Chinese days, we would have to get married!! Haha. Erm, no thanks.

Will be going to Penang next week with my other friend R - he's 7 years younger but he's more like my big bro cos he takes care of walking disaster me!!

Return for more stories which I am sure will amuse us all

Xoxo

Confessions of a bag-a-holic

Second day into thailand and I'm already an owner of FOUR lovely new handbags. Sightsee during the day and go shopping at night. Getting ripped off left, right and centre but things are still cheap compared to uk prices. Problem - how to fit into my already overweight suitcase?? Answers on a postcard please
Xoxo

Hello From Bangkok

An eventful journey to Bangkok from Hong Kong which included :-

- Lugging 20kg suitcase up and down flights of stairs of my HK flat after discovering the wheels were faulty so I had to quickly repack

- Then, getting on the bus to the airport and worrying about not making it in time for check-in; I didn't get off my stop!!!

- Which then resulted me hiking that bloody massive suitcase up thousands of stairs, running across this bridge and into the airport to check-in point...only to discover my flight had been rescheduled to 2 hours later...

- Thinking I had loadsa free time, I fannyed about...then lined up for my departure gate...

- Got to the front of the queue, only to discover I was queueing at the wrong gate!!! Flight was going to MUMBAI, via Bangkok...

- Hk people being rather unfriendly - the air attendant person shooed me away...I ran from Gate 1 to Gate 20, worried I had missed my flight (I've missed a flight before...!!) but the plane hadn't even arrived yet...phew! Blister formation showed how fast I was running!!! LOL

- Arrive in Bangkok only to be conned by my taxi driver. He wouldn't let me out off his taxi till I paid a higher price than we originally agreed on. GIT!

- Severely jet lagged and very tired and missing family, but loving it so far...

Packing

Trying to pack your whole life into one suitcase is IMPOSSIBLE!

Please can I pack all my favourite people in the world into the suitcase too??

I feel so blessed and so loved...I should leave more often...

I predict a big crying fest in 24 hours...

Quick itinerary :

London - HK - Bangkok - Chiangmai - Bangkok - Penang - KL - Perth - Sydney - ???

dilemma 1: where should I go to celebrate my birthday this year? the choices are amazing...

dilemma 2 : erm...haven't packed...

dilemma 3 : and erm...haven't booked any accommodation for perth and sydney yet...HELP!!!