I thought I39d done so well avoiding jet lag... and then it hit me... in an almighty dose. Didn39t get to sleep until about 3am this morning which was midnight vancouver time where I39d just come from. Then I slept... for 11 hours. Then I got up. Then I slept again for another hour. Decided to conquer the overwhelming tiredness and head out and about around the 39burbs. Checke

Decided to rest our weary legs and hailed a taxi to 39down town39 instead of walking. We visited various historical sights and museums in the city centre including 39Plaza de la Constitucion39 in Zocalo Catherdrals and 39Templo Mayor39. There were HEAPS of people in the square and the streets.Making our way back to the hotel we saw a taco restaurant where Alan decided to taste o

Walked more today than in a long time. Probably a couple of miles. Toni and i walked down to Pike Street Market and met Ron and Jack. Hung around a little waiting for the rest of the gang as they said maybe they would come. When they did not arrive we walked down the hill past the chewing gum wall did you know they had one in Seattle people put their used gum there sometimes in the form of pi

Today is a public holiday as Mexico celebrates two hundred and one years of Independence. We decided to join the celebrations and walked to the Angel of Independence. We took a curbside position and whilst waiting for the parade to begin we chatted with those sitting around us. The Mexicans are extremely friendly .... they took the time to explain the events to us. Mexico displayed it39s milit

Hm. It seems to me a made a promise a while back that I39d update the world about my comings and goings in Germany. Seems like a grand idea I wonder what happened to...oh wait that39s right I39ve been pretty lazy recently. Well anyways this marks the first attempt to really rectify that. Since it39s been closing in on two weeks since the last one of these that I put up and that w

For those who dont seem convinced about the problems in our society I would like to discuss the educational system.Education is the most important thing in life. It is through education that we can develop a good heart develop our creativity gain social contacts grow into the person we want to be.Education is used as the most important aspect of development work in thirdworld countries. Ev

Getting used to the whole 39living for the weekend39 thing is strange. I never realised how quickly time can fly between Friday night and Sunday and i39m thanking my lucky stars I actually quite enjoy my job apart from lesson plans and schemes of work and action plans. Basically paperwork in general. I39m not good at keeping things in files. But this week the sunday blues are a

Darkness is setting in in Toronto as we board the A330 for Glasgow. Its hard to believe 400 people have paid good money for the opportunity to cram themselves into a 9 seat wide aluminum tube with wings for a 6 12 hour flight. The view of Torontos lights as the engines thrust us skyward into the night was breathtaking. We could just make out the moonlight glinting off Lake Ontario as we d

Note Since I39ve become lazy with blogging due to internet troubles and how much cooler going out and experiencing things in Glasgow are than sitting in my room hooked to a computer this blog will cease to be in any particular order. King Tut39s Wah Wah Hut looks like any of the apartments surrounding it from the outside. The sign is easy to miss and though it boasts itself as the UK

This morning we farewelled Yulara and continued our journey north to Alice Springs. It was a lovely sunny day with the wind picking up in the afternoon. We stopped for lunch in the shade of the roadhouse at Stuarts Well. Apparently Stuarts Well is famous for Dingley the Singing and piano playing Dingo according to the information board. We chose not to pursue it.As we got closer to Alice Spr

When I arrived in Tanzania the folks at VSO took my passport from me. They told me that they needed to send it to the Immigration Department to get my work permit. I handed it over gladly. They promised me they would get it back to me as soon as possible.Two weeks later I received my passport and a document that I am supposed to carry with me in case anyone should want to see my papers.

Just a quick map based update to show you all where we are at the moment and when we have been for the last 4 weeks since leaving Thailand on August 7th. By the time most people read this we will have arrived in Kuching in Malaysian Borneo where we spend 3 or 4 days before flying to Kuala Lumpur.I will be doing a proper blog in the next few days covering Java and Borneo but until then....

Sep 11Yaroslavl was very quiet. There was hardly any traffic for a city if 600000. We visited a couple of churches and then at 5 there were special services in every church for the victims of the air crash. There is talk of the corruption with technical checks for aviation similar to the tourist ship that sank a few months ago. The town has a nice feel to it as its quite an educational cen

Spending your time doing nothing in the midst of mountain hills is one do nothing activity that lets you admire the sunset sunrise clouds chilly wind flowers in the valleyall in all the beauty of nature around you... and theres no better place than Lansdowne to do so.Leaving for Lansdowne a small hill station situated in Uttarakhand last Friday was a perfect Get away for

Hello everyone Just a quick post to let you know that I Julia have entered an online travel photo competition with some shots of Katrina39s and my trip. The winner will be determined by the number of public votes so please vote for meTo do so is easy. Just click this link httpwww.paulettemagazine.comfrantikbatikutmsourceNLFRutmmediumemailutmcampaignpaulette scroll down unt

Today we went to Vienna.On our way we stopped in Bratislava For anyone who has watched Eurotrip... It is nothing like it I can39t decide between which is my favourite place Lauterbrunnen or Bratislava. We did a short walking tour around Bratislava then had 2 hours free time. We walked around the quaint little streets and they had a few market stalls around. I just love how quiet and cute

Arriving in Koh Phi Phi we were excited to return to Paradise our favourite place on our Thailand trip in 2009. The water was clear and turqouise and the scenery still looked amazing. After paying a 20baht towards the beach cleanup fee when getting of the boat we headed off to The White Our home for the next 6 weeks. The streets of Phi Phi were a lot busier than before but the ambience of the

We started today off with a driving tour around Vienna stopped of at a castle then we were dropped off in the middle of town. We some how ended up hanging around with Tim and Carla today. Our aim was to find the markets that had been pointed out at the beginning to the driving tour... unfortunatly we were given the wrong directions and ended up spending most of our day walking around. We went to

Travel day againNice early packup to head to Prague with a stop off at a Concentration Camp Mauthausen Concentration Camp. I don39t have any photos of the Concentration Camp because I really didn39t want to. We started our trip with a 30 minute video and I was fine watching the video until the last 5 minutes where photos were shown from when the Americans made it to the camp. The photos

This morning one of the other Christchurch girl39s said 39It39s September 4th today39 and it took me a while to click I cannot believe it has been an entire year that we have put up with earthquakesThis morning brekkie wasn39t until 9.30 but it got very warm so Steve and I were up at 7.40 and got ready to put a load of washing on... problem was the guy standing in the reception di