We've just spent the last four days in Bangkok bright neon signs ancient temples supermodern shopping malls this truly is a city of great variety. Glad to have stayed here but ready to move on to the islands of Southern Thailand 1007 Arrived in Bangkok and took a taxi to Khao San Road the backpacker's haven. We managed to check into the hotel but not without difficulty as even though

Itrsquos raining Tigers in Summer Hector DsouzaThe guides and forest rangers affectionately call him 'Langda Munnarsquo lame Munna after a forest guide who is also lame and named 'Munna.' Seems pretty indecent but it's all taken in the right spirit in Kiplings forest. The story goes when this male tiger was two years old it hurt his paw while on a hunting expedition resulting in a limp

I catch the train at 717 am this morning to make my way yo Munich. I had to switch train three times again but I was able to sleep alittle bit here and there. Once in Munich I made my way yo where Maren works my next host by taking the Ubahn. Transportation here in Munich is very expensive I spent so much money in this city just getting around.I dropped my bag off with Maren at her work while

Ah the AutoStadt German for Auto City. Considering that until VW built it's plant here there was no town it's quite accurate. The grounds have several pavillions most promoting VW brands of one kind or another plus a vehicle museum and an art museum. Our first stop after breakfast this morning a lovely but slightly confusing buffet I learned the german word for strawberry and used it the

Wow I made it Long flight. It feels like September in terms of temperature. Everyone is wearing black winter jackets and clothes. The whimps. ha ha Its a sunny day and Auckland looks so beautiful. I arrived before 5 a. m. and got to cheap hotel by 6. Slept four hours got up showered and took bus downtown.Travel tip when landing at airport buy food before you get on shuttle bus to ho

Hi All I'm finally off on the first leg of the trip around Australia. After a final few adjustments at the factory yesterday morning Monday 12th July I was on the way by 10.30 am.First destination was to Casino for lunch break. Arrived around 12.30. Then took off for the 1st nights destination at Tenterfield in norther NSW. Arrived about 4pm. Not a good trip for the first day on the road. Very

We have acquired a new friend in the form of Lucyrsquos camera case a fluffy lilac sock.. Lucy selected the appropriate name Chezza the dancing sock in Bangkok. Lucy we have videoed a dance I think we are becoming delirious but we found the dance hysterical.. will load the video on here so you can have a piece of the action. I was slightly surprised when Lucy arrived with a giant sized bottle of

June 17 2010.The ship's final port of call was at Corfu an island off mainland Greece's northwestern coast. The tender started at 1pm an hour after which we were able to arrive at the port. Since it was siesta time the tourism office was closed and we were unable to get the services of a private vehicle. We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming in nearby streets and checking out the market s

Today I woke up pretty early to a sunny morning but soon the clouds came in and the wind picked it up. Amanda seems to be in a coma I donrsquot blame here jet lag is exhausting. Expecially when you are coming from the other side of the world. Alvaro and I are going to work on going through the data he collected the other day on the water and I might head to the beach for a walk. About th

So it only took 27 hours of flying...lots of inflight entertainment...little sleep on the plane...and an overnight in London to get us safely to Italy. What a treat for us to land in Verona with BA instead of Bergamo with Ryan Air. It cut out that hour and a half drive which was a rather pleasant relief after all the travelling we had done. So I am not used to writing about my time in Italy so I h

So I never thought I'd be faced with such great drama again. I figured I'd left it all behind in high school but no. These exchangers get on my nerves. To sum it all up I'm going to just post one of my journal entries from a website.Ya I'm ranting now.I hate the other exchange students they don't treat this like it's serious. They don't care about Finland. Liking the music doesn't count.This

It's midJuly here and hot as hell. My ac is always on so I am usually not aware just how high the temperature is outside until I open the door. Of course our halls and elevators are not air conditioned so you have the pleasure of feeling the stifling heat immediately once you set foot outside your own apartment. That said I don't think the average Nanchang ren uses their ac anywhere as li

820636 days until I leave New Mexico. 39 days until I'm in Finland. 151 days until I'm back. 36 days of wishing I could never leave New Mexico. 151 days of wishing I would never come back. 151 days of great memories. 151 days of bad memories that will fade faster than the good. 1 lifetime of change. 1 lifetime of friendships. 1 lifetime of language use. 1 new family. 1 journey. 1 semester. 5 m

June 15The ship's second stop was at Kusadasi in Turkey's western province of Aydin. Just as in Croatia we didn't avail of the ship's offered tours. Instead we hired a private van with a guide Morat as we drove 20 km to the nearby town of Selcuk and the ancient Roman city of Ephesus. The first stop was at the reputed Virgin Mary's house. The second was at Ephesus where the heat was so intense

I woke up real early this morning and hopped in the shower. We had to drive to the airport pick up Daniele then head back to Yeppoon and give a presetation. On the drive there Amanda and I chatted a bit and she saw a bunch of kangaroos by the side of the road my first time seeing them in the wild. We got Daniele who by now is looking way too tired. This was his last time having to fly back

The plan originally was to head to Sangklaburi and volunteer for a week at on of the orphanages that house refugee children from Burma however as Lisa was too late in emailing the home there were no beds leftWe decided not to let this deter us and so headed off on the 3 hour mini bus ride anyway thinking that there would be other projects we could visit for a day or two and help out. Upon arriv

In the morning I went through all of the data sheets with Amanda and ran her through the ropes of getting the boat ready for days out on the water. After a bit we headed down to the beach with the cameras to practice getting shots of moving objects. Amanda has had only a little bit of work with Photo ID so a little practice never hurts. We took some shots of moving birds a few buoys and any o

The world cup final game was on at 430 this morning. Amanda was very excited as Holland battled Spain for the title. By the time I woke up though the house was somber and I could tell by the lack of screaming and happy faces that Spain won. Daniele had to run some errands in Gladstone today a town about 2 hours away. Amanda and I tagged along as I am getting pretty sick of the house. The r

Arriving into MongoliaWritten by Luke whilst on the train from Mongolia to Beijing. This time we have airconditioning and therersquos not a Mongolian smuggler in sight. Bliss Herersquos a summary of time in MongoliahellipAs we crossed the border out of Russia and started rolling through the Outer Mongolian plains my mind was wondering. For so many years Irsquod bundled this place togethe

Ankor Wat was amazing and our experience was helped by the very jolly tuk tuk driver we had who obviously thought we looked liked dizzy girls who could get lost around this vast ancient city so every time we exited a temple he would be there waving frantically with a big Cambodian smile. We wandered in and around the temples the cool damp stone once inside was a welcome relief from the burning