Bangkok or Bust

After my wonderful (but tiring) stopover in Singapore, my flight landed in Bangkok around 10:30pm. By the time I got through immigration, got my luggage, met my driver, checked into the hotel, and showered, it was close to 2am before hitting the hay. Considering I only had about 2 hours of sleep the night before I was pretty exhausted! The next morning I slept in somewhat, changed some Aussie dollars for Thai bahts (1 AUD = approx 30 baht), and went out exploring. The first time I left the hotel and walked around in Bangkok was, in a word, overwhelming. Crowds, cars, mopeds, honking, sights, sounds, smells, electrical wires, food stalls, market stalls, people everywhere. Bangkok's official population is around 9 million people, and the greater Bangkok area has a population of almost 12 million. I know you might be thinking how horrible that sounds but read on. I actually really, really liked Bangkok and would like to go back.

Not sure these electrical wires are up to code!

 

I made my way to the riverbank to negotiate for a long-tailed boat tour of the river and canals. An elaborate network of canals (khlongs) gave Bangkok the nickname "Venice of the East", however lots of the canals have been filled in to make streets. Many khlongs still exist with people living along them and markets often being operated along the banks, but most are severely polluted and pretty disgusting. Still the canals are a great way to see the city (and even have their own system of locks to go from the main wide river Chao Phraya in/out of the canals). The private long-tail boat is a nice, but loud, way to travel. I would suggest some earplugs as the motor is in the boat with you, and just the propellor is in the water. Everything was going well until the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. I now know what Forrest Gump was talking about when he said it was raining straight up from underneath!

 

The engine is located IN the boat

 

There are over 400 temples in Bangkok (out of the approximately 4,000 in Thailand). A temple without an educated explanation doesn't mean much, so I decided to go on a guided Temple and City Tour. I'm very intrigued with Buddhism actually - not so much as a religion, but as a way of life. Thai culture is very beatiful, and much of this has to do with their practice of Buddhism. Our guide was wonderful and very patient with everyone's questions. My favorite part is that it focuses on man and actions, not on gods. The main ideas are karma and reincarnation. Good and bad deeds in this life will be merits or punishments in the next. All actions have consequences. Inside temples, the proper sitting position is cross legged - do not point your feet at Buddha or at other people, this is an insult as the feet are considered the lowest part of body.  

 



The Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit - wasn't discovered until 1955 when it was being moved, and the plaster covering it cracked when the crane broke under its weight (5.5 tonnes!)

 That evening I decided to go to Siam Niramit, "the must-see show of Thailand," with a group from my hotel. There was a lovely older American gentleman who worked for - get this - the PCAOB (an accounting regulatory body that has a lot to do with companies like mine). He was in Bangkok for a global regulatory meeting with all the big accounting firms, and Michael Andrew was even there (the KPMG Global Chairman). Also there was a nice German couple. And the fattest man I've ever seen walking. The Germans thought for sure he was American (because he was fat) and it turned out he was German hahahahha!!!! I'm finding that I tend to get along with the Germans when I travel, something I never thought would be true. But I always seem to be drawn to their sense of order and calmness. And they seem to be drawn to my light-heartedness, inappropriate humor, and "wow an American who travels". We give each other knowing looks and share inside jokes, even after meeting only minutes before. Maybe it's my 50% German blood coursing through these veins.

 

The show was amazing, performed on apparently the tallest stage in the world (in the Guinness Book of World Records) and has over 500 costumes. It basically tells little stories to help illustrate the history of various regions in Thailand. One of the tales shows a version of Nirvana, and a version of Hell (or purgatory, before being reincarnated), including the actions that will send you there and the corresponding punishments. Drinking alcohol? Made to drink boiling water. Sexual misconduct? Made to climb a painful tree of thorns. I lost track after the alcohol one, thinking I need to seriously reassess my life. There was of course a section requiring audience member participation. First, some background. I was wearing this dress from Zara that I bought ages ago. It still miraculously fits, pretty much due to the stretchy material. Anywho, the woman picking people out of the audience walks towards me....and I realise that I CANNOT go up on stage. I literally start screaming in my head, hoping she was telepathic, "No! No! No! My dress is see through!" Kind of like the little boy in "The Shining." See, the dress is fine for a night on the town, dinner, sitting at a show, etc....but get me in front of a spotlight and I'd be like Monica singing "Delta Dawn" in the Friends episode, The One Where Monica Sings. Well I don't know if it was telepathy or the sheer look of sweaty terror on my face, but she chose the guy next to me. Crisis averted.

 

Anyway the show was nice, and there were even 2 live elephants! They were out front for photos and rides before the show, in the act itself, and then after the show they were brought directly outside while we all exited. These poor big guys didn't even get a break. Well, one decided to take some time for himself and started pooping. People kind of started giggling -- I immediately started moving away. Then the big boy let loose a gushing river of urine. I thought Noah's Arc may be necessary for those who hadn't found higher ground. People were running, kids were crying, and women were screaming. High heels were ruined that night in Bangkok, folks. By a massive river of pee.

The elephant who sent people running

 

All in all, I had a great time in Bangkok and would have liked to spent more time there. But, off to Chiang Mai I headed - to the land of elephants and tigers....and LOTS of rain (while I was there anyway)! More to come.

 

The views of kids playing from my river cruise

Along the river cruise

Wat Benchamabophit - "the marble temple"

Wat Pho - the 3rd largest reclining Buddha in the world

The "prangs" (spires) outside temples - they appear with important religious buildings

A Day in Singapore

The Republic of Singapore is a city-state at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, less than a hundred miles north of the equator. It's hot. It was occupied by the Japanese in WWII and reverted to British rule after the war, then united with other former British territories to form Malaysia in 1963. It became a fully independent state two years later. Since then it has had a massive increase in wealth. Singapore is a world leader in several areas; financial centre, casino gambling market, oil refining, and logistics. The port of Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world and thousands of ships drop anchor here. All this leads to Singapore having the world's highest percentage of millionaire households, with 15% of households being millionaires (in USD)! 

Singapore Harbour

Port of Singapore - just imagine all the illegal stuff in those containers!

The judicial system in Singapore is somewhat famous, who can forget the controversy that gripped America and even got President Bill Clinton involved (a mistake in my opinion), surrounding the caning of 18 year old Michael Fay for vandalism?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Fay  Singapore uses caning (as corporal punishment) for things like rape, rioting, vandalism, etc. Crimes like murder and some drug-trafficking carry a mandatory death penalty. Amnesty International has said that Singpore has "possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population". The crime rate in Singapore is very very very low, so needless to say I was not worried about my safety in the least. As always, I try to research a country before I go, since once there I must follow their laws and customs....such as the ban on chewing gum and being conservative in dress (not that I normally dress like a hoochie or anything).

My first glimpse of Singapore from the air was of the massive and busy port, with all the ships coming, going, or waiting. Once on the ground, I went through immigration, got my bags, got changed, and found a place to hold my suitcase. I have to take a moment to rave about the Singapore airport. I have seen my fair share of airports through the years and this is my favorite so far. I could have easily spent 3 or 4 hours just hanging out. It has a butterfly house, a rooftop pool area, sleeping rooms for rent, an enforced-quiet nap area, tons of shopping and spas, etc. But I wanted to see the city, so I caught the train. Once in the city I then tried to find my way around all these crazy barricades. I had chosen to arrive on the morning after the Grand Prix (Formula 1), so all the streets were still blocked off, the grandstands still up, litter blowing around empty streets. I finally found my way to the Singapore Flyer, the biggest observation wheel in the world and took a spin. 

Singapore Flyer

 I then walked over the Helix Bridge to the Marina Bay Sands area. In the casino area, there are 2 theatres for productions, a huge multi-level mall, ice skating rink....it's like Vegas on steroids. I literally had to rip myself away from the shops and headed to the hotel towers so I could go up on the observation deck. After taking a look around, I ponied on up to the bar, next to a few decent looking blokes (there were plenty of blokey guys around, being the day after the F1). And I proceeded to order a Singapore Slammer. The lovely and friendly bartender just smiles and says "I think you mean a Singapore Sling, that's what's famous." I got a few snickers from the peanut gallery of cute guys. Ah well, no better ice-breaker than making an ass of yourself! So I chatted with the group for awhile and sipped my $30 Singapore Sling while gazing out over a beautiful (if somewhat polluted and hazy) view. One of the guys (from Sydney) even walked me downstairs to tuck me in a cab. Actually he asked what I was doing the rest of the day. But who can forget Bridget Jones' Diary 2 or Brokedown Palace; where a handsome stranger dupes girls into unknowingly carrying drugs and end up in Thai prisons? No thank you.  

Helix Bridge, Marina Bay Sands, Casino, Art Museum

 Walking through the CBD I accidentally ran smack into....wait for it.....the KPMG office! There's no getting away!  I decided to do a bus tour around the city, and after that it was time to get back on the train to the airport. Right during rush hour - we were packed in like sardines, which reminded me of Chicago. I can't wait to someday go back, see some more sights, go to the Botanic Gardens, go to Sentosa, and go shopping on the famous Orchard Road. Too many places to see! Separate blog posts will cover the rest of my trip to Thailand, stay tuned! 

Beautiful, Bustling, Beguiling Bali

Way back in April (!), I went to Bali (Indonesia) for a week with one of my great new friends at work, Amy, and a group of other girls. I said a long time ago in one of my blog posts that I would eventually get around to writing about it and never have. Multiple people have asked me about my trip so I thought I would finally do it (plus I'm procrastinating working this weekend). If you know me well, you may find it fitting that Amy and I gave a hilarious presentation at work for our group. That's right....I gave a PowerPoint presentation about my trip to a bunch of consultants. It was titled "BPS in Bali - A detailed examination of spas and restaurants".

FYI notes: BPS stands for Business Performance Services, the group that I work for. Every month we have a "Home Office Day", where we all come back from our clients to connect in the office for a Friday afternoon. Often we are all out at various clients, so sometimes it is hard to catch up with the team if you are not on a particular project with them. These HOD's are a nice way for us to see each other, talk about the business, strategise, do some training and some team-building....and learn about any fun stuff that anyone's been doing. And then we might have drinks at the end of the day (and then we might continue to other activities such as a big night out, dancing, karoake????). It happens.

Anyway back to Bali. It was a place for relaxation, massages, restaurants, and drinking. Pretty much everyday we walked into Seminyak, ate, shopped, beached it, hung out at our awesome villa in our private pool, listened to tunes, got pretty, went back into town, ate, had drinks, maybe went out. For about a week. It's a rough life but someone's gotta do it! The restaurants are unbelievable - and all sorts of food, not just Indonesian. We stayed in Seminyak, which has good shopping and great restaurants. Luckily I was there with Amy, who is a very seasoned Bali veteran, so we went to all her favorite places. I think I gained a few kilos on this trip.

Bali is a very typical, popular destination for Aussies. A large part of the tourism industry in Bali is supported by Australians. I would equate it to maybe Cancun for Americans? It is also very cheap for Australians to travel there. Actually, it is less expensive than traveling around Australia (which is very expensive in general), so many Australians have been to Bali but maybe have not traveled around their own country a great deal. For example, my 8 days in Bali in a super nice private villa with the girls, eating out constantly, was essentially half the price of my 6 day trip traveling from Exmouth to Perth with a backpackers group (hostels, making our own food, etc). You get my point.

Amy and I at Matys in Seminyak

Amy and I hired a driver to take us to Ubud for a day, the area you may have heard featured in the (awful, imo) book and movie "Eat Pray Love". It is a beautiful rice paddie area. We also visited the Monkey Forest of Ubud which was..... super super gross and creepy. And also funny and cute because of all the baby monkeys. Wiki says that 10,000 tourists a month visit the Forest. I liked it for a little while as a bystander, but these monkeys are very aggressive and literally search you if they think you have food. (It reminded me of the Rock of Gibraltar, but at least those monkeys usually leave you alone). Bananas are sold at the front gate for those (idiots) who want to get up close and personal. People were letting monkeys crawl all over them. I did not have any food, but one monkey creeped up on me from behind and grabbed my leg....and then we left. I had enough of that! (By the way Amy hates this place and was being a nice host because I wanted to see it, thanks Amy!)

Monkey Forest of Ubud

We also took quite a trek (Amazing Race style!) to Jimbaron Bay to find this amazing bar that is built out on the cliffs over the ocean. We even had to take a tram/cable car down to it!

Rock Bar at Ayana in Jimbaron Bay

Some other things to talk about:

• There are scooters everywhere, the first choice to get around the main cities. Vendors sell petrol out of vodka bottles from the sides of the roads. There is a general lack of road rules whatsoever (at least that I could tell), but the Balinese somehow manage to never crash, only tourists.
• Kuta is the real touristy area of Bali and a place I would generally advise people to avoid (unless you are 20 and in a partying stage). There are markets to buy tourist souvenirs (crap to me), lots of clubs, lots of people offering drugs, etc. We went out dancing one night and I generally felt unsafe out on the street. And I would say I'm a pretty seasoned traveller. In the club I felt safe, but disgusted. Amy and I practiced "avoidance" strategies.....and eventually Amy started telling the boys pursuing her a tall tale that I was the owner's daughter, and we both lived in Bali. I generally didn't say anything (don't like to advertise my American accent), but Amy said that she went to boarding school in Australia to explain her accent. I don't know why this was funny, but it was (perhaps the drinks?). Kuta is also the location of the terrorist bombing in 2005 that sadly killed 200 people (88 Australians).
• The markets in Kuta were crap, but I liked the ones in Ubud a little better. I practiced my negotiation skills for a "Gucci" watch ($8 or 73,000 rupiahs) which no longer works.....what a SHOCKER! 

One of my favorite places was Echo Beach (requires to hire a car / taksi ("taxi) to get there). Definitely my kind of laid-back place where everyone is in comfy clothes, drinking beer (Bintang) instead of fruity drinks, and you pick out your fresh fish that for them to grill up for you. The motto here is "Hard to find.....Hard to forget" and I totally agree.

Echo Beach with some Bintangs

Making their offering at Echo Beach

The last thing I really wanted to talk about is drugs and the death penalty in Indonesia. I don't understand why people would take this chance. They are serious, people!!! Don't do drugs, and definitely don't try to take them to Bali! A very famous case in Australia media is Schappelle Corby, who is serving a 20 year sentence for drug smuggling. She has always maintained her innocence that she did not pack the drugs. It's a fascinating and sad case, if you're interested check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schapelle_Corby. Also check out the story of the "Bali 9", two of which have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution.

Sign at the airport....and they mean it

The girls

Coral Bay to The Pinnacles Desert

I left my last post just as I had met up with my fellow travellers in Exmouth and embarked on the coastal journey back to Perth. The group of 9 really was a little something of everything. 2 Swiss-German girls travelling together, a Canadian girl, an Irish girl, an Italian guy from Switzerland, a German couple, and a man from Tasmania. Our guide was also Australian born. And then me, the token American.  I had a lot of fun with the group and hoping to catch up with a few of them in the future; here in Perth, other parts of Oz, or perhaps in other countries??? I love inviting myself overJ

Backpacking groups aren’t something that most Americans are too familiar with, so a brief overview to start. It’s sort of like a guided tour that some of us may do when we go to Europe, as in there is a guide taking you places and you get driven around. But all the meals are prepared by the group; everyone pitches in to prep, cook, and clean…generally this is all done together in the kitchens of hostels or at public areas (or on the side of the road…it happens). You carry your food with you in the vehicle for the most part, except when the guide needs to top off a few supplies when we actually get to a place that has a store. Lunches are generally sandwiches you make yourself, with fruit and cold leftovers from the night before. Everyone pitches in to carry supplies from the truck upon arrival. And in the hostels or backpacker inns, you sleep in one or a few rooms together (or camping….this tour did not camp but others in the group had just finished a camping tour and I will likely be doing that in the future). My American friends might think I’m crazy at this point, but I promise you there is this whole other culture of backpacking in most countries. It’s seriously fun and a great way to safely (and cheaply) see lots of places and meet lots of people.

OK, back to the trip. I had enjoyed my time alone for a few days de-stressing from work and was ready to be in the company of others.  After leaving Exmouth we travelled to Coral Bay, where I had another relaxing day on the beach. Coral Bay has some fun activities like swimming with Manta Rays and quad-biking (aka “4-wheeling” in American), but I had just swam with the amazing Whale Sharks and practically grew up driving a 4-wheeler (they charge a fortune and don’t let you go very fast, so pointless for me).

Travelling the next day, we passed through the Tropic of Capricorn and made a pit stop in the fruit-producing town of Carnarvon, where we had amazing chocolate-covered frozen bananas. The Shark Bay World Heritage Site area has some very interesting things happening.

·    Shell Beach is a 50 mile beach made completely  of shells of the cockle species. It has something to do with the extreme saltiness of the seawater here that allows the cockle to flourish – and it is quite a beautiful sight.

·    At Hamelin Pool, at the base of the Peron Peninsula, there are stromatolites, which are over 3 billion years old. They’re not exactly exciting to look at, but they are very special. This is one of only 3 places where they exist in the world (the other two in the Bahamas I am told).

·    The town of Denham where we spent the night and went out for a drink had some pretty interesting locals. Think “Deliverance” banjos. Denham is the western-most town in Australia.

·    Monkey Mia is most famous for the wild Bottlenose dolphins that have been coming to shore multiple times daily for feedings for 40+ years. I can’t believe how close they come.

·    Dirk Hartog Island is named for a Dutch captain who first landed there (debatable with some French dude) in 1616. He nailed his plaque to a tree, said the land was inhabitable, and moved along. Then in 1697 another Dutch captain, Willem de Vlamingh, landed on the island and spent some time exploring the west coast of Australia. It wasn’t until 1770 that Captain James Cook landed on the east coast, outside of Sydney, and the first British settlement began in 1778 - over one hundred years from when the Dutch first landed on the west coast in 1616!

·    An abundance of sea turtles, dugongs (manatees),  and the largest known area of sea grass in the world make this a truly special place.

In the Kalbarri area, we took some short hikes up to Nature’s Window and down to Murchison Gorge. Kalbarri is also famous for the Batavia ship of the Dutch East India Company, which is a story in itself. If you’re curious, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship) for a truly fascinating tale. Kalbarri is really beautiful and I’d like to come back and spend some more time here. There are also really stunning coastal cliffs to gaze out over the Indian Ocean and search for humpbacks and dugongs!

We also stopped for a bit of sandboarding on the dunes near Geraldton. Geraldton has a population of about 30,000, making it the 4^th largest city in the state of WA – and it is also the first traffic lights coming from the north top of Australia! While “attempting” to sandboard, I took quite a digger and ended up completely covered in sand sand sand everywhere, even in my ears! We then headed, sand and all, to Nambung National Park to check out the Pinnacles Desert. The Pinnacles were unknown to most of the Australian public until the 1960s when they were added to Nambung (which was originally a National Park due mostly to the wildflowers). You can also see them in the Empire of the Sun music video for “Standing on the Shore”.  

All in all, it was a great trip and I can’t wait to do some more exploring in Australia. I’d love to get up to Broome or even Darwin and do some camping. That will probably have to wait until next winter (June-August 2012) as the weather is pretty unbearable up there in summer. Oh so many things to do!! Now back to the daily grind.

Shell Beach

Sunrise over the Outback

A wild dolphin at Monkey Mia

Coastal cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean

One of many "Leaning Trees" near Geraldton

The Pinnacles Desert, Nambung National Park

Nature's Window, Kalbarri

Exmouth, WA

I recently spent a week traveling from Exmouth back to Perth along the west coast. I originally booked a Skywest flight up to Exmouth with the intention of driving by myself in a rental car / SUV back to Perth over a week, sleeping in the car / caravan parks / under the stars or a swag. The trip is roughly 800 miles / 1300 km, or the distance from Seattle to San Francisco. My better judgement finally won (assisted by some prodding from coworkers) and I ended up finding an adventure backpackers group to travel with for the roadtrip portion.

To explain my decision, we must cover both the size of WA and secondly (and most importantly), its isolation. I don't think most Americans would have an appreciation for the vast size of Western Australia. The state of WA covers 2.5 million square kilometers (approx 1 million square miles). That’s four times the size of Texas and larger than Western Europe. However, WA's population is a mere 2.3 million people, 1.7 million of which live in the Perth metropolitan area.

To further explain, I'm going to use an something I found online to capture your attention: "Take the western portion of the US all the way to the eastern borders of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana and add in, say, Kansas for good measure. That’s roughly the size of Western Australia. Place a metropolitan area about the size of Austin, TX somewhere in the vicinity of Los Angeles and then scatter another 600,000 people primarily along the coast. Separate Canada and Mexico by vast oceans, and you’ll have WA."

The rest of the Australian population (20 million) reside primarily along the east coast, separating West Australians from their neighbors by thousands of miles of outback desert. WA is truly isolated. It has been said that it's the most isolated city in the world. This claim has been disputed with Honolulu, Hawaii and Auckland, NZ....just depends on the measures you want to use. But you get the picture.

So there were obvious reasons for me not to travel alone. If it were the US or Europe, I would think nothing of it. In WA though, towns are few and far between, with no mobile reception between them. And considering I can't even change a flat tire, I think I made the best choice. (And I know my parents would be nodding their heads furiously as they read this).

I flew up to Exmouth on a Saturday, and had a few days to enjoy relaxing on my own. The town of Exmouth is a 13 hour drive (or a couple hours flight) on the NW Cape Peninsula with the Exmouth Gulf to the east and the Ningaloo Reef to the west. The Ningaloo Reef is a 260km fringing reef - the longest fringing reef in the world, and the only reef positioned so close to a land mass. The reef was just recently World Heritage listed. Although not as popular (or as big) as the Great Barrier Reef, the Ningaloo Reef is so close to land in some places that you can just walk out into the ocean and start snorkeling. The GB Reef is separated by a deep lagoon / channel and requires an expensive boat trip to access it. Not fun in rough waters or for people who get seasick....imagine me ralphing for 12 hours straight. I think I lost 14 lbs in one day back in 1998. So I'm a big fan of this fringing reef business!

In addition to the Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth is also famous for migrating Whale Sharks. The coral spawning of the reef produces an abundant amount of plankton that draws in the whale sharks on their migratory path. The whale shark, a slow-moving filter feeder, is the largest living fish species in the world. The largest one confirmed was 12.65 meters (41.5 feet) and the heaviest weighed more than 79 tonnes (79,000 lbs). Their average life span is 70 years! And I swam next to one (mine was estimated to be about 5 meters or 16+ feet). It is not cheap, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For about $400, various tour operators will take you on a full-day Whale Shark experience. Several kilometers out to sea, their spotter planes spot the Whale Sharks and you get in and swim with these gentle giants. Whalesharks are still relatively mysterious and much research is being done. (Note: the picture below is from wikipedia as I did not take any photos on the day. The image is at the Georgia Aquarium and uploaded by Zac Wolf.)

A little about Exmouth, where I spent 3 days enjoying life and sun. This little town of 2,000 has a bit more history than you'd think. After the retreat from Java in March 1942, Allied naval forces needed a base for replenishing submarines against the Japanese. Both Darwin and Broome were too exposed to air attack. Code-named Potshot, the base was also a rest camp for submariners. An airfield (now Learmonth, where I flew into) was constructed to provide fighter defense for the base. Z Special Unit used Potshot as a staging base for Operation Jaywick in September 1943 in which 7 Japanese boats were sunk in Singapore Harbor. The town was basically abandoned after it wasn't needed anymore. Then, in 1967, the Naval Communication Station was built after an agreement was established between Australia and the US. Its primary mission was that of a radio relay station, passing messages between Australian and US command centers, submarines, and surface ships. The 13 large antennaes (numbered 0-12), are Very Low Frequency (VLF) transmitters. Tower Zero (in the center) is the 2nd tallest structure in the southern hemisphere (387.6 meters high or approx 1300 feet).

My first 3 days were on my own before joining up with the group. I had a rental car and took a look around, did some nice walks, spent a day at the beach, etc and just generally took in the sights of the area: 

• Cape Range National Park; Thomas Carter Lookout over the Charles Knife Gorge
• Pebble Beach
• Potshot Memorial (commemorates Operation Potshot 1942-45)
• Krait Monument (tribute to Operation Jaywick)
• SS Mildura Wreck (1907 cattle ship wreckage visible from shore; later used in WWII for allied planes bombing practice)
• Vlamingh Lighthouse and the view! (named for Willem de Vlamingh, who explored the coast and named Rottnest Island and the Swan River in Perth)
• Migrating humpback whales....so many it got a little boring! "Oh look, there's the 40th humpback." "Eh, think I'll have some more chips."
• Dolphins

Tuesday, I met up with the backpackers adventure group and spent the day snorkeling at Turquoise Bay. We set off for our first destination on the drive back to Perth, Coral Bay, on Tuesday evening. The rest of the trip will be covered in the next post. Hope you enjoyed reading about Exmouth as much as I enjoyed visiting!

The VLF towers

Sunset over Indian Ocean

Emu in Cape Range National Park

Master Planless

Because I'm new here and want to experience as much as I can, I find myself constantly booking myself up practically every minute of the day. If I don't have something planned, there's all these things I "should" be doing. I actually had last Saturday free, so I wanted to do something fun. The original plan was to head to Lancelin to try my hand at "sandboarding" (snowboarding on sand dunes), but it was raining so I thought I'd instead take a little country drive to see what I could find.

I drove up the Great Northern Highway about 2 hours to New Norcia, which is the only monastic town in the entirety of Australia. The town is named after Norcia in Italy (the other namesake of the town is apparently in Arkansas). Two Benedictine monks settled the town in 1847.The buildings do have a Spanish style, and there was a machinery shed that displayed a lot of old machinery that the monks used to make their famous bread and olive oil (both of which I bought), as well as tend to the land. The port they make is also quite good. There is really not much else there, but as with most of what I do, the trip was more about the journey than the destination.

As I drove out of town to the south admiring the beautiful scenery, I had a WTF moment. Something in the hills that I hadn't heard about, and just didn't fit in with the rest of the spanish architecture in town. As I was blinded by the sun, the thought crossed my mind that this was a UFO. Or a weather satellite. One of the two for sure.

The New Norcia Space Station is a 35 meter (40 yard) antenna and was built by the European Space Agency in 2003. There is a similar station in Spain and one in progress in Argentina, so there will be 360 degree coverage of deep space missions. Apparently this site in WA is a key place because it is at the perfect latitude and is remote from big cities to prevent any radio interference (no wonder I couldn't get any radio stations). Of course I knew none of this at the time. After New Norcia, I lazily spent the afternoon driving back through the Chittering Valley. There are several wineries and a very beautiful landscape. I mostly just stopped when I saw something I wanted to take a photo of, or a swing I wanted to swing on, or a trail I wanted to explore. Sometimes it's so nice to not have a plan.

Wherever you go, there you are

I've been informed several times that I haven't been very good at keeping this darn thing updated. In response I usually joke about how I'm having too much fun to write about it. That's partially true. But also true, and what people may not want to know, is that my life is actually a little boring (well at least during the week). Yes, it is exciting that I'm here and get paid (well) to be here. But let's not forget that I still have the same work, career, social, romantic etc pressures and concerns - one might say they've been compounded in a way. One thing I've observed in my travels is that life is essentially the same everywhere (at least in developed countries where our basic needs are met...let's not go there for now). One of my strongest memories capturing this sentiment was walking back to my flat in London, in the rain of course, looking at all the faces passing by. They all looked the same; had the same things and pressures on their minds. It brings to mind the REM music video to "Everybody Hurts". I remember my 21 year old self thinking, "How can they be so sad? Don't they know they live in LONDON?!" And I know that's what you must be thinking of me now.

 

Let's not feel too sorry for me though:) I have been very lucky to have done a whole lot of traveling in my life. (Well, luck is only one component, the rest is making it happen.) My dad laughs at me when I talk about my ever-growing list of places I want to see. He says that most people have a bucket list, but that my bucket list is only one item - I want to do and see it ALL! It's true - the more I see the more I want to do, but it gets me thinking. What a reflection of society, but particularly I think of people my age. And particularly of women my age. I don't mean to leave the men out, please don't stop reading guys. You might learn something. I'm having a hard time putting this in words, but I want to make some sort of commentary on this culture of "more more more" in which I've been an active participant. For some people it's about money, but for me it has been more about experience - particularly for the last 5 or 6 years I have been running around trying to make up for time that I thought I lost. Turns out you can't really make up for lost time, because there is no lost time. It's just time. But this general idea that women (or anyone) can "have it all" is a little concerning, even arrogant and selfish. Choices must be made somewhere along the way. I wouldn't give up my experiences for anything (and wow have I had some awesome ones!) but it also gets me thinking about what I want out of life....no clear answers yet....but here's to hoping that someday I find myself wanting to be exactly where I am. Even the fact that I am longing a little for "contentedness" (if that's a word) says a lot about how far I've come. Now let's not pretend I had to go across the globe in search of clarity; sounds a little too "Eat Love Pray" for me, and I hated that damn book. I'm just saying we can all use a little kick in the ass once in awhile, have you had yours lately? The best and most meaningful ones are from yourself, by the way. For now, signing off as a stranger in a not-so-strange-but-different land.

PS In all seriousness, I started this blog with the intent to write about my experiences and the fun things I'm doing, and it has turned very introspective. But a blog is a somewhat self-centered by nature.  I don't blame you if you don't want to read about me me me me me me.....so then don't read it! It's my blog and I'll do what I damn well please!