More Adventures - South East Asia style!

Ah South East Asia....the last month has been a blur of hectic cities, beautiful nature, happy food and many, many buckets. Let me see if I can recall the crazy randomness that is travelling in Asia...

After leaving Thailand and my time volounteering, I jumped on a flight to Saigon, Vietnam to meet up with three amazing friends from home; Gabbie, Rhian and Kate, who happened to be travelling in the same area at the same time. Saigon was ridiculous. I've been in a lot of busy cities and this one was definitely right up there! Everyone rides on scooters, and the roads are always clogged up with them, rushing from this place to that. We checked out the Cu Chi tunnels while we were in Saigon, left over from the Vietnam war. I think my favourite sight in Saigon, though, was a naked man defacating in the middle of a 8 lane highway while the hundreds of scooters heading his way dodged him. Aaahhhh memories.

From Saigon we made our way to Rach Gia, in the hope of making it to the beautiful Phu Quoc island. But alas, it wasn't to be. We couldn't make the crossing due to bad weather. Next stop!? Cambodia...

We made it to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on the South Coast. It was a really nice beach town, if not a tad touristy (nothing compared to the southern islands of Thailand i'm sure!). The immediate change in the attitude of the people was really tangible as well, comparing the more withdrawn cool facade of the Vietnamese to the warmth and openness of the Cambodians. It was really interesting! Anyway we spent a few days chilling out by the beach, snorkelling and feeling generally happy (they happen to make great pizzas there!). We went on a hike to a pretty unimpressive waterfall, but made friends with a lovely local dog who jumped in out tuk tuk and travelled with us all the way from Sihanoukville town to the walking track and hiked with us to the waterfall. Aaaaaawwwwwww.

What next? Pnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Although it was a big city, I did really like Pnom Penh. We spent a couple of days here, and educated ourselves about the revolution and the awful things that happened in Cambodia while the Khmer Rouge were in power. We visited the killing fields. Although it was a really hard experience, and not particularly pleasant, i'm still glad we went and acknowledged these awful things happened.

We left Pnom Penh for Siem Reap, home of the amazing Angkor Wat. The ancient temples here are stunning, and most people probably know of them as being made famous by Angelina Jolie and Tomb Raider being filmed here. We had a fun party time in Siem Reap, we even had the dead skin eaten of the bottom of our feet by fish. That was until the fateful evening where I had a certain Chicken Tom Yum soup for dinner, and spent the next 24hrs in the agony of salmonella food poisoning. I think it was the worst i've ever felt, it was indescribable. Luckily Kate was sick at the same time, so we watched bad HBO movies and suffered together :) It made it a bit hard to really give Angkor Wat our all, but we managed to get to the site and see most of the main temples. We had these gorgeous puppies at our hostel in Siem Reap as well. They made me happy post salmonella :)

Next on our hit list was none other than the lovely Laos! We got to the 4000 islands in the South close to the Cambodian border at night time, which was fun as we got to take a river boat to our chosen island of Don Det in the pitch black with no light. The stars were phenomenal...We had a lovely time on the 4000 islands, chilling out, cycling and checking out the gorgeous waterfalls there. I even learnt how to play Poker which i'm very happy about :) I wish we'd had more time, but we had to get going to Vang Vien...

Ah Vang Vien. It was quite an adventure getting here catching many buses, including crazy night sleeper buses that actually had bunks in them. But we made it. Vang Vien is a small town set in a really beatiful area, on the river with gorgeous mountains surrounding it. However, most people head there for the crazy party. There are lots of bars set on the river and people go tubing all day down the river from bar to bar. They also go zip lining and down slides. While drinking. It gets messy, but it's good fun!!!

We had our fun in Vang Vien and got out while we could, before we got sucked into its traveller vortex. We made our way to the chilled Luang Prbang, in the north of Laos. There are some really gorgeous waterfalls here that we spent the day at. They have a really lovely handcraft night market, and an amazing view from the temple in the middle of town as well. Not much night life to speak of (the bars close at 11 due to curfew!) but we made our own fun at the after parties - a random seedy club, and my personal favourite, a bowling alley! I really love Laos, the people there are so chilled and friendly, and the scenery is stunning!! We were very sad to leave for Vietnam, our last stop!

We flew into Hanoi, and in less than 24 hrs in Vietnam I managed to have a fight with a Vietnamese guy at our hotel and completely shamed him (it's a very bad thing to yell at the Vietnamese - very culturally sensitive Corinne). He did deserve it though!! We lost Rhian to China, and then there were 3...

We made our way straight to Halong Bay, about 3 hrs from Hanoi and jumped on a boat for a 2 night cruise of the bay. It really is just so amazing there, the water is so calm and and an amazing colour green, the tall limestone islands loom over you and the sea hawks fly over head. We checked out some amazing caves, and made our own fun on the boat by way of drinking card games. We spent the next night on the freezing Cat Ba island (it was REALLY cold in the north of Vietnam), and went on a cool hike up the top of the mountain there.

The next day we made it back to Hanoi and as a treat got the executive suite in one of the fanciest hotels in town. We didn't do much in our last few days together but chill out and partay. Hanoi was really crazy and cold, and we weren't the biggest fans. Kate left us for Australia on Saturday, and Gabbie and I parted ways yesterday.

And here I am in Bangkok, again, ready for home!! Tomorrow I take a flight back to Sydney. This year has really been phenomenal. From living and working in New York City, to more Latin American adventures in Central America, volunteering in Thailand with the Elephants and experiencing random South East Asia. I've met the most amazing people along the way, and had the most profound experiences. I'm very, very lucky, and grateful.

And what does the next adventure hold in Sydney? Stay tuned!

TTFN xo

It feels as though an age has passed since I last wrote. I'm in a completely different time and space. This blog finds me in Bangkok, Thailand surrouded by a myriad of people, cars, motorbikes and some very, very tall buildings.

The last 6 weeks have been a bit of a blur. I left Guatamala for Los Angeles, where I spent a couple of days (mainly at Disneyland!) before I left for Sydney. Most excitingly I got upgraded to Business Class on my flight from LA to Sydney - the first time it ever happened in my flying career. It made a big difference on such a long flight!

I spent a few weeks in Sydney catching up with everyone and working a little, and before I knew it it was time to leave for Thailand! I flew into Chiang Mai, a really lovely city in the north of Thailand. I spent the weekend here, and took the ride up to Doi Suthep, and amazing temple on the top of a hill overlooking the city. That weekend happened to be Halloween and Loy Krathong - a festival that occurs once a year in Thailand where people let off paper lanterns into the sky and decorative floats down waterways and rivers. It was really amazing sitting in Chiang Mai watching everyone letting off their laterns into the sky from the local rooftop bar. I really like the symbolism of the whole festival as well - floating the raft away is symbolic of letting go of any grudges or anger, and starting fresh.

On the Monday I left Chiang Mai for Elephant Nature Park to start a week of volunteer work. Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for Elephants that have been rescued from really dire straits - some had come from trekking camps, circuses, as pets and a lot from street begging. And all had their maladities - some were physical such as broken backs, hips, absycess where their tusks had been removed. But most of them were psychological. These elephants had endured a really hard lives - all you had to do was look in their eyes to see their pain. Most people aren't probably aware, as I wasn't, that elephants are thought to have the intelligence of a 12 year old, and have actually been found to be self aware. They are also highly social creatures.

Elephant Nature Park was started by an inspirational Thai women named Lek, who wanted to create a sanctuary where these poor animals (who have no animal protection or rights in their country) could just be elephants, eat a lot (and I mean a lot!), play, bathe in the river and enjoy each other's company. The week I spent at Elephant Nature Park was a really amazing. I learnt so much about these amazing creatures. As volunteers we got the pick up the elephant poo, prepare and wash food for the elephants, and even go out into the fields to cut things like corn and sugar cane for them to eat. We even got to walk with a family goup of elephants up to Elephant Haven - an area of land set outside up a mountain for the elephants where they get to be free overnight and learn how to be wild again.

It was an interesting week for us to be there as well, as there was some controversy involving Lek, another ex volunteer who has set up her own foundation in Thailand to suport the elephants and the government and media. In the face of struggle and adversity it was really amazing to witness how the organisation and local community pulled it together for the sake of the elephants. We were even lucky enough to be a part of a buddhist ceremony calling for protection for Lek and Antoinette, her ex volunteer.

I took a week off volunteering and went travelling in the north for a week with Anton, one of the other volunteers at the park. From Chiang Mai we took the winding road up through the mountains to Pai, a lovely little hippy (if not a bit touristy) town. We had a really fun time there taking in the local vibe, and spent a day riding our push bikes around the surrouding area which was really beautiful and swimming in waterfalls. Next stop for us was Mae Hong Son, a futher windy trip into the mountains of Northern Thailand, quite close to the Burmese border. We took a hike here up the hill overlooking town, and chilled out out the temple at the top.

I had some time to spare in Thailand, and decided to take the road less travelled here and not head down to the infamous touristy south islands. Instead Anton and I met up with some of the volunteers in Chiang Mai and headed down to Surin, in the South East of Thailand to work on Elephant Nature Park's affiliated project, which is quite new and needed lots of volunteers and help. Surin province is the main area in Thailand where the Elephants are from, before they leave for lucrative work in the field of street begging and the like.

Here the foundation is trying to work with the province to bring back a lot of the Elephants back to the area, and trying to set up a large sanctuary where Elephants can be enjoyed by tourists in their naural surroundings, bathing and eating, rather than painting for them or taking them for elephant rides. We were only the fourth group through the project, so there was a lot of hard work to be done. We worked with elphant mahouts to cut food for their elephants, water the crop growing for the elephants and we even built a shelter so people can enjoy watching the elephants frolick in the lake in the shade.

Emotionally, it was really tough few days at the sanctuary. As the project is so new we only had a group of 7 elephants to cater for, however there are many elephants there not involved in the Surin project. These elephants were stuck on short chains most of the day, some had their two front feet tied together, and all they had to eat was a small ration of dried grass - their ribs and backbones were really pronounced and you could feel their desperation.

Toward the end of the week we left the sanctuary for the city of Surin, where they were hosting the big elephant round up which happens every year to celebrate Surin as the home of Elephants. Elephants from all over the country are required to come home and participate in the festivities. We stayed there on the military site (with most of the elphants and mahouts from the festival), camping for a few nights with our mahouts and their elephants. Every day we walked with our Elephants into town and tried to promote the foundation, during the festivities such as a big elephant buffet and show.

It was also a really hard few days, as I'd never seen so many elephants being forced to do so many unnatural things all in the one place. In particular, the elephant show where the elephants were made to do headstands, paint and throw darts. The experience was amazing though and something we were all really lucky to experience and take away with us, in the hope of further helping the cause of the asian elephant.

I'm in Bangkok now, and today I head to Vietnam. My travel in Thailand is over for now, but I know i'll definitely be back to help the cause of the elephants.

If you're interested here are the web address of the projects I was working on:

Chiang Mai - http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Surin - http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/

TTFN xo

Adios Centro America....

Well, I have come to the end of my Central American adventures. Tomorrow I leave for Los Angeles, and then after a couple of days, Sydney. I´m looking forward to coming home, but am going to miss Latin America so much. I really love it here. The last couple of weeks in Guatamala have been amazing...

When I last wrote I was in Copan, Honduras. Due to all the political business going on there it was a bit touch and go. Nothing too bad, but the night I wrote my last blog we were sitting eating dinner when the power in town was suddenly cut and everything was pitch black. All of a sudden Pro Zelaya supporters (of the ex president) performed this big demonstration down the streets. It was completely peaceful but we were a little wary walking back to our hotel in the pitch black!! The next day we left for Guatamala, and they actually closed the borders to Honduras, so that we had to physically walk through and then catch another bus from the other side. Anyway, we got to Guatamala safely and all was fine, it was a bit of an interesting experience!

First stop in Guatamala was Antigua - a lovely colonial city surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. It´s a very pretty place, but not the real Guatamala, it feels a lot like a nice movie set or something of the like purely constructed for tourists. Needless to say i´m not really a fan of it, but, you can do some really cool day trips from here like the one I did to Volcano Pacaya. We left in the afternoon and climbed to the top of this active volcano. Naturally, I took along some marshmallows to roast on the running lava we found at the top. Possibly not the smartest thing i´ve ever done but definitely one of the coolest experiences! It was so hot up there that our shoes started to melt a little, as well as plastic bags! We stayed to watch the sunset which was GORGEOUS and then stumbled our way down the volcano in the dark... Fun!

My next stop was Tikal ruins, in the north of Guatamala. It was all very Indiana Jones like, lots of amazing pyramids and ruins scattered amongst the dense jungle. There were lots of animals I saw there too - Toucans, Spider and Howler monkeys amongst many others. I had a really fun day there exploring and chatting to the local guides.

I left Tikal for Semuc Champey, a little to the south. Most people go there for the caving, where you can swim and squeeze through caves with only a candle to guide your way. This I could not do - being a little claustrophobic and all. But Semuc Champey is really beautiful for it´s nature and bright turquoise river. We spent a lovely day exploring, swimming in the gorgeous lakes and jumping off rocks. Fun Fun Fun! That night we also went to some local caves to watch the bats that live there fly out at dusk. There were thousands! It was really very cool.

Almost last, but very not least, was the time I spent in San Marcos de Laguna, a really lovely little village on Lago de Atilan - this amazing, huge lake set in the middle of the jungle. It really was stunning there, you could swim in the beautiful clear water of the lake, and look up at the volcanoes and jungle surrounding it. There was a lot of holistic medicine in San Marcos, and people go there to meditate and do yoga as they feel the place has a special energy. I decided to do my Reiki II certificate there, met some lovely people and had a really special time :)

Yesterday I returned to Antigua and spent a frantic afternoon in the markets bargaining away and doing a last stock up before I head home....I´m looking forward to seeing what LA is like on the way home, and if I have the money I may even pop into disneyland on the way!!!

I´ve had a really amazing time the last couple of months in Central America. I´ve met some really special, amazing people and pretty much just immersed myself in beaches and nature for 2 months, heaven!! Latin America definitely hasn´t seen the last of me, I´m going to be back for sure!

TTFN xo

More Central American Adventures....

I write this blog from an interesting time and place...at the moment I'm in Copan, Honduras. There has been a lot of political upheaval here lately, the president who tried to change the constitution so he could remain in power unelected was made to leave by the military about 3 months ago. Now, this ex president has somehow made his way back into the country, and everybody's a little worried about the ramifications of this! Luckily i'm leaving for Guatamala tomorrow!!

Ah the joys of travelling....it's been an amazign few weeks since I last updated. I was in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica when I last left you. Unfortunately I went there to surf, and neither the surf was up or my ear cooperating for that matter as I managed to get an ear infection!!! So I left there quick smart for the amazing Monteverde Cloud Forest in the mountains. I had an awesome time there hiking through the forest and wildlife spotting, in the day and night! I managed to see a quetzal (with the help of our guide) which is a really rare native bird rarely spoted, we were very lucky!! I also saw a sloth, a tree porcupine (!), hummingbirds, tarantulas amongst lots of other cool animals. Fun!

Next stop was Tortugero, otherwise know as the mini amazon on the Carribean Coast of Costa Rica. I got to see turtles (green) laying eggs again which was really amazing. The green turtles were qite abit bigger than the ridleys I was volounteering with on the pacific coast so that was really cool. I also did a canoe trip through the river there and spotted lots of monkeys, birds and crocodiles. I was all animaled out! I met a couple of lovely girls from Belgium there (you know who you are!!) and we travelled down to Puerto Viejo de la Talamanca together.

How do I describe Puerto Viejo....rasta heaven. A mini Jamaica on the carribean coast of Costa Rica. Walking down the street, every bar pumped reggae music all day and all night long. Bob Marley here was religion! We had a great time here, partying, surfing, biking along bumpy dusty pot holed filled roads while howler monkeys and birds sang above us. What a chilled place :)

I left my friends from Belgium behind to travel to Bocas del Toro, Panama. Bocas is a lovely little island also in the Carribean, and it was here I met my Canadian friends (you also know who you are!!!). Bocas also had the same chilled out vibe as Puerto Viejo. We parted ALOT. We also went dolphin spotting, snorkelling, surfing on deserted beaches where the only way to get there was to take a boat. I think my favourite place though, was Bocas del Drago, an amzing beach on the other side of the island filled with starfish. We played starfish farmer herders. Fact - starfish do not like to be stacked on top of on another. Needless to say we had lots of fun!!!

From Bocas my Canadian boys and I made to looooooong trip up to the Bay Island in Honduras. We crossed Costa Rica and Nicaragua to get there. It took many many hours of painful bus time and random border crossings. But we got there, and it was so worth it! We all opted to stay on a tiny island off the main island of Utila, in the carribean. Jewel quay was amazing, imagine a tiny island dotted in the Carribean with only 500 inhabitants, no cars, surrounded by stunning reef and crystal clear aqua water. Sound like heaven? It really was.

We all went there to get our open water diving cert. I unfortunately couldn{t hack it, after the first day got a bit claustrophobic and freaked out. So I opted to snorkel for the next couple of days instead, which was still AMAZING. I think Jewel quay is really one of my favourite places. I had a great time there with some amazing people, and it was very hard to leave yesterday!!!

And here I am in Copan Honduras. We're off to see the ruins here tomorrow and then straight to Guatamala and then I hit the home stretch - 2 weeks until i'm back in Sydney!! Looking forward to seeing all my lovely Sydney people :)

TTFN xo

Pura Vida!

What an awesome couple of weeks it´s been! I started my Costa Rican adventures in San Jose, but got out of the city as soon as my luggage (which was a little slower than I was) finally arrived.

First stop, Montezuma, a lovely little hippy town on the beach, surrounded by rainforest. It was exactly what I had been pining for for months, so I was pretty content :) I met some lovely people there, and hung out by the beach alot, listening to the howler monkeys calling to each other in the rainforest by the beach. One day I went on a snorkelling adventure to Isla Tortuga, and although the snorkelling wasn´t that great (it´s rainy season here at the moment so visibility was really low) we spent the day by a gorgeous secluded beach. We also hiked through a river to an amazing waterfall, which was fun!

Next stop was Santa Teresa, a surf beach up the coast. The surf was a little crazy for me there, so just chilled out with lots of long walks up the beach and yoga. So nice!

I just came from Playa Ostional, where I was volounteering with an amazing project involving the Olive Ridley turtles there. The trip there was a 12 hr encounter, which ended with me jumping on the back of a motorcycle and crossing suspension bridges of rivers in the rainforest, whilst it was raining at night! It was so worth it though! Ostional is one of the most important nesting sites of Olive Ridley turtles, and is one of the only beaches were these turtles have their Arribada (mass nesting). The project was really interesting, as we were doing research as to finding a balance between the local people collecting the turtle eggs during arribada and whether them collecting a certain amount was actually beneficial. It was a bit of hard work, digging up old turtle nests, but on the most part we got to patrol the beach at night looking out for turtle tracks and collecting data from the turtles when they lay their nests. While we were there we got to see hatchlings, and set them free (I think this was possibly one of the most awesome moments of my life!). And of course, seeing the turtles land on the beach and dig and lay their nests was just amazing!!

I left Ostional today, and now am in Tamarindo for a little surfing. Stay tuned for more Central American adventures as I make my way up to Guatamala!!!

TTFN xo

A long overdue update!

Wow. Has it really been two months since I last wrote!! I really can´t believe it. Well it has been a pretty crazy couple of months....here is a very brief overview....

I ended up going back to London to visit. It was a really lovely week catching up with old friends, and the weather there was lovely that week :) When I got back to New York my friend Sando came and stayed with me for a couple of weeks, which was really fun. A couple of highlights of our time together was A bit of a pub crawl through the city on Independance day and seeing the fireworks on the Hudson River (they were never ending!). We also managed to get tickets to David Letterman, which was reall cool.

My last few weeks of work were really busy. Trying to look after the kiddly winks and pack us all up was hard, luckily Adam was there and did a lot of the work. I was also studying a lot then and getting ready for exams so it was a pretty crazy time! Anyway we got all packed up and away fine. It wasn´t so hard to say goodbye to New York City as I was kind of ready for a change, but it was hard to say goodbye to Jess, Adam and the kids!!!

I left for Montreal at the end of July with a friend of Anna´s who happened to be driving up to Canada. I even had a go of driving myself on our little road trip!! Was a bit scary though as I was driving a van, on the wrong side of the road, in the mountains at night, in the rain and fog. Not the best combination!!!

Montreal was a really lovely city. I had my birthday there, got a new tattoo, and my highlight was going to see Coldplay at a music festival. In the middle of their concert they came out to a stage in the mddle of the crowd and did an acoustic set right next to me. It was so amazing!!!!

Next was Toronto. To me, just another big city (a nice one though!). I went to Niagra falls from there which was really amazing!!! I did a lot of study in Toronto too, and stayed with my lovely friend Cynthia :)

A week ago I returned to New York to meet up with mum and dad who came to visit! We had a a great week together, taking in the sites of New York, lots of live music, comedy, and went and saw Avenue Q again. Good stuff!! And I did my exams so now am free from study for the rest of the year, yay!!!

Yesterday I left New York for Costa Rica!!! At the moment i´m in the capital San Jose. I arrived safely but sadly my baggage did not. So i´m waiting here patiently at my hostel for them to deliver it, so I can get out of the city and straight to the beach!!!!

Vamos a ver......

So there is my update. Stay tuned for more updates with not so much time in between!!!

TTFN xo

NYC Cheescake = Yum

Another few weeks have passed by so quickly! I figured it was about time for another update. It's actually been a fairly chilled out time here, Summer is finally getting into full swing, things are good!

I'm actually still studying here (only a couple of subjects) so have got myself into a routine of lots of study, yoga and work. There have been a few highlights though! A few weeks ago I went to see the Bodies exhibition, which had lots of interesting information about the human body, and real human bodies to illustrate all this info. I found it really cool, although some squeamish people may have found it a bit much! I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge - that was a really cool experience. It's always amazing seeing Manhattan from a different perspective.

Jess had the Tony Awards to attend - as well as getting a personal nomination for her performance in The Norman Conquests, the play got 7 nominations! The kids and I stayed up and saw her and Adam on the telivision - it was quite the treat. The play ended up getting the award for Best Revival!

Last week I got to go and see PJ Harvey (a great musician) play. She was fabulous, and it was great to go and see some live music! And last but not least, yesterday I ventured out of the city on a day hike in upstate New York. It was so nice to get out of the city into some nature - I was really craving it!

This week I get a bit of a break as I head to London for a week! I'm very much looking forward to visiting my old home and catching up with lots of old friends =)

TTFN! xo

Oh - and the most exciting thing, I finally tried some cheescake here. It's to die!