Bradley Around the World

En Route to London

2009-05-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

Never have I felt such a relief to be coming home from a holiday.

I was excited to come back to my life in England after my adventure in Australia, but Malaysia really has made me want to come home even more. When the check-in gate for London opened, I was the first in and the first to get to the gate.

An hour and a half until I'll be stuck on an aeroplane for the next 14 hours with bad food, reconditioned air and a random person plonked next to me while I cross the world to get home to everything I have. A small price to pay in my opinion.

In 15 hours time I'll be in London and in 18 hours I'll be in my favourite City in the world.

See you all soon!

Malaysia

2009-05-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

In my last blog I said that in the countries I go to I like some things and dislike others.

Well Malaysia has proven me wrong.

I like nothing about this place.

The weather is horrid, the people are miserable and unhelpful and the City of Kuala Lumpur looks like a Thai suburb in the middle of nowhere with a few illuminated billboards and a couple of tall buildings.

I checked in to a 'Hotel' which was next door to another that could be rented by the hour, dropped my belongings off and ventured out into the heart of KL.

The streets were lined with teenage kids, sitting on the ground, all wearing the latest fake gear and making a nuisance of themselves. The main streets connecting KL's main tourist attractions are lined with 'Massage' shops with old men and young girls stood outside promising 'good massage'. A great way to encourage tourism I'm sure...

The Perona's Towers are great and really are a miracle of engineering. However the KL Tower looks like a doughnut dropped on a spike and everything else is of equal disappointment. Beer is expensive, the streets are polluted and lined with poor street vendors and everyone looks as dirty and worn out as the other. This is definitely one place I will not come to again.

I regret not staying in the hotel opposite the airport and saving myself the £70 it cost me for a day and night here.

Bradley's top tip when travelling: Don't go to KL. It really is a waste of time.

Australia

2009-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

So apparently eight months of life have passed since I landed in Australia and I'm on my way home. Never has time passed so quickly!

From the day I landed here to my last night, I have to say, Australia is one of the best places I have been to. Every country I go to I seem to enjoy parts of of it but couldn't see myself living there indefinitely. However, I love everything Australia has. The reason for leaving is different for Australia though.

Other places I have been to have their good and bad points, but for me, I can't think of anything I dislike about the place. It is however the things that Australia doesn't have that make me want to come home.

While in Oz I worked continuously from a few weeks of landing to the week before I left. Dan just so happened to be in Brisbane, as that's where his flight from New Zealand landed. I headed there in hope of finding a job, earning some money and then traveling around. What I
actually did was quite different.

After a short holiday in Byron Bay we headed back to Brisbane to get jobs and get some cash. Well that's exactly what I did, however I skipped the traveling around part of the plan.

I secured a position at Rio Tinto within a week and spent 5 months working for Australia's 3rd largest company. Whilst there the friends I made and experience I gained will be with me forever and this shaped my Oz adventure.

There were many occasions when I had thousands of dollars in the bank and could have relocated to Melbourne or Sydney or anywhere else, but I didn't. This may be considered a waste of my visa, but in my opinion it was the best choice I made. People dream of moving to Australia, getting a decent job, live life in the sun with amazing beaches down the road and everything else it offers. Well I wanted that indefinitely during my first 5-6 months of living there. I figure, if I want a holiday to 'see' Australia, then I'll go on holiday there and
go see. For me, I loved Brisbane. I didn't want to leave for another City and I'm glad I didn't. I lived the life of an Australian. However after 5 months of flirting with Australian life the realisation began to set in that it wasn't home. It didn't have all of the best things I enjoy from England and I knew I wouldn't stay permanently.

I found that as time passed I missed home more and more. The things I thought I disliked about England became things I missed and wanted. The people, the density of the popullation and the English lifestyle.

Living the Australian life was great, but the constant heat, the slower pace of life and having to stay up until 4am to see the football are things I won't miss.

To give some perspective on Oz; there are more people in London than the whole of Australia. Because of this, things are pretty different. Things are a lot cleaner, shops close early and people seem to become complacent with life. The majority of Australians that I met had not
left their own country and some had no intention of doing so. Living in England I found that wanting to see what it's like to be in Asia or in hot weather and all of the things most people desire gave me the motivation to get up and see the rest of the world, but in the end
there really is no place like home.

I intend to come back to Australia next year and see all of the places I didn't this time. Maybe even Tasmania and NZ, but would I change anything about the way I spent my time in Oz? Not a chance.

I had considered a permanent move here and with the job I had at the Government, there was a very real chance of me doing so. I imagine if I had have been travelling around, spending just weeks in cities and going to all of the landmarks I'd have thought it was the best idea in
the world to move there. However, living life in 'real' Oz, where people work and have weekends and holidays to get away, enlightened me on the reality of permanently living here and it's not for me.

Don't get me wrong, Brisbane aka. Brisvegas is awesome. It has a great nightlife, a super casino, real bars and pubs and Queenslander's are some of the best people I've met. Australians love to drink (even if they can't handle it) and the approach that people take to life made
my time spent in this city better than I could have asked for. The Gold Coast has some of the best beaches in the world. I love it there. If only it had the missing pieces from home...

I used to doubt if I would always live in England, and after being to the second best country i've ever been to, England really is the best place to live.

The last year of travelling has made me want to continue to see new places and try new things. There are a million places I want to go to and some places I want to go back to, but I also want to do more in our own, great country. I have the motivation to get around England
and see our cities and famous places that seem like things from a fairy-tale to people who live so far away from them.

No doubt I'll moan when I get back, but it's that moaning that provided the motivation for me to go places and see that we live in the greatest place in the World.

As for the remainder of my trip, well at present I'm on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where I'm spending a night to see what it has to offer before flying from KL to Stansted Airport, followed by a coach home.

To resolve any doubts I had about the Air Asia airline: It's great! It's cheap, really really cheap and the plane is almost as good as any other I've been on. Of course the BA 747 was the best, but this isn't too shabby at all.

I'll post details of Malaysia once I'm done, but for now, I'm all Ozzed out and need a Sunday Roast, a pint of Carling and to yell abuse at Premiership football players seeing as Blues got promoted!

See you all soon!

Brad

Excelling at Work

2009-04-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

So I was pretty dissapointed with my drop in 'Solved on First Contact' metric at work.

I felt as though at Rio Tinto I had developed some great skills. To then have my SOFC metric drop from 97% to 70% was pretty disappointing.

Well disappointed I shall no longer be.

Todays Metrics for last week came out today:

Calls Taken - 178

Solved on First Contact - 172

97% Solved on First Contact

That means only 6 of my Service Calls had to be escalated to a Resolver Group where I could not resolve the problem.

Check out the big brain on Brad!

Brisbane, Australia to Birmingham, England

2009-04-18T22:01:00.001-07:00

So things are booked and I actually have my schedule for returning home. As promised...

Itinerary:

8th May:

20:00 (GMT+10)

Train from Brisbane to Cooloongata Airport, Gold Coast

9th May:

8:40 (GMT+10) - 15:10 (GMT+6)

Flight from Cooloongata Airport, Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

15:10 (GMT+6) - 10th May

Stay in Kuala Lumpur for the evening

To Do:

Petronas Twin Towers
Kuala Lumpur Tower
Petaling Street
Temples and Mosques if I get time
Times Square

10th May:

17:00 (GMT+6) - 23:59 (GMT)

Flight from Kuala Lumpur to Stansted Airport, London

11th May:

01:00 (GMT) - 04:00 (GMT)

Coach from Stansted Airport, London to , Birmingham

In the meantime I'm attempting to find a job for when I arrive back home. Things seem to be pretty desperate in Birmingham at the moment so any advice is appreciated.

See you all soon!

Hangover (Vol. 84939201)

2009-04-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

So Danny, Jon, Nikko, Pascal, Henryk and I went out last night.

Eleven hours worth of drinking later, I'm dying in my room with the worst hangover ever.

Quotes of the night:

Random Girl: So are you all from England?

Me: Nope! We're English, he's Irish, he's Swiss, he's German and I have no idea where he's from...

Coming Home!

2009-04-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

So yeah. Incase you don't have Facebook, don't read Danny's blog and haven't spoken to me recently... I'm coming home!

Australia has been great and working and living in Brisbane is a great experience and I've gained some invaluable experience, both work and social, but it's time to head home for various reasons.

By the time I get home, I'll have been away from home for around 13 months, bar the return visit to England during the summer of 2008. Australia is great and Brisbane really is a fantastic place to live and work but I am unfortunately working to live at the moment. I haven't got the financial cushion I've had in every other country where I can just jump on a bus/boat/plane/back of a pickup truck/long-boat and head for a new adventure.

My week days consist of getting up early, catching the train to work, working all day, arriving home at 6pm and then spending the evening relaxing, awaiting the next day. Now, I can imagine you're thinking 'welcome back to the 'real world'', but this isn't the real world to me. I've made friends here whilst working etc. and after the Rio team disbanded most of them have gone their own way, to other countries and cities and I'm still here. The return of Danny was a relief and our shared interest in alcohol, football and snooker made the 9-5 grind easier. However, due to Danny's exit from Glen Street (see his blog for details www.dannyhontour.blogspot.com) life is back to working 5 days a week, with only weekends left to relax.

So yes, I'm living the life everyone else does. So why leave? Well in Australia I don't have my family, I don't have my friends from back home, I can't watch Birmingham City whenever I want to, to watch the football I have to stay up until 2am, Australian's don't do Sunday Roasts, beer is over priced and the heat is finally getting to me. I miss my gran's Sunday dinners, my mom's mothering, my watered down beer in the pub and Birmingham City Centre (yes, really!).

I feel as though I have a life waiting for me in England which is being suspended by living the same life, without all of the home comforts, here in Australia. Australia has beaches, good weather and a laid back lifestyle. But it doesn't have the things I have at home that make me happy.

Also, if you do read Danny's blog, you will have noticed I've met someone I want to be with. Fortunately she is in England, where the rest of my life is. At this point I have no reason to continue traveling around, living the same life I would in England without the best bits of home.

So I'm coming back to you all!

Dates to follow once confirmed; but it looks as though it's going to be via. Malaysia which will be another tick on the 'To Do List'.

I was investigating the cost of flights and come across what I thought was a fantastic deal:

$1300 (£650) 1 way flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong to Zurich to Birmingham

Then I called Danny and mid conversation he popped in the brand 'Air Asia'...

Gold Coast to Malaysia $249 (£122)

Malaysia to London $459 (£225)

Total = $708 (£347)

That's right. You can fly from London to Australia, via Malaysia, for £347!

As for my current situation...

I'm still working in Brisbane at Shared Information Solutions for The Queensland Government. My role is primarily providing technical support to Hewlett Packard technicians who are deploying around 8,000 new computers across the state. I have to make sure these guys install the PC's, get them up and running, assist with any problems encountered and then resolve any customer logged issues after the replacement. Pretty cool stuff. Additionally I still take regular Service Desk requests, resolving technical issues over the phone. Last week saw me take around 200 phone calls over 4 days (30 hours) with a 'Fix on First Contact' of 140. That means that 70% of the calls I take, I fix. This is a significant drop from Rio where as a team we were at 97% but considering the strict policies and restrictions in place at the government, it's still a very good metric.

Week day nights don't really offer to much at the moment, I chill out at home most of the time with the X-Box and Mac and watch movies etc. Normal life.

Weekends are still eventful, especially when alcohol fueled.

Last weekend saw Danny leave our home. Tonight... who knows?!

So we're all festivaled out as well. V and Future have been and gone and there are no more major events in the next month. I guess I'll just have to go to them all again when I'm back home in England!

I'll update once I have my route and timetable for returning home planned. My planned land date is the 8th May. I'll let you know!

So for now,

B-Rad Out!

V Festival 2009 - Gold Coast

2009-04-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

So we told you we bought V Festival Tickets; here's the story:

So it was the day before V and Dan and I had a great idea (or so we thought): Lets get as drunk as possible the night before V so that we just have to top up our alcohol the next day and will be drunk in no time.

So we hit the Valley. We started off in the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, a fairly decent English pub, which had a live band and cheap beer. Several pints later, Jon (Danny's Irish mate from Thailand) turned up and we were on it! We ended up getting split up at some point whilst heading from the pub to a random club, as usual...

Well this is where the night became legendary. We had at some point agreed to go into a club call Mystique, so I queued up and headed in. After getting in I bought myself a 'Mother and Vodka' (which is basically a turbo charged Red-Bull and Vodka) and headed for the nearest balcony. Five seconds into leaning over the balcony, I spotted Danny, Danny spotted me and it was back on!

Many drinks later, a nap on a bench and no recollection of getting home, I woke up at 10am in my bed. V Fest. Day!

Urgh, a horrible hangover had developed and we ended up leaving home around 1 o'clock.

We headed for the station and caught the Gold Coast train to Robina at the Gold Coast. We had no idea where we were going and hadn't planned much at all. Bonus really, considering there was a shuttle bus taking people to V for free!

We landed at V and bought a great hangover cure: The Bloke's Burger.

I had in fact only wanted a burger with some cheese and onions, however this was called a 'Sheila's Burger'. I'd have swallowed my pride and taken it, had the guy not written SHEILA on the side of the box. A Bloke's Burger later my hangover was cured and we were back on the beer!

V Festival was so much more chilled out than Future. The stages were all close to each other and the line up for the day was incredible. We arrived around 3pm and left at 10:30pm. During that time we got to see, in order:

Duffy (well, we walked past)

Razorlight

The Madness

Kaiser Chiefs

Snow Patrol

The Killers

The Kaisers were by far the best performance at the festival. During their set Ricky Wilson (the vocalist) climbed up the side of the scaffolding holding the stage up, came into the crowd, right in front of me and Danny, decided he couldn't go any further so asked us to all lift him up and crowd surf him back to the stage. It was hilarious watching this guy pointing at the stage but heading sideways across the crowd! To end their set they finished with 'Oh My God'. 10,000 'Oh my god, I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home' the set was over. Seriously it was the best performance ever. Un-polished, real music. The Killers were a come down after The Kaisers for me, they were just far too polished. It could have been a CD playing.

At some point during The Killers' set, the heavens opened and everyone was absolutely soaking. Honestly, I've had dryer showers. My brand new white Converse were ruined and we had a freezing 2 hour trek back to Moorooka, where we live.

Epic day out.

It's a tough one, but perhaps V Fest. > Future

Maybe. Just maybe. I'm not certain.

So there you go. V Festival done; in Australia!

You stay classy readers.

Future Music Festival 2009 - Brisbane

2009-03-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I have just been handed an urgent and horrifying blog post. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing as listen. FESTIVAL!

So Dan and I heard a Festival was in town; so of course acquired tickets, by no regular means, and attended. Dan went about the acquisition of the tickets via. eBay. The transaction took place outside The Treasury Casino, where a suited man approached us from the side entrance and ushered us away from any security cameras, as he could not be seen to take any tips, for his and our own safety. $270 later a brown envelope is exchange and a peculiar man gifts us with 2 tickets to the greatest electronic music festival Brisbane has to offer. The figure then disappeared into the mass of people in Brisbane City, never to be seen again.

Ok so all of that was a slight exaggeration on the intensity of the situation but the events did occur as written.

So, Saturday 7th March arrives and Dan and I proceed to consume as much alcohol and RedBull, prior to our departure, as possible. Half a bottle of vodka and rum later we're on the train to Brisbane Central!

Once in the City, I naturally didn't feel complete without donning some form of festival attire. A purchase of an Australian flag (which became my cape), a pair of big white rimmed sunglasses and half a bottle of vodka and coke poured down my white T-Shirt I was set to go!

We arrived at Future and couldn't have asked for more from the event. Chilled out atmosphere, incredible sound quality, an EPIC line up and alcohol. WIN!

Our first stop on entry was the bar. Two cans of Smirnoff (yes, I know it's not a boys drink, but hey it was cheap! lay off!) we were on our way to the Main Stage. En route a girl tried to hang me using the flag that was wrapped around my neck and offered to get naked in exchange for it. I smiled politely and held on to my flag as though my life depended on it. Nobody was prizing this thing from me today!

From about 13:30 until I left, I was at the front of the pit; in front of the stage, dancing, drinking and making an idiot of myself, along side several hundred like minded people, doing exactly the same. The DJ line up was incredible: Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Paul Oakenfold and Grandmaster Flash! Electro at its best followed by a mash up from one of Hip Hops mixing/scratching/cutting pioneers. Everybody went crazy.

(please note: true to form Danny and I lost each other around the time Paul Oakenfold arrived on stage and then didn't find each other until the next morning when I was dying on the sofa and Dan was rummaging for some none alcoholic drink in the fridge. I ended up spending the day with a guy dressed up as a Nerd for N*E*R*D, an Ozzy guy named Hamish and a girl called Chantelle)

Once Flash's set was finished the crowds gathered, the crushing against the metal barrier began and several unconscious/injured people crowd surfed their way to the front to get medical attention, as N*E*R*D and more importantly Pharrell Williams came on stage! Literally meters away from me was Pharrell! Everyone went ballistic. Several bruised ribs later and a foot that still hasn't healed, N*E*R*D called about 50 girls out of the crowd up on stage to rock away and Brisbane went mad. What a show!

Just when everyone thought the main event was over and it was time to chill out, more equipment was rolled out on stage. A new DJ booth. More lights. And then...

'But baby wake up! You're so totally deluded!'

BASEMENT JAXX!

What a show! Seriously, I had heard good things but wasn't expecting too much, but this was an incredible show. If you can see them, do!

At some point during Basement Jaxx i gave in and climbed over the barrier to be ushered to the back of the crowd. I was totally convinced only one water station existed and so queued up for some water for about 20 minutes, all the time looking at about 5 other water stations without queues...

A free bus journey to the Valley, several more alcoholic drinks and a lift home from a random, I found myself in bed, covered in dirt, legs aching, arms falling off, ears ringing, having had one of the best festival days ever!

I'm still suffering, four days later with bruised ribs from the 10 million people crushing me against the metal rail and something rather random happened to my right foot which means it's difficult to walk on at the moment, but it was more than worth it!

Another great Brisbane day.

V-Festival tickets have now been purchased. The Killers, Razorlight, Snow Patrol and The Kaiser Chiefs await us! Sunday March 29th! Come On!

Footnote: It is important to note; that from the purchase of the 2 cans of Smirnoff, I was already drunk. This may be a true re-collection of events from the day or just a random dream I had whilst suffering from alcohol poisoning. Either way, Future Music Festival 2009 was awesome!

Brisbane continued...

2009-02-22T02:19:00.000-08:00

Apparently Australia only has 1 city according to my guide book... time to fix that!

After a brief stint of normality back home in England and an extended period of chaos in Thailand, Danny is back here in Brissy (yeah, we call it Brissy now, how local are we). And with Danny comes a vast array of plans and ideas; some practical, the majority not. However one thing's for sure, we're going to venture out of the City of Brisbane and discover what Australia has to offer before we move on!

For a long time we've been contemplating the idea of a cross country drive. So, it looks like were both going to work towards funding just that. The plan is to drive from Brisbane to Adelaide visiting Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, experiencing what each place has to offer for a short period. More info as it materializes...

As for work to fund the trip, as you are all aware my time at Rio Tinto was drawing to a sad close with the outsourcing project nearing completion. I therefore went about securing another job and security is exactly what i got. I'm now employed by The Government of Queensland supporting approximately 30,000 government employees across Queensland with their IT problems. As an additional bonus to my role, I'm also the single point of contact for Hewlett Packard's technical installation team who are working for the next 2 months to replace 5,000 desktop computers. Not a bad position to secure and it is a very, very good way to earn funds for some Australian adventures.

Moving on to football, Fantasy Football first. Danny has taken a slide from his former glory, I'm well and truly on my way to a great come back and it would seem the big guns are on schedule for taking the grand prize of bragging rights for a year.

As for real football... Aston Villa... Who do they think they are?! That's all.

So I guess no blog is complete without a few tails of adventures past:

On my last day at Rio i was presented with a Corona bucket with 5 bottles of beer in. At no point during the 5 and a half hour drinking session were there less than 4 bottles stacked on ice, until i begged everyone to stop buying beer so i could steal the bucket. And steal it i did! I am now the owner of a Corona beer bucket, amongst other trinkets including a 'Fire Hose Reel' sign, a Lottery Ticket Stand and a 'Kitchen Closed' sign... before you ask; no, i don't know how I managed it!

Another interesting development is my post-Australia plans. I don't want to give too much away, but lets just say 'see you soon'.

That's all for now. I'm Bradley Williamson, you stay classy readers...

Quotes of the Week:

***Brad's Drum and Bass music playing on full blast, at a then unknown time***

Danny (hungover): 'You MUST be joking, it's eight o'clock in the morning!!!'

*door slams closed*

Pretext: Now I hate Chelsea and more specifically Ashley Cole, but this takes it to a whole new level...

Drunken football fan: 'Ashley Cole... I'd set that little *MANY OBSCENITIES* on fire'

Wow!

BW over 'n' out.

New Year, New Adventures!

2009-01-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

It's 2009 and the blog is still on track.

I'm still here in Brisbane, Australia and I'm still working at Rio as I guessed. Life is pretty fantastic at the moment. Weekdays involve work, rest and meeting up with friends. Weekends are as unpredictable as ever and as I slowly become more and more of a local, Brisbane is working it's way up my list of favorite places in the world, to a solid 2nd place. Bangkok still holds the top spot on the podium, but that could all change!

Rumor has it, Danny will be back in town in the next 2 weeks! After a brief stint back in the UK, it seems he doesn't want to exchange great weather, perfect beaches and an Ozzy lifestyle, for recession, bitter cold and the un-comfort of watching The Villa from the terraces rather than in an air conditioned bar with an ice cold beer... Strange eh?

On the topic of football, things have taken an interesting twist. Just see here:

It would seem Danny is taking a slide down the table and I'm definitely on the come back! 3rd highest point scorer in December and 2nd in January, watch out Andy Woods, I'm coming for you!

On an un-related note; check out this Podcast: http://shaunbangerscott.podOmatic.com/player/web/2009-01-12T13_58_37-08_00

even if you're not a massive Bassline music fan, just skip to 39:27 and hear me become famous! Seriously, it's brilliant!

So last year I achieved some pretty fantastic things including:

- Leaving England to travel the world!

- Completing a Mount. Everest Base Camp trek to 5800m above sea level

- Visited the following countries in one year: Qatar, Nepal, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Australia

- Secured a job at the worlds 3rd largest mining company

- Lost that great job to an Indian Outsourcing company (grr Infosys)

- Attended the World's 1st ever Formula 1 Night Race in Singapore!

- Survived Dengue Fever

- Rode a Moped

- Crashed a Moped

- Won a shed load of cash from various Casinos across the world

- Set up home in Brisbane, Australia

- Visited England and caught up with friends and family (oh yeah, nearly forgot... took voluntary redundancy)

- Achieved a good foundation of the Thai language; a tonal (5 tones to be exact), Asian language

- Made some great friends

- Didn't lose my iPod touch

I'm sure i could go on much longer, but yeah... what a year!

So, what does 2009 hold?

Who knows!

I have until October in Australia, extendable to October 2010 if I attend 3 months 'Specified Regional Work' (fruit picking out in the sticks).

I have really found a home here in Australia and to leave this place behind is going to be tough. Who knows... maybe I'll get a sponsored job here and stay... not that I'm applying or anything! Honest!

Well this blog is exceedingly longer than I expected, so for now goodbye and Happy New Year!

P.S. For your viewing pleasure...

Me. Killing myself on the Vomatron. Good Times!

The 'Credit Crunch' - It's effect on me...

2008-12-20T21:01:00.000-08:00

I figured i should Blog about the effect of the current financial situation on myself, as it's likely going to be the biggest financial crisis I'll experience in my lifetime.

So everyone is feeling the wrath of 'The Credit Crunch'. Everyone but me it would seem....

I have some English Credit Card debt at the moment and it would have cost me about AU$8,400 to pay it off before the financial markets went downhill. However, due to the £ crashing to it's lowest levels for a very long time, I now only have to pay back AU$6,500. That means that 'The Credit Crunch' has in fact saved me AU$1,900 (£880).

I hope some other people have benefited from the current financial disaster as much as I have.

Here's to a poorer world-wide economy, that is making me richer!

Danny's done a 'Brad'...

2008-11-30T03:26:00.001-08:00

That's right! He's gone and done a runner back to England!

But not for too long...

While Danny makes his epic travels across Asia and Europe to get back to England in time for Christmas, I'm still here in the great city of Brisbane. You can catch Danny's adventures at www.dannyhontour.blogspot.com (promised I'd plug your blog at some point). He should be back here come the end of January.

As I was saying, I'm grinding out a few months here. Working lots and saving more. Other than the occasional night out to watch a big match, I'm saving pretty hardcore.

Too much work and no play will make Brad a rich boy, hopefully.

I've agreed with my boss to work over the entire holiday period on x2 pay, which is pretty fantastic. Although I'll miss out on Christmas celebrations, I'll be earning mega-bucks. With these funds Dan and I have many a plan, of which we will update you with as they come into practice, so not to disappoint. Some sneak previews include a potential Road Trip from Brisbane to Perth via all the major cities and a trip to The Cook Islands to catch up with Sam (see the Nepal blogs if you forgot who 'The Legend, Sam' is), who is now living there. To mention a few...

As you know, the idea of 'saving' is pretty difficult for me to comprehend, but I'm doing really well with sticking to my budget and I'm in for an additional massive lump sum once I leave employment (I get all that Tax and Superannuation back remember!).

So for now, that's pretty much it.

I'll be sure to update if anything exciting happens!

Australian Weather

2008-11-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

Although much better than ours, it does have it's days...

This is a photo of Brisbane City, where I live and work, during Sundays storm.

Home Sweet Home

2008-11-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

So! Dan and I have a home!

We've moved to the suburb of Moorooka in the South of Brisbane. The set-up of our home is as follows: Upstairs Dexter and Teresa, the owners of the property, live. Their level of the house consists of 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, lounge, study, dinning room and laundry room. Yup, it's pretty big!

Then on the ground floor of the house (by the way, there are no stairs connecting the upstairs to the downstairs) Dan and I live with our housemate Dave. Each of us have our own room in the downstairs home which consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lounge and kitchen.

The house is great and a real bargain at $135 (£57 OUCH, what's happening to the £ guys?!) a week. That's inclusive of all utility bills and such.

So now I'm settled and have a permanent home, I actually have a daily routine:

5am: Wake up and get ready for work (no, seriously, I really do get up at 5)

6:15am: Leave home to catch the train into work

7am: Arrive in the Central Business District of Brisbane and grab a fruit-shake

7:30am: Start work

.....

4:30pm: Work over! Head back home on the train

5:30ish pm: Arrive home and promptly settle on one of the sofas and play on the newly acquired X-Box 360 that Dan and I have bought!

10pmish: Collapse in bed and start over!

Can't say I can complain about my weekdays.

Weekends however, well... weekends... I'm not sure I could guess what is going to happen during a weekend even if my life depended on it!

I.E. This week, whilst watching Arsenal whoop Man Utd, a guy we met in a bar in Bangkok, Thailand (Paddy, you may recall him from previous blogs) turned up in the same bar as us! Seriously, these nights are so spontaneous, I really look forward to the weekend just to see what I'm going to end up doing.

So as you can see, I'm really settled here. Work is great. I'm getting exposure to all sorts of systems on a huge international scale and all of the people I work with are great. However, there's a sour edge to work at the moment, as out department is being outsourced to Infosys... Yup, one of those awful call centers based in India. So at present, many Infosys employees are roaming our office, dropping in on our work, trying to figure out what the hell we are doing. The contract was sold for $70 Million dollars for 3 years*... (pretty sure the majority of that was just for me). The transition will occur at the end of February, so as of 27th February I will be un-employed, but not seeking employment, as I am able to claim back all of my tax (30% of my earnings) and my super-annuation (9% of my earnings paid into an account by my employer, additional to my salary) back. It should amount to quite a bit, so I'll no doubt head out on a new adventure come the new year.

Well, Dan and I are off to Woolworths to get the groceries in (Woolworths is like Asda here!). Catch up soon!

*Infosys Deal: http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24561078-5013040,00.html

Settled

2008-11-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

So I'm employed and on Sunday Dan and I are moving into our new home in Moorooka!

My new place of employment is actually really cool. I work as an 'IT Service Delivery Officer', supporting around 45,000 users world wide with their IT requirements. Pretty insane.

I'll update you when we've moved into our new home.

Viva Las ... Brisbane?

2008-11-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Not quite Las Vegas, but on my last night before starting employment...

Yup, I got the job!

...Dan and I hit the Casino.

After several hours of Roulette, I find myself AU$370 richer.

Things are so good right now.

Becoming a Local

2008-11-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

So after returning from Byron, now equipped with my Tax File Number, I went about becoming more settled and saving some money. The Hostel was costing a fortune, so we headed out to 'Kangaroo Point', a suburb, just outside of the CBD, where we found a cheap Motel to stay in. This would have been a good temporary residence, if it wasn't for 'Johnny Irish Builder' smashing away with his hammer every morning at 6am...

I have however secured myself an interview at Rio Tinto (riotinto.com) for an 'IT Service Delivery Officer' position. I'll let you know how it goes.

Byron Bay

2008-11-05T04:55:00.000-08:00

Just Google search 'Cheeky Monkeys'...

Dan was escorted out

Great times!

Matt and the French Guy

2008-11-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm settled here in Brisbane, it was time for Dan to show me some of the local pubs and such. The Pig and Whistle being our first stop.

After finding a table a waitress headed our way and took our order for Fish and Chips and a beer. Upon hearing this, the two guys sat next to us decided that it was time to interrupt our night and mock us for being so 'typically English'. Matt and 'The French Guy', locals to Brisbane, told us all about some great places to go and such.

Matt is heading to Byron Bay in a few days for a holiday. He's offered us a lift. We obliged. Apparently I'm going to Byron Bay...

Brisbane (Home?)

2008-11-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

So I've landed in Australia.

It's only taken me 6 months, a trip to England, a Voluntary Severance payment and 9 flights, but I'm here! Credit where credit is due I say...

Upon landing in Brisbane I got my passport stamped (actually I'm slightly concerned about this. The immigration guy just stamped my passport with a date stamp, even though I'm here on a working visa. Surely this can't be right?!) and headed to the nearest pay-phone to call Dan and find out what to do!

Dan was alive, not drunk and actually pretty useful in assisting me get to 'The Transit Centre' where he was headed to meet me. After a dirty McDonalds breakfast (oh, things don't change) and a quick catch up, we headed to 'Chill Backpackers'. A hostel for backpackers in Brisbane.

I've become quite accustomed to having my own space, so a 10 share room wasn't my idea of a good place to stay. So we got a twin room @ AU$80 per night and proceeded to get me set up to the same position Dan is in (employable).

After visiting ANZ bank and an internet cafe, I now have a bank account and a Tax File Number is being processed for me. These two thing are all I need to undertake employment here in Australia.

My tax file number will take 7 days to process and arrive, so I may as well go on holiday...right?

Byron Bay, here we come!

Formula One Fever

2008-11-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

Vrrrrrrooom!

This has to be the greatest sporting event I have ever attended. The outer trackside is buzzing with people who don't have track-side tickets, all eagerly anticipating the opportunity to see the worlds greatest drivers on the first ever night race.

Marina Bay has undergone a years worth of asphalt relaying to produce the perfect track for the night. And what a great site it is (sorry, please excuse the pun).

The cars were lined up on the starting blocks, engines were roaring and as soon as the cars took off, everybody who had turned up roared and cheered their favourite teams as they battled it out on the Marina Bay night circuit.

The noise is the most intense sound I have ever heard. When the cars break from 300 kmph to 120 kmph for the corner i was stood on the crashing of the break pads is deafening. Then the cars speeds off back down the straight. All of this was taking place in a matter of 5 seconds. I have videos of the cars flying past and I'll be sure to link them. It really is incredible.

A huge night in Grand Prix, with Massa driving off with his fuel pump still attached and Hamilton looking to have guaranteed himself the championship, it really was a historic night. And I was there to experience it, completely by chance.

Super!

Tomorrow i fly to Brisbane! Can't wait...

Orchard Road

2008-11-05T04:24:00.000-08:00

How can life get any better?

A road of shopping malls, the size of the Bullring! I think I'm in heaven. How have i never been here before?

But really, this road is the greatest shopping centre I have ever seen and you know how I love my shopping. So a pretty intense day sees me stocking up on some 'much needed' purchases. Firstly I've gone and bought one of the great new Sony Compacts (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665495060). This device is so advanced, it's photo editing suite that is installed on the camera allows you to manipulate images to make people appear as though they are smiling, even if they weren't!

Like i said...a much needed purchase.

Another thing I noticed I seem to have a lack of is shoes. At a mere 4 pairs, it was definatley time to buy some more. So some ultra rare Converse were added to todays shopping basket.

Finally, impulsive buying had well and truly settled in and I bought myself a watch. At S$600 (£256) I'm now the proud owner of a great Swiss watch, sure to last me a while.

All that shopping has exhausted me, so this is going to be brief.

Update on the Grand Prix soon!

In Love!

2008-11-05T04:15:00.000-08:00

Yup. It’s true. I really, really do love… Singapore!

Today I headed out of the hotel, on foot, equipped with my iPod touch and a cached Google Map, to help me find my way around. However, 2 minutes into wandering away from my hotel I found ‘Location Services’ on my iPod had kicked in and I was being tracked along my journey! Incredible! I basically had a GPS system in my hand, for free!

I headed down to ‘Little India’ a place set up during a time when a lot of people from India started to migrate to Singapore. The idea was to give immigrants their own areas of the city to live in. ‘Little India’ is a really great place with 3 large Temples, great Indian restraunts and more jewellery stores than I have ever seen before!

After getting some food in a restraunt, I jumped on the ‘MRT (Mass Rapid Transport (The Tube))’ and headed for City Hall. The area was full of F1 enthusiasts all anxiously awaiting race night.

I managed to get some great photos of the track (i'll be sure to post them). I've decided to head down to trackside for Qualifying and the Race...

Tomorrow... Shopping...

SINGAPORE (capitals intended)

2008-09-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

There couldn’t have been a better time to come to Singapore; the weekend of the first ever F1 Night Race!

The city is alive 24 hours a day with anxious F1 fans, all sporting their team’s logo on T-Shirts and caps. Every bus, shop and billboard is covered in promotional material for the event. Ticket sales sold out within hours of the telephone lines opening, however I will still head down to the track for the race. The opportunity to see Hamilton, Massa, Kovalainen and all of the other great F1 drivers on the track is just too good an opportunity to miss out on.

So, upon landing in the fantastic Changi airport (this airport has a cinema in it!) I headed to immigration, where my passport crashed the computer systems for 10 minutes, a rather nerve racking 10 minutes I might add as I was given no reassurance that there wasn’t a problem with my entering the country. I was however granted my tourist visa and I headed to the information desk to book myself a hotel and a taxi. Yup, no more hostels for Brad, I have decided to spend my time here in Singapore enjoying some luxury.

A minivan arrived outside of the arrivals lounge and I jumped on board with my ‘suitcase’. That’s right, I’m no longer a ‘backpacker’, I’ve got myself a suitcase with wheels and a handle. Very posh. I’m staying in ‘Quality Hotel Singapore’, and it’s just that. A great room with Sky TV, air-conditioning, room service, free wi-fi etc. Not bad for £80 a night.

Tomorrow I’m going to head out for a wander around. I’ll let you know what I find.

Koh Samui Airport

2008-09-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

Is beautiful.

An airport, complete with Check-in, Immigration and a departures lounge, all outdoors!

I have no reason to doubt that this may be THE best airport in the world.

I'm just sitting in the Singha Sports Bar, in the outdoor shopping complex here, enjoying an ice cold...coke! That's right, I seem to have stopped drinking alcohol, but for how long...

During my whole time in Thailand I've had 1 beer and that was because it was bought for me. However i can imagine this alcohol free Brad will expire once i meet up with Danny in Australia.

I'll let you know how Singapore goes!

Leaving Thailand

2008-09-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well I'm leaving...again.

This time however, not back to England. I'm heading to Singapore!

And I couldn't have chosen a better time to head to Singapore, the weekend of the first ever Formula 1 Night Race. My flight leaves from Koh Samui this afternoon so I'm off to say my goodbyes and get packed ready for the trip.

I also have the pleasure of flying from Koh Samui airport, which the Thai Ministry of Tourism have dubbed 'The Most Beautiful Airport in The World'. I'll let you know if it lives up to the suggestion...

No Deviations

2008-09-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

That's right! I'm not deviating from my itinerary!

I have my flight booked from Koh Samui, Thailand to Singapore on the 25th September and my onward flight to Brisbane Australia is also in place. So this time there will be no return trip to England.

I've spent most of my time here in Thailand in Koh Phangan again. A day in Bangkok when i landed saw me check into hotel, make some new Thai friends who i then went to see a movie with and book my gruelling trip from Bangkok to Surat Thani in the south. An 18 hour trip via Bus and Boat which sees me back, in what has become 'home' this year, Phangan.

Whilst here I've done absolutely...nothing...

Relaxing on beaches, eating good food and catching up with friends has been a great break. However, I'm really looking forward to heading down to Singapore to continue my original plans and then onto Oz, where I'll meet up with Dan.

My plan is as follows, but I wouldn't rely on my abiding by it in anyway, as when i meet up with Dan, only god knows what will happen:

25th Sep - Fly to Singapore

28th Sep - Fly to Brisbane, Australia

29th Sep - Land, meet Danny and ...?

Sometime around Christmas/New Year - Head back to Thailand (probabaly Koh Phangan)

After that - I don't know

I have been looking into the idea of attending a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foregin Language) course in Australia and then trying to get a job in Bangkok when I return to Thailand. However a friend of mine may also be able to assist with me acquiring a job in Thailand, as his brother is the manager of a Travel Agents in Bangkok and he has informed me there's a good chance he can get me a job there.

If so, I may spend some time in Bangkok working and such, before deciding where to go next. If not, then I guess it will be back to Australia, where I have the required visa to work and earn without having to return to England.

It's a tough life eh?

Well I'll update you with my Singapore adventures in a couple of days.

Back on track

2008-09-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

Back on track
So, again I'm off on my travels to Eastern Asia (and this time the
Pacific, I promise). After a rather uneventful coach ride from
Birmingham to London, I found my first spot of adventure onbaord my
flight to Bangkok.
After waiting in the departures lounge for several hours, I boarded my
Boeing 747. Just as the pilot charged the engines and prepared to take
off, he disengaged the engines and informed us that a fuel pump had
failed. We had to head back to the Terminal to take onboard another 10
tonnes of fuel. We were additionally informed however, that this isn't
a major problem, as this aeroplane has 20 fuel pumps in total and the
extra fuel was just precautionary.
So the time is 00:30 in England and the storm clouds that have been
hovering above our country for the last few days have given our plane
a very, very good shake.
We seem to have weathered the storm however and are now cruising, en
route to Bangkok.
The flight is expected to arrive at 17:30 Bangkok time (11:30 GMT),
so I'll be staying the night in Thailand's great capital again.
Here's a brief summary of my proposed itinerary, which will no doubt
be altered sooner than later:
6/9/08 - Flight to Bangkok
7/9/08 - Arrive in BKK and stay the night
8/9/09 - Head to the south on the Songserm coach and boat service (a
grueling 17 hour trip)
9/9/08 - Arrive in Koh Phangan
23/9/08 - Head to Kuala Lumpur, Malsysia, on some (yet to be booked)
form of transport
24/9/08 - Arrive in KL and stay the night
25/9/08 - Head to Singapore; again, on some (yet to be booked) form of
transport
26/9/08 - Arrive in Singapore and stay the night
27/9/08 - Board an aeroplane to Brisbane, Australia
28/9/08 - Arrive in Brisbane, find Danny and then...
Some time near X-Mas - Head back to KP, Thailand for celebrations
Some time after X-Mas - Head back to Australia

Expect some serious deviations from this, especially surrounding the
Christmas plans, as they are subject to ample financial backing from
working in Brisbane, Australia.

A good start so far. Our national football team won 2-0, I'm back on
track with my trip and dinner is about to be served.

Sent from my iPod Touch

Heathrow

2008-07-10T13:04:00.002-07:00

Heathrow

I've just landed. I have no idea how to get to anywhere from here and
this is MY country haha.
Should be an entertaining afternoon trying to get back to Birmingham!

Brad

Bangkok - Round 2

2008-07-10T13:04:00.001-07:00

Bangkok - Round 2

Well I'm back here and this time I've discovered a whole other side to
Thailand. The non-tourist, Thai version of Bangkok.
I'm staying in an apartment block that's maticulously clean, there's a
cleaner sweeping the tiled floors, wiping banisters and walls and
ensuring there is no litter all day, everyday. For this I'd pay ...
140 baht (£2.30) a day, which includes air conditioning and a spotless
apartment big enough for a couple to live comfortably.
I've learnt that 100 baht for a taxi (which I previously had believed
was a good deal for a 5 minute journey) is a complete ripoff! 35baht
(50p) will get you 2KM on a taxi meter. I guess you live and learn.
I've been eating at roadside noodle bars, which at first some may find
visually unapealling (a glass booth with a stove and plastic garden
furniture to eat off), but if ever you get the chance, eat at one of
these! The food is incredible. And there's an added bonus, the most
I've paid for one of these great meals is ... 75baht (£1.25).
I've also experienced every form of public transport Bangkok has to
offer! Bus, Underground (London could learn a LOT from the Thai tube
system), BTS Skytrain which is basically a citywide monorail, very
fast and the maximum fare is 50p and finally van buses, which are
basically open back vans that you flag down, jump in and pay 15baht to
the driver once you reach your destination.
Staying in the non tourist region of Bangkok was at first a little
intimidating. For the 15 days I stayed on Soi 77 of Ram Intra, I
didn't see another foreigner. A refreshing change after I aclimatised
to being the minority.
Thai people, from my experience here, are the friendliest people I
have ever met. The lady who owns our apartment block brought me a
basket full of treats to my apartment for my Birthday, people always
have time to assist with directions or help finding a place and the
general attitude Thai's adopt is one of 'mai-bpen-rai. No problem'.
Lets say you go to McDonalds and your food takes more than a couple of
minutes, in England there'd be an almighty fuss (I witnessed this only
the other day when an English woman got all stressed that the guy
behind her got his food first). Here people refrain from getting
annoyed over petty things such as this, after all your not starving
and when your food's ready, you'll get it. 'Mai-bpen-rai'!
After enjoying Bangkok it was time for me to head home.
I'll definately be coming back here, Thailand is a great place.
Whether you want a chilled out holiday on the beach, a part packed
break or a city vacation, Thailand really is the place to go.

London here I come... Great...

Brad

Back To Bangkok

2008-07-10T13:03:00.001-07:00

Back To Bangkok
Yup! It seems my funds have come to an end and it's time to head back
to BKK. However, my holiday isn't quite over. I've got some free
accomodation for a week or two and enough money to see more of Bangkok
than Khao San.
Today I have a 16 hour journey from Phangan to the Capital.
Time to pack.

Brad

Motorbike Accident!

2008-07-10T13:02:00.003-07:00

Motorbike Accident!
That's right!
I fell off.
Dan and I were discussing the day previous how amazing it was that
neither of us had fallen off.
I guess it was inevitable...
Anyway it was nothing serious just minor scrapes and such, nothing to
worry about.
As for the incident it was rather funny. I was driving behind a taxi
van full of people, I braked and the bike decided it wasn't keen on
slowing down so instead it went all wobbly and I fell off, infront of
all those people.
Doh!

Brad

Visa Run

2008-07-10T13:02:00.001-07:00

Visa Run
Urgh!!!!
A night boat for 6 hours, with no air conditioning, a sweaty mini-bus
ride with a bunch of hippies for 5 hours and a long-boat ride to
Myanmar sees me good until July 17th!
The return journey was just as disgusting, only the boat trip was
during the day and guess what, tomorrow is Full-Moon, so the boat was
full of drunken 'travellers'. Just what I didn't need after my mission.
Once I got back home to Koh Phangan I was met at the peer by some Thai
friends and I then attempted to drive a moped back to my bungalow. A
silly idea. After 22 hours without food or sleep my body gave in and
my eyes closed whilst driving! Fortunately, only for the briefest of
moments. It was then I decided that having a backy on a moped from a
girl was better than dying, so that's what I did. Looking rather
exhausted (and camp (only whilst on the back of the bike I might add))
I arrived home and slept!
Visa run over.

Brad

New Found Home

2008-07-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

New Found Home
Well Dan and I have cancelled our tour of the other islands here in
favour of staying in Koh Phangan. The beach raves, chilled out mood
and the fact that Harvey's bar is located on this island means that
we're staying!
I've also found out that the 800baht a day we're paying for our
bungalow is extortionate in comparison with some of the homes that are
available for rent here, from as little as 5000baht/pcm or 10000baht/
pcm (which is what I opted for) which got me a brand new bungalow with
air conditioning, a TV and DVD, electric shower (a rare thing out
here) and a kitchen! That's right, I can cook my own bacon sandwiches
and such in the comfort of my own home. Brill!
Now, I'm sure you all think we're crazy for not continuing to travel
the south islands and for staying here, but I'd be more dissapointed
to leave Koh Phangan than excited to see yet more beaches and
snorkelling spots.
So it looks like were going to be here up until June 18th or so.
Stay tuned...

Brad

Koh Panang continued...

2008-07-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Koh Panang continued...
After a few days recovering from Half Moon, I was finally well enough
to brave the outside of the bungalow.
So we rented mopeds again, which I must say I'm becoming quite the
expert on, and headed north to Haad Yao to see what the beaches in the
north had to offer. The craziest moped journey so far, riding across
unfinished or unstarted roads and 20% downhills, got us to our
destination. The beaches, in comparison with Koh Samui left a lot to
be desired. Gravelly sand, dirty water and tourists everywhere are
what's on offer. It's just aswell that this leg of the trip isn't a
beach holiday.

Brad

Offline Blogs

2008-07-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Offline Blogs

Here they are, the blogs I promised...

Brad

I'm Alive!

2008-06-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

WOW!

It's been wayyyy too long since i last blogged, sorry!

Well, where to start?

Last time i blogged i had just been to my first Half Moon Party, what a Thailand freshman i was!

Well to cut a long story short, Dan and I are still in Koh Phangan! We fell in love with the place after the insane parties, chilled out mood and great people we met and decided this was the place for us to spend our time in Thailand.

So I moved out of the resort (which was costing a fortune) and moved into a Bungalow in the North of the Island (a place semi-immune to the invasion of foreigners ever full moon party). My bungalow is...well it's gorgeous, a brand new build and i love it. And i get this paradise home for the shocking price of......200 GBP a month, bills included (Photo's to follow).

Now, Dan and I are quite the Phangan resident's. We have friends both foreign and Thai, it's irregular for us to go into town without seeing atleast one person we know.

However, i have a predicament.

My Australian Visa states that i have to have 2000 UK pounds in the bank to enter the coutnry and my arrangements to take care of this have fallen through...soooo it looks like i'm going to spend the rest of my holiday here in Thailand, perhaps travelling down to some of the other islands to see what they have to offer before returning back home.

My flights booked from Bangkok back to London Heathrow on August 14th (sad face), so I'll be seeing you all sooner than expected!

Afetr making a decision to stay here in Thailand for the remainder of the trip, i had to commence a Visa Run to Burma. Urgh! What a trip. 23hours of non stop travelling got me from Phangan to Surrtiani, Surritani to Ranong, Ranong to Myanmar and then back. A sweaty trip with no food or sleep see's me good for another month here.

I'll update you all with more information on what i'm up to when i have it/when i have decided, but for now I'm heading home August 14th!

I haven't got too much time to update with too many tales as i have very little money on me and i need to go and eat, but i'll be sure to upload my offline blogs as soon as i get chance so you can see what's been going on here.

Speak soon!

Half Moon Party

2008-05-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

Half Moon Party
A combination of alcohol induced memory loss and selective memory loss
means this blog won't be too long...

Wow.

...that's all.

Brad

Koh Panang

2008-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Koh Panang
So we're here! The highlight of our Southern Thailand adventure. And
after less than a week it's lived up to all of my expectations.
On our first night here we decided to upgrade our room from the
cheapest bungalow to the most expensive. A whopping £5 a night extra
gets us air conditioning, a flushing toilet (that's right, the other
room didn't have one), a hot shower, satellite television and plug
sockets. Not a bad deal at all.
After unloading our packs we decided to head to Had Drin, party
central, to see what we had in store. A town made up of bars and only
bars saw us top up our depleting alcohol levels and decide that it
would be a good idea to ask a stranger if we could hitch-hike in the
back of his pickup truck. A great decision on my part, as the guy
lived opposite our hotel and we were back home in no time.
The next day we took a wonder up and down our street to find 'Harvey's
Bar', a brand new bar Dan had found, owned by a Scotish chap. This
time we really have found the greatest bar in the world.
This place is so new that the pool table had never been used, we order
food from a menu that hasn't even been written and after one nights
drinking, that sees us dust off a box and a half of Heineken, we're
now the barmans best friends.
So far, we've helped write the food menu; suggested, collected and
installed a Playststion 2 from the owners house into the bar and when
Harvey needs to pop out for a bit, we run the bar, serving drinks and
choosing what music to play. In exchange we often get the keys to the
pool table, I got to update my iPod from his HUGE music collection and
when we're the last customers he closes up, turns off the music and we
watch Family Guy until it's time to sleep or until it's time for
breakfast. It's like being back home in a mates house, who's
girlfriend cooks the food and you have a few beers whilst playing the
Playststion.
Half Moon tomorrow...

Brad

Paradise Found

2008-05-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

When I said perfect beaches, clear waters and easy living I thought it was wishful thinking. But that's exactly what we've got. Koh Samui is paradise. White sand and crystl water beaches with so few people on them it's incredible. The sea is warm and refreshing and the weather is fantastic. 35 degrees on average.
I live in a bungalow that looks out onto the sea. We have plug sockets and room service! Water costs 15p a bottle and a bottle of Heineken is about a pound.
The food is excellent, usually a toasted sanwich, burger and fries or a salad wrap.
This really is living the dream. I was up at 5:30am yesterday and went for a jog along the beach, sea splashing against my ankles as i ran. That Everest trek really paid off. Half an hour running in 30degree heat was only halted by my body's need for water, oh and the fast that 3 (rabid looking) dogs gave chase to me. However the resort owner reassured me that I'd be safe to continue "jus' thro' stone" she advised me. I decided against pelting dogs with pebbles and went for a shower.
Tomorrow we're going to rent some mopeds and book ourselves a game of golf at the local course. Because apparently I can ride a moped and play golf? I love Thailand.
Infact I'm quite the expert on the old Suzuki moped. Just 2 days ago I overtook an American guy, who was acting ultra cool, on a Harley Davidson...
We've got 7 more days of lounging around on the Koh Samui beaches until we leave for Koh Pang Nang, the paradise island with beach parties every night. Alcohol is bought by the BUCKET not bottle or glass and the government tourist adviser showed us a great photograph of a sign outside the Half Moon Party that read:
No Drink
No Drugs
No Weapons
from outside...

I think I'll be going to the SevenEleven to stock up on Paracetamol tomorrow.
Just had my 1st beer, hmm I wonder where this is heading?

Photos!

2008-04-30T01:58:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last 2 hours uploading photos, naming them, organising them into 'Sets' and I'm still only half way through!

I've set up a Flickr account and here's the link to my Photostream show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47916421@N00/show/

My Yahoo ID is:
bradley_w_2003

so that you can search for me on Flickr, if the above link doesn't work.

Enjoy!

Danny's Running a Blog!

2008-04-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Dan's tales @ www.dannyhontour.blogspot.com

Southern Thailand, here we come!

Khao San

2008-04-27T04:58:00.001-07:00

Khao San
It seems to be whatever you want it to be. A place to watch every
Premier League game live, a bunch of night clubs, a place to sleep, a
place to eat and a place to go shopping. A hub for Thailands
backpacking population. A start point for any Thai adventure and for
some unlucky soles, the duration and end of their adventure.
Clubbing every night and sleeping every day seems like great fun for a
while but for me, it's not enough. I want beaches, clear water with
white sands and bungalows along the beach. So that's exactly what
we've gone and got.
Six weeks of travelling the southern isles of Thailand. Full moon
parties on the beach and a half moon party in the jungle. That's how
it should be!
So i bound myself to keeping you up to date with my tales of Khao San
Road.
An average night out sees Dan and I in Gulliver's sports bar, which
until 10pm is infact a sports bar. Come 10pm it becomes and Electro/
Hardcore/RnB/Dance and Trance club. The pool tables are pushed aside
in favour of a podium and the place fills with Europeans and Americans
and hundreds of Thai girls. Quite the transformation.
At 2am, now extremely drunk on Smirnoff and Amareto, we grab a tuk-tuk
and head for some random night club. 7am usually sees us stumble back
into our room for a day of recovery.
Some very strange things have occurred during these nights out
including me purchasing a Thai policemans coat, a tailor made suit
fitting and just last night we were hosts, in our £3 a night room, to
2 German lads, a Thai lad and 2 American girls. Very surreal, but funny.
Bangkok is a great place. The Khao San Road is incredible and a must
see, but I'm tired of it already and I can't wait for our Southern
Thailand retreat. Paradise islands, beach parties and air conditioned
beach bungalows.
Tomorrow we have a 14 hour coach journey to Koh Samui.
Maybe I'll get to catch up on some sleep.

Brad

Bangkok

2008-04-27T04:57:00.001-07:00

Bangkok
McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Cinema, Bowling, Shopping Mall and Khao San Road!
Back to civillization, but with a terrible overtone to the first
day...the Blues lost 5-1 to the villa!
After running around Bangkok airport for half an hour trying to find a
shop, so that we could get the football score, and failing to do so,
we left the airport in a taxi for Bangkok city centre. 900Baht we paid
to jump the queue, which was a good mile long.
The heat is overwhelming here. It's humidity like I have never
experienced. Even being in the clouds can't compare to the damp air
here.
We found an English bar and the barman broke the football news to us.
Dan wasn't overly sympathetic...
At 11pm we ate McDonalds followed by another taxi, this time to the
Khao San Road. Backpackers heaven. Bars, clubs and £1.50 a night rooms.
I'll update you with more Khao San Road tales as they develop.

Brad

The Morning After

2008-04-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

The Morning After
Me: Shall we get him some water?
Dan: We're not his mom!
Me: He rode a motorbike...
Dan: Get the water!

Brad

Let The Fun Begin

2008-04-21T23:34:00.001-07:00

Let The Fun Begin
13 days of walking. 70 kilometres trekked in 78 hours. 9 days uphill,
4 days down. 8 suspension bridges and 10,000 Yaks.
Apettite loss, headaches, fatigue, sunburn, sleepless nights at -12
degrees, 42% less oxygen and a week without a shower.
Worth it?
Without a doubt.
My Intrepid Encounters trek to Mount. Everest Base Camp was something
I'll never forget.
We trekked for an average of 7 hours a day, staying on guest houses
and tea houses along the way. Considering we were 3 days away from the
nearest road the variety of food was pretty good. Eggs, chips, pizza
and the odd local dish or too were all on offer. The higher we went
however, the more expensive things got. A 13Rs. bottle of water
(that's about 11p) ended up costing 350Rs. (that's about £2.90!).
The last day of ascention was the hardest. A 9 hour day to base camp
and then back to Gurak Shep was the most physically demanding day. It
was however totally worth it. We saw an Everest expedition descend and
I enjoyed an ice cold beer and cigar on the rocks overlooking the base
camp tents.
The descent was fast and easy. We took less than half the time to get
down than we took to get up to 5400m.
Our guides: Santosh, Jhanbo, Rham and their leader Durje were
incredible. After a days walking we were ready to collapse. These guys
turned into waiters once we entered a guest house, taking orders,
serving food and making sure everyone was in good health.
Our first step back into civilization was Namche! A night of showers,
pool and a few too many drinks marked the end of the hard work. An
easy day followed and then the final sprint to the end.
Lulkla awaited us. The airport. The closet we had been to sea level
for 12 days. A night of extremely heavy drinking resulted in 3 hours
sleep and me getting on an aeroplane, hungover, wearing a sleeping
bag. That's right! I boarded the plane IN a sleeping bag.
After landing I struggled back to the Katmandu Guest House for food
and sleep.
A few hours later, hangover now cured, it was time to celebrate the
achievement again. A night out in Khatmandu consisted of several
'dance bars', 2 casinos and one of our pals riding a random strangers
motorbike! A quite surreal; but unforgettable night.
The evening after we went to yet another casino and lady luck was on
my side. 3000Rs. became 12000Rs. Win!
Our flight to Thailand is this afternoon. A new adventure awaits.

Intrepid Brochure: 'What is it they say about only living once? And
boy is this living!'

Dan (whilst in the Indian casino): It's like taking Ghandi from a baby

Brad

Wi-Fi

2008-04-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Just waiting for some WiFi access so that i can upload a few new blogs.

Stay tuned!

The Monkeys and Temples

2008-04-04T04:48:00.001-07:00

The Monkeys and Temples
Today was the most rewarding day so far. The day began with breakfast
at the khatmandu guest house. The food here is outstanding and
ridiculously cheap.
We had previously discussed the idea of paying a local taxi driver to
drive us around for the day to see what khatmandu has to offer. Best
idea ever.
The trip began with a visit to the 'Monkey Temple'. This place was
insane. 326 steps take you to the top of this amazing structure where
the various temples are located. Three local children accompanied me
throughout the visit, all no older than 13. One of them was born as a
monk, living in a monastery, and provided me with an insight into the
local beliefs. Even out here where his parents couldn't afford milk to
feed their new born child, this boy aspired to be a doctor and live
life as a monk.
He explained how the monkeys inhabit the temples land, as their
natural homes were destroyed as a result of the citys development.
After a good hour we departed and headed for Durbar Square. Another
area filled with religious sancturys. The area was home to the old
royal palace, constructed in the 17th century. It was also home to
'kumari', a ten year old child that is worshiped as living goddess. We
were allowed to enter the courtyard of her home, but foreigners may
not enter the home of this child. Remarkable.
After a day of intense cultural surroundings we headed back to our
hotel to backup our photos and to eat.
I'm now sitting in Shisha Terrace cafe and bar. The heavens have
opened and I doubt we'll be leaving in a hurry. I'm lying down on
cushions, in a bar, listening to the rain batter the sheet metal roof
and thunder cracking in the sky.
Tomorrow afternoon, Everest meeting.

Brad

Did I say a drink or two?

2008-04-03T20:46:00.001-07:00

Did I say a drink or two?
I meant a drink or twenty!

Brad

Chilling Out

2008-04-03T20:42:00.001-07:00

Chilling Out
Day 2 in katmandhu and things are feeling more normal. We ventured out
of the security of the guest house to a new hotel and spent the day
seeing what this place is all about.
A day spent wondering the busy streets of the metropolitan area that
we are staying in resulted in us finding cadburys chocolate. Result!
We also found the hugest Carlsberg sign I have ever seem. Don't worry,
there's a photo coming soon! Beer is served over here in 650ml
bottles, costing about £2.50. Not bad eh?
There's obviously a lot more to this city, but photographs will do a
significantly better job of explaining it than I ever could. I'll let
you know my Flikr account once I have it set up.
Off for a drink or two now.

Brad

Culture Shock!

2008-04-02T02:34:00.001-07:00

Culture Shock!
So, after a 7hour flight to Doha, a 4hour wait for the next flight and
then another 4 hours on a plane, we've made it!
Initially everything looked pretty normal. The airport was small, as I
had expected and there were a lot of european travellers in goretex
and trekking boots, all buying visas.
Then we walked out of the airport and into a mob of locals offering us
places to stay and asking us for UK pounds! We finally found a guy who
was just a taxi driver. 6USD for a 7km journey.
The taxi journey was the point where it all became very real. I'm not
sure what I expected of khatmandu, but this is a whole other world.
There seems to be no rules on the road, it's every man for himself;
car,lorry,motorbike or cycle! We saw livestock wondering the streets,
children digging through litter, monkeys running around, roads that
look like allyways and buildings that were only just standing.
We opted to stay in one of the more fancy hotels, the khatmandu guest
house.

At 30 dollars a night for a double room this place has beds,
power and a hot shower.
It's different, its rather intimidating, but so far I love it.
4 days to go until Everest!

Brad

2 hours into the flight!

2008-04-02T02:32:00.001-07:00

2 hours into the flight!
My bum Is numb, I'm tired but i've just been fed so it's all good.
I've played about 20 games of solitare and still haven't managed to
get it out once! Time for a sleep I think.

Brad

Test

2008-04-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

Test
This is a test from my iPod touch!!!!

Brad