David is finally 27 years old!!!!

24th September

IT'S DAVID'S BIRTHDAY!!!!

David, Marilyn, Colin and Angela

At the Gap Tavern, enjoying the steak dinner and lovely cake

Today was a day all planned out to be fun, fun, fun. But we still managed to get some important things done before the beers started flowing. I applied for many jobs, while David got his course finished and approved by the Justice of the Peace (who was a strange man that made comments such as "I can tell that you are not Irish, it's because of your vowels, they sound like vowels of a 14 year old). Aswell, the screening system going into the courts is not very good, as David had a swiss army knife in his bag and when everything was x-rayed they didn't see it. Crazy pointless system, but lucky that David is not a crazed serial killer even if he does listen to pscycotic metal at times.

Angela and David

David

(Wishing for a job, really hard)

After returning to Ashgrove (Colins house) we all had a beer or two, David opened his presents, which he liked a great deal (a metal hammer, some thai massage shower gel, and a shrek sweet dispenser) and then went for a fantastic steak dinner in "The Gap Tavern". Delicious steaks and a jager bomb was had, plus the singing of the Happy Birthday Song with a scrumptious cake made by me. Yummy yummy. After we were full to the point of bursting it was time to go back to the city and meet our fellow travellers from Sweden that we met in Thailand. We met them for one or two beers to celebrate David turning old. Of course the first thing they said to us wa "oh we booked an extra night here, because we know what happens when we all meet up", and they were right of course. We stayed drinking until 4 am, and had a great time sitting in the Queen Street Mall. It was Jimmy's Bar that kept us entertained for hours.

Par, Mikaela and Angela

(Travel reunion, from Thailand to Australia)

David was very happy with his first and last birthday in Australia. It was perfect.

Angela & David

Brisbane City Life

22nd - 23rd September

The days of getting up early in the morning have not arrived yet. But we promise that they will soon enough.

So after meeeting the girls yesterday, we were back again to the city centre for some internet/coffee in our favourite Starbucks. We are also getting to know the city a little bit more each day, and it looks very nice indeed. Clean, modern and nice to walk around in. The bus transport is friendly and cool (air conditioned) and gets us from A to B.

We were also priveleged yesterday to witness a sand storm. It came all the way from Sydney in about 3 hours. As David was sitting in the coffee shop and I was walking around and looking at sales assistant jobs/shopping, the wind increased, and suddenly a red mist was covering Brisbane. The flights were all diverted from Sydney to Brisbane, and then of course Brisbane got hit aswell. So it was hard to breathe and we felt like we were back in the smog filled cities visited in Asia, we were home sweet home.

Brisbane City

Red Dust at day, makes your clothes go (can't thinkof any rhyme....sorry)

Anyway the days are going by quickly now and the money is going out of the account faster than ever before, but we were expecting this to happen. Oh also we have found somewhere to live, its in a place close to the city, and reasonably priced, and its with 3 Irish people that we met through Colin. We are moving in on Thursday the first of October. Wehoooooo!!!! David is also getting closer to applying for jobs, as he did the White Card Safety Course and hopes that this will get him a job in construction or anything else within the engineering industry. But it is only hope at the moment. He is going to be 27 years old on Thursday, so its party time.

Angela & David

A lovely day with old friends

21st September

A small picture of Brisbane

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Yesterday i got in contact with an old friend from Sweden who is also in Australia. We decided to meet up here in Brisbane. The funny thing is though, that we haven't seen each other for about 5-6 years, and we meet up in OZ!! How crazy is that?!?

First we (me, David, Anna and Annas friend Ylva) had lucnh in a place called TinBilly, a backpackers hotspot. We caught up on news and gossips! Great for the girls, not so great for poor David!

After that we browsed around queen street. Ylva was the only lucky one to find a pair of flipflops for only $5!! As usual when i need something, i didn't find anything!

We went our seperate ways for a few hours as me and David had an apartment to look at. We took the boat (CityCat) and left us 1 minute from the apartment we were viewing.

The apartment turned out to be lovely. Big and bright. Sharing with 3 other people (Funny enough, all from Ireland) So we're hoping for that will be our room for the next 6 months.

We met up with the girls again. Poor David, as we went to see a chick flick! :) It's called "500 days of Summer" And i think it's woth seeing.

It was great to catch up with Anna again and hope it won't be another 6 years till we meet up in a strange country again. :)

Followed was some lovely tea and a game of chinese checkers in Colin and Marilyns Crib!

Ylva, Anna & Angela

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Angela & David

Football, football...ZZzzz

20th September

Another late wake up for us! But it is sunday and a rest day for all. David had his Liverpool match to watch with Colin, so he was excited. And it proved to be a great game, with a 3-2 win for Liverpool. After that we went for a walk around the block to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. It is so peaceful and quiet here, and very nice to walk around. We popped into woolworths supermarket for some supplies and then had lasagne for lunch. Yum yum. Plus we got a start on the cv's, and tried to get a TFN applied for online. It didn't work just yet, but it will soon.

Angela & David

LASAGNE!!

19th September

Angela with her special recipe

I'm not going to tell you the secret!

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Ooooooh good morning, or hangover central. The saturday was well spent on the couch and then progressed into the garden for some more Toohey's Extra Dry. Also it was a day for my extra special homemade lasagne. which took only 4 hours to make.......well you have to wait for tasty food. And of course, starter would not be the same without cocktail prawns on toast. Delicious. So we had another beery day and we promise that on Monday morning we will actually get up of our bums and get our cv's out there, and apply for a TFN (tax file number).
 
Angela & David

A long night in Brisbane

18th Septmeber

This day turned out to be more useful than we thought.

While Colin went to work that morning after a few many beers, me, David and Marilyn went out for a drive. First she took us to a gigantic Shopping Mall. We had a stroll around, and within 1 hour we had 1 bank acount each and australian phone numbers! Who would have thought it would be that quick. All we need now is a job and an apartment!!

The rest of the day was very relaxed, untill we got to the pub, called "The Paddo" where we had a few too many beers and wine with Colin and Marilyns friends. They had all gone to the pub straight after work so they were all dressed in yellow tees. We wouldn't get lost anyway.

We had a great night and already got offered 2 apartments! Hey...Is it supposed to be this easy!!!
 

The lads in yellow!

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Yes, they are horse saddles! and yes you can pretend to be a cowgirl without being thrown out!

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Hugfest!

Colin, Marilyn & David

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Angela, Marilyn & David

Colin is burried undernieth

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Angela & David

HELLO AUSTRALIA!

17th Septmeber

Hello Australia!

Landed bumpily on the runway. The pilot must Shave been asleep during the landing, but one bounce, two bounce and we were in Brisbane. Red eyed we proceeded to the pasport control, and fully aware of the strict laws of Australian declaration procedures (as we have been watching "Nothing ot Declare"). So we declared everything from apples to sweets to wooden notebooks etc. But before that we were questioned about our plans for Australia, and were we were staying etc. The answer we gave was somewhat funny. ("where are you staying?"- "Ah, we are not sure as the address is on facebook"). That sure does sound lke a fake answer. But they were happy to let us go through, and only took away the apples from us. Tired we sure were, but still a long way to go before Colin (who we are staying with) finished work. We made it into town and waited it out in the Roma Street Bus station where we had a tasty fresh sandwich, and sat playing games to stay awake.
We got trough to Colin and we were on the way to his house in Ashgrove. On arrival to his lovely house, we sat out the back with a few cold beers and caught up on the news of the past 3 years. It was great to be in Brisbane, now the search for jobs, house, etc begins.

Angela & David

Goodbye Hong Kong

16th September

See that red line on the left hand side of the picture, well, past that line you could smoke!!

ha ha, it looked so funny!

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Well, by now we are a little bit used to waking up in our tiny cell, but now we have done it for the very last time. Tonight we are going to Australia. We are very exciting, but we still have about 6 hours before our flight will depart from Hong Kong airport. We decided to take a stroll down to the harbour as we heard there is a few museums down there that sounded cool. First one we went in to was the "Space Museum" It was quiet cool actually, it was not just reading to do, but also you got to do games and try stuff, for example what it's like to walk on the moon when you're weightless. Yes, i did the forward moonwalk, it was awesome!!

Next museum was less cool. It was an art museum, just old boring art. I like modern art.

Well..hmm...How can david be standing there and be inside that screen on the same time??

Space weird!!

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Anyway, the time passed on and it was finally 5 o'clock. We headed back to our cell and packed the last things before we left for the airport. Even though our flight wasn't until 11.15 we thought it would still be nicer to spend the last few hours in the airport then in our cell. And thank god the weather was getting better, so no typhoon while up there in the air.

Hong Kong on a very misty day

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David is ready to roll...

..the trolly..

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Good bye Hong Kong

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So finally on the plane. We got served some ok plane food and got a glass of wine, We asked for one more glass...and another one....and another one....It's FREEEE!!!! So we ended up staying up all night on the flight to Brisbane-Australia, drinking wine and making other people annoyed! It was bloody great MATE! ha ha

A LOT of wine being served to us.

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Angela & David

So much to dooo!

We've had e few very busy days so haven't had the chance to write blogs. But we will write them soon enough. Now we're going food shopping (SO EXCITED) and then we'll be back to writing again :)

Typhoon and Peak Tram

15th September

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Typhoon is still here, but the wind is slowing down and the rain is coming down in dribs and drabs now. So sightseeing was possible but not very enjoyable. But we had to go anyway, what else can you do in Hong Kong, as everything else costs money. Well we got on the MTR again, which is so so handy here. We went to Central station on Hong Kong Island and took it from there. We were surrounded by huge skyscrapers, and all of them are some form of bank. But there was still some old places left to view, like the 120 year old peak tram system. It consists of two red trams going up a hill at nearly 45 degrees, the funny thing is when sitting there is that the buildings look like they are leaning and not you. So when we got there the views were slightly bad due to the weather conditions, but you still got the picture (excuse the pun). We can only imagine how beautiful it would look on a sunny day.

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Hong Kong Skyline

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Madam Tussaud's in HK Peak Tower

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Second point of interest for us was the 800m travelator that goes above ground, traffic through some of the skyscrapers on the island. We had to test it out, if only for a short ride.

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Hong Kong Island Travelator

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The rain came again, and we went home sweet home. Little rest and off again for the all important light and laser show on the river front. Even the typhoon can't stop the show two nights in a row. So we saw the spectacle, it was very very nice and all the buildings were lit up like christmas. But nice for the picture if not for the environment. It was 9 pm by now and the you could play the drums on our stomachs, thats how empty they were. So we stumbled upon a nice cheap, sushi, noodle, dumplings type food. So we had it, and it tasted good. We were more than pleased to go back to our little room for the last nights sleep, before hitting Ozzie land. Very exciting indeed, plus it will be nice to catch up with a lot of friends there. We do still have a ful day tomorrow with our bags, as the flight is not until 11pm. 

Hong Kong Night Skyline

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HK Night SKY

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Angela & David

Hong Kong Dining in Style

14th September

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Welcome to a very new dining experience in Hong Kong. This is what we did for lunch today, we sat on a toilet seat and had food out of miniature bath tubs, bathroom sinks and toilet cisterns. (All hygenic of course, detol was used on all the surfaces before serving). It sure was something different, and after the really rough nights sleep in the prison cell which we call our room, it was a good humourous start to the day. It is reasonably priced and the food by no means tastes like shit.

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Angela

(eating spaghetti out of a bathroom sink)

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David

(eating noodles out of a bathtub)

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And now for the most exciting part and the most realistic of all the treats that is served in "Modern Toilet Restaurant". It is the representation of human pooh, and boy did it taste good.

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David

(Thinking of anything but pooh)

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Angela

(pooh pe pooh pooh)

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So that was fun, the place does exist, I am not taking the piss.........

Next, was a plan to take a scenic walk through the streets of Hong Kong. We had everything with us, like maps, camera, water. But one think you cannot predict is the weather. It was raining and the wind was picking up slightly. So we gave it a go, but only made it to the jade market and saw one 100 year old cinese temple and then, no more.

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Statue of Something

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We took a MTR back to the guest house for a little while, before going out to eat and see the laser light show on the Avenue of Stars. However, that didn't work as typhoon #8 was very close by and everyone had gone home to prevent their homes from being flooded. So we had no choice but to eat and play Farmville on the computer. At least the internet worked, otherwise I think we would have went insane in the room.

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David

(Metro, where there is no typhoon)

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Tomorrow promises to be more of the same weather so nobody knows what we can do for entertainment. Time will tell.

Angela & David

Hong Kong Baby - Hong Kong Love

13th September

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Suvernabhumi International Airport in Thailand was reached without delay by a cheap bus, only 130 baht per person, its easy to get from any hotel. Our bags checked through and boarding passes in hand, we were good to go. With time to kill as it is always the case in airports we had a coffee, and played a few games of chinese checkers, while waiting.

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David

(Ah ah ah cheew)

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Flight time to Hong Kong was only 2h and 20mins, so short enough to have a meal and watch a film. Then we arrived, safely and on time. It took us awhile to find our bearings as it is huge. But we did it somehow anyway and were on a cheap €3 bus to town. We first needed a place to stay and call home for 3 days, so Mirador Mansions we went for. It was the cheapest place in Hong Kong people said to us, but the rooms here are bloody small. I am talking 8m2 at the most. Anyway, there are many Indian looking blokes offering jewellery, and accomodation outside the entrance. We were just about to go to look at a room, when a woman intercepted us and said that he does not have a guesthouse, but just someone renting their home room. So we changed and went with her instead. Boy he was not pleased, and he kept saying "I saw you first, and now you screw me". Hung Kiu Guest House is were we are now, but Mirador Mansions is not a nice place, I can tell you. But the room is ok for now, we rather not pay the big money, saving it for Oz.

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David + Double Room

(thats the only place that is possible to stand)

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Bathroom

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David + Still Double Room

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Tired and sleepy though we were, we still needed to eat something before resting our bodies for the night. Outside was raining, windy and all the lights were on. So a short distance away we popped into an Aussie bar for some tucker. Had a glass of red wine, a pint of Carslberg and two meals for €27. Oh boy the reality had surely hit us, and the difference in prices between Thailand, Vietnam etc here is huge.

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Ned Kelly's Aussie Bar

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Angela + All Day Breakfast

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First night sleep is going to be enjoyable. We always did want to try living in a cardboard box, only this one is costing us €13 per night and it has tiles all around.

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Hong Kong Light Pollution

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Angela & David

Good Bye Amazing Thailand!!!!!!!

12th September

The final day in Bangkok City. The going was tough because of our favourite enemy the Chang! As we opened our eyes and the daylight hit, we knew that we had drank too much the night before. Well life must go on, so off we went for breakfast and then a visit to the post office. It was time to make our bags lighter. We met our tuk-tuk driver from before and he offered us a free lift to the post office, what a nice guy. Obviously all that extra petrol he got from us was well worth it. (we still gave him a 20 baht tip anyway).
So we got the biggest box possible and packed it full to the brim. It weighed a staggering 13.7 kilo's. WOW, but the the surface parcels are cheap, plus we had no choice. It cost us 2,410 baht (€50) to ship home. So in 3 months hopefully my dad can tell us if it arrives. If not then I guess we will cry us a river.

Next we sweated for a bit in the heat, and went looking for the teeth whitening products that are so popular here. I was very excited when we found them, and the extra bonus was I also removed by gold dolphin from my tooth (it's been 10 years). Oh, and finally we could not resist one final Thai style massage. It hurts but we love it.
So all that was left to do was pack our bags and wait for the morning flight to Hong Kong. Good Bye cheap world. Never to be seen again.

Angela and Sprite

(waiting for the final street meal in Thailand)

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David in full song!!!!!

(it's shower time)

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Angela & David

Again with the Changomenon!

11th September

Well September 11th is here again. Sad for some (the twin towers), happy for others, but its another day on the calendar, so lets move on. We went in search of a post office, through Khao San road and ended up buying a thing or two. It's a Crazy Street, always busy and full of hasle from tuk-tuk drivers, tailors, sellers of wooden frogs and then some more of different stuff. I think we are all tuk-tuked out at this stage. But what can you do but ignore them and be polite

David

(Seeking refuge by the police car on Khao San Rd)

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Tuk-tuk anyone.......they are free!!!!!!

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On route back we had to fend off a guy selling an umbrella made from rice bamboo etc. He was quiet funny as he went from starting price of 750 to 200 baht, thats when we bought the bloody thing. Oops, we did it again.

David and Sweet Talking Umbrella Man

(No is a word they don't seem to understand)
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We still were feeling the effects of the 100th day celebrations with a Chang head on us as we returned back and went out again for some delicious fish supper (for David anyway), I had yellow curry which was also yummy. (Oh, the red snapper on the charcoal grill..........delicious). As we were sitting there, guess who appears out of nowhere, it's Dawn from Wales that we met in Kanchanaburi, and in Hanoi (Its a small world out there). So we decide to meet up for a beer a little later, and so thats how it began to be a very long night indeed. A few Changs later, and a visit to another bar on the road, we were asked by two German lads of what we were doing here etc, and thats how it began to be a big group outing on the Chang (King of All Beers in Thailand). Bloody 4 am finish this time, as we had very important visit to the post office planned. But once again it was a fun filled night, and no regrets for doing it.

Dawn, Christian, Angela, David and George

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P.S. The custom made tailor suit came today aswell. David just had to try it on. Oh yeah it sure is a great fit. He is happy and a pig in muck.

Suits You, Sir!!!

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Angela & David

100th day of travelling!!

10th September

OUR 100th DAY OF CELEBRATIONS

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Our 20Bath Tuk Tuk driver, yesterday and today

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Normally 100 days in anyones life means very little, but for us it is celebration. Why, you may ask. But if you have been reading the blog then you should know. Traveling through 5 countries has brought us much joy and much stress (even though the stress is the fun part). We shall recap a little, well there is 8 days in India (we all know what happened there), 28 days in Thailand, 27 days in Malaysia, 28 days in Vietnam, not to mention 4 days in Cambodia and back to Thailand (so far 4 days). All in all 100 days that we loved and hated to some extent.

As for today well, suit fiiting took place for David. There was much convincing for me to get a dress done in James Fashion tailors but all that happened was that David bought a second pressure suit in two days, not to mention the 3 shirts and a complimentary tie. All in all €266 well spent. But ohhhh he looks so good.........

After that Mr. tuk-tuk was happy but not happy enough, as he wanted more petrol for his sex machine. All that means is another stop at the jewellers this time. Oh boy, the rubies and saphires looked so good......but will power looked better, as we left after a few minutes.

The shopping mall

your lucky to see this picture as you're not allowed to take any pictures in there. We know because the police told us in a very angry way

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After lunch we had some local pancakes with banana and chocolate

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Next step, camera shopping! It does sound easy to find a camera, but when you have to look at 40 shops selling same type of cameras then there is a problem. All it took was a mere 3 hours to get the right price and the right camera. Now we are the proud owners of a Canon Kiss x2/450D digital SLR. Boy its good! Wait and see for the pics in the next few blogs.

Our new camera...

...Our new Baby

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We took the public bus back, as its cheaper (well as it happened to be free). While writing this blog, and having drunken celebratory Changs, something else funny happened. I stood up from the table and forgot that I unbuttoned my trousers while sitting (I was full of Chang, OK!), so when I got up they fell down. Lucky enough all the Thai waitresses were watching thai soap tv and did not notice. Pheeew!

So yes, as we are writing this blog we've already had a few beers, and more to come. Just to celebrate our 100th DAY!!!!

The waitresses watching TV while they actually should be making PIZZA!!! Welcome to Thailand, where soap operas are more important than food! :)
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ps. Another funny thing happened. I quote.

David and the waiter.

Waiter comes up to ask for the bill while listening to his Ipod.

David: What are you listening to?

Waiter: Music

David: You smart bastard!

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Angela & David