bang.bang.
16 July 2009 @ 03:02 am
Finally, a post!

The last bits of our journey were pretty boring so I haven't updated. I just checked my last post and we were in Jakarta. That was 14 day ago! Jeezus! I'm so sorry, my beloved El-Jay.

From Jakarta we flew to Borneo, and then did a bunch of shitty bus journeys in succession, passing through equally shitty towns. So.. nothing to really write about except that Borneo is full of shitty little towns and palm-oil factories. But anyway our main reason for going to Borneo in the first place was to go to Mulu National Park, which has caves and rainforest and stuff.

You have to take a tiny propeller-job out there cuz its surrounded by rainforest and mountains. Our plane fit maximum 60ppl. Cute! We stayed for two days and did a bunch of treks, visited a couple caves (one of which is the 10th largest in the world... but it was still a boring cave to me. Caves = yawn), and walked across the Canopy Skywalk which is this walkway that's 20m up from the rainforest floor so you can see all the stuff going on in the canopy. To be honest, there wasn't much stuff going on up there, but it was still cool. And scary.

We decided Borneo wasn't up to snuff besides Mulu Park and after arriving back in our tiny plane, we waited all day to catch the next available flight to Singapore. Where I am currently typing from.
Singapore is clean, modern, STRICT (you need a permit to chew gum! seriously!) and the national language is ENGLISH. Let me tell you, it is so weird to come from practically 3 years of non-English countries to a countries where every street-sign, advertisement and product is written in English.

On top of being all that, Singapore is also pretty darn pricey. So three nights here is enough for us. We've bought ourselves a roundtrip ticket to Bali for a month and in, oh.. 20mins a bus is supposed to come and take us to the airport. So yeah, I should go.
 
 
Where am I?: Singapore
Look out, I'm feeling: sleepy
 
 
bang.bang.
02 July 2009 @ 04:06 pm
So here we are in Jakarta. We finally left Lake Toba, which was a beautiful and relaxing place to be but 6 days is enough. Oli had to leave Tuk-Tuk and come back again once even because we ran out of money and Tuk-tuk (the town we were staying at on Samosir Island on Lake Toba) doesn't have ATMs.

Anyway. It was a long ordeal to get out of there, we took a packed taxi to the airport (4hrs cramped together with my chin on my knees and carsick, ugh) and the Medan airport was probably the crappiest airport I've ever seen. Except for maybe the airport in Cebu City, Phillipines which was basically a wooden box - but that's a different story.

Then at the airport there was this huge group of English summer-camp people all wearing matching t-shirts that we managed to get ourselves stuck behind, so we had to wait an hour in line before checking in. The plane wasn't bad though, Air Asia is pretty good for such a cheap airline. Good sammiches too :o)

So.. Jakarta. It's a hard city to explore. Yesterday we spent the day checking out one of their malls, not exciting I know.. but Jakarta has like 380743280472864 malls (some of which are themed) so it's kinda the thing to do here. Oli and I got our hair done because we're matching like that, and window shopped. We went to dinner at a restaurant mall that was super high-tech, on the second floor there were these beehive-looking cubicles for conferences, and a giant slide that came down through the center of everything.

...

Okay I just looked it up, apparently it's the 'World's Longest Slide'. Cool. Article and photos here.

That's what we did yesterday. It was expensive and trendy but fun. Today we went in search of an internet cafe, which is ridiculously hard to find here by the way, and despite attempting to save money by walking we gave up and got in a taxi in the end. Now I'm sitting in a little cubicle trying to fix our iPhone (which I accidentally broke in Bangkok at Brett's house..) and I'm going slightly crazy waiting for the 3.0 firmware to download so I can upgrade the phone and then jailbreak and unlock it. And if you don't understand that, don't worry about it. I'm a geek.
 
 
Where am I?: Jakarta, Indonesia
Look out, I'm feeling: drained
 
 
 
bang.bang.
24 June 2009 @ 04:11 pm
I wrote a big long post complete with photos about how fantastically amazing trekking through the Sumatran jungle was.. we saw 4 different types of wild monkeys and it was an experience I'll never forget.

Unfortunately the internet here is slow and I've already been on for too long, so I'll just point you to the other blog if you're interested. Even if it's just for the photos, you should take a look!

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oandm/1/1245825489/tpod.html
 
 
 
 
bang.bang.
19 June 2009 @ 10:24 pm
Crossed the border to Indonesia via ferry from Penang. Most FAIL border-crossing system ever, the power went out as they were doing my visa and I had to lend the customs guy my flashlight so he could see enough to get it done.

Now we're in a shitty, dirty city called Medan, four hours away from our intended destination - Bukit Lawang. The main draw of Bukit Lawang? Orang-utans! We're doing a two-day overnight trek in the National Park there, which apparently is full of monkeys, cool flowers and plants, and probably bugs but I'm trying not to think about that part. I was iffy about doing the trek at first (bugs!) but after reading this blog about it, and seeing the photos, I HAVE TO do it.

Exciting! Orang-utans! Bugs!(boo!)
 
 
 
 
bang.bang.
19 June 2009 @ 06:03 am
  • 19:17 Going out for Chinese foods! #
  • 20:44 Wandered through Little India after eating awesome Chinese. This town =diverse. #
  • 01:25 It's 2 am and freakin 33 degrees here! Fan is just not cutting it, I don't even know how we didn't melt during the day. #
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bang.bang.
18 June 2009 @ 06:05 am
  • 17:07 in Malaysia. no phone. going to Indonesia day after tomorrow. #
  • 23:35 Just realized our guesthouse has free wifi only to realize the iPhone is outta juice and our plug doesn't fit in the wall socket :o( #
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bang.bang.
17 June 2009 @ 06:30 pm
Man, it's hot here. That seems like a stupid thing to say but GAWDDAMN it's really freakin' hot here. We're in Malaysia. And it's freakin' HOT (as you may have heard...) AND it's an Islamic country so I'm trying to be respectful and cover from my shoulders to my knees but I would so love to wear teeny shorts and a tanktop. If I was a young British girl maybe I would, as so many of them seem not to care about respecting local culture...

Anyway. We went from Bangkok to Krabi to Hatyai and then took a bus across the border to Butterworth in Malaysia and then a ferry to Penang island. Now we're in Georgetown which is a mishmash of Chinese, Malay and Indian people with a wide array of food to accompany :o) We're only staying for a day or so because our real destination is Indonesia (we're going to do Malaysia on the way back to Thailand after Indonesia).

I'm really excited about Indonesia. Especially Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world.. and in Surawesi we're going to the Togian Islands which have fantastic white-sand beaches and gorgeous coral reefs with tons of multi-coloured fish that just come right up to you in the water..
...and on Oli's wishes we're flying to Mulu National Park on Borneo (you have to fly because it's surrounded by mountains) and they have a ton of huge beautiful caves and a 'Canopy Skywalk' which is basically a mesh bridge that they built over the rainforest canopy so you can see all the animals and activity that goes on there. IT WILL ROCK! I'm so so excited. I'm so much more a nature person than a city/history buff. This last part of our adventure is mostly naturey rainforesty beachy stuff so I'm all hyped up about it. YAY.

Okay that' it for now.

(ps. Mulu Park also has the world's largest flower, the Rafflesia, aprox. 1 meter across! Annd ten different species of insectivorous plants! Isn't that cool?!)
 
 
Look out, I'm feeling: bouncy
 
 
bang.bang.
13 June 2009 @ 06:10 am
  • 11:32 wke up late due to drinking. have to be at airport. movemovemove! #
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bang.bang.
12 June 2009 @ 06:05 am
  • 11:32 internets are sloooow. WAKE UP AND BE FASTER! #
  • 11:40 I absolutely LOVE the song Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas. It's so frickin' addictive and good. #
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bang.bang.
11 June 2009 @ 02:00 pm
I like. Do you like?

 
 
Noisy Noise: Blur - Parklife
 
 
bang.bang.
11 June 2009 @ 06:04 am
  • 18:13 leaving tomorrow for Krabi. #
  • 21:41 a feast! lamb lasagna, california maki rolls, babyback ribs w/applesauce, mashed potatoes and green salad. My tummy is spoiled tonight :o) #
  • 01:27 updating ipod shuffle with stolen music from Brett. He has some interesting tunes :o) #
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bang.bang.
10 June 2009 @ 06:06 am
  • 14:20 internets suck me in.. how to escape... #
  • 14:22 things that kill whole days: Googlewhacking and www.ouverture-facile.com #
  • 17:32 dying on level 20 www.ouverture-facile.com :oP #
  • 17:56 spending waaay too much time on these frickin' puzzles. brain mellting. #
  • 03:55 oookay. I really really need to go to sleep now. #
  • 03:55 p.s. ...Level 30, bitches! #
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bang.bang.
09 June 2009 @ 02:14 pm
We are totally taking advantage of Brett & Maya's apartment. Laundry has been done, food has been cooked (not ordered in a restaurant!), internet is being (over)used. And we've been sleeping - LOTS. It's nice to take a few days to stop being tourists in unfamiliar places constantly on the go.

I also finally managed to upload my Pii Mai videos from Laos.

two more, HERE and HERE.

As well as upload a bunch of photos from Cambodia. We went to Angkor Wat and although it's the 8th wonder of the world... I found it pretty meh compared to Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm.
One of my favourite photos from Angkor Thom.

Tree roots growing over Ta Prohm ruins.

More Cambodia pics HERE.

So besides internet stuffs we're being really lazy and basically lying around all day enjoying the fact that
a) We aren't paying per day to stay here.
and
b) We don't feel obligated to go into town to see stuff.

Which are both really nice things. Thanks again, Brett and Maya!
 
 
Where am I?: Bangkok
Look out, I'm feeling: lazy
 
 
bang.bang.
09 June 2009 @ 06:04 am
  • 12:55 butterfly stomach. interview for final hurrah in 1hr. *crosses fingers* #
  • 18:58 back from last hurrah. went well, I think. Now to play the waiting game... #
  • 02:39 iPhone OS 3.0 releases June 17th! Verrry cool new features from what I'm reading. I'm becoming such an iPhone geek. #
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bang.bang.
08 June 2009 @ 06:02 am
  • 12:25 looking at wedding hair photos. fuck it, I'm going to have a good wedding despite you all! :oP #
  • 13:56 going to the mall solo :o) Lets not get lost in Bangkok! #
  • 22:22 back from mall. only purchase - strapless backless sticky-bra to wear with my wedding dress. #
  • 22:22 There was a cheerleading/breakdancing competition taking place on the street on my way there. Pretty cool :o) #
  • 01:05 must...sleep... must look well-rested for interviews tomorrow... #
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bang.bang.
07 June 2009 @ 06:03 am
  • 20:01 Finally recovered from last night. Star Trek movie plus drinking plus not eating = sleeping 12hrs straight apparently. #
  • 23:43 Gave in. Downloading Sims 3 for iPhone. #
  • 23:44 my tummy hurts :o( unrelated to previous tweet, probably related to the 5 JD's and shot of tequila I had last night. #
  • 00:22 15mins 'til Sims 3 for iPhone. #
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bang.bang.
05 June 2009 @ 06:03 am
  • 13:27 making KD for the first time in 4 years. #
  • 13:27 I bet Oli won't even try it. #
  • 15:31 I think I fucking broke our iphone. #
  • 15:41 FUCK FUCK FUCK. Fucking iphone. Fuck I shouldn't have upgraded FUCK. #
  • 20:58 fuck today sucks. #
  • 02:23 I just need to stop trying to fix the iPhone. Only gonna make it worse. #
  • 02:31 spent all day trying to fix the phone. meant to spend it doing other stuff. I think this whole week is going to be bad. #
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bang.bang.
04 June 2009 @ 08:51 pm
What a fucking shitty day.
Among other things, I managed to re-lock our unlocked iPhone by accepting an update via iTunes. Fuck you, Apple.

So now our phone is basically an iPod touch. Oh, and when it updated it deleted some of our applications which are now impossible to re-install. Fuck fuck fuck.

I'm not even gonna think about the other thing, it's too depressing.
 
 
Look out, I'm feeling: gloomy
 
 
bang.bang.
04 June 2009 @ 06:06 am
  • 07:12 Awake and on our way. Byebye Cambodia, wish we had more time. #
  • 23:18 Back in Bangkok, home sweet home? #
  • 23:45 exhausted. wanna do a bunch of computering now that I have my sweet sweet lappy but gonna wait until the morning. Goodnight! #
  • 00:30 cant sleep yet. just found out there's Sims3 for iphone, oooh snap! #
  • 00:36 oh, kill me. "The item you've requested is not currently available in Japan's itunes store" #
  • 00:43 But, they have the Japanese version. In Japanese. Yet they won't sell me the English version. Arggggh I'll deal with this in the morning. #
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