"The golden triangle" Tour

This was going to be a big day and we knew it!!! We had booked a tour to go right to the tip of Thailand to what they call "The golden triangle". It is where 3 countries meet with only a river separating them. We had a couple of stops along the way, so here goes... The first stop was the hot springs, this is a very very small version of rotorua, they had a place where you could buy eggs and cook them in the hot pools. Using a stick and string with a basket attached to the end of it, kinda like a fishing rod. It was more like a large parking lot, with natural hot spring running thru it, and a fountain made using the water. At first i thought it was a geyser but it just kept going, so I'm sure it was a fountain now.

An hour further down the road we got to "The White Temple". Oh my god, this place was just beautiful. A famous artist in Thailand built it and is still building it, to show his dedication to his spiritual Buddha etc, etc... 12 years so far he has been working on it, check out these photo's its just amazing...

Back in the van and off to the golden triangle next, maeymar-Thailand & Laos all meet at this point, separated by a river that runs right up from china all the way down. We got to boat it up the river and came across this amazing Buddha, then up to see the casino in maeymar(you are not allow to dock the boat tho), then across the other side to Laos. We were allowed to get out at Laos tho, they had a small village where you could buy lots of bargain's once again. Mike picked up a carton of cigarettes for $8, and i got a beautiful scarf for Bevvie for $4. They also had snake whiskey you could try and buy(wasn't game enough for that), and also armadillo whiskey too.

Back to Thailand and a 3 hour ride home again. I think we left around 7am and got back around 9pm. What a day!!!

Chiang Mai - A bit of culture!!!

Well we are still in Chiang Mai and Mike did a Thai cooking class. It was an all day course and he loved it. He feels much more confident about ordering thai food. After all that good food, we decided to get in some Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing), only watching of course. It was great we were right up close to the ring, and surrounding the ring and punters were lots of bars, it was a great party atmosphere. The first fighter was about 12 years old, and the boy he fought against was a little bigger but he held his own for most of it. Tough little bugger, however in the end his trainers thru in the towel(literally), they said it was getting to tough for him. I thought he did a great fight. We also saw a woman's fight, that was also great. And the men's fights well they are something else. They go hard at it. One guy was disqualified, another knocked out, it was great. The half time act was some lady-boys doing lip-sink, it gave you a bit of a laugh that's for sure. They called it a 'cabaret show'. The next fight Mike wanted to bet, so he picked his fighter(the larger more solid of the two fighters), i said 'OK i'll take your bet', so it was done, 20 B on the next fight. The smaller fighter was alot more quicker and faster and i won!!! hee hee... He was sure he would win 2nd time round, needless to say i walked away 70B up that night. I was stoked.

Thailand also has great cultural experiences. We went to a night show, where you sit down on the ground and have a traditional Thai meal. Then after the meal they show you all their traditional dances and explain the meaning of them. The 'Nail dance' i think is the most common, but we also got to see the men do a sword dance. And the hill tribes put on a display of their dances as well. It wasn't great balls of excitement, but I'm glad i went and experienced it.

Chiang Mai - Kingdom of Lanna

14 Hours on the train, and i can tell you we wont be doing that again in a hurry!!! First night here and i ordered a chicken soup (i'd tried it before and it wasnt so hot), what you find out pretty quick is that food can vary from restaurant to restaurant, its never the same. Sooo... i've got my chicken soup, tasting it yummy as... about 1/4 way thru it becames so fuckin hot i cant stand it, nearly have fit at table, water and loads of it etc... mike sitting there laughing, yes so funny, i'd eaten a green pepper which apparrently your suppose to throw out. So i cant eat it anymore, mike has it, my turn to laugh, he starts sweating, gulps of air, water etc... i'm pissing myself laughing... Was hotter than he thought!!! Lesson learnt.

Hired a scooter today, it was great. Chiang Mai is a small little city and the old part is really easy to find your way around. We visited the cultural muesum, it was all about the history and culture of chiang mai. It was very interesting. Then we found a beautiful park in the middle of the old city, so we stopped to have a look around. Mike tried some street vendors dried fish, yuk yuk yuk... it stunk!!! We came across some old guys playing what was like NZ happy sac game, but they use a bigger cane type ball, and they have to kick it high into a 3 side triangle net. It was great to watch. Late evening was here before we knew it so we strolled on thru the night bazaar. Massive amounts of street stalls with everything from t-shirts, jandals, keyrings, scarfs etc... A shoppers paradise.

A new day and we had a 1 day trip planned. First was to visit an orchid farm, that was very interesting, the orchids grow just hanging there, not in the ground like i thought. Then we visited a thai village, it consisted of 6 different tribes, most orginated from burma. The one that got me the most was the long neck tribe, they wear brass rings around their necks and once they put them on they never, NEVER, take them off. These brass rings also weigh up to 6 kg, and even the little girls wear them. The little girl in the picture is 9 years old, and they go to work with their parents in the jungle and feilds as young as 6. It made me very sad. They are warn to protect their necks against tiger attacks, hopefully by that time one of the men have come to save you. Fingers crossed a... There was also the long ear tribe, they have really long earrings in their ears, massive holes, and i have no idea why!!!

We then did a small walk thru the paddy fields and came to the elephant trek, while it was great to ride the elephants, it was very hot and it wasnt thru the jungle as we were told. Still how many people get to ride the elephants a!!! Cant complain.

We then went to a beautiful waterfall, at first Mike and I were the only ones that got in. It was fantastic, so refreshing... then we got joined by 2 others, it was a blast, the others in our group sure did miss out on that one. White water rafting next, our day was just jam packed. Mike's first turn and he loved it. Only a level 2 but shit, i can now say i've been rafting in Thailand, not only white water either, we changed onto traditional bamboo rafts, and paddled further down the river. It was heaps of fun and i loved it.

Pippi hits Thailand

Made it to Thailand with no hassles, always good, as usual it's warm and it's midnight. On the flight from sydney to Bangkok we got to stretch out, the flight was nearly empty. First hotel was ok, shower is like a heat pump water thing like mum had for her home hairdressing. Was very sick before i left, but am starting to feel better, so glad i went to Doc's before i left i can tell you. The prices of Thailand are starting to kick in, breakfast 60B for the 2 of us, that's approx $2.50 NZ. Mike went for a walk and had his first thai haircut, very nice indeed as well, that cost a whopping $4NZ. 2nd day we heading into Bangkok, I took my tablet with out food this morning and had my first and hopefully last chuck up. Also found the Thai version of scaffolding, check that picture out, yes it is bamboo. Went to MBK mall today, wow... it's 7 floors high and each for is jam packed with stalls, so much so you can get lost on each level, it was great. I got some sunglass and mike bought some shorts. I also got my teeth whitened, Zoom laser whitening. Smile!!! Bloody hotel we are at is brand new, very nice but over 76 steps up to our room in unbearable heat. Only 1 night in this place i can tell you! Khao San Road today, what a great place. The street is blocked off so there is lots of street stalls, bars and street vendors just begging you to let them rip you off. I had a ball. Got my hair braided, looks great. The first quote was 1500 B, then i saw a girl walking and ask her how much she paid and where. 400B was what i ended up paying. Took over an hour to do and only $16NZ, Lucky Pip they call me, hee hee... Bought a few little things. And sat in the bars and watched everyone else get ripped off and find their way thru the Thai maize. Next day we decided to leave Bangkok and head north to Chiang Mai, so booked an overnight train for the next day. Then back to Khao San road for another small shop. Summer dress and earrings later I was ready for my first taste of street food. Pad Thai, and it was quite yummy. Thought we might try and catch a thai boxing match, 2000B, gave it a miss. Last day in Bangkok and we spent it a Pantip Plaza, major eletronics and computer plaza, Mike was in his element buying up large all kinds of games, i had some very quite time before going to the train station. Best foot massage ever is at the Bangkok train station. Wow... it was quiet, relaxing and just amazing. Sooo... we are walking along side the train, and i'm saying to Mike "thank god we are not in those carriages, what a dump!" Keep walking, keep walking... oh shit, we are in those carriages... Pip was not happy. However once we got in there it actually wasnt to bad. Comfortable enough. The trip was ok as well but long 14 hours. And not because its a long distance but the train is that fuckin slow its not funny. You can get there by bus in 9 hours (should have check that out a!!) Oh and you only want to go once to the toilet if you absolutely have too. Never ever walk across or along the train tracks, yes you have to crouch when peeing and it goes directly onto the tracks. The good side, lots to see, rice paddy fields for miles, and beautiful jungles to look at too.

Rail Trail Walk

Time off, it was just what i needed. I was really looking forward to this one. Bag all packed, Mike dropped me off at Jill's place. Yes, Jill, Kurt, Brett and myself were heading for Middlemarch to walk the rail trail for 4 days. First stop Miller's Flat, Kurt had a rugby tournament to play in. He did really well. Our arrival in Middlemarch however was not as expected. First we couldnt find the place, then when we did arrive we couldnt get into the lodge, and no one there to meet us. Jill to the rescue, she smashed in the door, nah just kidding but she did get us inside. It was very tidy and nice. Fish & Chips for dinner, and a early night.

Well i must say we all woke up nice and early, had breakkie and got our day packs ready. I think we managed to leave by 8.30am. We were all in good spirits, stopping to stamp the passport books. Made good time, made it to the first toilet by lunch (Thank God). Now is where it goes down hill, ha ha ha...

We got to the Hyde Memorial, and this is where we first realised that the km's on the signs were wrong. Yep by now we are getting tired, and we find out we have another 3 km's to walk on top of the 27 we knew off. This part was a real downer for us all. We did however make it to the Hyde Railway station so we knew we didnt have far to go. After 3 games of rugby the day before poor Kurt was struggling. With only a 1 km to go, Jill decided we would take a tiki tour out to the road and round the block cause we had past the Hyde Pub. After going round in a circle for 1 km we made it back to the trail, yelling abuse at Jill, and trugded on to the pub, via the rail trail we shouldnt have left. Ha ha ha haha... I can tell you, it wasnt that funny at the time, but it did make for a bit of a laugh every other day, Jill got heaps of shit over that one!!!Michelle met us at the Hyde Pub and let us soak in the bath for what seemed like hours, it was great. What i didnt expect was that when you stop walking your muscles just shut down, once you stop you just cant seem to get going again. Pure pain... We had a great night at Hyde tho.

Once again up early, a nice and chilly -2 degrees at 8.30 when we started walking again. This was quite good tho, because it numbs your muscles until they warm up again, so it made walking possible. This part of the trail was just beautiful, my favourite part of the track. We walked through a gorge, through a tunnel and over a viaduct. It was great. Once again the signage was incorrect and we got some good photos of Jill, pants down in the paddock going to the toilet. It did lift our mood quite a bit. Honestly she was the butt of all our jokes, especially when she jet propelled herself with gas along the trail, it certainly made Brett and Kurt walk ahead most of the time. We were pretty good at judging distance by now, we knew that we only had a km to walk till Waipiata, so when we came round the corner and saw the sign 3 km to go, the swear words flowed very easily from my mouth as i swore and cursed at the bloody sign. Luckily the sign was wrong, up the top of the hill we could see the pub, so down we walked, into the pub to a beautiful hot chocolate and nice cold beer. I think tonight i was in bed by 8.00pm, buggered and blistered.

The next day was the worst for me, i could hardly fit my feet in my shoes, i had a blister under my toenail and the going to start with, was quite slow. But we made it to Ranfurly, and i got some blister packs to try and help with the problem. We carried on for another couple of hours, but i had to stop, i could not go any further, i needed food, my body was shutting down. So at the crossroad half way to Webberburn we stopped for some food. Feel the difference alright, straight away i could feel my body picking up energy, refuelling... I knew i was going to be fine this last half. Lunch over we headed off again, and Jill crashed this time. Her body shut down on her, but she pulled thru it and we made it to the Webberburn shed, only to find ourselves cursing at the blood signage again. God must have heard us, cause just as this was happening Jill's phone rang and her friends drove past, u-turn, picked us up and drove us up to our accomodation, Yeah for them!!!! Once showered we got picked up and headed for the pub, by this time i couldnt get my foot into my shoe. Lucky you dont need a shoe to enjoy the beer in the pub. Yep we got nice and tiddly, had a feed, and got driven home again by the pub owner. It was a good night.

The morning was a different story, i still couldnt fit my shoe, so i was not going to be able to do the last half day walk. After seeing Jill, Brett and Kurt off, i basicly sat around and read my book till pick up time. Summing up: we all had our up's and down's, but we did it!!! and i think for the most part really enjoyed it!!!

Dunedin's Winter Carnival & Polar Plunge

This was a great surprise! I only heard it was on that day at work, i'm talking about Dunedin's winter carnival. So i headed to the Octagon to take a look. A lantern parade around the Octagon, with the snow queen, dancers, drummers and hand made lanterns. The theme was a winter garden, and it looked great. I did have no plans that night, and i was so glad i went. After the parade I got some velvet burger and a beer and made my way to Bevvie's work at the motel. We sat and ate dinner and watched the rugby. It turned into a very enjoyable night. Then Bevvie mentioned the Polar Plunge was on the next day. Last time i might have to do that so i was in. Heaps of people turned out, in all kinds of costumes, loads of fun. I asked Marie to come down the Esplanade for a drink, then roped her in to doing the plunge with me. Man was it cold. I remember running in, seeing a wave coming straight for us and me yelling "Keep running!!!" Ha ha ha haha... it was great fun. You started to warm up as soon as you came out of the water. They fed us hot pies and soup, Yum yum... One of the more enjoyable weekends for a while i think!

Ellen & Adam's Wedding

At first i wasnt sure if i would make it to Ellen's Wedding but lucky enough i found a great airfare and headed up to Auckland. I was looking forward to seeing all the cousin's again. Most of us were going to be there, Kimmy and George included. And she looked just stunning. What a beautiful bride. There really is not alot to say, just that it was a fantastic day, Ellen was just a picture, and Adam scrubbed up pretty darn fine as well.

My Getaway Weekend

I couldnt stand it anymore, i had to get out. Dunedin was giving me cabin fever. I had a long weekend coming up so i was off. My plan was to drive to Gore and catch up with Rhonda, a stafford st neighbour from years ago. And I knew right from the start it was going to be a trip that would be enlightening. The drive there was great. I felt so free, and the stress just started to drop from my shoulders. I was very excited, i was going to be joining in on a drumming workshop. I'm not sure but i think the man's name was David, and he was exactly like i imagined. A little hippy, easy living fellow, that didnt seem to be caught up in todays hassles with life. We learnt all about the drums (bongo drums), a little on sharkra's, and then we sat down in an ole shed, and played. The shed was decorated with blankets and tye dyed scarves hanging from the walls, lots of candles and tree branches were stacked around the walls also to give it that sense of nature. Hay bales were set up for us to sit on, and there was no door so we had an open view to the bonfire that was set up, ready to be set alight that night. After the workshop we had a bbq for dinner, and sat round with a drink in hand, played the drums, sang and watched the bonfire go up in flames. What a wonderful experience, i would not have thought i would be doing that if i had of been told. I wasnt up late, i was buggered so i took myself off to bed reasonable early, who knows what the next day would hold. I woke up with a stinking headache, the smoke from the fire's had been quite hard to escape from and it had done my head in. I got to sit down with Rhonda that morning and have a good catch up, it was so great. I had tossed up wether or not to head home, but decided if i wasted such a beautiful weekend i would be kicking myself. So i jumped on her computer and checked out Stewert Island. Too expensive. So after much dicussion, i said my good byes and headed for Te Anau, And what a beautiful, peaceful place that is. I loved it! I booked myself on a boat trip across lake Te Anau and over to see the glow worm caves. With time to kill before the trip i headed off to the backpackers around the corner and got myself a bed for the night. After sending an email off to Mike to let him know where i was, it was time to walk down and catch the boat for my tour. Oh My God, it is so beautiful there. Just gorgeous. The boat trip was great, the glowworms were great and i was really enjoying myself. I walked down and got a pizza for dinner, then sat in my dorm talking with a traveller from the Netherlands. The next day i had to head home, i wish i could have stayed longer. But the drive home was beautiful, Lake Manapouri especially, WOW... I drove down to Invercargill then back up thru the Catlins and home. I was buggered. But what a wonderful weekend, it was just what i needed.