I started a thread on the thorn tree about the bad experiences with the treking company, and lonely planet now have the attention of the company.
Good Oh!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1684860&tstart=15
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Rabies: the morning after
Morning emails from family who contacted my docter overnight greeted me with the news that I actually did not get a Rabies immunisation before leaving Melbourne, it was everything else but Rabies and Japanese E.
So, back to docter. I have a compitant French docter this time, but he lacks tack. "Rabies is 100% Fatal" is the quote I took away with me. Said with as much emotion as discussing the latest weather report. So he also tells me that I need to have immunoglobin today, and another 4 injections over the next 4 weeks. Fun!
The SOS Clinic does not have immunoglobin, and there is a world wide shortage apparently. So off to France Hospital I go. This is another private hospital, for foriegners and rice locals, staffed by vietnamese, and what wonderful professionals they are after the last place.
They only have 2 viles and need to get a third from somewhere else, another hospital....I think I have most of the immunoglobin for rabies in Hanoi in my bottom at the moment. So I go off for an hour and potter back for my two injections.
"They will be a bit painful"
They really were!
During hospital visits heard of tourists getting bites from monkeys on Cat Ba Island and needing Rabies immunisation, and an American man being badly attacked by a buffalo in Halong bay area.....apparently monkeys are riddled with Rabies, there you go!
Off to rest now.......
An dream of killing all maltese terriers on the face of the earth!
So, back to docter. I have a compitant French docter this time, but he lacks tack. "Rabies is 100% Fatal" is the quote I took away with me. Said with as much emotion as discussing the latest weather report. So he also tells me that I need to have immunoglobin today, and another 4 injections over the next 4 weeks. Fun!
The SOS Clinic does not have immunoglobin, and there is a world wide shortage apparently. So off to France Hospital I go. This is another private hospital, for foriegners and rice locals, staffed by vietnamese, and what wonderful professionals they are after the last place.
They only have 2 viles and need to get a third from somewhere else, another hospital....I think I have most of the immunoglobin for rabies in Hanoi in my bottom at the moment. So I go off for an hour and potter back for my two injections.
"They will be a bit painful"
They really were!
During hospital visits heard of tourists getting bites from monkeys on Cat Ba Island and needing Rabies immunisation, and an American man being badly attacked by a buffalo in Halong bay area.....apparently monkeys are riddled with Rabies, there you go!
Off to rest now.......
An dream of killing all maltese terriers on the face of the earth!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wanted Dead or Alive - preferably satayed
In Hanoi for an hour when.....
Imagine this dog, twenty years older, with long hair and brown teeth.
I will walk you through what hell such a nasty beast can cause a tourist! All I can remember are the dogs brown teeth and the laughing owners as it ran towards me and niped me on the leg.
I was a little slow on the uptake, eg did not kick it, and only realised about half an hour later that the dog had broken the skin. Knowing that Rabies is around I decided to go to the docter.
Being 11pm ish at night I was walking through the streets of Hanoi that were closing down in this area anyway, only to be charged by a beast similar to this, see below, but more brown
So that is two dog attacks, nay toy dog attacks, in just over an hour!
I get to the SOS medical facility (Read rip off for europeans run by incompitent staff) and got a vaccination. An appointment out of hours cost $100- 180 USD with medication extra.
Imagine this dog, twenty years older, with long hair and brown teeth.
I will walk you through what hell such a nasty beast can cause a tourist! All I can remember are the dogs brown teeth and the laughing owners as it ran towards me and niped me on the leg.
I was a little slow on the uptake, eg did not kick it, and only realised about half an hour later that the dog had broken the skin. Knowing that Rabies is around I decided to go to the docter.
Being 11pm ish at night I was walking through the streets of Hanoi that were closing down in this area anyway, only to be charged by a beast similar to this, see below, but more brown
So that is two dog attacks, nay toy dog attacks, in just over an hour!
I get to the SOS medical facility (Read rip off for europeans run by incompitent staff) and got a vaccination. An appointment out of hours cost $100- 180 USD with medication extra.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A day in the life
2:00am Not sleeping well, it is dark, the mattress is hard and the rooster is crowing...
4:10am Still not sleeping well, must have had msg again...darn. Do love this kitch bed spread. There is no light, must be cause the mountains next to the chinese border are outside.
6:00am Still to weak to ride in the heat, new plan, will get as far as I can to Luang prabang on bus.
6:35am Tuk Tuk to Luang Nam Ta! Score the first bus leaves at 8am, I am paying the same price and it is just me. I am going to make the 9:30 bus to Luang Prabang! I am blessed.
7:30am Stop at village to pick up 8 women and produce
7:50am More women, more produce
8:30am Surely there is no more room in the taxi but we have stopped and are waiting...darn...
9:00am on the Main street, dash for tuk tuk to the bus station.
9:10am get to bus station! What a cue!
9:12am Get a bagette
9:12am Hey there is the argentinian couple from Karadiri. They live in Barcelona and are travelling for a year. Cool, first people I have meet twice.
9:30am Bus is meant to leave, but they are packing the minibus, moving people out of the big bus. There is not enough room! 10- 12 hours in the packed mini bnus. No way.
9:35am Myself and the couple start to raise hell, trying to explain we dont fit...."The bus is broken" we are told, get in the mini bus. Classic lie meaning we dont want to use bus as there are not enough people. We fiight with the people from the bus company - it is getting animated.
10:00am The fight is gaining momemtum now, everyone at the station is involved. We are yelling across the crowd. People have come to watch.
10:15am We are tag teaming on "talking" to the station manager. Argentinian guy says "its a fucking lie" within a few centimetres of laos mans face, this is one of the first times the man looses his composure. He smiles at everything you say and says you must wait! Makes us even angrier!!
10:25am We get people to get out of mini bus and stand in front of big bus.
10:30am We are all on the big bus and on the way to Luang Prabang.
1:30pm stop for lunch.
7:00pm get to luang prabang- Arr civilisation!
7:30pm get to guest house, suprise Katherine and go out for dinner. WIth the excitement of so much food to choose from eat spring rolls and indian. Feel ill after (most food and only food not bread have eatten in three days).
9:30pm fall asleep.
4:10am Still not sleeping well, must have had msg again...darn. Do love this kitch bed spread. There is no light, must be cause the mountains next to the chinese border are outside.
6:00am Still to weak to ride in the heat, new plan, will get as far as I can to Luang prabang on bus.
6:35am Tuk Tuk to Luang Nam Ta! Score the first bus leaves at 8am, I am paying the same price and it is just me. I am going to make the 9:30 bus to Luang Prabang! I am blessed.
7:30am Stop at village to pick up 8 women and produce
7:50am More women, more produce
8:30am Surely there is no more room in the taxi but we have stopped and are waiting...darn...
9:00am on the Main street, dash for tuk tuk to the bus station.
9:10am get to bus station! What a cue!
9:12am Get a bagette
9:12am Hey there is the argentinian couple from Karadiri. They live in Barcelona and are travelling for a year. Cool, first people I have meet twice.
9:30am Bus is meant to leave, but they are packing the minibus, moving people out of the big bus. There is not enough room! 10- 12 hours in the packed mini bnus. No way.
9:35am Myself and the couple start to raise hell, trying to explain we dont fit...."The bus is broken" we are told, get in the mini bus. Classic lie meaning we dont want to use bus as there are not enough people. We fiight with the people from the bus company - it is getting animated.
10:00am The fight is gaining momemtum now, everyone at the station is involved. We are yelling across the crowd. People have come to watch.
10:15am We are tag teaming on "talking" to the station manager. Argentinian guy says "its a fucking lie" within a few centimetres of laos mans face, this is one of the first times the man looses his composure. He smiles at everything you say and says you must wait! Makes us even angrier!!
10:25am We get people to get out of mini bus and stand in front of big bus.
10:30am We are all on the big bus and on the way to Luang Prabang.
1:30pm stop for lunch.
7:00pm get to luang prabang- Arr civilisation!
7:30pm get to guest house, suprise Katherine and go out for dinner. WIth the excitement of so much food to choose from eat spring rolls and indian. Feel ill after (most food and only food not bread have eatten in three days).
9:30pm fall asleep.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
National Parks in North Laos
Morning in the national park in northern loas
"Woof Woof"
"What is that"
"A barking deer"
Five minutes later
"Bang" gun shot.
Repeat many times over.
Also, I think that the amount of cleared land equals the amount of forested land, as in order to eat the people need to farm.
Oh the nature!
"Woof Woof"
"What is that"
"A barking deer"
Five minutes later
"Bang" gun shot.
Repeat many times over.
Also, I think that the amount of cleared land equals the amount of forested land, as in order to eat the people need to farm.
Oh the nature!
Hiking, Vommiting and more, and rats
On the spur of the moment decided to go on a 7 day hike in the north of Laos.
Got a 10 hour bus to Luang Nam Tha, a nothing town in the middle of the country side. I had two days hiking, with Evan and american, and the local guide Thuang.
We hiked about 4-5 hours a day a lot of it up hill, in the heat, with about 8 kilos on our backs. It was great being out in the forest, it was forest rather than jungle, and bathing in streams, waling through bamboo forests, feeling like you are in the middle of no where. Stayed in a hut in the forest one night, used for trekking. The second night staying in an abandoned village. Many of the more remote villages have been moved by the governements to the roads over the last 10 years, so they can have access to electricity and get jobs. Well that is the catch cry any way! They people were still farming the site of the old village and living there for the harvest.....it sounds like a policy that is quite hollow.
So here we are, beautiful day hiking, swimming in rivers, etc. I am exhausted, and have dinner then go to bed. But what is this - "There are many Rats here" - says Thuang as we settle into the beds....those who know me will understand the impact of that statement. Oh and it was not an understatement............I heard them all night, very close inside and outside the hut.....hell! Well that would have been hellish in itself but at 7:30 my indigestion turned into vomitting, which turned into multiple vommiting and diahria, which lasted til 3am.
In the middle of no where, with rats.
This was not a fun night. It certainly was not fun for evan as we were under the same mosquito net....or Thuang who gallently did a few clean ups when I did not make it outside.
So with no sleep, dehydrated, I started the 3 our walk out. Was not drinking water as I suspected the boiled water was the cause(Later through polling to be proved correct). That was a fin walk in the heat mostly up hill! Meet a wonderful chap who was riding his bike to the harvest fields who gave me a lift part of the way there. He was my hero of the day, I was on the back of the scooter navigating the step hills and gravel roads holding on to the saw straped to the back of the bike.
Spent the next couple of days doing not much in Luang Nam Tha and Maung Sing.
Will go hiking with imodiem next time.
Got a 10 hour bus to Luang Nam Tha, a nothing town in the middle of the country side. I had two days hiking, with Evan and american, and the local guide Thuang.
We hiked about 4-5 hours a day a lot of it up hill, in the heat, with about 8 kilos on our backs. It was great being out in the forest, it was forest rather than jungle, and bathing in streams, waling through bamboo forests, feeling like you are in the middle of no where. Stayed in a hut in the forest one night, used for trekking. The second night staying in an abandoned village. Many of the more remote villages have been moved by the governements to the roads over the last 10 years, so they can have access to electricity and get jobs. Well that is the catch cry any way! They people were still farming the site of the old village and living there for the harvest.....it sounds like a policy that is quite hollow.
So here we are, beautiful day hiking, swimming in rivers, etc. I am exhausted, and have dinner then go to bed. But what is this - "There are many Rats here" - says Thuang as we settle into the beds....those who know me will understand the impact of that statement. Oh and it was not an understatement............I heard them all night, very close inside and outside the hut.....hell! Well that would have been hellish in itself but at 7:30 my indigestion turned into vomitting, which turned into multiple vommiting and diahria, which lasted til 3am.
In the middle of no where, with rats.
This was not a fun night. It certainly was not fun for evan as we were under the same mosquito net....or Thuang who gallently did a few clean ups when I did not make it outside.
So with no sleep, dehydrated, I started the 3 our walk out. Was not drinking water as I suspected the boiled water was the cause(Later through polling to be proved correct). That was a fin walk in the heat mostly up hill! Meet a wonderful chap who was riding his bike to the harvest fields who gave me a lift part of the way there. He was my hero of the day, I was on the back of the scooter navigating the step hills and gravel roads holding on to the saw straped to the back of the bike.
Spent the next couple of days doing not much in Luang Nam Tha and Maung Sing.
Will go hiking with imodiem next time.
Luang Prabang
This is such a picturesque city. French provical houses and buildings nestled next to the Mekong, and surrounded by hills. Very good place to just hang out, and you can get silver jewelery made.
All in all my favorite small city so far. It is a good place to take a break from travelling and just take it easy.
Was here for the buddah easter, each wat was decorated in hundreds of paper lanterns, hanging and on the ground. There was a prosession of paper lantern boats, and dragons through the town with explosions of fire works, bands, tradiationally dressed 'mascots' for each wat etc. The procession made its way explosively down the main street and parked at the main mosque where the mekong and the Nam something river meet. Everywhere around the city the banks to these huge rivers is step, and inaccessible. The wat has a series of step and wide staircases that lead down to the river. The boats where carried one by one down the stairs and attached to long boats in the Mekong, before being towed away.
At the same time everyone bought 'flower boats' These were flower arrangements the size of cakes that everyone buys, they have candles and incense on them. Each looks extravagent, I will have to show you the photos. Everyone in the town takes there boat down the stairs and launches it into the river - it brings you good luck for the year.
I lit my first fire works in a long time, as instructed by the local kids. There where explosions everywhere for the days before and after. Farangs were the target of many firework missiles of the small but very loud variety!
I was speaking to an Australian girl who saw a gang of young monks around 12 who threw fireworks at the boat she and her boyfriend were travelling in and mooned them. The monks are not always reverant!
I still have to go to the buddah cave where people store there buddah statues of all sizes, and visit to clean them once a year.
All in all my favorite small city so far. It is a good place to take a break from travelling and just take it easy.
Was here for the buddah easter, each wat was decorated in hundreds of paper lanterns, hanging and on the ground. There was a prosession of paper lantern boats, and dragons through the town with explosions of fire works, bands, tradiationally dressed 'mascots' for each wat etc. The procession made its way explosively down the main street and parked at the main mosque where the mekong and the Nam something river meet. Everywhere around the city the banks to these huge rivers is step, and inaccessible. The wat has a series of step and wide staircases that lead down to the river. The boats where carried one by one down the stairs and attached to long boats in the Mekong, before being towed away.
At the same time everyone bought 'flower boats' These were flower arrangements the size of cakes that everyone buys, they have candles and incense on them. Each looks extravagent, I will have to show you the photos. Everyone in the town takes there boat down the stairs and launches it into the river - it brings you good luck for the year.
I lit my first fire works in a long time, as instructed by the local kids. There where explosions everywhere for the days before and after. Farangs were the target of many firework missiles of the small but very loud variety!
I was speaking to an Australian girl who saw a gang of young monks around 12 who threw fireworks at the boat she and her boyfriend were travelling in and mooned them. The monks are not always reverant!
I still have to go to the buddah cave where people store there buddah statues of all sizes, and visit to clean them once a year.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Thai cooking school
I just had a great days cooking at a thai farm outside of chiang mai.
It was the way cooking is in your dreams, all your ingrediants appear beside you on a tray, the city is in the middle of rural thai area, and surrounded by herb gardens etc. Dishes are wisked away to be cleaned, and everything is portion controlled. Oh and someone else cooks the rice...
Made the best green curry, tom ka chicken, spring rolls, mango and sticky rice, and a chicken and basil dish. We ate our food for lunch and afternoon tea, as you can imagine afternoon tea was hard to fit in but the mango and sticky rice is worth pushing through for.
mmm must be time to go and drink mohitos with the cooking class gang.....
It was the way cooking is in your dreams, all your ingrediants appear beside you on a tray, the city is in the middle of rural thai area, and surrounded by herb gardens etc. Dishes are wisked away to be cleaned, and everything is portion controlled. Oh and someone else cooks the rice...
Made the best green curry, tom ka chicken, spring rolls, mango and sticky rice, and a chicken and basil dish. We ate our food for lunch and afternoon tea, as you can imagine afternoon tea was hard to fit in but the mango and sticky rice is worth pushing through for.
mmm must be time to go and drink mohitos with the cooking class gang.....
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Food, Fashion and Great Outdoors
Am meeting many women who travel to enjoy the food, go shopping and get out into nature. At this point and time I do not think there are any more greater motivations you could have to travel the globe.
Of course most men travel for similar reasons but the love of shopping is not quiet as intense!
Katherine is starting to have fashion design dreams...
Of course most men travel for similar reasons but the love of shopping is not quiet as intense!
Katherine is starting to have fashion design dreams...
Trash
Girls I just read "3 weeks in paris" a wonderful novel by barbara taylor bradford. It is a novel about 4 women approaching 30, all with very successful careers who have a degree of turmoil in their personal lives.
What links them is that they all studied in Paris together, with an esteemed teacher, before they had a quarrel and all fell out.
It is a tale of love, pain, paris, glamour and true love. Highly recommended holiday reading!!
What links them is that they all studied in Paris together, with an esteemed teacher, before they had a quarrel and all fell out.
It is a tale of love, pain, paris, glamour and true love. Highly recommended holiday reading!!
pairadise
Pai is green, mountainous, a bit like a byron in the hills in thailand I imagine. (Have not got to byron yet).
Rode my first elephant, its name was Phenon and she was a 20ish year old very tall elephant. We strolled through the jungle and then played in the river. Some elephants wallowed in the water, prettly much lying down and squirting people with water. My elephant was not so keen on that. She needed some coaxing to get in the water, then coaxing to spray me with her trunk.
But there was one move she quite enjoyed, I was sitting behind the ears holding on tight to each one with my hands. She would push her head into the water and then shake her body furiously in an attempt to dislodge me. I managed to stay on once or twice, but then gave up hanging on and flew into the river. This move was repeated many times. I now (2 days later) Have the aches and pains I am sure most rodeo riders have! But is was really cool! If I could ealk properly today I would do it again.
I have hired a red scooter and am zooming around the countryside on it. I love the open road on the scooter - it is a blast. There is not to much traffic and no one goes over 60 - so you feel like king of the road. Today I am tootling up paths through valleys of rice paddies, and just crossed a world war two bridge. On the other side of this bridge is a coffee shop with amazing espresso and free fast internet - all good!
The rural areas, and jungle around pai is gorgeous.
Our accomodation is "Pairadise" a group of bunglaws away from the town and around a spring water pool. Not bad really, waking up and looking over the bungalows to the mountains, covered in mist.
Rode my first elephant, its name was Phenon and she was a 20ish year old very tall elephant. We strolled through the jungle and then played in the river. Some elephants wallowed in the water, prettly much lying down and squirting people with water. My elephant was not so keen on that. She needed some coaxing to get in the water, then coaxing to spray me with her trunk.
But there was one move she quite enjoyed, I was sitting behind the ears holding on tight to each one with my hands. She would push her head into the water and then shake her body furiously in an attempt to dislodge me. I managed to stay on once or twice, but then gave up hanging on and flew into the river. This move was repeated many times. I now (2 days later) Have the aches and pains I am sure most rodeo riders have! But is was really cool! If I could ealk properly today I would do it again.
I have hired a red scooter and am zooming around the countryside on it. I love the open road on the scooter - it is a blast. There is not to much traffic and no one goes over 60 - so you feel like king of the road. Today I am tootling up paths through valleys of rice paddies, and just crossed a world war two bridge. On the other side of this bridge is a coffee shop with amazing espresso and free fast internet - all good!
The rural areas, and jungle around pai is gorgeous.
Our accomodation is "Pairadise" a group of bunglaws away from the town and around a spring water pool. Not bad really, waking up and looking over the bungalows to the mountains, covered in mist.
Fashion design/ chiang mai
Chiang mai has great fabric markets, and tailors! So Katherine and I spent a day shopping for material then going to a dress maker who we were refered to by some travellers, who meet other travellers who used her every year.
I am getting a simple shift dress and top made out of a pale green striped cotton, and Katherine is getting silk bodices made...we see them tomorrow. I also bought this crazy green material with pink and gold floral pattern, which I will get made into a dress and a top.
Apparently the silk in laos is amazing, and good in vietnam to - so we should have good wardrobes by the time we return home!
We are now avid viewers of the fashion pages!
Not much else to say about chiang mai - it does not have much of a 'face' as a city. We have to spend a few more days there so I will do cooking school and find a mediation class....not much sight seeing to do.
I am getting a simple shift dress and top made out of a pale green striped cotton, and Katherine is getting silk bodices made...we see them tomorrow. I also bought this crazy green material with pink and gold floral pattern, which I will get made into a dress and a top.
Apparently the silk in laos is amazing, and good in vietnam to - so we should have good wardrobes by the time we return home!
We are now avid viewers of the fashion pages!
Not much else to say about chiang mai - it does not have much of a 'face' as a city. We have to spend a few more days there so I will do cooking school and find a mediation class....not much sight seeing to do.
Katherines influence
On the islands, and while diving there is an established pattern, Wake up, eat, dive, sleep, eat, dive, drink, eat, drink. This is a pattern that I am very comfortable with.
So by the time I meet Katherine I was a avid cocktail hourer. Katherine does not drink so I am now back to a beer with dinner, which, looking at 3.5 months travelling, seems like a better pattern for the majority of the holiday.
But I look forward to the cocktail hour returning on the beaches!
So by the time I meet Katherine I was a avid cocktail hourer. Katherine does not drink so I am now back to a beer with dinner, which, looking at 3.5 months travelling, seems like a better pattern for the majority of the holiday.
But I look forward to the cocktail hour returning on the beaches!
bangkok vs KL vs Singapore
I am suprised to say the singapore at first experience is very much my favorite city of the three. It is beautiful in areas, others not so but always interesting. It has so much amazing architecture, and really intense areas of ethic diversity, eg little india.
Bangkok felt just like another city. But had great shopping! Katherine and I cruised the malls for a day looking at all the crazy fashions, all a little small for me, Katherine managed to fit into a few things that looked great, all these ruched shorts with gathers and puckers everywhere. There are loads of girly dresses with heaps of detailing, and funky - but tiny - tshirts.
We stayed at suk 11 which had great personality but really smelly bathrooms.
Did the tourist pilgramage to the great palace and the lying down buddah - lying down buddah was awesome! Huge, gold, abstract in its simplicity.
Bangkok felt just like another city. But had great shopping! Katherine and I cruised the malls for a day looking at all the crazy fashions, all a little small for me, Katherine managed to fit into a few things that looked great, all these ruched shorts with gathers and puckers everywhere. There are loads of girly dresses with heaps of detailing, and funky - but tiny - tshirts.
We stayed at suk 11 which had great personality but really smelly bathrooms.
Did the tourist pilgramage to the great palace and the lying down buddah - lying down buddah was awesome! Huge, gold, abstract in its simplicity.
Manilla - part 2
You will all be pleased to know it was the common cold not one of the harder tropical ailments!
I decided that manilla was a great place to watch television and eat great food, so caught up on cable tv and my rest, and had some truely delicious meals.
Chinese dumplings and dried beans - amazing
Japanese - sitting at the sushi bar as a huge tuna is cut into chunks for sashimi and there are octopus tenticals the size of my wrist! I had a soba bento where you mixed a sauce made from a base, to which you added yam paste, a very small raw bird egg, spring onions and wasabi, then dipped the noodles in. This was great, as was the sushi, tempura etc....
Middle eastern- Labna and bread - so welcome after so much rice and lack of dairy!
Went out for a beer by myself one night, there was a pub with a balcony and a girl playing guitar and singing she was great. There was a group of about 6 local guys sitting opposite me, and they were distraught that I was along so had me join them. They were great - all from the islands, who had come to Manilla to look for work they had all studied software engineering and wanted to work in dubai. We drank beer, I got offers of marriage for my cousins! They were quite handsome and fun guys if you are interested Lesil and marilla! They were very impressed that one cousin was an opera singer.
They had all travelled a lot, most had been to australia and had relatives there, I left them to their bar crawl and went home to bed, to get rid of the rest of the flu.
Saw a couple of tourist sites, old spanish town etc, but was not remarkable...left manilla with dining the only reason to return - and you can do that many other places!
I decided that manilla was a great place to watch television and eat great food, so caught up on cable tv and my rest, and had some truely delicious meals.
Chinese dumplings and dried beans - amazing
Japanese - sitting at the sushi bar as a huge tuna is cut into chunks for sashimi and there are octopus tenticals the size of my wrist! I had a soba bento where you mixed a sauce made from a base, to which you added yam paste, a very small raw bird egg, spring onions and wasabi, then dipped the noodles in. This was great, as was the sushi, tempura etc....
Middle eastern- Labna and bread - so welcome after so much rice and lack of dairy!
Went out for a beer by myself one night, there was a pub with a balcony and a girl playing guitar and singing she was great. There was a group of about 6 local guys sitting opposite me, and they were distraught that I was along so had me join them. They were great - all from the islands, who had come to Manilla to look for work they had all studied software engineering and wanted to work in dubai. We drank beer, I got offers of marriage for my cousins! They were quite handsome and fun guys if you are interested Lesil and marilla! They were very impressed that one cousin was an opera singer.
They had all travelled a lot, most had been to australia and had relatives there, I left them to their bar crawl and went home to bed, to get rid of the rest of the flu.
Saw a couple of tourist sites, old spanish town etc, but was not remarkable...left manilla with dining the only reason to return - and you can do that many other places!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)