Melbourne

Week 12: 4/20-4/26

I spent the next week recovering from the long trip and preparing for the next one to Melbourne. It was another wild weekend – our flight left around 5:30am Friday morning, so I actually never went to sleep Thursday night. The hour and a half hour flight landed in Avalon airport, which is the smaller domestic airport further outside of Melbourne than the main one. By the time we got to our hostel in the southern suburb of St. Kilda, I was ready to pass out, but our rooms weren’t available to us yet, nor would it be for another couple hours. Danielle, Alli, and I strolled around the quaint little town of St. Kilda and took in the less touristy shops and cafes and eventually found one to sit down at and have some breakfast. We got back to the hotel and when I went to our room, one of the mattresses was finally available, so I took a nap as the girls went downtown to the markets in the city and did a little site-seeing. One of the main things I wanted to do while here was attend an Australian Football League (or AFL) match. It’s the Aussie equivalent of American football, but is completely different – I would describe it as a combination of rugby, soccer, and American Football; so, when the girls got back and woke me up, we proceeded to order three tickets to the ANZAC day match between Essendon and Collingwood (two suburbs of Melbourne) at the Melbourne cricket grounds. ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) day is an Australian and New Zealand day of remembrance to honor all those who died in the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey during WWII, but now is just a general memorial day for anybody who has served in military operations for Australia. Every year a large Aussie Rules football match is held at the MCG and usually draws a large attendance. When we told other people in our hostel that we got tickets a day before the game they were amazed and it turned out we even had really good seats. That night we took a bus ride from our hostel to the CBD and caught one of many trams to a street off of which was a micro-brewery. Trams (or trolleys) are still the main form of transportation around the city and Melbourne is continuing its efforts to expand the tracks. The brewery (Mountain Goat Brewery) was essentially in a dark back street and housed in a warehouse building. Apparently it operates as a regular brewery during the day, and then at night, they clear the entry floor, set up tables and furniture, and serve their beer and pizza to order. At night we went to a bar on Brunswick Street which I can’t remember the name of (which shows you how much I liked it) for “90’s Night”, but really involved very little 90’s music, but instead mostly remixes of classic 90’s dance music. The drink prices here were outrageous and it was very overcrowded and not very interesting. The next day we got up around 10am, ate breakfast, and caught a tram to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. Before leaving, a roommate of ours at the hostel was surprised to hear we were planning on buying tram tickets because “NOBODY in Melbourne buys tram tickets”. Against my better judgment, I took his advice and none of us bought tickets. As luck would have it we pull up to one of the stops and I see two uniformed men with a clipboard who appear to be possible transit workers. The doors closed and I thought I dodged a bullet, but before the tram could take off, they approached the doors and knocked for them to be opened. It was a routine inspection and everybody was asked to show their tram tickets. I was sitting in a seat across the aisle from the girls so we were asked by separate officers for our tickets. They played the ‘ignorant tourist’ card which worked for them, because they had their passports and American IDs. I unfortunately decided to carry on me only my Australian ID, and was given a fine of $165. It isn’t due until June 21 and with the appeal that I will be entering, it won’t be due (if at all) until after June 26, when I leave the country, however I understand most cases like mine are overturned anyway. Needless to say, this put a damper on the mood for a while, but it was soon forgotten when we reached our seats at the match. They were about 11 rows back from the field and provided a great view. It was an awesome match that went right down to the wire and the huge stadium (probably the biggest I’ve ever been in one) was nearly sold out. The attendance for the match was somewhere around 86,000 (or approximately 2.5% of Melbourne’s population) and that atmosphere was electric. In the final minutes the skies opened up, and as the rain intensified, so did the pace and intensity of the match – a last minute goal by Essendon sealed the victory for them in an exciting finish. After the game we went to Crown Casino and Hotel just down the Yarra River from the MCG. It’s the biggest casino in Australia, so we spent a little time gambling here before making our way home and into bed.

Sunday we took a tour of the Great Ocean Road – the greatest tourist attraction near Melbourne which everybody is supposed to do while visiting the city. It really was a beautiful trip that began with crossing the largest bridge in Australia and continued along the rocky cliff faces of the Great Ocean Road. The conditions were cold and rainy which made visibility awful but really brought the ocean to life. Our tour guide was a cool kiwi and knew a lot of interesting things about the Great Ocean Road. He managed to keep us engaged even while the windows fogged up from the cooler, humid air outside. He told us stories of an infamous ship wreck and the meaning behind the Twelve Apostles rock formations. Our first stop of the tour was at the official entrance to the Great Ocean Road which is marked by a huge wooden overhang on the road. After getting some cold and rainy pictures, we hopped back in the van and made our way to our next stop at an old lighthouse. The lens in it has been functioning for about 100 years, but when it goes out it will cost thousands of dollars to replace because it was made using a special formulation that has since been lost. Nearby is also the location of an international surf competition at a place called Bell’s Beach (where surfing began) – surprisingly when I went up in the rafters overlooking the beach I saw about 20 surfers out in the water despite the unpleasantly cold conditions. It was a little bit of a ride to our next stop at a rainforest walk that brought us through some very old forest. We stopped for lunch at a little café and I had the best fruit salad I’ve ever had…I mean, besides yours Mom. Next was the main attraction, the Twelve Apostles – at this point the sun had been peeking through here and there so we were able to enjoy some amazing views.

After that we drove another 20 or 30 minutes to the site of the great ship wreck – there were only 2 survivors (a man and a woman) and there’s a great long story that I won’t get into. The final leg of the journey brought us to a site known as the London Bridge, because of the rock formations resemblance. Our guide was very excited about this stop because under the given conditions the waves over the rocks would be enormous; he actually got out and took pictures despite having done this same tour for three or so years now. The waves were great, but they had been great at every stop so far – they would actually rise up when they broke into the cliff faces and engulf the entire front tip in a misty haze. It seemed like it would rise in slow motion and was really cool to see.
Thus begins the long ride home. We made one stop for dinner and about three hours later we were dropped back off at our hostel. It was an early night because the girls had to get up very early to catch their flights – we originally booked to leave all together at about 12pm, but Danielle realized she had to be back for a presentation by early Monday afternoon. I woke up the next morning, got my tram ticket, caught my shuttle to Avalon airport, and flew back to Sydney.

Thailand!

Week 11: 4/11 – 4/19

The trip began on a sour note when we learned Friday night (right after completing my blog) that Thailand has a law prohibiting people with passports expiring within six months of arrival from entering the country. It began when we got word that a friend of ours had been denied from boarding a flight to Bali for the same reason. The whole problem with this regulation was that Jocelyn’s passport expires in July, thus prohibiting her from boarding the plane to Thailand. Julia and Jocelyn frantically searched for a way to remedy the situation, and Jocelyn spent all night contacting American and Thai embassies to get an answer. Most were closed or unable to help, so Julia and her went to STA Travels (where we booked our flights and tours) to ask about it and were told that it is primarily up to the airline. As a result, Jocelyn tagged along and I was optimistic she would get on the flight. We left UniLodge Saturday afternoon around 3pm and rode a ‘Maxi Taxi’ to the international airport terminal. All of us packed as lightly as possible, bringing only two carryons and checking no luggage – it made it a lot quicker and easier to get through customs since we didn’t have to wait for our luggage (and consequently wait in line longer). We made it through the first customs without any problems and we thought we were in the clear because it required us showing our passports. Then, when it came time to find our gate, all four of us got a page over the loudspeaker to see the desk at our terminal. We again showed our passports one by one and when it came Jocelyn’s turn, the clerk got a funny look on his face and we all immediately knew what was about to happen. He basically told her what we already discovered and called the front desk to reconfirm and have an airport escort come to take Jocelyn back out through customs. It put a damper on the mood but since we prepared for the possibility we tried to maintain positive attitudes and geared up to embark on our adventure. It was an eight hour flight; we arrived in Bangkok Saturday night and took our first cab ride to Royal Hotel where we spent the first four nights and days. We went to bed early in preparation for our first excursion which required that we be in the lobby and ready to go by 6:30am. Below is a view from our balcony.

It was called the “City Tour & Grand Palace” but was essentially entirely at the Grand Palace, which was fine because there was plenty to see. We hopped in a private van and took a short ride to start the tour and we got our first glimpses of the active streets of Bangkok. They’re lined with markets and full of taxis and thuk-thuks which are the motorbike-style taxis that are common here and generally more expensive (especially for unsuspecting tourists). It’s easy to lose track of how much you’re spending here because everything’s so cheap and the prices are so different. The conversion rate was at 30 Thai Baht per America dollar and you could get a good meal for about 200 Baht. Anyway, the palace was beautiful and extremely intricate (and I can’t overemphasize this point enough) – the temples were totally decorated with gold leaf and jewels and the interior walls were covered with detailed paintings. They had staff on the grounds that are constantly cleaning and maintaining the temples and statues. A long time ago this was also home to the King of Thailand, but now the only activity is the ramped tourism along with many Buddhist monks worshipping in the temples and occasional political events.

It is a very sacred and holy place to the Thai people, so there was a military shed on the grounds as well as several specialized, white-uniformed guards were at the gates to certain areas of the King’s Palace. They also enforced a dress code that required the knees and shoulders to be covered at all times. I was okay with the automatic rifles, but wearing denim jeans in Thailand during their hottest days of the year was nearly unbearable for me. The 90+ degree temperature wasn’t as bad as the 95% humidity which made it pretty much impossible for me to stop sweating. The sun and lack of air flow between the un-air-conditioned buildings just intensified the affect, but I came to Thailand mentally prepared for a change in climate, so I handled it alright. Also, I could look forward to the air-conditioned rides in the van between stops on the tour where they would provide us with ice-cold, wet towellettes. Anyway, the grounds were absolutely packed, because as I mentioned in a previous blog ages ago, this was a day before the three day, annual Water Festival celebration. It’s a celebration of the Thai New Year which is based off the life and death of Siddhartha Buddha (rather than in the way of the conventional Christian calendar system – although this is still obviously acknowledged as the standard format). Many Thai people had already begun their vacations at this point, and in addition to the many tourists who visit the grounds daily, there were a lot of people. One of the first temples we entered (which, like all the temples, we had to take our hats and footwear off to enter) was home to the second largest “reclining” Buddha statue in Thailand. It was completely covered in gold leaf and was very impressive, especially considering its age and intricacy. Again, the walls, floors, and ceiling were all decorated with detailed paintings and artwork – even the feet of the Buddha had symmetrical, granite designs.

One of the next temples we entered allowed no photography and is called The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha. Inside is a large throne of gilded-carved wood on top of which is the sacred jade Buddha that carries with it a long history that began in 1434, when it was first discovered. Three times a year, at the change of seasons, a ceremony presided over by the King occurs where the Buddha’s costume is changed according to the upcoming season (Summer, Rainy Season, and Winter). After completing our tour of the Grand Palace, we made our way to another temple nearby that’s made from imported Italian marble to ensure its longevity. It was at this point that we first encountered evidence of the political riots which were taking place at the time. Across the creek from the Marble temple were red shirts hanging out to dry (probably from protestors camping in the area), which is the color of the demonstrators in support of the previously ousted Prime Minister. The opposition (yellow shirts) was in support of the current Prime Minister and the country has been divided for quite a while. There was supposed to be an annual Asian summit meeting in Bangkok while we were here, but it was cancelled due to the demonstrators’ occupation of the areas surrounding the capital building. I’m sure the American media had a field day, but things weren’t as bad as they seemed. Bangkok is an ENORMOUS city, so it was relatively easy to avoid trouble if you kept your eyes open and used some common sense.
The last stop of this particular tour was at a little tourist trap, gem factory. I found it very funny, since it really didn’t have anything to do with Thai culture or the tour itself, but was obviously a common destination for foreign white tourists on these little tours. We were immediately escorted to a side room which contained a small screen and informational video about the gems this place produced, how they were mined, polished, and incorporated into the various items they sold. They gave us some complimentary sodas and upon finishing the video, literally escorted us around the shop. As we left the room, I looked back to see a new small group of white tourists being ushered in behind us.

We were obviously not very interested in purchasing anything here, but we actually ran into some friends from back in Sydney who also live at UniLodge – this kind of thing has just kept happening since leaving the US, and it continues to amaze me. On the way back to the hotel, we saw more armed military personnel along the streets in addition to a large police outpost located at one of the intersections peripherally to the demonstration. That night we took a taxi ride to the busy CBD and visited a tailor that had been recommended to us by one of our neighbors in UniLodge (Dave from previous post), because his brother, Sanny, owns the place. He was very hospitable offering us free drinks and food as we browsed some catalogues and the selection of fabrics that lined the shop walls. On the way downtown another random encounter involved us seeing the cab driver that had given us a ride to our hotel from the airport the previous night, which is the equivalent to randomly seeing the same cab driver in LA that you had the prior night. Anyway, we had decided before leaving Australia to get suits or at least a couple tailored goods during our visit, since Thailand is known for its cheap tailoring and along with the favorable conversion rate and our connection to the owner, made for an amazing deal. I ended up choosing two fabrics for suits and two more for dress shirts. For a total of approximately US$400 I got linen and poly-fiber cotton fitted suits, two dress shirts, and two complimentary silk ties (with matching cuff links) thrown in for good measure. We got sized and while they were preparing our coats for the first fitting, we visited a nearby traditional Thai restaurant that Sanny recommended. He gave us a list of some good Thai dishes to order (which were served in the traditional family-style way where each entrée served two to three people) and had his lead tailor guide us to the restaurant. On the way, we were already starting to get sprayed with water guns and buckets of water, which was what happens during the Water Festival. It’s quite a bit different than what you’d eat at an American Thai restaurant, especially the Pad Thai noodles, but very good. When we finished we had a little bit of time to browse the street-side shops lined with knock-off DVDs, watches, and other merchandise. By the time we made it back to the tailor’s our mock-ups were ready for their first fittings. A few adjustments were made and then we went back to the hotel for the night and went to bed in preparation for another early morning – we were to go back to the shop the following evening at the same time for our pants and shirts fittings and any final adjustments.

The next day’s tour was the River Kwai and Tiger Temple. Our van again arrived at 6:30am and took us to their central building where we transferred to a larger bus with other tourists. This was a longer trip and I turned out to be the only one of us that decided not to bring their iPod, although Chuck was generous enough to share his headphones. We made our first stop at a WWII memorial museum near the River Kwai that contained displays and information about the railway connecting Thailand to Burma that was built using POW slave labor in alliance with Japanese forces – also on the grounds was a grave yard for POW casualties. One of the interesting things I read while in the museum was how the often disgruntled Thai slave drivers would allow the POW soldiers to have private burial ceremonies and would even attend the ceremonies themselves to pay respect. The bridge over the River Kwai (which carried the historic track across the river) met its wartime end after several attempted aerial bombings. The reconstructed steel bridge was the next stop on the tour and provided some great views of the river.

Like every other tourist destination in the country, many tent shops were open nearby. Chuck bought a football-sized wooden elephant head carving and I spotted some decent Ray-Ban replicas and decided to try my hand at some old fashioned bargaining… okay, so this got old really quick, because it generally entailed the same faulty process: make an offer, get given a much higher counter-offer, offer half of that, and then eventually meet somewhere in the middle. Tourism plays a vital role in their economy, so a lot of money is made from exploiting both them and Thailand’s lax regulatory policies. Anyway I managed to swindle a 20 Baht deal (so about $5 or $6) and felt confident with the purchase. Next stop was the Tiger Temple which was both amazing and depressing. There were tons of wild animals all over including a peacock, some deer, and what must have been at least 30 relatively ‘tame’ tigers. By that I mean they fed them these little white tablets the whole time as a bunch of trained volunteers tended them underneath the trees they were chained to. I’m pretty sure they aren’t always chained up, because they have several separate enclosures in the area as well. I was able to touch and get right next to the largest cat in the world and definitely was an unforgettable experience. There was a monk there who apparently lived here and tended for some of the tigers and he took us down to another area where if you paid 1500 Baht, you could get your picture taken with one of the REALLY drugged up tiger’s heads on your lap. All the tiger’s in this area seemed particularly listless and unresponsive – trainers would just drag the tigers by their tails to reposition them and were continually watering them down to keep the cool and hydrated. Below, a tiger kitten is playing with one of the volunteers.

It was another long ride back to downtown Bangkok, where we got dropped off back at the tailors in time for our fittings. We did a little more shopping downtown before going home again for the night. It turned out our hotel was located across the street from the central hub of activity for the Water Festival which was basically lining a small side street called Kosan Road. We walked up and down the strip to check it out and got thoroughly soaked along the way. We stopped for a drink at a bar along the way and went directly to sleep after another long day and in preparation for another.

Day three of the trip was spent in the Floating Markets. Our van today included just one other person, by the name of Rich, but he kept referring to himself as Richie Rich. This was only the beginning with this guy – Rich or Richie or whatever was from California; a retired, sixty-year-old, NWA employee; and self-proclaimed hippie and restaurant owner. He turned out to be one of the more self-absorbed, fake people I’ve met since leaving, but it made things more interesting. He tried really hard to impress us with awkward and unfunny juvenile humor and all of his valuable wisdom about living, retirement, and financial independence (basically, about how great he thought his life was). The tour was beautiful and involved a boat ride through the canals that led to the actual market area. A bunch of houses were built on stilts and elevated above the water along the way and we stopped to look at another large Buddha statue off a short distance to the side of the canal. The markets were also very pretty and full of fresh fruits and more shopping tents.

We left the markets and went to the second portion of the tour at the Royal Rose Gardens, which is an extremely expensive vacation destination outside Bangkok. Here we had some lunch and walked through a few shops before sitting down for an Elephant and Thai Traditional show. I bought another bracelet here which has beads made from fish bone which I found particularly attractive as a souvenir. The elephant show was very cool – both before and after the show I was able to get right up next to and touch the giant, intelligent creatures. I stared at one right in the eye and could really sense an intelligent and emotional being stirring below its surface staring back at me. The Thai traditional show included a small Thai kick-boxing demonstration, as well as the performances of custom dances, sword fighting, and a traditional Thai wedding.

On the way back into Bangkok, we made one final stop at a teak wood-carving shop and watched some really amazing pieces of artwork being made from large pieces of wood. A wide variety of works were for sale at relatively good prices from a respectable source, so I opted to purchase someone a gift here.
We said goodbye to Rich and got our final fittings at Sanny’s shop and discussed plans for dinner. We wanted to wear our new formal wear and have a nice dinner at a quality restaurant, so this time Sanny suggested we go to the rooftop on the 55th floor of a newly constructed hotel in Bangkok. The view was amazing and the place turned out to be very professional and classy with some terrific food. My salmon and drinks turned out to be only about US$40 which is a steal considering the quality – a live piano player and singer performed which was connected to the outdoor patio speakers which is where we were seated.
The next day was Chuck’s last day in Thailand, because he had to be back for a friend that was arriving the next day from the US. We checked out before noon, left our bags behind the counter in the lobby, and went to a very large shopping center downtown (approximately half the shopping size of Mall of America?) and did a little more gift shopping. On our way back, we saw more soldiers and a bus completely burned down to the frame being towed down the street in front of our hotel. When we got back, the King was apparently on his way to our hotel for tea, which I guess he does quite frequently. I believe it is the oldest hotel in Bangkok, and that is the only reason I would see possible for the King frequenting it (and hence called Royal Hotel). While we were in our rooms, some cleaning attendants knocked on our door and asked if someone was standing on our balcony facing the front of the building, because we couldn’t be out there when the King arrived, but they had gone to the wrong room. Anyway, before leaving, we decided to get some Traditional Thai Massages in the bottom floor of our hotel which went at 200 Baht for a 60 minute massage. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and I’ll basically leave it at that. I was contorted and bent in ways I didn’t previously consider possible and was asked repeatedly after finishing, “Happy? Happy?” I said, “Yeah, I’m happy, that was good” until after responding for about the third time in a more audible and encouraging manner, she began laughing and shushed me (referring to staff outside the door that might hear me) and I quickly realized what was going on. Making things slightly more awkward, this fifty-plus year-old masseuse stood and talked to me as she watched me change out of the hospital scrubs they had us wear and into my clothes (thankfully I decided to keep my underwear on under the scrubs). It was another memorable and relatively funny event to cap off our time in Bangkok. The four of us got ready and went to the airport where we split ways with Chuck and hopped our two hour flight to Phuket, an island off the south-west coast of Thailand. We arrived at our hotel (Patong Lodge) late at night, got situated, and went to bed.
We woke up late and enjoyed our complimentary buffet breakfast at the last possible minute (stopped at 10am) and casually made our plans for the week. By the time we accomplished this, it was too late to do much besides the tour that our hotel offered, which turned out to be a guy in his own little 1980s, 4-door sedan that spoke very little English. He was really nice though and took us on a decent tour of Phuket and the surrounding areas, including the touristy town of Patong where we were staying. We got some beautiful pictures of the cities from on top of some rolling hills and lookouts and walked through another temple in Phuket. This was nowhere near as grandeur as the Bangkok City Palace, but equally intricate and adorned with jewels and gold. The most interesting part of Phuket to me was all the wild dogs. I have no idea how they got here or multiplied in such numbers, but they are absolutely everywhere – some were healthy, some were emaciated and mangy, and some were quite comfortable around (if not completely oblivious to) people. I love animals, so I had no personal problems with wild dogs running around, and resisted any urge to pet or feed them.

We watched the sunset over the ocean at night which turned out to be amazing and set our feet in the water to discover it was probably 80 or 90 degrees and the warmest sea water I have ever felt. I can’t remember our guide’s name anymore, but we thanked and tipped him for his tour of the city.
Day five was our largest excursion in Phuket – we took a long bumpy van ride through the tropical jungles surrounding us. Phuket is absolutely the most beautiful place I have visited – its natural beauty combined with the exotic culture and unique city centers were awe-inspiring. Once we reached our destination, we split from the main group and started one of two activities we would be participating in at the site. The first was some tame whitewater rafting – we didn’t have to do much and didn’t see anything exceptionally ‘rapid’, but it was my first time and I had a lot of fun. After this, we all convened at the main canopy for lunch and to see videos and pictures that were taken of us during our rafting adventures. Also here was somebody’s little pet monkey chained up out front that we could interact and play with. It was the cutest, most amazing creature I have ever seen and something I always dreamed of doing, so it was a special experience for me. It was just like a little baby human – I had a little bit of water still in my bottle from the trip out so I opened and extended towards the monkey and he immediately recognized I was offering him water. He walked up to me and grabbed my wrist with one little hand, the mouth of the bottle with other, and drank some of the water.

The next and final activity was an elephant ride. By now, I had seen enough of animals in captivity, so I actually just felt bad sitting on the elephant as he trudged through deep mud and thick brush along the same little path that [s]he probably traverses several times each day – I still valued the experience, but I don’t think it’s something I’d do again.
We made one more stop on the way home at a place called the Monkey Cave. This was another awesome experience for me, because this time we were able to interact with real wild monkeys in a relatively natural habitat. These monkeys however, are sustained by the tourists that come here on a daily basis and feed them bananas and peanuts that are for sale at cart stands scattered throughout the small area in front of the rock face which comprises the cave. I bought a little of each and the monkeys would come right up to you and take it from your hand. Some of the smaller and younger ones were intimidate by the elders, but if you approached a group of young ones you could make sure they got some too without a big one scaring them off and stealing it. Some were trusting enough to sit right on your knee and even hold your hand for a little while if you fed it. We had planned on going to a famous carnival in Phuket known as Fantasea, but since the main attraction is the “largest elephant show on earth”, we decided it wasn’t worth the money and opted to enjoy a nice cheap dinner and the Elvis show that was happening in the bar and restaurant in our hotel. It was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen – this awkward Thai performer dressed up as Elvis and actually sang several songs along to the tune of some sort of synthesized polyphonic electrical version of the music. During a rendition of “Are You Lonely Tonight?” he walked around from table to table asking people if they were lonely. There were probably like 12 people in the entire patio, and hardly anybody was paying attention, which made the situation even more humorous to me.

After a couple drinks, we hopped in a thuk-thuk and rode down to the main strip in Patong. We had our dinner at an Italian style restaurant where I enjoyed a tall Heineken and large pizza. Afterwards, we wandered the bustling little town and stopped at several bars and enjoyed some more live American music covers.
We took the next day easy and spent most of the daylight hours at the beach. Although there is no hole in the ozone here, the sun is equally intense seeing as how we were almost directly on top the equator during the hottest time of year. Despite lathering sun screen, we all got a little burned by the time we were done. Jumping in the water wasn’t very satisfying either, considering it was about as warm as the hot water at the hotel. Tonight we had dinner at a different hotel in Patong, which had some good specials on their steak dinners. Here I had my first taste of a Thai beer called Chang beer – it had a fruity flavor, but it wasn’t overbearing and tasted pretty good. We spent the rest of the night at bar called Scruffy Murphy’s which ironically (or not?) the same name of an Irish pub we occasionally go to in Sydney. Anyway, while we were here, we had a firsthand encounter with a prostitution negotiation going on down the table from us. Two Thai girls who couldn’t have been more than 16 years old were pretty blatantly negotiating terms with a 30-some-year-old man who we overheard saying that one of the girls wasn’t “worth 1000 baht”. The drink special of the evening was 120 baht double vodka redbulls so I enjoyed about four of these while observing the situation. We ended up leaving before anything developed, but prostitutes were all over the place, so it really wasn’t that surprising. Employees of the “gentlemen” clubs would go around offering your choice of an entire listed selection (with pictures) of the women of their establishment. We had planned on staying out and visiting a few clubs before going to bed, but we were all pretty tired and decided to get some extra rest since we’d be checking out the next day at 10am.
After checking out, we left our luggage with the receptionist, and wore our swimwear down to the beach where we spent the next few hours killing time before leaving for the airport to catch our evening flight back to Bangkok. I ate some Thai McDonald’s for lunch and now have officially had McDonald’s in four different countries! We went back to the hotel, changed quickly, and since we failed to reserve a taxi in advance, we had to opt for a 40 minute Thuk-thuk ride all the way to the airport. At times I was afraid the little motor was going to give out, but it didn’t and the ride was actually quite scenic and relaxing. We got back into Bangkok pretty late, caught a taxi to the Bangkok Palace where we would be spending our final day, aloed up our burns, and went to sleep.
Of course, we only had until noon the next day to check out, so once again we left our luggage at the front desk. We ate another large complimentary buffet breakfast and spent the day back at the mall. I bought a few more gifts and we went back to the hotel. Our eight hour flight back to Australia left early in the evening (local time) and as usual, I couldn’t sleep at all. By the time we got back to UniLodge, I was exhausted – it was still early in the morning (Monday) and so I took about an eight hour nap before unpacking and resituating. What an amazing trip though – unforgettable.

Fifa Soccer + The Golden Slipper

Week 9 & 10: 3/30 – 4/10

It was a busy week 9 preparing for my final week of classes (week 10) before the midterm and leaving for Thailand. I’ve been on track with my adjustments in lifestyle, but these two weeks were extremely busy and stressful. The only activity week 9 was a Fifa World Cup Qualifier soccer match between Australia and Uzbekistan at ANZ Stadium. It was a slow first half with no goals scored, but in the second, the action picked up. Australia scored the first goal with a header (I think about 15 minutes in) which was followed by another soon thereafter off a close penalty kick and Australia ended up winning 3-2. I’m not a huge soccer fanatic, but it was awesome going to a world class professional match of significance. With the win, Australia essentially clinched a spot in the tournament for their division, so it seems as though I’ll have one more team to watch next summer in the World Cup. Later in the week I booked my flights to and from Phuket and got a haircut. On Saturday, Chuck and I went to a very popular annual horse race called the Golden Slipper. People from all around the Sydney area gather at the racetrack in a smaller urban area called Rosehill. Everybody dresses formally and brings drinks and food to celebrate the event. It was a lot of fun – we bought some big cigars and watched racing all day. We did some small betting for a little added suspense, and I ended up winning money for four of the five races I bet on for a total winning of $80! I spent $30 to get in, so I ended up pulling $50 before going home. The rest of the week was filled with studying and writing, which carried right over into week 10. I had a 1000-word Rethinking Culture essay due and Quantitative Management midterm (both worth 30% of my final grades) on Wednesday as well as a Statistics assignment and 4000-word Social Theory journal entry due Friday. And since I brought up the topic of grading, I will discuss the unorthodox grading style Australia uses. Instead of A-F, there are five possible denominations: Z = Fail (0-49%), P = Pass (50-64%), C = Credit (65-74%), D = Distinction (75-84%), & H = High Distinction (85-100%). Now logic would tell you that H is the equivalent of an A, D a B, and so forth. It was explained to us, however, that hardly ANYBODY get’s an H and that the system views an H as more like an A+, with D being the equivalent of an A. Credit is considered to be a B and Pass a C. Apparently no grade above 50% is viewed the same a D is back home. Because the grading system is so different, I’m not sure how these classes will affect my GPA at the U of M. It’s something I’ll have to discuss in further detail with my advisors when I get back, because from what I understood before I left, they would be assigning grades to these classes I took, but couldn’t get a clear answer as to how. Regardless, it’s just another interesting tidbit that I felt like sharing, since not much else interesting has happened these past two weeks. The only other thing to happen was that I booked a flight to Melbourne for a week after returning from Thailand. My Fall break lasts two weeks, so I decided it was smart to take advantage of the extra time and the current cheap domestic flight rates (only AUD$154 round trip), so after speaking with Danielle (friend from home) who also wants to go to Melbourne, but whose friends will be going at a time she can’t (like mine), we decided to book some flights together along with a friend Danielle has here in Australia (Allie from Vanderbilt). We will probably be making hotel/hostel reservations tomorrow, but are still in the preliminary stages, so I will update the situation if more details come to light. Otherwise, this will be my last post before leaving for Thailand on Saturday. I am posting this entry on Friday, April 10 of week 10 (I meant to at least), so week 11 will pick up on Saturday and cover my entire trip, which will last through Sunday, April 19 when I return. Take care everyone… I miss you during the stressful times more than ever. May 7 UPDATE: Sorry I’ve been so late on the updates. This is actually being posted on May 7, but I am currently working on my Thai blog and the following weeks’ blogs will include my trip to Melbourne and another to Fraser Island. Life is good right now and I’m working hard to get you all caught up.

St. Patricks Day & Rugby

Weeks 7 & 8: 3/16-29

Week 7:
Week 7 started in a hurry and two weeks went by in a flash. I began planning a trip for Fall Break (Spring in the US) Thursday of Week 6 and am now able to officially announce that I (along with four others [Julia, Jocelyn - another in Sydney and NY college friends with Julia], Chuck, and Evan from Indiana U) will be traveling to Thailand. The flights have been arranged – I am leaving on April 11th and returning April 19th, spending four days in Bangkok, followed by 3 nights in Phuket, and then another night in Bangkok before flying back to Sydney. We will be spending next week (Week 9) confirming dates; booking hotels, tours, etc; and making any necessary final payments. Our flights will be on British Airways (the cheap alternative to Qantas, the major airline of Australia), and quite fortunately I should add, because over the weekend several Qantas employees went on strike in an effort to keep their jobs in lieu of recent events, which have forced the airlines to outsource their security operations. As a result, there have been massive delays and heaps of mishandled &/or late luggage due to the baggage handlers and laborers now on strike who were previously responsible for many of the security duties as well. The event by which this strike emerged (as I heard on the news – something I’ve been making an added attempt to do recently) was the death of a Hell’s Angels ‘bikie’ (slang for a bike gang member, of which there are many here) in the Sydney Airport during the week. It turns out he was beaten to death by a large group of an opposing gang (The Comancheros) who were on the same flight as him from Melbourne and apparently attacked him with fists, boots, and even stanchion poles after de-boarding. The scene sounded horrendous and somehow almost all of the opposing gang got away before police could apprehend them. The result of the incident was criticism over Qantas Airport security and forced the airlines to respond with further preventative security measures, hence the outsourcing and impeding lay-offs. There has been growing tension and violence emerging amongst the numerous bike gangs throughout Australia in the past weeks and has spurred a movement amongst many bikies to ride to Canberra, Australia (the national capital) in an effort to form a truce that could end a lot of the violence. In the mean time, there have been more and more reports of shootings and attacks even spreading to Sydney suburban areas, including the attempted murder of the brother of the bikie who was beaten to death in the airport. He was shot at eight times and suffered three bullet wounds, but survived the attack. Anyways, the trip for Thailand is set and I am growing very excited to experience another culture that is so different from my own. A few things we will be doing are taking a city tour of Bangkok, riding elephants, and visiting the floating markets and grand palace, all during the hottest days of the year and an annual event known as the “Water Festival”, which was originally the Thai New Year celebration. Basically everybody runs the streets soaking each other with water and young people offer respect to their elders or parents by pouring scented water into their hands. Dave, a Thai person who happens to live in our hall, has offered several ideas and facts about the country and I hope to find some more time to talk to him more before leaving.
Another major announcement from Week 7 was the events that transpired during St. Patrick’s Day, 2009. Many of us signed up for a multiple-university affiliated evening cruise through Sydney Harbour. For AUD$59, we were taken on a three-hour cruise with all-you-can-eat Dominos Pizza (for 1 hour) and all-you-can-drink Heinekens, white wine, and some funky pink concoction of what tasted like champagne and some kind of juice. We all got our fill and fortunately for me, my first class didn’t start until 1pm the following day. It was a beautiful night, but I forgot to bring my camera so I’ll have to settle for the mental memories, although I think many of the tourists here make the mistake of taking too many pictures rather than savoring the moment. Regardless, I would like to take more pictures and will be making a greater effort to lug my bulky camera around in the future to digitally capture more of my experiences. I also hope to return to areas in Sydney I have yet to photograph and get some more pictures (despite my measly 3.2 megapixels). The only other happening of the week was a day spent at Manly Beach followed by a night back at ANZ Stadium in Olympic Park for my very first rugby game. This one was an NRL matchup between our local South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Pirtek Parramatta Eels. I bought a replica of last year’s jerseys (on sale) across the street at Rebel Sports as a souvenir which I wore to the game. NRL is the National Rugby League and one of two rugby organizations in Australia, the other being Rugby Union. The difference between the two was described to me as Union being a gentlemen’s game and league being for thugs. League is an ‘updated version’ of Rugby Union with faster play and Union is more internationally recognized, especially in England and throughout Europe. Anyways, the Rabbitohs lost, but it was interesting and fun to watch and we had decent seats about 15 rows back in the corner. The next day was spent at a NEW beach called Coogee Beach. Danielle, an old friend I’ve known since Junior High, is living in a house near the beach for her semester in Sydney, so she came down with her roommates to say hi and hang out. Some friends of hers living in the area came out a little later and we all played some team bocce ball on the beach. Chuck bought the bocce ball set when he found it somewhere on sale…great purchase. Danielle and I of course won in a controversial decision. The sun was hot today, and by the time we were ready to go, I noticed I was beginning to gleam a healthy red glow. I wasn’t as responsible as I usually am with the sun screen and paid for it with my first real burn of the trip. I made sure to aloe up plenty when I got back and it turned out alright. It never was bad enough to hurt or even peel, and so it actually turned into a decent tan, but close call.

Week 8:
Almost nothing interesting to speak of – I spent some time with my friends from the surf trip on Wednesday and Thursday and stayed in for the remainder of the weekend. I’d be lying if I said I’m not growing a bit stressed out. School keeps getting tougher as I continue to try and catch up in my Math Statistics class. After some introspection and thought, I have determined the root of my problems. I am behaving a bit too manically as I persist to assimilate to my new situation and I burn it a little too hard at both ends trying to establish a social life and experience the country I came to study in. Subsequently, in some sense, I have lost track of why I’m REALLY here. According to the University of Minnesota Study Abroad “Culture Shock” diagram, I am currently experiencing the “critical low point” that follows the “emotional high point” that comes with entering the country. The next step is “initial adjustment”, and I am already prepared for the challenge. By placing more emphasis on the ‘cultural experience’ end of things and detracting from the ‘social’ end, (as well as adapt to the different school structure) things should become less complicated and it will create some extra study time. I’m excited to get Week 9 started.

Cheers!

Mojosurf Surf Camp!

Week 6: 3/9-3/15

School was fun as usual, but nothing especially interesting to report here. I spent most of the week anticipating our weekend surf trip to Crescent Head (a beach about 5 hours North of Sydney) organized by a company called Mojosurf (I mentioned reserving my spot on the bus during the Cairns Introduction in my fourth post). The bus left Friday from a backpackers near UniLodge at 6pm and arrived in Crescent Head on time around 11pm. I met a lot of new people again and made some more new friends. The girl I sat next to (Gabbi from Connecticut) was really nice and made for some good conversation and company during the ride. She goes to the University of Sydney, and as it turned out, so did a majority of the students on the bus. Her good friend, Whitney, was a few seats ahead of us and was also very nice. During the trip, I discovered that she also goes to the University of Minnesota and in fact was nearly best friends with a girl named Emma Thomas, who was a girl I had taken my scuba certification classes with before coming to Australia, and even drove with me to our actual certification dives. It’s corny to say, but it definitely is a small world…she was one of just two acquaintances I had from Minnesota that I knew would be in Australia, and she had actually been in Sydney a few weeks prior, but goes to school at a University in Cairnes. These two girls I met are planning on visiting her in a month or two and I plan on joining them if I can afford it. I met a couple other guys who are also friends of theirs by the names of Jeff (Boston) and Evan (Wisconsin) who I spent most of my time with at camp and found out also lived in UniLodge on the same floor as me. Anyways, during the ride we made two stops – once about two hours in for food at a McDonald’s and again at about four hours in at a tiny pub and bottle shop in a little rural community of about 100 people, where we purchased all of our alcohol for the weekend. It was hilarious, because the town obviously anticipates the arrival of this bus every weekend. When we pulled up, everyone standing outside stood up and cheered. Our Australian driver, Morgan (who was also one of the guys running the camp), warned the girls to stick together when exiting the bus, as “some of these blokes have only seen their sister.” After this, we spent the remainder of the ride partying (safely…Morgan managed to abstain from it himself) and playing drinking games until we arrived at the site, which consisted of a couple lodging cabins, a bathroom facility, and a kitchen canopy where we had our (all-you-can-eat) meals. We spent the first evening either at the beach or around one of the two camp fires. This place is way out in ‘the Bush’ so the ocean view was absolutely beautiful – we could see all the stars and the reflection of the bright moon off the water lit up the shoreline. The beach is huge and there are no major communities anywhere nearby, so even during the day the beach was largely unoccupied. The night ended pretty late for most of us and the morning came exceptionally early, but the excitement of the day got me out of bed without much delay. We all congregated in the canopy for breakfast and a brief introductory lesson covering the basics of surfing, including terminology and information regarding the rules of the camp. We then got in line to get our wetsuits which we would be using for the next two days. Each suit had a nickname written on the chest that the employees of the camp had chosen (mine was ‘Mattress’). It was a short walk to the beach, but a long walk to the “North Side” where we would be surfing (about 20 minutes). We got our boards (some large foam starter boards), split up into groups, and got taught how to lie on our boards, paddle, and stand up. We didn’t waste much time before hopping into the water and catching some waves. It was a very interesting experience – the only two boards sports I have tried are snowboarding and wakeboarding, but it wasn’t very similar to either, because you put a lot more weight on your front foot. I actually stood up on about my third try when the instructor pushed me into the wave (rather than peddling into it, which is what you do when catching your own wave). After that, I slowly got the hang of it and was able to get up on my own about every third or fourth time. We went back and grabbed some lunch before another round at the “South Side” this time that was actually perpendicular to the North Side somehow. The waves were bigger on this side and I had a lot of fun trying my hand at some bigger waves catching a couple. By the time we were done for the day, I was thoroughly exhausted and hungry for dinner. When we got back, we all cleaned our wetsuits again and took ourselves a short shower (the camp was on a water restriction limit, so we had to make them short). While dinner was being prepared, some of us gathered around the fire and played a game taught to us by Christina on the way up called “21”. We would take turns going around our circle, counting to 21, one at a time. Every time we reached 21 we would cheers and whoever said 21 would make a new rule for the counting (e.g. someone might make the rule that instead of saying 5, you must give the person to your right a high-five). Every mistake in counting would result in the punishment of a skull (or drink from your beverage) and starting over. As the game progressed, it would become more and more difficult, but everybody had fun playing until dinner was ready. Our meal consisted of steaks, burgers, sausages, salad, and baked potatoes. The evening was full of more fun around the fires and along the beach.
It was another early morning Sunday with even more sand gracing my sheets than the previous sunup. I was a little more hesitant to get out of bed today and feeling a lot less comfortable and clean. I was eager to get another run of surfing in however, so after packing our bags and another quick breaky, we were instructed to head back to the North Shore at our own leisure. The bus back home left at 1pm leaving us with only about 3 hours or so to surf. This was more than enough time, as my hip began to feel a bit strained, and my wetsuit was starting to chafe the back of my knees something awful – I saw a slight improvement and am excited to try surfing again at least once more before going home. The bus left right on time and I think most of us were ready to leave and see our showers and beds again. A majority of the ride home was spent sleeping, but I managed to get my weekly reading done for Social Theory as well. We got dropped off back at Wake-Up Backpackers where we were picked up and encouraged to all meet at the adjoining bar (SideBar) to party and celebrate one of the participants 21st birthday, but I was perfectly happy calling in a weekend and catching up on my rest before the start of a new week. All-in-all I would have to say it has been one of my favorite activities and weekends since arriving in Australia.

Mardi Gras

Week 5: 3/2-3/8

It was a long week of class followed by an interesting weekend. I am in the midst of planning a fall break trip which could potentially include stops at both Thailand and New Zealand. Mathematical Statistics is proving to be my most difficult course – since I never took an Introduction to Statistics, I am a little behind on terminology and some of the basics. Additionally, our lecturer is fond of speaking in equations and symbols, and neglecting to use real-world examples, so I am currently at a loss. Thursday involved our weekly Ultimate Frisbee practice, where I worked on my lackluster forehand toss. There are surprisingly more girls than boys in the club, but it remains fairly competitive and fun. It’s a very laid back and honest game – a lot of the rules rely on somebody admitting to illegal contact or maneuvers. As we did the previous week, the group met for dinner at Lansdowne. I tried out the fish and chips this time and was satisfied with my $6 purchase. That night was the annual UTS “Las Vegas Party”. There’s a bar connected to a building on our campus called “The Loft” that played host. I can’t recall if I have mentioned there being a bar connected to our classroom buildings before, but I find it quite amazing – drinking is a very large part of Australian culture. Another fact I don’t believe I commented on was the language. Australians love to swear and rarely find it offensive – even during our orientation, some of the professors that would speak often swore. Television here doesn’t ‘bleep’ out swearing and there is even occasional nudity on evening programming. Anyways, the “Las Vegas” party didn’t seem to have much to do with Las Vegas at all other than the costumes people attempted to construct, which more or less resembled a brothel than anything else. I wore my super cool white pants and button-up linen shirt. After a few drinks here, we made our way to Sidebar by UniLodge and basically danced for three hours or so before going home.
On Friday, Megan and Tina (two of Luke Vincent’s friends from back home in Massachusetts) arrived, and a few of us took them on a walk around the city, which occupied a majority of our day. We made our illustrious return to Darling Harbour at a club bar called Cargo that night. As with most of these places, it was overcrowded and uncomfortable, so we eventually made an early departure. This also happened to be Mardi Gras week, which is a major, internationally recognized festival that happens every year in Sydney and is also the largest gay festival in the world. I misinformed you in a previous post when I stated that some of our friends went to (which, what I thought at the time was part of) Mardi Gras – it was just some random gay pride celebration in the park across the street. The actual Mardi Gras was much more insane. Saturday night was the big parade that went through the downtown CBD with thousands of people lining the streets. All sorts of floats and gay rights groups marched with loud music and bright lights. We spent about an hour there before leaving, after we got tired of standing in mobs of people with a horrible view. Instead, we went to Scruffy Murphy’s to get some dinner and finished the night off back at Sidebar. Sunday was spent completing reading and homework assignments – I won’t bore you with the details.

Manly Beach + "A Midsummer Night's Dream" + Blog Update

Days 26-30: 2/26-3/2

After a long day of class, I decided to sleep in and get some rest before our first ultimate Frisbee practice, which started at 4pm. We played for about 2 hours at Wentsworth Park, which is right down the street from UniLodge. We had never really walked in this direction prior to now and discovered a drycleaners along the way – it’s also a Laundromat and Laundromats here do alterations and provide virtually all clothing services. After practice, everyone in Ultimate Frisbee met back at Lansdowne for some dinner and I got a $6 grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes, which was pretty good considering the price. It was a calm night – we watched about half of “Slumdog Millionaire” and fell asleep.
Friday began at 9:30am when Chuck and I got up and got set for a trip to Manly Beach. We took the bus and met the Canadians at Circular Quay by 11am where we took a 20 minute ferry ride across the harbor to the North side at Manly Wharf. The beach was terrific – it is far less crowded and trafficked than Bondi and the water was much warmer. There’s a pretty little shopping center between the wharf and the beach full of little cafes, restaurants, convenience stores, and beach shops. We grabbed lunch at the Subway and some gelato on the way home. The night began at UniLodge where we had a few drinks while waiting for everybody to show up. Once everybody had arrived, we took a 30 minute walk to a bar on University of Sydney campus called Marley Bar. It was a fun, more casual place, which was nice for a change. We ended up leaving at around 1am to find a place downtown called The Ivy. This is a more upscale club and some of the people with us had white tennis shoes and subsequently weren’t allowed in (they’re very anal about dress codes here – hats aren’t allowed most places which bothers me because I wear a hat most of the time). I wasn’t too disappointed we weren’t let in since it wasn’t really my scene anyways. We instead went to a place called Side Bar which is much closer to UniLodge. I was happy because I had a coupon for a free drink. At about 3am, I called it a night and went home.
By the next morning, I was pretty worn out, and didn’t leave my bed until Luke came knocking on my door. He announced that people were interested in taking another trip to Bondi Beach, and it was a beautiful day, so we got set and left. The perfect weather didn’t make for the best day at Bondi, as the beach was extremely packed, but we made the most of it and stayed until dusk. We showered up and hung out for a while and discussed going to a pub about 20 minutes away (by foot) called 3 Wise Monkeys. The whole group of us agreed, but despite this, when Lauren received a phone call from another friend five minutes later offering free alcohol, she immediately diverted everybody to another room that was heading to Side Bar. Luke, Chuck, and I remained and kept with the initial plan. Of course, about 15 minutes after we got there, I received a call from Lauren who decided to show up with the others (not including the people from the other room). Before the night was over we had made another stop at a smaller pub called “Cheers” across the street. I was a little fed up with being asked to take my hat off (especially at this little place) and was warned about four times by the same lady. I was hoping I’d just be asked to leave, but we ended up just going on our own.

By the time I was up and organized, Luke again stopped by room; this time to inform me they were going to a burrito shop by Marley Bar called Guzman y Gomez. I have felt severely deprived of Chipotle and was excited to give this place a try. I was a little disappointed in the size of my quesadillas, but thought Lauren’s burrito looked tasty, so I bought one to bring home with me. The group today consisted of Chuck, Luke, Emily, Lauren, and I. The initial pack of ours has slowly been splitting over the past few weeks. Essentially everyone in UniLodge sticks together and ditto for the ‘Gumalies’ as we call them (except for a small swap of Tessa, who’s next door to me, and Emily). So in summation, the groups are as follows: Gumalies = Christina, Liz, Jenna, Tessa, and Chris(?); UniLodge = Me, Luke Vincent, Chuck, Lauren, Emily, and Julia. We’ve accumulated many mutual friends and a few relationships still exist between our groups so we still see quite a bit of each other anyways. After lunch, we stopped at the Blockbuster across the street from UniLodge and rented an Australian based television ‘mock’umentary called “Summer Heights High”. We nearly finished the entire season before we took a break for dinner at Broadway Café. We came back, finished the last three episodes, and called it a night. Monday is opera day – “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is playing at the opera house. I took my first real run outside today and found a decent route finally, so hopefully I’ll make a habit of it rather than dole in the monotony of the treadmill. I had one class from 3-5pm, got home, changed, and we left. The opera was not exactly what I was expecting – on main stage was an orchestra and different members of it performed an abridged version, with intermittent interludes and songs. Our tickets cost us AUD$35, which was a great deal, but our seats were in the very last row (our backs were literally against the wall). The theater isn’t that large though, so it wasn’t too bad. The other problem was that I hadn’t read any of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” yet, so it took a while to understand what was going on in addition to adapting to the dialects. After the intermission and reading the program guide, I had a much better grasp and began enjoying it much more. It wasn’t anything amazing, but a great experience nonetheless. We got home, I wrote this blog, did (will do) a bit of homework readings, and went to bed.
I would also like to take this opportunity to announce that I will begin to limit the amount of material I post on my blog, as I will not be nearly as active or engaged in daily events as I was before the start of classes. I wanted to make an effort to record as much I could to start the trip, and feel I have accomplished this by writing entries for my first 30 days. So from now on, I will be posting weekly, and only mentioning the interesting details, rather than where I ate for dinner. I’m missing all of you back home and thank you for reading!