Kylie's Big Travel: Take Three

ENGLAND

2011-10-19T15:29:00.001+13:00

This part of the trip has more been able catching up with long time friends and family before they go than wanting to go to the England and see the sights. In doing this however I have managed to work my way around the country. My time in England has been divided into four main areas; Southport/Liverpool with Kylie and her new family; The lake District and Yorkshire Dales with my sister Rachael and soon to be husband Hamish; Ringwood (where my sister lives) and beyond with my friend Kate and then finally the big smoke of London Town before leaving to New York with my sister and new friends..

Southport/Liverpool
My time here seems like a world away now, which I guess happens when you move around a lot while travelling. It was great being able to be grounded after what seemed like endless nights in hostels and hotels for a time. Also great were having home cooked meals, conversations around homework, being able to wash my clothes in washing machine, and being quizzed on my musical general knowledge of Justin Beber and the like by Kylie's two step children. I am proud to say I failed miserably on the music front.

Southport is a decent sized port town about 45mins by train to Liverpool. I have to say my first impressions were not the positive of the place though it slowly grew on me. The place seems to be somewhere to raise a family and then retire based on the proportion of pushchairs and people in wheelchairs and/or with walking sticks. To my delight though I didn't buy there were also a high proportion of good quality shoe shops. I also managed to do the rightful thing and test out a few local pubs. All I attended were successes.

In my brief time in Southport, I got to know the train system to Liverpool well. By doing so it helped ease my anxiety around this form of transport. For me catching the train can be more stressful than catching a plane. This primarily due to not knowing English geography as all trains are based on the final destination which is hardly ever the stop that I am going to.

Liverpool should be known as the windy city, especially when down by the pier. I was nearly blown over twice by the gales that come through. I think however it should also be known for more than just the home town of the Beatles (the museum I did go to by the way and was more enjoyable than I had thought it would be) and a port/industrial town which I had known it for. I spent a pleasant and at times moving 1 and half days in the city, mostly at museums and galleries and could have easily spent more if time had allowed. Much of the city that I saw reminded my of Wellington, though with less hills and less good quality coffee shops.

My most memorable and powerful experience was at the International Slavery Museum. This is a relatively new museum and takes up one floor of the Maritime Museum. For me who has been to Ghana and touched the "Gate of No Return" just over five years ago, the exhibits brought back many of the strong feelings I had at the time. The museum acknowledged that slavery still exists today and that much of the discrimination many face here in the UK, Africa and further abroad is linked to the slave trade. After my time at the museum it took me a considerable period of time to feel "normal" again due to the strong emotions that came with visiting such a place.

The nest blog will cover the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales and will be done in the near(ish) future depending on how busy the USA keeps me and I will likely do the pics once all the blog for England is done.

SCOTLAND

2011-10-05T09:30:00.006+13:00

Now for those that know me, they are aware I am generally not attracted to “mainstream countries”, so my real enjoyment of Scotland has come as somewhat as a surprise for me. I think the green ruggered scenery with the many lochs, the amassing old buildings that have not been taken over by often ugly modern buildings as has occurred in other places, the Scots love for history and oh arriving into 23 degrees with sunshine are what when putting it simply did it for me, well at least at first.

I sadly did not take as much of opportunity of the weather and the city on my arrival as I would of liked due to exhaustion from sleep deprivation I was experiencing. My second day I was up bright and early and wondering the streets of the capital. Still not got my head around the idea that I were seeing people at a bar having a beer or two at just after 9:30am in the same way I would be seeing someone having their morning coffee back home.

My day was taken up with a free three hour walk around Edinburgh tour, a walk around Edinburgh Castle, frequenting a pub or two and a underground city tour. All in all it was a day of gaining far more information that I could possibly take in. At least most of it was presented in a way that was entertaining. The tour was very useful to get an insight into how the Edinburgh works and to get my bearings. The Castle I have to say overall was overrated and over priced, but at least I can say I have done that. The evening was pleasant as the city even on a Thursday just has soo much life in it. The underground city showed me how life was in the 1600-1700’s and I have to say I’m happy that I was not around. The pub we randomly walked into had three different live bands of which we say two. One, I have to say was really good and could of kept listening for quiet some time, the other needed to think about finding a lead singer whom could actually sing.

The next three days were on the Haggis Isle of Skye tour. I have to say I was a little unsure about the tour at first as really did not know if being on a small bus with nearly 30 others and staying in backpackers were really going to be my thing. Thankfully any fears I had were soon elevated and I had a fantastic time. I can say I have never drunk so much Whiskey in my life as I did on the two nights of the tour. Nor did I appreciate Whiskey as much as I do now.

The tour took the group to too places to mention (actually it was too many places for me to remember). We based ourselves in the Highlands near Loch Ness. The area really does have a beauty that I have not seen in a long time. I felt that I was overly captivated with it and getting frustrated that I was unable to get a picture to capture what I was witnessing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the area as have been to Ireland and did not understand what the big deal was often about its scenery.

The first night at Maggie’s Hostel was all about the quiz night. Without going into too many details I will just say this was like no other quiz night that I have been involved with before. There was physical challenges to be completed, costumes, dancing mixed in with your box standard quiz questions. Mixed in with this was the challenge a few of us had taken on to drink at least one shot of every whiskey in the hostel bar. By the end of the second night I can say the mission was completed. I am really surprised that apart from feeling some sleep deprivation I experienced no other negative side effects.

Our second day was all about the Isle of Skye. This is a breathtaking ruggered landscape with only 10,000 people. It is currently believed there are at times more churches in villages than there are houses. Which as an interesting side note are 95% white. The day was really about just learning and experiencing highland life and scenery. It is a must see for anyone coming to Scotland.

The night was karaoke focused. I did my obligatory one song with Team Kiwi making sure the microphone stayed as far away from me as possible. Once the night was officially over there were a few of us whom stayed up and did the bar version of campfire sing-a-longs. By the end there were only two of us left and it was 3:30am before my head hit the pillow. This only to awaken to the rude looking time of 8:18am which meant I had 12mins to get changed, packed, have something to eat and get on the bus. I think I really did set a record in managing to complete this in just under 10mins.

The last day of the tour was a lot quieter than the first two as all our energy had been zapped out of us. We say the Loch Ness and completed a short but very scenic walk, say a controversial battle ground (which all I could sadly appreciate was that it was a paddock with a few signs on it) and did the customary visiting of a church. Before long the day was over and we were back in Edinburgh where as quickly as we came we all left our own ways. My evening was one of the most enjoyable in a long time where I simply went pub hopping over a 6 to 7 hour period as a caught up with a member of the group. It was strange that while I went to bed just before 2pm on a Sunday night/Monday morning I was still one of the first to bed in my hostel room.

It is now time for me to depart Scotland and head to England via three different train’s. The forecast shows I will be heading to warmer temperature again which is a positive and I might be able to get myself a decent coffee as it is something that Scotland really needs some work on improving, but it is still with a touch of sadness that I am doing so.

Final days in Sabah, Malaysia

2011-10-04T05:32:00.001+13:00

So as most of you will have picked up I’m a little behind on this bog thing, especially as I am currently now on a train leaving Scotland. When I know look back on what has occurred since the last week it almost seems serial, though I think that sometimes this is the wonder of traveling.

So my last few days in Sabah before I took the what seemed like marathon trip to Edinburgh goes as follows.

Sepilock

This place was really the main reason that I took the trip that I did. Why you ask, well its simple that’s where I got to see orang utans! Sepilock has Malaysia’s only sanctuary of these wonderful creatures. The sanctuary they are based in is huge and is as close to the wild as they will get. For many of the oran untans after 7 to 10 years of rehabilitation they get to return to the wild. The public are lucky enough two times a day to get to see some of the creatures when they offer food and those that are interested come out to eat it. All I can really say about the experience is that I really just felt in awe of them and had to try and restrain myself from constantly clicking on my camera as it took away from the just being in the moment and enjoying them.

The afternoon was spent at the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary which was an expensive but well worth expensive option. Sadly however it is in the middle of one of the thousands of Palm Oil Plantations. These monkey’s are honestly the strangest looking monkeys with their long nose that almost looks human like. What impressed me about this was the way the mothers took such good care of their young. The young were also connected to them and when they sense any danger it was impressive how fast they can move. While there I also got to see the silverback monkeys. These monkeys have such character and are full on. They clearly have the view that everywhere is there’s and they have rights to whatever they see.. Thus if you have food keep a watch out!. I was lucky enough to see very up close two of the six babies that have been born in the last year. The special part about this, is that they had to be around 2-3 months old as their colour had yet to change from gold to a dark silver.

Back in Kota Kinabalu
The next day was a traveling day back to Kota Kinabalu (Aka “KK“) where we went to our seaside resort. Sadly, I could only admire the view and not the water due to there being a high number of jellyfish. My next two days were all about water, beaches and sun.

The first was spent on a private island about 15min boat ride from KK. There I got to just chill out and enjoy the heat, sun and the view, Oh and yeah there was also snorkeling which was first off the beach and then later in the day off the boat. Also noteworthy of mentioning were the giant lizards that inhabit the island. My guess would be that they had to be at least 40 to 65kg in size. Again it was a time where I became very attached to clicking the camera.

The second day was about going scuba diving for the first time. For just under $NZ100 it just seemed like an opportunity that was not to be missed! Sadly the weather was not as good as the first day, though when you 6 to 12mts under water that all becomes irrelevant anyway. I overall loved the experience and was really surprised just how relaxed I was about the whole thing, well all but the going into the water backwards off the boat part anyway. It really did feel like another world under there and was far more impressive than I had imagined it to be. All was topped off to by being able to a large turtle up close just handing out on a rock about 8mts under water! If only scuba diving was not so expensive I could really see myself being a regular participant in this sport.

My last day in Sabah was a low key one, which was helped by the poorer weather. Though when I reflect on it now, it was just what I needed. As I then had four airports and over 20 hours of transiting ahead of me. With that in mine, here are my latest airport reviews.

Koata Kinabalu

Bathroom cleanliness 7

Functionality 4

Facilities 7

Decor 6

Staff 6.5

Food venues 7

Duty Free 6.5

Dubai

Bathroom cleanliness N/A

Functionality 8

Facilities 9

Decor 9

Staff 6

Food venues 9

Duty Free 9

Heathrow

Bathroom cleanliness 6

Functionality 6

Facilities 7

Decor 36
Staff 7

Food venues 6.5

Duty Free 6.5

Edinburgh
Bathroom cleanliness 5

Functionality 4

Facilities 5

Decor 5

Staff 8

Food venues 5

Duty Free 5

MASCOT

2011-09-27T02:10:00.004+13:00

MASCOT is a community initiative run by a village in the region of Kinabatangan. The village is about eco tourism and about conservation. My group was lucky enough to have two full nights with them.

The village Batu Puteh is about 5 hours bus ride east away from Mt Kinabula. I have to say it was refreshing to come to the village after the bus ride as all I saw when I looked out the window was Palm Oil trees. They have really taken over the place.

Once at MASCOT we were taken by boat to their eco stay which was about 15mins away. The place it peaceful and serene. It is situated amongst the rain forest and over looks a lake. We each had our own little huts above the ground with a little deck. The place is powered by a generator, though they use as little power as they can.

My humble accomodation at the Eco Camp

Once settled in, it was back out in the boat to go monkey and bird spotting along the river banks. It was my first time seeing a wild monkey in over five years. I realized that I still get just as excited as I did in Africa to see them. Due to the rain threatening to settle in, the trip was cut back a little. Later that night we had a night walk when we went insect and animal exploring. Sadly due to having about 2 hours of heavy rain earlier there were not as many creatures out and about as hoped. It was then to bed under my mosquito net to the sound of nature.

The next morning was another small trek through the rain forest learning about the different types of forests and medicinal use of some of the plans. It was then a boat ride up river to where we helped the environment. This was by getting our hands dirty and planting some native plants in an area that had previously been destroyed by fire. Once back at the eco lodge, two of us bravely got our feet nibbled at by fish. They did a good job at taking off the dead skin and after a few minutes of minor screaming, laughing and taking my feet in and out I started to enjoy it.

My feet being nibbled at. Apparently its a big thing in New York.

Once back at MASCOT it was straight into a cooking class with the some of the local women. It was my job to make some delicious banana balls. As with most food in Malaysia they were fried. Thankfully afterwards we all got to taste our fine culinary skills at lunch.

A music, dance show followed as did information on the project. As predicted the group were forced at the end to join in with the dancing. Lucky us, this dance involved moving in a circle holding hands and occasionally waving ribbons given to us to use. I was very happy when the song was over!

One of the most memorable parts of the stay was the home stay in the village. Kaori (fellow traveler from Japan) and I stayed with Musa and her 8 other family members. Only pictures can really describe the environment we were in. It was a wooden building that had lots of additions to it. The kitchen/dinning area had two complete walls and one partial wall. The wooden floor had decent size gaps in it, thankfully often these places had lino on it. There were large buckets to collect the water that feel through the roof when it rained (as it does on a daily occurrence. There were electric cords exposed throughout the house. The lounge was large with two tv’s at either end and large speakers about 1 meter high were scattered around. Windows in our room were wooden and a needed a rod to keep them open. I think that is enough to give you a picture of it for now in your head.

The family were matriarchal with Musa being the head of the family. Her husband said about 10 words to us in total. The grandchildren were lovely and fully of energy, questions and eagerness to associate with us. At times they were a little too eager. The night was spent caring for their four pet rabbits that lived under the floor of the lounge, trying to watch Malay tv and then “English lessons”. It was ended however with the children deciding that they wanted to make us look beautiful and putting make up on us. Lets say it might have started well, but before long both Kaori and I certainly looked interesting and our faces represented more like canvas’s to draw on than girls ready to go dance.

The morning was brief with the family. By the time we got up at 6:30am two of the children had left for school. Musa and her daughter Anna were starting the washing and had prepared noodles for us for breakfast. Come 7:30am we were walking down the long wooden path outside to the village centre to start the next leg of our trip.

Mt Kinabalu

2011-09-23T23:51:00.000+12:00

Pictures to come
Mt Kinabula is the tallest mountain in Malaysia and was the first to become a world heritage site. While when planning my holiday earlier in the year this was not a place I thought about, on learning about it I became somewhat excited and a little nervous about the prospect of climbing it. I knew however it was not going to be any Mt Kilimanjaro which I had hoped to climb earlier this year and no Mt Kenya which my sister has just climbed.
The travel agent and the tour company left out a few details on the Mt climb. This included the lack of emphasis on the need for water protection for not just you, but your gear as well. That as silly as a poncho may look, they are actually way better than an expensive rain and wind jacket. It was also failed to mention that there would be the need to climb up/down very steep surfaces in darkness with only the aid of a rope and a head torch. Lastly, they neglected to mention the level of fitness required, stating that only moderate fitness was required. Now with all that said, it was truly a great hike filled with so much more than sore muscles, wet clothes and tiredness.

My two day climb started off at Mesilau Nature Resort where we had spent the night before. After an amazing smorgasbord breakfast (honestly one of the best I have seen) and passing our gear to our porters we were ready to start the 8km hike to the Lagoon Hut. Now little did not know at the time that our wonderful leader had decided for us to take the longer and harder route. Thus, we all started with eagerness and enthusiasm. We happily stopped and took in the views along the way, had our regular food and drink stops (which at times were excuses for us to catch our breaths). Have to say the drink stops were not always that great as we were taking dehydration mixes which tasted disgusting. The first part of the climb was a mix of steep stairs and uphill climbs, with equally steep descents (we were never happy with the declines as we felt cheated due to the effort it took to do the climb) and some undulating. Every 0.5mkm was marked along the way. All in the group felt these were inaccurate however as they are the longest 0.5km we have ever done. The rest spot were covered and every now at then there were toilets (which you did need to hold your breath for). All in all the walk was going well until during lunch. This is where the changed. No more did we want to stop and take picture and no longer were we dodging puddles to keep our boots lean and dry. Every step was based on what was going to get me to the hut the fastest and easiest.

Most of the group arrived at the lodge which sleeps about 150 people around 4:20pm. All we wanted to do was sleep, but before we could do this we needed to repack for tomorrow, eat from the restaurant and arrange for our clothes and esp. boots to get try. We also spent a lot of time stretching mostly in vein to try and keep the muscle pain form seeking in. By 8pm it was lights out in our cabin. Early even for a week night.

After a rough sleep it was all up at 1:30am to get dressed and eat the first of two breakfasts. It really does feel unnatural to be eating at that time of the morning. Just after 2:30am four of the six with our trusted two guides head off for the 2.6km hike up to the summit. The first 30mins were nice as we needed to stop a lot for other people and the path was relatively smooth. After this however it turned into walking along cliff surfaces and 80 degree inclines with nothing to aid you but a rope. Let me say I have never held onto a rope so much in my life. It was at this time I had my minor freak out which my guide Banker (pronounced Banka) was very aware of as I was followed directly every step her made. It was at this time, he decided that I was going to be for most of the walk up and then back down to the lodge a “1 Assist” and a “Full’s Risk”. He took my hand every step I took and calming told me where to place my feet. At first I wanted to reject it, but in reality I knew I needed it to get me up the Mt.

As time ticked on, I became calmed and my steps also became smaller. I was also too physically exhausted to really be thinking about walking. By 5:45am we were approaching the summit. At this time a sudden rush came over me and the last part of the steep climb became easier. We arrived just as the sun was coming up behind one of the ranges. It was a glorious array of reds, oranges and reds. There was also the clouds scattered amongst the ranges. Apart from many, many people being on summit at the same time it was a really great time.

Once all the photo’s were taken and the cold were starting to set in, it was a steady decline down in daylight. Again Banker guided me down, not always successfully as I still managed to full while holding onto him. The rock climbing up, became abseiling down which was less frightening due to feeling more in control and being able to see clearly were you were going.

Once back at the lodge it was time to congratulate each other and have our second breakfast of the day. After an hour our 6km hike down began. While it was physically a lot easier to go down, the constant downward motion was killer on the knees and my poor left foot big toe (which is still sore). I still am thankful for having a walking stick to help with the balance and taking some of the shock. At times I were wishing for uphill. Though when right at the end there were a step uphill and stairs I was changing my mind. Once at the end my energy was completely gone and every step was labored and I just had no energy to even eat the late lunch.

After it all while I am proud that I completed it, I am still amased by how easy the gudes and the porters make it. II really do not now know how the porters can climb it so fast with up to 30kg on their backs. It is truly amazing to watch. Some apparently climb to the lodge 2 to 3 times a day! The other amasing thing is that there is a yearly race up and down the mountain which is the length of a half marathon. This years one will be happening in about a months time. The fastest recorded time is 2hrs 30 something minutes. The fastest girl is just under 3hrs 30mins. I am proud to say that a NZ girl Anna Frost came second last year. How she did it I have no idea.

The Beggining

2011-09-20T21:44:00.001+12:00

Disclaimer: Now for the few grammar and spelling specialist of mine whom may read this please note that you are reading this at your own peril. I will often being writing this blog at night after long days and in a hurry. So this will mean that there will be errors and you will just have to put this aside while reading this.

After months of a countdown my time away has finally come! So for the next 7 weeks there will be no more gym, no more Palmy cafes in the weekend and most importantly no more work! Instead there will be adventure, rough sleeps, lots of airports, new friends and a hold load of fun!

My trip started Friday night after completing a busy day at work tidying things up. There was nothing special about my flight to Brunei. Once there (this was 7am) I arrived to find one of the smallest international airports I have ever been to and what was there was shut! Please be aware that I have 11hours before my next flight. I was lucky enough to have this lovely 84 year old gentleman befriend me for a few hours. It was really great just being able to hear about this stories and how he came to be transiting here too. In short it was a promise to his belated wife whom died two weeks earlier from a terminal illness. Finally at 11am the free tour starts it however only last 1.5hrs and is a tour around Brunei. Just quickly these are a few things that I learnt while on the tour.

The Sultan is the ruler of the country and he is referred to as "His Majesty". Other wise you need to say his full name which is made up of 28 names.
His Majesty subsidises petrol so they pay about 53 cents a litre
If you work for the govt you get a free home and just need to pay utilities
Health care cost $1 and this includes services such as being treated in Singapore if the hospitals there can't treat you
Alcohol and tobacco are unable to be brought in the country. You are able to being in from the boarder up to 12 cans of beer and 1lt of wine. This is not to be drunken in public.
His Majesty is the 2nd richest person in the world due to oil
You need to be a resident for 15 yrs before you can apply for citizenship
There is no income tax or other forms of tax in the country.

Brunei Water Village

Anyway, so while the tour may not have been all that great it did allow me to meet so people whom I later spent the afternoon with. We jumped on a local "bus" which took us the long way back into the city. Saw a great local market, had a boat ride with a local around the water village (this has over 30,000 people living there, their own schools, police stations, fire stations and hospitals) and visited His Majesties Mosque. All in all it was a pleasant afternoon. I have to say though that from what I have seen the country confuses me esp since it is meant to be such a wealthy country. Overall I have the feeling that there were parts that were like Ghana and Samoa and then other parts that were like Singapore.

The best part about the day though I have to say is being upgraded to First Class without even knowing it!!!! I have to say I could really get use to it. Sadly however it was the shortest international flight I have ever known. I was pretty much only in the air for 20 mins!!! I really do have to ask is there really any point to this flight?

My arrival in Kota Kinabalu, Brunei was straightforward. I was quickly taken to my hotel where I then had a quick turn around to join my very small tour group for dinner. In all there are only 6 of us plus our guide. After dinner it was another walk around a night food market where I was taken with the variety of produce, smells and colour there.

My first real day in Brunei was started by me going for a 7am run. I have to say I was very proud of myself. It was however only a 30min one due to the heat and also not wanting to get lost. I also got many a look from the locals as there does not appear to be many people out running, esp a woman. The later morning was taken up with preparation for the rest of the trip. This mainly meant shopping. This is an adventure in itself. The malls and huge and are not easy to navigate. The stores love playing music very loudly and proudly. From the number of cell phone stores in the complex, one can only say that the country has an obsession with cell phone and the accessories. There were truly at least 5 to 10 cell phone style shops on each of the 5 floors!

My afternoon was taken up with travelling and preparation for the BIG CLIMB up Mt Kinabulu. I will however make this another port.

I will for now though on my rating scale of airports that I visit on the trip. This will be done on a 1- 10 scale where the higher the number the better. The first will be Brunei.

Bathroom cleanliness 3
Functionality 3
Facilities 3
Decor 3
Staff 6.5
Food venues 5
Duty Free 3

The Long Trip Home

2008-08-02T01:32:00.016+12:00

The last pub

It started at an insanely hour of taking a bus to the airport at 3.30am (which I nearly did not get off at as was half asleep) from town after taking the Laus at 12pm from near Kate's. All this so I can take a 6:30am flight as public transport is not 24hrs and a taxi would be over 35 Euros. It did however allow me to go to a pub and have my final pint of Guinness and get a dance or two in. It felt strange though going into a crowded pub with a large pack on my back and dressed in travelling clothes. This however was not enough to stop guys coming up and talking to us both.

Stadel Museum Campin Throne Of Mercy (Painting)
My 2 hour flight to Frankfurt from what I can remember was fine. I successfully managed to sleep through both take off and landing. This consequently meant my cell phone was on for nearly the whole flight. Once at the airport it was surprisingly fast through security and passport control and before I knew it I was on a train into the city. Managed to get myself to the river where I consequently turned the wrong way and was confused for the next hour. Though with time on my hands and the views nice I didn't mind too much. Once back in the right track I was walking past the many,many museums and being a tourist and taking lots of pictures. Took my last chance at the Stadel Museum to be cultured and see outstandingly amassing paintings from seven centuries. Though being overly tired and on a semi time limit I have to admit I didn't fully appreciate it or take it all in to an extent I normally would.

From here it was a continual wonder down the street where the place started to really come busy. Before this, I wondered where the six hundred thousand people of the city all were as I only was seeing scatters of people out running on cycling along the river. Everyone was out looking for a bargain at a street market which sold everything from second hand goods to new t.v's and pushchairs. Once back over the other side of the river again, the crowds continued at the fair and I went to see an amassing church (actually a cathedral) that had been taking up the view in the distance for miles. Right next door was Roma which is an area and also ruins. Afterwards it was a walk through central Frankfurt to try and get back to the train station. After 40 minutes I admitted defeat and got some help. This lead me to an underground station where I had to fail to pay to get on as didn't know of the station I needed to get to just how many stops it was. Then it was a confusing time of climbing up and down stairs trying to find the right platform and then metro to the airport. Thankfully it all worked out in the end and I easily got back in time to get on my plane to Hong Kong.

This plane ride sucked. The five day airline strike finished 15 minutes after departure. This meant we only got one meal on the plane. It was not vegan let alone vegetarian. The two salads were still frozen which included the piece of chicken. Needless to say I came off the 10 hour flight very hungry.

Once in Hong Kong my plans of going to explore the city disappeared as I was too tired to go through the hassles of all the extra security checks involved. It was weird being caught up in all the Olympics hype (there was promo stuff everywhere) and also police walking around with their fingers on the triggers of large AK riffles and having smaller guns on their belts. My eight hours there was spent either wondering the large terminals, reading, eating, dozing and yeah and trying to sort of the business of my wallet being stolen out of my bag with licence, credit card and lots of Euros inside. This turned out to be complicated getting sent from one place to another and in the end because my flight was departing they (lost and found people) over the phone from the Air New Zealand Lounge assured me they would email me the report. It however has yet to arrive.

I then had my 11 hour flight back to Auckland. Thankfully the service was good, the food was nice and the NZ wine was fantastic. I however was unable to sleep at all and managed to watch 6 episodes from last sessions Outrages Fortune among other things. Once in Auckland, unlike last time returning back into the country customs and bio security was a smooth and easy process. I then had a two hour stop over before flying back in a tiny bumpy plane back to Palmy and reality again.

Ireland Travels Part One

2008-08-02T01:22:00.021+12:00

Well I can not tell you how happy I was to get out of Dublin and see the "real Ireland" and see for myself what all the hype about this country was. Due to time constraints (mainly due by Kate needing to work) we managed to do a one week flyby tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Day One: Dublin to Cork

The trip started out as a scary one as I had to drive through Dublin (it was worse than Nairobi!) where I got totted at a lot and had to navigate around the first of many many roundabouts, buses and people (some of which lay in front of buses and cars). It then followed after nearly having a heart attack going straight onto the motorway where you find yourself having to do 120km (this is the speed limit I swear), though people pass you at that speed.

Our first stop was Glendaloch. This is about an hour or so out of Dublin and thankfully got me off the motorway and onto some winding country rounds surrounded by trees. The place is a must see by Dubliners standards (well at least that was what Kate was told). It was nice with trees and forests and some ruins of buildings, but in terms of what we were going to see later, I'd rate it about a 2.75 (maybe a 3) out of 5.

From here it was to Cork. A average size city with a river running through the middle of it. From the brief bits we saw that night, Kate and I could already tell the place had more culture than Dublin. It was however a lot smaller geographically than we were expecting. As per the stereotype people from Cork require a lot of concentration to understand. That night was mostly spent wondering around the streets and watching the world go by. This was mostly due to Kate and I being indecisive in choosing which pub we wanted to go into and suited us (the problem you have when you have too many choices).

Day Two: Cork to Trallee via Mizen Head

Kate and I first spent the morning wondering around the city. First stop was the art gallery which I really enjoyed seeing a collection of statues and monuments and this modern life art exhibition. Then it was off to see the city walls which were a let down as we could only look at them and not walk on them as the gates were shut. Finally it was a quick look around their historic goal (which we both kind of snuck into without paying as time was short and knew we could not see most of it anyway. And yes, I know that should be no excuse).

It was a windy and at times slow drive to Mizen head on many of Ireland's back roads to this mysterious Mizen Head which I only briefly read about and was 2 hours out of the way. Thankfully however the view on the way and the way back were soo worth it as was the place itself. This site ranks about 4.5 out of 5 and it certainly I place I would recommend going to. it was one of the view places Kate and I struggled to stop ourselves taking pictures and from constantly pulling over on the side of the road.

Trallee, will sadly always be tarnished for Kate and myself. Due to crappy directions from our accommodation we spent two hours, a lot of stress and petrol trying to find the place. I can now say I know the town a lot better than I was ever wanted to.

Day Three: Trallee to Tarbet via Killarney National Park

After our free breakfast Kate and I departed from Trallee very quickly and headed backwards to drive around Dingle Peninsula and then to Killarney National Park. The peninsula was again meant to be another one of the must sees of our trip, and again Kate and I were a little disappointed. While there we checked historic houses and became more informed about the potato famine and its impact on society. Before heading off to the national park it was a stop at a historic oratory which is meant to be the oldest and best constructed one around.

Muckross at National Park was where I was meant to get my road tramp. However this was the not the case and was fulled with tourist, bike riders and horse and cart rides. This turned out to be yet another reminder that Irelander's don't do exercise and don't know what a real tramp is. Don't get me wrong the views of the lake were nice and it was good to do some walking out in the open. There was also a nice surprise of this old monastery from the 1300's we were able to walk around inside of. I think its fair to say Kate and I rated this monastery and fairly high and easily a 4 out of 5.

So Tarbet is this small town which has really nothing there (well on the tourist map anyway). It was here however that Kate and I experienced true Irish pub life with the locals. It was a Sunday and the pub didn't get busy until 10pm. While there I had the pleasure of drinking a pint of Guinness while listening to live music. I was also however subjected to be dragged (literally) onto the dance floor (we were the only ones on it) by a 60 year old drunk Irish guy. He managed to keep me on the floor for at least three songs. Not long after this Kate and I was subjected to "dancing" Polish style. Lets just say it was interesting...

Day Four: Tarbet to Galway via Cliffs of Mohir

So the day started off with rain and a lot of it. This kind of put a damper on Kate and I being excited about taking the car ferry across. After a few twisted roads we arrived to tourist fulled Cliffs of Mohir which were still covered by rain. Kate and I left the place a lot wetter and also thinking they were cliffs just like clffs we have at home, just a little bit higher. Later that day talking to some Italians however they informed of they were the most impressive natural environment they had seen. It was here that Kate and I really started to question if our standards in terms of natural "wonders" were unrealistically high.

Once in Galway Kate and found ourselves surrounded by thousands of young(ish) people. Kate and I had not realised we had arrived at the place on the first day of cup racing. In Ireland this is a big deal. To make life more interesting Kate and my accomodation was right on the strip which was surrounded by most of the pubs in Galway. Cant really recall what we did in the afternoon, but know it quickly passed as it the crap weather.

Kate and I spent the evening in a nice Italian restaurant which had a watermill inside and looked out onto part of one of the main rivers in Galway. It was a nice chance for Kate and I to get all dressed up. Afterwards we joined the crowds and walked the streets and took in some of the street shows. What surprised me was while there were a lot of people drinking out of the streets in designated areas, everyone was in a good mood and there was no sign of drunken behaviour which I would expect in NZ. The evening was finished off talking to a Northern Irishmen who had lived and studied here 50 years ago and was trying to track down friends he knew back then.

Dublin

2008-07-25T08:50:00.006+12:00

Rembrandt at National Art Gallary

So after spending five complete days in this city I’ve certainly come to notice a few things.

The first is the weather, but you all would have heard enough about that in my emails, so I’ll leave it there.

There are more beggars holding paper cups here than I was expecting. Well in reality I was expecting any, so seeing so many of them was surprising. Especially since a lot of them are young. There were even children asking for money outside Luas (metro) terminal.
All women appear to wear makeup and blusher is their best friend. Arriving into the city and not wearing it I felt very under dressed.

People here are ghostly white, except if they are wearing fake tan.
There seems to be little architecture in the suburbs. The houses on a street are all the same and none of them are stylish. I feel I could walk into my next-door neighbour and know exactly where everything is.

You can’t just get out of bed and have a shower here. First you need to get up and turn on the heater for the hot water. To make it more confusing there is one for summer and winter.
The city does not know how to make a good coffee. I had been warned but risked it yesterday in a fancy restaurant in a wealthy seaside village ( U2 have houses there) just outside Dublin and it was one of the worst coffees I have ever had.

Tracksuits amongst the youth are popular. It is common to see groups of them handing out in parks in their tracksuits. A lot of the time they completely match i.e. all white, pink etc.
The city is overrun with tourist, in some way’s it is worst than Istanbul. They are constantly slowing me down and they are always taking up the footpath. (I know I am one of them technically, but don’t see myself like them)

Pedestrians appear to believe they rule the roads and will try to cross whenever the road is clear. They seem unfazed by cars, buses etc who narrowly miss them or are tooting at them.

Kate thinks Dublin is actually quiet dirty. While it is not the cleanest capital I have been to, I think its the dark buildings combined with near constant overcast weather that makes it look dirtier than it is.

Emotional Turkey

2008-07-21T19:57:00.007+12:00

The Teams final dinner together on a rooftop bar

Me infront of the Blue Palace

Firstly, sorry this blog has taken so long to come about. Hope what it becomes will be worth it.

Turkey for me (the little I saw of the country) was a contrast in almost every way to everywhere else I have been since away. It was also the place where I had to sadly say a lot of goodbyes and venture out on my own again. It truly made me realise how much I had come to rely on travelling with a group of great people and the relatively easy source of good company.

Istanbul which has about 16 million people is a city which appears never to sleep. When you are in the centre of it, it feels like you are surrounded by the 16 million people. This was especially the case at the Grand Bizarre and Spice Bizarre on a Saturday. What was also felt very fast is that women also appear to be subordinate to men. Men appear to view western women as objects and do not hide the fact they are eyeing you up so to speak. They are also very happy to call out to you with such comments. Walking in numbers especially with males certainly lessens this happening, but it is still there. Men hold all the jobs from hotel clerk, waiter to shop attendant to policeman. It was very rare to see a woman holding a position at times it was rare to even see a woman walking certain streets. It truly did feel that for every 20 or more men out on the streets there were 1 woman. When spending my time in Cannakle (closet town to Troy) which is fairly liberal and has apparently a high student population (though all I saw was naval men) it appeared to be a little more even say 10 to 1.

The food in Turkey is not what I was expecting. Firstly it is expensive in general for what it is. Not just because I had come from Eastern Europe where things are cheap. To my surprise there was no mention on any menus of fallafil, there was little mention of hummus and there was eggplant in or on nearly everything. The kabab's which we have at home are rare and are mainly the kebabs you have on a stick.

Turkey is expensive for motorist, not that this stops them from driving or making them drive smaller cars. Its was over $NZ3.70 a Lt. Apparently they have the highest petrol prices in the Europe due to having over 52% tax. They also have the highest electricity in the Europe to. This is why they have the no power without your key card in the holder in every hotel room.

Terrorists

Some of you may already know but there was a terrorist attack in Istanbul last Monday at the USA Embassy. This was kept fairly quiet from the tourist and I only found out by accident the following day. Apparently this is the first publicly noticed attack (and only because it happened outside the embassy) in the last few years. In general however there are attacks on police and soldiers nearly every week which most people just accept. The attack did result in more police and army personal being on the streets with their guns.

Palaces

They certainly know how to do their palaces here going by the two that I was lucky enough to see inside and the ones that I went past. While I could go on for ages about how amassing they are and how luck the Salton's had it, its best to show you some pictures I guess. Topkapi Palace had it for size and grandeur while Dolmabahce Palace had it for location being right on the Bosporus River.

Palace (Dont let the picture tick you it is impressive and it is huge)

Dolmabahce Palace

Gallipoli

Me at the NZ Memorial

After going I could simply say I have now done my dutiful pilgrimage as a New Zealander, but that would be kind of distasteful and not really honouring the true significance of it all. It was certainly interesting to hear the details from a Turkish perspective, especially after studying it at school. While there is was strange how Mr Gill my history teacher kept popping into my head. This was the same for another girl from my school who I randomly meet there. The place on the surface is so gorgeous with a fantastic view. Then you think about all the men who lost their lives there, the number of shots fired and the freezing winter all those who were there experienced and it takes the initial thoughts away.

One of the surprising things that you could not help but notice while there were the number of Turkish people who were there. There were buss loads of them. Apparentlty over the last few years the government has really tried to push the significance of this event. They to now have a day in Turkey which they remember.

Troy

Well I was lucky enough to hear both the story about the legend and the real thing. While there I was able to see evidence of the nine Troy cities that have been there over the last few thousand years. The cities had either be destroyed by earthquake, fire or battle. Apparently what has been uncovered to date only makes up about 10-15% of what they believe was Troy. It is amassing to think that it was only confirmed in the last decade that this city was in fact Troy.

The End of Easter Europe

So now that I am in Ireland my time in Eastern Europe has officially come to an end. Trying to look on the positive sides I'll list the good parts about this, which are

There are no more traffic driving on the right hand side of the road. Though I had just got use to this.
No more people wearing socks with their sandals (this is just wrong I think in any country)
No more cars being parked on footpaths leaving little room for pedestrians.
No more cars parking on corners making it impossible to see what is coming around the corner
Being able to understand the majority of what is on TV
Having Western breakfasts again - where there is cerial, porridge and bread can be toasted
Sure there must be more, but I really cant think of any.

Bulgaria Continued

2008-07-11T22:08:00.007+12:00

Roman Ampıtheatre, Plovdiv

Well since this is now my last day in Bulgaria I now feel a little more qualified about writing about the happenings here.

There seems to be many similarities in someways here to Romania. In terms of they have a lot of the same brand shops, their road system works the same. I have to say it is nice being at a crossing and knowing how long you have to wait and how long you have to cross. Additionally the country also loves their monuments and statues. Sadly another similarity I have noticed is that a lot of the old buildings and monuments have graffiti all over them or are not well maintained. It is something that does surprise me a little.
Now what else is there that I have noticed...

Well the main one is the written language here. It is completely impossible to decipher the written language as it looks like wingdings at times. This has made it confusing when trying to find things. In the last three years however a lot more English signs have been created on buildings and also streets signs to make it easier for us travellers to understand. This is apparently connected with the country joining the EU and also trying to get the Winter Olympics.
There is a lot of sexualised advertising here compared to Romania and Hungary. There are Billboards advertising sex shops and sexualised graphics trying to promote products. While I like to think of myself as not being prudish it is surprising considering how religious the country is.

Talking about religion. It is strange for my to see coming from such a non religious country to see people from all walks of life come into churches to quickly pray. At times there are groups of girls who will come in together while shopping and light a few candles, pray to a few mytars and then leave again.\

The food here as was in Romania influenced a lot my the Italian's so there is pizza and pasta on a lot of menu's. Thankfully here there has also been a Greek influence which means a lot of salads for me to chose from. This has been great as I was getting tired of basing my meals on bread and my body had been missing veggies. It is still missing fruit however as it is still hard to find fresh fruit here. Overall the food here is good and most of it is organic as the country is not developed enough to use pesticides. This has meant that I am enjoying veges like beetroot which I have never liked before at home. It is hard at times though as the country loves their cheese and put it on everything without even pointing it out on the menu.
Food here in general is very cheap to eat out. I managed to have accidentally of course for less than NZ$10 a large size veggie pizza, a 500ml beer and a large salad. At times I have managed to have a whole meal for under NZ$5 without trying too hard.

The country has a lot of sports shops, they appear to be everywhere. The strange thing is though apart from when up in Bunsko near the mountains you never see anyone doing exercise about from walking the streets. People are also not dressed in sport gear. Am thinking people must exercise in secrete or something, I don't know.

There continues to be shoe shops galore here. Eastern Europe appears to have a thing for fashionable shoes. If only my baggage weight was not an issues I would so be having a field day in all the shops as many of them are so different from home. I must say though I am impressed how the women here are able to walk so well on the uneven cobbled stone paths.

As mentioned earlier I went tramping in the Pirin Mt's. I think a lot of the views are equally as good as those in NZ which i think is saying something. It was amassing how you would just turn a corner and there right in front of you was a clear large lake with Mt tops being reflected in the water. What I do have to say about NZ tracks however is they are well marked. Here you have markers that just suddenly stop with no indication. This caused as to get slightly lost and thankfully with the help of a local guide who happened to be wondering past we were able to get back on track after going through some rubbish at the back of a hotel and through some thistle bushes.

One of the many lakes on Mt Pirin

Bulgaria

2008-07-07T01:58:00.005+12:00

Well it seems a little superfical to be doing this blog so early into my time in the country, but I have the time and guess I can add and modify it later on.

I am currently in a town called Teolovo Vernova. While it appears to be a small town, it has a population of over 80,000. The town is all set against a cliff with streets going alongside it. The architecture is very different from Romania as the houses are no longer as colouful and are made of different materials. While it is a long way off Greece it kind of has that feel.

So what have I noticed so far:

People still like to wear the colour yellow... am guessing this must be a Eastern European thing.
Shops and food joints open late in the day. It was too early to have bruch this morning at 10:30am. At this point in time we were only able to have an alcohol drink or a coffee.
Ice cream comes in flavours you just dont have at home and are very fancy though they are sold at the side of the street. The price is determined by the wieght of your order and not the scoop number.
There are a lot of houses on the market here. While the prices are in Euro's they are still a lot cheaper here than at home (Mish maybe we could look at a house here :) )
People appear to dress more modern here and less trashy than in Romania. We (the group) thinks this is why the Bulgarian girls are in general prettier.
People continue to work and use their cellphone at the same time... it is normal to be served while the waitress etc are on their phone
Getting and change continues to be something that annoys people here. While I get this, when you only have ATM money it is hard not to want it. Last night at dinner the smallest change they have was a $10 note!!!

Time running out so will update rest at latter date

Romania

2008-07-04T01:05:00.010+12:00

Viscri fortified church from 1200's. It is the scariest building to climb up, but worth it for the views

Sibiu at the "big Square" looking at the council building

Peles Castle in Sinia. Created in 1880's especially for the Royal family. It is a truly amassing building. One tourist thought is made Versailles look shabby.

Well my time in Romania is coming to an end. I have one more night in Sinia and then a night in the capital Bucharest and then I'm outta here for Bulgaria. While I did not know too much about Romania before coming I feel I do now. It is really a country of changing environments and sociatial views. Every place I have been to so far is very different. In Sinai for example the buildings have a Scandinavian feel, while out in Sibiu it all feels very modern (even with 600 year old buildings).

So again rather than the blow by blow of my trip here are some things I have noticed or been thinking about.

The Romanian people here are on average very short. It is a nice change not to feel like a midget. It is also proving very helpful under very low doorways and ceilings.

The language here is based on Latin (unsurprisingly) with the country's name. In general it is easy to interpret the written language as a lot of it sounds similar. I however continue to give myself a pat on the back for working it all out. One of the jokes at the moment is based on my height and understanding of written Romanian that maybe there is some Romanian in me...

I have been told on several occasions not to read too much into people here not smiling or looking happy as it is a through back of Communism which feel in 1989. I have however found that for those under 30 this is certainly not the case. The people appear to be very affectionate to each other especially partners and at times you want to tell them to get a room etc. Waiting staff however do not fill into this category and are often grumpy. However it is still expected to give them at 10% tip.

The coulour yellow is dominant everywhere still as is the colour white in clothes. also on the clothes note, there is a lot of what NZder's would call slutty clothes being sold here. no one in the group feels comfortable in buying any of the clothes. This country is also very comfortable with ultra short shorts and shirts. It may be sounding old fashioned or judgemental, but in all honesty, here brings a new dimension to short shorts and mini skirt.

Drinking is not a big thing in Romania. They have little issues with alcoholism and drunked behaviour. While there are a lot of bars here and many start drinking early, they don't do so in excess. Women rarely drink and if they do it is only about one. The problem is so small that while there is a drinking age of 18 here it is not enforced. If a young child buys alcohol it is just expected they are getting it for their parents etc.

Smoking is very big here and it appears everyone over the age of 20 does it. Though there is also a lot of younger people doing it also. It is not uncommon to see people smoking while working.

Drivers do not understand cyclist. I learnt this the scary way in Sibiu when a rent a bike for the day. What makes the whole experience more scary is you don't wear helmets. Drivers are able to give way to horse and carts but not bikes. Though you are on the right of right they still expect you to go further right and full off the road. Then there is them constantly tooting at you and then there are cars passing cars while passing you and another car is coming towards them from the other side.

Intrepid Begin's

2008-06-27T03:01:00.019+12:00

(The trip layout for those who care)

So my trip has started. There is a group of 9 including the leader. I am surrounded by Aussie's and one American. All of whom seem to be okay, though mock and hassle me on my accent and speech all the time. I have really hit it off with Hannah who is the same age as me. We both appear to be bff's and are constantly talking and doing dumb stuff together. Yesterday for example, we took over a train cabin and were singing and dancing to lame 80's music on her Ipod. Strange I know but we had been on the train for over 6 hours and awake since 4am.

Hungary

Well we only spent one night in the country before heading off to Romania. It however was a cool experience. Managed to go into underground cellar that was created in the 15th century. It is 122km long. The really cool part about this all was that we were there the one night a year where there is wine tasting!!! While some of the wine I would rather not to have touched my lips overall they were really nice. Especially when the whole tour cost around NZ$8. It is fair to say that i was feeling a little under the weather that night after already going out to other local cellars trying every wine that was on their menu which included the famous bulls blood.

Romania

The difference between this country and Hungary was obvious right from the boarder which we crossed on the train. The scenery instantly changed. The buildings were different, as were the modes of transport, the appearance of the locals. Its hard to explain, I hope the pictures may help.

My first two nights in Romania were spent in a home stay. This I thought was going to be roughing it which I was fine about. Instead it was in a large newly built house. Every room had their own TV and bathroom. It is fair to say that I had the best feed on the trip here. I have become in love with this eggplant dip that they have here!

In my time here so far, here are some of the things I have noticed about the place.

The country is more into yellow than Hungary. So many of the buildings here are yellow as are the outfits people wear. I say people as guys also dress in yellow. Not just the top half or bottom half but the whole outfit.

Wearing socks under sandals is common place by all generations

Locals are very good at steering at you if you are doing any sort of exercise more than running.

Most television is in English with translation. This is how many of the locals learn to speak the language

Using horse and cart as means of transport is common here and they even have their own street sign.

Agriculture is big here. It is strange seeing it all being done by hand, especially hay making which is in season at the moment. The people do about 4 stacks a day. Due to it being done by hand I am finding myself having to get use to seeing people walking around towns/cities with large blades as they go off to the fields.

Due to the Roman influence here there is a large number of Italian restaurants serving pizza and pasta.

Women start wearing scarves over their head from the age of 40. At this time they also start wearing knitted jerseys all year road, long dark skirts and appear to put on about 30kgs.

Socialising here is all about the park bench. There are outside nearly every second house in villages and towns are filled with them. At night everyone comes out and sits out on them to meet up with friends and family and also to simply watch the world go by.

Budapest Part Two

2008-06-22T08:07:00.010+12:00

So this entry is going to be all about the night scene and the baths. It is probably going to be politically incorrect and bias, but those who know me would/should expect nothing less.

Night Life

Last night I experienced my first night out in Budapest after the Turkey game. To my surprise it was quiet entertaining. This was helped by me being the only girl with1o other guys. This gave me all the benefits of being looked after.

So here is what I have noticed from my time out.

While the music on the radio is reasonably up to date with what its like at home, at the clubs it certainly is not the case. The most recent song would have been from 2000. The music in general was bad. There was either really bad old pop songs (which never played fully) or Hungarian pop which sounded like Euro Pop (need I say more). The Hungarians love this music however.

Budapest clubs seem to go on forever and do not show any sign of closing. This understandably has its good and bad points. Due to being home late, my day started quiet late today.

They appear to be less sophisticated about their drinking here. when asked if they have a Pino I was looked at strangely. Apparently they either just have white, red or sparkling wine.

Outside bars are common here due to the great weather. An additional benefit to this is the outside huts they have connected to them where you can chill out next to the Dunte (river) while having a drink of whatever.

Dress code is different from home. Its hard to be polite about this. Overall the groups impression was that a lot of the people (males included) looked like they were prostitutes. The guys also thought that they acted like it too.

The Baths

The baths are one large fest of people lazying around in the sun. While it is crowded and expensive for what it is, it is certainly a good day out. Where we went there were three main outside pools, a sauna and other heated pools inside. It was really strange how cold we felt getting out of the pools (esp since it was 30 degrees). The most fun we had there was being juvenile in the wurl pool. The latest saying in the group, was "it was good, but it didn't have a wurl pool".

So here is what I noticed.

It is the latest thing to be wearing Speedos. Sadly in 90% of the cases guys really should not have been wearing them at all. In some cases it was just the wrong colour or a little too tight. Overall however it just looked plan BAD.

Equally, bikini's are the only thing worn. Again there were soo many people that should not have been wearing them. Lets just so on many occasions I wished I was able to look another way, but was unable to.

While the baths are for everyone, it is mostly only adults who go there. Children get treated with strange looks.

I was also able to notice that there appeared to be a lot of really good looking girls with a lot of not so attractive males. Maybe Budapest is not as superficial as it is at home?

Stage Two

2008-06-19T01:16:00.005+12:00

(Parliament)

So after flying on a very long (12hrs) to Germany an on overnight flight which was so basic compared to my last one. Hate to complain, but I will Lufthansa Airlines is backwards. Everyone has to watch the same movie (there are only 4 tv's) per section, the food was crappy and the flight was late. Frankfurt is a chaotic airport and annoying to go through. Not to mention them changing my flight gate three times! Of interest though is that staff bike around on old fashioned bikes from place to place. Kinda cool I thought. Anyway I made it to Budapest to find another chaotic airport. This one however did not have any immigration so no stamp :( for me, and customs were just people standing there greeting you. Anyway once outside it was a bus ride then metro to the centre of town and a quick walk to where I am staying.

Budapest

Well what can I say about this city which I've been in for nearly two days.
It is visually stunning as there is always is something to look at amassment at. The buildings here are so amassing, especially looking at from on kiwi's eye where a huge number of buildings are over a few hundred years old. The place I am staying in looks straight out onto another building which still has bullet holes in it from WW2.

I thought I was in love with this city, but have now after spending more time here realised it is lust. While everything is visually amassing and there is a lot and I mean a lot of places to see, after awhile it becomes just another building. Also there are just too many tourists here (hypercritical I know as I am one). But with all the tourist means lots of people trying to sell tours and sell you expensive food.

This city loves their statues and monuments. There is one nearly on every street and block. Lots of them have people standing in heroic stances or have lions on them. Still have not worked out the significance of the lion yet. I truly think that Budapest has more statues and monuments that all of NZ combined.

This place loves is pastry and its bread. It is hard to escape it wherever you go. Yesterday I tried a national dish which is basically a large piece of fried bread with a selection of toppings on it. Mine had a jam thing. Have to admit it tasted great, though was counting the calories with every bite.

From what I have seen, Hungarian women seem to have a thing for the colour yellow. Sometimes their whole outfit is yellow. The men on the other hand are always well dressed. You can tell the tourist, just because they are the ones in nice but casual clothes.

The Beginning

2008-06-14T16:10:00.009+12:00

Well as you can see I have made it and are now about to leave Singapore. The trip here was okay. Sometimes its good to be travelling alone as there is perks. Ie changing to a better seat cause the people you are sitting with (which are ignoring you) tv does not work so they want to sit where you are. Customs and Immigration were a bresse to get through. They even give you a lolly as you go through. Undrstanding the public transport system can be hard at first especially if you get on the wrong bus. but hey its all part of the experance right. Plus it only costed $3.80 instead of the taxi which was $12.50 each when i shared it with someome. Anyway please enjoy the read. Sorry for there not being any pics. Time is of a premimum and I dont have time to do that.

Singapore

My first blog is dedecated to the letter "S" as it appears from my 48 hours here this is truly what the place is all about.

S is for Sun. Not surprisingly there is a lot of it here. with the sun comes heat. I landed at 6:30pm into 30 degree heat. While there has been lots of rain today I think i have started to get the first stages of a tan.

S is for shopping. This is truly an understatement. only a place like this can have mall after mall for km's on end. These mall's are also about 8 story's high and are always busy, especially on Orchard Rd. I truly believe shopping here is a national pass time for the locals. So much so I wonder if they ever work. Oh and there is every type of shop here that you could ever imagine. They go right from the super cheap to the stores I did not even bother to go in as new could never afford. Ie Prada, Tiffany's etc

S is for Sales. Well this kind of links with the S above. It is officially Sale period here which means every retail shop has some sort of discount. Sales are such a big deal here that in some shops people cue to get into the store. Discounts can be as big as 70% off, though normally is around the 15-50% mark. I have to confess that I could not help but get sucked into the wonder of the sales.

S is for Shoes. There is a national obsession here about shoes. Well is the number of women's shoe stores is anything to go by and also the women you see on the street are always in the fancy shoes. I swear if my luggage and my wallet allowed it I could have spent in the thousands on shoes. There is ever type and every price. Me being constrained have only brought 5. Though 4 of them being heals, I am not too sure what I am going to do with them for the rest of the trip. Though how could i resist when i was able to get two pairs of shoes for less than NZ$15. Also the girl I was shopping with got more.

S is for safety. I managed to be walking the streets with my luggage once getting on the wrong bus and then off the right bus too early at 9pm at night. I was completely safe and people were only to happy to help me. Don't think there are too many places where you can do that. I am going to connect this letter with honesty. For example today I brought a drink for $2 with a $50 note. I was in such a hurry that i did not realise that i never got my change back. It was not until 30mins latter when i went to buy something that I realise I did. I went back for what i thought would be a futile attempt to get it back. To my surprise even though they did not remember me, I got all the money back and an apology.

S is for sky scarpers. They are honestly everywhere, or at lest they are high apartment bocks. They start right from the airport to every direction. Some how though they don't seems intrusive. Must have something to so with all the palm trees and other greenery that is everywhere. The school's even look like sky scarpers.

S is for Santossa Island. Its an Island for tourist pretty much. There is overpriced food and things to do. I however was cheap and just looked around and took pics. I did however go on the gondella to get there which was fun. Also to my surprise got to choose my own clam which was opened to reveal a pearl for free. (Mish I dont want to hear anything about me being Veggie/Vegan and this please)

S is for Sushi. There is a really cool but kinda expensive Sushi chain here. You simply sit down in funky booths and the sushi comes to you on a covayer belt. You simply take the plate that you like and eat. Each time you take a plat it registers on the computer just sitting above from you and it is added to you bill. All the sushi (except those on the red plates) are the same price so it makes it easy..Even for a fussy semi vegan like me there was a lot to choose from.

Well I think that is enough for the letter S today. Who knows the next entry might be all about the letter B as I am off to Budapeast.

GETTING BACK TO NZ

2006-07-08T11:23:00.001+12:00

My travels back to Ghana and then back home were of course a little eventful as without it, it would not have been right.

To be fair my trip to Ghana was not that bad. It was really just that I missed the Ghana vs Brazil game as my flight made us board just after first kick off and landed in Ethiopia just after the game finished. So I had to find the score out from one of the immigration staff. The only other small thing was that the bus taking me to the airport from my hotel was an hour late, so instead of getting up at 5am I could of got up at 6am and had just a little more than 5 hours sleep. I know this sounds like winning and yeah your probably right but in Ghana time I had to get up at 2am which made me have a 27 hour day.

Once in Ghana, I was the first person through immigration, though the last person to get my luggage. While I waited I thought I would re-confrim my flight home. However I quickly learnt that I did not have a flight home as the flight that was written on my ticket did not exist. Feeling very sleep deprived this news nearly did my head in. After going through customs I went with a Ghanaian who has decided he wanted to be my knight and at that time I was in no mood to argue to the Emmirates office at the airport. However surprise, surprise this was not open. Somehow my knight had a vehicle so he along with some others took me to the office in town. On soon realising that this was going to take a long time, my knight relieved himself from his duties and gave me all my gear. After a long wait (thankfully in comfortable sofa chairs) my number was called and I was quickly informed that my flight no longer existed as they do not fly now on that day and that I had been moved onto flights the following day and that they had just not thought to inform me of this small, small fact. However by taking this flight would mean that my insurance would be expired by the time I got back. I thus requested (pleaded in reality) for my flights to be a day early of my original flight instead. I was then sent on my way and informed that I had about a 50:50 chance of flying on earlier flight and should ring her in a few hours. After 2 and half hours and what would turn out to be my last time using public transport I reached to a very warm welcoming from the staff at my regular Big Millys. People ran up and gave me hugs and some even started to jump up and down.

So after spending a day half of relaxing, I was off again to the airport in a very expensive taxi compared to what it was a month ago. Once at the airport I watched the Germany vs Italy soccer game. Just as I was about to board I was able to see thousands of Ghanain's all in national coloured clothes waiting around for the "BLACK STARS" who were due to arrive back from Germany in a few hours. There was also people drumming, doing dancing and acrobatics on the tarmac. It was a great way to leave having Ghanain culture thrust upon me right up until I stepped into the airplane door. The journey from here was uneventful. Dubai was awful to be in after comming from Africa, lots of self absorbed people wearing fancy clothing in a hurry to go a shop for things that they didnt need.

Once back in NZ, in the frezzing cold I was of course detained by customs. Part of a pressent for my father was taken as I kind of forgot when getting it that NZ does not allow seeds of any sort into the country. Though the most eventful part of all of this was the illegal medication that I was unaware I was bringing into the country. It was part of a medical travel kit that I had been given from a friend while in NZ. However one of the medications was classified as a drug that you could not have without a perscription. This was need enough to bring over the superviser. Thankfully it was a small does and I still had the book that went with the kit about the medications with me, so they let me get away with it and keep the medication (they did however tell me not to try to take it out of the country again). This was however not until they tested it for LSD, as apparently the 'liquidness' of the tablets gave a good indication that the medication was really in fact LSD.

For the next few days everything went smoothly. However on the day that we were flying home, my sister and I were phoned by the airline and told our flights were cancelled and that we would now be flying 3 hours earlier. This was only 2 hours before the flight was due. With a little bit of a rushing around however we were able to just make the flight.

2006-06-16T17:58:00.002+12:00

SAFARI

(Since my pictures wont load on here, here are some a friend took. Click on the Masai Mara album link http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cututiger/my_photos)

I’m not really too sure where to begin with this, as I know most of you just want to hear about and see pictures of the animals that I saw. So yeah… The four-day safari turned out to be a five-day one. This however came at an extra cost. Apparently it is low season and doubled with the World Cup there are few people wanting to do safaris. Though when I arrived at the Messiah Mara National Park there were vans full of people everywhere. I spent most of my time with an older Italian couple that are having one last holiday before they settle down to have children, our driver Ben who was an encyclopaedia full of knowledge and out cook Alex who on the whole did the best he could with what was available.

Day One
Left Nairobi a little after 10.30am. Had a late lunch at a budget hotel restaurant in this place could Narock. Here the road prepared us for what was about to come. There were pot hols everywhere and the side of the road you drove on was determined by what side appeared to look the best. The funny part was that on one section of the road leading to the park a large sign said “Your full levies have helped improve this road” making me question how bad it was beforehand.
We arrived at the National Park around 3pm and were taken to see a Messiah village (which they charged additional for). Here we were greeted by the chiefs son who was wearing amongst him traditional clothes, a fancy cell ph on his belt, fancy Nike sneakers and watch that looked like it would of cost a small fortune. He proudly showed us his big hat that he apparently only wears on special occasions. It was from a lion that he killed when he was 21 as a sign of manhood (it is now illegal for the Messaih to kill any game animals). He then nearly forced the male traveller to wear it and pose for a photograph with him. Once inside the village he explained the layout to us and lead us over to watch some men make fire. Then he gathered up some men and got them to do a traditional dance for us (him wearing his hat at times). We were then taken into one of his two wives houses (which women make). Inside it is very dark as they only have a small window so that the mosquitos don’t get in. There was one room for the children, a cooking/sleeping room for the adults and then finally a room for the young cows to sleep in a night to keep them safe. While inside the chief’s son tried selling us a lions tooth and claw (starting at about US$22 and coming down to about US$15 very quickly). We were then shown the area where young men get circumcised (they are about 17 years at the time) and where the young women (about 14 to 16 years) get what I refer to as FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). Finally we were taken to the “market” where we were surrounded by people attempting to sell arts and crafts to us. From here we were taken directly into the National Park where we were greeted by zebras, a baboon and its young and plenty of antelope. Not much latter we had the privilege of seeing cheetah. First it was just the mother. Then she slowly walked over to a rock where two of her cubs where. It was an amazing sight and out driver informed us just how lucky we were to see them, as they are so good at hiding in the grass. Just as we were about to leave (the park closes at 6:30pm) we were informed there were a pack of lions nearby. So we were able to see about 8 lions all chilling out just before they go out and hunt for their pray. To see all this and more in just a short time was just amazing and it was almost animal sighting overload.
We were then taken to the camp, which was more advanced than I thought it would be. We actually had beds (that were comfortable), proper toilets and would you believe it hot water showers! That evening I simply had dinner, talked a little to other people there around the campfire and then settled off to bed.

Day Two
The day started off not to early thankfully. I was blessed again by being able to see cheetah up close not long after we arrived inside the park. They are just such incredible and beautiful creatures. The most incredible part of the day was seeing heard of elephants of all ages together socialising, eating and just lazing around. They just walked out in front of us, not caring that we were there. I don’t think I will ever get sick of seeing elephants. Small fact for you, did you know elephants only sleep for 5 mins a day? It was around this time that we were also able to see giraffes up close for the first time eating the leaves and communicating with each other using their ears (giraffes I have learnt are mute). Just before seeing hippos (well mainly just their ears) and a crocodile (about 3meters, so only middle age) I was able to stand on the Tanzanian and Kenyan border. For lunch we were surrounded by a flowing river with hippos not to far, but also not too close and cheeky monkeys who ate whatever we left. On the way back the camp we saw much of the same as before. Though don’t get me complacent it was fantastic even if at times there were twenty other vehicles around us watching the same animals. Once back at the camp, it was a quiet late afternoon and evening of just relaxing.

Day Three
We arrived at the park a little after 6:30am with the sun rising over the hills!! Was taken up one of the many hills in the park to see the wonderful view and also to try and comprehend how big the park actually is. On the way down we were able to see giraffe again up close. Latter in the morning in the distance we were able to see baboons (with the help of binoculars). We came back to the camp around 11am and rested till about 3pm in preparation for our “easy” walk. One of the Massia who run the camp took us up a hill (I would almost call it a mountain), which is about 2600 meters above see, level. Because we were lead to believe it was going to be an easy walk we did this with no water. Thankfully we took our time getting up there and the guy told us about a lot of the plants and their uses (all of which I have now forgotten. Once up there I have to admit the view was great as we got a great view of the Park, were able to see where a lot of the homesteads were. In the evening we went to one of the nearby lodges to watch some of the football. This lodge is considered to be on the cheaper side, as it was only US$350 a night. For what I saw of it there is no way I would have paid that price. All the 100 rooms in the place were full though, so there are obviously plenty of people who do.

Day Four
Had another early start in the park. This time I was with a group who had a Mexican woman who was obsessing about seeing a cheetah. While we were able to see the most wonderful group of lions including three adult males walking around and playing with cubs this was not enough for her. We were also able to see buffalo for the first time today up close. When it was time to leave the park about 3 hours latter, the women was really upset about not seeing the animal, especially since I had seen cheetah twice. The rest of the time was taken up by travelling to Lake Nakuru on a road that was worse by a lot than the one that had lead us the park. One 30km stretch took us just over an hour to do. Though with the great views, the very friendly locals who waved at us it was not so bad. Spent the night in a reasonably nice hotel.

Day Five
Started the day at 5:30am in the hope that we could be at the park by 6:30am, this however did not occur. Just inside the park there were plenty of monkeys and baboons over our heads in the trees. As we started to approach the lake we saw a rhino on its own just standing around! In the background to this there were literally tens of thousands of flamingos (which from afar make the lake look pink) and albatross. Once at the lake we were able to get out of the van and walk around. Being outside and surrounded by such wonderful creatures who are mostly free to do what they want is a great feeling. Once back in the van, we saw dirty buffalo up close (they were almost eyeing us). Then it was on to seeing some giraffes (these ones were different from the ones at Massaih Mara as they have white socks. Fact time, did you know that the darker the colours giraffe’s patches are, the older it is? As we drove up to Buffalo Lookout we were able to see many, many monkeys do allsorts of monkey things. Once at the lookout we were greeted with three different views, the lake with all the flamingos, and the plans with animals scattered all over or the green forests. Once up there, I was so overcome by it all, I really just did not want to leave it. Once back down and watching some baboons in the trees right next to us we went leopard sighting hunting after being informed that they were nearby. Sadly after a 30min look we were unable to see any. So we figure we must have been about 2mins too late. Meaning I got to see four out of the five, Big Five. Sadly after leaving the park at about 11am I was put on a shuttle after being frisked and bag searched by to Nairobi.

2006-06-05T02:32:00.000+12:00

THE ROAD TO KENYA

Well my journey officially started on Friday when I left Ejura and struggled but managed to get my passport with me new and expensive visa that will allow me to re enter Ghana at the end of the month. This was not before getting by pack and hence my clothes stained with fish oil from the tro tro that I was travelling in.

After spending a quiet night in Kumasi, I left I though with plenty of time on the 7am bus to Accra to pick up my tickets. This belief however proved wrong as instead of the 5hrs it should take it took over 7 1/2 hrs as we were in road works for an a lot more than an hour and in that time managed to do no more than 2 km. I arrived in Accra to be over charged by a taxi to the travel agent to finally get my tickets. This however did not make him happy as he thought he was taking me somewhere else. Once there I got him to wait for what I said would be 5mins max. However it took many phone calls and a lot of time to get my tickets as they could not get the tickets out of the safe. By the time they did, the driver was feed up and just gave me my very heavy pack (cant believe that it weighs 20kg as I have got rid of so much stuff and have not brought gifts yet) and made us walk the rest of the way. After stopping for an over priced pizza thing (my first meal of the day) I made my way with a friend to the most run down and over priced room I have stayed in so far. It was not clean and the bathroom smelt oh so bad. On the positive side of things I have learnt that I am going to be meeting up with a cousin that I have not seen in I don’t know how long in Kenya as she is by random coincidence going to be there the same time as me. I find this part all very exciting.

Sunday morning was filled with finding us a new room for the night. The afternoon was finally time for me to chill out and relax before my big flights the next day.

I started the day off way to early as expected, even though I tried to take my time. I was at the airport by 8.30am and I was not due to fly till 12.40. The airport itself was so empty, more so than the local terminal at Palmy or New Plymouth. So we went off for a really expensive and bad service breakfast at the airport restaurant. By 10am I was able to start getting my luggage processed. The flight to Addis Ababa was fine. Nothing fancy.

Arrived at just before 9pm so organised chaos. There I was informed that I would not be spending 12hrs in the airport, but would instead be getting a room at a hotel in town. This however took so long to organise that I was not on the road before 11.30 and I was getting picked up at 6.30am! On the way we drove through the red light district and some other not to nice areas of town. This however did not bother me as much as what was about to happen. As we were driving something hit the side of the mini bus we were all in. A little latter I learnt that this was a person. This I learnt by seeing the driver, a police offer (with a big gun) and several other men holding a man down on the ground in the middle of the road divider thing. These people then started kicking the man and then what is worse I think, throwing rocks at the person. The other people on the bus did not seem to mind what they were witnessing (they were mostly African), I however felt sick. The driver then showed the guy the damage he had caused and then placed him on the bus with us! The man started kicking the door in. You could tell he was mentally unwell or high/drunk. After members of the bus stating yelling, the driver took the guy off the bus and got someone to watch him. We continued, well so I thought. After going a little further up the road, the driver found some police offers and they with their big guns came aboard the bus. We then went back and found the person. They then chassed him and beat him to the ground. As we left, the police were standing authoritatively over the man. So all in all, it was not such a nice welcoming to Ethiopia. The hotel I stayed in was nice, especially in comparison to all the places I have been staying since I left NZ.

Managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Surprised actually how nice it was. Took the short 2hr flight to Nairobi airport, which is not so flash. Proceeded through the easiest customs and immigration process since being away!!! It makes me wonder why Ghana takes so long and makes it soo difficult. I was then picked up by Margaret, who quickly showed me around Nairobi and project where she and her husband do their work.

2006-06-02T02:47:00.000+12:00

MONEKYS AND HAIR

This weekend I was finnally after three attempts to see monkeys upclose. I even had one eat out of my hand. Though it did urinate while doing this, thankfully not on me. The trip there as per usual was adventrous. It involved getting completly covered in red dirt while we travelled to destination one. Once there, the three of us are certain that this place has the highest number of mentally ill people in Ghana, or maybe the tro tro station is where they all hang out. Thankfully the uncomfortable tro tro did not take long to get going and after a stop at the petrol station we were on our way to Boabeng Fema Monkey reserve. The tro thankfully aslo dropped us off right outside.

The monkeys were everywhere and whie a lot ran away when they saw or heard you there were always I few that would let you get up close. The place also had some really nice interesting trees that we all could not help but be toursits and get our photos taken inside. While there we also managed to get taken to the monkey grave sight. There is a special person responsible for making sure that every monkey who dies gets a proper burial. This is because the monkeys are considered children of God.

Since it was a Saturday however there will little (well we saw no) tro tros heading back. So in the middle of the day we walked a lovely hot 8km to the end of the next viallage. Here we managed to fit 6 passengers in a taxi the size of a fiat for the 12km trip the crazy towns tro tro station. Though I sam not copmplaining as the whole trip was worth it.

On another end I got my hair done this week. It is the latest fashion in Ghana and all the women in Accra wear it. So you know me always wanting to be at the top end of fashion I had to follow suit. Well actually I taught I was going to get it braided like last time, but becuase I made one comment on how I liked one of the teachers hair, the style changed dramatically. My haid is now black with bright red chunks. It is also short. The best way I can describe it, is that it is like a short bob style. The Ghanains all think it looks "soo good" or " it fits me well". I am still unsure. Oh so you know it is all fake hair. My hair has been all tightly braided against my head and it is used as the base for the fake hair to be sewn on top.

2006-05-26T00:03:00.000+12:00

MY NEW PLACE

Ejura is a country town about two hours north of Kumasi in the ashamed Region. It is the best place in Ghana and maybe West Africa for growing Mangos. My reason for being there is a school which is run by the same org as the one I came with. My intention was to come and just hang out for a few days with the volunteers there. This has since changed to basing myself there until next weekend.

one of the classrooms

The school runs from nursery to JSS (Jnr Secondary School). The teachers all teach subjects rather than a class so after every period you move on to another class. There are about 250 students at the school. Oh, yeah the school is run by a Dada from India who only wears bright orange. A Dada is a male who belongs to the Anada Magra (while they don't say it, its kind of like a nice cult). Compared to my last school the children are way more behaved and the bad classes are better than my ok ones back at Cosmic. The school has so many resources for the teachers to use and past volunteers keep sending resources back here after they leave.

I live in a house, its really more like a building with connected rooms. Everyone has there own room. We all have electricity. The kitchen has a fridge and oven!!!!! And even a blender. Plus there is running water. We share the complex with 5 orphaned boys (some have parents though they are unable to care for them) who are between 10 and 15 years old. They are very polite though still very young boy and children like which means there is always noise. Since Dada is never really at the house the children generally have a free reign and are able to do within reason what they like. It is sad that they have no parental figure really in their lives.
While being at the school I have been fortunate enough to be attend seminars on how to write lessons plans Ghanaian style. This however also involved other things which included child discipline. Me, being me, I was unable to keep my mouth quiet on some of the things the man from the Education Commission was saying and to the other volunteers delight (not sure what the teachers there thought) spent about 15mins challenging his beliefs on physically punishment and discipline in general.

The result of my debating however was being invited to go round and see how some of the public schools in the area work. I did this yesterday morning. It was really overwhelming to see what some of the conditions children learn in and teachers are forced to teach in. The govt introduced free education for all last year. Since then the rolls at public schools have doubled, though the govt has not given the school any resources to cope with it and there are not enough teachers to cope even if there were more classrooms. The country is short of about 20,0000 teachers a year. There are classes that are smaller than those at home with 100 plus children in them. Though the teachers are all qualified I really don't know how they cope. Many of the classes especially the ones for the younger ones are not even in rooms. The whole experiences was a real eye opener for me.

2006-05-15T02:44:00.000+12:00

CHURCH

Today I went to church with three other Obruni. One of them is a regular there as he is doing a type of research based internship with the Catholic Chuch in Tamale. The other two are Canadian nursing students who are doing a month placement at the teaching hospital in Tamale. The chuch itself appears to quiet flash for Ghanain standards. All those who attended appear to be wearting their best clothes with the women all wearing studding traditional clothes . I however just made sure that I was wearing a skirt and top that appeared clean.

The mass itself took about 2 hours though 30mins of it was taken up with notices. There was a lot of singing which was lead by either the youth choir or the traditional choir. The traditional choir were fantastic. Lots of drumming combined with native instruments that make sounds simular to the ziolophone and shackers. Both choirs had their own uniforms. The children even sung a special song for the concregation which was great.

The service itself appears to follow very clossly with what I am use to at home and I even found myself mouthing many of the words that were said. The priests sermon however was very related to life here in Africa which was nice to see.

Durring the notices the four of us were suddenly asked to come up and introduce ourselves. I did this as quickly as possible. As we were sitting down the lady reading the notices comments that if you could not understand our accents then she is sorry, but that they have to remember that we often have trouble with theirs.

On the whole it was a really nice experience. Im glad that I stayed an unplanned extra day in Tamale for it. The people were really friendly and so proud (if that is the right word) that we came.

2006-05-14T02:00:00.000+12:00

DEVELOPMENTS

Since my last update there have been a few excitting adventures occuring. My friend Karin arrived in Tamale and we spent a day or so just chilling out and sorting out a few odds and ends. The big one for me was paying for my ticket to Kenya. Booking the ticket was easy enough, paying for it took about 2 days. As the deal was only avaliable at a travel centre and no travel centres here except anything other than cash. The bank however will not let you take out more than US$500 a day. To do this takes about 40mins of your time, plus all this other additional stuff that you have to do when you do not have your passport on you and only a NZ Drivers licence. The money is given to you in a black plastic bag. I had to do this process twice. Then I learn that the banks exchange rate is a lot less (about 6 US cents) less than the one the travel agents require. This requires going back to the bank again... In the end I had to take a photo of the money stacked up as it was at least 10cm high when all stacked up because the cedi here only goes up to 20,000 and you need 45 of them to make US$100. But so yeah anyway Im heading off to Kenya for about 3 weeks next month and are comming back to Ghana for 3 days before flying back to NZ.at the park

My other adventure has been going to Mole Nat Park. It is a wildlife reserve est in 1957. It is over 48,000 square km. This invovled getting up at 4am, climbing over fences to get out of our premises and only just getting seats on a bus as we were Obruni. thankfully we did not need to walk the 6km walk to the park from the town as a employee vechile came past. So instead we traveled on a trailler inbetween sacks of some sorts. The service at the place was really bad and the food and accomodation were over priced...though it was a fantastic experience. I had wort hogs wondering around me when I arrived. I also got to wake up and walk out of my room to see elephants just walking around outside. at one stage one of them was only like a meter away from where I was standing. I swear it is the best way to start a day. The guided walk was also great getting to see the elephants in their natural habitat. I was also able to see monkeys, crocodiles, wonderful birds and antelope on my two hour walk around. This all for only just over 1 dollar American.the mosque

Later in the day I saw what is meant to be the oldest mosque in West Africa. Though apparently this is said about a lot of mosques. This one was build in the 1400's and is made of mud clay and sticks. It is still in working order today and it used by the 100% muslim community there. Apparently they will not allow any Christian churches to exsist in Larabanga.

2006-05-09T21:43:00.000+12:00

ON THE ROAD TO TAMALE

I arrived in Tamale yesterday afternoon, which is the captial city of the Eastern Region. Compared to all the other regional capitals I have been this one diffinatly has a different feel about it. There is a large Muslim presence here. There are motorbikes and bikes everywhere. There is diffinatly more of a rural feel about it also.

Tamale taxi station in the centre of the town.

The last few days have been challenging ones for me.... and if I do say so myself I am very proud of myself for making it through without any emotional breakdowns. You see, the route I took to get to Tamale is diffinatly the road less travelled. Most Obruni take the Kumasi route to get here. I however took the the Eastern route, this route it is strange to see a car. Where water cost nearly double the price as to anywhere else. Where there is no paved roads, 95% of places do not have any electricity, where peoples houses were made out of mud brick with thatched roofs or were simply made out of thathed flax, where I could say I was the only Obruni there. By going this route I was very much in the hands of the locals. For the places that I went to get to Tamale were not on my map as I was forced to take detours. Locals would however take special care of me and makesure I had the "best seat" avaliable, that I was in the shade when I waited and was feed. It was not uncommon for me to wait for anything between 2-5 hours to wait for a car or truck (I use these words losely) to fill up. You just have to sit and wait as you had no idea of how long it would take to fill up and if you went anywhere it could leave without you. If I did not have a book to read, I have no idea what I would have done.

The cars that I have travelled in of late have been very scary on NZ standards. Some cars would need to be jump started to go and the doors would only open from one side. Somewere large convoy trucks where people would sit in the back and on the metal bars that were above the trucks. Others were tro tro's that continued on travelling knowing that they had a bunktered tyre. All of these vechiles were on dirt roads that had large pot holls left from the the Large Yam trucks. Sometimes I think to myself, that doing road safety before comming here was really not a good idea as I could just be nieve about some of the risks that I am taking to get to where I need to be.

On my travels however I have meet some amazing Ghanain's who have shared their stories with me, given me insights into how this country works which I dont think I would have gained if I travelled with someone else or taken the different route. I think I have been trully privelleged to see how rural Ghana works. It also makes me appreciate being in Tamale a lot more.

Tomorrow or Thursday a friend (who arrives here today) and I are off to Mole National Park. The bus leaves here at 5am so it will be an early start. Though I am normally awake by 5.30am anyway and find it hard to sleep in till 6am! We plan to spend a few days there before we both head off in different directions again. Not that I am really that certain where that is yet... but I'm sure it will all work out in the end as it always has so far.

Other side notes
For those who know me and my way of packing , I think this may surprise some, I am travelling (this is for 3 weeks) in a day pack (which is the size of a school bag). It is not even entirely full!!! and I think I over packed as I dont need 2 skirts and 2 pairs of trousers. Additionally, if I did not have all the cord for my camera, phone and MP3 player I think my bag would only be half full.
I am really loving to read... If this is the only thing that remains when I get home from this trip (which Im sure it wont be) then I think I can call this a success.
I have managed to write in my dairy every single day since being in Ghana... normally dairies do not last more than a week or so.

Apparently my accent has completly changed. No Obruni that I meet would ever think that I came from NZ. Though they really cant think of where I could come from. Here is hoping that it goes back to normal pretty fast when I arrive home.
I now have 2 names. To the Ghanains now I always introduce myslef as Kay. the name Kylie is proving to be too difficult for them. Instead I get names like Hayley, Kylief, Killy and other names that I have no idea how to pronounce or spell.

So anyway this is enough about me for now...

2006-05-09T21:32:00.000+12:00

THE LAST LITTLE WHILE

I am currently in my 2nd day at Ho which is the capital of the Volta
Region (North of Accra). I managed to accidentally while completely
lost, hungry (had not had a decent meal (something more than bread in
nealy a day and a half, which mum by the way you did not just read) I
found some obruni (from the USIA) at a juice place on a street. I
asked them if they knew where I want to go. They said they lived here
and it was close. on the way there, they informed me that if i wanted
i could just stay with them and their family (five children all under
11yrs) in their guest house. So thought sure why not. so here i am
sitting in their lounge typing to you (though i have been kicked off 5
times at least already). The family are missionaries and have been
based here for 6 years and have no plans on going back to the States
in the near future.

Before I got here however I was in Akasombo (71km South of Ho). This
took 4 tro tros instead of one as the tro tro which i got on the first
time took me to the wrong place even though i checked and rechecked
that it was the right tro tro several times. thankfully though the tro
tro did not take me tooo far from where I wanted to go. The place is
small though it has some amazing views. The Lake Volta is the largest
man made lake in the world. There is also a stunning bridge there

that seems so out of place in this rural fishing village.(The famous bridge which the govt is very proud of, it is actually illegal to take pictures of it.)

Today, I went in search of monkeys and antelope. However all i gained
from the trip was seeing lots of butterflies, one monkey which was
very far away and moved so fast that i was unable to take a picture,
muddy feet, dehydrated from the hear and 2 long in the middle of the
day walks back to the village. though all in all it was a good way to
fill in the day and it was nice to be surrounded by soo much green.
Apparently i came to late in the day to see the monkeys as they were
all hiding from the heat and humans. I also gained a lot of
information about how Ghana works especially in this region as a I
travelled with a local guy who lives with the family.

Am planning on going to see water fulls tomorrow....at least I know
that they will be there as it generally is never the wrong time in the
day to see them. People I have spoken to say they are stunning and
that you are able to go swimming underneath some of them. So here is
hoping that all this goes well.

Am leaving Ho on Saturday to head further north. Though from here the
roads get pretty bad. no more paved roads for me well at least till
Tuesday when I will (with luck) get to Talme which is Ghana's 3rd
biggest town. This will lead me (on a 5am tro tro) to Mole national
park where I will see lions, (maybe) tigers and elephants (oh my).
the park is very large and is dived up into three sections. A friend
that I will be meeting there are planning on spending a good few days
here before we continue to travel our own separate ways.

know for some side notes....
Sadly the person who I said nearly drowned on May day, did in fact die
on the way to the hospital. from what i can piece together he was a
Ghanaian travelling in the area with two obruni. The local people
however did not seem bothered by this and partied and swam on the
beach for the celebrations like nothing had even happened.

The GA region which is greater Accra has a ban on music this month (we
think it starts on the 5th). apparently we have to give the goads
some time to rest, it also has something to do with harvesting. Those
caught playing music that can be heard from a eletrical device will
have it removed from the police (the chiefs have power over them).
Drumming is banned, so people who want to play have to go away into a
forest like area and play their drums with sheets over them so that no
one will hear them. if they are heard then the drums will be removed
and they may get cut. Ghana without music is such a scary thought....
it is like having NZ without rugby (not that i am that greater fan as
most people know).

In the weekend I was in a Liberian Hip Hop music video (Liberians are
common in this area as their is a refugee camp in Kasoa which has
about 15,000 people). I am not too sure how that happened. I was
just sitting on the beach people asked if a girl I was sitting with if
we would mind them filming. We agreed thinking we would be in the back
ground. However we had staring roles. we were matched with Liberian
guys and we had to pretend they were our boyfriends... thankfully this
was just holding hands while walking down the beach. so yeah I have
mad e my music video debut.... they want us back again to do another
one in the future. they are meant to be sending us the tapes.

Well I think this is a long enough email. I'm off to try and find a
pav recipe that I can make for dessert on Friday. The family is
fascinated by NZ as they know only small small about our country

2006-04-21T04:00:00.000+12:00

Kumasi

This week (well nearly two weeks ago now) Weike and I headed off to Kumasi. It is about 4 and a half to 6 hours drive away. More if the tro tro of bus breaks down which is common. It is the second largest city to Accra in Ghana with just over 1 million people. It is however is a lot cleaner and has a more posititive feel to it than Accra. Though some of my Ghanian friends think I saw a differnt Kumasi than the one they saw. Either way I liked the place.

Kumasi is the Capital of the Ashanti people. They are one of the two main tribal groups in Ghana and also parts of West Africa. This place had a lot of power up until the 1800's where the British really started to assert control. Because of this there is a lot of history which surrounds the place including a special Golden Stool which the head "chief" had in their possession though was never aloud to sit on as it would bring bad luck.

Did little in Kumasi as are planning on going back. Saw a lovely Cultural Centre. Went to the largest outdoor market in West Africa. We only lasted 10mins though as it was very narrow, crowded, overwellming at times and disorrientating. I did come out with a pair of slippers (jandals) for 7,000 cedis though (just over one NZ dollar). Weike come out with over 100 coffee toffee which she loves for 8000 cedis.

Spent one day at Lake Botswami. It is not too far from Kumasi and it really stunning. I think it compares to the lake in Queenstown. Though the sad thing about this is that we were cornered into paying two seperate entry fees (one in the taxi there) and one where we arrived. Additonally the locals all expect you to just give them money and they are constantly hounding you. Got a lot of exercise this day with Weike and I walking more than 10km with packs (Hope that makes you happy mum).

It is sad to say but one of the best parts of staying in Kumasi was the accomodation (which was on the cheap side of our normal stays, about NZ$5). We had large single comfortable beds that were clean and had a pillow. The power always worked as did the running water. We had a fan. Though overall it was the working hot water showers that just made the trip. Especially since both of us had no idea they had them.

2006-04-13T22:47:00.000+12:00

Kokrobite beach outside Big Millys

Big Millys

KOKROBITE

This place is just a little away from where I am based and the volunteers spend most of the weekends there. We stay at this place call Big Millys which is our little piece of paradise, sand, surf, mostly nice locals, interesting tourists, good food!!!! and convienant. It plays live music on the weekends.

This morning while sleeping in the dorms I was awoken by yelling... it was about 4 am. I at the time thought in not so nice words "please be quiet I'm trying to sleep". Though on getting on this morning I learnt that something big had gone down and felt bad for what I was thinking.

Here is the story as I know it... some of the facts depending who is telling the story are different. In the weekend in a village not far from Kokrobite two solders were killed and one had his hand cut off. This was a result of an early morning raid on a house. The reasons for the solders being there are different, one is about a relsationship gone wrong and the man wanting money (they were not in uniform), the other was that is was solders on offical business but the people of the house thought that it was robbers pretenting to be with the millitary (this had happened in the past). So on Monday a few of my mates were on the beach and saw people running frantically along the beach and saw all the shop quickly shut. This is when they learnt the story about the solders. Apparently the army had come in looking for the people who were responsible for the harming and killing of soldiers. This morning the police came with trucks and took apparently anyone they could find, men women and children to the police station. In the hope that they will find the people responsible or someone will confess. This will sadly be done no doubt by deprieving the people of food and water and also by physically abusing the people. It was very quiet around the place today with no one too sure what is going to happen next.

2006-04-11T03:39:00.000+12:00

This is Eva. She is my fav child there. (Sorry it is the wrong way around)
EDIT HEIDI: Fixed it for you. Happy Easter :)

THE SCHOOL

This is the monthly report that I submitted as part of being the volunteer coordinator at Cosmic. Thought you guys might find it interesting to see what it is really like here. Please read it and now that I do enjoy my time there, though it is just challenging. The children are all (well 90 percent of them) are great on an individual level.

A new building has started. Though little has been done on it in tallest few weeks with only the foundations being lade.All the buildings have started to be fitted with plugs and lightbulbs so electricity which will run off a generator is now not too far off. Though this is in Ghanaian time however!

This month saw a total of 5 volunteers at the project. Rebecca left early on. I arrived and Madona came a few days after me for 3 Weeks. Weike has started to take a more backward role as she leaves soon.

A new teacher started this month to teach Class One. The children arriving a great time respecting him. Weike who was once the primary teacher for that class is noticing how some of the children are aggressive behaviorally and academically. It is fair to say that the volunteers and also Madam herself are not that happy with his current performance. It is not certain yet if he will be with us next term.

The children in KG which is primarily taught by Ley at the moment are showing great improvement. She has developed a tight schedule, clear rules and guidelines that the children on the whole are responding to. This includes the use of time out for beating (hitting and hurting other students). Her main issue now is making sure that students from other classes are not disturbing hers.

nursery is continuing to be a struggle with a large number of young children in a small room. It is not helped that all the children have very different needs and it is impossible to cater for them. I have found times in when teaching here that I just want to scream. This class certainly tests my patience to the extreme.

School is about to go into holidays for three weeks and will resume about the 8th of April. The children are all looking forward to "Our Day" which is the last day of term next week. It is meant to be like a big party.

2006-04-03T07:14:00.000+12:00

THE LOCALS

This blog will not be as long as first thought as the power suddenly went out before and I lost everything that I had written.

So yeah, whenever you go outside your accomodation here, you are on display. There is no way of trying to blend it. The children frequently yell over and over again "OBRUNI" (white person). The adults can do this to, though not so much. Instead they yell "hello", "How are you?" Which you always say "fine". Often though guys stop and wait for you when they see you walking. They then stop you or start walking with you. A common coversation goes like this.
G:Hello
ME: Hi
G:How are you?
Me: Im fine
G: what is your name?
Me: Kylie
G: That is a real lovely name. Where are you from?
Me:NZ
G: NZ? (those who know it will say) far, far away
Me: Yes, very far.
G: how long have you been here?
Me: (time away)
G: So how long are you here for?
Me: Im in Africa for about 4 months
G: Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: No
From here it can take two directions, why I dont have a boyfriend and if I am interesting in a Ghanian boyfriend. In reality thought all the guys appear to want is for me to be thier friend or their special friend. It is really weird but they actually ask you "Can you we be friends? I really like people like you (though they never say what like you is like)" They then want your email and or ph number no matter what answer you give them.
Other Questions I get asked are "are yiou Christian?" "do you read the Bible or go to church?" Most of the time they do not like the answers I give them. Some then try to convert me or say that they can not be friends with people like me then.

When walking with a camera locals often stop you as ask you to "flash them" (take a picture of them). Normally I oblige and then quickly show them the picture. Later if I do not like the picture I simply delete it. It sounds harsh but otherwise I would have half my pics of random people possing that i have no idea who they are.

Being touched is also common. People simply come up to you and touch you and then at times quickly run away. It seems that somehow they think our skin will feel a lot different to theirs. Ghanians are very touchy people however though. They will often touch your arm when asking if you understand something they are saying, doing you a favour or at times for what appears to be no apparent reason. They will also just take you by the hand and try to lead you places.

Ghanians are bad at giving directions. They are very keen to help, even if they are unsure of where the place you are looking for is. They almost see your asking for help as some type of honor. Never ask them if something is "this way" and point to a direction as they will always say yes even if it is not. When asking how far away something is they will always say "small small" even if it is 20 -40min walk away. I guess time is just not as important to them as it is to us obruni.

Ghanains are very free people. They tend to hide very little and are not self consciuos. IT is certainly something that empresses me about them. When music plays they will dance anywhere or just start singing not caring who is around or what other people might think. they also talk very bluntly about topics that we would often not discuss, or do so in a lot more detail than we do at home.

Ghanians love their cell phones. everyone has one. Billboards are everywhere for them. If you dont have a cell then you only need to walk 20mts and you will see a space to space place on the street where you can make calls.

2006-03-24T04:25:00.000+12:00

Cape Coast.

Last weekend Myself and two other volunteers went to Cape Coast. It is about 120km North of Kasoa where I am based. I went there is style. Tro Tro. This meant being squeezed up against other people for just over 2 and a half hours. In this time I have never seen so many diversions or pot hols. Though it all added to the ride.

Cape Coast was once called the Gold Coast and was once the capital of Ghana until 1876. The place is emphamis (hope that is spelt right) for many things. One, that it had the first university in the country. Two, is the great views and golden sands (these however are very very dirty and smell sooo sooo bad). Three, sadly for the base of the largest slave trade in the world.

THE SLAVE TRADE
The slave trade which is also known by many other names was resonsible for about 60 million Africans being removed from thier homes. Of this less than a 1/4 made it to the new lands. They either died on thier way to the dungins (they had to walk), in the Dungins or on the ships. This means that about 12 to 20 million slaves made it to thier new lands which were all around Europe, some to USA, and South America. This would take about 5 weeks and it was not unusual to lose about 50% of those abroad. Chiefs were involved in the slave trade by offering not only their slaves from war but also their own. In return they got 1 gun for every women and 3 for every man that made it to the Dungins. The slave trade offically ended in 1807 by the British. It took several more years however for all other countries to follow suit.

CAPE COAST CASTLE

Cape Coast Castle which was orginally built for the purpose of transporting gold was built in 1662 by the Sweds. It then changed hands to the Dans in 1665. The British then had it after this and manage to secure it until 1876. The place held about 1000 slaves at anyone time. They came from Mali. Burkina Faso, Tago and many many more. The castle held about 5,000 slaves annually. The castle had sections for women and men. Both were very dark and had no toilet facilities. Put simply it was just damp concrete. Here the salves would have to stay for up to 3 months while they waited for their ship to arrive. While inside they were chained to about 20kg balls ( I know that is not the right word, my mind has gone dead). They were feed about once or twice a week. It was common for the women to be rapped by the General who was there. He would stand on his balcony and get the women to stand outside. He would then choose his woman. She was cleaned and given some food so that she would not collapse. AFter this she was often rapped a further 10x by members of the Generals staff. She would then be put back in the Dungin. When the shipped arrived, all surviving slaves were made to walk to the "Gate of no Return" It was not until 14 years ago did the decendent chiefs of those invovled in the slave trade make an appology. A plark on one of the walls now indicates this.

ELMINA CASTLE

Elina Castle is about 12km away in the town of Elina and was built by the Portregues. The town is a fishing town and has about 20,000 people. The castle is much older and was built in about 1490(I know it is over 500 years old and the oldest building in Africa anyway and it was started in 1481). It also I think looks a lot more like a traditional castle. This castle too, went through many holders in its time. The slave trade history is very simular. From what I saw however the coniditons for the slaves were worse than those at Elimina. One of the differences were was that if a female slave got pregnant and had the child she would be put up in a nice place and looked after by Dutch when they were in control which is now an overpriced resturant.

THE RIDE HOME
Never try to eat on a sunday in Cape Coast. Nothing is open as everyone is at church. In the whole day before tea I had about 400ml of water, a frozzen yoghurt and that was it. So this made the journey home a lot harder to handle. It took us about 30 mins plus some to find the right station to go to, as everyone was telling us a differnt place. then we got our tickets (which is strange as we have never had tickets before). Found out the tickets was for a tro tro that was way to full so we did not want to get on. Our tickets were just taken away from us, with ous standing there. Lucky the person who did this simply on sold them to other people and we had to go and get more tickets. somehow for the same price we took a bus back. It was comfortable and even had a tv which they played two African movies. Pretenter 2 and Choice. Both of which I would be happy never to see again. But at least now i can say I have watched African movies.

But yeah. Cape Coast overall was interesting. It was very dirty and depressing looking often. I changed my mind on liking it over the 3 days we were there. Kakum (Protected forrest) which I have not writen about was fantastic as I loved walking on the canopys 300 mtrs above the ground. If ever in Ghana it is certainly a must.

2006-03-19T12:15:00.000+12:00

Edit from Heidi

Hi everyone, it's Heidi here. You may have noticed that I've been tootooing with Kylie's blog - just making some stuff a little better.

Comments
You can now comment on Kylie's posts, which is a great way to keep in touch with her. Down at the bottom of any posts, you will see a link that says "add a comment". It will take you to a page where you can add your comment. Click the circle that says "other" and enter your name (and webpage if you wish). At the bottom before you press 'publish' there will be an image with letters and numbers on it in green writing. You must enter this code into the "Word Verification" box before your comment will be published. This is so that Kylie does not have to moderate all her comments, and so that you will not be seen by blogger as a spammer. It's really simple, just type in the code exactly as you see it, and then press publish. The only downer with these comments is that you cannot link to pictures, which is a downer when you want to do what I've done below.

If you have your own blog, there is also permalinks there so you can link to your site. (if you're a blogger, you will know what I mean - if not don't worry).

And you can also email kylie's posts to anyone you know who might be interested - just click the envelope at the bottom of the relevant post.

And last but not least, Kylie take care of yourself, send us lots of emails and post lots on your blog, let me know if you want me to host any pictures for you, and also

Lots of Love
Heidi :0)

2006-03-17T04:59:00.000+13:00

GHANA FACTS

Since a lot of people have been asking me general questions about this country that I am in, today's blog will be focussed on covering basic facts that I hope you will find useful.

Firstly, Ghana is in West Africa it is surrounded by the following countries

Cote de Ivorie on the left
Burkina Faso above
Togo on the right

This can be seen in the map above.

Ghana is 239,000 sq km. This makes it a little smaller than New Zealand. It has however a population of over 22 million people. The country is dived up into 10 main regions which you will be able to see the main three regions on the map above. Accra which is the capital is the most densly populated area with between 4 -5 million people.

Ghana became a domocratic country in 2000 after years of dictatorship. The country became indepent 49 years ago on March 6th. While this is the case there is still a lot of curruption that goes on. They currently have 200 members of parliment.

This is the Ghanian flag

The main source of income is Argiculture which makes up 40 percent of the domestic economy. The largest of these are gold and cocoa (though I have seen no trace of this yet). The currency in use here is the cedi. There is 9000 cedi to a US$. For this you can buy about three bottles of 300ml coke, or 27 plastic bags full of futered water for example.

The offical language is English. There are two main families of Ghanain langauges. The ones spoken mostly around me is Twi (pronouced twee) which is spoken in the south of Ghana. Here are some phrases that I expect you to learn (he he)

wo te sen? - how are you?
Bra - Come here (said to children)
Koh - Go away (said to children)
Mede as - thank you

Hope this basic information helps. I promise to tell you more at a latter date.

2006-03-11T06:14:00.000+13:00

WHAT IS IN A NAME?

As yu may know Ghana is a very religios country. This can be seen with the many many churches that are around and also in shop titles, on taxi and Tro TRo. To let you get some idea of what I mean here are some that I just found on my way to Accra today.

The Lord is my Sheppard Engineering
If not God Forex Beuru
Everlasting Taxi
Innocent Blood Tro Tro
Beleive in Jesus Ltd
Jesus Cares Motors
King of Kings Motors
In God We Trust Motor
Jesus brings life hair saloon
If not God Pharmacy

Not quiet in the same category, but still interesting was the "Dont Mind Your Wife Cafe" which I saw at the International Trade Fair.

So maybe if we start running out of names at home (NZ) we could borrow some of these, what do you think?

I'll continue t o update you on interesting titles throughout my stay here.

Transport and Roading.

2006-03-09T06:32:00.000+13:00

BASIC TRAVEL 101

The key way to drive in Ghana is to use your horn. This is done to tell pedestrians to get out of your way and to tell people your are passing them. There are no passing lanes in Ghana that I can see, so you pass whenever you think there is room while using the horn. This makes driving an adventure wherever you go.

If you do not have a car of your own which most people don't there are three main ways of travel apart from your feet.
Tro Tro (minivan type of thing) which is the easiest to access most of the time and very cheap (no more than 2000 cedi (about 20c USA) to go more than 5km. While there are certain stops for this, there are no signs, so you have to be a local to start with so you know where to catch them and need to pick up the correct hand signals to use which indicate where you want to go. Being Oberne (white) however helps as they will stop nearly anywhere for us.
The next is the bus. This is used mainly between areas and costs 1000 cedi to (just over US$1). On here it common for there to be someone selling something (anything) and they talk and they talk (though not in English so I have no idea what they say). Having church on the bus is also common and nearly everyone on the bus joins in at the end with a prayer.
Then there are taxis who will never admit that they do not know where they are going. They range in quality though none has seat belts. The rates are agreed upon before you go anywhere which is great! The drivers like home will never admit if they do not know where they are going, so your short trips can end up being quiet a bit longer.