
This blog is a collection of random stories, anecdotes and thoughts in general. I started it back in September 2004 when my lifestyle as a wanderer began with an exchange trip to France. As the people, places and shenanigans blur together this blog is as much a tool to remind myself of what I have done and who I have met as it is to inform my friends and family that I am, in fact, still alive.
Monday, May 25, 2009
And now for something completely different

Preparing for NSW
Friday, May 15, 2009
Island Hopping
In fact, keeping in mind I had little to no plan and ignoring the fact I had a massive suitcase, several large jackets, thermal socks and a laptop; this was the most backpacker-esque 'Wanderer' trip I have done in a long time.
While waiting for my flight down to the island I met an English guy named Sean. After a few minutes of talking we found out we had more or less the same plan and decided to try to find a place that night. What started out as the exchange of a few words turned into 10 days of financially efficient craziness.
We dumped our stuff in our hotel room and headed out to the bars. In reality: Koh Samui is a little seedy in terms of the nightlife. Hundreds of sleezy Thai girls clawing at the white tourists that come into the bars. They start to get a bit inventive with their approach after a while, jumping on people like monkeys, flashing their expensive implants and... playing connect 4? you name it. Not really my scene but we managed to have some fun. It really hit home that I was in Thailand when I was constantly harassed by lady-boys on the walk home from the bars at 3 in the morning. They drive up and down the main street on their mopeds looking for unsuspecting tourists to take home and... my imagination didn't go much further than that but hey, at least they're honest: "Hey sweety, come back to my place!" "Do you have a penis?" "Well, yes, but look at these!" "Well they're very nice and props to your surgeon but no thanks."
For pretty much the same money we managed to get ourselves a gorgeous room with fantastic airconditioning, nice beds, clean, tv, great bathroom and a balcony with ocean views and an amazing hammock. It was a little out of the way but this turned out to be a good thing. The main area on Koh Pha-Nang is a penninsula with most of the action on the north-east beach. Rin Bay View was right on the south-east beach giving us peace and quiet just a 10 minute walk from the action.
Two days later we jumped on yet another boat to check out the smaller island of Koh Tao. Unfortunately we didn´t allow ourselves enough time to dive as one does on Koh Tao: the island for us became more or less a repeat of Koh Pha-Nang. But better in many ways, quieter, cleaner: but more expensive unfortunately. Koh Tao for me? More buckets, more chill lounge-bars on the beach and better quality fire-twirling. Getting the crowd involved and twirling chains and poles at the same time? Quality stuff.

Obviously this lack of sleep didn't really equip me too well to deal with the excess luggage charges I got stung with trying to get out of Asia. The best I could do was get a $700 charge down to about $400 by getting it shipped back to Australia. Turns out this whacked me in the end anyway as quarantine needed to look at my sneakers to make sure there weren't contaminants on them and thus incurred an inspection charge. I love excess luggage.
Saying goodbye was an emotional time. Such fun has not been had in a long time and we are beginning talks for another round of Island Hopping later this year.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Svenska Drömmar
It's good being able to communicate a bit more thoroughly and effectively again, but having said that the Swedish influence still shows itself here and there. Once in a while a Swedish word will fly out of my mouth mid-sentence but seems like people aren't noticing too much which is good. I have said och instead of and and nästan instead of nearly amongst a few others I haven't noticed. My dreams are still 100% in Swedish but after all, it's only been 3 days so I am sure the kinks will sort themselves out soon enough.
England is so dirty and chaotic compared to the beautiful, clean and organised Sweden. I have thought on a few occasions of doing a year in London but I don't know if I can take it. Sure, when I consider the Swedish migration board are on my case right now for working a whole season without a work permit London sounds a bit easier but still, how do people put up with it?
Once one gets out of London however, England can be quite beautiful. Rather than staying in the city, this time we got a big van and drove down to a little farm house near bristol. As part of our farm trip we did a little bit of a detour through Bristol, Warwick and even jumped out of the car for a quick look at Stonehenge. We were a little tight on time and considering the entrance was over six pounds, the 7 of us decided to take the cheaper viewing spot about 100 meters away. It's a bit smaller than I expected.
Sudden death hot sauce was a prominant theme of the trip; I myself was a victim of it on 3 occasions - one of which inadvertantly - this is the stuff that you take just one tiny drop on a teaspoon and you feel like your whole mouth is on fire and within a minute tears are streaming down your cheeks. It takes a while for the heat to really take hold and on the worst of my incidents I had demolished a litre of milk within seconds. Ben had ingeniously positioned a fork-full of mashed potato with a generous dose of hot sauce under the fork; serving to both hide the act while maximising sauce-to-tongue contact.
Staying on the farm there wasn't an incedible amount to do- we kicked the footy, cooked some food, listened to music and got through a few drinks - soon we starting thinking of other things to do. We suited up and stumbled off into the darkness in the hope to find the local pub. We passed groups of cattle, sheep, rivers, bridges, barbed wire and headed
towards the lights. By some miracle we actually negotiated the terrain successfully and found ourselves at the local in less than 30 minutes. It was pretty close to closing time and once they'd gotten rid of the locals the two bartenders locked up and joined us for a few drinks- we were even treated to a couple of beers free of charge. I can't see that happening in the city. A few drinks put away and loading up on take aways, we started the trek back to the farmhouse while being entertained at Chris' attempts to spook the herds of sleeping cows along the way.
England is so dirty and chaotic compared to the beautiful, clean and organised Sweden. I have thought on a few occasions of doing a year in London but I don't know if I can take it. Sure, when I consider the Swedish migration board are on my case right now for working a whole season without a work permit London sounds a bit easier but still, how do people put up with it?

Staying on the farm there wasn't an incedible amount to do- we kicked the footy, cooked some food, listened to music and got through a few drinks - soon we starting thinking of other things to do. We suited up and stumbled off into the darkness in the hope to find the local pub. We passed groups of cattle, sheep, rivers, bridges, barbed wire and headed
Friday, May 01, 2009
Back to the Mothertongue
I sad my sad goodbyes and began to realise that it was goodbye Swedish and back to English for some time now. Sure there's always facebook chat and a few magazines and books I've taken with me but on the plus side it will be nice to be able to adequately express myself once again.
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