Same Same but different.

The main reason for the lack of recent blogs is that not a great deal has changed since last time. The other reason is that I forgot my password for ages.
I'm still here in Auckland, discovering that saving money for travels is pretty difficult in New Zealand. My plans now are up in the air. The original mission to see South Africa before my ticket runs out may not happen, but if that's the case then I'll definitely make sure that I see as much of New Zealand as I can while I'm here. Although money is always a problem these days, and big nights out are scarce, I can't complain about life at the moment. Since last time I've moved into a new place with a couple of mates from Ireland. Our flat has become a 'halfway house' where people come and go at all hours, occasionally sober but it's a rarity. I've made loads of great friends here, and when I do manage to socialise I'm the lightweight of the group. Our flat is pretty grim, we've got at least three mice scurrying about the place, a TV and DvD player, a settee and a cardboard cut out of Clint Eastwood, and that's about it. The mice are okay, they don't show their faces that often, but Clint is pretty grumpy and it's become a friday night tradition for some drunk person or other to give him a good kicking while dancing to Where is the Love.
Our Neighbours used to be two middle aged Thai Prostitutes, but they moved out last week (I guess they felt we were lowering the tone). And we're on the lookout for anywhere better to live. I've not managed to see much else of New Zealand so far. It seems that the rest of the country hate Aucklanders (On a road trip to nearby Hamilton I saw a huge billboard declaring 'NO AUCKLANDERS!'). Aside from Hamilton I've managed to visit some volcanic hot springs in Rotorua and also been through Taupo, but that can't have been too good as I can't remember what there was there.
Auckland itself requires time before you can like it. The main city is ultra modern (with the most Sci-fi Public toilet i've ever seen, it plays 'What the world needs now is love', and has way too many buttons and switches for my liking) but the surrounding areas are nice. I've been up our local volcano, Mt Eden, a few times, including a night when there was lightning all around us. Watching the lightening strike the Sky Tower was quite a spectacle, and the guys who I was with were convinced that it was aliens attacking.
So, hopefully next time things will have moved on, but for now I'm enjoying myself where I am and hoping that the money fairies will give me a break at some point. I've got more stories but can't remember them now, so will probably do another blog soon when I remember. In the meantime, better get a quick smoke in before going back to work (dammit!)

Job Number two.....

The reason for the lack of blogs is that I've had to wait this long for enough interesting stories. No major events have happened since last time, aside from the odd drunken caper.
First bit of news is that I lost the call centre job after two days, which sadly is nowhere near my record for shortest ever employment. The agency gave a few vague reasons, apparently the training manager didn't think any of the new temps were working out so dropped all of us. It turned out to be a blessing as I asked the agency about a job I heard about through a mate and am now working for Telstraclear, the rival phone network here. The job is telesales, calling people up and trying to convince them to change networks there and then. To be begin with I got no sales everyday, apparently I wasn't being annoying or stubborn enough (that's what they actually told me, which again is a first). Now I'm getting into it. It's a great place to be working, and I think I'm actually the normal one for once.
Other news is scarce. On the same day that I lost my first job I won a $100 bar tab at my hostel for winning a Full Monty Contest. It involved nudity, shaving and mars bars, but I won't go into too much detail. Those readers who would like to view a complete graphic account of the night should send a postal order for a hundred pounds to Mart, Auckland 1008, New Zealand.
The other major event is that I've got a place to live now, it's a former retirement village and very quiet and white like a prison. The guy I see the most there is a crazy old pensioner from Kent in a wheelchair who crashes around the place on wine and tells me i'm deaf. He's okay, though he seems to know everything that everybody else is doing there. I've not seen him recently as I bet him 20 bucks that James I was the king at the time of the Gunpowder plot, he says Charles II, he said he'd check his book and I haven't seen him since.
So, it's a crazy rock n roll lifestyle here in Auckland. Things are okay though, it's good not being in the hostel as it was getting depressing meeting friends and then saying goodbye as they headed off somewhere cool. I met up with Harold from the States who I met in Thailand on Friday, we had a laugh and I know that I'll always have a place to crash in California. We spent most of the night comparing how British and Americans say things or spell things, which almost beats the excitement from my Gunpowder plot debate. But like most other people I've met he's now off to Fiji, dammit.
Anyway, I reckon things will continue to be slow for a while, I've been offered a second job at a pool club, but want to be leaving Auckland for somewhere better by the end of August. Saving for South Africa will be a long process it seems, but if I can win strip contests every week around the city that should pay for socialising.

(RING RING)... Baaaaaa!

In spite of my legendary organisation skills things are slowly starting to settle here in Auckland. My day in Sydney was nice, I didn't really do anything except read a book in a bookshop without buying it, but from the general atmosphere I definitely want to go back to Australia before the end of the adventure, and I found that there's plenty of opportunities for cash in hand work in Sydney so if I get bored here I can get a flight back to Oz, work and travel, then come back here and carry on working.
However, that sounds too much like a plan so who knows what I'll end up doing. My week in Auckland has been okay, I'm starting to get to know the local places to socialise which is great as the Backpacker's scene was starting to wear thin. The hostel I'm staying in is brand new and has been designed by Backpackers so it features a nightclub, sauna, spa, and TV screens in the Washrooms. It's strange being in Auckland with no money, as there are plenty of fantastic things to do around the area, such as dolphin swimming and Bungy Jumping, but my main activity has been mastering the art of inactivity, lying on Beanbags and watching terrible daytime TV, waiting for the Simpsons. So I've pretty much resumed my UK lifestyle, but with beanbags. Come to think of it, I did a lot of staring at screens in India and Thailand too, but that somehow seemed like an adventure in itself.
Anyway, things will start coming together soon, I start a job tommorrow in a call centre, which seems to be my destiny in this life. This time it's a helpdesk for sheep farmers, or something like that, so I'm sure there'll be plenty of sheep related stories in trhe next few blogs, and these ones I can talk about as they won't involve me.
But apart from the new job and a lot of drunken socialising there's not much to report. Things have mainly been about readapting to the western world. I still keep saying thank you in Thai, so alot of people think I'm a non-english speaker and speak very slowly and clearly to me. This is quite useful at night during happy hour, but sooner or later I'm sure I'll get used to things again. The main problem is remembering that things aren't dirt cheap anymore, though I struggled with that notion before I started travelling. Anyway, to conclude, things are fairly normal at the moment, Auckland is a good place for work and saving money, but from a travelling point of view it's not too great. It's a very straight and modern city, with no strange little areas that I'm usually drawn to. To begin with I found it annoying for no reason, which bugged me untill I found out that a lot of people think this. It'll do for now though, and luckily I am still thrilled by small dull things in life, such as the flush 'options' on the toilets, but I'll save that fascinating anecdote for next time.

Back to Reality(ish).

Got about half an hour before I leave for the airport to head to Australia. The last week has been okay, but for some reason not felt much excitement here in Thailand. I like the place, and it was nice being back on a beach, but feel the need to move on now. Since last time I met up with Nick and Joy who I met in India and we have a good time in Bangkok for a couple of days. This included a visit to Patpong, the red light district. Sadly we ended up going on Buddha day, when all the bars are closed, but we found one that was open, drank very expensive cokes, looked at the girls and left. I'm not covering up some shameful story here, sadly. Maybe next time.
Koh Tao was another time of way too much relaxing in movie cafes and bumming around. However, the Scuba Diving was fantastic, even better than I thought it would be and now I think I'm addicted, which will prove to be very expensive. Maybe I should have become addicted to croquet, that's fairly cheap as far as I'm aware. But the course was great, it was very strange being at another Beach Paradise but having to do homework and exams, and started to worry that the info wasn't going in and I'm end up with a set of burst lungs or something, but got the hang of things in the end and can now tell you all sorts of things about buoyancy and nitrogen narcosis etc...
After the course finished I started getting very tetchy in Koh Tao. Didn't find any like minded souls and I think the whole chilling out by day, drinking and partying by night thing is drying up for me. Didn't really relate to the atmosphere and was actually glad to be back in crazy smoggy Bangkok.
Once I got here I was finally required to do some organising, and got my flights changed so that this time next week I should hopefully be getting a job in New Zealand. I have no idea where to go or what work to get, but the basic mission is to work very hard and save as much as I can. I've been told this is difficult in NZ, but if I can last a few months being a Hermit and only doing social things that are free, I should make it to South Africa by the final part of the year.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud now, there's not much to report for the last week that doesn't involve Star Wars or sweat. I'll certainly come back to Thailand oneday, maybe soon, as it doesn't feel like I've 'done' the country yet, and I still really want to see other parts of South East Asia like Laos and Cambodia. But it's been a good holiday here before the work begins, and like alot of people I'm determined to continue my Scuba Diving education and possibly start a new life under the sea.
Untill that day, New Zealand should be a good alternative, and it's also the promsied start of my new ultra healthy lifestyle, so I can mess my health up again when I continue travelling later in the year.
Right, better get to the airport, apparently the Australian customs are very strict about soil, sand or anything else that may effect the eco system, so I guess I'd better go and clean my finger nails.

... Sawasdi klap, Thailand!

Within a few minutes getting out of the taxi in Khao San Road, Bangkok, I realised that without wanting to sound arrogant, India really was in at the deep end for a first time traveller. My week here in Thailand has been wonderful, and very very easy. There were highs and lows in India but I realise now that all the time was emotional and difficult. The thing that has struck me the most about Thailand when compared to India is the young people, I hadn't seen jeans and loose clothing in three months, and seeing couples kissing in public seemed very strange too. There's a lot of happiness here, and no social taboos apart from drugs it seems, which is pretty refreshing too. To be honest, I got slightly too excited by all the sexiness to begin with, the idea of girls running around and laughing out loud really did seem alien. I still love India and will go back all the time, but as far as being a hedonistic tourist goes, Thailand is fantastic.
Spent two days in Bangkok, and kept comparing everything with India, even the dodgy touts and taxi drivers are very honest, and can't imagine having any stress while I'm here. I visited a few temples and saw a very very big Buddha, then went to the Government tourist office and told them my budget and amount of time here and they sorted everything out for me. After thinking I wouldn't able to afford any fun, I was really happy when I discovered that I actually will be able to do a beginners Scuba Diver course, for only fifty quid!
The other activity I signed up for was a two day Jungle Trek, which I finished yesterday. That was brilliant, the group I went with were all very cool and most of us will be meeting up next week for a full moon party. On the first day we walked through lots of jungle, stopping off to meet tribal villages (generally the tribes that we were able to visit have become very modern and sadly the only conversations the locals would have were about us buying their craftwork). I found it hard work at times and have realised that I really want to get into good shape when I settle in New Zealand. I enjoyed the trekking but struggled more than I thought I would due to my unhealty lifestyle.
The next day we visited a waterfall which was a lot of fun and then went on an elephant ride. That was fine, but the lasting memory for most of us was the eldest of the handlers smashing his elephants skull with his driving hammer thingy. The other handlers were using their own hands or the wooden end of the hammer very gently to control the elephant, but this guy would raise his hand high in the air and the impact of the metal on the Elephant's head caused a loud crack and a bit of blood each time. I feel ashamed now that I only glared, I doubt my protests would have made a difference but I really should have said something. After that we went Bamboo rafting, which was fantastic. I was expecting it to be fun, but also very serious and traditional. Instead the guides made sure we all declared war on each other, trying to tip rival rafts and having splashing battles with local students. Once we made it back to civilisation I hooked up with some fellow nerds and closed a major chapter of my childhood by watching Star Wars: Episode III. It was surreal starting my day in a tribal village in the Jungle and ending it in a multiplex cinema. The film was fantastic in my opinion, and seriously dark. Don't let any kids watch it.
Like Anakin Skywalker I too have turned my back on my former mentor, deciding not to use any more Lonely Planet books. It served me well in India, but by the end of my time there I found that I always had a better time by gettig advice from other travellers and locals. Here in Thailand I'm being looked after by organised tour groups so have little need for a guide book anyway, but from now on no matter where I go I'm going to wing it. The worse that could happen is spontaneous combustion, I guess.
Anyway, I'm heading back to Bangkok this afternoon for a few days of chilling before the Diving course. I haven't visited Patpong (Red Light District) yet, will do that on the Weekend so next week I should definitely have some stories. If there are no Patpong stories assume that Ladyboys were involved, they seem to be the unofficial National symbol here.

Namskar India....

Somehow I've grown to quite like Dehli this time around, and managed to get an unofficial city tour from my frantic last minute admin worries today. The air is still dirty and it's now getting seriously hot, but the commotion and craziness doesn't seem as oppressive now.
I left Manali on wednesday, which was the first proper action that requires mental and physical energy I had managed in a fortnight. I should mention that Before I left I composed the original entry on this blog for this week, but the computer was obvious affected by my laziness as it died just as I had sincerely and emotionally summed up my first Indian Experience, so if this version sounds contrived, it's because it is a bit.
Since the last entry I have failed to see Terminator 2, but apart from that achieved a few things in Manali. Although the majority of the time was spent bumming around with new mates and trying Nepali cuisine (the rice wine is nice at the time, but has violent retribution the next morning). The relaxed 'shanti shanti' atmosphere of Manali was just what I needed before heading back to the capital, for the first time in india I had time to think and reflect, and properly get to know people and learn about the various cultures in the Himalayas (I also left knowing a lot more about Harry Potter than I used to). While Jaisalmer buddy Joy was around we did a fair bit of exploring, finding beautiful waterfalls and orchards and visiting a bizarre hindu temple which has been carved into a big tree. On the second week I spent a lot of time with a group of Nepali lads, and a drug addled austrian known only as Musli, who I'll hopefully be seeing at Christmas in Goa, along with their close buddy Nenah Cherry. On that note I acquired another random claim to fame while discovering the obscure little mountain village of Bhang. I met an Indian guy there called Schwell (I think) who claims to be Ricky Martin's secret lovechild. I'll send a photo of him out so you can judge for yourselves, but he was twenty six and although I don't know Ricky Martin's age (I'm not a closet fan, honestly!), and my maths is at Key Stage zero level, I don't think it quite adds up.
Sadly, apart from walking around the hills and meeting people I cou8ldn't take advantage of all the outdoor activities that Manali is known for, mainly because most of them only commence next week, the beginning of the high season. I tried to sort out paragliding and Rafting (snow trekking was possible but too expensive this time around) but there's no demand right now so I generally practised my own favourite activity, bumming around talking rubbish.
It was sad leaving there, but I arrived in the capital feeling healthy and refreshed (but not awake enough to remember to pick up my phone before getting off the bus, I think it is now somewhere in the state of Punjab).
So, tommorrow I'll be flying to Bangkok, it's a five hour flight which is piddly compared to the average bus journey I'm now used to. I think I've got everything sorted and although lack of funds is forcing me to cut the trip short, and I haven't made any plans apart from watching Star Wars, I'm really looking forward to being in Thailand before I have to start working again.
In spite of this, I can't help feeling very sad to be leaving India. After having a wonderful final month in Himachal Pradesh I don't feel too bad apart all the fleeting visits I made to other parts of the country, but it has made me hungry to get back here as soon as possible. Before I came here I knew of several people who always come back to India, and I could never really understand this as there are so many amazing places in the world to see, but now I understand completely. This place is like a continent, every individual state is so diverse and different from it's neighbouring states that I don't think there's enough time in the world to experience it all. While sitting alone on rooftops or wobbling around on long bus journeys I made several different itineraries for my next trip, but I realise that it'll change a thousand times when I get here.
It's going to be very sad leaving tommorrow, but I've got the memories and will always come back to see the family here. I'm going to miss the Indian Sunsets, the crazy people and the weird, unexplainable 'magic' of the place, but to quote the immortal words of the Great Shakin' Stevens: "I'll be Back!"

Week Ten.

It was a great leaving Dehli, the areas I saw of the city were good and was useful for supplies but by the time I had organised moving on the heat and pollution were starting to get to me. So I skipped my planned day trip to the Taj Mahal and got the train to Simla, capital of Himachal Pradesh. The journey involved changing halfway and getting on a 'toy train' to travel up the mountain. It was a really scenic journey and pretty surreal arriving in cold simla after being in a Desert town less than a week before. I was still finding sand everywhere and having to wrap up well at night was a complete contrast.
Simla is a really nice town, but couldn't spend too long there.It's the high tourist season in this part of India and the place was packed out with native honeymooners and holiday makers. There weren't many travellers about and even though it was great finally being amongst the himalayas, it seemed impossible to find anywhere isolated to relax, there were people and monkeys everywhere. It was also surreal seeing heavy rain, made me a bit homesick. Shimla is a ery 'english' town, it was the summer capital during the British occupancy and it filled with very British looking churches and ol tudor style buildings. It also bought back memories of family holidays as there were ice cream parlours and video arcades everywhere.
After a couple of days of looking around I headed to Dharamsala, home of many many tibetan refugees and heavily influenced by budhism. The area was lovely, you could see snow covered peaks in the distance and even if you just wanted to go and buy some bread it was a scenic trip. I spent a fair amount of time in the nearby village of Bhag Su, a lot less populated and really laidback. There was a similar scene here to Goa, a load of hippies enjoying the scenery and sitting about alot. I participated in this activity too muh myself, in fact I think I reached new levels of dozy laziness. I actually stayed in Mcleod Ganj, halfway up the valley between Dharamshala and Bhag Su. The population seemed evenly split three ways between Indian locals, travellers and Tibetan exiles and everyone seemed to have a smile on they're face all the time. There was a real atmosphere of peace and contentment about the place, and there was a constant soundtrack of gentle pipe music or the standard Bob Marley selection. It was also very sunny there and wandering far into the valley discovering waterfalls and obscure cafes was a great way to spend the day. After about five days decided that I was okay for inner peace, and got the bus to Manali, my final resting place in India. Most people I've met throughout the country are planning on ending up here, and it's perfect for a final holiday before leaving the country. It has a reputation for adventure sports and may go on an organised trek at some point but funds have become tight, so much so that my plan was to stay in the woods. I changed my mind within one second of arriving here, it is freezing. This has it's advantages, as I've heard that many holiday makers have been put off by the unusual cold weather and opted for Dharamsala, which was a bit clogged in spite of the collective calm. So I'm staying in the nearby village of Vashisht and although this is my fourth day here haven't managed to venture out much. Now that I know I'm not going to do much more exploring my lazy holiday mood has kicked in, and that seems to be what this tiny village is all about. Days are spent chilling on a friends balcony drinking chai, staring at amazing snowy views from rooftops drinking chai, or lazing about in hippy movie cafes drinking chai. I never thought that I'd spend any time in India doing what I did in the UK, but it's just too tempting to lay about on cushions choosing films and seeing if they have the DVD. I'm going to be here about two weeks, so there'll be time for exploring and trekking later. For now it's nice just cruising around meeting people (way too easy here) and watching loads of dodgy films. Tonight we've been promised Terminator 2, it's taken three days for them to sort out, and surreally most western travellers I've met here really want to see that film again, and ave endless discussions on why T3 is terrible, so tonight should be THE night in India. Yeah, it's pretty shameful that I'm just sitting about watching films but once this era is over I'll have to go pretty much straight to New Zealand to start working to earn more travelling money so now it's good living the easy lifestyle and eing reminded what goosebumps look like. Everyday I've promised myself I would go exploring amongst the mountains but haven't quite managed it yet, by the way 'I Robot' with Will Smith is really good and worth watching. I supposed I'd better go and sit about drinking chai somewhere, Joy who I met in Jaisalmer is about and I'm going to teach her karem (that sri lankan flicky pool-type game), which should be interested as I'm pretty useless at it. To conclude, life is great here, and you can all be smug that as summer begins in the UK I'm spending my days freezing and avoiding major rain. None of the guesthouses seem to ave hot water, so I wash communally in the natural hot springs they have here, they have separate sections for gender but I've been told that it is possible to see a tiny corner of the female section from the one of the rooftops, so maybe I will do some exploring today after all. Either way, next time I update this log I'm guessing not much will have changed. My one 'event' for today was going to be learning the basics on a motorcycle, something I've been planning the whole time here as it's a great way of getting to know a place. But the loose arrangement I had with Simon (irish guy) was that I'd see him at some point this morning so he could teach me, but reckon I must have missed him, which is probably for the best as tey don't have horizontal roads here. Anyway, as long as I end the day with Arnold Schwartzeneggar it'll be a success.