Well i made it to Oz, no yellow brick road to follow but a few golden beaches. which is where I'm off to today.
Got into Sydney on the 22nd and have been stopping at the blue parrot hostel in Potts point, right next to the red light area of Kings cross.
I did the whole sightseeing thing, walking around taking photos, chasing a rainbow around Archibold fountain in Hyde park and trying to get a good shot of St Mary's cathedral. almost worked. (see my flickr page) also walked round the botanical gardens and down to see the Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge.
Yesterday meet up with a few folks I know and went climbing to the local wall, its expensive and not as good a as the walls back home but after not climbing for about a month i decided the exercises was required and after a 4hr session my arms started to feel the burn but I'm not too disappointed with my performance as i did some of the harder routes and boulder problems in there. Still only climbing around 7a ish tops.. boo.
Am thinking off heading up towards surfers paradise to see if i bump into Dan and Jo, if not am sure fun can still be had and it will be a little warmer there, although it feels a bit like a British summer in Sydney and despite it going dark early and the lack of rain i could easily be fooled into thinking it was.
Will put some extra photos on here soon, Later folks.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Macau
Wow, Shame its been raining non stop since i got here, but then again that appears to be the story all over china at the moment, The work up near Shanghai was washed out and apparently Yangshuo has suffered from some flooding, a few bars and cafes have been paddling pools over the past few days with the added problem of power cuts, glad I'm not sat in Yangshuo right now.
Macau is a funny old mix of quaint buildings with new fancy casinos and hotels popping up around them. They drive on the left and have some great food, Egg tarts are wonderful plus proper coffee again.
I have a week in town before i leave for Australia so with a bit of luck i will get some nice weather and i can get some good photos and explore the town a bit more, although walking around in the rain isn't a problem as it's still very warm, as i haven't had a warm shower for a week I'm tempted to strip off and stand outside with the shampoo. not sure if that would get me arrested though.
I went to a few of the casinos yesterday and wasn't able to work out how to gamble, most of the games are Chinese so it's hard to figure out how they work so after a few attempts on the slot machines which are still fairly confusing, last of the of the big spenders I gambled all of 20 Patacas, about 2 pound and broke even, so i guess gambling doesn't work for me.
Just as well as most of the tables have a minimum bet of 100 pacatas, however non of the casinos will accept the local pacata so you need to bet in hong kong dollers,
Well that's all for now I'm off to find some more egg tarts, yum yum,
Macau is a funny old mix of quaint buildings with new fancy casinos and hotels popping up around them. They drive on the left and have some great food, Egg tarts are wonderful plus proper coffee again.
I have a week in town before i leave for Australia so with a bit of luck i will get some nice weather and i can get some good photos and explore the town a bit more, although walking around in the rain isn't a problem as it's still very warm, as i haven't had a warm shower for a week I'm tempted to strip off and stand outside with the shampoo. not sure if that would get me arrested though.
I went to a few of the casinos yesterday and wasn't able to work out how to gamble, most of the games are Chinese so it's hard to figure out how they work so after a few attempts on the slot machines which are still fairly confusing, last of the of the big spenders I gambled all of 20 Patacas, about 2 pound and broke even, so i guess gambling doesn't work for me.
Just as well as most of the tables have a minimum bet of 100 pacatas, however non of the casinos will accept the local pacata so you need to bet in hong kong dollers,
Well that's all for now I'm off to find some more egg tarts, yum yum,
Sunday, June 1, 2008
O I do like to be beside the seaside.
Well i have spent the past week in Sanya, which is on the southern tip of Hainan, China. The weather has been, well tropical sunshine, which is what you would expect, and only a little rain on two days.
With a combination of swimming and teaching the girlfriend to swim, she didn't drown so that's a bonus
Surfing (falling off a floating object into the sea then trying not to drown)
Diving, fun but unfortunately a bit murky on that day, got to see the rare and lesser known rusty beer can, but also lots of fish, non of which i could identify.
We went for a stroll with a few others from china climb and some locals we know up to Wuzhishang, (five finger mountain) from which we saw a beautiful view from the inside of a cloud. some tree crabs and a sort of beetle about the size of my little finger which rolls up into a pefect sphere when frightened. the height gain is about 1000m and the path rather than meandering around heads straight up the mountain with staircases of nature formed by tree roots holding back the clay soil, eroded by weather and man, who also deposits a fair bit of trash, but thats china. Not forgettingto mention the odd ladder or six to ascend the steeper parts.
Hanging around on top in a thunder storm wasn't the best plan so a retreat to safer ground for lunch and then the walk back down to find little leaches had attached themselves to our feet and ankles and were mid way through their own feast.
Whilst were on the subject of food, I dined on some good sea food and a bit of Russian food also as this is a big tourist destination for the Russians during their winter months.
Well i now have a 16hr bus ride to look forward to in order to get back to Nannning then on to Yangshuo which will take a further 5 hrs but will leave that until Tuesday i think.
Well photos to follow when i get time but as I'm working from the 7th until the 13th and then you may have to wait until around the 15th depends on how expensive the Internet cafes are in Macau.
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With a combination of swimming and teaching the girlfriend to swim, she didn't drown so that's a bonus
Surfing (falling off a floating object into the sea then trying not to drown)
Diving, fun but unfortunately a bit murky on that day, got to see the rare and lesser known rusty beer can, but also lots of fish, non of which i could identify.
We went for a stroll with a few others from china climb and some locals we know up to Wuzhishang, (five finger mountain) from which we saw a beautiful view from the inside of a cloud. some tree crabs and a sort of beetle about the size of my little finger which rolls up into a pefect sphere when frightened. the height gain is about 1000m and the path rather than meandering around heads straight up the mountain with staircases of nature formed by tree roots holding back the clay soil, eroded by weather and man, who also deposits a fair bit of trash, but thats china. Not forgettingto mention the odd ladder or six to ascend the steeper parts.
Hanging around on top in a thunder storm wasn't the best plan so a retreat to safer ground for lunch and then the walk back down to find little leaches had attached themselves to our feet and ankles and were mid way through their own feast.
Whilst were on the subject of food, I dined on some good sea food and a bit of Russian food also as this is a big tourist destination for the Russians during their winter months.
Well i now have a 16hr bus ride to look forward to in order to get back to Nannning then on to Yangshuo which will take a further 5 hrs but will leave that until Tuesday i think.
Well photos to follow when i get time but as I'm working from the 7th until the 13th and then you may have to wait until around the 15th depends on how expensive the Internet cafes are in Macau.
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Email.
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