Hayley in the sky with Diamonds

Brisvegas and 6 hours in Melbourne

2011-03-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

I have recently returned from a week in Brisbane where I attended a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design workshop. I learnt so much during the three days, too much in fact and I think it will be a challenge to implement all that I learnt. The week in Brisbane also gave me a chance to catch up with some friends and family, which was an added bonus.

I took a leave day and was able to spend the weekend with my friend Jenny. We met in Mongolia, she is an AYAD as well. Jenny lives in Highgate Hill, in Brisbane's West End. Jenny lives a short walk from Boundary Street, a lively strip with lots of cafes, bars and funky shops. I had a glorious day on Friday thumbing through all the racks at all the op shops and vintage stores in the area. They were literally everywhere. And unlike Darwin where the clothes are all relatively new (i.e. late 90's) there was plenty of vintage and retro clothing. I spent a grand total of $32 and I got two dresses and three shirts. Boundary Street also had a number of vegetarian and vegan cafes which was also handy as I was about half way through my vegan challenge.

My flight back to Darwin was cancelled, so I had to go home VIA MELBOURNE, was a six hour lay over, none-the-less. I quickly texted Mel to see if she could pick me up during my time in Melbourne, luckily she could, and even more appropriately, Margo was coming over for Sunday roast, so I got to catch up with not one friend, but two.

The very well behaved Oscar was keeping us all entertained.

Oscar, Al and Mel chilling out after Sunday roast.

Margo providing details of her day at the Mooney Valley Community Day.

Having breakfast with Luke and J-dogg on Boundary St.

Whilst in Brisbane I also got to catch up with my high school buddy, Luke. Although we live in different states, have different jobs and haven't seen each other in the last two year, its like nothing has changed. He still knows how to stir me up better than anyone!

The River Steel Drum Band, performing at the West Brisbane Markets.

A weekend is not complete unless there is a visit to the markets. On Saturday I signed up to the Brisbane City Bikes and J-dogg and I rode to all our destinations on Saturday, including the West End markets. At the markets be bought THE BEST ROMA TOMATOES IN THE WORLD. They were absolutely to die for. I was eating them like apples. The taste was sensational. An old Italian guy was selling them (organic as well) and wanted to know why I wasn't buying more of them for my boyfriend.

We also tried lots of vegan foods. Some more tasty than others. One of the foods on the good list, was Cold Pressed Coffee (see below). It was basically soy iced coffee in a beer bottle (and yes it did look like I was walking around the markets at 10am drinking beer)

Soy Cold Pressed Coffee: one of the better vegan treats we had that morning

Catching up with Cousin Callan.

On Friday night Jenny and I caught up with my Cousin Callan for tasty Indian food and then we went to a local pub where a live band was strumming some funky blues rhythms. It is sort of hard to describe the joy I feel when listening to original live music. It just makes me so happy. And there and then I made a promise to myself to seek out more live music in Darwin and not listen to crappy DJ's because it is infinitely a better experience.

Some of 2010

2010-12-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

After the travels I got very lazy with the blog and the taking of photos. This is what I could come up with for the remainder of 2010. Enjoy! Here's to better blogging in 2011.

Orphans Christmas: A day of fantastic food, great wine, fabulous company, that full up feeling, cocktails on a boat with sailors, and just general all round goodness.

Best Christmas Present Ever: A jar of pickled yabbies, caught and shelled by my family and posted from Kingston-on-Murray all the way to Darwin for me to enjoy on Christmas (Note: Directions on jar says I can not open them until the 25th) (Note: further directions also say that if I want any more I have to come home!)

Getting Our Bogan On: Renee and Camillies' Birthday Bash brings out the bogan in us all.

This includes bad tattoos, children with made up names, g-bangers showing and leggings and slippers as acceptable everyday attire.

The Mullet, it turns out, is a good tool for picking up!

Looking Hot on Halloween: Laine does her best impression of being scary (you are convincing no-one) as we get ready for a night of tricking and treating.

Meeting Hale: I got to meet Heidi and Shaugh's newly arrived son during my visit

Homemade Sandwiches made by Heidi: Spending some lovely down time with my high school buddy Heidi. Walking through the very lovely Bendigo, enjoying cups of tea together and op shopping.

Wedding in the Grampians: George's cousins, Nieve and Sophia as bridesmaids at Anna and Jerms' wedding.

H and G reunite: We met in Melbourne and travelled to Penola for our reunion tour. Anyone who knows us can pretty much guess what we did for our time together!

Bunji: In March I started my African experience by jumping into Victoria Falls. Surprisingly a refreshing and peaceful experience.

Cabaret: In August I enrolled in an 8 week Cabaret course. At the end we performed a show over two nights. It wasn't the most organised thing I have ever been a part of, but it did mean I got to prance around in heels, fishnets and lacy corsets, so there was some compensation.

What do you call a backpacker that has to pack her pack to go back?

2010-06-30T03:49:00.001-07:00

The backpacker in her natural habitat, looking scruffy and unwashed

The year of Hayley is (sob, sob) coming to a close. I can't believe this amazing, scary, delightful, amazing, eye-opening, trip of a life time is coming to a close. I have seriously been having the time of my life and am a little apprehensive about going back home.

But enough about that, I haven't updated you on our latest adventures.

So we said goodbye to our tour group in Cape Town and then Cassie, Renee and I decided to take advantage of what Cape town had to offer including:
Fantastic gourmet food: after 3 weeks of rice and pasta we were more than ready to make the most of the game, seafood and other fresh produce available
Real Beds and Pillows: There were a few sleep ins and naps had... my bed seriously had about 5 pillows, it was amazing
Conquer Table Mountain: We could see Table mountain from our room, so were relieved to wake up one morning to see it not covered with fog, so we decided to climb it, it was a struggle, but we felt so great when we reached the top
One of a kind African Dresses: One afternoon when we were a bit tired and grumpy we stumbled into this dress shop with all these amazing locally and hand made gowns. We all ended up with stunning dresses, now I just need an occasion to wear mine.

We then reluctantly said goodbye to Cass...... and then the real fun began.

Renee and I with our friend Lisa went on a township tour. For any of you familiar with Apartheid in Africa, you are aware of the discrimination that happened and basically all the black people were told to go live elsewhere. These townships which are essentially slums are as far as the eye can see. Although there are some government built dormitory/ hostel type accommodation, the majority of the 1 million or more people live in little shacks they make themselves out or cardboard, wood and iron if they are lucky. These townships surround Cape Town and you soon realise that any balck person you see as a doorman, waiter or retailer is coming into the city each day from these townships.

Renee and I finally got the keys to our hire car and headed out towards Simon's Town on the cape. We visited some great local markets where we stocked up on snacks and then we went to an afternoon rock festival called "Sewing the Seeds" It basically felt like it was being held in someones back yard. It was relaxed and all the bands and DJs were local. We managed to get a CD of most of the bands we liked. It was so good to see some live music and just chill out.

The following morning we went walking along the coast to a Penguin colony and observed these wacky birds as they went about their thing. Then we drove to Stellenbosch a very close wine region... where the real fun began.

The first winery we stopped at happened to be our favorite as the girl doing the tastings was hilarious! She recommended us a place for lunch, which we went to and proceeded to spent 4 hours devouring a tasting menu with matching wines. We had to drink coffees on the lawns to sober up before we went to our hostel. The weather was divine and the food was amazing and the staff superb! The chef was mighty impressed when we sent her a beer for all her hard work, but it was the least we could do for the fantastic day we had.

The following day we sampled coffee, chocolate and tasty olives. We also went walking through the estate of an adjoining winery that had lovely gardens! It took us a while to find a place for lunch as most kitchen were shut on the Monday, we ended up at Kleine Zeltze, on the balcony, enjoying a 3 course meal with a crisp sauv blanc. Bliss!

The following day was a big driving day, we got out of the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine regions and went through many dry-ache farms and sheep farms. It looked dry and dusty just like Australia. When we got to Mossel Bay, the seaside town that was our destination, we found out they were in drought and there was water restrictions in this area.

I was so happy to get into the sea because I was about to overheat! The guy at our hostel, who was slightly mad, made a Braai for us that night. Braai is the South African was of barbecuing and it involves making a wood fire, burning it down to coals and then cooking your food over the coals. We had Boerwurst, Chicken, Lamb and Pork with Ugali and a sauce with a weird name. Yummmm!

The next day Renee and I learnt to surf! It was totally awesome dude. I never thought it could be so fun! I got up a handful of times, but not for a great deal of time. I am very keen to do it again though. I am already planning a surfing holiday to Brisbane!

After a nap, a walk and some ice cream, we shucked oysters with Neal (our crazy hostel mate) who had got some wild ones from his mate, then he cooked us some fish on the Braai, Red Baron with a garlic, herb and apricot jam dressing!!!! Yummy, yum, yum!

We got up especially early today to get to Cape Town in enough time to do our Robben Island tour (where Nelson Mandela was held) but it was canceled again (we had tickets as well for last friday) so bit annoyed about that, however got to have ice cream and a shiatsu massage at the waterfront instead.

Whoa.... what a few days. I have really enojyed being under our own steam for the past few days and Renee and I are such good travel partners for each other because there is not much in the way of compromise that we have to do, because we pretty much want to do the same thing.... eat and drink our way around the world!!!

On reflection......
I'm not a tour kind of person! I'm a bit sad we didn't just hire a car and do our own thing around Africa. The tour was great and we got to see way more than if we were doing it by ourselves, but I just missed that local interaction. I didn't have to talk to the locals for directions or bargain the price for a room or find supplies at the local markets.

Gone are the culture vulture days: It used to be all about museums, churches, galleries and opera but on this trip I think I can count the number of museums I have visited on one hand. I have now become the adventure traveler. I know, I surprise even myself, but the number of adrenaline things I have done, and mountains I have climbed (or slip down) just for the fun of it far outweighs the cultural pursuits I have undertaken and I have loved it and I intend to do more of it.

Traveling the World does not help you work out your destiny: Sadly, no, although a trip of this kind is good for learning about yourself, the world and your role in it, sadly it doesn't tell you what kind of job you should apply for!

OK sport fans, I have to go pack and brace myself for the normality (relatively speaking) of Australia.

Africa in Photos

2010-06-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

A resident of Cape Towns slum

At the Cape of Good Hope

The Quiver Tree

Proof I was in Africa

Sunrise at the Soussouivlie

Cape Cross, Namibia, where the Portugese first landed

Our Tour Truck in the Salt Pan in Etosha National Park

Zebra Crossing

The lilac-breasted Roller, this bird is quite the poser

Cassie giving her new friend a piggy-back

Africa-ca-ca

2010-06-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

Lady and baby from the Bushman Tribe.

The Bushman kids helping us set up our tents

Sunset mokoro ride on the Okavango Delta

Cassie the Delta Princess

Bindi.... I mean Cassie Irwin

Hello pussycat!

Getting pretty wet at Victoria Falls

Cruizin' on the Zambiezie

For those of you who are “Long Way Down” fans, you may recall the episode when Charlie and Ewan are in Livingston in Zambia. Apart from watching hippos at night, Charlie and one of the camera men bunji jumped off the bridge that spanned victoria falls. “That could be me soon” I mentioned to Steph (housemate who was also watching the episode with me) “I might go to Victoria Falls.” I said this almost six months ago and although I am pretty much petrified about bunji I kinda made a promise to myself then and there, that if I ever did go there I would have to bunji.

So when I eventually did get to Victoria Falls and there was a discount to do the Slide (flying fox across the gorge) Swing (basically you are harnessed and swing back and forwards across the gorge) and Bunji, there was no refusing the experience and the value.

The Slide was easy and very relaxing, a great view of the rapids below. The Swing I did in Tandem with Cassie.

I was greatful to do something scary with someone else. Our whole account of the event was quite amusing (and I have the DVD to prove it). At the last minute, as we are on the ledge, Cassie, strapped to me is just about to back out, she is already telling the guy she can’t do this, but he is too busy counting us down to notice, 3, 2, 1, Swing.... then Eeeeeeeeeeekkkk, I get an earful of Cass having somewhat of a panic attack! The free fall was sooooo scary, you are there dropping down into the gorge and thinking when is the swing going to go taught and swing us across. It finally did kick in and once Cass had relaxed we swang back and forth across the gorge.

By the time I got to the Bunji I wasn’t really scared of anything anymore. I did panic a bit as I stuck my toes over the edge and contemplated what it was that was actually holding me from my death. So the bunji was a tranquil experience. I bacially just fell into the gorge and lets mist submerge me. It was quite peacefull to bounce around upside down.

I really did not prepare for Africa, I didn’t even really read the trip notes. My preparation consisted of going to see “The Lion King” musical in London’s West End (which was quite awesome by the way). Which has been quite fitting because we have constantly been singing verse after verse on the bus. So when we were on a bush walk with some local guides, and they were trying to explain what creature had dug up the earth, they told us ‘a pumba’ had been there. Similarily when we were on a game drive, our guide said, “look there are some pumbas.” I love the fact that Pumba has become the universal word for “warthog.”

Africa is a lot more developed than I expected. After doing some touring in Mongolia and then contemplating a ‘drive yourself holiday’ in Africa, I was quick to shoot down the idea as I thought it is going to take too much planning, the roads will be shit, we can’t guarantee the petrol stations on the map will have petrol. But obviously you can’t paint developing countries with the same brush. Our route through Botswana and Namibia although remote, has taken us along many a village giving an impression that a lot of the countryside is populated, unlike Mongolia where you can drive for hours and not see another ger. Although the houses are simple mud and stick chalets, most of them have adjoining vegetable gardens or crop to some extent, which would be a luxury in Mongolia. Addmittedly I haven’t seen the whole country, but all the talk about Africa centres on the relative poverty of the population and the harsh conditions. Given all that I had herd and read I was surprised to find large town with internationally branded supermarkets (Spar) and petrol stations (BP), prefabricated houses in small villages with satellite dishes, cars and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Perhaps we can thank England’s attempts at collonisaion of Africa for the widespread use and understanding of the English language. Our guides are from Kenya, but as there are god knows how many languages and dialects across Africa, even they use English when communicating with people outside their language group.

Any expectations I had about Africa have literally gone out the window. I knew we would be going into some national parks with the possibility of seeing wild animals, but I didn’t expect them to be plentiful and for the most part not too scared by vehicle movement. I pictured us all requiring binoculars (and I bought a pair according to my expectation) to see anything, but no, they literally hang around on the sides of the road and most wait patiently for you to take their picture.

There are a lot of parrellels to be drawn between Africa and Australia. The vegetation, landscape and cultures are not mirrors but echos of Australia. We spent one evening with the Sani bushmen, who took us on a walk where they showed us how the hunt and forage for food. Their techniques and way of living is quite similar to that the Australian Aboriginals.

I love being on the water, and that is perhaps why I enjoed our time in the delta so much. We spent two nights in the Okavango Delta in Botswana where we spent a great deal of time ferrying between islands in Mokoros. Originally dug out canoes, polers (those who steer the canoes) now opt for fibreglass version. Their long slender shape and flat bottom make them ideal for navigating through the grasses and the shallow water of the delta. However being that low also make you suceptable to hippos (Africa’s most dangerous animal) and elephants who bathe and eat in the delta. It got a little hairy at times when we had to navigate our way around these animals.

One of the highlights of my trip, and it continues to be, is that I get to spend so much time with Cassie and Renee! It is so fantiastic to share such a great trip with such awesome friends!

More about Africa to follow! Maybe even some photos!

Coffee, children and cycling!

2010-06-30T02:30:00.000-07:00

That about sums up my week in the Netherlands. During my visited I stayed mostly with Angelqiue and her family in Utrecht. Even though it has been five years since I have seen everyone, it hardly feels like I have been away at all. However, the fact that the children are all grown up is a definate indicator that time has passed. I arrived at dinner time and it was quite surreal for me to see an 8, 7 and 5 year old at the table with their dad! Last time I was there Lisa, the youngest was just a baby, but now she can walk and talk and had me playing princess games and doing drawings. Also Marlens kids are so grown up. Yannick just turned 15 and he is 191cm tall!!! I am only just taller than Wessel (13) and Erwin (12). Wessel is learning guitar, so he taught me some songs!

On Lique's days off we would do some shopping, sightseeing and bike rides through the park as well as take the kids to and from school and sport. Lique organised a baby sitter for Friday evening so her and I could go to the sauna. I checked with Lique if I needed to take my bathing suit and of course the answer was no, because Europeans are like that, free with being naked. However when we got to the sauna, I was a little bit concerned to see men in my change room. Lique had forgotten to mention it was a mixed sauna (aparently also very normal in Europe). So this sauna experience, coupled with the show Adam sent us to in London means I have seen enough naked men this month to last me a lifetime!!!

Apart from visiting family I managed to squeese in some touristy things. I went to the Central Museum and saw a great exhibition about a dutch fashion designer. I also had a great time at the Dick Bruna House. Dick Bruna is the creator of Miffy and he is from Utrecht. I also saw an exhibition at the Catherine-Convent Museum that was all about fertility symbols. I also went with Lique and the kids to the Rietveld Schoeder House, one of Utrechts most famous landmarks. The house is constructed using the De Stilj principles where fragmented planes and a colour combination (red, yellow, blue, black, white and grey) are prominent. Check out some more info here: http://www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl/rshEng.jsp I really enjoyed it, especially as it contained a lot of his furniture as well, which I find really interesting.

I caught up with Gertjan and his parents for dinner, had coffee with Tante Riet and Ome Theo, went to Marlen and Rons for a birthday celebration, had dinner with Anna and her two girls in Barn and had coffee with Tante Magda and Ome Johan before being taken to the airport.

I have also been practicing my dutch.... which is very tiring, because I have to constantly think about it! But aparently I speak better dutch then I did last time (which I can't work out how that might be because I haven't spoken that much dutch in the last 5 years!!!) And every conversation usually was around 3 main points.
1. How is your tirp, where have you been, so good to see you again?
2. How is all the family?
3. When is the rest of the family coming to see us?!

My bag also came back quite heavy as I was carrying: stroopwaffles, drop, hagelslag, Appletaart Mix, chocolate and cheese! Marlen and I spent Monday in Delft where insted of buying Delft Blue china, we found some delft blue cheese!!! Prachtig! I also bought a really nice young cheese that gets rippened in old bunkers and a pesto and walnut cheese that is divine!

Leaving is never easy, especially when there is a wonderful family that open their arms to you whenever you visit (and give you hugs everyday) but I was on a high from being 'loved' during my time there and I knew it wouldn't be the last time I would see them. Of course we sat down for another cup of coffee at the airport before I had to leave (3rd one for the day, it was only 11am) but this time I opted for Chocomel. I had been looking for it everywhere, and the airport cafe was the only place I found it. When Gemma and I came in 97 we would always have a chocomel when all the adults drank coffee!!! It is really good chocolate milk!

Me in Delft, I had my photo taken here when I first came to Holland in '97

Lisa at the horse paddock

Erwin, Wessel, Yannick and Me

Gebrand, Gertjan and Bep

England continued

2010-06-30T02:13:00.000-07:00

Christy arrives in London

George is very happy to be watching her team, Everton

Hayley enjoying a devonian pasty on the walk from Beer to Seaton

Romance begins with a Pasty

So sayeth the devonians (residence of Devon, a south west County). I'm not sure about romance, but I have been called 'my love' 'my lovely' 'my dear' and 'my popett' more times in the last 3 days than in my whole life.... if that is romance then it definatley did begin with a pasty.

I have just come back from 3 days in Exeter, Devon. Every man and his dog wants to know why I would want to go to Exeter and my reasons are simple
1. It is the same name as a pub I like in Adelaide
2. I'm after a good pasty, and
3. Hannah (friend of George's lives there)

So off I went on a train to a city that has been around since the romans. One of the first things I did (after having a pasty for lunch) was go on an underground tour that took you through these tunnles that used to house water pipes. These tunnles were also used as storage, secret escape routes and bomb shelters during the 2nd World War.

Rather than pay the 5 pound entrance fee to the town catherdral, I went around the back to the catherdral cafe where I had a delightful cream tea (pot of tea, scones, jam and clotted cream) and sat in a wing of the cathedral that had the same achitecture and leadlighting as the cathedral. That evening I went on a ghost and legends tour. Thankfully it wasn't too scary as I had to walk home by myself, in the dark!

Exeter is a nice sized town, with only about 100,000 people and lovely old buildings and on the banks of the river Exe. I was lucky enough to have sun on my second day, so I hoped on a bus and went to Beer, a small seaside town where I procured a very tasty pasty and walked along the cliffs to the next town Seaton where I basked in the sun, bought some local cider and then caught a bus to the next town Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis is famous for its concentration of fossils. I visited the museum and walked along the cobb, the artifical harbour. At about 3pm is started to get grey and drissley, so I hoped on the bus and went back to Exeter. The day ended with pints of cider with friends from the hostel at a lovely pub around the corner.

On Thursday Hannah and James picked me up so we could go out to Dartmoor National Park for the day, however it wasn't to be as the radiator cracked and we were left on the side of the road waiting for the RAC. But all was not lost. We were able to get into town and walk all the way along the river to this lovely little pub near the lock where we had tasty pie for lunch and then walked back in time for me to go to the train station.

So my reasons for visiting Exeter, I think are worthwhile and justified.
1. I visited only nice, friendly pubs reminicent of my time drinking at the Exeter in Adelaide
2. I had 2 tasty pasties
3. I got to spend the day with lovely Hannah

The Good Life

2010-06-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

To say I have been living the good life would be somewhat of an understatement! In the last month I have got to do a number of my favourite things including:

1. Spending lots of time in my PJs (George and I now have 4 matching pairs)
2. Hang out with George, Marg and Simon
3. and eat lots of tasty food with George, Marg and Simon!

I have also been sampling english culture. Highlights include:
Pricilla Queen of the Desert, the Musical: Absolutely the best musical I have seen in a while, I was laughing, singing, crying and dancing in my chair for the whole performance!! Highly recommended! I was on a high for a few days after it!
Coffee with Fabien in Brighton: Unfortunatley Fabien (old worl collegue) was going to be back in Australia for the entirity of my visit her, but we found a friday afternoon to catch up for coffee. I travelled to Brighton for the day where I also went to the Pier, the Lanes, the Fishing Museum, Royal Palace and the Brighton Museum. So good to see Fabien and hear about his life in London
Breakfast at the Georgian Cafe: Marg and Simon took me to this great cafe near their place that served up a Georgian inspired breakfast including a tasty bean concoction.
Birthday Celebrations: It began with french toast and bacon and ended with mushy peas and chips and in between George and I had our hair done, went through covent garden, had high tea and a few ciders at the famous cock! (thats a pub, for all you dirty minded people)
Tea in Weighbridge: I travelled south to Surrey to visit my 80-somthing-year-old pen pal, Louisa, and we had lots of cups of tea as we talked about all that had happened in the last 4 years
Hot Date with George: Adam (George's boyfriend) sent us off to dinner and a show on him. I had a lovely 3 course meal consisting of beetroot and vodka marinated salmon on a blini, pork belly and black pudding with a calradere sauce and lemon tart - we then proceeded to watch a play about men singing and dancing in the nude... not quite sure about Adams pick there!
Roast Dinners: Not only have we been trying various pubs to see who does a good roast, but there has been lots of experimenting at home to see you can do the best potatos. Adam is currently the winner.

I then decided to finally get out of London and discover more of this green isle.
Cardiff: a lovely seaside town/ city in Wales. I had a tea and scone at the wooden Norweigen Lutheran church that Rohl Dahl was baptized in, was unimpressed by the Dr. Who exhibition and watched the Cardiff Male Voice choir practice at the local rugby club.
Horse-riding: Wanting to re-created my experience in Mongolia, I found a place in South West Wales that offered horse-riding. However, I ended up choosing the worst 2 days ever to go riding. It was snowing, cold and wet for both days. That didn't stop my guide and I from exploring the countryside and trotting and cantering where possible. My guide on the second day was a lovely girl called Jemma, and she let me get on her horse and have a good ride around as my horse was not in the mood for going very fast. That night I went to dinner with all the girls from the stable because it was Nicola's birthday.

After 4 days in Wales, I made my way up to Liverpool where I was joined by George and we went to my frist football match. The game was Everton Vs Manchester United. Everton won 3 - 1, and it was a very exciting game to watch and whilst I think live soccer is great to watch, I don't think I have respect for a game that makes me scared as a spectator. Towards the last minutes there were several announcements that Manchester United fans (there were in a special sectioned off area) should remain in their seats until all the roads outside had been cleared. We ended that day with some really tasty asian, my favourite dish being the soya glazed salmon with wasabi mash and pickles, Mmmmm.

Our second day in Liverpool was the "Beatles Day" where we went to the beatles story exhibition and went on the magical mystery tour that took us all through liverpool showing us various areas of importance including the houses the boys used to live in, Penny Lane and Starwberry fields. We ended that day with fabulous pies and tasty ales at the Philharmonic pub.

I have eaten so much potato and meat since I have been here! I don't know if it is the weather, or that it is england and the the menu is limited, but I always find myself ordering the roast, or the home made pie or some chips or bangers and mash (oh and lots of cream teas.... I never used to eat scones!)

In the cavern club, Liverpool

Watching Everton do their thing in Liverpool

Breacon, Wales - Where I spent 2 days horse-riding

Garden of the Museaum of Welsh Life

Brighton and Beyond

2010-02-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

So of course Fabien (colleague and friend at Collins Anderson) is going back to Australia while I am here in the UK. So in a rush we decided to meet up on Friday for a quick coffee in Brighton in between interviews. Even though brief, it was still great to catch up! The spontaneous trip to the seaside also enabled me to check out what Brighton has to offer. The weather was lovely, so I did a good deal of strolling around!

View of Brighton Beach from the Pier

Hayley and Fab catching up for a coffee

After my day at the beach I caught a train home, a 1hr journey took me 2.5 hours, welcome to London transport, replied George in response to my disgruntled text. Back in the city I went to a Cuban dance performance with Marg and Simon and then a sleep over at their place in Hackney.

The following morning we went to a little cafe specialising in Georgian breakfast, it was divine! The food was so tasty and plentiful counting as breakfast and lunch for that day.

Marg and Simon tucking into the Georgian Breakfast

On Sunday George and I went to a Russian Festival on the banks of the Thames. Unfortunately the line-up for Blinni was too long so we went to Spittle field where we had some awesome bangers and mash and a great coffee!

George at the Russian festival, it kinda felt like we were at Eurovision

The Wonderful World of George and Hayley

2010-02-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

George meeting me at the airport. I was wearing the ghosties!

George patting the Whittington Cat

PJ party: George in Hayley in their 4th pair of matching PJs

Simon and Marg enjoying their roast beef!

Just Call Me Iron Chef

2010-01-21T03:45:00.000-08:00

And the secret ingredient this week is: DUCK

After having experienced my first tartar in NYC and loving it, I jumped at the first opportunity to learn how to make my own. I enrolled in a evening cooking class at a cooking and hospitality school in old Montreal.

Titled, 'The Duck' over the course of three hours we made:

Duck Tartar:
Fresh duck mince flavoured with capers, challots, pickles, mustard, salt and pepper, bound with olive oil and served with mini toasts.

Duck Rissotto:
Abborio rice with shredded marrinated duck, a range of mushrooms including portabello and champion, parsley, thyme, onions, chicken stock and and a white wine glaze.

Apple Tart with Foie Gras:
Puff pastry tarts with pan seared foie gras, fresh garden salad and served with a port and honey reduction.

Most of the instruction was in french, but our teacher, Nicolai, was happy to answer my questions in English.

We did all the prep at the start then we would assemble each course, sit down to eat it, then assemble the next course. This was the first time I had eaten foie gras and for those who dont know it is duck liver, i.e. essentially fat. We pan seared each side which made it a little crispy, but as I bit into it, it litterally melted in my mouth and I could feel the fat slidding into my body and coating my ateries. It also reminded me of the sheep tail fat I had bitten into in Mongolia... and somehow the sheep fat felt more healthy to me!

Cooking up a storm

Duck Tartar

Apple Tart with Foie Gras

Iron Chef Hayley with the Duck Rissotto

To infinity and beyond!

2010-01-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

I am having a lovely time in NY. Ellen's parents are wonderful, the three days that Ellen wasn't here they looked after me and made sure I had things to do. They live in Queens, which is a fair way from Manhattan, but this doesn't mean I haven't been seeing the sights.

Deb (Ellen's Mum) took me to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) It is massive. We were there for 3 hours and I only got to browse through 3 sections. I saw an exhibit about Japanese Samurai (with the largest collection of Japanese National Treasures in the world) Then the modern art area where I got distracted by art deco furniture and finally a brief walk though the American Wing which contained rooms of stately furniture and the facade of an old bank. It was a sensory overload.

When in Mongolia I became friends with a Canadian called Keith, one of his friends from school, Teo, came to visit him so I also met Teo. I had completely forgot Teo lived in NYC so when Keith herd I was going there he hooked me up with his friend. We ended up exploring the MoMA (museum of modern art) together, saw some Monet waterlilies, van goughs "a starry night", and an exhibition on bauhaus. Again a sensory overload.

What amazed me so much about these two awesome museums, apart from their awesome collections, but the fact they are soooo packed, even at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon!

I also went to dinner with Teo and some of his friends in Brooklyn. I had duck tartare and a celery root salad with hazelnuts, cherries, cheese, flat leaf parsley and a vinaigrette dressing. I wish I could tell you want was in the duck, but the restaurant was only lit by candle light, so I couldn't really see, it did some served with some kind of creamy sauce on the side and little toasts. It was divine! Never had anything tartare before, but it was amazing. The salad was equally as good, and the hazelnuts were such a fabulous touch. We proceeded to head to crowded bars after dinner and I didn't get home until 3am.

I also got the opportunity to experience my first Jewish Sabbath. Judaism is so unknown to me because I don't know anyone that is Jewish in Australia. Sabbath begins with the lighting of candles. Prayers are sung. Then the bread is blessed by the youngest person. The bread (I will have to find out the name) is a very tasty loaf that is hand braided. Then the wine is blessed and then we all dig into a lovely meal. Deb and Arnie were kind enough to translate everything for me (they do it all in Hebrew) My favourite part of the ceremony was that all the children were given a blessing. Basically mum and dad put their hands on their children's heads and bless them for the week ahead.

Also, being a guest at a Jewish household means we do not eat meat and dairy in the same meal. This also calls for 2 sets of cutlery and crockery. There is a cupboard for the dairy bowls, plates, etc and a cupboard for the meat bowls, plates, etc. And also as Jewish people don't eat pork, it also means no bacon!!! I think I can only be Jewish for a little while!

Today I spent the whole day touring Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Liberty Island originally a military outpost is now home to the famous green lady, the statue of liberty. The statue is made of copper sheeting that has literally been banged into place. The statue is hollow and it was originally planned to fill it with sand to ensure she didn't fall over in strong winds. But then Mr. Eiffel (yes, the one who designed the big antennae in Paris) a wonderful engineer came along and designed an inner tower and support mechanisms to keep the statue strong. So there you go, the states has its own Eiffel Tower, it just happens to be inside something.

I then spent about 3 hours in the immigration museum on Ellis island learning about how thousand of migrants got into America. It had a lot of similarities to stuff I'd seen in the Adelaide Immigration Museum, immigrants accounts of moving to a new country, their beloved possessions that they brought, the tests they had to go through. It was an excellent exhibition and very intriguing.

So, not entirely sure if I want to move to New York now. It had always been a part of my 5 year plan, but it just don't hold the pizazz it did for me last time.... But it still is really cool!

BC in all its glory

2010-01-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Some fun observations...

Breaking Bad Habits
Who would have thought putting toilet paper back in the toilet would be a behavior I would have to re-learn? For those of you unaccustomed to going to the loo in a developing country (or anywhere in South America) most sewerage systems can't handle toilet paper, thus you are asked to put it in a bin next to the loo (most times you need your own TP as well) So when I arrived in Miami after 2.5 months in South America dutifully putting my paper in the bin I had to remember and reassure myself that it was OK for the TP to go in the toilet. It didn't help that where ever I went to the toilet in North America there seemed to be a bin right next to the toilet. Even now there is still a pause as I remember it goes in the toilet!

The Beauty of Canada
I was all ready to learn Spanish and move to Argentina to live and work there and eat great steak because my experience in South America was so grand and so interesting and I wanted to go back to live.... but then there was Canada! Well, Squamish was the first part of BC that I saw in the day light and it was gorgeous! Katie's parent's house is surrounded by mountains and pine trees and on a sunny day it is just magical! I've been on quite a few walks whilst here and it is so glorious to take in the scenery!North America is Built around the Car. Roads are wide and long, parking spaces are huge to accommodate the massive utes, and its not really worth 'walking' in towns or cities because everything is positioned so you can drive to it. North America is obsessed with strip malls, essentially a range of chain stores in one area, usually next to a major road, with massive adjoining car parks.

Canadians Don't Know the Value of their Crusts
Its so interesting to see the differences and the similarities between the Australian and Canadian cultures. Turns out Canadian kids of the 90's also had snap bands, wore lycra with big baggy T-shirts and rolled their socks down to be cool, but when I told them they needed to eat the crusts on their sandwiches to make their hair go curly, they all looked at me strangely!

Since Christmas I have been hanging out with Katie and we have done a mistxure of being lazy and watching TV and staying in our PJs and seeing some sights and going on walks. We spent a fun filled day in Vancouver where we went to the aquarium and I got to see beluga whales and pacific dolphins, the Museum of Anthropology where we saw heaps of first nations carving including huge totem poles, a Roots store and The Bay in down town Vancouver, 2 icons of Canada and my first ever ice hockey game. The hockey was awesome, I had no idea about the rules, but it was great to watch.Katie and I are now on Vancouver Island where we have been staying with her friend Erika in her mad house of 11 people. We played a murder mystery on our first night which consisted of us all getting dressed up in character and acting out our roles. We drove up north for lunch and last night went ice skating in this glorious garden. Today Erika and I went on a hike through the woods and along a beach! The scenery was spectacular and the weather has been holding up which is nice! (check out facebook for my picture of Vancouver Island)

Today we went to Whistler, about an hour north of Squamish, the location of some of the winter Olympic events and also home to lots of Aussies who go there to work and ski.

We had a lovely day, it was cold but the skies were mostly clear which meant when we did the peak 2 peak, a gondolier ride from Whistler Mountain to Blackhowe Mountain, we got a good view. We checked out the scenery from the peaks, taking lots of photos.

We spent some time in the village, checking out the shops and having hot chocolate and then we went tubing. I thought this would be a fun and carefree activity we could do in the snow (I have an irrational fear of snow sports). But on my first run down the slope in the tyre tube I thought I was going to die!!! We started with the lowest grade slope, but I was going so fast... then there was shaves of snow ploughing into my face because of the speed it kinda hurt and then I was going backward and couldn't see where I was going, scared I was going to come out of the tube or flip over and end up a mangled wreck of flesh mushed in with the snow! I was so scared I was nearly screaming with wild terror! But I arrived safely at the bottom and decided to try it again!

The view from Whistler Mountain
Hayley and Katie on top of Whistler, an Inuk in the background (symbol for the winter Olympics)

Katie with her winter Olympic mittens. These things are as rare as hens teeth, but I was lucky enough to spot a pair when I was shopping at the bay.

Skiers enjoying a day on the slopes

Canada, eh?

2009-12-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

So I arrived in Canada in time to spend Christmas with my old roommate, Katherine Patricia, and her family in Squamish BC. Unfortunately it was not a white Christmas, but good none the less. We had the traditional family breakfast, then opened some presents.

Heather (Katie's sister) and Katie making breakfast

Katie unwraps her loot from Father Christmas

In the afternoon, we took the dog for a walk along the river and spotted some eagles. Every man and his dog was also out enjoying the sunny winters day.

Katie, Heather and Bonnie by the river

We then sat down to a wonderful roast turkey with all the trimmings prepared by Peter (Katie's Dad).

About to tuck in to the Christmas feast (l to r: Heather, Hugh (Peter's Dad) Peter and Katie)

On boxing day we were able to make use of the unseasonal good weather. Heathers friend invited us to go sailing on Howe Sound with her Dad. We rugged up under many layers (despite the lovely sun, it is still very cold) and trundled down to the yacht club. We spent a lovely few hours taking it in turn of steering and working the sails. Below are some shots from the day. As you can see it is breath taking scenery in this part of the Country. I get to wake up to those mountains every day.

On the yacht heading towards Big Chief (mountain in the distance)

The whiteness in the distance is a glacier and the water from that area feeds Squamish

Katie at the helm

Logged wood piled in the water

John steering us back to our mooring

Spectacular scenery in Squamish

Howe Sound

Skipper Barich

Fun Times in Florida

2009-12-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

Florida was not as warm as I was hoping, but I did have the time of my life experiencing all the American culture we all see on TV.

I was picked up from the airport by Jocelyn, a friend I made in Mongolia and her boyfriend Seth and we drove to her parents place. My first night there after a delicious seafood extravaganza cooked by Seth, Jocelyn took us to a local pub where I was the youngest patron by like 20 years! It was somewhat weird to see 40 to 50 year olds (an obscene number of women dressed up like Mrs Clause (the naughty version)) grooving on the dance floor! The next morning Seth took me out for a good old American breakfast where I very happily had french toast with bacon and maple syrup (and I didn't have to order bacon as a side, because that combination is not weird here).

Hayley and Jocelyn out at a local watering hole in Jocelyn's home town

That evening we went to Hooters, another American institution, a sports bar where all the barmaids wear short-shorts and tight tanks and are supposed to be well endowed! We ate a whole range of American deep fried delicacies and washed it down with Miller beer! We also visited Cocoa Beach, the home of Kelly Slater and visited the local 24hour surf shop, somewhat of an icon!

We spent a whole day at the Kennedy Space Centre and it was awesome. We got to look at heaps of spaceships, rockets, went on a take off stimulation ride, went for a tour of the base and had astronaut ice cream! It was totally dark when we left!

One of the two launching pads on the space centre

Back end of one of the Apollo lunar rockets

Hayley and Jocelyn in Rocket Park

Our last day together, Jocelyn, Seth and I spent the whole day at Universal Studios near Orlando trying to pack in as many rides as possible. It had been a long time since I had felt the thrill of being plunged into darkness, thrown into the air and swirled around! We went on this awesome spider man ride that was kind of virtual. You were in this car that thrashes you about the city and these villains try to smash you out of the way... and when the villain with fire comes near you you get gusts of hot wind in your face and when the water villain goes to punch you, you get sprayed with mist. I was ducking and dodging to miss all the things I thought were being thrown at me.

It was dark when we left. We went to Margarita ville to relax with a few beverages.

The Seuss Landing, where we went on the Cat in the Hat ride

Seth, Jocelyn and Hayley after their fun filled day at Universal Studios, relaxing at Margarita ville

Lots and lots of Boobies.... and other creatures!

2009-12-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

Our tour group
Me in the Galapagos

Well my hair is matted, my skin is brown and I feel like I am swaying like I am on the ocean even though I have been on land for 4 hours, but oh what an adventure. I have just spent the last 8 days sailing around the Galapagos archipelago in a 16 berth boat with a lively crew and naturalist guide that looks and dresses like an old surfer.

Marine iguana's sunning themselves

Our guide Sergio knew everything about everything. He would usually walk around the island shirtless and shoeless and I loved to watch him impersonate the animals and birds, so funny! Our routine consisted of having a considerable breakfast, landing on and island and doing a walking tour, sometimes snorkeling for an hour, lunch on the boat, sail to a new island, land walk and investigate and take photos to our hearts content, then some more snorkeling before we swam back to the boat, dinner, briefing for the next day, sail to our next island and sleep, to get up and do it all again the next day.

Land turtle found in the highlands of Santa Cruz

I never got around to reading up about the Galapagos, so I was very surprised to find out that the islands were formed by submarine volcanoes, thus most are covered in volcanic rock and lava flows. There are only a few sections on the bigger islands, called the highlands which are at are higher altitude and have rainforest's, the rest of the landscape looks quite desolate with only a few things growing including prickly pear. The Galapagos is actually species poor, so there are essentially the same plants and animals on each of the islands, but the interesting thing is the differences between them and how they have evolved. As you have seen in all the nature documentaries, you can get super close to all the animals, which means great photo ops, but also you get to look straight into the animals eyes.

Me pretending to be a turtle by climbing into a land turtle shell

There were quite a few sea lion pups and just when you thought you had had your fair share of sea lions, one of them would look at you with its big brown eyes and you felt compelled to give your attention to it. My favourite part was definitely the snorkeling. One day we got to snorkel through a volcano, called the devils crown as only the rim of the volcano was out of the water. It was overcast and choppy so it looked quite daunting, but once you put your face under it was magical. There was great visibility and there were so many fish, starfish and plants to watch. Then our guide uncovered 3 white tipped sharks under a ledge! It was pretty scary, they were swimming underneath me, but now I can say I have swum with sharks. Another memorable swim was our last one. We spent about 2 hours along the coast of a volcanic island going in and out of the alcoves and we had penguins swimming with us, a sea lion playing with us, sharks constantly swimming past and I got to see a marine iguana feeding on the bottom of the sea! It was so awesome and everything was close enough to touch.

The harbour at Santa Cruz

So one of the bird species to populate the Galapagos are the boobies (Blue Footed, Red Footed and Masked) Turns out the blue footed boobies lay three eggs each season, but only one will survive. There is a lot of competition between the babies. Those born first will try and push the others out of the nest, some will literally stab their siblings in the neck with their very sharp beaks to get rid of them...... survival of the fittest. The blue footed boobies also do a dance when trying to get a mate, which is what we watched today. Apparently it is quite choreographed! What we saw, each female had at least 3 suitors.

Male and female blue footed boobie getting their dance on

Yes, they really do have blue feet

Masked boobie

Lava lizard

I think I have put on weight! They fed us so well on the boat. Even though we were outside all day, we didn´t really work up a real appetite, but we ate like we did. And I couldn´t pass up all the fresh fruit they offered us everyday! Next stop Miami, where I will be chilling with Jocelyn who I met in Mongolia!

Sally light-foot crab

Prickly pear in the distance

The landscape of the South Plaza

Land iguana

Swallow-tailed gull

Baby sea lion

Salty Dawg!

2009-12-07T05:56:00.001-08:00

How interesting can a salt flat be really... I know, I know growing up next to the Murray where there invariably are salt flats, that you don't necessarily want because it shows how poor the land is, but never the less are good for doing wheelies.... so it took a lot of convincing to get me out to these famed salt flats.

Bolivia had elections on Sunday. This mean from midnight on Friday, no alcohol to be served and no drunks on the street *instant impresionment(, limited public transport and none on Sunday and basically nothing open and nothing to do except vote. This meant all travellers were kinda stuck where ever they were on a saturday morning and meant I couldnt do a 3 day tour of the salt flats.

After a hideous overnight bus ride to Uyuni, I packed into a 4WD with a Brazillian, 3 french a Dutch girl a Japonese guy and our Bolivian Driver/Cook/Guide Lino who was awesome and made the trip!

On day one we
* Saw how salt was processed
* Visited a derelict hotel made out of salt
* Made the obligatory perspective photos on the salt flats
* Climed around incawasi, a cactus island in the middle of the salt flats
* Watched sunset over the salt lakes

On day two we
*Got up at 4.30am to climb a volcano, which took us 4 hours to get up to 4800 meters and then 2 hours to get back down again, we were very impressed with ourselves
* visited some mummies
* Drove back to incawasi to change cars and drive back to Uyuni.

So, do I now rate salt flats_ Well, it was kinda cool!

From Uyuni I caught another night bus back to La Paz, checked into Adventure brew my hostel of choice where I had a shower, ate free pancakes, put all my clothes in to be washed and then hit my bunk bed as I was wrecked!

Saturday and Sunday were spent doing nothing exceptt eating, sleeping and watching DVDs. The hostel organised illegal parties for Saturday and Sunday night *elections so no alcohol was supposed to be served* and bbq dinners and lunches, so there was no need for me to ever leave the hostel.

in other exciting news, I'm finally going to stay with a Couchsurfer. Thus far I have only met for coffee. I have been emailing a girl in Ecuador who has invited me to stay with her and her family, so that should be cool. I will only stay one night because I will then be going to the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!! I have to overnight in Lima tonight, so I will be spending the next day trying to get me a digital camera so I can take some sweet pictures of the wildlife!!!!

Caution: Do not read if squeemish

2009-12-05T04:38:00.000-08:00

So, Bolivia continues to be an adventure!

Last Monday I attempted "death road." Essentially this road is a one lane unsealed bumpy rocky road cut out the side of the cliff. Whilst it is not actually used by traffic anymore, this used to be a major thorough fare and at the tight turns and dubious corners there are numerous statues and monuments to honour the fallen. Now it is mostly over-run by tourists who mountain bike the 54 kms to Corico, mostly down hill.

The rest of our group was futher down the mountain as they were way ahead so they had no idea what was happening, and when I told them they couldn't believe it. So because our support van and the extra guide had gone to the hospital, we had only one guide and no food or water for the entire 5 hour trip.

The scenery was amazing, when I took the time to notice it, but really it wasn't until we got to the hotel in corico for a belated lunch and a swim that I felt okay.

THe next morning we got picked up and driven to a small river town where we would begin our rafting tour. All our packs got wet on this first day as we were in torrential rain and the tarp protecting our stuff didn't really work. We spent most of the first day lazing in this little village and then they were finally ready to begin.

No iagine 8 truk tyre inner tubes, tied together with rope and then treebraches tied over the top like a grate, that was our raft.... our amazon trip was quite the adventure, during the 5 days we

went through rapids
walked to a waterfall for a swim
ate all the tropical fruits you could poke a stick at
stayed a remote communities
drank fresh cocnut milk on our raft
went swimming
ate awesome meals
went for night and day walks in the forrest
saw the starry skies
watched the amazing scenery, including seconday and primary forrests and canyons drift by

But we also had many challenges that made it an "adventure" rather than a holiday

our stuff got wet everyday (even though we were told everything would be waterproof)
our tour company forgot the water, so we were constantly looking for clean sources to then boil and bottle
despite the layers of deet we got attacked by these little spider things that left welts and made my feet swell up and itch like hell
our raft had no shade, so we were constantly in the elements
our tents leaked

Our guide was a bit non-plus but the guy with him who basically did everything from rowing the raft, to cooking to taking us on Junglewalks, his name was Rueban and we all loved him and he was definatley a highlight of our trip. I could hardly ever answer him as my spanish is no good, but I could understand what he was talling us about the forrest and river and his family! One of my favourate memories was the afternoon when we were all sitting on the raft just floating along and he gets out his machete and sits between us and peels and chops all these tropical fruits for us to eat. He even manages to crack and peel coconuts from which we drink the juice and then he cuts again and we feast on the cocnut flesh. He was also like mcgyver in that he could construck anything from anything and he was always looking out for us! He was especially helpful in guiding me our of the jungle down these really steep slopes in the dark, he never let my hand go even if I nearly dragged him down the cliff....

We got to Rurrenabaqu which was a cool small little town we had a hot shower did some laundry, ate awesome fish and had many a caparina.

The next morning we headed for the pampas, a different national park wherethe emphasis was on animals notplants. We stayed at a lodge that had lots of rooms connected by boardwalks and mosquito nets over all beds. No where near as many bugs as the jungle, but I was quite paranoid and worelong pants and sleeves every day.

We got to

See more capivaras (basically big guine pig rodent type things) and caimans (little crocs) and all different kinds of birds than you could poke a stick at
See a baby anaconda
Swim with pink dolphins
Fish for pirahna
Eat gloriously
Watch sunsets at ramshackle bars

We also

Didn't have an english speaking guide
All got dehydration from a walk that ended up taking about 4 hours in the hot sun

I was a little bit over being out in the elements after 8 days - I had seen some great things, but I was wrecked.

We caught a flight back to La Paz where it was instantly 30 degrees cooler and we all felt a little bit dizzy for the return to altitude!

Elections are happening in Bolivia on the weekend, so they are threatening my plans, as public transport will be unreliable and I don't want to be stuck somewhere other than La Paz.

Also, today I say good bye to Chris and Christy, my travelling buddies, so that is a bit sad, they are off to sucre and I'm planning to go to the salt flats.

Rain on the Island of the Sun

2009-12-05T04:37:00.002-08:00

After Machu Piccu I hooked up with two Aussies from Melb. Chris and Christy and we made our way to Puno where we toured the floating islands. These particular people didn't want to be taken over by some fighting warloard so basically decided to create their own land. These islands are essentially made of massess of water reed roots and leaves. Their entire houses and boats are also made of reeds.

We then headed to Copacobana, also on lake Titicaca, but the Bolivian side. We trekked 17 kms to a peninsular where we got a local many to ferry us in his boat to Isla de Sol a large island in Lake Titicaca and also the birth place for a lot of inca folklore.

The scenery on our walk to and through the island was spectacular and often reminding us of home with many gum trees and red earth. Most of isla del sol is quite elevated, so trekking around it was tough.

We spent the night on the island and that night watched and listened to a great thunder storm, but it was only raining slightly when we went to continue our trek the next morning.

Once we got to the northern end we went for a swim and then caught the ferry back to Copa. The next day we bussed to La Paz.

Bolivia has so far been really cool, really interesting and really cheap! A 3 course meal usually costs us 3 or 4 dollars and accommodation is usually under 10. Lake Titicaca was amazing, so huges and such a great landscape surrounding it.

On our bus into La Paz we got to observe the valley that is La Paz lined with all the houses... its hard to descibe and hopefully Christy has a picture I can show you!

And now for the exciting news, I am very shortly going to spent 5 days rafting down a river into the Amazon, huckleberry finn style. The raft will have no motor, we just let the current do the work!

Walk Like an Inca

2009-12-05T04:37:00.001-08:00

I have never been so physically exhasted in my life.... the altitute sickness, the constant rain, the gigantic slopes all tried to ruin the experience, but it was awesome! We walked 52 kms over 4 days and it tested everyone. We saw about 5 inka ruins along the way, and our helpful and friendly guide was able to give us the low down on all of them. He also would stop at almost every flower or orchid to tell us what is was, all the time me thinking Oma would love this trip!

We had 16 porters with us on the trip and they were absolutely amazing, they each carried about 25kg (tents, food, etc) and would run ahead of us to each stop! They thought of everything! I nearly cried at the first camp site, when the porters all applauded us as we arrived (never mind they had done the same stretch in half the time we had carrying twice as much) and then gave me a bowl of hot water and some soap!!!! I was so happy to be able to wash the sweat off, even though we were in the middle of no where!

We also sat down to a 3 course meal, for every meal! The food was amazing, the chef was so skilled and could turn the same ingredients into so many different varieties of foods! On the last night, he even baked us a cake!!!

Our group consisted of 10 Aussies and 1 Pom, and we all became a tidy unit by the end of the trek. On the last night, one girl got really sick and it was decided she needed to be taken on ahead to hospital. So 3 porters were woken up at 3am and took turn in carrying her on their back the 2 hours to the nearest town. She said in the beginning it was absolutely scary as the porters would just run down the steep hills and steps in the darkness.... but she got to hospital, got treated and was able to meet us at Macchu Pichu the next day!

I really don't have time to go on, as I need to check out and say goodbye to Lucy who flyes back home today :( It was an amazing experience to say the least and I lernt a lot and met some great people, some of which I am travelling with to my next destination!

When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio

2009-12-05T04:35:00.000-08:00

de Jeniero.... so we did!

Rio (the r pronounced as an "h") was totally awesome. We stayed at a hostel close to the beach in copacobana and were able to easily get to sugarloaf hill, Corcavado (Christ the Redeamer) the beach and the markets.

On our second day we took, what we thought would be a leisurely boat tour through the islands, only to drive 3 hours to be put on a somewhat party boat.... it was great, none the less, but not the lazy afternoon we were expecting. Our boat, with about 70 party people on board sailed around islands including Isla Grande and at each stop we got out and swam and snorkled our way around. We had an excellent seafood lunch, and a few caprinas to wash it down. There was even a samba band on board. At one stop we got to walk around the island. We got back to Rio tired and sunburnt, but that didn't stop us going to the night markets where I got a brazillian bikini and some capoiera pants.

Whilst in Rio we caught up with Ruth, an AIESECer from Brisbane, who took us to dinner one night and took us out to Lapa on Friday night. Lapa is the cool bar and samba club district in Rio. It was alive and pumping. We started the evening with drinks at a bar near ruths and then later in the night we went to Lapa. And we basically just walked the streets soaking in the atmosphere. We bought street beers (from a little lady on the corner with an esky) and when we came upon a bar that had good music, we just stood on the footpath and danced there. There were numerous food stalls and buskers, it was great people watching.

We had to leave early as we were catching a night bus to San Paulo. Our night bus was executive style which meant our seats totally reclined, we were given blanket, pillows and snacks. Sheer luxury!

We spent saturday and sunday in San Paulo, catching up with Lucy's friends, eating and drinking and shopping. We had a sushi buffet on Saturday for lunch in a suburb of San Paulo that has the largest population of Japanese outside Japan.

On sunday, I had my last Brazillian buffet :( I had got it down to an art form by now. I knew what I liked and disliked, knew the approximate amount that would suffice me and given that it was nearly 3 by the time we had lunch, it was also my dinner. We spent the afternoon in San Paulo's big park drinking shimaho (a type of chunky green tea that you drink from a gourd through a staw). This park was like NY's central park on steroids, it was huge and FULL of people, playing games, doing sport, practicing dancing routines, riding bikes, running laps.

AND NOW PERU

Wow, Cusco is so interesting! There are inca fortresses and spanish colonial churches all in amoungst restaurants and tourist vendors! And its so interesting to observe the locals. The women with their big buffy skirts, long plates, borad brim hats and usually a colourful blanket holding a load on their back. Lucy and I spent Tuesday visiting museums and the markets and having the most awesomest chicken soup at the markets, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the locals. We concluded the day by watching a traditional dancing performance and it was so cool to see all their different traditional costumes!

I can't really find the words to describe how interesting and exciting it is to be in Peru! I can't wait for our trek to Macchu Piccu and I'm getting even more excited about the rest of my trip.

Today we walked up to an old fortresses, the walls of which are in the shape of a puma's teeth. It is believed that cusco was originally designed in the shape of a puma, a sacred and powerful animal.

Rio

2009-11-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Overlooking Rio on our way down from Sugarloaf Hill

Looking towards Corcavardo from Sugarloaf

Lucy, me and Christ

Your fish was how big?

When my baby smiles at me....

2009-11-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Overlooking the harbour of Rio

Lucy on the Party Boat sailing around Isla Grande

Lucy and Hayley, all swimmed out

Relaxing in the park with some shimaho (l to r: Gabi, Joh, Segala and Hayley)

Going with the flow

2009-11-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

So, here are some pictures to accompany the stories and tales I have been relaying. As you can see, there was about 14 of us from the wedding that then went on to Bonito to basically having a cool time checking out nature.

All the people on our trip had been in AIESEC in some form, most had been on the Brazillian MC. Apart from all the Brazillians, we had Vitalli from the Ukraine, Verena from Switzerland, Dean from the UK and Lucy and I from Australia.

Landscape of Bonito

The river we floated down

Me in the river

The gang all kitted up (l to r: Segala, Mogana, Vitalli, random dude, Rafita, Verena, Dean and yours truly)

Good Times

2009-11-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the waterfalls in Bonito

Walking through the forrest

Everybody in the tour bus

Beer and maiorca in Campo Grande (l to r: Rafita, Vitalli, Lucy, Marcio and Hayley)

On to Bonito

2009-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Visiting the cave with the blue water in Bonito with the crew

Enjoying one of the many waterfalls and swimming areas on our walk though a national park in Bonito

AIESEC Brazil, well a lot of them anyway (l to r: Ferava, Lucy, Rafita, Joh, Danile (groom) Andrea (Bride), Marcello, Mogana, Segula, ..., Marcio)

Lucy and Gabi looking glamourous

Wedding in Campo Grande

2009-11-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

Andrea and her dad Pedro walking to the alter

Hayley, Lucy and V all galmmed up for the wedding

Lucy eating her birthday chocolate (Vitalli and Andrea in the background)

Marcio and Hayley

How much relaxation is too much relaxation?

2009-11-04T05:40:00.001-08:00

Our 3 days in Bonito was just what the doctor ordered!

On tuesday after a liesurly breakfast we drove to a nature reserve with a river that was fed by springs and I know this sounds kinda crazy, but we got kitted up in wet suits and goggles and literally just floated down the river for 2 hours. There was a nice current that took us all the way. We could just float and observe the river floor and all its inhabitants or roll over onto our backs and watch the out of water scenery! Now because this place was super protected we had to wash off all soaps, sunscreens, etc before we got in the water. As a result we all ended up with back of leg and calf tans as we were all floating on our stomaches and it was the only bit not covered by wetsuits.

Again, lunch was buffet, but today I had actually worked up and appitite and then we essentially spend the afternoon lazying in hammocks, reading, swimming, etc.

That night we went to a local restaurant that served all type of native Brazillian animals including fish, caiman and some sort of wild boar thing. We concluded the evening with self serve ice cream, with well over 60 varieties to choose from, and most made from local native fruits (which I have never herd of and don´t know an english translation)

Wednesday we got up super early to go on a walk though a cave. We walked into the depths of this cave that had pure blue water at the bottom. We then checked out of our hostel and went to a local part where we had lunch, swam in the crystal clear waters, slepts, drank and just relaxed.

We then drove back to Bonito and hung out in the airport until our flights at 3am. I am now in Rio with Lucy and it looks like there is plenty to do!

New Hair and New Legs

2009-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

I met Lucy with a big hug in the Santiago airport. We then proceeded to spent the rest of the day in airports trying to getto our destination. We finally arrived in Campo Grande at midnight, only to find out Lucy had not actually made reservations for that night.... however there was a hotel next door!

On Friday we got to explore Campo Grande (Brazil) a little bit. For lunch we had my first Brazilian buffet lunch and it was awesome. They have all manner of bean, meat, rice and salad dishes, you load your plate with as much as you want and you pay based on the weight of your plate. I really enjoyed the bean dishes! And there was so much variety I could only take a little bit of everything. Friday we also spent at least 4 hours in a salon.... I know, crazy! I got a hair cut and colour (new hair) full leg wax (new legs) and a manicure and pedicure!!! All for 105 in Brazillian money! That evening we went out for dinner and some drinks with friends of Lucy's that she used to live with in Brazil.

Brazil thus far reminds me of Darwin. A similar type of climate, landscape and lots of outdoor living/ bars and restaurants! We later me the bride, groom and their families at the local fate (markets) It was also Lucy's birthday today, so lots of singing and sweet stuff! Saturday, there was a lunch for the wedding guests, again at a pay what is weighs buffet restaurant (These things are dangerous, but so good) and the waiters were dressed as cowboys, chaps and all! We then proceeded to spend another considerabl amount of time at the salon! After an afternoon nap, we got dressed and headed to the church for the ceremony. There wasn't much difference in a Brazillian wedding. They did have about 8 couples in the bridal party, but they weren't all in matching clothes, basically they wore what ever they wanted!! The reception was essentially a dance party, that only stopped once for a quick speach to welcome everyone! Food was served buffet style and basically the brides parents kept coming around to ask why you weren't dancing. Unfortunatley no Brazillian men asked me to dance!

We concluded at 3am because we had to leave the next day at 8am. So on Sunday we took a bus to Bonito. When I was awake during the journey, the landscape made me feel like I was back in Darwin, it even had red dirt, muddy rivers and cattle farms! No pandanus though! We went for a guided tour of a nature reserve where we visited and swam in about 5 waterfalls. It was glorious (and also involved a buffet lunch) and so nice to cool off after a long and hot bus drive! We are in Bonito for another 1.5 days where we will do some more tours, swimming, drinking and of course eating!

Where in the world is Hayley

2009-11-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

So, the gastrinomical tour of Chile continues.... I had a glorious steak with merlot marinated potatos, tempured red onion rings and a blue cheese sauce at a neat little restaurant not far from the hostel, with 2 english girls for Friday lunch. It then started to piss down as I got on the winery tour with my two new irish friends. We were going to Conch y Toro one of Chile's oldest and most faous wineries. The tour was pitiful, espeically after having so many great winery tours in Australia, but I got to wander their nice gardens.... I also found it quite interesting that the wines they produce are the ones we would drink in Mongolia!!!

On saturday I took a bus to Valparaiso, a beach town 2 hours from Santiago. I could smell a beautiful sea breeze as I approached my hostel, the sun was out, and Valparaiso looked like the Chile I was expecting, a bit more grity, rustic and interesting! My carefree views of Valparaiso were short llived as after lunch during my stroll through the old quarter I was mugged by 3 guys.... I'm not hurt or anything, they made off with my bag, etc. but it has scared the living be=jesus out of me and I feel like because of that incident I have lost my independance to travel alone! But a lady that herd me screeming took me inside, calmed me down and called the police. The police were also really nice, which helped!!! Back at the hostel I met an Australian girl who I could debrief with (thank god) who had also been a AusAID volunteer, in Mozambique. Her stories made me feel I was lucky I only got mugged!

We ended up going to meet a local who showed us around the city and took us to a good seafood restaurant where I had "catch of the day" a broth filled with muscles big, small and smoked, prawns and some other crustaceon we don't know what! It was delicious! My friend jackie had the seafood version of Chorilla, so basically my dish on a bed of chips and onion... all washed down with pisco sour.

Sunday I went to Viña de Mar, the posh end of town to try and relax in what was deemed a safe and nice part of town! But really I couldn't wait to get out of Valparaiso and back to Santiago. That day I also lost $10USD as one of the guys at the hostel suggested I have some secret money in my shoe to give to robbers, but is some how got out of my sock and out of my shoe! And to top it off I had an ice cold shower that night at the hostel ;( (do you know how comforting hot showers are?) I got a bus this morning and made it back in time to have lunch with a new friend Boris, a local of Santiago.

I have been using the couchsurfing.com website. It is basically a networking site for travelers, if you have a free bed you would like to offer a traveller or would like to meet people for coffee and show then some of the sites, then you put your profile on there. The first girl I met on there was Paula, and she's the one who took me for a night on the town eating and drinking in Santiago. The local I met in Valapraiso was Khris, again a couchsurfer. Boris was also a couch surfer. He took me to lunch in Bellavista, which was 3 courses, golrious, cheap and with a free pisco sour.. then we went for ice cream and a walk in the park. Then this afternoon I met another couchsurfer, Luis from Columbia, we had some beers, had a chat and we are going to do some sightseeing tomorrow. So I am feeling a lot better! Other points of note, the Chiliens are an 'affectionate' lot. Every park you go into there are coupled embraced, on the benches, on the lawns, on the statues.... literally in the park I was in today there was a couple being amourous with each other a 4m intervals!!! And, Chilien people are lovely, I've had ladies walk me to bus stations and look out for me on metros because I obviously look like a foreinger, on numerous occasions!!! So, I'm super excited about seein Lucy on Thursday as we make our way to a Brazillian wedding!!!

Santiago Food and Drink

2009-10-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

A completos, Chiliean hot dog with the lot including what tastes like coleslaw, sourkraut, salsa and lots of mayo. There are always 3 bottles on the tables in Chiliean cafes, red=ketchup, yellow=mustard and green=peppers/ chilli

Paula getting into the spirit of Karaoke

Hayley and Riccardo grooving to "I am the Walrus"

Riccardo and Hayley enjoying terremato (earthquakes). It is sweet white wine with another grape liquor and then a big wad of pinneapple sorbet (which looks like marshmellow).

Paula enjoying her "earthquake"

Overlooking Santiago

View of the city from Santa Lucia, a huge labyrinth of a park right in the middle of the city.

Farewell Dinner at Pee Wees

2009-10-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

You Can Be My American Boy

2009-09-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Whilst in Olgii (western Mongolia) we met 3 smelly (had literally not washed in weeks) American boys, who we ended up hanging out with for the whole time we were in Olgii. They were buying motorbikes so they could travel across Mongolia at their own pace. They said they would come and visit us in UB and we have been patiently waiting for that day. Their 6:30am arrival in UB (to avoid cops as they had unregistered bikes) turned into a 10:30 arrival, but that didn’t seem to matter after the big breakfast we cooked and the hot showers (a condition of them staying with us was that they had to shower every day) Their first night in UB they cooked us dinner. Chili Cheese Fries and Bacon-Blue Burgers. Who would have thought blue cheese on a burger would be so awesome. The rest of the time they were with us was spent eating, essentially. They were so happy to have access to fruit and vegetables.

Mark, Hayley and Tyler

Enjoying American Food: (l to r) Carl, Billy, Tyler, Mark and Steph

Pre-wash: the boys before they got in the shower

Post wash: As you can see Tyler doesn't look much different after a wash apart form the fact he now has some lovely nail art!

Family Snaps

2009-09-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

A family that plays together: Hayley, Steph, J-Dog and Tam

On my last day in Mongolia, the family got together for what I consider, I very important portrait, us in Mongolian costume. Please note my curved pigtails (don't laugh, Mongolian women actually used to wear their hair like this) and Steph's cut outs in her gown.

We were all impressed with our blemish free skin in the photo (Mongolians will use photoshop on everything, even your passport photos!)

'Til death do us part....

2009-09-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

Steph and I finally got to live one of our Mongolian dreams, photo shoot in wedding gowns!!! The Mongolians are known for having bride and groom photo shoots before the wedding day, so they can give guests photos at the wedding or use them as invites. And if you don't already have a wedding dress, no drama, they can easily photo shop your face onto a bride and groom picture (don't laugh, we saw this many a time). We however opted for choosing the most hideous gowns they had on offer in the studio!

The circle of life

2009-08-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, I had not been out to this part of the world for a while, and it had completely changed in my absence. Gone were all remnants of a desolate wintry landscape in place was a landscape alive with birds, bugs and horses that "flew" rather than galloped! It was magical!

The landscape looks totally different than when I first came here. Check out the frozen river that I swam in last weekend!

I have chased sheep across this landscape, snow covered!

Last time I came, this area was just beginning to bloom, now there are more flowers and variety of grasses than you can point a stick at.

All the baby goats and sheep have grown up!

What more can I say, Wow!

Me, after having a dip (an a little bit of a swim until the cold hurt too much) in a river I have previously walked and skated on.

Mmmm Brekkie

2009-08-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

We ended an adventurous Saturday with lots of singing, vodka and general good times. The next morning we were very appreciative of a cooked breakfast including french press coffee. Here we have toast master Jocelyn, using a pitch fork to toast four pieces of bread at once.

Everyone gets in on the toast making business

Camp Fire Stew, Mongolian Style

2009-08-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

I love a good camp fire stew, and the Mongolians do a particularly good job with it. Their dish is call khor-khogd and it is AMAZING. Below is instruction on how it is carried out.

1. Put your apple sized, but slightly flat river stones into the fire for a good 2 hours (its okay, Mongolian river stones have some special composition which means they don't explode when they get super hot

2. Put a layer of your chosen meat (well, its only ever going to be mutton in Mongolia) in a big pot

3. Put a layer of red hot stones in.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all stones and meat are used up. Include whole peeled veggies (such as potato and carrot) if you are of the omnivorous sort and add some secret herbs and spices. Cover pot and put back on coals and leave to cook for about 30-45mins. Serve with rice and maybe a pickle. Best eaten with fingers. Delicious!

Wohoo, Kayaking!

2009-08-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

When I sat down and thought about it, April was the last time I had been to visit our herder family near Terelje. Last time I went to visit, things were just beginning to get green, how there are luscious forests, not to freezing rivers, flowers galore and lots of birds. With the new AYADs we camped over near the river and had a fantastic weekend.

On Saturday we got dropped at the bridge and then paddled our way to the camp site. It took us about 4 hours, the scenery was FANTASMIGORICAL. It was so beautiful! Within our first 20 minutes we had capsizes, lost paddles and people wedged under trees, but we somehow overcame all that to have a fantstic journey. Its hard to descibe in words how wonderful it was!

My kayaking partner, Bec from Donnybrooke, WA

Relaxing in the front while Bec does all the work!

Fellow kayakers, James and Margarite

Claire, Carl, Gans and Janice - just chillin' letting the current do the work

So long Will

2009-08-28T06:17:00.001-07:00

The expat community of Ulaanbaatar is undergoing a rapid change. Summer is wrapping up for the year and as such, people are departing in droves, including some awesome friends. Friend and water and sanitation superstar (he talks about poo more than George) Will, has finished his Mongolian posting with ACF and is bound for Zimbabwe.

We celebrated in style with beers at Budwiser and dancing at Face. I couldn't resist the urge to get a tacky souvenir (insert Mongolian themed tie) unfortunately Will did not know how to tie one, so he got a crash course at the pub.

Will learns the art of tie tying

Hey presto, the tie instantly adds esteem and authority to any outfit

Steph, Will and Hayley

Hayley and Michael (Swiss) going crazy at FACE!

Tam cutting it up at FACE

Safe travels Will, 'til next time, maybe London, maybe Harare!

Gardens in the Gobi

2009-08-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Two days before we were depart, Gerry from the Disaster Management Team informed us we were going to the Gobi..... Okay, who am I to turn down a trip to one of Mongolia's most interesting landscapes?

The trip was to visit ADRA's 3 cooperative gardens. I was going to take footage and interview some beneficiaries. Tam was also coming and she was going to to an Environmental assessment of the 3 gardens. Our new intern, Cornelia from Germany would also be doing some interviews in relation to public health.

Jakub, the project leader from ADRA Czech was our guide and constant source of entertainment and lively anecdotes. Byrma was our ADRA Mongolia employee that also managed the gardens. We were also accompanied by Ullzie, our translator and Nimka our very cute driver.

On the first day we drove 5 hours to Dalangajund where we had huushuur and then spent the afternoon at the cooperative garden. It was amazing to see so many plants growing in what is essentially a desert! We were given some tomato's and cucumbers to sample, they were so tasty. The greenhouses were alive with vegetables and the members were obviously proud of their crops.

The next morning we went to Sainshand where we again visited a garden. This one was only established this year and looked like nothing in comparison to yesterdays garden, so obviously a lot can be done/ achieved in 1 year. We bought some produce and talked to the members. We were also there during a bit of a wind storm and we soon realised why they often had to replant gardens, sometimes as many as 3 times. The wind is relentless and whips up everything in its path. The gardens have planted wind breaks, but it will take some time before they are effective.

On the third day we drove to Erdene where we visited the 3rd garden. This garden was perhaps the most developed. We herd from the members that these local gardens meant that people in the gobi were for the first time eating Mongolian fruits and vegetables! One co-op member said he no longer had stomach problems because he had more of a balanced diet. Also the profit from last year, selling excess produce to the community meant that he was able to buy a small house for his family. Across the 3 gardens most of the members were unemployed before they were chosen to be a part of the program. Now they all have gainful employment, they said they have more friends and they want to learn more about how to grow vegetables, so they can become 'experts' at growing. They also have big plans for developing a restaurant that can serve healthy food.

It was pretty powerful to meet these beneficiaries and hear their stories and see that what is being done is actually changing peoples lives. And it also showed me the importance of monitoring trips. Nothing beats face-to-face communication and so many ideas and problems can be sorted out over a cup of sui-tei-tse (milky tea).

Statue in Sainshand of someone offering a blue khadag

Members of the Dalanjargaland cooperative transplanting seedlings

Stopping for a cuppa

Byrma talks veggies with some members of the Erdene cooperative (Byrma is holding a huge bunch of dill that the Erdene members gave to us to give to the Dalanjagaland garden so they could do some pickling)

I'm pretty sure this tractor is grinning evilly at me!

On the way back from Erdene we stopped at the Energy Centre. A Buddhist site that is supposed to energise you! There are a number of rituals you are supposed to do including circling everything clockwise. There were a group of Mongolians getting into the spirit of things, literally. There were the vodka offerings to the gods, but I think it turned out to be one for the gods and two for me!

You are supposed to lay on the ground to absorb the energy. The more contact you make with the earth, the better. Some Mongolians were taking this a bit far, and taking off a bit too much clothing in order to come in contact with the earth.

Also, apparently if you call your friend on your mobile whilst there, they too become energised via the phone!

Nimka, Byrma, Ullzie and Connie at the Energy Centre

Soaking up the energy

Stupas surrounding the Energy Centre

Connie at an ovoo, these need to be circled 3 times, clockwise

The Gobi

More Gobi

One of the things I love about Mongolia, is that the drivers you hire that take you everywhere around this country, always get in on everything. When I think driver I think man in suit in hat that patiently waits at the door for you to return. In Mongolia our drivers have: Helped in the ADRA food distribution, helped in the vegetable gardens, talked agriculture with co-op members, come to shaman ceremonies, gone horse-riding, occupied the kids of the families we were visiting, drank lots of milky tea, taken naps in gers, participated in our drinking games and just generally hung out with us! Of course, they only do this once the car has been cleaned inside and out!!!

Our last night in the Gobi was spent doing Karaoke, but of course! Unfortunately this was the only thing our drive, Nimka didn't participate in, despite speaking fluent Korean and half of the song book was Korean songs!!! There was no private room this time, karaoke was done in the main bar.

Mid-way through the night, an older man approached our table and informed us he was leaving, but he wanted to thank our table for singing, it had made for an enjoyable evening! Classic!

Tam and Ullzie

Connie and Tam belt out a tune

Yours truly busts some moves to ABBA

P.S. It was a very awesome trip, an not like any other country trip we have done to date. 1.) thanks to the co-ops we ate fresh vegetables every day! 2.) we stayed at a fancy schmanzy hotel in Sainshand so we got a hot shower two out of the 3 nights 4.) I consumed less chocolates and snacks and not even one cup of dirty coffee 5.) The good roads meant we could get up to 80kms and hour!!!

After a Hard Days Work

2009-08-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

So after a stressful day of coordination and lugging 25kg bags of flour and rice, the Disaster Management team decided to unwind with some Karaoke! You know how shy I am, so I obviously had a horrible time... :)

Everyone came out of their shell's actually! I don't have many opportunities to hang out with colleagues in a social setting, so this was great fun for me. However, towards the end of the evening they kept choosing English songs and making me sing them all whilst they danced.... how do the professionals do an hour long set and not die? I was so parched at the end!

Hayley getting into the groove

Chimgee and Amar think Karaoke is tops!

Everyone getting in on the action (l to r: Chimgee, Badarch, Jak, Bymba, Hishgee, and Saraa)

Gerry puts a lot of thought into his song selection

Chimgee and Badarch sing together

All the crew!

ADRA lends a hand

2009-08-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Mid-July Mongolia was hit with lots of rain and consequently flash flooding. 25 people were killed and numerous people lost homes and positions. In an effort to address immediate food needs, ADRA Mongolia organised a food distribution to those critically impacted. This was my first time witnessing disaster relief and the team did a great job, its all about organisation, communication and planning... perhaps a future career for me!!!

The crowds lining up for food

ADRA Staff and Volunteers handing out food

The girls escaping from the heat (l to r: Byrma, Bymba, Chimgee and Ariuna)

Monster Fish Attacks Woman

2009-08-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Bah ha ha, this public service looks like and opportunity for the staff of DCC to go fishing during work time, to me!

Oh, I miss the NT!

Dead Animals and Soviet Monuments

2009-08-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

Way Out West

2009-08-01T02:14:00.000-07:00

So, after our 5 days in Central Mongolia, Steph and I flew to Olgii, way over in the West of Mongolia for 10 days. We spent 5 days on a tour in which we went to the lake area, stayed with some Kazakh families, did some camping and horse-riding and drank lots of milky tea. The remaining 5 days we chilled in Olgii where we hung out with some American backpackers, went market shopping, ate out and went dancing with a Peace Corp volunteer. I can't be bothered writing much of a commentary just now, so I thought I would let the pictures tell the story....

Steph in down town Olgii
No, not the Canadian Rockies, horse-riding about the lakes in Bayan-Olgii

Eating out our favourite restaurant in town (maybe the only restaurant open for dinner)

Steph gets stuck into the kofta's

A Turkic statue, many lie throughout Bayan-Olgii, so mark boundaries, some mark graves

Steph and Hayley chilling down by the river in Olgii

Tyler, one of the "stinky" American boys we dragged to the bath house for a shower and sauna

Watching the rocky scenery while the boys fix a blow out on the van, again!

Partying at the Duman, Olgii's only nightclub

Watching ladies of a local cooperative work their magic with the Kazack chain embroidery

Buying home made crafts from a Kazakh family

Summer Holiday Part 2

2009-08-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Our guide, who wouldn't let us go faster than a walk on the horses, with Steph

A Kazakh family that came out to sell their wears to us

We stopped for tea at another family ger, here is one of their children with a little kitty

Inside a Kazakh ger

Khoton Nuur, the lake where we camped

The lake where we also bathed

Our Russian van

The beautiful surrounding scenery

Steph playing with our hosts kids

Tree Pose: I let the kids loose with my camera

Our friendly hosts

Summer Holiday

2009-07-30T05:02:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Ulaanbaatar to Tovkhon Khiid

Left early and made our way to Kharkhorin, the old capital
Stopped at Penis rock where Steph and Ellen got much applause from the Italian tourists when they sat on the rock that is supposed to bring you fertility
Visited the monastery, Erdene Zuu
Rode camels through some sand dunes
Stayed at a ger camp in a beautiful valley
Danced in the "party ger" with boys in dels, who had incredible rough hands and smelt like mutton

Ellen shows the country boys how to impress the ladies

"Rock the party ger"

Day 2: Orkhon Valley to Tsetserleg

Leave early and meander through the Orkhon valley to the waterfall
Splash around in the numbingly cold water at the falls, the locals look on enviously, wishing they too knew how to swim
Picnic near the waterfall
Dinner and hot shower at the fairfield guesthouse

The Orkhon Waterfall

Steph gets her hair straightened in the "party ger" whilst enjoying a beverage

Day 3: Tsetserleg

Awesome breakfast at the fairfield
Visit a local cooperative farm, see their fields, green houses and new pickling plant and shop
Horse-riding through beautiful scenery
Manage to get stepped on by a horse, kicked by a horse and almost have my hand ripped off, but still manage to have a good ride and get to go the fastest I have ever been on a horse, what an adrenalin rush
Massage, facial, dinner and hot shower

Ellen talks cucumbers to the manager of the cooperative

Marks fist adventure on a Mongolian horse

Day 4: Tsetserleg to Tsenkher Hot Springs

Visit Tsetserleg markets
Visit local museum and monastery
Arrive at hot springs and spend most of the afternoon reading books and hanging out in the pools
Go walking and discover the source of the hot springs

Give me a 'Y' 'A' 'K', what does it spell...?

Day 5: Tsenkher Hot Springs to Ulaanbaatar

Watch the beautiful scenery glide by as we drive back to UB

Naadam Party

2009-07-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

Naadam also means lots of partying....

Me and my wiffy

Steph and Hayley on Sukhbaatar

Ellen is the perfect size for picking up and putting in your handbag

Naadam

2009-07-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

Naadam is a very special time of year for Mongolians. It is essentially an Olympics of sorts, but the celebrations last for many days and include much more. Anyone that has any talent, or fancies themselves as having talent in wrestling, horse-riding or archery will pack up there ger and head for UB. Numerous families set up tent in and around the horse-riding field, about 30kms out of UB.

On the Friday of Naadam I attended the horse-riding event. Horse and jockey race anywhere from 14 to 30kms. Most jockeys are children, because they are light. In the race we watched 3 horses finished with no jockey (they lose 5 places for this) and one horse keeled over and died about 200m from the finish line. One of the police on the barricade and started kicking the horse in the heart in an effort to get it going again... no luck.

Next time I am definitely taking my horse to Naadam! It is so convenient for riding around the field and no need to sit on bleachers as the horse is the perfect height for observing the race.

Those attending Naadam take the opportunity to dress appropriately and ride their horse

The jockeys and their horses scream towards the finish line

A family from North of UB that were participating in Naadam (jockey on the far left)

This is the way to watch the horse racing: everyone gathers around the big screen on their horses. The race starts some 20 kms away so everyone watching the beginning on the big screen, when they are 2kms away they ride over to the grand stands next to the track.

Modern Vs Traditional: A man in his del answers his mobile

Altan Urag

2009-07-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to watch an epic concert by Mongolian band Altan Urag. It was held at the UB palace. The band use a mix of traditional and modern instruments as well as throat singing. There also had guest artists performing to their music including some beat box boys, what looked like the Mongolian version of Michale Jackson and a female traditional singer. The band members were matching black dels (traditional jacket) with hoodies! An awesome concert.

Work Trip 4

2009-07-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

On our third day of the work trip we met up with the Disaster Management crew. They were on a monitoring trip which was taking them all around Mongolia. They were in Tosontsengel just for the night. We headed out to town for some dancing. This was a good chance to catch up with Ellen. She is an intern, hailing from NY and with ADRA for the summer. We got to meet some interesting locals and boogie on down with the local talent.

Ellen and Hayley on the dancefloor

Tam and I had our fair share of mutton and rice (Mongolian staple) on this trip. In the end we worked out that for lunch everything was made fresh, but anything for dinner was just whatever was left from lunch re-heated.

We found a little Guanz (like a canteen type of eatery, limited menu, served quickly) that we particularly liked. For some reason her boiled mutton tasted better than anyone elses. However the first time we went there, we ordered different meals from the menu. We had to laugh when we were served them (see below). Can you spot the difference?

Mutton with rice or rice with mutton?!

Despite the size of the meat (mine was in chunks as opposed to Tams which seamed to be smaller pieces) they tasted exactly the same and both came with rice and a scoop of mashed potato.

We also found a little guanz that did nice fish dishes. Here is Tam enjoying one. Some nice fried fish all washed down with a cup of Mac Coffee. Tam and I acquired quite an addiction for Mac Coffee on this trip. Mac Coffee is essentially sugar with a bit of instant coffee and milk power that comes in a satchel and you mix it in a cup of hot water. We commonly referr to it as "dirty coffee" acknowledging that it is not really coffee and can not be consumed guilt free. (Mongolia has quite a number of "dirty" items including "dirty meat": any form of sausage or salami, "dirty cheese": plastic cheese that comes in little wedges and is spreadable)

Tam enjoying fish and "dirty coffee"

Some interesting artwork at the school we were staying at

So, I now know I can got at least 6 days (possibly more) without a shower. After day two you get over the grossness of it and deodorant, baby wipes, hats and head scarfs go a long way in covering up the evidence.

Since back in UB we have had limited hot water, so my first shower in civilisation was cold, but it was running water, so I didn't really care. I have since become fairly precious about water and out lack of hot water. My showers now are quicker and more water efficient. In a bid not to lose the sporadic hot water I hop into the shower, get wet, turn off the water and lather up, turn on the water and rinse, done!

Work Trip 3

2009-07-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

In Tosontsengel I was able to see one of the ADRA projects first hand. In a derelict town block ADRA had helped members of a cooperative build greenhouses, prepare garden beds, propagate and grow vegetables. The old buildings had been turned into greenhouses and everyone was there watering the gardens by hand.

Plants growing in one of the 'old building' greenhouses

One of the derelict buildings in the garden

A 'new' greenhouse

Cooperative members filling their watering cans

Work Trip 2

2009-07-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Our trip took us past Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, or White Lake. We stopped here for lunch. This lake was apparently created from lava flows from a near by volcano. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the volcano.

White Lake
Tekhiin Tsagaan Nuur is quite huge and apparently good for fishing

Our driver was Dalai, a member of the food security team. He was going to Tosontsengel to work on a project. He brought his son Hash on the trip. Hash is 10 and had much fun trying to beat us at various games and getting chased and tickled.

Hash sitting on the back of the Hilux

Work Trip 1

2009-07-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Tam and I recently went on a work trip. There happened to be a car going to Tosontsengel (in the Zavkhan province) and there were empty seats that we were offered, the catch being there was no translator going and we had to find our own fun. No worries, thought Tam and I, sounds like and adventure.

A mear 750Kms to Tosontsengel, it did however require two, 10-hour days of driving! Why? You may ask. Well, to state of Mongolian roads means we drive on average 40kms and hour, hence the driving time required.

We were able to stop at some interesting places along the way. On our first day we stopped in Kharkhorim, Chinggis Khans capital of Mongolia. Here we visited Erdene Zuu, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.

Outer fence of Erdene Zuu Khiid

Ornamental roof of one of the buildings in the monastery

Stupas at Erdene Suu Khiid

We spent the first night in Tsetserleg at an awesome guest house that had better showers than what we have in UB. We went walking and ended up at the Grand Pub. It wasn't particularly grand, we ordered the two of their three beers left and had the best Tsuvien ever!

Tsetserleg, somewhere I would like to go back to

On our second day of driving we went via the Chuluut gorge which is also near the Zuun Salaa Mod or sacred tree.

Scenery near the sacred tree

Overlooking Chuluut gorge

Chuluut gorge

So long Black Axe

2009-06-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

This Friday the crazy Canadian (do Canadians come in any other variety) Keith boarded his train for Moscow after 10 months in Mongolia. Keith, also known as Chinggis or Har Sukh (Black Axe, his own self imposed Mongolian name) brings wit and serenading skills to any gathering.

Hayley and Keith at the farewell BBQ

Keith is one of my many acquaintances to be leaving. The transient nature or our expat community means that we all make great friends readily and these friend soon leave to pursue their dreams and ambitions. Safe travels and here's to hoping we meet up in Canada!

Red Cross Birthday

2009-06-20T03:23:00.000-07:00

This year Red Cross celebrates 70 years in Mongolia. Friend and fellow AYAD Courtney who works at the Red Cross invited us to visit the Red Cross Youth Camp. It was insane to put it mildly. 500 kids dancing and singing... we were not prepared. Luckily Keith has his guitar and could do a rendition of a classic Brittney song, "Hit me one more time"

The crowd of kids we got up in front of and talked about Red Cross in our country

Keith belting out "Baby, hit me one more time"

Singing the 'calm down' song before bed (the one over 5 foot is Michael part of our international group that were guests for the evening)

The Kelly Bros

2009-06-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Watch out Darwin, the Kelly Brothers are in town!

My distant relation to the Kelly Boys is the only reason I occasionally watch motor sport. They are in Darwin for the V8 circuit, held at Hidden Valley. Good luck boys! And don't drink too much champagne with Anne at the after party.

Riverland Story

2009-06-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

Turns out our Oma is some what of a local celebrity, read more here in the Murray Pioneer

Friday Night Drinks

2009-06-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

As my work finishes at 1:30pm on a Friday, we never really go out for 'after work' drinks. This Friday however we were after some pub food, beer and a cover band. We secured a table at Ikh Mongol, a very awesome pub in UB and enjoyed tasty beers, food and excellent company.

Tam and Jenny
The cover band (Gans was singing along to all the songs)

Steph and Tam

Khenti

2009-06-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Monday (1st of June) was International Children's Day and a public holiday here in Mongolia. This enabled me and 7 friends to go away for a long weekend. We left UB Friday afternoon and trekked 450 kms in our mini-van. Now you would think that would take your 5 hours, 6 if you stopped along the way. But, this is Mongolia, not really the land of the paved road. We had paved road for about 200 km's and then we were essentially off-road. About 5km's off the paved road we blew a tyre, so we got out and wandered on the step whilst our driver fixed the tyre.

The driver fixing the blow out

How the hell our drivers know where to go has us all amazed. It could be said that the Steppe over there looks very much like the Steppe over here and there are a mass of inter-twining dirt roads that seem to be going in the same direction, but aren't really, and then it is night time and I begin to really admire navigation skills. Our van was lacking suspension, thus I think we arrived some 2 cm shorter from all the spin compacting lashing about in the back of the van. It wasn't an uncomfortable ride, but you couldn't sleep because you were constantly being thrown around into the roof and your fellow passengers. At about 3am we stopped at a hotel and we all gratefully hoped into our sleeping bags and into a coma for about 5 hours until it was time to get up and press on to our final destination.

Saturday morning we were able to actually see the landscape we were driving through and we were excited to see greenery, wooden houses and trees. We only had to do 45kms until we reached our family stay.

We stayed with a Boriat family in the Khenti District. We were north east of UB and about 50kms from the Russian boarder. The grandmother was soon feeding us suutei-tse (milky tea) and locally made bread, fresh cream and this very awesome cheese that was in round balls like cottage cheese but not aw wet. It was a taste sensation. Another convoy had left UB at 9pm and they had pushed through the morning and arrived at the home stay at 7:30am, they were all comatose whilst we were enjoying breakfast. Saturday and Sunday were spent walking through the wilderness, horse-riding, eating copious amounts of fresh cream and fresh bread, eating in general, more horse-riding, raft building and a quick swim in the crystal cool rive.

Gans cooking up a storm

The family we stayed with was a collection of grandparents, children and grandchildren and very very welcoming and their lack on English meant I could actually practice some Mongolian, yay! On Sunday we went to a shaman ceremony. Shamans are people who can speak with the local spirits. They wear this extraordinary regalia and whip themselves into a bit of a frenzy and then you can ask the spirits through them for some fortunes or advice. I actually felt really scared going to the ceremony and as a consequence was not ready to ask for my fortune. The horses we were able to ride were the best horses I have ridden in Mongolia. There were considerably taller than the others, in line with the height of western horses and they seemed to be better trained as they were well behaved. So my apprehension for riding big horses was soon lost because they were such a pleasure to ride. We got to ride through rivers and forests, it was awesome!!!!

The yard surrounding the house

Monday, our day for returning to UB, as Murphy's law would have it was the best day weather-wise. It was very warm and only a breath of wind (it was very windy Friday, Saturday and Sunday) Steph and I got up early and were able to get one last horse-ride in before we packed up and trekked home.Back in UB at 9pm, feeling relaxed and refreshed and already missing the countryside, however looking forward to the hot shower that would wash away 4 days of Steppe dirt and sweat!

Twilight in Khenti

Balcony Garden

2009-06-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago, Tam and I spent a couple of hours planting our balcony garden. Not entirely sure why we planted a balcony garden, but everyone in our office is getting in on it. Tamara and I were slightly disappointed by the seed selection. We ended up having to plant 6 pots of radishes which we are sure no-one really eats! But we were able to plant some basil, peppermint and watercress, so hopefully shortly all we need to do is bring some tomatoes and olive oil to work and we will have a gourmet lunch.

Tam on the balcony getting her green thumbs ready

Mmmmm, grow my little basil, grow

Who actually is going to eat these radishes?

About a week after planting we had to bring our little plants inside as it was about to snow (after about 6 days of over 25 it decided to get cold and snow)

The plants keeping warm in our office

Gandan and Haircuts

2009-06-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Recently Steph and I decided to get our hair cut. Luckily at the time we had a Mongolian with us who translated our requests to the hairdressers. But later, after our friend had left and we were on our own, Steph's hairdresser approached with hair clippers... 'ah, what are you doing' asked Steph, then all of a sudden someone from behind put something over her eyes...

Steph getting her fringe cut

No to fear, it was their special technique to getting her fringe super straight. 'Wow, that's the straightest my fringe has ever been,' exclaimed Steph after the initial fear had subsided.

I got a very Asia looking cut, but no colour, much to Steph's disgust. I had fun chatting with the hairdressers who were very much interested in the Marie Claire magazine we had brought with us.

Gandan Khiid

And one lazy and very warm Sunday evening we got out of the house and went to visit Gandan Khiid, the largest monastery in UB. Most religious things were purged during the communist times, however this one survived because US Vice President Henry Wallace asked to see a monastery in his 1944 visit to Mongolia.

Steppe Riders

2009-06-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, we spent a good amount of time just laying around. We were all rugged up because the wind was quite vicious and despite the sunscreen, pretty much everyone walked away with a burnt nose. On Sunday we had an absolutely fantastic lunch. Our hosts provided grilled/ BBQ goat that was amazing as well as lots of potatoes and other side dishes, oh I'm salivating just thinking about it.

The gang enjoying the goat
Jenny enjoying some 'down time' on the Steppe

Ger Dreams

2009-06-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, 27 expats headed about 30kms out of UB to the Steppe riders Ger camp. We spent the weekend horse-riding, eating and essentially laying in the sun. Our weekend was an extension of Stephs birthday, so their was lots of hideous cake. This was also my first overnight in a Ger. I basically only took off my shoes and jumped fulling clothed into my pile of blankets and sleeping bag. I shivered for about the first hour, I was this close to going and finding another human to come and sleep with me so I could feed of their body warmth! However, I woke up toasty warm and to a very quite and peaceful steppe, so it wasn't so bad.

The gers we stayed in. Gers are circular felt tents that are home to the majority of rural Mongolians. The are easy to dismantle and move which is good for the herder families that move with the seasons.
The smoke stack coming out the top is from the stove inside that acts as the oven, stove and main source of heating. (unfortunately mine didn't have one, hence the cool reception)

Looking into the ger, as you can see it is quite spacious

View of our ger camp from the top of a hill

Happy Birthday Stephie

2009-06-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

After a delightful dinner at the French Bistro (I had Chateaubriand steak cooked to perfection followed by creme brulei and chocolate mousse) Steph, Gans, Gana and I went to Ivory to continue Steph's birthday celebrations.

Hayley and Steph with our pal Chinggis (vodka)
Gana and Gans, self portrait

Who are these hot lasses at Ivory?

Cleaning Up... Mongolia

2009-06-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

The "green team" at work organised a work 'bonding' session, a trip to a nearby river to pick-up rubbish and then have a picnic lunch. The weather was a bit drab, but apart from that it was a fund day.

Getting the job done with teamwork
The river we were cleaning up

Yes, ADRA Mongolia has 3 of these trucks... unfortunately they wouldn't let me drive one

Tam enjoying the picnic lunch

Keeping out those pesky rabbits

2009-05-13T04:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right we want for a drive all the way to the great wall on the Chinese boarder, just to check no rabbits were getting in.

The great wall

Well, not really, we just drove by a set that was used in a movie. It is literally in the middle of no-where, but makes for a good photo opportunity.

Great wall movie set

The past Sunday we went out to the countryside for some horse-riding. Mongolia is slowly turning green and it is awesome to watch. Our Mongolian friends have moved their Ger to their summer camp and the fields are slowly being covered in vegetation and lots of yellow and purple flowers.

You can see the slight green tinge on the mountains and fields

Stopping at the peak of a mountain to take photos (and check the engine)

Mongolian scenery is beginning to unleash its beauty

Happy Birthday Jenny

2009-05-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Friday night Tam, her Mum Katherine, Steph, Gans and I took Jenny out for Indian and some of the crazy Mongolian cake that we love/ hate for her birthday.

Later we joined Petra, also celebrating a birthday for some karaoke at VVIP (very, very important person; this made me feel extra special when I was singing) It was a fantastic night.

I am man, hear me roar!

2009-05-13T03:47:00.000-07:00

What is man's obsession with wearing next to nothing and then grappling other men?

Late last month Gans took me to a wrestling match at the circus. I really had no idea what to expect, but I loved every minute of it.

Those in the blue and maroon dels are the 'umpires'

This even was special was it was the first time in 400 years that there had been wrestlers from Inner Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan competing all together.

All the wrestlers lined up, read to begin

Pre-show entertainment: traditional dancing

They like to start them young in Mongolia, 'Junior' wrestlers

Give us a hug sweetheart!

Wrestlers from Inner Mongolia

Wrestlers from the different nations

The opening ceremony

What a day! The day begun with 120 hours and after 6 hours of wrestling there was only 2 left who fought it out for the title and prize money. Can you believe I sat though a sporting event that went for 6 hours and didn't get bored? I can't!

I was captivated the whole day. There was traditional and singing in between the rounds, speeches from famous people and a best dressed award announcement. The actual wrestling games themselves are interesting to watch. There is plenty of theatrics and traditional move that make for interesting watching!

So, now all I have to do is learn a few of those moves!

Vegetarian Goodness

2009-05-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

There are some great places to eat in UB and Ananda's is one of them. Ananda's is a vegetarian restaurant run by the same people who run the Lotus Children's Centre (an orphanage in the ger dirtict.) Food is tasty, wholesome and cheap. Most time we go we ask for the mixed plate, which as the name suggests is a bit of everything they have prepared that day. 5/5

Ananda's also holds yoga classess. You can also take your shoes off and eat in the back room that has cushions and low tables.

Your dog was eaten by a what?

2009-04-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Now, I thought a Yowie was a Cadbury chocolate filled with caramel, similar to a caramelo koala, but apparently not, they eat dogs.... Oh, my day would be so dull without the NT News.

The (Wo)Man from Snowy... Mongolia

2009-04-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

Chasing sheep

Gana helping with horses

Gans and the 'punk' horse (his mane was cut back to what looked like a moe-hawk)

Steph on her chestnut horse

Me and my pony

Yes, we were actually playing badminton in the snow, and no a white shuttle cock is not a good option!

Hanging in the ger (l to r Hayley, Steph, Jenny, Gans)

Extatic about being average

2009-04-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Not usually a comment I am content with, but according to Gans (the guy who takes us horse-riding in the country every now and then) there are 5 types of horse riders and I am an 'average' horse rider (average = 3/5) Given that the next step (4) is experienced rider, I see this as quite an achievement. Steph also rates a 3 and our 'average' ability enables us to be invited on a horse trek in June! Two days and 2 nights of riding and camping, awesome!

This Sunday I went for an hour long ride with Steph and Gans and it was my favourite trip yet. We rode through the snow encrusted forests and went along the peak of a hill. The view was simply amazing. The afternoon sun was strong and made everything look heavonly. Our decent over rocks and through trees and me leaning back in my saddle made me think of the Man from Snowy River "We may bid the mob good day, No man can hold them down the other side." So maybe I wasn't herding a flock of wild horses, but you get the idea.

Ye haa!

Japanese Cultural Day in the 'Burbs

2009-04-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

Today we bundled on the bus and headed out to the 'burbs. Stephanie's work has a nutrition centre in Tolgoit, a suburb of UB. Today a Japanese volunteer was holding a Japanese cultural day including Japanese food and games. When we got there, there seemed to be utter chaos, but fun none the less. There were clothes and souvenirs for sale, kids playing games and of course the free Japanese food.

Some local kids working on their bikes

The 'Burbs

Tolgoit, the suburb we visited is part of the ger district. The ger districts are a mix of house looking structures and the traditional gers (felt tents) we went for a wonder through the backstreets. Each house block is surrounded by a fairly high wooden fence. We also noted that most of the graffiti was in chalk, which is somewhat innocent. Jenny was excited to find some algebra graffiti, i.e. someone had written some equations on a fence, however on closer inspection we were disappointed to find out they were inaccurate.

Steph and Mauimi (Japanese volunteer at GCSD)

Local kids participating in a running race

The chaos surrounding the free samples of Japanese foods

Playing Japanese games

Steph in front of the GCSD nutrition centre

The locals out and about on a Saturday in Tolgoit

A-Sound

2009-04-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

Friday night my colleagues took me to see Mongolia's version of Cold Play (at least that's how they were described to me) A-Sound are a 5 piece boy band that do pop songs in Mongolian and English.

There concert was at the UB Palace in a theatre that holds about 2000 people.
We met at work so we could share a cab there. The cab we were in was backing out of the car park and in typical Mongolian fashion there was a car in front and a car behind and neither would give way. All of a sudden "crunch" nothing drastic, just a little love tap. But the two driver turned off their engines and god out to inspect the damage. We took this as our cue to get out of the car and go find another taxi.

Two support bands performed before A-Sound, not sure who they were, but they were cool!
A-Sound played a fairly long set. As soon as they finished everyone started heading for the exit. Now, I'm used to hanging around and chanting for an encore, but the Mogolians wanted to get out of there. Just as we are approaching the door, the band come back on stage to do an encore, classic!

On my way out, I had to purchase some merch. Who ever her of a band T-shirt selling for 8 bucks?

A-Sound at the UB Palace

A-Sound on stage

We love A-Sound

Tsegie and Jak get into the groove of A-Sound

Hayley and Ariuna at the A-Sound Concert

Mongolia's version of Cold Play

Milky Soup Anyone?

2009-04-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon, Tamara, Carly and I wandered into Stupa Cafe, a little cafe adjacent to a temple and meditation centre. I had images of Hare Krishna type food, however we were met with a some what limited menu. Milky soup with noodles or milky soup with dumplings. I chose the dumpling option, Tamara the noodle. Whilst we finished our soups some what heartily we agreed that was too much dairy for lunch. Dumplings were good!

The aforementioned soups

Only in the Territory

2009-04-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Most mornings I read a few news websites, just to keep up to date of local and international news. However my daily viewing of the NT News website is to check for croc stories on the front page. The NT News has been fairly consistent with the croc stories over the last few weeks, their latest mantra being "stupid southerners swimming in cros infested waters." However today's front page story is a ripper, even if it isn't about crocs. Read "Our dog ate my G-string" for the full story.

Night at the Opera

2009-04-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

And so my cultural tour of Mongolia continues. First opera, now ballet. Steph, Jenny and I decided to make the most of a Sunday afternoon and head to the Mongolian Opera and Ballet Theater to see two ballets, Paquita and Shopeniana. Quite different ballets, but both good and a great way to spend an evening.

On another note, it is somewhat strange to not be celebrating Easter. Given that the majority of the population in Mongolia is Buddhist of Atheist there are no Christian events in the public holiday/ celebration calendar. We tried our hardest to avoid the omnipresence mutton on Good Friday, and well, chocolate is not in my healthy eating plan anymore, and even if it was there are no Easter eggs, or even chocolate in a circle or rabbit shape. We didn't even have eggs left to boil and paint... I can't help but recall that this time last year on my Easter break I was experiencing an entirely different cultural event at daly waters!

Jenny is all smiles at the ballet

Chandelier and ceiling relief at the Mongolian Opera and Ballet Theatre

Stalls and dress circle

Let them eat cake!

2009-04-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

Country and Brant celebrated their birthday's this week and decided to have a joint birthday. The theme was matching tracksuits. It was very unlike me not to commit to a themed party, but I just didn't have the time to go to the markets and pick out a hideous outfit. Fortunately others did and the array of technicolour suits was astounding. Emmie, turned up in a maroon and yellow number, with "Swimming Team" written across the back which could have easily been the Loxton High school PE outfit in the 70's

The party was most enjoyable! I got to meet Courtney's Mongolian workmates, some American Marines and work up a sweat on the dance floor.

Steph and I were so excited because at the party, there was birthday cake. Okay, so cake is usually cause for celebration, but this was extra special because we were going to have our first piece of Mongolian cake. Mongolians are obsessed with these rather fake looking cakes. They are normal sponge cakes, covered in artificial cream and swirly designs, usually some flowers and a bit more fake cream for extra measure. Despite the overall fakeness, it wasn't as disgusting as you might think!

Steph enjoying her first piece of Mongolian birthday cake

Birthday girl Courtney in her red velour track suit, dishing out the cake

Roatry Club of BayanZurkh 100

2009-04-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

So, it would be senseless for me not to take advantage of the International network that is Rotary. My club in Darwin has graciously given me a letter of invitation if I decided to attend a Rotary meeting whilst in Mongolia.

I did a bit of Internet research and found 2 club in UB that hold their meetings in English (will progress to the Mongolian speaking clubs after a few more language lessons)

Rotary Club of BayanZurkh 100 was the first club to get back to me and invited me to attend then weekly meetings, held at Friday from 1-2pm in the Senators Room of the Chiniggis Club.

Rotary Club of BauanZurkh 100 is quite small and mostly made up of ex-pats. Their banner that is put up at meetings is made up of a plethora of banners from clubs all over the world. At fridays meeting there were a couple of Dutchmen, a German lady, an Italian man, 2 Mongolians, a Kiwi 2 Americans and me.

No, I am used to the tight schedule of the Darwin Sunrise breakfast meetings, and of the Sergent's creativity in fining. BayanZurkh 100 are somewhat more relaxed, more like an informal chat over lunch. I gave an impromptu presentation about my club in Darwin as some members had assumed I was the guest speaker for the day!!!

Members of the Rotary Club of BayabZurkh 100 at their Friday lunch meeting

Spring Picnic

2009-04-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

There is a tiny little park in the courtyard of our offices. It gives the appearance of a hive of activity during the summer. There is a sandpit, jungle gym and a little gazebo all enclose by a white picket fence. At the moment, it pretty much looks like a dust bowl. The trees and grass is brown and you get dirty from sitting on the benches. But that didn't stop us from using it as our picnic spot for today's lunch. The mercury hit 24 today (can you believe that in less than a month it has gone from minus 20 to plus 20, crazy) so we decided to take advantage of it and have a picnic in the sun.

Steph, Carly and I had a lovely time making salad sandwiches, eating sliced fruit and basking in the warmth. Our little park was also a prime position for greeting and chatting to everyone that we work with as they go to and from lunch.

We will definitely be doing this again.

Steph and Carly eating the tasty picnic food

Hayley on the jungle gym

Mini Skirts

2009-04-07T01:45:00.001-07:00

It wasn't the fact I had worked up a light sweat on the walk to work, nor the ability to wear only one pair of socks and not get frost bite that alerted me to the fact that Spring in Mongolia had sprung. No, it was the constant array of mini-skirt I observed trendy Mongols sporting as soon as the temperature peaked. You would think mini-skirts would indicate summer temperature, but alas no, it merely indicates that the daily temperature doesn't go below zero.

Mini-skirts is a description used quite liberally, they could more aptly be described as wide belts! The young and the young at heart have been out in their mini-skirts all week. Ulaanbaatar got to a warm 20 degrees today. I still wore a jacket because I'm convinced the spring weather will inflict chilly winds on me unsuspectingly.

I am still trying to determine how I can get photographic evidence of the masses of mini-skirts without getting arrested!

Sukbaatar Square

2009-04-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday ended up being a bit of a cultural day for me. Saturday morning was spent helping teach English to some under privileged kids. We then took them to see a play. We are hoping to have them perform a play in English, so wanted to show them what a play could look like.

The play we saw was a children's play about a mermaid that makes some sort of deal with an evil lady to get some legs and walk on earth like humans. Part of the deal is she can't talk, but this doesn't stop the resident prince from falling in love with her.

In the afternoon I went to Exhibition with Steph and Tamara. As a place to shop it didn't really excite, and on our way home we went through the square and then thought, hey lets check out whats on at the Opera House. Madame Butterfly was playing that evening a 5pm and as it was already 4pm, we thought, why not, lets buy tickets.

Our 8,000 T (about AUD$8) tickets got us seats in about the 4th row. The opera house was smallish, but quite decorative, with the standard red velvet and gold. The opera was quite good, costumes and sets a little distracting because of the "almost dodgy" quality of them, but the orchestra and singers were good.

There is an array for performances this month, and the affordability means we are all keen to do it again.

Tam, Steph and I on Sukbaatar Square
Tam and Steph strike a pose in front of parliament house

Happy Birthday Dan

2009-04-05T00:57:00.000-07:00

April 1st, friend and fellow AYAD, Dan, celebrated his birthday. Little was he to know a present had come all the way from Australia! His Mum. Dans mum Susan was happily sitting in a restaurant with his girlfriend Anna when he walked in to meet Anna for a birthday lunch. He later told us he was utterly speechless.

That evening we joined Anna, Dan and Susan for a birthday dinner at Green Olive. According to Steph, Green Olive has the best calzone in UB. I opted for something different on the menu and ended up with a fairly average pasta. We did how ever find a nice bottle of red to wash it down with, and the birthday cake was an interesting type of baked cheesecake from the Japanese bakery (I have since been to the aforementioned bakery and it is awesome! The best cake in UB so far).

Steph and I found Dan a hideous Chinggis Khan tie for his birthday. His Mongolian friends, found him some more appropriate Mongolian gifts, including a Mongolian wrestling costume and leather boots, which Dan gladly changed into to show us all.

The gahtering at green olive to celebrate Dan's birthday
Dan in his wrestling costume (yes, Mongolians actually wear this get up to wrestle)

You may be wondering, why do Mongolians such a skimpy outfit for wrestling. Well, the story goes that back in the day, I sneaky woman got in on the wrestling and won. Once they found out that women were competing (and winning) they opted for an open chested jacket, therefore exposing any women if they tried to participate.

Contryside Ramblings

2009-03-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Steph, Tam, Bec and I coupled with Ganz our friend and tour guide piled into the van and travelled out to the countryside to visit a herding family and ride their horses. Unfortunately when we arrived they and their horses were not there (we forgot to send our carrier pigeon to say we were coming)

Not to worry, Steph and Ganz strapped on some ice skates and went skating on the frozen river. Tam, Bec and I went walking. The undergrowth was getting a bit thick to walk through, so we diverted to the river and walked on the frozen water. This is ludicrous, I thought to myself... who walks on water???

To our right was a cliff face, with inclines that looked manageable and even when we were half way up, they still looked manageable. But as we stopped to catch our breath and look back, we tended to realise the incline was almost vertical.

It was quite an achievement to reach the top. The fierce winds compelled us to keep walking though, rather than to stay and admire the view.

By the time we got back to the ger, our friends and their horses had returned. The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking suutei tsai (milty tea), eating khoniny makhtai shol (mutton soup) horse riding and playing bones (games with sheep knuckles.

All this adventure had me in bed by 8:30pm, so I surreptitiously participated in earth hour, because my light was well and truly out!

Atop the cliff we just scrambled up

The view from the edge

Tamara and I were very please to make it to the top

Tamara, Steph and Bec in the van

Meeting the Mozzies

2009-03-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

No, not the blood sucking variety (apparently they only come out in summer around the lake) No, Mozzies is the nickname for a group of Mongolians who lived and studied in Australia for a while. Mongolian Aussies = Mozzies.

They invited us, the new AYADs to an informal gathering. We attended a bit of a cocktail reception at the Art Gallery of the Khan Bank. We got to meet a number of the mozzies, most of whom have been back in Mongolia for a while, have families and high profiled jobs.

We ended up sitting in a circle, introducing ourselves and talking about our Mongolian experiences so far.

Tam enjoys a glass of red with the Mozzies

Linda and Anne telling the Mozzies about their assignments in UB

Work

2009-03-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my first day of work. After almost 6 weeks of being pretty much and unemployed bum, twas a struggle to do the whole get up and go to work routine. But my work collegues and environment make it an easy task. Tamara and I share an office, and everyone has been quite adamant that we should decorate it and make it our own.

After we got set up with desks and computers and talked with our supervisors, the Director was like, "by the way, there is a garage sale at 11am." Okay, we thought, we will have to check this out.

So at 11am we went to the work garage and like any garage sale, the die hards were there already and already had all the good stuff. ADRA used to run a program called "Live and Learn" which was for teenagers and involved lots of camping, trekking, team building and the like. This program had stopped and there was a range of outdoors gear on offer. Bonus, I thought, I wanted to do some trekking and most of the tours I had looked at you required your own sleeping bag and mat, which I had omitted from my suitcase. So I purchased a smallish backpack, sleeping bag and sleeping mat for 42,500 T (about AUD$50), score.

Unfortunatley our second day was less opportunistic. We did however have lunch at a very cool little canteen/ cafe that has become my favourite place to eat thus far. It is an inconspiculous room in a big grey building (like every good place in UB), there is a small, but hearty menu and if you get there after 1pm you can't be guaranteed to get your first pick.

On Tuesday I had the tastiest goulash, with cabbage salad, rice and chips (apparently everything in Mongolia comes with rice and chips) and this delectable steamed bread called mantuu.

The Diplomatic Builing conplex that houses our work

Tamara infront of the ADRA building (snowing slightly)

Tamara in our office, yes that mamoth monitor is my computer

Our little "meeting area" with Kazak wall hanging

Mongolia Calling

2009-03-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Early March we attended a youth video conference hosted by the World Bank. The topic for discussion was "youth empowerment" The conference was between delegations from Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Timore Leste, Philippines and Mongolia.

The Mongolians and Philippines delegation gave presentations on youth programs they were working on that assisted with youth empowerment. At times there were the usual technical difficulties (i.e. no sound form Timore Leste) but non the less it was still very cool to be video linked with all these countries. You can see photos from the event here.

Oh, when the Saints go marching in....

2009-03-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well done to the boys in the green and gold who brought home the 08/09 NTFL premiership on Saturday. Ah the memories! If last years after party was anything to go buy, it would have been awesome to be in the clubs rooms this weekend.

And well done to the Tapalinga Superstars who claimed their 10th Tiwi Island Football League flag on Sunday. To watch a Tiwi Islands grand final is definately on my to do list! Lets aim for this time next year!

Sunday Wanderings

2009-03-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

We finally got out of the house on Sunday and made a bee-line for Zaisan Memorial and Buddha Park. Little were we to know, that our jaunt to the lookout would include such awesome photo opportunities along the way.

Steph ponders: "should I go into the smak cafe for a cup of tea, or something harder?"

Steph is very excited that we found the "Thumbs Up Centre"

Hayley can hardly contain her joy at being photographed infront of the "Thumbs Up Centre"

Mongolian engineers are cluey: why put the piping underground when you can obviously use three times as much piping going over the road!

Steph poses with her comrades

Steph, up close and personal

We continued on to the 16m tall standing Sakyamuni image. A number of Mongolians were also paying a Sunday visit to the Buddha. The funds to build the park were donated by a 99-year-old Mongolian Monk names Guru Dev.

Steph and Hayley at the foot of Buddah

We continued on to a tall, thin landmark on top of a hill south of the city known as the Zaisan Memorial. Built by the Russians to commemorate 'unknown soldiers and heroes' from various wasa, it offers great views of UB. It also contains a panoramic socialist mozaic.

Unfortunatley we underestimated the chilliness of the biting wind as we began to climb the escarpment, but once we started to climb we couldn't very well stop. My camera even refused to work, and as such do not have photos of the glorious scenery we walked through blistering winds to view. Steph lays it on one of her comrades

A tank from the Mongolian Peoples tank Brigade

AYAD Profiles

2009-03-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Check out what I had to say for myelf on the AYAD profile page, or read about my fellow AYADs.

Weekends in the Country

2009-03-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful start to the weekend. We departed UB mid-morning destined for the snow covered ridges of the Mongolian countryside.With our double layers of thermals and trusty guide and mongolian friend Gaanz, we went about 2 hours out of UB to a herding family that he knows. Here I got to experience "real" mongolia.

We were invited into their ger (felt tent) where we were given milky, salty tea ( a national drink) and various dairy products, such as whey and curd, all surprisingly tasty. We then saddled up and did some horse riding. Our horses this weekend were bigger and feistier than our docile ones last week, which you think would totally destroy my confidence in riding, considering last time I rode by myself in Australia, I was about 7 and I fell off one of the Bowyer girls really tall horses. I remember spending the rest of the day laying in vinegar drenched rags while Gemma and Michelle did a fashion parade to make me feel better. But I surprisingly feel right at home.

So, when riding a mongolian horse you are to stand up in the styrips, hold the reins with one hand and the whip with the other (not the front of the saddle which I wanted to do) when you go faster than a walk with your horse. So you need strong legs and good balance. I mastered it a few times, when I got up to a trot or a gallop, but by then end of my ride it turned my legs to jelly!

Now the reason you stand up and essentially have you hands free is so you can shoot an arrow while you are going along at massive speeds. Gaanz said that if I do lots of push-ups between now and summer, but summer I will be able to do this (just as well i have already been doing my push-ups)

We also ventured onto the forzen lakes for some ice skating. This I have absolutely no confidence with. There were no barricades for me to hang on to. Also, there were puddles of water on top of the ice which I am sure I would fall into. One of Gaanz's friends patiently guided me around the lake until I ended up with wet feet.

For lunch we all huddled in the ger and consumed delicious buuz, another national mongolian food. Buuz are essentially mongolian steamed dumplings. Lamb mince, with seasoning is wrapped in small rounds of dough, which is wrapped into a dumpling shape and then steamed. They are delicious, and I was able to count in Mongolian, how many I had eaten.

Or final activity for the day was climing a few hills behind the ger and gazing on the scenery. Gaanz keeps telling us about how this place looks in summer, all green and lucious, and its hard to believe that now with the brown earth, primarily covered in snow and bare and sparse trees. The beauty of wintre in Mongolia is that the sun continues to shine. The sun has the ability to cast this radient glow over everything, even the grey city and make it seem not so bad. My camera is unable to capture the cripness and vivality of countryside. You just feel so good being there.

Below are a few pictures outlining the days event. We also quickly stopped at the Chinggis monument. Mongolians seem to contruct monuments for the hell of it, and this one was no exception. I had been informed of its huge size, but was unprepared for the shininess of it. See below pictures.

Steph in her sexy felt boots
Anna enjoying the view

Countryside scenery ( the mass of dots middle right are actually a flock of sheep)

Chinggis Khan monumentThis picture gives some perspective about how big it actaully is

Ice skating on the lake

Taking a breather from all the good fun we are having
(l-r Tamara, Steph, Gaanz, Gana)

Our Apartment

2009-03-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

As promised here are some pictures of our appartments. As you may recall from previous posts it was -19 degrees the other day. Steph's toes went a bit knub during our walk to the shops, she can be seen here trying to regain feeling in her feet, imersing them in luke warm water in the bath. This picture also shows off our bathroom.

Steph defrosting her feet in the bath
Bathroom

View from the Loungeroom window

Dining area, looking into kitchen

Lounge room

My bedroom

Other side of my bedroom

Steph's bedroom

Other side of Steph's bedroom

Entrance

Do you realise its colder outside than our fridge?

2009-03-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

We needed some groceries today, so we went out in sunny UB. As we were walking past the state deparment store we glimpsed at the big TV screen, showing various adds and the outside temp. -19 degrees it read! I never in my wildest dreams throught I could handle weather like that. Our trip to the markets/ supermakets did involve going in additional shops along the way to defrost and look at things.

Hayley's dream is to join the Beatles

Apparently this monument just appeared one day last year becasue the current president likes the Beatles. Nothing wrong with that I say.

Steph getting excited by the snow (until she trys to make a snow ball and realised snow + bare hands = owah)

2009-03-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

Melbourne or Ulaanbaatar?

Friday night we went to an acoustic gig at a local bar called the Ivory. The boyfriend, Nick, of one of the AYADs is visiting at the moment. He is a guitarist for Sydney band, Lights Out. In the short space he has been in UB he has been interviewed on the radio and TV and was invited to play this acoustic gig (were are told this is a random incident and this thing doesn’t usually happen to Aussies visiting). Anyway we went to the gig, there were two Mongolian guys also playing. It was quite cool. Got to meet some new people and listen to some live music

Nick from Lights Out belts out some tunes

My housemate, Stephanie, and me at the Ivory

The Mongolian guitarist gets his groove on

Ride Like Chinggis

On Saturday we headed for the countryside. We went to the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, about 50kms from Ulaanbaatar. Here we saddled up our study Mongolian horses and trekked to nearby meditation temple on the side of the hill. It was awesome to say the least. The pictures below show the awesome scenery. It was quite invigorating to be let loose on a horse to ride in the snow. I landed a wooden saddle, which is supposedly quite comfy, but I ended up with bruises on the inside of my thighs. This has not dampened my urge to go riding again. Steph and I are planning to make it a regular occurrence. Steph’s goal is to have a Mongolian compliment her on her riding skills.

Gorkhi-Terelj National Park

Chinggis Khan eat your heart out

This girls on their Mongolian horses, tutle rock in the background

Outside Ulaanbaatar

Outskirts of Ulaanbaatar

Our Apartment
Steph and I are the proud occupants of Apartment 13 of Building 45 in the 1st Khooroo. Our place of residence is painted yellow, orange and green. Our rooms are huge and our beds are hard. We are a stones throw from all the rest of the AYADs.
(pictures to come)

So thats what you do with wintre clothing!

2009-03-06T00:29:00.000-08:00

I finally cracked out the camera today because everyone has been requesting photos. This is the best I could come up with. Please notice the hat scarfe, gloves and jacket. This jacket belonged to my mum and I took it as it was pretty much the only thing I had that resembled wintre clothing. One of my collegues commented on my "vintage" jacket the other day!!

Just as a reference, I have posted a picture of what I would usually be wearing.

Notice the bare shoulders and short shorts. I have taken to the double socking of late, as my feet keep turning to ice.

Today we finalised appartments. We will be moving in on Sunday, so I will post some pictures of my new pad as soon as we get the internet set up at home. I will be living with Stephanie, a fellow AYAD who is working for a gender research centre. The primary reason we are living together is we are both dorks and share the same sense of humour.

More 4WDs and Creative Car Parking Than The NT
It is insane, there are more new landcruisers, landrovers and other equally as big 4WDs flooding the streets of Ulaanbaatar. And I thought Territorians were creative becasue they parked on verges, the mongolians take parking to a whole new level. They park in every avaliable space almost to a point of driving up steps to get a park.

Dinner, Lunch oh and another Dinner
Our program thus far has mostly consisted of having lunches and dinners with past AYADs and getting the low down on Mongolia. Unfortunatley we haven't been to any Mongolian restaurants yet, they insist that we should be eased into the culture, but I say "bring it on" we are here for the experience.

Meeting The Boss
Seriously, I think I have got it easy! I am in a not so difficult country and my boss is Australian (you know I may have to moonlight to try and get some cultural shocks) This I think will particularily be an advantage as my assignment is so short, and I won't have to waste precious time trying to explain why they should do a media release etc.

Today we went to our places of work, met our collegues, had a tour and discussed our assignment. I was quite excited to discover that the staff at ADRA finish work at 1:30pm on a Friday.

Culture Shock, What Culture Shock?
I haven't really had a culture shock. We have for the most part been spoon fed all week. Taxi's organised for us, someone ordering for us, someone basically telling us how to live in Mongolia, so I am at a point where I just want to get in there an learn it for myself.

So, hopefully there will be more exciting posts once I have moved into my place and I am able to "live" in Mongolia.

Real Estate in UB

2009-03-04T01:51:00.000-08:00

Today, after a good sleep in and a lazy breakfast we did a bit of a city tour, had lunch and then looked at appartments.

The weather is treating us good so far. I am wearing my very attractive thermals, long jacket, beanie, gloves, etc. and most of the time it seems to do the trick. My face, feet and knees (?) tend to get a bit on the cold side. There is the compulsary undressing whenever we go inside (central heating is a bit crazy), but on the whole not suffering too much.

Had some Mongolian dumplings today (yay!) 3 kinds! Unfortunately I had eaten so much other stuff before them, so I couldn't appreciate them and they were also vegetarian, the ridgy didge ones have mutton, so I see that as an excuse to eat more.

And I don't know why everyone was trying to scare us with the whole you can't get fruit, veg or spices in Mongolia. The department stores and supermarkets we visited have everything and I mean EVERYTHING. Defo looking forward to grocery shopping.

So, we have been checking out appartments today, which was interesting. To enter each place you go through two doors, that have about 3 locks. Most of the appartments are soviet chic. One even had a whole socialist library in it!!! Thankfully everything is FULLY furnished. We will see some more tomorrow and will easily be able to move into something on Sunday!

UB

2009-03-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Sain bain uu!

I am in Ulaanbaatar (UB). After an extreamly long journey, I have arrived in Mongolia. We had a welcoming party at the airport which was quite nice.

First impressions:

Are you sure I am in Asia?! It really feels quite eastern european, probably to do with the whole russian influence, but the buildings the weather, the clothing, all reminds me of trips to Poland and Hungry.

I should have packed my hello kitty face mask!! The coldness, smog and cigarette smoke is not doing great things for sinus. Bring on the nose flushing (a nose washing technique my fellow AYAD has taught me)

Where is the cashmir?? They have turned on the warm weather for us, it is only about -1 rather than -15

Being unemployed is great!! My coordinator told me yesterday I don't have to start my assignment for 3 weeks because I have language courses to finish and an appartment to find... I can easily get used to the whole not having to go to work thing, especially if I find a gym soon and continue my midday pilates classes.

Road rules, what road rules! 2 lane traffic can become 3 or 4 lane traffic, and the green man doesn't always mean you will have right of way.

Blond amazonians don't stand out too much! Unlike China we haven't been harrassed too much!

No pictures as yet, too busy getting in as much sleep as possible, but will hopefully post some in the coming days, I just wanted to get in a post of my first impressions.

Mmmmm Dumplings

2009-02-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hey George, I hope this picture makes you jelous! Thats right, a whole plate of dumplings too myself!