Indonesia

After a week in the big city life of Hong Kong, I am now back to beach land here in Indonesia. What an awesome country this has been so far. Definitely the adventure that I was craving. My first few days were unfortunately met with rain storms, which definitely put a 'damper' on things for me. It IS the rainy season here though, so what can you expect I guess.

I showed up in Denpasar on Bali Island and then quickly headed to Kuta Beach, which is pretty much the main tourist area of Indonesia. I have never seen Hawking like this before.....pretty much every 4 to 5 steps you get asked to buy something. It is the worst that I have ever seen (yes, that includes Kohsan Rd in Thailand). Stuck there for a couple of days and met back up with my buddy Sam (from Calgary) who was part of my surfing crew in Byron. After a big night out on the town, we quickly headed for a spot called Dreamland for some surfing. The waves weren't that great unfortunately, but the weather was spectacular, and the price was right. Yes, $3 for our room right on the beach, and $3 for awesome meals. Yes, living like a king again. Ahh, it feels good.

Anyway, we are heading east to some of the other islands to find some surf. May be a little out of touch for a bit while we are there, but I've been taking tons of pictures and will be sure to update things when I get back into civilization. Bye for now!

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a crazy place to visit. Definitely a contrast to the cozy little beach town of Byron Bay. It is hard not to be blown away by how crazy the skyline looks here at night. It's pretty impressive.

Feels awesome to be back in Asia. Only took me about 1 day to adjust back to the asian culture. For those of you who don't know, I had my first experience in Asia a couple of years ago when I did a trip to Thailand.....that kind of took care of that initial culture shock of being in these countries. The first night, I headed out to the crazy Temple Street night market, grabbed some chopsticks, some chinese cuisine (fried pork on rice), a local beer, and sat out on the street to take it all in. The sense of adventure is definitely back.

Honk Kong is pretty expensive compared to the rest of the Asian countries, but relatively cheap compared to Auz and NZ. My first night I ended up staying at the YMCA down by the waterfront. Price tag was a little expensive though ($40 for a dorm bed) so I ended up moving to Mirador Mansions up on the main drag (Nathan Road). This place is basically a pretty run down building with shady characters running around everywhere. It was perfect. I spent my first night in a closet with a bed that failed the great 3 Wall test (3 Wall Test: can touch 3 walls at once). I have since upgraded to a room with a bigger bed, a littel TV, and some sort of opening to the outside (I think she called it a window)......all for the price tag of $20/night. Sitting waiting for the elevator is a wild experience everytime. I have NEVER been to a place that has so many crazy cultures all squished in to one building. Guys from all over Africa, Arabian women, Indians wearing their authentic garments, other guys with big long white gowns. Is still funny getting in the elevators here, as I absolutely tower over everybody else in there. Almost kind of ackward.

I also got to go check out Hong Kong Island which is pretty cool. Spent a day up on the Peak which is basically a cool little mountain on the island that is actually formally called 'The Peak'. Got some pretty good views from up there. HK also has the largest permanent light show in the world. Every night at 8:00, the whole sky gets lit up and all the giant buildings go crazy with lights. Pretty cool sight to see every night, although I wouldn't want to know what it costs.

The people here are pretty funny in that they aren't very fond of other cultures (ie. racist as hell)......that includes the people from mainland China who HK people tend to think are bums. There also doesn't seem to be much of a queing system (line-ups). I go pretty out of my way to ensure that I am in the proper line up when I'm visiting these countries but here, it seems to be every man for himself.

Had a little trouble meeting people when I first rolled in here, given that there aren't really any hostels around. I had to go back to the old trusted strategy of just heading to a random bar, grabbing a beer, and seeing who I could meet. As is with every city in the world, I found the local Irish pub called Murphy's. As I was walking in, I noticed streamers everywhere, and that everyone was wearing green hats. Yup, that's right. I strolled into an Irish pub on St. Patties day and didn't even know it. Got to meet a big group of expats who were living here going to school. Ended up partying with them all night on HK Island.

I spent about a week in total in HK. Tried to get a bunch of rest as I was actually fighting off a cold (probably the result of a hard week of partying with Aldy). Now I'm heading off to Indonesia.....have been pretty excited about this country for a while.

Here are some pics that I stole from my new found friend's cameras. Not much, but best I could do. Tried to buy a camera in HK, but the guy tried to screw me at the last minute, so I politely told him to go #### himself.....you're not going to screw over this old weary traveller. In the end however, I am left camera-less, so maybe I did lose in the end.

Bye for now.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5i8irpz9&x=1&y=-l8boca

Bye Bye Byron (2)

Yes, I have finally decided to leave Byron Bay. After a week of continuous rain, I decided that I was all done with tent living. My goal when I got to Auz was to find a cool beach town where I could learn to surf, get lots of beach time, and eventually get my sense of adventure back. After a month and a half of living there, I have finally got the urge to toss the old backpack on the shoulders and get back on the road. I am currently sitting in the airport in Sydney and am waiting for my flight to Hong Kong. As per usual, I have done absolutely no preparation, but I have been told that HK is a pretty cool spot to visit.

I managed to sell my red guitar as well as my tent, both for what I paid for them. I am still however carrying my surfboard and my classical guitar that I bought in Central America (too much sentimental value to let it go). Tis quite the heavy load to be dragging around, but at least I've gotten rid of the camping gear. My plan is to hit Hong Kong for a bit, and then head for Indonesia. I have a couple of buddies from Byron that I am hoping to eventually meet up with in Bali. I am also hoping to get my hands on a new camera, given that the old one has been shit for me.

I have to tell you, I am pretty stoked about getting back on the road again. Looking forward to a good little adventure in Hong Kong. Will try to get lots of pics. I think that I'm really going to miss Byron. Not sure how much I'll miss the giant spiders, the 2m snakes, and the lethal jelly fish (got my first sting last week....only a little one, but it burned like bitch). And I guess that it is safe to tell you now (Mom) that they caught TWO brown snakes in my campground while I was there. Yes, those are the 2nd most venimus snakes in the world (just for reference, the famous black mamba snake from the movie Kill Bill II is supposedly number 9 or 10 on that list). We actually had a good little scare 2 days ago when a dark snake came in to where we were all sitting. Nothing funnier then watching 6 grown 'men' jump up on their seats like little girls.

Anyway, now that I'll be travelling alone again, I promise to get back to keeping the blog more up to date. I'm hoping to stay in Kowloon (?) when I get into HK at a hostel called something new hostel.

Bye for now....I'll be in touch soon!

Aldy's in the Hizzo

Yup, he did eventually make it. He missed his first flight into Auz, but caught one the next day. To say that we have been partying hard since he got here would be somewhat of an understatement. Especially given that we were politely asked to leave the bar the first night out. I guess that's what a 4:00 afternoon start time will do for you.

Also, I wanted to mention that I have a new girlfriend. Her name is Kate Hudson.....some of you may have heard of her. Aldy and I were sitting in a restaurant the other day and Kate and her friend walked in. As there were no other seats available in the place, the waiter said that they could sit on the couches with us. Kate actually started to walk over towards us, and then at the last minute, they spotted another couch to sit on. I think that she was giving me the eyes though. Definitely the start of a long lasting relationship I feel.

Anyway, here are some pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.1y9vndz9&x=1&y=7wo6tl