Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Sawasdee again
Kat: So far, so good - touch wood. We arrived ludicrously early for our flight, which gave us time to box our bikes. They would have fitted in the cage trolleys without packing, but the check-in staff were so non-plussed by the idea ("No-one's ever ridden to the airport before!") that we decided to err on the side of caution. Thai Airways were superb, if a bit psychedelic in their decor, and we landed at the new BKK airport as fresh as slightly wilted daisies. After a broken conversation at the oversize baggage claim (us gesturing 'two' and 'very wide'), so did our bikes. We got a minibus taxi straight away and were whisked to the Classic Place hotel shortly after midnight.We set off early for the Laos embassy yesterday, figuring foolishly that we could find it on our own. The combination of the crazy street system (what system?), a poor map and turning the wrong way out of the subway station meant that we didn't stand a chance. A friendly chap at the 7-11 told us to take a taxi then gave directions to the taxi driver. We'd read that visas take two days to process but ours were done in 30 minutes. Since that was our only task for the day, we caught a canal speed-boat bus to Central World mall and spent the rest of the day window shopping then watched Casino Royale. After a dip in the rooftop pool at our hotel and supper, we crashed out.
Mat: Today is my birthday, thanks for all the emails, cards and texts! I started celebrating the day early by waking up at 4am (argh, jetlag) followed by another day of wandering around Bangkok's super-malls. This arvo we're going to treat ourselves to some special Thai massage (no, not that kind) and then after a luxurious dinner somewhere we'll probably fall asleep early again. Tomorrow we're cathing the train to Ayuthaya where we're going to start the bike ride proper - we're both really excited!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saying our goodbyes part 2: our last day
Mat: Yesterday was our last full day in Australia, so we had a barbie in the park with our best friends here. We were really sad to say goodbye to everyone, and by the end of the evening Kat and I were almost wiping away tears! Kat had organised a surprise birthday cake for me (Black Forest Gateaux, my favourite) and we ate and drank all afternoon, getting rather sunburned in the process.Mark & Claire made us a really amazing going away present, a collection of photos of them holding up signs with one word on each, taken around the city in locations that we've all had great times at. All together the photos make a sentence about how they'll miss us heaps! Marcus & Natasha gave us another great leaving present - they've let us stay at their house for the last few days, and helped out loads with the barbie and transporting us & our possessions around. To all our friends in Aussie, thanks for some great times and keep in touch! We've had a great year and will miss you loads - come and visit :)
So today (it's 7am) we've got to pack up our last remaining possessions and ship them back to Blighty, hand back the keys to our house then cycle to the airport for our next big adventure!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Saying our goodbyes part 1: Squash
Mat: Yesterday was our last night at Social Squash and our great friend and coach, Daniel, organised a fantastic party to say goodbye! After the usual games (Kat's hip has recovered enough for her to play a bit) we had a fantastic curry from the restaurant across the road from the gym. Daniel also brought beers for everyone, and it was a really great way to say goodbye to all our squash buddies. The gym closed at 10pm, but we had a lock-in until 11:30pm and started an impromptu Racquetball competition (much to Daniel's disgust) where everyone had to play in socks. This made for some great sliding shots but also caused a fall or two - luckily the beer shields were in full effect :)We're really sad to leave the gym, we've made some really good friends there who we hope to keep in touch with. As a leaving gift, everybody signed two Hunts Fitness squash shirts which Kat & I wore all evening, and Daniel also gave us one of his "Daniel Tanner - Squash Professional" shirts!
Cheers guys, love you all and come and see us sometime - we'll show you how we play squash in the northern hemisphere!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Under a week
Kat: How time has flown by! Hopefully a week from today we'll be on a 'plane to Bangkok with our bikes safely stowed away and our house will be clean and empty of furniture. Each day there are fewer things to sit on and eat off and more bike paraphernalia lying around.Diane, a school friend from Bucks, distracted us from important planning and packing last week. It's one of those mad whirlwind holidays: Australia, New Zealand and Japan in 3 weeks. In addition to the usual tourist spots, we visited (what seemed like) every photo exhibition in Melbourne (Di is deputy editor of the BJP). We also went to the studio of a photographer she knows through her work, Matthew Sleeth, which is in a gorgeous but clangy converted warehouse. The first day of Di 's visit was, apparently, the worst November weather on record; our visit to the beach at St Kilda was stoical and British. Friday was much better so we hired a car and toured the wineries in the Yarra Valley, something I'm glad we had the chance to do before we leave.
The SE Asia cycle route is shaping up: we've got a rough plan for which roads to take and which towns to stop in. If you've got Google Earth you can download the route, or check this map which we'll be updating as we go along.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
When in Rome
Kat: A number of times during our stay in Aussie, someone has said something that's made me stop and think "eh what?" It's even more confusing because I'd only just got used to using Kiwi words - you'd think that being the only two English speaking countries for thousands of miles there wouldn't be many differences, but that would be too easy. Here's a list of words that are actually used in Australia with occasional Kiwi variations - notice that "fair dinkum" and "G'day possums" aren't in there.| OZ | NZ | Translation |
| To barrack for | To support, chiefly an AFL team | |
| Bonza | Jolly good show | |
| Crack the shits | Lose your temper | |
| Doona | Duvet | |
| Esky | Chilly bin | Do these even exist in Britain?! A cool box |
| Feral | Unpleasant or backward e.g. your feet are feral | |
| Gun | Expert e.g. a gun squash player | |
| Icy pole | Ice block | Ice lolly |
| Jaffle | Toasted pie | Toasted sandwich |
| Milk bar | Dairy | Corner shop |
| Jug | Kettle | |
| Pash | Snog | |
| Shit house | Rubbish, not very good | |
| Thingo | Whatchamacallit/whochamacallit | |
| Thongs | Jandals | Flip flops |
| Weed-eater/weed-whacker | Whipper-snipper | Strimmer |
| The wop-wops | The wops | Remote countryside |
| Wowser | Obnoxiously puritanical person |
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Mo update
As you can see, I'm going for a handlebar/trucker/whatever you call it - every time I look in the mirror I don't recognise myself, it's very strange...
Monday, November 06, 2006
The weekend
Mat: On Friday our neighbour Gordon took us for another jaunt down the Mornington Peninsula, an area to the south-east of Melbourne. We stopped first at the spectacular Australia Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne, and spied some amazing wildlife including an echidna and a bandicoot. I was shocked to find that bandicoots look nothing like Crash Bandicoot on the PS2, but then I was also surprised to find that Tasmanian Devils look nothing like Taz, so there you go. After the gardens we headed down to the coast at Cape Schanck, where Kat and I took in the splendid Bushranger's Bay walk, and saw a giant blue-tongued lizard, which was about a foot long! All in all a lovely day, and we're really grateful to Gordon for being our personal tour guide while we're here :)Saturday was Derby Day of the Spring Racing Carnival, and we started off the day in style with a champagne breakfast at Mark & Tash's house. We arrived at the race track early and staked out a good spot near where the horses are lead onto the track, but within an hour we couldn't see the horses or the track because of the hordes of people. This year was apparently a record with 130,000 people attending, and every single one of them was drunk by the end of the day! We had a great time, even if it took 45 mins to get to the toilet and back, and I found loads of great treasure at the end of the day including a camping chair, several unopened cans of lemonade and five trays of uneaten sandwiches! By the end of the day it was getting very messy - several guys near us were taking it in turns to slide across a giant tarp covered in beer and empty bottles.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Movember
Mat: During November I'm going to be taking part in a charity event called Movember, where I'll be growing a moustache (mo) for a month.The money raised will be used to change the face of men's health by creating awareness and funding research into prostate cancer and male depression. You can help change the face of men's health by sponsoring my mo! Please go to http://www.movember.com.au/au/sponsor, enter my Rego number (22125) and your credit card details.
Male health is a major issue:
- Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 6 years less than females.
- Every year in Australia 2,700 men die of prostate cancer - more than the number of women who die from breast cancer.
- Depression affects 1 in 6 men. Most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide. Rates of suicide are more than double the national road toll.