Just a "normal" day in Australia!!!!

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I just spent one of my most amazing spring breaks in the remote rainforest of Australia. What is Kristin Melody's idea of an amazing spring break, you ask? No it is not a drunken crawl through Cancun or catching up on the TV show "Teen Mom"; it was surrounded by natural beauty, zip lining through the Daintree rainforest canopy, being surrounded by toxic plants and animals, lovely hippies, lovely hippie parties and live music, having no cell reception or internet, beer, laying on the pristine beaches of Australia, seeing my best friend, and experiencing the overwhelming beauty of the great barrier reef.

Australia is big, as in virtually the size of the contiguous United States. If all you think of when you think of Australia is Sydney and the Outback, than you are sorely missing some highlights. That would be like only knowing the states for Los Angeles and The Rockies. This spring break gave me an opportunity to go explore some other parts of Australia besides Melbourne because my best friend is coincidentally here and working in Australia at the same time.

Where 2% of Australia's population lives: map by e8odie on Reddit

I headed up to the northeastern state of Queensland, towards the northern most tip of Australia (Cape York). After arriving to Cairns, which is a very popular vacation destination for Aussies, and having the best fish n' chips I've ever had (below) and watching an amazing sunset... I met up with Julie, my best friend since the 4th grade.

Let my vacation within my vacation begin

Friends reunited...in another country...again.

After cruising around Cairns, we began our road trip up to Cape Tribulation. On the way we were graced with absolutely gorgeous views of the coastline, friendly faces, and stops of absolutely beautiful beaches (like Palm Cove and Coconut Beach). It felt amazing to have the sun beating down on me, and perfect 75 degree weather after nearly two months in chilly and windy Melbourne. On the trip, you must cross the fairy to get to Cape Tribulation, and once you do it becomes another world because it is the Daintree National Rainforest. Cape Tribulation is a very small secluded town in the middle of this rainforest (the 2006 census showed a population of 101); this is where Julie lives and works at Jungle Surfing canopy tours and Ocean Safari reef trips.

Where I got to stay for 10 days.... living THE LIFE!

Looks horrible, right? Gosh it was rough.

We stayed at this closed down house/cafe/restaurant/art gallery that we were watching for a friend. The rainforest is all around you, the sounds of it are louder than you think but soothing all the same. With those sounds comes all sorts of critters and insects (yes, all of you that asked me about spiders, this is where they are). In my time in Cape Trib, I saw: large creepy spiders (!), black snake (about half of black snakes are poisonous), pythons, kangaroos, tree kangaroo (only about 300 left in the world), goana lizard (lace monitor), the famous cassowary (an emu like creature, about 1,200 left in the world), countless smaller lizards, cockatoos, cane toad (a slight poisonous and invasive toad), sea eagle (not that is not a joke...and no I do not mean seagull), countless other birds, and probably many more things that I didn't even realize I was seeing.

Just a normal day in Queensland, Australia
 

This spider was larger in length than my entire hand

That is a mould killer bottle....nothing is safe up here!

The invasive, destructive, and highly reproductive cane toad

That is a bug....not a stick....so yes it is a stick bug

This was the kangaroo that had an affection for scratching his balls

So yes, Australia is full of these kinds of things, but you just kind of get used to it after awhile....after awhile you don't even continue to worry about it because if you leave them alone, they leave you alone. I was lucky enough to come in this "winter" month (read: dry, non-muggy month) and have spectacular weather with clear skies and hot weather. I was also fortunate enough to miss the marine dangers that are usually present. At this time of year, there are no deadly box jellyfish in the water, the crocodiles are keeping themselves, and the sting rays aren't too bad, and lucky enough, the beach here is absolutely beautiful. So I laid on the beach every day for either 20 minutes or 2 hours. I had to be careful though because, you know, I'm white, and you know I burn, and Australia has a damaged ozone so the sun is much much stronger here.

This was only part of my trip there in Cape Tribulation. My next blog will be a detailed description of my zip lining, canopy experience, and the great barrier reef..... until next time, CHEERS!

If anybody can guess what kind of burger this is, I will send them a postcard.

BEFORE

After

Southern Thailand

 So now that I'm back in Thailand traveling on my own again, I decided it was time to see the much talked about Southern Thailand.

Southern Thailand is known for it's beautiful beaches, friendly people, great diving and snorkeling, good food, limestone formations and plenty of other things.

I started off by going to Hua Hin, which is just about 4 hours south of Bangkok. This is more of a vacationing spot for the city dwellers of Bangkok and less a backpackers haven, for example the royal family has a vacation beach house here. But I wanted to see it regardless. Luckily, I met a French lady on the train, Magalie, and got to chatting and found out that she lives in Hua Hin with her long time boyfriend, David, from South Africa. He is teaching there at Webster University and they have been livin gin Hua Hin for 2 years. She was kind enough to invite me to their home and give me a place to stay. This resulted in me staying here much longer than most backpackers would stay in Hua Hin. They were so nice, we spent the days going to the beaches, hanging out with their Thai friends, other foreign teachers, riding bikes, eating seafood, noodle soup and other yummy cuisine, and just hanging out . They were so lovely and it was a nice thing for me to be in a home and be able to relax in one place for a bit. Plus their puppy, named 'Puppy' was just to adorable with it's cone on her head from her recent neutering!

After thanking them for letting me crash at their place and for showing me around Hua Hin, I got a over night bus ticket to arrive in Phuket (pronounced Foo-ket , in case you were wondering!) I chose to go to Phuket because my good friend Jenna who is in the Navy was going to be in port there and we go the chance to meet up. How cool right, a friend since middle school and we are meeting up on two very different kind of trips...in Thailand!! Once there, I met up with Jenna and was introduced to her friends, and from there the Navy 'In port' adventure began. Quite a different pace from my normal travel style, Jenna and her friends had about 48 hours to enjoy Phuket and Thailand, and they were aware that definitely ISN'T enough!! We ended up walking around the town, trying some cuisine, trying the beer, going to get them custom tailored suits (a very popular thing for people to do when they come to SE Asia because it is so much cheaper), and that was just the first day. We ended up spoiling ourselves some more, and Jenna was kind enough to spoil me (THANK YOU JENNA!!!). That night we went out on the town of Phuket, which basically meant the one pedestrian street full of bars, parties, restaurants, and many many other things. The next day was spent relaxing and recuperating and getting Thai massages. The 48 hours we spent together in port were definitely memorable, and I had a great time seeing my friend while traveling abroad. Cheers to more stories chica!

After the whirlwind pace of Phuket, I once again headed off by myself south toward Krabi. I stayed on the remote beach of Rai Leh, which was accessible only by boat although it was on the main land. This beach was absolutely gorgeous and a great place to walk up and down the beach and watch the avid rockclimbers scale the 100's of feet cliffs on the beach. The limestone formed cliffs here are just surreal to look at, and make for an unforgettable and unique beach scene. I was running short of days for my visa, and only had two full days to enjoy Rai Leh. My fullest day I spent on an excursion, which was a blast! We started off by heading on the boat to Bamboo beach, a white sand beach a few miles off the coast. We got to swim and check out the local huts on the beach and see the tsunami evacuation route. From there, we headed to a Pirate cave (!) yes used previously by pirates or just people looking to hide out, and monkey bay. After that to Maya Beach. Maya beach is where they filmed the Hollywood movie "The Beach" made off the popular travelers book. I read the book at the beginning of this trip and I thought this island was quite a good fit, beautiful crystal blue waters, white sands, a small cove, jungle-inland etc... it was gorgeous, packed with tourists, but gorgeous. From there we headed to the popular island of Koh Phi Phi, iconic Southern Thailand. I know I keep repeating myself, but this beach was gorgeous too! Plus I had random groups of Asian tourist come and ask to take pics with me on their camera, and then on mine. Offshore of Phi Phi, we did our first snorkel spot. I LOVE snorkeling, it is so awesome. It also helps when the visibility is about 20 feet in every direction, and I felt like I was diving in the movie 'Finding Nemo.' I saw a puffer fish, anemones, the black and white 'scarfish', huge schools of fish that ate bread and anything else you threw them, coral beds, and much much more. I was the first one in the water and the last one out both times, it was just too pretty!! From Phi Phi we headed back to Krabi and Rai Leh beach, at about 4pm, plenty of time to swim and lounge at the Rai Leh beach until I got to see the repetitively spectacular sunsets! Ahhhh, I see why people get stuck in the South of Thailand and never leave...but I had to be going.

The Burmese

Hello again,

So i've migrated a lil west of where I was. I'm now located in Mae Sot, Thailand. If you look on the left hand side of the map, you'll see Mae Sot is located just on the Burma border, but still in Thailand. There isn't much Thailand about this town, actually the population is 70 % Burmese, and 20% Thailand,  and the 10 % I dunno, stray dogs. This border town is mainly a refugee for Burmese fleeing from the military ('junta') run country of Burma. Now I wasn't too aware of the Burmese conflict that has been going on for soemthing like 40 years now, just as I imagine most of Americans aren't aware of it. But the junta government has consistenly been abusing human and civil rights in their country. Killing Burmese in their own village, causing them to flee, guilty of murder, rape, and violation. It isn't a pretty picture, much like Colombia before or even the Egyptian and Tunisian affairs right now. A country on the brink of civil war. Well i'm not the most of current affairs, but i can tell you what I've seen here and what i've heard.

 

What that all means for Thailand is Refugees. Mae Sot alone has 2 very large refugee camps here. Full of Burmese tribal people forced to flee their country, but Thailand won't recognize many of their rights and they can't really leave the camp. The others that are here in Mae Sot, not in a refugee camp are here illegally. Strange thing is the Thai police know that 70% they are dealing with Burmese, and don't even speak Thai, but it is in a way 'accepted' just looked over. So what that creates is a very interesting town full of Burmese food, culture, and people. A more conservative culture than Thailand. 

That also means there needs to be education and some employement in places like factories. If they don't create some kind of situation for them, they end on the trashy sid eof things. Literally. A few days ago, I took a trip with a friend I have met here. We took a bike ride out to the 'Rubbage dump.' I've never been to a trash dump, only just seem from afar or saw in pics in school or on a news real. But this wasn't a news reel, when I arrived, I saw something quite shocking to say the least. Karen people, a tribe of Burma, are living in and around the rubbage dump. They live on top of, next to, or below the huge mountain of trash. Their reason, to collect plastic that gets disposed there. Once collected a Kilo of plastic, they can collect from the recycling plant 3 Baht ~ about 9 cents. 

Collecting trash. I've never seen so many flies in my life, or wanted to hurl at the smell. 

It was a sad sight to see and one of the more uncomfortably surreal things i've ever seen. I still haven't quite digested it. 

But in my attempts to help the situation here, I was able to track down a volunteer position. I'm volunteering for 2 weeks (as long as my visa will allow for now) at the MeeMaHaw Post 10 school for Burmese Refugees. I'm teaching English reading and grammar to a handful of kids. I've only just started this week, but I hope that somehow it will help this whole depressing situation. This is the foot in for a Burmese person being able to apply for a Thai University to continue studying English. This is an intensive preparation course for them. They are very sweet and always smiling. A large portion of them older than me, but still manage to be young at heart and easy to laugh. They make me smile and laugh too. Which I guess is all either of us can as for. I will certainly be a meaningful purpose. 

Not to mention, Mae Sot is full of volunteers and informative events and things on Burma and the situation. So in keeping my eyes, ears mind and heart open- maybe I"ll be able to grasp something on why things like this happen in the world.

Nothing like seeing an ol friend

This past weekend, a friend from Minneapolis came to visit me for the weekend. Granted Minneapolis is -10 degrees right now, so she didn't mind coming and soaking up the rays in 70 and sunny San Diego. So Beth was sweet enough to come out and visit. I met Beth in Ecuador/Peru, and 'used' her as my disguise gringa while crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru. Mind you, I wasn't the most approachable person at the time as I was trying to devise a reason as to why I'd overstayed my visa by nearly 2 months. While being preoccupied with possibly getting slapped with a huge fine, or possibly getting deported or thrown in Ecuadorian jail, I eventually talked to the other American later after I skated my way out of my visa predicament. Long story short, Beth and I ended up traveling for a couple months togther in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Things we did in that time included; hitchiking for 7 days straight in semi's, renting beach bungalows for a week, drinking lots of mate, touring the salt flats, partying in Buenos Aires, and finally coming to terms that we are leaving that awesome continent and flying home together. 





Beth and Kristin keeping it CLASSY in Bolivia highlands

Beth, Michelle and I hanging with 50 of our closest Bolivian army friends. Totally normal.



Party Carnaval

Thanks to Beth, the idea of going to SouthEast Asia was opened up to me. She had traveled to those countries for 6 months 'back in the day' - really not that long ago. So while she was out we laughed about past memories, hung out with family and friends, did a classy tour of classy san diego, and shared ideas on future ones.

Southeast Asia sounds more and more exciting. Some things she shared;

-The most beautiful beaches, Thailand
-Cheap travel and great parties in Laos
-Ruins worth spending days at in Cambodia
-Cheap dive certification on the islands
-Moto bike tours of Vietnam
-Ping pong shows fo' sho' (shout out Cunninghams!)
And a bunch more



Beth and I down in Old Town SD reminiscing with South America pics

 All in all had a great time with my friend. She said it, you meet friends in the strangest places, and I agree! And hopefully I'll see her in a couple of months in Malaysia maybe? Thanks Beth!

...Southeast Asia here I come. 15 days left!!! ...