hot hot heat.

an absurd heat wave has rocked our world.. it's been 40+ for 3 days now - up to 45 yesterday - and i feel like melting. yesterday we went on a [mandatory] mission to buy a fan (zero fans or any type of air circulation exist within our premises..) only to find absolutely every department store within the area was sold out. it was like a movie: double-sided shelves empty, with stickers showing the once utopic aisles.. we've been jumping in cold showers every opportunity.. towels in the freezers for a few minutes of wonderment.. there isn't even a breeze in the evenings so it's impossible to sleep.. so today we beat the crowd to the new shipments and snatched up two fans from a huge pile, loaded them into the carts, and looked around for a few minutes.. by the time we reached check-out there wasn't a fan left. they mostly just blow around hot air, but it's something..

predicting 30's for next week! fingers crossed..

week one.

so we've found a room in a house full of globe trotters.. two german guys and a gal, a chinese girl, two indian guys, a korean, an american, and the three of us! sounds outrageous, however with everyone's schedules working in our favor we've even come home to an empty house.. the room is a decent size and the area we're in is unbeatable. everything one could need is within a 5 minute walk, and for anything else there's an intricate tram system. we've handed out resumes wherever we've seen "help wanted" in the window.. doubtful we'll get hired at the 'hobby shop' selling model glue and cars (?) but it's worth a shot! you just can't be picky at this point in the game..

on friday evening we met up with anthony and some of his friends for drinks downtown. we had lots of fun and really enjoyed the company.. we've been invited out on a friends' boat at some point in the near future as well.. never hurts to have a friend with a boat! saturday morning found stacy and i at 'ceres' an environmental group which runs on donations and volunteers.. they have a pile of bikes/bike parts, and every tool you would need to fix them up, along with helpful advice for those as clueless as myself. for $25 we rode home in style..

melissa got into town saturday night so we got her all settled in and caught up on the last two months.. informed her of what the city has to offer, showed her the ropes, you know how it goes.. on sunday afternoon we headed down to federation square to meet up with anthony and a slew of couchsurfers/hosts giving out "free hugs," then continued on to lawn bowling, an infamous way of spending a sunny afternoon down under..

monday was australia day.. we met up with melissa's cousin and some of her friends and drove out to venus bay to relax in the sun, cook some food on the barby, play some cricket on the beach.. afterward we went to one of the girls' homes for supper where i met her mother, a woman originally from winnipeg, who knows where foxwarren is, knows my uncle russ, and whose best friend flew to manitoba last weekend for my grandma's funeral. once again reinforcing what a small world we're living in! wonderful family who has assured us we have a home away from home if we ever need it.. great day, capped off with a walk over the pier to see all these little penguins hanging out on the rocks, completely wild.. they're out fishing at sunrise and by the pier sundown.. then to a park full of fuzzy little possums.. by the time we got home we were all completely spent.. i think i was out before my head even hit the pillow..

today we dropped off more resumes, went for a bike ride, and decided to have a relaxing evening at home. it's been quite the week and we're all more than happy to have some down time!

melbourne.

darryl is now a tv star in bangkok following his debut on khao san road.. stacy and i were mistaken for australia soap stars at a coffee shop in thailand.. and our group of travellers has quickly diminished. now, the boys are gone back to the cold, followed by christine. it was so hard to say goodbye, per usual, however i will never forget the times shared. helluva trip! very hard to comprehend that the asia portion is over. we're back to an altered version of the 'real world' and are currently checking out apartment listings in melbourne. we've been couchsurfing with a guy named anthony in a quiet suburb just outside of the city.. in the two short days we've had to look around we've conquered a good portion of the area! the city is great, good vibes, lots to see and do. tons of parks and cafes, basically whatever you're looking for. we've both got cellphones now, so that makes apartment hunting easier, although we still haven't found a place. hard with 3 girls unable to sign a lease! (and on a budget to boot).. we're looking at a place tonight and keeping our eyes open for second-hand bicycles which will make transportion cheap and easy. what more to say? busy, but life is good. i feel as though we will have zero problems settling down for the time being.. but we have plenty of people to visit up the coast in due time!

grandma hamilton.

three days ago the world lost a wonderful lady. my grandma. it came as quite a shock for everyone because it all happened so quickly. i will not be there tomorrow to attend the funeral, but i will be there in mind and spirit.. i will be there to give you all big hugs and reflect on her amazing life. i'll forever remember walking over there for crib tournaments.. [king's crib especially, grandpa made the board himself..] tea.. family gatherings.. fresh meals from the garden.. their porch hosted many good conversations.. she had a kind heart, she was a role model. her smile lit up a room, and i will always remember her. i love you, grandma.

boat/bus/bangkok.

as the days passed in koh phangan, the tide continued to creep in farther and farther.. our first day there we had plenty on beautiful sand to lay out on, and slowly, there was no beach left! the calm water was replaced with hectic waves.. and disappointingly, this meant the girls were unable to dive because of the rough water conditions..
and [quite unrelated], i almost got killed by a coconut. did you know that they take the lives of 300 people a year? if you're sitting around, always ensure a safe distance..

koh phangan is world reknowned for it's full moon parties. and it just so happened to be a full moon on the 10th of this month. we figured it only made sense to check out all the hype.. met a few english guys and a gal, hopped in the back of a pickup, and off we went. we all had an amazing time, walking up the beach covered in thousands of people.. dancing.. there was some face paint going on.. a party, clearly. got home at a reasonable hour.. [of course that has different meaning when you're in thailand]..

so the next day was spent relaxing. no sun, and no beach because of the waves.. watched a few movies on stacy's laptop and went to our favorite food spots. we had left our flip flops at the english guys' cabin because we had been down the beach by their place before leaving for the party. so two days later, we went to pick them up, only to find that they had checked out. at a loss, we asked the front desk if they had found any sandals in cabin 4. they said no. we asked again, they said no. walking away, stacy calls my name. i walk up to her and she's pointing at a pair of sandals, [clearly mine] sitting on the porch of another cabin. the door opened, and a thai guy stepped out. i told him they were my sandals and he nods.. then reaches in and pulls out steen's sandals that were just behind the door. then we ask where the other two pairs are and he points across the resort to a bar on the beach.. so we walk over there, and in a pile of about 5 pairs we found ave's.. and off to the left, still wet from being worn in the water, were stacy's! apparently they had all been claimed and distributed throughout the staff..

went out for our last dinner on the island, then walked down to the beach for a beer. we had met two canadians that afternoon and they were down there, so we pulled some tables together and spent the evening hanging out with them and the english girl, charlie, that came with us to the full moon party. she is flying out the same day as the boys, so we decided to travel up to bangkok together. the next morning we were on the most violent boat ride of life. 4 hours of massive waves, (it was like that scene on "stand by me" with the pie eating contest..) i was the only one in our group of 6 that got sick, but i was certainly not the only one on the boat.. i wont go into details, but it was awful. wobbly and depleted, we reached land. then we got on a bus and drove 8 more hours..

so here we are in bangkok once again. it marks the beginning of this trip, and the end for some. darryl and ave fly early tomorrow morning so they'll have to leave for the airport around 4am. we'll spend the day together and stay up until we have to say goodbye.. which i really don't want to do! a few more days, and it will be time to say goodbye to christine.. rough week.

rocking and rolling.

walking up the beach one evening just before sunset, the four of us stumbled upon a little blob.. looking closer to investigate, we realised it was a baby octopus that had been washed ashore with the tide.. it was still breathing, so ave ran to get a branch, and we carefully scooped it up and returned it to the ocean.. what an amazing looking creature. our good deed for the day.

there was a big raggae concert at the end of the beach one night so we went over to check it out. what a good time. the most popular local band, they played lots of bob marley and a few thai classics that steen and i have heard many-a-time.. didn't want to the night to end. they estimated about 600 people were there that night, which is the population of the island.. the crowd all swayed a little, you couldn't help but be swept up with the beat..

our last night on koh phayam ave, steen and i decided we'd go for a walk up the beach and have a beer. we went to 'my bbq bar' which is where we spent new years eve, then walked down to the end where the raggae concert was held a few nights before. sitting up at the wood we met this guy named 'tu' - the most enlightened and wonderful man i have ever met. cleary a hippie, with his long hair, headband and shirtless.. he talked about his life growing up in thailand, practising yoga.. studying dance in some tiny town in india close to the tibetan border.. he talked about flying to america just for a music festival.. about karma and energies and all sorts of things. the guy was 45, looked like he was 30. didn't have a wrinkle on him, and wouldn't. he lives a stress-free life. all he preached was love and happiness. he invited us to his place in bangkok and said he would cook us all a big meal when we're in the city..

so. steen and i have been in charge since stacy left, which was been about two weeks.. in those two weeks the only thing that went according to plan was going to karon beach, our first stop.. everything else has been 'slightly' flukey, but part of the adventure.. so, to keep shaking things up, steen booked us a bungalow for koh tao - except that the bungalow was on koh phangan instead! finding this out the evening before we were leaving, we had to coordinate this new set of plans with stacy, who just recently got off her plane in bangkok.. we got a van from ranong to the east coast, and just missed our boat by a matter of minutes.. staying the night (none of us even know the name of the place) we caught it the next morning at 7am and arrived just after noon. staying at rock garden resort, we have two little cabins with shuttered windows opening right onto the water.

so.. here we are in koh phangan! who knew? i'd like to see what the two of us could do had we been planners from the start.. now that would be an adventure worthy of documentation!