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| Friday, November 30, 2007 |
Australia is known for being tough on immigration. Unless you are Kiwi or British, they don't really like people here. I'm not sure why but the Aussie governemnt tries hard to keep people out, even when they are allowed to come here. In fact, they just love to harass people at airports.
Tons of my friends have experienced the annoyance of being stopped and questioned for no real reason.
When I landed in Perth, I went through passport control and, after getting my stamp, I walked off to pick up my bag but not before an immigration officer stopped me. "Can I see your passport?" she asked. "Sure" I said and gave it her. "Do you have your airline tickets for Australia?" "I have one printed out." I gave her the ticket to Broome to Dawrin. "Well, how are you getting to Broome? "Bus" I said. "When? Where are you staying in Perth? For how long? With who? Whose your friend? What does he do? Where does he live? How long are you here for? Why are you here? Can I check your bag?"
And so, I answered an endless series of inane questions to which I had no answer. "I'm traveling and I tend not to make too many plans in case I really like a place." "Well, step over here so I can look in your bag." Ok. Then that followed by more questions. "Where are you coming from? What are you there for? Why are there so many Cambodian visas in your passport?"
After about 20 minutes of this utter waste of time, she finally gave me my passport back and said "Enjoy your trip."
Yes, I had just recieved a lovely welcome into Australia.
-Matt
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posted by Nomadic Matt @ 7:36 AM  |
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Usually on a holiday, people tend to sleep in past dawn, relax, and stay out late enjoying the freedom they worked for. Apprently, I missed that memo. Since I've left Western Australia (actually, even in WA), the latest I have slept til is 8am. The cause of this catastrophe has been the relentless camping I have done.
Since I last wrote, I spent 4 days camping out in the Bush. (No, not that kind of bush!) After Broome, I flew to Darwin to go camping in the world heritage park of Kakadu. This park is famous for waterfalls, gorges, Aboriginal rock art, and, of course, crocidiles. Despite waking up everday at dawn by flies and loud birds, I throughly enjoyed the park and it has been a highlight of my OZ trip so far. I saw stunning gorges filled with cool, clear blue watering holes and waterfalls where we were able to cool off from the 110 degree heat. Our guide, Darrin, was an aboriginal who knew a lot about the land and its history, telling us stories from the Dreaming as well as pointing out bush food (which we ate!) and Aboriginal uses for a lot of the plants. I really enjoyed the park and the hiking was amazing. Darrin took us off the beaten track a few times and showed us some amazing vistas that overlooked a lot of the park and gave us great sunsets. I even got to witness a bush fire close up.
And yes, I got to see some crocidiles up close....but not tooo upclose. We took a nice little boat cruise through the South Alligator river to witness crocidiles doing what they do best- eating. It was a cool experience.
Yet now I can't sleep late, rising too early for a holiday. After Kakadu, I went to Uluru (Ayer's rock), smack in the middle of the desert, where temperatures reached a high of 50 C (I think 130F?) so that I could wake up at 4am each day to watch sunrise at Uluru and start out for early hikes. Despite the sheer lack of sleep, it was beautiful seeing Uluru and seeing the outback. Central Australia is a lot like Arizona andf hiking around King's Canyon was like hiking the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Sadly, I couldn't hike to the top of Uluru because it was too windy that day and t here was a risk I'd fall off the rock. Maybe next time the weather will be better.
What I found the most amazing were the stars. With no ambient light at night, the land was lite up by the night sky. Millions of stars shone bright and I saw numerous shooting stars. I stared up at the unknown constellations watching the Milky way be milky and trying to find the Southern Cross.
The whole experience was amazing and I met lots of great people. The two dutch guys I met in Kakadu were there and these two English girls- all of whom will be in Byron Bay for Xmas and Sydney for New Years. And I meet a really cool (and hot) German girl.
Currently, I'm in Melbourne. It's wierd being in the cities. I've been out in the desert for a month and it was great. I learned a lot about the land and the Aborigines. Now, it's time to see urban Australia.
-Matt
THIS IS OLD SITE!!! CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY NEW ONE!!!!
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| posted by Nomadic Matt @ 7:35 AM |
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| Monday, November 19, 2007 |
I'm in love with Western Australia. (and WA women!) This is what I thought OZ would be like. A vast expanse of densely populated red earth with endless miles of deserted beaches. I'm currently in Broome, up north in the outback. Currently, it is 120 degrees and very humid, though I don't mind the humidity since I'm used it to because of Asia.
I've spent the last week going up the Western Coast, covering the distance between NY and LA. (Australia has 36,000km of coast line!) I would have liked to have spent longer going up the coast but because of how my schedule works out and how the bus worked, I couldn't. However, I am going to come back to Australia and just spend the whole visa here in Western Australia! It is that good.
I took a backpacker bus up to Broome since Greyhound is just a bit cheaper but doesn't include any of the activities I got to do! The ride was pretty cool though there was a lot of driving each day and would have been better if I did hop off and stay places for a bit. However, our driver, Wes, a real western Aussie of a guy, was pretty cool and knew a lot about the area so I got to learn about the area.
So far my favorite stop was Coral Bay, a little town of 120 people. Its right on this national park reserve and you can go out snorkeling into the reef. If the season was right, I could have swam with whale sharks but alas, their migration ends in September. The reef around is teeming with life and I got to swim with some leatherback turtles, dolphins, and rays. (At another stop on the way, I got to feed some dolphins!!!) I loved this place. The beach was amazing and the ocean out here is stunning. Though cold, the Indian Ocean is an amazing turquoise blue…it's postcard perfect!
We've been driving around the outback too, through small mining towns of about 100-2,000 people. Coming from a city of 12 million people, there is really NOTHING to do. Each town has one pub and a supermarket and, if it's big enough, another pub! All of these are little mining communities and I got to stop in one because our bus broke down. Actually, it broke down three times. The first two we had to get out and push it (I got photos of that!) The third time though, the engine blew up a little as the fan fell off the engine and we got stuck an hour outside this little mining town. We got towed back and while Wes went to get a new van, we stayed at the bar and hung out with the miners. They are hard folks and they are filthy rich! Miners out here get about 100,000 dollars a year! Had a good time and eventually we made our way out of the town to the national park we were heading too.
Western Australia looks like the southwest of America. Though the earth maybe be a bit redder (but it's like Sedona, Arizona), the scenery is the same, just on a bigger scale. There are areas that look like Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Sometimes it follows the same landscape pattern as the southwest and sometimes it mixes it up. Either way, I love it. I loved the Southwest and I love this even more. We went to this one national park, Kiljarri, and I went swimming in these lagoons under waterfalls and hiked gorges and it was simply amazing.
I'll stop fawning about it now but needless to say I have loved it out here and I'm glad I started out in WA and not the east. This has given me a great impression of the country as it is without the party, party atmosphere of the scene back east. This is the OZ I pictured in my mind and this is the OZ I will come back too. (Not that there isn't a lot to love on the East coast but I liked the relaxed, easygoing, friendly, say hello to the neighbor attitude of the West!)I'm here for a week in the heat before I head to the top end and go to Darwin! I've seen lots of the aborigines but I'll leave a whole blog post for that!
Cheers!
Matt
THIS IS OLD SITE!!! CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY NEW ONE!!!!
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| posted by Nomadic Matt @ 7:30 AM |
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| Sunday, November 04, 2007 |
Before I left the states, people often asked me if I planned on teaching while away and I swore I never would- I didn't want to be a teacher, I certainly didn't want to work, and I certainly had no desire to spoil an uninterrupted 16 month holiday. Yet here I am writing about Bangkok, a city I have only come to love because I stopped and became a teacher.
It was an accident I became a teacher in the first place. Like all major decisions in my life, this one was made with little thought- I just did it on a gut feeling. It may sound silly to make such major decisions without much thought, but for me, it's never really turned out bad. (Traveling the world, getting an MBA, switching University- all made in split second). So my one month stay in Bangkok to learn Thai turned into an 8 month adventure because I had just signed up for a gym and figured- why not stay here?
As a tourist, I had always- ALWAYS- hated Bangkok. Many people love it but for most tourists it is nothing more than the way station to better and cleaner places in Asia. There isn't much to do in terms of tourist attractions, it's polluted, the bars are really overpriced and unless you are going to shop until you drop, its pretty boring. Most people stay 3 days and decide that's too much. When I first came back in November, I decided one day was too much and after resting one night, I went to the beaches.
However, after living here, I have grown to love Bangkok. I wasn't thrilled about coming back at first but the longer I have been here, the more of Bangkok has opened up. There still isn't much in terms of "tourist" sites but I've come to realize there is a lot to do here. You can paintball, wakeboard, ice skate, bowl, eat at a million restaurants, shop until you drop, there's a million markets and social events every night of the week, the beach is only a few hours away- your options are endless. There's good and cheap non-touristy bars filled with ex-pats- Cheap Charlies (my personal favorite), Charlie Browns, The Dubliner, The Londoner, and even to an extent, Coyotes. You have the famous clubs like Bed Supper Club, Glow, and RCA. There are the cheap Thai places on Thong Lor and Rachada Soi 4. Then when they all close there is always Tunnel and Spicy- two great after hours places to stay ridiculously drunk at. If I knew about all these places when I was a traveler, my image of Bangkok might have been different.
Where ever you are, the people are important and there are amazing people here. Bangkok is an international city if there ever was one and during my time here I have meet people from all over the world. One of the things that I have loved so much about being here is that everyone is very friendly. Go to any of the bars, strike up a conversation, and you've probably made a new friend. For the first few months I was here, I was with my traveling friends, and then went underground to save cash but over the last few months, I've been going out and every weekend it seems I meet new people. I've meet a great group of people over the since August and I will be sad to leave them!
Back in July, I was thinking about leaving but I toughed it out because I realized, I hadn't really done much here so I decided to stay and live a little. Bangkok has been great. I've really come to enjoy it. I could never settle in Bangkok, few people really do. However, it is a great place to stay for a while. If I liked my job more, I might have stayed a bit longer. There is a lot I won't miss (pollution, traffic) but I will miss my friends, I'll miss the vibrant social scene, and the cheap, delicious street food (where am I going to get food at 4am in states!!!!!). I'm happy with my time here- I learnt Thai (not fluently though), saved for my trip next year, lived overseas, learnt a new culture, made international friends, and just overall had a very exciting time. I'm glad with my quick decision to stay. It's been thoroughly rewarding and stopping to live in another country was one of the best decisions I ever made.
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| posted by Nomadic Matt @ 7:25 AM |
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