Laos pronounced “Lao” is a communist country. There’s nothing Western about Lao, with the exception of the never ending Spring break tubing down the river in Vang Vieng, but that’s another story entirely (more on that later).

We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, flying in from Chiang Mai, Thailand. At first, we thought we’d stick around in Chiang Mai for a month, relax, recharge — but that was short-lived. After about a week, we decided to move on so that we could see more of South East Asia.

As soon as we entered Lao, I started yaking. I don’t know if was the meat biscuit I accidentally choked on during the descent into Laos or the fact that there were no medical facilities for at least a days drive. First it was me, and then the bacteria started attacking Justin. As soon as I was digesting again, Justin was up all night counting his peas and carrots (poor guy).

The Lao Culture

After a couple days in Luang Prabang (a small UNSECO World Heritage village near the Mekong River), we flew standby to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Because of the French influence in Laos, there are amazing baguettes available anytime. The people are friendly, but very few of them speak English, even in the more touristy areas. Justin and I have gotten become familiar with saying “hello” and “thank you in the local languages.” We’ve also become akin to our own form of sign language.

Laos has suffered much hardship over the decades, reported as the most bombed country (per capita) of all time. As one of the most impoverished countries in the world, they do have the luxury of having a small population. The air is clean and time stands still.

Luang Prabang & the Morning Market

When we were in Luang Prabang, I stepped upon what I consider to be one of the most real things I’ve seen in my life – the morning market. They sold everything on the street, with nothing more than banana leaves between chunks of meat and the street. There was produce, rice, snake meat, and fish that were still breathing. There were shoes and wool scarves, sold alongside whole chickens and pigs feet. In my world where everything is constantly spinning, everything slowed down. Life became effortless, alive, and simpler than I have ever understood. There were no tourists, just the noise and commotion of the market – a sensational experience I will never forget.

Vientiane, Laos

When we arrived in Vientiane, we took a day trip kayaking. The trip to get to the river was 2+ hours on bumpy, gravel back roads, but it was well worth the ride. There were a bunch of other young people (about 8 of them, an Aussie and 7 Germans) on the trip, most of them expats living and working in Vientiane. Most of them spoke local the local language in addition to English and their native language. I was surprised to meet young people with paying jobs in Laos. It turns out, there’s an infrastructure to build! One guy worked with titling and property rights, another on IT database integration for the Mekong River Group: Burma, Vietnam, and Laos.

On another day, we went sightseeing in Vientiane. Wat Pha That Luang is an important cultural symbol and a great source of pride for the Lao people.

Our next stop was the Buddha Park, about 25km outside of Vientiane. We decided to hire a tuktuk driver for the afternoon since it was quiet a ride out there. I’ve been reading Everday Zen, so the huge stone carved Buddha’s in a park amongst the trees were a real treat.

Justin’s 28th Birthday

Several days ago, we celebrated Mr. Beckham’s big 28! Boy was that a challenge. I had no idea where we’d be on his special day, so there wasn’t really much planning I could do. First we went to get massages at the Papaya Spa a little outside of town. He said he wanted a steak for dinner, so I made reservations for that. I ended up surprising him with a huge, chocolate cake – complete with candles. So, he got his birthday wish. Oh, and I got him a silly neck tie (see below) and a makeshift card constructed out of wrapping paper and a postcard. We had a great time celebrating.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Up next, we visited Vang Vieng, home of endless Friends re-runs, crappy western food, and drunken inter tubing. We heard a lot about it from all of the other backpackers, so we had to see what all of the fuss was about. It turns out; Vang Vieng looks much like Yosemite, but the town itself is a tourist trap. I have to admit, eating pizza and watching Friends was a nice diversion from roughing it.

Indeed, we participated in the experience of tubing the river. It’s is like a never-ending episode of MTV’s Spring Break. There are hundreds of college clad twenty-something’s sipping on bottles of Beer Lao, soaking up the sunshine, partying along the river. The bars have platforms with bumping sounds systems, water slides, zip lines that plummet you into the river, and 50 ft trapeze-like rope swings. Oh, and don’t forget the buckets of liquor and beer. Good thing the ATM machines weren’t working that day or I would have drunk an unsavory amount right before swinging hundreds of feet into the river.

Here’s a video of the rope swing. It’s not my video, but it’ll give you an idea.

After a long day on the river, we sought refuge at a café serving up sandwiches and fresh episodes of Friends (what else?). As we returned to our bungalow, Laos’ revenge crept up on me again. I’m fine now. But, I don’t trust Beer Lao. Justin and both had separate incidences of getting sick from drinking a bottle of the local brew.

Our place in Vang Vieng, at Ban Sabi Bungalows:

Anti-Malarials

Ah, regarding prophylaxis (Malaria pills), I’m not taking them. Don’t worry, we’re using lots of DEET. Locals, expats, and many travelers don’t take the pills unless they are going deep into the jungle. We’re still at risk and if I get a fever, I will get checked out immediately. It just doesn’t make sense to take antibiotics for a month and a half. If you have access to Malarone, that seems to be the best stuff with the least amount of crude, everlasting side effects. They don’t sell it in SE Asia though (with the exception of Singapore and Hong Kong).

Up Next

Today, we’re headed to Hanoi, Vietnam. We’ve reserved the rest of our trip since it’s high season in SE Asia these days. We’ll be in Hanoi for a bit, and then off to Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap, Hong Kong, and then SFO.

Arriving in Bali

When we first arrived, we stayed in Kuta Beach, Bali – not to be confused with Kuta Beach, Lombok (more on that later). Kuta is nice if you’re looking for a party scene or a fancy dinner.  You can purchase DVDs for .80 cents each and Nintendo Wii games for $1.80… you can even buy designer perfume in a real looking faux box for $5.00.  They have Dolce & Gabana stores on almost every street corner, but it’s more like Dolce and K-Mart. The tourists eat it up though. 

Upon entering shopping mecca in Kuta, I was bombarded with offers for massages, pedicures, and haircuts. I was finally pursauded by the Kimberly Spa… I paid $7 US for a pedicure and a manicure. Talk about being pampered!  What a treat.

Our night out in Kuta Beach, at the only wine bar. Mind you, we typically look like greasy backpackers.

Ubud, Bali

After getting grounded in Kuta and running around like spoiled kids in a candy store, we arranged a shuttle to Ubud, Bali. Ubud is the artistic capital of Bali where you’ll find paintings on every corner with rice fields that roll for kilometers. The rice fields are so green. They gave me such a feeling of renewal.

Here’s quick video of us riding through the rice fields. It’s not the greatest quality, but you’ll get the idea.

On our first night in Ubud, we stayed at the Uma Sari Cottages for a couple of nights. The location was decent and the price was right, but the plumbing was not. We could smell our own defection and after a few days, so even the shower felt dirty.

Moving on, we’d planned to stay in Arjana 3, a set of newer buildings out in the middle of the rice. It was only $18 per night with breakfast included. But, as timing would have it… we ended up staying at Christina’s place, Villa Talidandan.

I’d emailed Christina months back, and received a response that her villa was available, but I thought it was too far out for us to even consider (5 km from Ubud). But, we since had discovered the wonder of the motor bike and even liked the idea of being outside of the city centre. I emailed Christina the day before we were to move to Arjana 3, and she called us immediately. We went to look at it first thing the next morning… and it was perfect.

Here’s a quick video I took of Villa Talidandan.

Christina is amazing. She’s originally from Modesto, CA and has lived overseas for more than 20 years, 6 of which have been in Bali. She and her family have put their time, money, and energy into the school near her villa, by starting a computer school, a library, and initiating a recycling program. Since Christina spearheaded the computer school, so we chatted her up about how we could help.

Teaching a Class at the Abangan Computer School

Justin and I were excited about the possibility helping, so the next week we taught a class to 6th graders about digital images, photo editing, and file saving. We had them go out in groups to take 10 pictures each (30 per group).  Then, we had them load up Picasa 3 (a photo editing product made by Google) to upload and edit the photos. The cool thing about Picasa is that it’s very simple, intuitive, and powerful. Unlike Photoshop, there are not a bunch of menus and complicated processes. Most things just involve clicking or double-clicking. We had a translator, a lesson plan, and we even had 1GB thumb drives to give to the children (we took a scary motor bike trip to Denpasar the day before to purchase them).

The class was a success. The children were more advanced, curious, and exploratory that either of us had anticipated. By the time we were finished, they were cropping photos, balancing color, changing images to black & white, and adding text to their photos. Each child had to load their photos onto the drives we gave them (we had them write their initials on them to know whose was whose). So, now they can save their work and use the drive on any computer they ever use. I am not sure whether they fully understand the concept of the thumb drive, but they will as they use it more.

Here’s a video of the computer school when we went to visit the school the first time.

The government run schools in Bali are not what we’re used to. Often, teachers don’t even show up to class and the children run rampant. Here are some photos of the rest of the school. The school been cleaned up quite a bit with the help of Christina and her family. They started a recycling program, so at least the grounds are clean.

If you’d like to donate to the school or these kids… please let me know. I can get you in touch with Christina. Any contributions donated will 100% go to the kids, the computer school, and better teaching materials. There are no administrative costs, so even a small donation will help. Or, if you’d rather send over children’s books, software, stuff for the classroom, etc. I can get you an address.

I can guarantee you, anything you give, will help. They’d like to leave the computer lab open after school hours when classes aren’t be taught, but that requires additional funds that aren’t currenty available. Also, if you’re coming Bali and intersted in teaching a class, I’m sure you’d be very welcome. The kids are so grateful for the computer school. They are always arive early to class with a huge smile, eager to learn. It’s optional for the kids to attend the after school computer classes, but students don’t miss it unless they are ill.

The computer school is the gateway to a better future for these kids. Most kids in Bali villages don’t even see a computer until high school, and even then, the resources are minimal. By the time the kids at the Abangan Computer School graduate from the 6th grade, they’ve learned MS Word, MS Excel, have started to hone their typing skills. They finish off the year with a 2 week computer camp where they learn how the Internet and building web pages works.

Buying Trip

As some of you know, I’ve always wanted to open an import store in the United States with beautiful furniture, décor, jewelry, and clothing from around the world. Bali certainly made me consider sending a container home. The cost is approximately $4000 (20ft) to $6000 (40ft) for shipping and customs to the port of San Francisco. 

I came to the conclusion that you can’t just send a container home and hold your breath. It’s a lot of work, a lot. And, not only that, but you’d have to find a channel to sell goods through. Retail is no picnic, especially right now. My vision of the retail store I’d want to open requires quite a bit of capital. It’s a fun business idea, not necessarily the most easiest model. I am not saying that I am not going to do it, but I’d like to have to have another successful business venture to finance the costs and risk associated.

Nonetheless, Justin and I went on a buying trip. As luck would have it, Christina‘s friend, Victoria is well versed with the import/export business. She has a retail shop in Ubud with gorgeous home furnishings, silks, and decorations. I spoke to Victoria briefly on the phone and we decided to meet up to discuss how we might be able to help one another. She met us at Villa Talidandan, and from there we went all over the place to look at furniture, fountains, sculpture, and décor. From this trip, I got a good idea of price, selection, and quality.

Victoria is an invaluable resource and a very kind woman. She definitely knows her way around the business and doesn’t sugar coat anything. Through the buying trip, I realized that furniture would be a tough sell in the US with all of the competition buying/selling imported furniture.  See, in the short term I was thinking about doing a warehouse business trafficed by inexpensive online marketing and beyond. I could sell straight from a warehouse floor and forego the need for pricey retail space. After understanding prices, liabilities, the potential for wood cracking, and taking into account the economy, I realized even doing that would be an uphill battle.

I do have a good eye for things. I think I’d make a great buyer for imported goods, but you have to have a way to sell those goods!  My takeaway was that the fountains, marble bathtubs, shell/stone/quartz sinks, mirrors, counters, and small bathroom accessories would have much less competition. If I were to buy based on what I thought I could sell at a high margin, I’d buy this stuff. Problems with this are multi-dimensional: I am not excited about bathroom furnishings, no one is building right now, and I’d still have to find a channel to sell it through (custom home builders?).  

Oh well, I will figure out how to do the import/export biznaz eventually.  I know it’s not as romantic as it sounds to expense traveling, but we’ll see?

Here are a few photos of things I liked:

Justin and I also learned how to ship LCL (Less Container Load) without paying per cubic meter prices. You can send a huge box, and as long as it weighs less than 20kg, it only costs $70 door-to-door. This is a good way to send jewelry, clothing, and textiles, which are difficult to send via a container because of regulations and tariffs.

Anyway, we sent home a couple Japanese style lamps with burnt orange shades, some gifts, and a couple paintings. At 2-3 months transit time, the stuff might even beat us back!

Health Report

As far as Bali Belly goes, both of us have felt it. My digestion has been a little raw for that last week and I had a high fever one night along with what seemed like food poisoning, but nothing too maddening.

Lombok, Indonesia

We’ve met a lot of interesting people in Bali. It’s not overrun by backpackers like Thailand. We met one guy that builds and tests engines for Porsche (a German of course), a family of 8 from Australia (we took a biking tour with them), and a Lonely Planet writer. The Lonely Planet guy told us that Kuta Beach, Lombok was a “Must SEE!” 

So, we took his advice. There are a number of options available for transport to Lombok. The easiest/quickest is a flight for $40 one way. Next up, a 1.5 hour boat that goes to the Gili Islands and then to Lombok for $65 one way. And finally, a 3 hour cruise boat for $35 each way.

It turns out there’s a slow boat from Padangbai to Lembar for just 32,000 rupiahs. That’s $3.20. Here’s a video I took walking onto the ferry.

Once onboard, we rented a cheap mat and enjoyed the sunshine overy a friendly game of gin. There weren’t very many Westerners (maybe half a dozen) on the way there, and on the way back we were the only obvious tourists. We were bombarded with offers to buy this and that… and you can’t say “No, thank you.”  Any attention is attention…

Kuta Beach, Lombok is a MUST MISS!  It’s out in the middle of no where. The beach is ok, but you can’t swim in it, and you have to take another boat like 30 minutes just to get to a good surfing spot. There is no where to stay unless you want to fork out $70+ to stay at the Novotel. Everything else is really trashy. I don’t mind minimal accommodations, but these places were dank and depressing.

I think the people are much worse off in Lombok. They don’t have resources such as rice, bamboo, and irrigation water as readily available. There’s garbage everywhere and the people are fairly unwelcoming. There’s also the difference in religion. Most of Lombok is Muslim, whereas the Balinese are mostly Hindu.

The boat ride was the best part. I am glad we didn’t go the easy/expensive way. 

Impressions of Bali

The poverty really struck me in Bali. The culture and the people are very palpable. Many speak decent enough English to have a choppy conversation, so if you’re curious, you can learn a lot, quickly. Balinese make roughly $50-$100 a month, and it’s typical for well over half of that to be spent on housing. Families live in compounds, with several buildings for different generations.  Each building in the complex is as simple as you can possibly imagine with bamboo roofs, beds, and a gas stove top for cooking. Each family cooks the meals for the whole day first thing in the morning. Everything is fresh. If they need feed for their cow or pig, they go out to the fields and cut it.  We saw many walking down the street with a blade in their hand and grass feed strapped to their back. Women seem to carry everything on their heads.  I even saw what must have been an 80 year-old woman in her underwear carrying 2 large building bricks on her head. They must have weighed 20 kg.

A beautiful baby girl at a compound we visited on an eco bike tour, doing laundry:

It’s really beautiful to see people live so simply. Everyone has their role, their duty, and there’s timing to everything, rituals constantly, and celebrations weekly. People smile a lot in Bali. And I can see why, there’s a lot to smile about. They have what seem to be unlimited natural resources and a strong connection with their religion and family.

At the end of our stay in Bali, I left a few belongings behind that I won’t need anymore — a travel blanket and a fleece jacket. The maid found them and tried to give them back to us when we returned from lunch to pick up our bags. We explained that no longer wanted them. The smile she flashed is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She asked if she could have them. Of course, I obliged. She started trying on the jacket and commented on how nice it was. In all my life I have never seen anyone so happy to receive used clothing. It really made me think.

I cherish the Balinese people and the wonder that is Bali. I will come back someday… hopefully, soon!

Monkey Forest, Ubud

Monkeys on Monkey Forest Road - video of a 5 minute visit we took to the Monkey Forest:

 I miss you all. Write me or comment below if you can. =)

I am in marketing and Justin is in sales, so we split the tasks. I was in charge of the Internet marketing and collateral we put up in hostels (although, we were only able to post one flyer before we were flooded with calls). Justin took the clients through the sales process once they arrived to close the deal.

To end the bidding wars, we required a $500 retaining fee for the car from the first party. They were unable to get the funds until one day later, so we required a deposit. The phone continued ring, and Justin kept track of the leads in a highly advanced CRM tool known as Notepad. Haha, in all seriousness –> it was much easier than either of us thought.

We bought the car for $2,500 in Sydney, and including all transfer fees, 18+ cards, new windscreen, camping equipment, and the foam mattress we purchased - we still came out a couple hundred dollars ahead, selling at (drum roll please…) $3,500.

It turns out, the car market is ridiculous in Cairns. At certain times of the year, the supply and demand ratio is very much in the sellers favor. We did a little market research. A 1989 Ford Falcon with 400,000 km sells for $3,800 in Cairns at Traveller’s Auto Barn. What a rip off. So needless to say, used cars for sale by owner get snatched up quick. Backpackers start in Cairns this time of year, planning to drive the East Coast, as it starts out much warmer here. Buying in Sydney was a good strategy since you can get a much better deal and have more selection than in Cairns.

Wahoo!  Ok, we’re drinking sparkling wine now to celebrate.

We showed up somewhere above Noosa Heads, as we got lost in the middle of the night and ended up on a ferry to some remote island. We followed our Camps 4 guidebook to this campground that was completely deserted, yet full of roos! The campground made my skin crawl…It was pitch dark with hundreds of sites, one occupant, and kangeroos amongst the shadows… kind of cool and creepy at the same time.

We went to check-in at the ‘resort’ counter a kilometer up the road. There we found we could rent a dorm style accommodation with bunks and a kitchen. Since the place was virtually empty, we got our own cabin. I eventually found the kangeroos to be quite docile. They’re pretty tame in areas where they’re used to people. In fact, I saw a toddler go up to one and whack it upside the head… The roo did nothing.

One morning in our dorm, when I was trying to get Justin to dance to some hip hop with me, I had an unlikely dance partner. A kangeroo came straight up to the sliding glass door and watched me make a fool of myself. Now, you can too!  Check out my dancing debut:

The following day, we went horseback riding on the beach, an idyllic experience everyone should enjoy.

A couple days later, we arrived at Rainbow Beach, which is the cheapest place to catch the ferry to Fraser Island. We priced all of our options. At first, we were tempted by the $150 self drive for 3 days/2 nights with everything included. That is, until we discovered that we’d have to ride with 9 other hostelers in a Toyota Troop Carrier. In case you weren’t paying attention, that’s 11 people in an SUV 4×4 not much bigger than a Toyota Landcruiser.

Instead, we hired (rented) our own Troop Carrier for $145 a day from Greg and his sister, Jessica over at Adventure 4wd Centre. They were really courteous and helpful in helping us plan an itinerary and gave us all of the info we needed to camp on the beach and in the jungle. They even let us borrow a table and an esky (ice chest).

Away we went. Here are some of the photos

It doesn’t get much better than this… Champagne Pools, Fraser Island. A great spot for a quick dip.

Our Truck

Dingo - wild dog that roams the island

Lake Mckenzie

Up next, we headed to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays.  The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands, which provide incredible scenery and diving opportunities. Way over budget already, we opted for the 3 day, 2 night dive boat trip with everything, but diving included. I’ve always wanted to go diving, but the bends and the possibility of an exploding lung have kept me snorkeling.

On the trip, there were 9 other passengers and 4 crew members. Justin and I got our own private room (ahem, bed) for $320 per person on yacht called Powerplay. The boat was a nice size for our group, had a hot tub, and a full time cook preparing all of our meals. The food was outstanding. It tasted like home. The thing is, they serve ‘chips’ with everything in Australia. So, you end up with french fries all the time, even with dinner entrees. Lola made everything from scratch… we had bbq chicken, veggie wraps, fish, nachos, sandwiches, and cheese plates. Obviously, it wasn’t anything fancy, but the food was better anything than anything we’ve had since we arrived.

Anyway, enough about the food.  I finally went scuba diving! It was awesome. I really trusted our dive instructor, Ricky, as he seemed confident he could keep us completely safe. It’s easy to dive in Australia since you don’t have to be open water certified. You can dive up to a depth of 15 meters as long as you’re with a PADI certified dive instructor. Justin and I went diving once, but quit after that because we’re heading to the Great Barrier Reef to some even clearer water.

Here are some pictures of our dive boat trip. The group was a great bunch. We had four Canadians, two girls from Eugene, OR (totally random) a couple Irish girls (yes, they got burnt), and an Italian bloke.

Today, we’re headed to Cairns, which is pronounced ‘Cans.’ We’re renting a room for a week or two at Abbey House, depending upon how we like the accommodation. It’s nice to be able to stay in one place longer than a few days, as it saves money and gives us time to catch up on blogs and do some work.

After Cairns, we’re flying to Bali on September 23rd. I am really excited about staying amongst the rice fields in Ubud, an artist community where sculptors and painters dwell. I am hoping to find some art to ship back to the States.

Oh, one last thing… WAHOOO for the U.S. Yesterday, we raided the ATM machines and cashed out at $1.23 AU per $1.00 US. That’s a 14% increase since we arrived.

First we got a response that we both agreed we’d ignore it. The second response just hours later was from a really nice sounding Australian bloke. He sent us a link with photos of his place and minutes later we had secured a week long homestay. Yippie! Fynn and Tan (short for Tanja) have a beautiful family home right outside of Brisbane. They have two super cool kids: Maddie or Madstar (her nickname), 13, and Hunter, 10.

The Starks beautiful home:

As soon as we arrived, we felt like it was serendipity. It turns out Tan and Fynn have been all over the world, even with their kids, which is totally inspiring. Their last trip was a full 3 months and included places like Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain, Italy, and many other fine European countries. When they travel, they do it right. They like to experience the local culture and ‘rough it.’  The kids have had some amazing experiences in developing countries (Maddie showed me their photo albumns).

In addition to the incredibly hospitable and kind family, there are two 13-year-old Japanese boys who are learning English and taking a week long program in downtown Brisbane. It’s a full house with all eight of us.  And the ironic part?  They’ve never hosted backpackers or Japanese kids and all of us are here at once.

Quick Video of Tan and Fynn 

We cooked dinner for everyone one night, and had a blast doing it. It seems that Mexican food is impossible to get in Australia. So, we did it up. We had a ridiculous number of toppings like tomato, jalapeno, sour cream, guacomole, salsa, taco sauce, lettuce, onion, chicken, grilled bell pepper, seasoned chicken, beans, cheese, and more. Fynn commented, “There are so many options.” I replied, “That’s because we’re American!” We all had a good laugh.

So, I am not as freaked out about the spiders as before, but MAN the lizards are huge here. They have some blue tongued lizards out by the pool, but up in Cairns they’re 3 to 6 feet long. Hunter loves to tell us about the critters here. In fact, we watched him handfeed a wallabe in a public park where they roam wild. Anway, these lizards look like dinosaurs… and supposedly hang out in campsites. Oh boy, is this going to be fun or what?

Swimming? Don’t even think about it. If your in the ocean, the box jellyfish will put you into cardiac arrest if they sting you. Remember Steve Erwin?  Same idea. And fresh water? Yep, you got it… Crocodiles. Apparently, you don’t even know if they are coming toward you. The ridges on their back make it possible to swim without making ripples in the water. . 

I am being a little dramatic. It doesn’t seem like Australia is all that scary at all. I suppose I will give you an update on the 6 foot lizards that hang out in campsites.

The crux of it? The place and people we landed with couldn’t be more perfect. We’ve had fun eating meals together, playing karaoke (on the Playstation), sitting by a bon fire roasting marshmellows, drinking wine. We even had the chance to see Hunter play in a soccer game on Saturday. He’s really good!  All and all, it couldn’t be better. 

We’ve also had the opportunity to get some work done (I know, bleh!) this week, since we’ve had wi-fi. It’s been great to get so much done. I’ve been working on the freebie site, and meanwhile Justin’s been working on a really cool program that makes calling finding a good time to call one another during a workday much easier.  Yes, we’re a little too glued to our laptops.

You can find wireless in most McDonalds or Starbucks curtosy of Telstra for the bargain price of just $5.00 for 10 minutes and 20 cents a minute thereafter. Bleh, totally out of budget. Good thing the U.S. currency is moving in our favor.

We’re snobby and wish to use our own laptops… backpacker grease is not for me unless it’s my own. Haha. Anyway, we might have to get a wireless card from Big Pond and pay by the data transferred.

I got bit by a little ant bugger today. It felt like a peice of glass cutting into me. At first, thought I had something sharp in my pocket, but no it was a fire ant digging into my flesh, multiple times while we were driving. Justin was probably wondering why I was ripping my pants off all the sudden. Once he figured out what was going on, we pulled over, found the crackpot and put him to rest. Thankfully, they’re not a hazard to the living… just painful and annoying.

For those of you that L-O-V-E to talk about all of the deadly creatures in Australia, check out the picture below (taken at the Australia Museum in Sydney). Also, if you have some time to kill (haha) read the reasonable version of the dangerous animials in OZ and the funny, over-the-top rant about why you should never, ever vacation here.

Australia Museum

Justin’s friend happened to be in Sydney when we were… so we all dined together. Suz and her advisor, Jim, were some where in the boon docs hanging out looking through a telescope. I am not sure why, but that’s probably because I’m not getting a PH.d in Astronomy. Anyway, we had a swell time and were sure to dress “Smart and Casual” like the brochure recommended.

Sydney Harbor Dinner Cruz

I’ll finish more on this later.  Gotta go grab a free BBQ dinner at one of the local pubs.

We looked at several cars… First, as mentioned before, we started at the Kings Cross Car market, which is where buyers sit for days on end hoping to find a buyer. It’s on the second floor of a parking garage (very dark and depressing down there). In total, we visited this market three times. People are extremely friendly, so we learned a lot talking to other backpackers, like what type of insurance to buy, why states rego (their word for registration) play into the price, how to save on propane for a gas stove, why a station wagon is your best bet, etc. The cars at Kings Cross were a little pricey, but there weren’t very many of them. The cheapest was $2,800 and we both agreed we could find better. We tried to bargain with the garage people, but they wouldn’t budge. I suspect they got ripped off by a dealer and are trying to make their money back now.

The third time we headed to the garage, a polite Dutch fellow greeted us and beckoned us to look at his car parked on the street before we headed there. He wanted $3,500 for his car, a Toyota Lexen (which, believe it or not is really a Holden Commodore). A Holden in American speak is another term for General Motors. Phew! His car was really nice, but $3,500 was WAY out of budget. We were looking to spend $2,000 or under. Everyone (car dealers, Kings Cross folks) kept telling us that $2,000 wasn’t going to get us anywhere. We both heartily disagreed.

Anyway, we told the guy that we were only looking to pay $2,000. He looked like he was in a hurry to sell… so he came down to $2,700. We walked.  Justin gave him our phone number and told him that we were going to look at another car that was only $1,500 (this was true). We agreed to call him after looking at this other car) in case we wanted to negotiate further.

So, long story short we met him later in the evening with $2,350 (all of the cash we could raid from all of our cards at the ATM) and offered him that. I think we tried to negotiate too quickly. He wasn’t happy with that. We almost didn’t have a deal. We let him stew in his juices until he arrived at $2,500 for the car. We had a deal!  He called his girlfriend and we all agreed to head back to their place for a drink and to sign the papers. Horray!!!!

Now, about the car.
1994 Holden Commordore Wagon
175,000 km
Power locks
Tape deck/radio w/fifty or so cassette tapes
4 New tires
All maintenance records
Camping gear: 2 chairs, table, gas can, tent, water container, tarp, mosquito net, and more

The great thing about a Commodore (or in our case a Toyota Lexen) is that it’s really long. This means we can get a piece of foam custom cut for it to lay out as a bed. It’s not like a van where it looks conspicuous when you’re parked on the street. We’re told we can get the foam at a place called Clark Rubber.

To about Justin’s experience driving our new baby with the driver on the right side, read his post on 8/07/08.

We went to the car market in Kings Cross yesterday. I might have told some of you about it, but it’s in a parking lot on the second floor. I saw a cool video about it at one point… so, we went for a gander. There were only 10 vehicles or so there, but we met a couple of dudes from Canada that had a cheap station wagon for $2200. They seemed genuine and the car is nice, so we might go back to look again, but we’re still learning about what we want. All the people that we spoke to have been in Australia for 5 months or more. The reason there weren’t very many vehicles is because it’s Winter here. Funny, feels more like Spring to me.

Here’s a picture of the elevator to the garage where the Kings Cross Car Market operates.

So, I’ve been trying to figure out the local culture here in Sydney. It’s interesting… our neighborhood is a trendy, gay-friendly part of town. There’s a liquor store, called Lick-Her Shop. It’s pretty funny. There’s also a place on the same block named “Thai Me Up.” Haha, I love it.

We found a cheap Indian place yesterday, and you all know how much I love Indian food. Most food here is $12 per entree and up and that’s just for a hamburger and fries. You really have to look around to find decent prices on food. The Indian joint has small, medium and large curry plates with your choice of 1-3 curries for $5-8 a plate on 131 OXford St. We were into that.

Oh yea, and it’s not ‘take out food,’ all of the places advertise it as ‘take away’ food and some of them charge less for it. And, if a place says it’s ‘Fully Licensed’ that means there’s a full bar. And finally, there are places that are BYO, which is an acronym for Bring Your OWN!  Haha… You can bring your own beer and wine into many cafes and restaurants. Some of them charge you a little extra for it, but there are plenty of them that don’t. If you’re in the real touristy areas, you can’t find BYO’s.

Other than cheap Indian, we’ve just been grocery shopping and cooking our meals, especially breakfast. We had pac-man eggs today… Yum. Breanna orginally showed me how to make those. You cut the center out of a piece of bread with a cup circumference and then you butter it on both sides, throw it in a frying pan, and crack and egg into the center, cooking it just long enought that the yolk is still runny.

Speaking of food, we had sparkling wine and cheese for dinner last night.

Here’s a picture of our wine glasses overlooking the city from our place.

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I am putting together a list of friends blogs.  If you want to be posted, please respond to this post. In the meantime, if you want to see Justin’s blog, check out Justin’s World Travels. He has a bunch of posts for previous trips he’s taken to Greece, Japan, and Singapore in addition to our current adventure in Australia.

Today, we’re going to look at cars. Since we don’t really know what we’re doing, we’re just going to look. We woke up at like 3 am, but that makes sense since we fell asleep at 4 pm yesterday. It feels like a full day already, but it’s only 8:21 am.  Yikes! 

So, I don’t know how well the ‘No-Jet-Lag’ herbal thing worked. I feel better than expected, but we’re still adjusting to the time difference.

Here’s the building we’re staying in. We’re on the 17th floor, which is the top floor of the building.