It's cold outside...

Someone has turned off the heating!

In Helsinki after flying in from Bangkok yesterday morning. Plane was chockers but manged to get some rest before staggering to the hostel and crashing out there. Seem to have a slight sore throat and battling a possible cold, which the weather isn't helping with. My body has basically decided to have a whinge about being taken away from more suitable temperatures and food.

Alot of people speak English, but only after trying to talk to you in Finnish or Swedish or any number of other languages first. I feel insanely stupid for only being fluentent in English and only knowing handfuls of other languages.

The buildings are pretty and the city all seems to be in reasonable walking distance. The information centre has lots of walking tours and there are a couple of museums which seem to be worth looking at. Also will try and visit Tallin later in the week if the ferry's are running (they weren't today, due to heavy winds)

A new shiny continent- hurrah!

Waiting to take you away...

Okay so more details on the Thailand leg of moonbug's magical mystery tour...

Chang Mai was really lovely, the sort of town where one can just sit, grab a smoothie and chill out. It caters extensively for both monks and tourists, there are lots of Wats, over 500 tour guides and heaps of vegetarian places to eat. It's a lot quieter than Bangkok and also a lot cleaner. Other than going to see the elephants (and meeting the hippie geek tour guide) we also went up to the Wat on the mountain (the name of which I have forgotten right now). The views of Chang Mai from there were great (lots of photos) and the Wat is where the Emerald Buddha statue was originally held. Lots of pretty sculptures and statues as well as very detailed teak carvings and murals. Our tour guide Ping Pong (yes that is her name, no I am not making it up) was great and could tell us lots of stuff not only about Buddhism but also about the Wat's history. I particularly liked the story of the hen called Pho who lived in the Wat and used to attack anyone who did not remove their shoes before entering.

Also did a cooking workshop. There are literally dozens of different places you can do them in both Chang Mai and Bangkok. The place we went to had an open air kitchen on the river which was lovely, I thought the green snake that slid by whilst I was washing my hands was great- the lady from Belgium did not. It also offered about 6 or 7 options as to what you wanted to learn and were really sensitive to allergies and picky food people. We did the Thai Vegetarian Cooking course and learnt how to make Pad Thai noodles, fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, mushroom and baby corn stir fry, sweet and sour vegies, black rice pudding and fruit carving. The first hour was spent walking through the garden with a crash course on Thai herbs- what they look like, where to find them, how to use them and what to substitute. Very much worth doing for this alone. The fruit carving (okay vegetable carving- we practiced on carrots) was really amusing- I made a flower and a butterfly and Simon made a mockery of the art (his words not mine).

After Chang Mai we went down to Ayuthaya which is about 150km north of the capital. This is after our plans to go to Sukothai and Lopburi were dismissed due to rain and timing. For more information on being thrown off a bus in the rain, see Simon's blog. Adventures are fun!

After two nights in a gorgeous 80 year old teak guesthouse in Ayuthaya we caught the train back to Bangkok. Also got the chance to meet up with Monge, one of the many people also part of the main Vegan mailing list I'm on. Was pretty cool and he introduced us to the best falafel in the world. Yes it's strange after eating some of the best Thai food I have ever eaten over the past 10 days, it turns out that a stall on Khon San Road has the best falafel I have ever eaten. Khon San Road is also incredibly touristy- the only Thai people I saw were the vendors and Tuk Tuk drivers. Lot's of neon as well, though not as much as Hong Kong.

Monge also explained the road rules for us- they are just a suggestion rather than a requirement. This is something we gathered when walking across pedestrian crossings and realising that the cars weren't slowing down in the slightest (thankfully the buses did). Motorbikes tend to be a law unto themselves often running red lights, and traveling in a Tuk Tuk is something everyone should experience. Interestingly we didn't witness any road accidents in the time we were here.

I'm sure my posts from Europe will be less food orientated as I will only be able to afford two minute noodles from now on.

Waiting for the plane...

This sentimentality doesn't look good on me...

Am waiting for my flight to Helsinki in Bangkok International Airport.

Yay for Helsinki! Yay for a new shiny continent I have never been to before! Yay for adventures!

Simon has just left on his flight to Singapore, then back to Perth.

Adventures for the past two weeks were fun.

Feeling weird right now.

I maybe should book some accommodation so I have places to stay in Europe.

More about stuff I've done later.

Pink elephants on parade...

Actually they were grey asiatic elephants. And they were very cute. Went to the Friends of the Asiatic Elephant Hospital and the Elephant Conservation Centre. Our guide runs a permiculture garden, has studied organics, invited us to a peace rally and was very excited to know that Simon was a linux freak becuase they were "trying to use Windows less". Yes hippy geeks are everywhere!

Just a quick post to say I'm in Chang Mai, all is well, this place has got to be a vegetarian utopia with well over 25 pure vegie places and every other second place offering a decent vegetarian menu. Did a cooking course yesterday which was great fun. Ate lots there too.

Tonight we ate at a place called THC (which had more tobacco than anything else) which was upstairs with an open roof, pillows on the floor, to die for smoothies, yummy curries, strange people to talk to and Australian hip hop playing. Very cool.

Will rant more about Chang Mai later, Simon is looking very sleepy and we need to be up early too.

*hugs*

You're talking to a tourist...

Currently in Chang Mai, we caught a sleeper train up from Bangkok last night which was fun. Didn't sleep well due to fear of falling off the top bunk, but the view out the window in the morning was really nice and lush.

Had been in Bangkok since Wednesday and spent most of it stumbling around randomly looking at things, including very spiffy night markets. Two things I now understand from experience:

1. What my lung specialist ment when he said "Don't spend more than about 3 days in Bangkok"

2. What a lecturer said in 2nd year when he explained the number of different departments that were responsible for road construction and development. The road map he showed really doesn't do it justice, especially when you are trying to make your way around on foot.

The food thing is still a delight- our first night in Bangkok we found a mostly vegetarian place that did very yummy tofu (thank you Lonely Planet). A bit up market, with really good service and terribly romantic in the candlelit sense. Apparently there are over 25 vegetarian places in Chang Mai, so I shan't be going hungry.

The last night in Singapore was good, we caught up with Daniel for dinner which was enjoyable. He and Simon got enthusiastic about taking photo's around the river at night. Prior to dinner we spent the early evening wandering around Chinatown which had lots and lots of mooncakes as it's now Mid-Autumn festival.

Have also learnt that Nevryn can read maps. This is useful when I can't be bothered. Looking over at his computer he's also written more than me, so go look at his blog for more details on stuff we've been doing.

Geekboys and dosa.

Just wandered through Little India which has a large number of vegetarian places to eat. Also a very funky Hindu temple, pirated Bollywood films and tailors.

Dragged Simon to the IT Mall yesterday. Five floors of shopping extravagance and almost entirely geek related. The eatery list is titled "Food For Geeks" and there is a food court with a vegetarian stall. The coffee shop has soy milk (yay! caffeine!) The book store has a large collection of manga and SF. There's several gaming stores. Heaps of software, hardware and geek toy places. Endured calls of "but I really cannot justify buying an iPod/Palm/insert random geektoy here" It's the sort of place geekboys would die and go to.

I now have chocolate. Still enjoying the food. Introducing Simon to many delights, most of them food related. The expression when I presented him with a entire coconut was highly amusing.

"Well you asked for coconut juice, what did you expect?"
"I don't know, a glass?"

Hotel we are staying at has an icecream vendor outside in the evenings. And lots of streetwalkers. It also rents out rooms for $20/2hours "transit". Lots of pretty girls and not so pretty men. Go the red light district!

Off to Thailand tomorrow.

I can write english proper.

The bane of my life for the past month or so (namely the stupid evil TEFL grammar module) is over...

I PASSED WITH 84%

Thanks to everyone who gave me suggested readings :)

*bounces into the ether*

(I also found vegan chocolate today and had ice kachung for dessert)

A film rant.

Okay I'm one who rarely rants about films and books. There are many fans and geeks who do a far better job at this than I. However, I'm currently having a gripe about the remake of a film and this is my blog and I'll rant if I want to. (Thanks to both LastCall & Nevryn who endured my ranting this afternoon).

Fever Pitch which is based on a novel by Nick Hornby (the guy who brought us High Fidelity, About A Boy, How To Be Good and 31 Songs). He is one of my favourite authors. I have read his books time and time again and he is one of the few authors I'll buy books of before reading the blurb of the book. His characters are enjoyable despite their neurosis and he has a clever way of dropping characters and locations from one book into another (for example one of the settings in About A Boy is the record store from High Fidelity). His short stories are great as well. He makes me laugh as well as pointing out some of the most beautiful and tragic aspects of human relationships.

I saw High Fidelity (the film with John Cusack) on multiple occassions (at least 5 times in the cinema) and it is the only dvd I own, the soundtrack is one of my current travelling cds. I enjoyed the screen adaptation of About A Boy, despite my inital hesitation of Hugh Grant as Will. The screen adaption of Fever Pitch with Colin Firth was great, and the soundtrack was compiled by Nick Hornby himself (it's very good too). So far these adaptions have been fairly faithful to the stories and still capture the important issues the books raise.

But you see there's a problem. Americans can't watch a film made outside of America. No, those funny English accents make it too difficult to understand. And football? Soccer? Arsenal? What's that? No we only understand good American sports like baseball.

So there is a remake of Fever Pitch. With baseball instead of soccer. And Jimmy Fallon instead of Colin Firth. And Drew Barrymore. And depending on which website you read Nancy Juvonen or the Farrelly brother's directing.

Jimmy Fallon instead of Colin Firth.

Saturday Night Live guy instead of Mr Darcy!

At least it seems Nick Hornby has given his blessing, so there's hope. I guess.

That was just a dream...

Two days ago I woke up with a funny bruise on my upper, inner arm (you all thought I was going to say leg, didn't you?) which didn't hurt. Thinking it was an unsual place for a bruise, but not being in pain, I ignored it.

Yesterday my cousin noticed and asked about it...

C: what's that on your arm?
M: oh just a bruise I woke up with yesterday, don't know how I got it
C: does it hurt?
M: no
*C gives M a funny look*
M: what?
C: tell you in the car
*in the car*
M: okay what's up?
C: local superstition says that a bruise that doesn't hurt & you don't know how you got is caused by an evil spirit feeding off you
M: uhuh
*C thinks*
C: we haven't gone anywhere eerie or out late have we? must have been one of the hungry ghosts

It's currently the Chinese "Hungry Ghost" festival, where for a month prayers and food are offered to ancestors who have passed on and it is belived that spirits walk the earth. It is followed by Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake festival). I also visited the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia (devoted equally to Taoism, Confusicism and Chinese-Buddism) and the oldest Catholic Church (built in 1710) where the above conversation took place. Also have been to several museums and had a good wander around the historical buildings that Melacca has to offer.

Have been doing alot of religon based stuff (like go to mass, visiting temples etc) of late. I find different forms of worship interesting and also in Asia there seems to be more of a cross section of different religions present, especially when compared to Perth. I have also found a label for my form of theism, apparently I am a "Free Thinker". Whilst I hate labels they can be most useful at times. It's much easy to say "vegan" than "I avoid as much as possible in our society animal products including meat, honey, dairy, eggs, leather, wool, birds, silk, beeswax, meat stock, fish, sealife, cheese becuase of animal & social ethical, environmental and health reasons." (though the number of people who think vegetarians eat fish makes me think that labels suck!) Trying to write "I think that there is a higher being or beings of some variety that some people refer to as "God" but I do not follow any particular organised religion becuase I have yet to find one I totally agree with, and besides if God is devine how can any direct order based on an interperitation made by a mortal be correct?" is a pain on the one line they give you in the census forms. So there we go.

Caught the bus to Singapore today. Just at the hostel I'm staying at now, went for a walk earlier, should maybe get food at some point. Though still full from Malaysia. My family are very cool but won't take "Not really I'm not very hungry" as an answer. I have been subjected to many fabulous vegan foods over the past two and a half weeks including (but not limited to) goreng pisang, roti, dhal, chee cho fun, popiha, various vegie delights, sweet & sour with fresh pineapple, restaraunts that do Happy Buddha type food except for next to nothing and a zillion times better, mung bean cakes, fried kuey teow, pow (what Perth people call dim sum buns), pineapple, mango, papaya, rumbutans, mata kuching, fresh coconut juice...

Hungry now, catch you all later.

BTW anyone who wants a gmail invite, email me.

Still alive

Just a quick post.

Am alive and well and eating as much as is socially required at the moment! Which is alot.

Currently in Melacca, Malaysia staying with a cousin and her family which is pretty fun. We went to "Light & Sound" which is a nightime history lesson about Melacca in 45mins using lights to highlight and simulate different events/areas of interest in Melacca history with a audio play/description. Pretty nifty.

Off to Singapore later in the week where Simon will be meeting me. Seeing heaps of cool stuff that often makes me think "wow such & such would really get a kick out of this" so it will be nice to share stuff with someone. Of course we could just end up driving each other insane! Will be expecting all those hugs Mynxii has been passing on.

So we (we being Australians of voting age on the roll) have to vote. Would like to say thank you to Aristotle for being the only person who bothered to tell me! Though given our politics are quiet simmilar I'm sure it's just so he could guarentee another vote for our side ;P

Hmm lunch now...