I’m in a holiday mood already. Are you? Isn’t everyone right? Well, don’t blame yourself for not having the mood to work. It’s already year end and with the festive season so near, it’s time to plan a vacation for some rest and relax time. You’ve earned it!
I have a few destinations in mind like New Zealand and Australia but I’m really leaning towards Bali because I love the beach and I’m on a budget. Christmas and New Year is coming and I have to get gifts for everyone. Going on a vacation would burn a hole in my pocket. It would be wonderful to get cheap flights and even better, affordable accommodation in Bali.
Accor is currently having a record-low air fares campaign and even better, an Accor Hotels 3-Day Super Sale Asia Pacific promotion which runs for 3 days from 27 Oct 09 to 29 Oct 09 with an extension of 24 hours on 30th Oct 09. They actually offer one million hotel rooms at amazing rate across Asia Pacific. Hotels for destinations such as Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Bali and many more are up for grabs with rooms as low as US$30 per night.
Stay period is from Dec 2009 to Apr 2010 so it’s perfect to clear your leave days. It’s an amazing deal. You have to be crazy to miss it!
Closed down the bridge, covered the bridge in grass and had breakfast on it. Such a brilliant idea. This is what happened at Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.
This event actually was part of Sydney food festival. Other than the 6000 picnickers, there was musicians, entertainers, and animal… How cool is that?! Man, i wish i was there myself.
I was watching National Geographic with dad (yes, i’m a documentary freak - i feed on documentaries) and it happens the the episode showcased deadly animals in the Asia Pacific. By the word deadly, i mean really deadly like lethal kind of deadly. Like horrible excruciating pain that’ll make you wish it’ll be quick before you’re actually dead kind of deadly.
So, there were the poisonous snakes in India and the Sumatra tiger and Komodo dragon both in Indonesia. It was intriguing (i didn’t know that the Komodo dragon could kill with only it’s saliva!) but watching those animals kill their prey sometimes sends shivers down my spine.
However, the most interesting segments of the show is a slot about Irukandji Jellyfish. It is under the same classification as the box jellyfish which is also an extremely deadly species, both found in the coastal strips north of Australia.
Ah… another interesting facts about the Land Down Under. I love it LOL.
I’m too lazy to write the points so read the article below.
Irukandji Jellyfish ( carukia barnesi and malo kingi) are venomous jellyfish found in the marine waters near Australia. This species of jellyfish is classified as Cobozoans. Other species that come under this classification include sea wasps, box jellyfish and cubomedusae.
The Irukandji Jellyfish has a fascinating history. The Irukandji people who inhabit the coastal strip north of Cairns, Queensland suffered from a mysterious condition, the source of which could not be identified. The symptoms of this condition included severe pains at various parts of the body, typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face…. Read More
It’s amazing how dangerous an animal as tiny as your finger could be. While it’s not as deadly as the box jellyfish which could kill you in less than 3 minutes, the Irukandji sting is not visible and is delayed for at least 30 minutes without you noticing it and that could make it lethal.
I’m not getting into the water when i go to Queensland. No way!
Good morning cows, dogs, boars, chicken and good morning trees!!”
That’s what i wanted to yell on top of my lungs that wonderful morning.
The sky was so clear and the wonderful warmth bath of sunlight up on that height was simply delicious. Despite having another bouts of fever in the middle of the night i was feeling refreshed and ready for the descend.
Rise and shine people
I almost feel sorry for waking the entire house last night attempting to find Panadols stuck at the bottom of my backpack. And stumbling clumsily to the toilet. Thank god i didn’t trampled on anyone.
It was a moment that i am utterly grateful i’m living in civilization and a world with electricity. Having no lights is a nuisance!
Well, the cows was making so much noise with the bells on their necks clanging the whole night anyways.
And i don’t feel so smug now for booking the bed in the far corner by the windows. The window is useless because we are always outdoors during the day and by night it will be shut to ward the cold wind. It’s a long crawl from our sleeping space to the door without torchlight too.
Good morning doggies
After a breakfast of butter, jam and toast, we got ready to head back downhill.
It was the happiest day of my life knowing that a well made bed and warm shower awaited us at the guest house. I was more keen to start the journey compared to anyone else. LOL.
Ready to go
Bye bye Karen Village and all the doggies. I shall miss you all.
Herd of cows
The heat wasn’t that terrible because we started early but descending wasn’t as easy as i imagined even in the pleasant weather. Part of the journey was really steep that we had to hold on to trees to avoid tumbling down. Half of the time i almost trip on my own foot and most of the time i stepped on slippery rocks and kind of slide down dangerously .
My Reebok’s grip was giving and i’m a total klutz.
Nonetheless, i managed to keep in pace with everyone else without seriously injuring myself. I did fell on my bum one while jumping across a small stream. Oh the embarrassment!
Snake!
Just when we thought we had the difficult part over and was feeling a little mundane, we came upon another stream with big rocks scattered at the side. A very good hiding place for creepy crawlies and… snakes!
Someone in the group (i think it was the Italian lady i forgot her name :P) screamed. Those behind were like in a panic, we didn’t know what was going on. Jeb ran towards the bushes near the big rocks towards the snake. It was crazy!
We din’t even know if it’s the poisonous kind. We shouted at him to leave it alone but Jeb kept running around jabbing at it with a bamboo stick. I thought he was protecting us from it, how noble. That was only half the truth.
A moment later, he emerged from the rocks with a dead snake in his hand and a wide grin on his face and said “Dinner tonight!”. And so that was the end of the snake, wrapped in glee in a big green leave to be brought back home as a dinner “guest”. Haha.
You know according to Jeb the area would be crawling with snakes if it wasn’t summer time. *shudder*
Petrol station
Almost towards the end of our journey, the heat became unbearable. It was noon, the the sun is at it’s worst.
We came into a small residential town where we saw few grocery shops were operating. You could not imagine how relived we were to be able to replenish our supplies. Boyfriend and i only have another half bottles of water left.
We settled down at a local eatery, had a rest and a quick lunch.
Opposite the eatery we found something interesting. It was a petrol station of some sort. Look!
Petrol tanks
Haha. Innovation at it’s best.
Gentle giant
We bade good bye to the locals and me to the giant retriever by the pavement. From here we rode the truck to the river further down for our next adventure.
Didn’t take any picture here because we were advised not to bring cameras since we’re going to get wet. And because there’s a cameraman ready at the embankment to capture our picture and earn a few Baht. LOL.
We didn’t purchase the photo though because all the couple didn’t want to be split up and we were to split into groups of 3 for each raft. A guide standing in front to navigate the raft, 2 in the front and another to sit at the back of the raft. Boyfriend and i volunteered so we didn’t get to pose together for the photo. Too bad.
Nevertheless it was great fun and super relaxing. The water was really cooling. I nearly got knocked off the raft a couple of times when there was strong rush sweeping the raft hard and sometimes hit some dead tree trunks in the water.
It was fine for the people in front because the guide manage to move the raft in time. But when the raft shift so suddenly, the back of it will sway towards the opposite side and hit the trees. I have no idea how to maneuver so i dodge the trees by pushing hard at it with my hands.
Hard work but super fun :).
To be continued at:-
Note: All photos are taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8.
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