ELEPHANTS!!!

Alright so I'm afraid this is going to be a quick and not very elaborate post because I only have an hour and a half left here in Bangkok and I have stuff I have to do!! So here's the quick, brief scoop:

I ended up spending 4 days with Brin on Phi Phi island/Phuket island on the west side of Thailand. It was SO great to see her, and we had an awesome time catching up, relaxing on the beach, and taking in a few "bückets" (crazy drink composed of local whiskey, red bull, and a can of pop) in the evenings. It was weird though, because when I first saw Brin she didn't look like what I remebered her to look like, and she said she felt the same with me! And that was only 3 months we spent a part! So I'm kinda wondering what it's going to be like seeing the rest of you that I haven't seen in a whole year!

I started a week of volunteer work on Monday the 15th up at the Elephant Nature Park, near Chiang Mai, Thailand. What an amazing place! I'll have to elaborate on it more later, but basically it's a park set up by a Thai woman to help save elephants.

My week here ended up being an exceptionally special week at the park. On the Tuesday evening, my second day at the park, a 2 day old baby elephant was brought to the park. Her mother works at a camp, and had been chained up on a hill, and the owners had not known she was pregnant. She gave birth to the baby during the night, and the baby rolled down the hill. She was brought to the park in very poor condition, and my week at the park ended up being a mixture of work to make the mom and baby more comfortable, and around-the-clock baby ele watch. All of the volunteers were resposible for watching Baby Ele over 2 hour shifts, day and night. It ended up being a VERY exhausting week, but so rewarding. My last shift with Baby Ele was 3-5am this morning, and she was actually starting to get up on her own and walk with way less support than the [previous day.

I could really write on and on about this for hours, but unforunately I have to run. For more info on the park and Baby Ele, check out the par'k's website at http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/

The following link goes straight to infor on Baby Ele: http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/go/news/entry/43

I really am still in kinda a state of shock over the experience I've had - it was utterly amazing, and I again have all of you to thank who supported me in doing volunteer work in Asia. Thank you so much!

Hard to believe, but it's less than 2 weeks and I'll be home. I'll have more stories to tell in person!

Oh and I'm taking a bus in a couple hours down to the eastern islands of Thailand, and I'll be meeting back up with Brinny - should be good times!

Love you all and can't wait to see you!

Goodbye Cambodia...Hello Thailand!

So I had my last day of volunteering on Friday the 5th, and it was quite a sad day. The 3 weeks I spent there were just enough to let myself get attached to the kids, and knowing that I probably won't see them again was hard. But I decided to make it a fun day instead of a sad one, both for them and me, so we played games and I gave them their present: a photo album of pictures I'd taken of them over the duration of my volunteering. They were absolutly tickled pink, and it wasn't until I saw their excitement that it dawned on me that these kids have probably never had a photo of themselves. So the album was a hit, and I'm glad I took the time to do it.

Saying goodbye to my older students wasn't quite as hard, but it was still sad. I was showered with all kinds of gifts, from carved wooden owls and scarves to photos and keychains. Such sweet kids and so thoughtful! One of the girls (she was a bit of a keener) also asked if she could record my voice! So I talked about my time in Cambodia while she recorded - gave me a chuckle.

After teaching I met up with Sophanit and 3 volunteers from Germany that I'd met my first week in Cambodia for supper. We ate at a place called Queen BBQ - a local hot spot that has all you can eat Cambodian style BBQ. It's kinda hard to explain what a Cambodian BBQ is like, so you'll just have to wait and see pictures!

Saturday afternoon I caught the bus to Phnom Phen, and it was a wondurfully smooth and straight, 6 hour trip. I arrived late enough that there wasn't much time to do anything, so I called it a night early and decided to start my Sunday bright and early at 6.

My first stop was to the Killing Fields - a place outside Phnom Phen where the Khmer Rouge held mass executions. Words can't possibly describe how chilling it was to be there. Thousands of women, children, and men were brought here to be killed and then buried in mass graves. Some of the graves have been dug up, while others have not. As you walk along the paths you can still see clothing poking up from the ground - it was a depressing start to a depressing day.

My next stop was the S-21 prison. A school prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover, it was converted into a prison and held captive 20,000 people, only 7 of whom walked out alive. The classrooms were converted into interrogation rooms and cells, which now hold gruesome photos of tortured prisoners and their mugshots upon arrival to the prison. Just being there is enough to make anyone sick to their stomach - the 30 year old blood stains on the floors and walls topped it off.

So that was how I spent my last day in Cambodia - not exactly what you'd call uplifting.

I caught my flight from Phnom Phen to Bangkok at 4:30, and arrived in Bangkok around 6. After a night in the airport and a 10am flight this morning, I'm now in the town of Krabi awaiting a fairy over to the island of PhiPhi where Brin is waiting for me! I got accepted to volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park for a week starting on the 15th, soI'll have about 6 days with Brin on the islands, and I'm really excited to see her!

Oh and speaking of exciting, you're never going to belive what was at the Phnom Phen airport....a Dairy Queen! I think my jaw almost hit the floor when I sw that red and white sign (for those of you who don't know, the members of my family all have a DQ addiction, and for me I've been giong through some serious whithdrawl these past 11 months!!) So I walk into the DQ and pull out all the money I have left (a measly 73 cents) to see what I can buy. To my dismay, the cheapest thing on the menu was a DQ sandwich, at 80 cents. The woman behind the counter must have seen my dismay, because she said to me " I discount for you", and then took my crumpled cash and exchanged it with a DQ sandwich. Well bless that woman's soul!! I was the happiest girl around!

Well that's all for now...just wanted to end the blog on a happy note!

An Interesting Day

Tonight I attended a talk put on by several monks about Buddism. 90% of the Cambodian population are buddists, so I figured it was about time I learned somthing about the religion. Just a few interesting tid bits:

1. It is very bad to touch a monk - especially if you are a woman.

2. Pointing your feet in the direction of a monk is considered very rude, as the feet are the lowest part of the human body.

3. Buddism is over 2000 years old.

4. Monks only eat two meals a day - breakfast and lunch. Lunch must be eaten before noon.

Sophanit attended the talk with me, and afterward took me to a local restaurant for supper. We had soup, but not any ordinary soup. This soup had pig brain in it! Suprisingly, it didn't taste that bad!

One last thing: for anyone interested in learning more about the Khmer Rouge and their take-over of Cambodian, I just finished a book called " First They Killed My Father", by Loung Ung. It was extremely good, and I highly recommend it.

Only one week left!

Believe it or not, today marks my 2nd week in Cambodia and I can hardly believe it! The time was flying by before I arrived in this country, and now with a daily schedule it's whizzing by quicker than I thought possible!

My two weeks here have been absolutely amazing. The volunteering is going really great, and it feels wonderful to know that my presense is making a difference. The kids I teach from 9-4pm are the most charming kids ever, as they greet us each morning with smiles and affection. They are such a smiley group of kids, and are so grateful that we are there to teach them. They all bow their heads and thank us when we hand them worksheets to do, and their faces light up when they are assigned homework. It's really the most bizarre thing ever. It makes me ashamed to think of how I grumble and mumble over homework, and complain about assignements and essays. It's so easy to forget how lucky we are to have good quality education available to us. I hope to return to school in January with a new outlook and attitude.

The most challenging thing thus far with the group of 13 that we have is catering to their different ages and levels. We have some kids who are very bright and pick up on things very quickly, and then we have others who struggle to read and write in Khmer, let alone english. It was managable handling this obstacle with two people, but unfortuantely Nicola left me this weekend to venture to Vietnam, so I am now flying solo. I'm hoping things will go smoothly, and I'm also hoping that the brighter kids will help teach the younger ones once they have finished their work. We'll see how it goes.

After finishing teaching the children at 4, Nicola and I had have a refreshing banana shake at our guesthouse while writing a summary of the day in the log book. Then it's off to the Wat Demnak Pagoda to teach two more classes from 5-7, which are classes focused on speaking, rather than writing.

I've really enjoyed my classes at Wat Demnak. My first group of kids are in their early to mid-teens, and like all the other kids I teach, they are very happy and enthusiastic. Their written english is all fairly good, but their speaking skills are definatley what needs the work! Cambodians have a tendancy of putting an 's' at the end of some words where it doesn't belong, and then not pronouncing it where it does belong. They also have difficulty with he 'th' sound and the 'sh' sound. I try and get them to practice making these sounds, but often all I hear is 'ssssssssssssssss'. Cambodians have a great sense of humor though, so most times we just end up laughing at how silly they sound. At the end of class I often get gifts from some of the students, such as paper bills folded into things such as hearts and flowers. I don't know how they do it, but it's really neat.

My second class is something I really look forward to. It's a group of older kids - in their late teens and early twenties - and all of them can speak english. We work out of their textbook, which is basically just different articles relating to topics and events in our western world. My job is to read the articles for them to get a sense of the pronouncation, and then they take turns reading it out loud. There's lots of slang and volcabulary in the reading that they don't understand, so I try to explain that to them as well. For example, on Friday there was an article about a teenager coming home after his curfew. First off I had to explain what a curfew was, and then I had to go into detail about how teenagers in North America are typically disciplined, and what it means to be grounded. It's really interesting discussing these types of things, because in return I get to find out how things are done differently in Cambodia. It's a culture lesson for both them and me.

By the time Nicola and I finish teaching at Wat Demnak, we're hungry and tired. We usually grab a bite to eat and then relax and go to bed. As a result I haven't had much of an oppourtunity to suss out Siem Reap, but this weekend was a free weekend so I finally got out and about.

Before Nicola left on Saturday afternoon we went to visit the Land Mine Museum. Land mines are still a major threat in Cambodia today, and there's not a day that goes by where I don't see someone walking in the street without an arm or leg. The museum was very informative and very well set up.

During my time here in Cambodia I've also had the oppourtunity of meeting a man named John Ryder, who's a dentist from the states and puts a lot of money into keeping programs like PACE (the orphanage I teach at during the day) up and running. Last week John purchased a newly built guesthouse and hopes to have people from programs associated with the Life and Hope Association run it. It will create job opportunities for the people, as well as give them experience in the tourism industry, which is becoming such a huge part of the Cambodian economy. Nicola and I were invited to go see the guesthouse, and it looked more like a 5 star hotel! It's to be named "Imagine Angkor", so for anyone going to Cambodia I'll recommend you stay there!

This last week a ceremony was held where all the kids who are a part of any program associated with the Life and Hope Association received backpacks and school uniforms. All of us volunteers were honourned guests at the ceremony, where the goods were distributed and the kids put on different cultural dances. The govenor of Siem Reap was present, which was a pretty big deal, and it was wonderful that we were able to take part.

Today was my first real day off, and I spent it cooking! A girl named Mouy who works at my guesthouse knew of my interest in cooking, so she offered to take me to her friend's house, who's a chef, to cook some traditional Khmer food. First we took a trip to the market to get all the fresh ingredients (and when I say fresh I mean FRESH! The fish were still alive when we bought them!) and then we cooked up a storm! We made a really yummy Sweet and Sour Khmer Soup, which consists of fish, pineapple, tomato, lemongrass, garlic, and numerous other delicous spices. We also had fish with a type of mango salad, which was spiced with chillies and garlic. I'm slowly becoming accoustomed to spicy food, and I really enjoyed this dish. Lastly we had fried frogs! It's not the first time I've eaten frogs - to be honest they kinda taste like chicken, and I really like them!

After eating our delicous feast it was time for dessert, which was fruit dipped in salt and chillies - something found all throughout SE Asia. Then, after cleaning everything up, it was nap time - also a big part of SE Asian cultures.

The longer I'm in Cambodia, the more I fall in love with it and it's people. There's just a real genuine quality about the people here that I can't get over. For those of you who don't know, from the years 1975-1979 the Cambodian people went through one of the world's worst genocides. A Communist Khmer group named the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Cambodian government in April of '75, and proceeded to evaculate the cities and herd all people into collective farms. All intellectuals and skilled workers were assassinated, and millions of other died from starvation and overexertion. I've read several books about what they went through in those years, and I guess that's what ceases to amaze me about these people. I often find myself staring at people who appear to be in the 30s and over, and wondering what their story is - wondering how they survived those aweful years. You'd never guess by the look on their faces that something so aweful could have happened so recently.

So tomorrow will be the start of my last week here in Siem Reap. I will finish teaching on Friday and then I plan to head to to the capital, Phnom Phen, for a few days before flying out to Bangkok. At this point I'll only have about 3 weeks left of my year adventure, and I'm undecided at this point what I will do with that time. I've applied to volunteer at an elephant orphanage outside of Chiang Mai in Thailand, so hopefully I'll get to spend a week there. I've also planned to meet up with Brin on the islands in Thailand, so hopefully I'll get to spend at least a week or so being a beach bum and soaking up as much sun as possible! I'm really starting to get excited about coming home though, and I can't wait to chat and catch up with all of you! Thanks again for tuning in, and I'll be seeing you soon!

Some interesting information...

1. Cambodia has the world's largest religous building - Ankor Wat - and we went to visit it yesterday along with several other temples. The architecture was amazing, and it absolutley blows your mind to think of how they built when they did - the 12th century. We also visited the tomb where the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie was filmed. It was pretty cool, and probably my favourite.

2. Cambodia has SE Asia's largest lake - Tonle Sap.

3. It's friggin' hot here right now! The weather hovers around 35 degrees.

4. The average maximum age in Cambodia is 55.

5. The ATMs here dispense American cash.

I thought I had a longer list of facts, but I guess not! I'll post more when I remember more!

Volunteer work in Cambodia

I arrived in the Siem Reap airport around 9am on September 16th and was greeted by the Cambodian United Planet coordinator, Sophanit. From the airport I was transported to my home for the next three weeks, the Reatrey Angkor Villa, where I ended up sleeping the majority of the day. My body was absolutely exhausted from my travels in Laos, and had given me a bit of a fever as a result. My guesthouse room was the perfect place to shake it off - I was treated to air conditioning for the first time my whole trip. I also have an ensuite bathrooon, which is equally as luxurious. Thankfully after the day of rest I was back on my feet the next day.

Monday and Tuesday were basically orientation days. United Planet has partnered with a local organization called Life and Hope, which is run by monks. Life and Hope has several different programs: PACE (Program for Advancing Children Education), Food for Education, a sewing center for woman to learn sewing and english, and the CDV (Children Development Village). I was taken to all of these places and given more information about how they are operated.

Along with another volunteer from England named Nicola, I have been given the task of teaching children at PACE both english and math. PACE is set up at a house containing 14 children and a house mother and father. The children are aged 11-20, and they are either orphans or living at the PACE household because their parents are too poor to support them. With the exception of the 20 year old boy, who is an orphan and land mine victim, all of the children's english is very basic. However, they are quite clever and I see them learning from us quite quickly. The one exception is a 15 year old girl named Ra, who was just recently brought to PACE and has never been to school before in her life. It shows greatly, as her thought process is miles behind that of the other children.

Math is taught in the morning from 9-11. I had no idea where the children were at in their workbooks (which are written in Khmer), so I felt quite unprepared for the lesson. Prepared or not, it proved to be just all around difficult to teach math to kids who couldn't understand the language you were speaking to them. Yes they know their numbers, but trying to explain HOW to solve the problems was the difficult part. I was exhausted by the time 11 rolled around, and I imagine the kids felt much the same.

From 11-2 Nicola and I had our break, but because PACE is a bit of a distance from our guesthouse we ended up just staying there the whole time. Boon, the 20 year old land mine victim, ended up asking for help with his english pronuncation, so I spent some time going over his work book with him. He's a really sweet guy, and very intelligent.

From 2-4 was the afternoon english lesson, and today's lesson was on the numbers 1-20. The english was much easier to teach and the kids were a lot more enthusiastic about it.

From PACE we went straight to a Wat to help monks teach english to their students. I attended 2 one-hour classes, and found it much less exhausting than teaching the children. I was basically there to help the kids with their pronunciation. From 5-6 I had a group of teenagers, and from 6-7 I had a group of older students. Talking with the older students was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed my time with them. It'll be really nice getting to know all of them over the next 3 weeks.

Cambodia is definately the most third world out of what I've seen. On one of my orientation days Sophanit took us out to one of the villages that the Food for Education program operates in (Food for Education supplies familes with rice so they can afford to send their children to school). Many of the children in the village looked malnourished, and the housing was far from adequate. The one family has to huddle under a mat when it rains because their roof is in such bad condition. Being the rainy season, it rains almost every day. It would cost them $25 to repair the roof, and Sophanit said they'd probably never be able to afford to repair it. It just makes you feel so aweful - and thankful for what you have. $25 is just a few days spending for me, and here it would be a lifetime of saving for this family. Nicola and I both agreed that we'd like to give them the money, and the mother honestly looked like we'd just given her a million dollar lottery ticket. She rushed off to tell her husband the good news, and in a matter of minutes he was gone to go buy the materials to fix the roof. We get to go back and see the new roof in a couple of days.

I'm sure there's lots that I'm forgetting to say here, but it's getting late and the thought of tomorrow is making me think I should go get a good nights sleep. I just want to say a quick thank-you though to everyone who supported me in coming here to Cambodia. Thanks to you, more Cambodian children are being given the oppourtunity to learn english, and an impoverished family is sleeping under a solid roof.

Laos: September 4th-16th

Today marks the second last of my 13 days in Laos, and it's been a remarkable journey.

After taking a 5 hour bus from Chaing Mai to Chiang Khong (Thailand) I took the two minute boat trip across the Mekong River to the small Laos village of Huay Xai, which was an absolute ghost town.

From Huay Xai I took part in a three day ecotourism project called The Gibbon Experience. Set in the Bokeo Nature Reserve (123,000 hectares of mixed-deciduous forest), the Gibbon Experience was created to transform the local people's economy from one based on slash-and-burn farming, logging, and poaching, to one based on long term, conservation focused activity.

With the help of the local people, tree houses and a network of zip lines through the canopy of the Bokeo Nature Reserve have been established. As a participant in the project, I visited and stayed overnight in the treehouses, and spent my time zipping across the rainforest and seeing some of the most amazing sights ever! All the money from tourists such as myself is invested back into protecting the forest.

So my first day of the project started out with some serious trekking - and through lots of mud and water! Being the raining season, it was to be expected. During our trekking we passed through several villages, and they were exactly what you would picture an Asian village to look like. Heaps of children running around, the majority of them naked, stopping every now and then with curious eyes to analyze the strange looking people in their village. And of course every sort of animal imaginable roaming around at free will.

After about 6 hours of trekking we finally reached the project, and were greeted by participants from the previous day. The tree house we stayed in the first night was really amazing. It had three different levels, with 3 segregated bedrooms, a bathroom (looking down at the toilet you could see the bottom of the forest!), and even a kitchen sink with running water. The only thing not available was electricty, so once it was dark we relied on candles and card games to keep us entertained.

The next day we went zipping through the forest! The highest zip was 100m; the longest was 400m; and the highest tree house was 45m. After zipping around for the majority of the morning, which was an exhilerating experience, we did a 2 hour hike to tree house #5 (there are 6 in total - with the completion of the project they are hoping to have 12). At treehouse #5 we hung out with the local guides, ate dinner, and then played more games to amuse ourselves in the dark (our last candle ran out about an hour after sunset!).

In the morning we began the 7 hour trek back to Huay Xai. Needless to say, we were all exhausted when we got back. It had been a day of mud, rain, and leeches! However, in the three days we had known each other we'd all become good friends and we celebrated our adventure by having a few Laos beer (the Laos are very proud of their beer!) and some potent Laos Laos (a really nasty, local moonshine!)

The following morning we all went our separate ways. I took a 12 hour local bus ride from Huay Xai to a town called Pak Mong. What a journey that was, I tell ya! The bus itself looked like it would fall to shambles if it hit too big of a bump, and the number of occupants definately exceeded capacity! Just when you thought they couldnt' possible fit another person on, 5 more piled in along with another 10 sacks of rice. There wasn't even an aisle to walk down - it was all bags of rice and nuts with people sitting on top. And the music - oh god the music! A mixture of local and international, but at full volume! I was definatley regretting not having a set of earplugs.

I stayed overnight in Pak Mong and took a tuk -tuk (local transport) the next morning to a town called Nong Khiaw, and then on to another village (by boat) called Muang Ngoi Neua. Set on the banks of the Nam Ou river, Muang Ngoi Neua was absolutly stunning. The village itself is small and - being accessible only by river- there are no vehicles to be seen. There is also only electricty, run by generators, from 7-9pm. I had a little bungalow on the river with a hammock on the balcony, and it was the perfect place to unwind. Besides relaxing and wandering around the village and surrounding area, I did an afternoon of fishing with a local fisherman, which was quite enjoyable.

From Muang Ngoi Neua I headed on to Luang Prbang, which is as my guidebook describes, "...a dream location for any travel photographer. It's incredible collection of French colonial architecture, dotted with delicately decorated Buddhist wat and surrounded with emerald green mountains, is the postcard-perfect illustration of historic Indochina." My guide book didn't lie. Placed on the World Heritage list in 1995, Luang Prabang was absolutely stunning, as was the surrounding area. I ended up spending 4 days there, and during that time got to take in a local boat festival as well as 2 outstanding waterfalls. Besides stunning architecture and surrounding landscapes, Luang Prabang is also known for its night markets, which I spent every single night wandering at! All in all it was a beautiful place, and I had a hard time leaving it.

From Luang Prabang, it was another bus ride to Vang Vieng, a small town famous for it's river tubing. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather, so there was no tubing for me. That was yesterday - today I rode a bus from Vang Vieng to the capital, Vietiane, where I fly out to Siem Reap tomorrow at 4am. I'm starting to feel a bit exhausted from all the travel - I calculated that just over 30 hours out of my 12 days here have been spent on a bus or on a boat. I'm really excited to start my volunteer work in Siem Reap on Monday, and also to be settled for a few weeks - it'll be a nice treat. I'm still not exactly sure what my volunteering entails - working with children is all that I know - but I'll update you as soon as I have something to update you on!

Chiang Mai, Thailand

It's my last evening in Chiang Mai, and lucky for me it's Sunday and I get to witness the massive Sunday Market that takes place. People are just starting to set up now and I can see that it's probably going to be the biggest market I've ever attended. I'd say it's close to 10 or 15 city blocks that get closed off for everything from food and drink stalls to clothing, jewellery, and every sort of nick nack imaginable.

Besides attending markets I've spent my time in Chiang Mai cooking! I took two days worth of cooking classes and learned to make all sorts of traditional Thai dishes, including the base to a lot of these recipes - fresh curry paste. The food here is delicious and I can't wait home to come home and re-create it!

Thailand is also known for their massages, and I've treated myself to a couple during my stay here. It's hard not to when an hour costs around $5!

Tomorrow I catch a 5 hour bus to the Laos border where I'll begin my 2 week adventure there. So take care and talk to you again soon!

Last Week in Vietnam

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on August 24th, and took a 2 day trip out to the Mekong Delta the following day. The Mekong is the heart of agriculture in Vietnam, so I saw everything from rice paddies to banana trees. It also produces lots of coconut, and is famous for it's coconut candy. I got to see how it's made and try some fresh, which was delicous! I also got to see how rice paper and rice noodles are made. All in all the trip was good, but it was a lot of time spent on a boat and in a bus. I met a few really nice people though. One girl was from Montreal - one of the few Canadians I've met on my travels.

I arrived back in HCMC on the evening of the 26th, and stayed with a family in HCMC until I left Vietnam on August 29th. How did I meet this family? Well I met a girl in Hanoi through couchsurfing, named Loannie, and she knew this girl, An, through a network that is similar to couchsurfing called Hospitality Club. She'd contacted An through Hospitality Club to let her know that I would be coming to HCMC, and gave An my cell number. An sent me a text asking me if I'd like to stay with her and her family for the rest of my time in HCMC and I happily accepted her offer.

An picked me up on her motorbike, and her mom, father's cousin, and little sister came along too (but on a separate motorbike of course). The ride to her house was about 20 minutes, and on the way it started pouring rain. So by the time I arrived at their house both me and my backpack were soaked!

An's house is very different from most of the Vietnamese houses I've seen. Instead of being tall and narrow, it was just tall and big! It is more western styled, and a bit of a Vietnamese mansion. At 56 years old, her father is a retired architect that still does a bit of work on the side - he built their house in 1990. An (16 years old) lives in the house with her mother (42), father, sister Bon (9), and father's cousin.

Upon arriving at their house An and her sister led me to my room, which was equipped with a nice double bed and an air conditioner - a luxury for me. After I'd settled in I took my photo album downstairs and showed her family picutres of my country and family. It's always a great conversation piece. They also fed me oddles of food, such as a sweet bean soup, apple, and something called Moon Cake.

An informed me that the next day was a day to celebrate and honor their dead ancestors, so her mom would be making a trip to the local market in the morning to purchase food for a big lunch. Her mom invited me to come along and help prepare the lunch meal.

Helping out with the festivites the next day was lots of fun, and I got to meet more of An's extended family. They were all interested in me and my travels, and for most of the day An served as my translator. An's older sister, Thu (24), came home for the day as well, and I had a nice time getting to know her as she spoke fluent english. An, Thu, Bon, and one of their cousins helped me out all day with my Vietnamese speaking and pronunciation. An's parents also requested that I address them as Mom and Dad in Vietnamese, and they gave me the Vietnamese name of Nhan, and adressed me as their daughter. Needless to say they were very welcoming, and made me feel very much at home in their home.

Besides doing some touristy things such as visit the War Remnants Museum and going shopping, the rest of my time with An and her family was just spent getting to know them and learning more about the Vietnamese way of life. Each evening was spent getting my butt kicked in ping pong by Me (vietnamese for mother) and Bo (Vietnamese for father). We also went out the one evening to a Vietnamese buffet, and I tried some new foods such as pigs ear and deer intestine - yum! Bon was an sbsolute sweetheart, and had an overflowing, bubbly personality. My first evening in their home she was quite shy, but by the next evening she was speaking more english, holding my hand all the time, and teaching me new Vietnamese words. Their whole family is really loving and affectionate, and it really shows through Bon's personality.

Both of An's parents were extremely kind to me and told me that both me and my family are more than welcome in their home anytime. I'd told them my interest in coming back to Vietnam to teach english, and her father told me to contact him and he would find a job for me. My last evening with them Me cooked me a big going away supper, which was delicous! We had something called Hot Pot, which is meat cooked in a broth - like a healthier version of fondue. They also gave me gifts, and then dressed me up in Bo's Vietnamese war uniform and took pictures of me in it.

Although An is 16, she could easily pass for a 20-year old. She is very wise and mature for her age, and has really strong family values. She taught me lots about Vietnamese culture and way of life, and she became a really good friend. I feel very fortuante to have had the opportunity to stay with An and her family, and it's amazing how close I became with all of them in such a short amount of time.

An drove me to the airport on the morning of the 29th, and my flight to Bangkok arrived at noon. From the airport I went to the northern bus station where I caught a 10 hour bus to Chang Mai. I arrived in Chang Mai around 1:30 am, and plan to stay here for 3 days before making my over to Laos. Besides checking out some sights and markets I plan on taking a cooking class.

That's all for now. Hope you've enjoyed the update and I'll write again soon!

Vietnam: Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Dalat

So the places mentioned in the title are the places that I've stopped so far on my way down to Dalat. I was only in Hue a day, and there was really no need to spend any more time there. I did a motorbike tour of some of the surrounding historical sights, and then spent the rest of my day visiting the local market and soaking in the other sights of the city.

Hoi An was an absolutly delightful little town. Known for it's tailor shops and custom shoe-making shops, it was a shopoholic's dream (or nightmare - whatever way you want to look at it!). At first I decided not to have anything made because I didn't really need anything. Then I thought I had to have something made because that's what Hoi An is all about. So I decided to get one dress made. Well let me tell you - once you start you can't stop! A few too many dollars later I practically had a new wardrobe. But it was all lots of fun, and for the things I had made I would have paid practically 10x more in Canada. And it was absolutly amazing how you could give them a picture of anything and they could make an exact replica, which would fit you to a tee. And the woman in the stores were so nice - they would bring in local foods for you to eat and drink while you waited for your clothes to be altered. They were also lots of fun to visit with, and I got to learn more about life in Vietnam and Hoi An.

I was in Hoi An for three days, and besides becoming addicted to having clothes made, I also took a cooking course, which was fantastic! The beginning of the course was an introduction to the local market and it's produce. Vietnam has many fruits and vegetables that I've never seen before, so it was great to have someone tell me what everything was. After the market we took a boat on the river to the cooking school where we visited the herb garden and prepared some Vietnamese dishes. I even learned how to make rice paper, which is famous in Vietnam for making spring rolls. The class was a lot of fun and I look forward to re-creating some of the dishes when I get home.

My next stop after Hoi An was Nha Trang, a very touristy and commercialed beach town. While the beach was nice and refreshing, it was a bit too over-the-top for me, so I decided to leave after only one day there.

I am currently in Dalat, which is a city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The weather here is refreshingly cool, and I've immensly enjoyed what it has to offer.

After arriving last night I took a visit to the market and then to a local diner for supper. The people at the diner were extremely friendly and were happy to have someone to practice their english with. Their friendliness and good food took me back there this afternoon for lunch, and I ended up staying there over three hours. After I'd finished my meal one of the girls pulled out her english workbook and asked if I would help her with some words. I said yes, I would love to help, and I think there ended up being 5 of them gathered around, including her father, and they pracitced their english with me and I practiced my Vietnamese with them. It was a great trade-off, and I had an absolute blast. At the end of our "session" I went to pay for the meal I'd eaten three hours earlier and the father kindly refused my money. He invited me to come back for supper - an invitation I happily accepted. These are the kind of people and experiences that have me enjoy my time in Vietnam so much. The Vietnamese are all such happy, friendly people, eager to learn more about the world outside their borders.

Earlier today I took a motorcycle trip out to the surrounding area of Dalat. Unlike Sapa, Dalat is turning into quite a wealthy place. About 10 years ago the locals started growing coffee trees, and Dalat and surrounding area - the only place in Vietnam where coffee is grown - is now the world's second biggest producer of coffee. It is evident throughout the coutryside that their economy is starting to boom, as new houses are going up all over the place. I had an excellent guide who spoke fluent english, so he was able to thoroughly answer any questions I had about the area. He informed me that a plot of land for a house in the area is now worth about $17000 US dollars - a hefty amount in Vietnam. And most of the nice, new houses are worth about $14000.

Not only does the Dalat area grow coffee, but also many other things: tea, cashews, rice, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, corn, peppers, pumpkin, pineapple, bananas - you name it, Dalat grows it. I've never been in a place with such diversity in the agriculture. Greenhouses filled with flowers of every kind also dotted the landscape. These flowers are exported outside of Vietnam as well. I might also mention that Vietnam is the world's #1 cashew producer, #7 tea producer, and #2 rice producer. Dalat is also the only area in Vietnam where pine trees can be found. Altough they look different than the pine trees found in northern Sask., it's still odd seeing one next to a banana tree!

Besides coffee, tea, fruits, and vegetables, the Dalat area also produces silk, and I had the opportunity of visiting a silk-making factory. It was very interesting seeing how silk is made: the silk worms form a cocoon, which is what the silk comes from. After the cocoon has been formed, they are taken to the factory where they are put into hot water and then spun into thread. 5 kg of cocoons make 1 kg of silk. The things I'm learning these days, I tell ya!

Tomorrow I take a 9 hour bus down to Ho Chi Minh city where I plan to take a 2 day trip out to the Mekong Delta - Vietnam's biggest rice growing district. After my trip to the Mekong I will return to Ho Chi Minh city, where I will do a homestay with a Vietnamese family. I met a girl in Hanoi, and it is her friend's family who has offered to host me in HCMC. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the experience.

I fly out of HCMC on August 29th to Bangkok. From Bangkok I will be taking a bus up to northern Thailand, and then over to the Laos border.

Well folks, that all for now! Hope you've enjoyed the update!

Good Morning Vietnam!

This is just a quick update, but I wanted to let you all know that I've been in Vietnam since August 4th, and I'm absolutly loving it! Hanoi is a crazy city - always buzzing with people, traffic, and horns! It's crazy, but there are really no traffic rules: red lights and dividing lines mean nothing. The only thing that people obey is the horn! But the people are super friendly, the food is exceptionally good, and the city in general just has so much to offer in terms of character and things to see. I'm usually not a big fan of cities, but I think Hanoi may be my one exception.

After a couple of days in Hanoi I did a trip out to Halong bay, which was about a 3 hour drive outside of Hanoi. While the scenery was beautiful, I was a little disappointed at how touristy the whole thing was. I was on a boat with about 14 other people, and we went out onto the way and did some kayaking and caving. I met some great people though, and I also became friends with my guide, Ha, who is 21 also. A couple of days ago we met up and she took me to an orphanage I'd asked her about, and we also went out for lunch and she took me to the silk-making area of Hanoi. Her friend, Hai, came along too, and we all had a really teriffic time. It was my first time riding on the back of a motorbike, and that was an experience all in itself!

After my trip to Halong Bay, I took a trip up to the northern part of Vietnam. To get there, I took an overnight train from Hanoi, which left around 10pm and arrived in a town called Lao Cai aroud 6am. From there it was an hour bus ride to another town called Sapa. Sapa and the surrounding area had breathtaking scenery, and it was uphill the whole way there so it was pleasantly cooler than the heat and humidity in Hanoi. Surrounding Sapa are rice fields and different villages of people. I did a half day trek to one village, and then the next day I did a full day trek to another village, where I stayed overnight. It was a wonderful experience, and I got to learn more about the lives of the village people, and I got to taste a traditional meal. It felt like I was experiencing the real Vietnam!

I leave Hanoi this evening on an overnight bus that heads south to a city called Hue. I plan to stay there only one night, and then continue to make my way down the coast to Saigon.

And just for general interest, I'm paying about $3 a night for a single fan room in a nice, clean guesthouse. I found a cafe about 500 m from my guesthouse which serves heaven in a bowl: a mixture of beef cooked with sprouts, on top of noodles and mint with fishsauce, topped with pickled cabbage and peanuts. It sounds like an odd combination, but it's honestly to die for! I've been eating there 2-3 times a day, and for a bowl that I can harldy finish it costs me $1.12. If I stick to a bowl of rice noodle soup with beef, chicken, or pork (which is called "pho" and is also incredibly tasty) it's about 62 cents. So needless to say, living is incredibly cheap and it's making up for all the money I spent in New Zealand!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 9:10pm on August 1st after an 11 hour flight from Aukland, New Zealand. The flight zipped by, as I watched couple of movies and old Grey's Anatomy episodes, and caught up on a bit of sleep!

Going from New Zealand's dry winter to Kuala Lumpur's humidity was a bit of a shocker, but after a coupleof days here I can say I've adjusted - almost.

My time in KL has been short, as I depart this afternoon for Hanoi, Vietnam. I'm really excited about Vietnam and I'm hoping to spend 2-4 weeks there in total.

My time in KL has been spent mostly getting ready for Vietnam. I had to track down the Vietnam Embassy to get a visa, and I also had to arrange my flight there and find a universal adaptor for my camera. However, I did manage to check out the Petronas Towers, which were the world's tallest skyscraper up until 2004 when Taipei 101 took over the title. I also did quite a bit of walking throughout the city including a visit to the bustling streets of Chinatown.

KL is, quite surprisingly, a modern city. You don't have to run very far before running into a Starbucks, McDonalds, or KFC. Some of the malls are quite impressive, and all of them have air conditioning so they're a nice break from the heat. The people here are also very friendly, and any person that I have spoken with has had quite good english. So it was a good place to start my Asian travels, as I'm kinda being eased into things.

New Zealand Adventures

Hard to believe, but my 17 days in New Zealand have come to an end, and I depart for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, tomorrow morning.

The Magic Bus ended up being a great way for me to see the country and meet a lot of fantastic people. Here are some of the highlights of my time in NZ:

1. The TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. Fabulously scenic and very enjoyable.

2. Helicopter ride up to the Franz Jospeph Glacier, and then hiking on the glacier for 2 hours.

3. Cinema Pardisimo in Wanaka. Comfy chairs and delicious homemade cookies during intermission!

4. Doing a day of snowboarding out of Wanaka at Cadrona with friends Karen (Ireland), Gemma and Sarah (England).

5. Couchsurfing in Queenstown, and the good times had with fellow Magic Travellers. It was in Queenstown where I met some wonderful people: Hannah and Frankie from England, and Oliver, Carolin and Suzanne from Germany.

6. Doing the world's tallest bungy jump called the Nevis (134m) in Queenstown. Quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever done in my life!

7. Partying with the gang back in Christchurch.

That's a short summary 'cause I think the pics I have put up on facebook do better justice to what I did than my writing does. So go check 'em out!

Another update - except this one's from New Zealand!

Before I get into New Zealand, I have to tell you about the fiasco I had getting here!

So Brin and I had to fly from Melbourne to Sydney before flying to New Zealand. Our flight from Melbourne went as schedule, and Terry cooked us a wonderful breakfast before we took off. Our Sydney flight, however, was a differerent story. After boarding the plane around 6:15pm, we started down the runway as per usual. However, after starting to pick up some speed, the plane jolted and all of the sudden we were off the runway. Within seconds the smell of burnt rubber was potent in the air, and we were informed that the front tire had blown. All we had to say was thank God it happened on take-off and not when we were landing.

So after getting towed back to the airport we all filed off the plane back into the waiting area and were told to stay near by for updates while the engineer looked over the plane. Over four hours of waiting later, we're finally told that the flight was cancelled and we would all be re-scheduled to fly to Christchurch the next day.

In took another two hours to get our flight for the next day and sign up for a free stay and the nearest hotel. This was a definate perk, as we both got our own rooms and a massive buffet breakfast the next morning!! It's too bad we couldn't have had more time to enjoy the hotel and everything it had to offer: by the time we checked in it was past 1am, and we had to be up the next morning by 5:30 to eat and get to the airport for our flight.

Another compensation for the inconvenience was credit equal to the Sydney-Christchurch flight to fly at another date, so Brin decided she wanted to do that and hang out in Australia for a few more days. I caught the 8am flight to Christchurch and arrived there around 1:30pm (they're 2 hours ahead).

I'm couchsurfing in Christchurch, and it's been another wonderful experience. My host's name is Kirsty, and she lives 5 minutes from the airport so she came and picked me up. She cooked me a wonderful chicken dinner last night, and I got to meet her dad and her brother as they came over for supper too.

Today was an adventure out in Christchurch. Kirsty's roomate, Kristy (not as confusing as it sounds) works in the city, so we caught the bus this morning together. I spent the whole day taking in the sights of Christchurch. It's a cute little city of around 300,000 (I think), and it has a lot to see. I toured the museum, which was one of the best I've ever seen; I ventured to the art center, which had a lot of really interesting works; and I took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, which was quite impressive. As beautiful as it was now (winter) I can only imagine how fantastic it would be in the summer. Right there is reason enough to get me back to Christchurch in the summer. And belive it or not those three activites took me pretty much all day. However, I did take my time getting from place to place, as there was so much other stuff to take in. For instance, in the middle of their Catherdral Square is a life-size chess set, so I hung out there and watched some people play as I ate my peanut butter and banana sandwhich for lunch. They also had a big shopping district, so I took my time weaving in and out of ones that caught my interest.

Tomorrow I begin my real New Zealand adventure by taking the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch, the east of the south island, to Greymouth, the west of the south island. The ride is considered one of the world's best train journeys for the amazing scenery through which it passes. It's approximately 223 km and takes four and a half hours. I'm pretty excited about it as I've never riden on a train before.

From Greymouth I'll make my way south on the west coast on a travller's bus called Magic Traveller. It's a bus geared for tourists where it has a pre-planned itineray, but you can hop on and off it as you please. My bus will make a loop around the south island and return back to Christchurch where I will fly out of on August 1st to Auckland, and then straight from there to Malaysia.

Australia Update

Hey Folks!
Well it hasn't been a terribly long time since I posted last, but it feels like lots has happened. I guess I'll just start from the beginning.

A couple of days after our rafting trip we headed up to Cairns and did a day out on the Great Barrier Reef scuba diving and snorkelling. It was a fantastic experience, and the visibility was great. We saw a massive clam, a ray, lots of tropical fish and corol, and Nemo!

I think it was the next day that we headed up to Cape Trinulation and the Daintree Rainforest for a three day tour. The Daintree rainforest is a World Heritage sight, as it is the oldest rainforest in the southern hempishpere - 250 million years old! We also went on a cruise on the Daintree River and saw 3 crocodiles. Then, on the third day we were laying on the beach when we had a cassowary pass by us. For those of you who don't know what a cassowary is, it's a massive tropical bird (we're talking anywhere up to 2 meters in height!) that is endangered and also very deadly. If provoked or cornered they are capable of killing humans with their massive claws. So basically this isn't the kind of bird you want to run into, and we had one walk right past us! If you check out our picture sight we posted pictures of it on there.

On July 5th we flew from Cairns to Sydney where we had possibly our best couchsurfing experience yet! We stayed with a guy named Trevor, and his roomate Dave. Their place was a total party house, but they had it absolutly spick and span for us. They totally went out of their way to make sure we had a comfortable place to sleep and they had a group of friends that were over at the house as much as the rest of them, and we got to be really good friends with the whole group. They took Brin and I out on the town for Brin's birthday, and we had a blast. We pretty much hung out with the "Club 10 Cronulla Crew", as Brin and I called them (they live in a suburb called Cronulla, and their house is named Club 10), the whole weekend, and when it came time to leave we really didn't want to! We invited them to all come to Canada, and some of them swear they'll be there in the next year. So who knows, maybe the rest of you will get to meet them too!

So the actual reason we were in Sydney was to see the Live Earth concert. It turned out to be a stellar time, and while Jack was a bit of a let-down, Missy Higgins and the John Butler Trip put on a stellar performance. But, believe it or not, neither of them were better than the final act of the night: Crowded House. We're a bit ashamed to admit this, but we had no clue who Crowded House was before they came on stage. We thought they might be some techno DJ or something - we seriously had no clue. Turns out they're an old Aussie band that spilt up 10 years ago but got together just for the Live Earth concert. The crowd went nuts when they came on stage, and within minutes Brin and I recognized their songs. It was an amazing experience, and we were so glad we got to be a part of it.

Early on July 10th we flew to Melbourne and returned to the house of Terry, Ruth, and Dave Brain - the people we stayed with when we were last in Melbourne. It's been a wonderful stay here, as Ruth takes care of us very well. Anything we need, she's on it! And she has supper prepared for us every night. It's been a great base to get all of our stuff sorted out for the next part of our trip, and our days here have mostly been spent running errands, getting our taxes sorted out, closing our bank accounts...all that boring stuff that has to be done after you've been travelling and working in a country for 7 months!

So on Saturday it's off to New Zealand. Brin has decided to skip it and head straight to Asia, and I've decided to backpack around the two islands for 2 1/2 weeks and leave to Asia on August 1st. We're hoping to meet up for the last couple weeks of our trip in Thailand before returning home on November 4th.

So that's all for now folks! Hope you're all enjoying the lovely summer weather back home!

Sky Diving and White Water Rafting

It's ok moms - we made it through in one piece so you can relax now!

Words can hardly explain the sky diving. It was an amazing experience, which we both really enjoyed. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we're hoping to do another one in New Zealand! It really was crazy though. It was a cloudy day, but it was neat how once we got to 14,000 where we were to jump from, we were through the clouds, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining. We both agree that the free fall was the best. You jump out of the plane, and it's at that instant that it hits you that you just jumped out of a prefectly good plane to fall through the air! It was fantastic though, and once we broke through the clouds our view was spectacular: ocean, tropical islands, beach, the town of Mission, and all of the surrouding area. Seriously breathtaking. By this point our parachutes have been opened, and we're just gliding around in the air. After taking it all in, we had a soft landing on the beach, and just like that it was all over! It went by so quickly, but luckily we can re-live it time and time again by watching the dvd we both purchased. Hopefully we can get that online so you can all see our dives! Also keep you eye on our picture sight, as we got photos done as well.

Our next day in Mission we went White Water Rafting on the Tully River, and that was amazing as well! It was the first time for both of us for rafting, and we really enjoyed it. We had a fantastic guide named Rod. He was hilarious, and we both felt really safe in his raft. We didn't tip once, except for when Rod tiped us out intentionally! There were many different rapids, and the highest ones we did were a grade 4, which is quite high. All in all we did about 4 and a half hours of rafting, which was broken up by a BBQ lunch on the side of the river. It was all great fun, and hopefully we'll get the pictures and dvd posted for that as well so you can have a look yourself!

Tonight it's off to Cairns on the 5:20pm bus, and we'll be doing a trip out onto the Great Barrier Reef for some diving. The sun came out today for the first time in weeks, so we're quite excited about that and we hope it sticks around for the rest of our trip up the coast!

Magnetic Island

So on the 23rd we headed up to Townsville where we caught a ferry over to Magnetic Island. After settling in, Brin and I headed to the hostel's eatery where Brin bought me a birthday supper and some carrot cake for dessert! The next morning we awoke to sunshine, which was thrilling, as we haden't seen any in days! While we were making ourselves some lunch we ran into Kerry from Scotland, and Freddie from Italy, who we'd met on our Whitsundays trip and who came out to celebrate my b-day. We got along with them swell and invited them to join us on a walk to a look-out on the island. The afternoon/evening turned out to be gorgous, and our walk was splendid. It took us up to a lookout where we could see all over the island, as well as Townsville. After our walk we invited the girls to join us for some chilli and rice, and then the four of us headed to the bar where we persuaded the bartender to let us watch Grey's Anatomy. Unfotunately, Brin and I got hooked to this program while we were in Byron, so every Sunday is spent sweet talking someone to let us watch it! That concluded our time on Magnetic, as the next morning we caught the ferry back to Townsville and then spent 4 hours on the bus up to Mission Beach. We're scheduled to do our 14,000 foot skydive tomorrow afternoon, but it has continued to rain so we'll have to wait and see if we get to go tomorrow. We'll keep you posted!

Birthday Bash in Airlie

Upon returning to Airlie from the Whitsundays on the 22nd, the majority of our crew met for drinks at one of the hostels. Brin and I decided it would be a good night to celebrate my 21st, as we'd just met so many amazing people that were heaps of fun. So the night began at the hostel bar, and after a sing-song "Happy Birthday" at the stroke of midnight, a crew of about 10 of us headed to a club called "Mama Africa." It was a dance bar, and our crew had a wicked time laughing and dancing until 5am when the club closed. It turned out that 5 of us had the same bus the next morning at 9:30, so we got to have a good laugh and share stories from the night before. Was a great birthday, and I couldn't have asked for a much better way to celebrate!

Whitsundays

Brin and I embarked on our tour of the Whitsundays on the 19th of June on a boat called "Habibi". The weather was cold and drab the whole time, but it didn't keep us from having a good time! Like our Fraser trip, we ended up having a pretty stellar crew, and we met people from Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, England, and Germany. We left the harbour at Airle Beach around 2pm, and by the time we got to the bay we were headed to, it was already dark. So we just sat around, tried to keep warm, and got to know one another. We also had a stellar BBQ supper. The next morning we were dropped off on Whitehaven island, and unfortunately it started to rain just as we got off. However, that did not deter us! The ocean water was warm, so a bunch of us stripped down to our swimmers and went for a swim in the ocean. All the while it's raining cats and dogs! It was great fun, and we ended up swimming back to the boat! Later that afternoon we sailed to another bay where we got suited up in wetsuits and snorkel gear, and we hopped in the water to check out the reef. The different corals and fish were amazing, and Brin and I ended up being the last to get out of the water, as we were so enthralled with everything we were seeing! We bought an underwater camera in Airlie, so hopefully our pics of the reef will turn out. After the snorkel it was back on the boat, but about 2 hours later we were back in the water to check out another reef. Again, it was amazing, and we really enjoyed it! By this time in the day everyone had gotten to know each other quite well, so after another fantastic supper we all gathered around to play some drinking games. It turned out to be a hilarious night, and many laughs were had. The next morning we set sail back to Airlie, and although the weather had been nothing but cold and rainy, the memories we have will last a lifetime, and we met heaps of wonderful people. Well worth the trip!

Fraser Island

We just got back to our hostel in Hervey Bay after a 3 day, 2 night 4x4 adventure on Fraser Island, which is the world's largest sand island. Besides the weather being a bit crappy the first two days, the trip was a blast! We were in a group of 11 people all up: 3 from England, 3 from France, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from Germany. It was a super group, and we all got along splendidly. We actually just ordered in pizza, and we're going to hang out here at the hostel tonight and have a few drinks.

So for the 3 days, we traveled by cruiser to all the famous spots on Fraser Island:Lake McKenzie, Indian Head, Eli Creek, and Lake Wabby.

Lake McKenzie was definately the highlight. It's a freshwater lake on the middle of Fraser, and it had the whitest sand and bluest water that we've ever seen. When we visited it first it was a cold and rainy day, but we got to go back for our final day on Fraser and it was surreal. We played in the lake, had chicken fights, and played ball with our poop scoop shovel against another tour group.

Lake Wabby was pretty cool too: tons and tons of sand surrounding another freshwater lake.

And it was at Indian head that we saw our first dingos (wild dogs), manta rays, whales, and other wildlife.

Our nights were spent camping out, and although it was a bit cool at night to sleep, we had a great time sitting around and getting to know on another. An all around superb time, and some great friends were made. We spend tomorrow in Hervey, and then it's a 13 hour, overnight bus ride to Airlie Beach where we'll do our sailing trip out on the Whitsundays!

Hope all is well back home and we'll update you again soon!

Oh- and pics are up from Fraser, so check 'em out!