Showing posts with label laos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laos. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Revisiting Piles

So, as most of our readers (you know who you are Russia) know by now, our blog was originally created as a running commentary on Daly's blog. In her recent venture, Daly revisits her piles.....................................................................of books.

Good job Daly.

 I got thinking about what else to write this months blog on, once I had gotten the dig to Daly out of the way. And I thought about how Daly had vowed not to buy any more books at the start of the year (she failed).

Which led me to think about things that I have achieved not just this year, but in the past.

 I saw recently how somebody had ticked one thing of her bucket list - naked bungee-jumping. Safe to say that this will never be on my own list of things to achieve in life.

 I dont have a bucket list so to speak because I dont want to make that kind of commitment....to a list. So instead, how about I make it a mixture of stuff I want to do and already have done?!

 Here it is, the fuckit list, in no particular order:
1 - Get a degree (done - twice actually)
2 - Get a Masters (done)
3 - Get a PHD (to be completed.....and ummm started)
4 - Pass the FE1s (15 years later)
5 - Get an apprenticeship (done)
6 - Visit New York City (done - and hoping to revisit)
7 - Go on the Oprah show (Which sadly I will never technically be able to do, unless she has her own show on her own network...surely a possibility?)
8 - Go on a show on the Oprah network (see 7)
9 - write an erotic novel (so many ideas, but so much procrastination)
10 - Do the stupid outstretched arm tourist thing at Christ the Redeemer Statute, Rio de Janeiro (and so begins my small mention of things I have done while on holidays......nonetheless cool!)
11 - See the top five waterfalls on Earth (I actually have seen one of the top waterfalls, Foz de Iguassu, Brazil. I feel Niagara Falls may be the next one realistically me being able to see....I dont think the Torc waterfall in Killarney counts?)
12 - Visit the Amazon (I touched a turtle!)
13 - Smoke a Cuban Cigar in Cuba (Think I still have one in a drawer somewhere that we smuggled back in a..."sock", ya "sock")
14 - Visit Halong Bay in Vietnam (we thought we were going to be killed....it was typhoon season/there was some wind.)
15 - Go tubing in Laos (No, I dont need a life jacket thanks, no I cant swim, I'll be grand.........)
16 - Learn how to swim (it's my new years resolution......)
17 - Travel on a sleeper train from Laos to Thailand (It was not exotic or romantic)
18 - See an Elephant in the wild (the mystic was kinda taken away when I realised he was being used for manual labour....maybe it was okay though, you know, if he had like an 8 hour day, decent lunch break, 21 days holidays and a pension plan?)
19 - Stay out all night at a full moon party (It's hard to party when you have pink eye)
20 - Become an extra for a day on the Home & Away set. (It's going to happen)
21 - Read Ulysses (IT HAPPENED YOU HATERS)

 Right, due to my lack of concentration, I am now done with this and have to take a nap.

 To be continued........

Friday, September 17, 2010

l.l.l.l.l.l.l.laos

Having noted to my blog partner that the blog has become less about daly and more about our own lives,i feel now after reading her latest blog entry that she deserves even less discussion time for not having included her bf's on her list of favourite things......other than a brief mention.....

"It goes without saying that some family and all friends are among the things I love but detailing this would definitely be overwhelmingly dull. They’re great, good for them. (Oh dear, it appears that even when contemplating lovely things, my sarcasm is inherent.)"...............

Dull?!!!!!!!Dull?!!!!!!i was just in asia.......dull my hole.

Ahem.......anyhew,this brings me nicely back to the main focus of the blog, Laos.

After the craziness that was vietnam,laos definitely had a more chilled out pace.we could have taken the 30 hour bus journey from hanoi,but as my travelling companion HATES buses we flew into the capital,Vientiane instead,which took an hour.........

though there was some hysteria/uncontrollable laughter when we saw the plane......it was one of those teeny ones that fits about 20 people,and we were sitting near the propellers......u could almost spot the guy on the bike powering said propellers.........fun times!
but when compared to the hellish 30hr bus journey that we would have experienced,it was possibly the safest option!

so the day after arriving we decided to be all cultural and the like and go check out some of the temples,whilst bearing in mind some of the cultural etiquette that one is supposed to keep whilst in laos.............
-dont point your feet at anyone or turn your foot up at anyone,this is the equivalent of flipping the finger and always take your shoes off when entering a building
-dont touch anyone on the head(*tap,tap*)
-dont touch a monk if you are a women,this would lead to unpleasantness for the monk i'd imagine
-no bikini's or hot pants in the temples(rather upsetting)
-no public display of affection(does licking your travelling companion's face count as
affection?)
These are the main ones i can remember,and i think we managed not to insult anyone!

The capital itself has some really cool architecture,and even has its own arc de triomphe!but when you've seen one temple,you've kinda seen them all!cultured,i know!

Our next stop was vang vieng,backpacker central!a place where episodes of friends and family guy are shown in every pub......which may seem tacky and western.......but i like family guy!
also the main reason we were here was to go TUBING!an activity which consists of floating down the river on said tube and being pulled in to the bars along the way.one was a little bit apprehensive at first considering i cant swim and refused to wear a life-jacket caus i would look uncool.
I immediately began to regret not wearing a life-jacket when i drifted towards some reeds,almost fell out of my tube and banged my ass off a rock....................
but after being pulled into the first pub,my worries melted away and several pubs later after getting lost from my travelling companion and our new bf's,tom and jane,i was nonplussed and merely pulled in on the other side of the river,found a foot bridge and rejoined my amigos!after a long day of drinking and trying not to drown,we returned back to the town where we watched family guy and ate pizza!well after submerging oneself in culture all day u need some non-cultured stuff!
all in all,we loved laos,and met some pretty cool peeps along the way,and didnt drown whilst tubing!success!

next stop......full moon party!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

catching up......

okay,there have been way too many blog posts by daly while i was away so i shall just summarise......
daly went to the fringe,had a great time,was busy at work,has a vendetta against double spaces and ummm,has read some books.........
i think i have a valid excuse for not writing before now,being in asia and all.i hope to capture the trip in all its pink eyed glory over the next while,mainly caus im now back to blissful unemployment and now have alot of time on my hands.....
so im thinking of 3 blogs,vietnam,laos and thailand......cataloging each trip,and musing on how many times we mentioned daly on our trip,most notably the time we almost missed our train to bangkok but managed to arrive 2mins before the gate closed and we were like "daly would never be able to com on holidays with us"...........caus she would be there 2 hours beforehand......
i shall try to muse on my time in asia,where i spent the month trying to "find myself" but ended up just getting drunk,but if u cant find yourself when drunk,when can u........

also on a literary note,i managed to get in a spot of reading.....mainly caus we went on alot of long journeys......
the one i am most proud of was finishing "the reader" in 2hrs......much to my travelling partner's disgust........as it took her a week.......
if i am musings,my partner is reflections,our inspiration is daly,then my travelling partner shall be referred to as................my lover?
im sure many people thought that we were indeed lesbians over the trip.......i mean if u cant lick ur friends face platonically well then i just dont know!

so i shall try and gather the memories of the trip,though they are already getting a bit hazy...........