paris

the next morning it was up and early to get my bus to paris... i got in fine and dandy.. getting a hold of my "hostel" was another story.. i booked it at like 2 am the night before, so there werent many options open.. i ended up getting an apartmetn in paris! where i wasnt given the address.. only sketchy directions of how someone was going ot meet me and take me to the place.. ok. so i spent the first 2 hours of paris roaming the train station trying to find out meeting place and then another 45 waiting... my greeter showeed up and walked me a block to my apartment.. where the key was just under the mat and it had to stay there.. the teeny tiny little place was adorable and creeky and old.. just like ud expect. .there are bunks in each room, obviously.. its the only way we backpackers roam.. the kitchen has barely enough room for one person to spin around, and the bathroom door doesnt close.. nor is there hot water or really a draining system for the shower. YES! right away i met chris, hes from austria, and he volunteered to walk around with me.. i said of course.. and we headed to the louvre... he was all pumped on seeing it, and then we get there and its closed... becuase its tuesday.. who knew teh louvre was closed on tuesdays? and then we headed back to notre dame.. closed because it was 6:05.. and then we kinda gave up.. everything is about 20 mins apart.. most of the time it takes 30 to walk beacuse all the streets are hard to follow.. but its good! we stopped and got some groceries.. adn i got a crepe! of course! when in paris.. and we went back to our flat and met the rest of the roommates.. there was ben from brisbane, 3 swedish girls, and gary from L.A. we all went out together to sit in teh park under the eiffel tower and watch teh light show with our bottle of wine.. ok we had like 3 bottles.. and then a few more that we bargained for with the bums who sell them in the park.. haha. the homeless guys in teh streets of paris drink champange instead of cheap beer beacuse its cheaper.. but its really quite the head turner when you see the homeless guy poppin the bubbly.. . it was a really fun night.. we met some locals who were so funny. they always wonder down to the park to hang out with the tourists..they were convinced that gary was obama.. even though hes asian.. haha..

the next day gary and i took on paris hard core.. we went to notre dame, the louvre, adn the arch of triumph. it was a lot of walking and it was pretty hot.. but it was a good day.. we talked about california things and traveling the world, and how we wish we were loaded so we could just travel forever..even as cheap-os.. ive learned a few many tricks these days.. im almost a pro, but ive still got one more level to go before i can be considered a real hardcore backpacker.. i havent camped yet.. and i pay to go into museums still.. and i went to a club that night with the swedish girls and real backpackers dont go to clubs. eh o well. after our many hours of walking the louvre, yes we saw monna! ha.. we walked the deceivingly long walk to the arch.. there was some very important ceremony going on.. it was in french and it looked very offical with all the militarys there.. after we got back and had our standard spaghetti dinner, we hung out with the swedish girls again, and they convinced me to go out... how often do u get to go out in paris? well, the paris nightlife isnt that exciting we observed, definitely not like a night out in london or scotland.. but it was still fun buying 9 euro beers.. they were two for one before 1 am at least! O GOD. i also decided im not a huge fan of french people that night... in general tehy are all so unhelpful.. if you ask for directions they point adn thats it.. tehy arent patient with your crappy attempt at french either... and they really dont give a crap if you speak english.. its france not britian or america. so the taxi guy took us a round about way... i knew what was going on and yelled at him.. he basically turned around and spat at me and said in a perfect english accent i dont speak english. grrrr i just wanted to take the metro because its easier, faster and cheaper.. but i was going with teh swedish girls.. clearly not the seasoned travelers.. when we got out.. he convinced one of them that the fare of 10 euros was for each person.. i said no. give him 10 and get out.. and she said no im sorry i couldnt do that. i told her i was incharge of the cab on the way home. and we all got back for 9 euro total! haha. shitty french men.

this morning i headed out on my own to see moulin rouge and then south to the chateau de versallies.. it was cool and big.. and almost worth the 10 euro. i think im done with big fancy buildings for now. theyre cool but ive seen a lot and all the paintings are more or less the same, and theres lots of gold and marble and statues adn cool gardens. pretty impressive for sure, but it gets repetitive.. im excited to get a change of scenery when i head to iceland tomorrow! i am also completely distraught at hearing about jason.. a friend from australia whom i was trying to meet up with in london.. now i will have to wait a looonng time before i get to see him :( it makes you realize how important everyday really is.. adn i am so so lucky to be traveling around and seeing so many amazing places.. safe and in one piece :) im still going to try to get out of paying for my room in my little apartment tonight so i can just go to the airport and sleep because i have to be there at like 5 anyway.. oy ve.. just keep truckin along! after iceland, im headed to dublin! and then its only 3 weeks til i meet up with mere for our oktoberfest and greek adventures! ooo. rest in peace jason.

belguim!!

sorry if i type co,pletely wqcky letters randomly.. these keyboards here qre out of control! qfter edinburgh and its beautiful scenery i took the train.. apprently the most expensive track of train in the whole of europe to glasgow.. over 10 pounds to go 40 mins or something like thqt:: i got into town and found the coffee shop zhere i met mark.. hqvent seen him since sometime during ,y freshmqn of highschool so ze hqd lots to catch up on! we talked for a bit.. moved to a pub to talk.. then walked around glasgow in the rain and saw his uni.. sorry jaqi, this schools hogwarts status might be above sydney uni!! we got some fish and chips and then headed to his house zhere i stayed for the night in the fluffiest most comfortqble bed ever! hahaa.. and it made me realize how much of a bum i am these dqys... a beachless bum actually.. i found my spot in life! ha but to be in an actual fa,ily home just for a few hours was so nice!

the next morning it was up bright and early to get to manchester and onto belguim! just another lovely bus ride.. the buses are the cheapest way to travel unfortunately.. the trains are for sure better than flying and of course cost the most.. i arrived in manchester to see the more zorking class side of england apparently.. i believe it.. and the bigger and more bizzare your hairstyle, the cooler and more with it you were! i found the town square and layed out in th sun for a little.. thank god the sun was back!... and then i splurged on a crappy wanna be chipolte burrito for 5 whole pounds.. i couldnt resist.. after that i got on a local bus to the airport.. glad i just wondered onto it early cuz it took over an hour to get to the airport! at least i had time for a little nap and to observe 2 punk teens babysittign this little boy while drinking beer on the bus, o yea and who could forget the old man who got on and accused me of taking his teeth!! hahah.. he couldnt talk obviously.. he was just old and cooky and i guess friends zith the other guy on hte bus zho explained what was goin on.. but he wanted to go home to get his teeth after he realized i didnt have them and kept riding the bus for a few extra stops.. wouldnt you get off the bus asap if you forgot your teeth at ho,e and had to go back;; i dunno, maybe its just me! got onto my ryanflight again.. o i hate ryan air, but it went pretty good until i got into brussels and was at a different airport than i knew.. i took the charter coach thing to the city center where i was supposed to catch the last train to zanvertam where i was couch surfing for the night.. of course i missed it by minutes qnd there was no other way to get to where i wanted to go... it wouldve been convieient if i had gone to the right brussels airport and couldve walked dozn the street to the house.. i had to splurge 37 for a freakin taxi if i didnt want to sleep outside for the night:: so i did and raymond, a nigerian czech guy, was there to let me into jelle´s house since he was out of town for the night! haha.. o boy. i get inside thinking i would be the only one, and theres a full on party going on! alright, except the 4 boys only speak french (i found out later it was only supposed to be one boy staying and he invited his crew!) and 2 girls from davis (ucd and ucsb) ! i stayed up for a bit to chat with raymond about being a free american.. u know the usual conversation haha.. and eventually got to bed..

the next morning i did my best to sleep in but found myself up at 10.. i got ready to go see brussels and raymond offered to show me around for a bit.. after i sat and chatted zith him for another hour.. by the time we took the train in, he had to leave for the airport. so i headed out to find the first chocolate and waffles i could.. success came all to quickly at the street corner, where i had a brussels waffle with strawberries and cream and a liege waffle on the side :) mmmmmmmmmmmmm i pigged out at the grand palace square where i people watched and thought about what my spending limit should be on waffles.. i walked qround and ran into the "little boy piss" waterfountain that i had no idea was an attraction.. as i wondered into and out of all the chocolate shops i realized i could completely stuff myself on free samples if i hung out in the little shops long enough and looked interested.. so naturally, i did :) so delicious! next i needed some ice cream, but decided that this was just going to go on all day, and so i got a smoothie and some groceries and called it quits for the day.. brussels is a confused city with lots of beautiful buildings and a little bit of every part of europe: i headed back on the train to jelles house hoping he might be home.. perfect timing, except for getting caught on the train without a ticket.. i legitamately tried to buy one but i guess the ticket booth is a secret so they can chare you 15 euro on the train instead. so i rolled up back to my couch and met jelle.. he is a little goofy but super nice.. him and his friend, stef, had just got back from a car race where they lost because they forgot to turn and ended up in a field! it was a good story.. we then went out to a little local festival and picked up amanda, their south african friend.. i really love the diversity here! we had fun rockin to the house techno all night and stopped in leuven so i could see the square.. it was cool even without all the people and tables out!

this morning stef took me out to see the belguim coast, bruges, and ghent! i was supposed to head to paris, but the free tour of the rest of belguim couldnt be passed up! we had a great day, beautiful and sunny for the most part, until stef mentioned how it usually rains this time of year... oops! i had an offical belguim sandzich.. and ive learned its better just to not ask what you are eating! there was some orageish meat-meal? spread with mayo and eggs.. pretty good though! we headed to bruges.. such a cool little old mideveil town with cool churches and whatnot.. chocolate shops of course, lots of tourists, and o, the blood of christ! even if it wasnt his, it was still stinkin old.. and it made the lady infront of me in line cry and she had to be consoled by the priest guarding the blood.. we then took a boat tour through the canals of the :venice of the north: before heading to ghent for the rest of the afternoon. ghent was sooo cool. it was unfortunqte we got there at 5:10 and everything closed up at 5.. but i had a great time! and enjoyed the last of my tour around the outskirts of brussels..

scotland update

scotland is so much fun! I had a great time with craig and james.. and enjoyed my first unoffical couch surfing experience! they took me and took good care of me! edinburgh is cool.. really cool..such an old gothic town..the weather adds to the feeling! it rained quite a bit yesterday.. but that didnt slow me down too much. the arts festival is going on and so just walking around theres kids blowing thier faces off on their bagpipes (in kilts of course) and i learned also that they really do go commando under them. its an insult to the scottish culture to wear underwear with ur kilt.. i didnt check to make sure they were all following the rules! i walked through a cemetery and up and down the cobblestone paths completely wandering.. no day is quite the same! today i went for my first run in over 2 months..ive been meaning to exercise since i left california.. it took the sun finally coming out over the beautiful scottish bay scenery to get me to go.. yay! now im off to glasgow to meet a friend from back in the day that i used to go to grade school with.. that should be fun! and then i am offically couch surfing once i get to brussels.. o boy! a free couch! yes! well see how it goes..

scottish things

funny story.. i ate the haggis. we didnt go hunting for one quite like i had hoped... we went to teh animal safari park instead.. a kind of lame zoo, with california sea lions, camels, and elephants.. haha animals ive seen all in their correct places..but it was fun! we had a good time.. got our faces painted..climbed the playgrounds and even rode a zipline.. definitely all things that are not unique to scotland..other than the light drizzle all day. o well! throughout the day the haggis was getting built up..and we were going to go hunt for one later on.. it was getting late and craig had to get to work at the pub.. so i ate my offical haggis dish there.. it was alright.. kinda like weird tasting beef with some potatoes and turnips.. so after i finished everyone started laughing.. coulda been the face paint again.. but reallly it was the big fat joke that i had fallen for for over a day.. the haggis.. well it is the dish i ate..but the three legged creature is like the australian drop bear.. yea. it doesnt exist! i felt stupid.. but they really had me convinced.. actually the entire country is in on it.. thats why i fell for it.. at the castle yesterday there were pictures of 2 dogs? on the wall. and there were 6 legs between the two of them.. everyone was like look! 2 haggis. and i had to believe them.. i even asked the guard about it because i couldnt believe a 3 legged creature.. adn she convinced me that the boys were right.. so i went a full day believing in this animal.. well what is haggis then? i was told not to ask.. some sheep intestine, maybe brain, heart, liver, lungs, minced with some oatmeal and onions.. COOL. offically the craziest thing ive eaten. it wasnt bad! and im glad tehy waited til i finished it to tell me. thought i should share that incase i dont make it to tomorrow from eating the lovely scottish haggis.

UK

London was amazing! the city is just as good as everyone claims it to be.. and i was so lucky with amazing weather.. i decided it was time to whip out the jeans for the 'cold' weather... but i was dying! after my excurision to find a hostel in london in the first night.. i booked a much better place on the outskirts in kennington.. apparently not the best area? but i thought it was nice..and quiet.. and perfect! i found the local library and was able to use free internet for an hour a day! whoop whoop! so that helped me kinda catch up... finding hostels, booking the future.. updating the blog.. etc etc.. i think in terms of internet hours now.. and i think im still behind by about 3. .o well. prolly wont catch up until i find a nice little quiet spot with free internet all day.. ive recently booked flights to brussels, and then from paris to iceland..and iceland back to london.. anna from my egypt tour asked me to go.. so i said why not!? i think were renting a car and driving around! its fun to travel in so many different ways.. with people, alone, with strangers, by car, bus plane, in big and little cities.. it all keeps me going..and feeling like 6 months may not be enough! even if my wallet taps out waayyy before that... anyway!

london.. i went on a free walking tour.. seeing all the major sites and learning some good background about the british government and the dead kings and queens... and the pigeon eating pelicans in st james's park... you know. the basics. london really just has this feel about it.. with the old and the new. and the hustle and bustle .. and the TUBE! i love the tube.. evne tho it costs over a pound every stinkin ride.. bah. after my tour.. i hurried back to the hostel to get ready to go on a pub crawl that was organzied through the same ppl as the tour.. but i couldnt cook dinner and get ready fast enough so i didnt go.. :( instead i did laundry.. omg how lame am i?! haha and then i was just about to go to bed at midnight.. and some aussie boys come in the bathroom and ask what im doing.. i said going to bed? they said ahh nah.. youre coming out with us. and i did! the london night life is pretty good.. and def lively.. considering we probably didnt get downtown til almost 1..and we came home after the sun rose! there were still people everywhere! we even got to ride in one of the cool little london taxis.. i wish we had ones like that! so i hung out with 3 boys from perth.. i swear perth would be as big as LA if everyone from perth actually stayed in perth.. so i tried to sleep in a bit. but couldnt too much.. i met a boy from japan and a completely new perth boy in the common room that afternoon..and we walked alll of london together.. it was such a wondering sunday afternoon.. just like.. perfect! starting at the london bridge..well the tower bridge and then the london bridge which is lame.. alll along the thames river seeing all types of street performers and crazy interesting things..past the london eye, and big ben, buckingham palace.. into hyde park... across to kensington gardens to see the peter pan statue..and then we took the tube to soho to explore more! we walked that town inside out.. it was good. that night we hung out at the hostel and played pool while i had a slight panic attack of what i was going to do wiht my life.. ie.. where to go next.. so i booked a bus up to scotland!

i had the whole next day to do some more exploring..so omar (the perth boy) and i went to the brisith museum to see all the things that were missing from the egyptian museum in cairo.. there were sooo many cool things in the museum. .and it was free so it was even better! saw the rosetta stone! and some of galieleo's prisms(that only matters if you took psc 101) and tons of old crazy stuff from every era of history.. it was exciting because i knew what was going on.. and all about hte egyptian things already.. and the roman stuff from italy.. and the greek stuff i am going to go see it! all of the history from all the differnet places is adding up and coming together.. pretty darn cool. omar thought i was a crazy person.. because i was whipping out all this stuff about everything.. .i wish i could write it all down because theres no way im going to retain all the information ive gained in the past two months.. speaking of two months... today is the offical two month mark of my journey! ah!

i took the overnight bus up to edinburogh so that i wouldnt haveta pay for a hostel.. i didnt really sleep on the bus ride.. o well.. but i sat next to this really nice scottish girl who had just come back from two months in argentina and chile.. so i have even more crazy ideas now! watch out! once i got to scotland, i took another bus to stirling where lauren studied to meet some of her friends.. ali was nice and took me to lunch with her friends..adn then later on i met up with craig and his buddies..and i took them to the castle that they live.. about 200 m from..and have never been to it! haha.. we explored the castle.. it was alright.. i guess ive just been seeing so many impressive things like the coleseum and the pyramids.. and westminster abbey that i was hoping for more.. it was still pretty cool though..we walked all around the walls and saw lots of good views of fog and grayness... i had to buy a pair of boots so my feet didnt freeze.. i think im about to turn over my whole wardrobe into warmer clothes! ah. i met up with the boys later and they showed me a 'proper scottish outting' in the bar where craig worked and then we went to a club.. i really never sleep.. i dont have time for that! maybe a day in paris!? today i think were going to catch a haggis.. some three legged animal that is the traditional scottish meal.. haha its like a ferret.. o gosh. i just want to see this three legged animal.. then i think tomorrow im off edinburogh to go to the festival there, maybe to glasgow as well before heading down to manchester to fly to brussels! oo geez! its never dull!

PICTURES! some dating back to thailand.. how long ago that was..

a couple of pictures... well overdue.. in backwards order as well.. wish i coulda put more up but my camera just died :( someday ill get the gorgeous ones of thialand up! theyre on a different memory card.. at least here is a good look at egypt and a bit of the trek from thailand..


were riding a camel.. can you tell?!

my babay crocodile.. luckily it didnt bite!

my mate.. horuas

some hieroglyphics.. there are better pics of course.. thought these were the ones that stuck out but nope.. some were even in color!!!

selling crap on the nile.. just 1 pound... british pound.. cheaters..

abu simbel temple!!!! yay really early in the morning..

ramses.. im pretty sure.. guarding the temple

at the philae temple.. beautiful!!

infront of the temple walll.. the shape is representative of the sun.. it rises, is up, adn then sets.. all the temples are designed facing certain directions.. many so the light comes in and hits the shrined whatever inside on a certain day of the year.. all the temples representing life are on the east of hte nile (sun rises)..and the tombs are on the west bank (where the sun sets)

me at the dumb dam. had to prove we were here! haha

egypt.. obviously! the spinyx!

hangin out on the pyramids.. haha.

my camel was nice enough to pose for me!

oops... guess i put up two of these.. thought i had the picture of me and the pyramids and the camel... except really it was just me.. the base of the pyramids and the handle on the saddle of hte camel.. the egyptians are not good photographers..

o! he got us all in teh frame! good job!

ayuttahaya.. cool old ruins.. these were all buddas at one point.. i had to stop adn pray to the big ones in each arch way! haha.. i gave up after a while.. i got tired of bowing three times times a million..

view of the ruins from a distance.. my last day of thailand!

thailand has sooo many cats! little kitten out in the countryside with the hill tribes where i spent the night.. they have cats to keep teh mice away.. and dogs to keep the cats in line..and chickens.. to eat and lay eggs.. and all the other animals running around are just a bonus!

waterfall we hiked to! went swimming in it..but the water was kinda brown.. not quite the same as the pristine beaches i got soo used to!

rice growing in the rice fields of thailand!

london town- getting there

the UK wasn't too excited abotu my roaming around the world.. especially without a flight home, proof of any funds, no school to go home to finish or job to go back to, no family in the UK, and the 5 € in my wallet. the guy made me out to be a complete loser. and i just smiled. he was gonna send me back to italy becauase..theyre strict? they didnt want a wandering poor illegal roaming around taking thier jobs away.. well it mustve been the luck of the rosary i inherited from the priest, because the guy said he has 5 good days a year..and it was one of those 5. i really didnt care if they sent me back. i really had no where to head anyway.. and i was already thinking i could just take the train over to france and work my way up europe that way and get to london later.. but he let me in! after 25 mins of investigation, reading my journal and asking a bazillion questions.. i learned that being a good liar is important.. although i didtn lie.. but it wouldve helped me out.. or saying im a rich spoiled brat that has unlimited money wouldve worked too.. not that i worked for a year to pay for my trip.. oops. so i learned a lot baout the boarder patrol.. and what to say now! and im here! in london.. i roamed london for a few hours to find my hostel.. many ofthem booked of course..and i took a bus for too long cuz the hostel lady told me too. o well. i found a place..and a new better one for today.. and i found the library! FREE INTERNET! yes. only for a hour at a time though.. but i felt so smart. and i have a london library card now.. off to see the london bridge and then go on a free walking tour this afternoon.. london is cool..i get what everyone means by the feeling of london.. cept ive spent most of the time here so far wandering around with my heavy house on my back.. im glad to be in an english country too.. except i think i hear less english here than everywhere else ive been.. aye yaye.. probably need to do some offical planning in the next day too.. that helps me get into countries by booking things! oo but thats against the idea of my trip now right?! im excited to meet up with christine in berline/prague before meredith comes in sept for oktoberfest and greece! and to have smiling happy faces with me! o yes. until then.. the lone solider keeps wandering.. :) im doing well!! yay!

italia!

so after my much delayed flight to italy.. i landed in rome about 10 at night.. not exactly what i was hoping for since i didnt have any internet for over a week and had no clue in teh world where i was going.. i actually forgot how scared i was til now.. but i figured it couldnt be half as bad as egypt.. i could take on anything after that for sure! i went to the standard rate taxi guy and asked him to take me to the closest cheapest hostel.... 40€ later.. ha i feel cool cuz i can use the symbol! i was crammed in a taxi with 3 aussie boys going to some hotel.. i said i would just go there and we could all split the rate.. but they insisted i was going to a hostel much further away and should pay my own fee.. fine whatever. just get me a bed. we dropped them off.. adn i noticed we started driving in circles more or less.. stopped at an atm to get me some money.. where none of my cards worked great. my bankcards didnt work in italy.. luckily credit is muchhh more accessible! so we drove around another block.. im not an idiot.. adn the taxi driver says ok here. go inthere. hostel. bye. i look outside..and say.. in the train station? theres a hostel i ntehre? yes. ok. so i got out and she sped off. well, there was def no hostel in the train station. not even an open store. i was at the roma termini station.. the main depot point i figured later on.. so i started to stroll down teh side streets and walked into every building that said hotel.. there was plenty of them so i was fine.. but they were all over 60€.. eventually i found a hostel! thank god. it was after midnight by the time i got there.. so i go up the 5 flights of huge ass steps to my room..and im the only one in there.. ha. no a sole is in there.. theyre all out partying. i met one of the irish girls down at reception and she told me to come have a drink with her.. but i was still feeling like crap from egypt so i used the internet for a bit, organized my little house.. and went to bed..

the next day i went on a walking tour of rome.. we went to an important church, maria de something with a longg name.. it was on vatican grounds.. yes! another country! we saw the coleseum.. which i had hoped to see the day before and then i could claim i saw two world wonders in teh same day.. the pyramids being the otehr from my hotel room.. i guess 2 in 24 hours is still pretty cool though! we saw trevi fountain, the pantheon, another church, some more old stuff.. the ruins next to the coleseuum.. our tour guide was actually very good.. adn hearing the info makes the sights that much mroe interesting adn meaningful.. we learned about muselini and hearding the jews...some about the roman empire and saw the big white monement for italy.. after our tour i was determined to walk back.. go lost..felt like i was going to die from my stomach still hurting.. and found the coleseum again! yes.. so i took the metro back home after grabbing some pizza off the street :) i wish i had felt better to indulge in the italian food.. when i got back.. i went to the book store looking for a europe travel book..but i couldnt find the one i wanted so i gave up and got lost again from my map marked with 10 different locations of where to find the hostel from the night before.. i made it back adn moved to my new room... and met daniel and sophie.. cousins from canada and london.. they invited me to dinner so i went.. and daniel bought us grotto? some italian crazy alcohol shot.. that was either going to cure me or kill me.. i wasnt sure.. so i had a fancy gelato for dinner and hung out getting serenated on the streets of rome for the night.. not so bad :)

the next day i went on a tour to the vatican with them as well.. our tour guide again was very helpful and explained things i couldnt have know without her.. she was from belgium adn was also impressed i was traveling alone.. everyone thinks im so tough adn whatnot.. quite the change from when i was considered a weak lame tourist backpacker in thailand! its interesting to how the atmosphere of the travelers changes from locaiton to location.. in egypt, i was pretty hardcore.. being on a tour with kids who havent been out of their home country and refused to pee in holes.. i was like.. this is nicer than the holes in thailand! bring it on! ha. they thought i was a bit crazy but it was fun.. europe, alhtough obviously much nicer and hole-in-the-ground less.. is a bit rougher than being on a cush tour.. anyway..where was i!?
o the vatican! huge! awesome! impressive! beautiful! and we saw the tombs underneath..and walked around teh walls because you cant technically go into the vatican city unless you have a visa.. i stuck my foot in! hahaa. i was so close to the smallest richest country in teh world.. how could i not "go" there?! so techinically... if the church from teh day before didtn count.. well i got it in then.. the guards didnt seem to think i was funny.. i went to lunch and had some lasagna.got serenated again..and all was good.. daniel adn sophie went off..adn i went back to collect my things to head to florence.. o yea. i found a book similar to the one i was going ot spend 40 € on.. i took it from the hostel.. im pretty srue i was allowed to.. kinda how the hostels work.. its a 2007 book so the prices and stuff are out of date.. and the hostels in it have always without a doubt been filled.. but its def worth lugging around! took the slow train to florence because it was a lot cheaper.. adn i realized taht they never even considered checking my train ticket. i shoulda got on teh fast one! dang it! got to florence pretty late.. and walked around hostel to hostel until i found an open one.. ooo goodnight!

the next mornign i got up early to tackle florence in one day.. i saw the statue of david in the museum.. hes a lot bigger than i thought! haha. no i mean the whole statue.. i thought it would be outside.. but i had to wiat an hour in line adn pay 10€.. o well. i thought he would be half the size. so pretty cool.. wandered around seeing the durmo..then i realized this is wehre all those bridges and acrosse the river are! so i saw those..and strolled to the near end of florence up a fat ass hill. michaelangelo or someones elses lookout.. it was sooooo cool! i really liked it. you could see allthe rolling tuscan hills with their vineyards and cute little yellow houses built into the hillside.. and the bridges and the whole town that was so nice! so i ate my lunch.. really my breaky from the hostel that i packed and made a sandwich out of.. and then i headed back to get my stuff to catch the train to genoa.. or genova.. same same. thought it was a good spot for hiking hte cinque terra and seeing portofino and such.. and getting to pisa for my flight to london..really not the best location.. it was a bit far.. but it worked. saw lots of sunflowers on the way.. and got charged 5€ for not buying a train ticekt before getting on the train.. grr. they must have a radar for htat. eventually foudn genova and took the loooong bus ride up the steep hills to the hostel with an amazing view! the dumpiest hostel ive been in though...

the next day i was up early and ready to go hike the cinque terra.. it was beautiful.. and the little towns were all so neat. i ate bruscetta and gelato along the way.. the hike was much harder than i had imagnined.. but do-able..and i did it! i thoguht it would be paved.. but most of its a dirt path with uneven rocks to step up and down the mountain hillsides on. i even went for a swim in vernazza.. the water was so turquoise adn refreshing.. and even had time to catch the train back to santa margherita. before it got too dark. the towns were cute, small port towns with loads of restaurants def out of my budget range. i found a little market store around the corner for some mozzerella, tomato adn basil pasta.. delicious.. but still.. my stomach ached. i tried so many things.. the alcohol didnt work.. the 4 pack of activia yogurt, a 5 hour hike, all breads, no breads, just fruit, just water and vitamins.. bah. the egypt bug wont leave! i can still be active but it wipes me out.. on the way back up to the hostel, i met arturko on the bus.. and helped him get back to the hostel.. he was too greatful for my help and bought me a water.. so we sat and talked and i learned a little bit about poland and being a priest :) he was travelign with his sister and they insisted i come visit them in poland..so i might just have to.. got to see how all the plans line up! his sister was talking to this boy from benicia.. of course he knew becca.. and i also found out that two of the girls in my dorm room were from lafayette! small small world.. not only the first real handful of americans.. but they were all from the bay area.. adn knew people i did! one of the girls goes to cal poly even! haha.

the next morning it was up early again to catch the train to pisa to fly home.. i intended to see the tower on that daily originally, but when i missed my first train to genova i took one to pisa and transferred.. my layover was like 2 hours.. so i found this korean boy at the bus stop who was headed to the tower too for a quick look and we took pictures for each other with the standard leaning and holding up the tower, etc. he was not the best photographer.. but eh. the pictures still work! so i got to pisa and had abotu an hour before my flight.. so i found a little restaurant and had a big bowl of pasta.. i was finally hungry! and then headed to the airport and got some pizza as well. the buses in italy were easy to get around on.. and i found out early on that those are def not worth paying for... only 1 € but really a waste of a €.. then at the airport.. i tried to explain to the ryan air people that i couldnt print my boarding pass because there was no way to email it to the printer.. the only method i found anywhere i went in italy for printing.. they said well that sucks you still owe us 45 € then to print your boarding pass for you.. GRRR. iwas mad. that was double my flight..and i basically had to pay over $60 to print my ticket.. for a flight i wasnt even sure if i wanted.. luckily my bag was the exact 15 kg weight limit.. or that wouldve been another 50 € and i might as well have booked a first class flight on british airways.. and then we get to the gate.. which was as much a mass chaos and trying to check the luggage.. and everyone is sweating and standing and hating life.. and the time for our flight to leave comes and goes.. and were all still stadnign there.. over an hour later.. they say we can board.. bah..and its gettin late and making life harder for me to find somewhere to sleep agin that night.. but we get on the plane and make it london.. welll kinda!

egyptian travels

we started off the next day nice and early around 7? we went to the egyptian museum which was reallly cool.. so much old stuff just sitting there.. unprotected.. well, except king tuts stuff! that was awesome.. lots of mummies.. cats and dogs even...and cool tombs and jewlery and old wigs and everything older than dirt that you could imagine! most of the awesome stuff was moved to teh london museum..and now that im here, im just gonna haveta go find it! after the museum we saw the pyramids..and we even got to go in the middle one! not as exciting as you may hope.. a bit clasterphobic..and swealteringly hot.. but how often do you get to go in a pyramid!? we took lots of pics.. but none quite as unique as those from my camel ride! we also saw the sphynix and some catacombs me and the other two american girls climbed up... cool! then it was back to the hotel to clean up before our overnight bus ride.. it was supposed to be a train ride..but shit happens in egypt.. duh! soo it was a long ass uncomfortable ride down to aswan? where we got onto our nile cruise for the next few nights :) we threw our stuff on teh boat.. had some lunch and headed out to the dam.. how uneventful. but it was and still is so important to the egyptians because without it.. well water would be scarce! with the building of the hugge dam.. there was a lot of temples and towns that flooded. all the temples had to be moved.. which when you see then.. its really quite amazing.. and they moved them all and put them back in teh same exact positions. the nubian people as well had to move. so we saw the philae temple with its roman and greek additions to it.. and we saw how later the christians came and carved the bodies of the gods off the left side of hte building.. strange. they left thier clothes alone..just hteir bodies.. we headed back to boat and had a nice dinner and hang out all night getting to really know our group members.. well i hung out til 12... since 2:30 couldnt come soon enough for our next wake up call.

so 2:30 we headed to abu simbel.. AWESOME! there are the two temples there.. one for ramses and his wife.. they have the hugggee stuatues in front.. you've all seen pictures of them.. but it was cool.. we tried to snag some photos of hte inside of hte temple... a few turned out.. its funny because theres signs that say no photos.. but if you get caught.. just pay the guard a few bucks..and your good to go! after abu simbel.. we headed back to the boat for our lunch and then we had a fulucca (traditional boat) ride up the nile to a nice little swim spot! we jumped off the top and swam agaisnt the strong current to a little rock island in teh middle.. from there most of the group went on a camel ride.. i already had my fair share of camels and strange men.. (and my leg muscles still hurt from the first one!) so the rest of us enjoyed the warm sun ... only 47celcius. on the top of the boat.. it wasnt thatt hot on the boat.. just out in teh desert at the temples.. thank god we went early! the fulucca stopped at a nubian village where we sat in a classroom and learned the arabic alphabet and numbers... i wrote my name on the board even! correctly... from right to left.. it writing backwards, we found out that their was an obsurd number of left handers in our group.. but anyway.. we moved into a little house.. and our guide rafik taught us more about the culture..and how to pick out a wife and everythign... although egyptian.. he has lived in australia for a bunch of years and could relate the strange and traditions to us pretty well.. in the house i had one of the ladies give me a henna tattoo on my foot.. y not!? and we played with baby crocodiles.. dont worry.. the bigger ones had a hair tie around their mouths for us! haha.. we had some tea.. lots of different egyptian teas.. o and the hybicus tea.. weird.. almost tasty. i then bartered for a handwoven scarf so i could wear it on my head for the festival party that night on the boat! i took too long and made everyone wait.. again.. they were always waiting for me to take pics or something.. oops! no one seemed to care tooo much! except maybe the captain of our cruise ship.. haha.. we delayed the departure! so we cruised for a bit that night.. we partied pretty good.. everyone having an awesome time.. we just had such a good diverse group of mostly aussies, a handful of english.. a couple americans, and a canadian and kiwi. some of the boys were all done up in their nubian outfits out on the deck where we lounged around all night! the next day no one could get up for the first temple.. haha.. so we sunbathed and slept in until we got to the next one.. which was the best preseved temple in egypt.. lots of colors on the wall and crazy corridors everywhere. back to the boat for a relaxing day adn more sun and happiness along the nile :)

and then came the dreadful next morning.. the biggest day of sightseeing.. 4 things to see..and i was already puking on the bus at 6:30 when we left... somewhere along the way i ingested some water.. mightve been from the swim a few days ago.. or apparently the orange juice? so i puked all over the valley of the kings between crawling in the tombs.. everyone was soo nice in helping me out.. carrying my camera..(they liked playing wiht it) and feeding me water, and giving me their hats to wear and what not.. as the day wore on.. people started getting sick left and right.. none as bad as me of course.. i made it to queen hatchepsuts temple.. and then i was done.. i had to get some local drugs to help me stop throwing up.. and i went back to sleep..or try to! everyone got to see the largest temple.. i forgot the name.. but i was glad i didnt go because they said it was the hottest one yet.. pretty sure i wouldve died and been buried their too! and then no one made it to luxor temple either.. :( what a bad temple going group we were! that night, luckily i pulled it together for our bus ride back.. it was quite uncomfortable again.. but i lived! we all did. and stopped off at hernada? for a break around midnight.. no one sleeps in egypt i swear. (we went to a grocery store at midnight and i literally couldnt see what was on the shelves it was so crazy and chaotic) we went and touched the red sea before finishing our trip to cairo.

the next day in cairo we went to the step pyramid and saw some old church and jewish section of cairo to compare with the arabic and ancient egyptian stuff we were doin :) i was still kinda outta it but made it though.. most of us went to a big dinner and hung out again for the last night.

the last day of thailand and first of egypt

the last day of thailand i found myself in ayutthaya at about 6 am.. i wanted to explore one more town before i got stuck in bangkok for the rest of the day.. i got off the train and wandered down the road to avoid the tuk tuk men... i couldnt figure out which was the map went because the way it was layed out between the tracks and the river said that top of the map was south... which really wouldnt surprise me in the longrun.. i asked someone to help me ... and magically jesse became my tourguide for the day.. i just wanted a ride to the post office... and after we got there and he tried to explain in his very limited english taht it was saturday so it was closed.. he took me to a temple instead.. i didnt really ask..but he took over my little pathetic tourist map adn decided that i wanted to see every temple listed.. i really had nothing else to do so i went along... learning how to pray in every single way with bows and offerings and burning of inncense.. i stopped counting at the ninth budda.. what worried me a little was this town wasnt very big.. adn we werent going in a methotical order at all... after about an hour.. i think i knew my way around better than him.. he stopped to ask teh locals a bunch of times how to get to places.. and i eventually explained somehow that i wanted to see the ruins..thats all i wanted to see! so then we went to 4 or 5 ruins...and i told him i was done with my tour.. gave him .. mm 5 bucks.. and then caught the boat across the river for 10 cents that i couldnt figure out how to get around before. when i got back to bangkok on the lovely 2 hour 3rd class bus ride... i had to find the bus to get to the mall where i was gonna hang out for the rest of the time.. i started chattin it up with one of the tuk tuk dudes.. he offered me a ride for 100 baht and i told him he was crazy... and he said fine how much.. i said less than 7 baht because thats what the bus costs..and so he siad ok free if i stop at two tailors.. i wasnt in a hurry..and hadnt had my proper required tuk tuk ride yet so i went with it.. i enjoyed messing with the tailors too being a pro thai barterer after 2+ weeks in thailand... so i eventually got to the mall where i ate myself through my remaining money.. or tried.. i had a smoothie.. some cupcakish thing, "pizza bread" and anything else i could find that suited my fancy.. i found a forever 21 and got really excited... it was HUGE. i got lost for about 10 mins in it.. it was so much nicer than ours at home and a bit more expensive too... surely i wasnt about to spend over 20 bucks on a dress or shirt! so i tried to eat some more and headed to the airport to camp it out until my 1 am flight to cairo.

i arrived in the lovely city of cairo at 5:30.. where my dude picked me up like he was supposed to .. so far so good.. and then halfway through our ride to the hotel he says.. o i gotta pick someone else up.. the driver will get you to the hotel.. youll be fine right? i siad i think soo... and we pull off the side of the freeway and he gets out adn joins the other 6 people standing there.. the traffic was CRAZY. the craziest ive ever seen.. but apparently it works so they dont care.. theres cars going both directions like in bali..and horns going off every half second.. and the standard 7 cars across 3-4 lanes of traffic.. but theres also people runnign across teh street and highway. some wearing their long hejabs that cover their body... man a car coulda easily ran over the tail of the scarf if not her and whipped her back.. so i was thrown into a whole completely new culture shock. i got to the hotel and did all my laundry since it was still only 7 in the morning... i figured there couldtn be too muhc going on..and then i thought about the traffic and realized that was 6 am traffic.. not even teh day traffic! crazy.. i eventually whipped up the courage to wander down the road to find an atm.. the hotel people were the most clueless people in the world.. and told me that theres nothing in walking distance..and i look out the window and see the huge ass pyramids and decide theres got to be an atm near them.. i can see the tour buses lined up! so i venture down the road.. which although it wasnt so long at all, the whole ordeal took 2 hours between getting dragged in the perfumary and convincing a man that i didnt want a camel to sleep with him. i also got invited to someones wedding.. and starred at more in 2 hours than i have been starred at in my whole life.. i got back to the hotel and had to just sit there and recollect my life.. it was hectic out there! eventually i got hungry and realized i needed to brave it out again.. so i asked the desk man where to get egyptian food and he told me that he didnt have any at the hotel... i didnt want to eat at the hotel anyway.. so i walked down the road the other way.. i got some little sandwiches that were like philly cheese steaks and a pizzaish stuffed pita wiht some spicy beef? o and some fresh delicious mango juice. things in egypt were a bit more than asia.. bummer.. at least a good transition before europe! after i got back to the hotel adn found out that i was switchign rooms.. packed up all my laundry that was hanging all over the room, went downstairs, and then the bellman said o no this girl is moving into your room... so i went back up... unloaded and sally from perth moved in and hung up her laundry with me.. she had just finished the tour i was about to start.. so i talked to her for a bit..and decided i couldnt sit inside no matter how bad it was out there.. she said she did the camel ride behind teh pyramids and it was good.. so i took her opinion and walked down the dodgy street again to where the "stables" were right before the pyramids. soo i bartered my way down 100 egyptian pounds.. like 20 bucks for my ride. the cost to get into the pyramids and teh pathetic tip i left my guy left the whole thing being around 30 bucks stilll. bah.. so i got onto my camel..and halfway down the trek my "guide" said he was riding it too.. probably one of the most uncomfortable things ive ever done in my life... rode out into the desert with a scary egyptian man almost rubbing up on me.. i made it very clear that i was already married and my husband was sick back in the hotel. i dont think he understood why i was so uncomfortable all but holding onto the camels tail to stay upright without having to touch him.. BUT! i got my pictures! the best part of the trip was wehn my camel turned into a tuk-tuk.. and took me to the local perfumary and "papyrus museum".. just like the tailors and visitor centers.. aye yaye! a new country... a new shop... after getting suckered into some perfume on my first adventure down the road.. i realize that i got a decent deal.. and i really had more perfume than i could need for life.. so when my camel ditched me becuase i tipped him so badly.. i had to find my way back.. it was about to get dark.. and i could tell i was pretty close but i didnt want to risk wandering around cairo anymore... so i took the "trustworthy" cab man.. he wanted to charge me 10 us dollars for my ride.. i got it down to five.. adn then was mad becuase i went 2 blocks... what a rip off! uhh. but i was safe and happy to be back in one piece to meet my tour group! thank god for the tour group!