Reality & Beyond

Hey all!

Or who ever is still left...

I'm sorry for not keeping up with this thing, but time, life and everything has demanded a change. If you're still up for reading, then head over to http://lifeinatrashcan.blogspot.com for some real time action.
Or you can find me on www.myspace.com/cukoosnest

I think I'm done with this life here and need to vent a new thing in a new place. Sorry for the confusion, but sometimes we just aren't what we seem to be...

Ix

She says and pulls her head out of the sand...

What a summer! Moved house, got a new job, got a new computer...

So yeah, we managed to move house and deal with all the funny things that sort of business throws at you. Gas, heating, electricity, internet, the bath tub leaking into the dining room - the usual stuff really. We all hung out together through out the summer enjoying our great little garden and the various inhabitors - some more than others (i.e. the foxes vs. the cats etc).

I quit smoking the next day and have only had the occasional drag since. Although the last one was 3 months ago. Yes, the ultimate smoker has quit! It's a miracle!

My faithful albeit much abused laptop finally decided to commit hara-kiri with an overdose of red wine and is currently a vegetable in East London somewhere undergoing therapy. I have therefore been forced to buy a brand new super duper laptop. Ah, life is so hard...

So there are various reasons for why I have been offline and away for so long. The most significant being that I really just couldn't be bothered for a very long time to write about nothing at all. My life has been very boring for the most of the summer. And the bits that weren't so boring weren't really anything to write about either. So there you go! You didn't miss out on anything really...

Right... I think I'm going to have a snooze now....

Oh! I have been such a dunce at writing anything for such a long time! I apologise! As usual though, I have a bullet proof excuse! Nothing has happened! Absolutely nothing!

The Greek boys I live with are still being nasty, smelly, rotten, teenage-like boys. But I have found a cure for my nausea! I'm moving out! Clean and simple!

So my sister, Jen, Miss C and I are off to greener pastures! Oh what bliss! A great new little townhouse with a nice garden and a garage. Oh! And even a living room! Oh! And 2 showers and a guest room too! What luxury!

We moving out next Thursday. It's not far away from where we are staying now, but it's a bit too far to carry our stuff ourselves.... So what to do?

Rent-A-Van! Yeah! Great idea! We can get all our stuff moved really easy! Oh hang on, wait.... Who's driving it?
Sis? Erhm... no... lives at risk...
Jen? Erhm... no... *no comment*
Miss C? Erhm... no.... working...
Me? Erhm.... YES!

What?!?! Oh dear....
So me it is then. My first go at driving in London. So if any of you were planning on driving around the Old Kent Road/New Cross/Brockley area, maybe you want to re-route next Thursday?

So what happened? Quite a few different things happened actually. Should I just state them, to make it easy?

1. The Second Culture Shock
2. Got a job
3. Got frustrated with job (for complicated reasons)
4. Got slightly depressed about being frustrated with job
5. Thought life was to short for spouts of depression
6. "Postponed" job - ie. left under mutual agreement to maybe start again in a few months.
7. Had a hard time dealing with new-found freedom
8. Lapsed into total numbness
9. Been terrifyingly lazy for 10 days now...
10. The sun is shinning so I see that as a sign to get on with it.

So been doing excactly what everyone would advise me against. But it was what I needed to do. It has also been the reason why I haven't been around here for a while. Honestly I couldn't face writing about doing nothing and the reason behind it, until I actually knew what that reason was. So there you have it! A not so exciting chapter of my life. I'm sure now that you know that I'm not dead - or hate you - or am bored with you - that it's all down to me, you feel relieved! Or maybe you will just shrug and go: How typical! Whatever it is - don't deny your feelings!

I could begin a whole new blog just based on the last month and a half, but I decided to leave that one slip. It's just too complicated. So instead I might just write about what's going on now.

Lindt Chocolate Bunny time coming up! That is something that can get me very excited every year!
Because you see; every year my sister and I would be presented with this little golden bunny with a bell by our Granny. And every year it never failed to make us happy! The golden bunny of happiness! Yay! Even though our Granny now now longer is capable of going out to buy us these, I will make sure we still get them.

My Dad is coming to London next week with his girlfriend. Some nice dinners and a show is coming up in the near future. Maybe even a trip to Bath! See Dad! I do read your emails!

And then maybe I'll head down to Bordeaux to visit my friend Emilie. She doesn't know it yet, but I better tell her before I go, don't you think?

The London Wine and Sprits Fair is coming up. I think I wrote about this last year, but if you can't be bothered to find it, it's all about wines and spirits - from the entire world = HEAVEN!

Also this weekend I'm going to Guildford to visit my friend Helle. Yay! Actually I'm meant to be leaving now, so I better wrap it up...

So hopefully I will have something interesting to write about next. Maybe it will even be a funny one, who knows? God knows I need to have some serious fun!

I feel like a 14 year old that cat-napped in class! Except I didn't really get caught... Too many pupils to keep an eye on.

A whole month has passed since I came back from my trip. A WHOLE MONTH!? Where did it go? What did I do? And why am I so tired already again?

Well, I had a little time to recover from my shock of being back in cold London and then - surprise surprise - I went straight into a new project: Another bar opening. You should think that by now I should be able to do it without loosing myself in work, but no; life is not that nice. So yet again I am working for the big boys making them money. It's not all bad, but it doesn't give me a lot of motivation towards myself.
I have however learned from the last opening. For those of you out there who know, what that did to me: Don't worry, I won't ever be that stupid again. My hours are realistic and I do eat, sleep and have a little fun once in a while.

But the spreadsheets are calling me again. So I bid you good night.

A myriad of people. Several oceans and seas. More homes in 3 months than most people have had in a life time. Spicy and bland food. Departed and refound friends. Harassment and true friendliness.

The second trip of a lifetime was as varied and full on, as the first one was. The impressions I was made to take in, the difficult choices, the choices I didn't have, the choices I made, the problems that arose and that I overcame... All were in the same spirit and all made the same strong, everlasting memories as 5 years ago.

But this time I was prepared! Not for the cultural or ethnic differences. Not for the challenge of the Asian transport system. Not for the scams and the unexpected helping hand. No... That you cannot be prepared for - and shouldn't be. That you just need a bit of common sense to deal with.
No, what I was prepared for this time, that 5 years ago hit me harder than anything I had ever experienced, was the "second culture shock"!

Forget jetlag, travel sickness, temperature differences, and the fact that there is only so much you can do, to convey your experiences with your friends at home. It is the experience that the place you have called home for years, all of a sudden is this strange new country; with these strange people you have as friends, with these strange underground ticket prices, that remind you so much of London, but is it? Things you took for granted to know about this place, you have somehow forgotten. Prices have changed as if over night and your friends talk about people you have never heard of from unknown tv shows. And where is the bloody Night Market? Oh, yeah... There isn't one, is there...?

Welcome home doesn't ring true for a while yet I can feel. Home is what you make it. And my room seems just as strange to me as a dodgy guesthouse in Bangkok right now. Welcome to a new experience, is more like it.
Right on!!!!

It looks like I'm not the only one prone to harm on this trip. Just as my foot is getting back to normal (it's still stiff at times) - Tanja decides (willingly I doubt though) to take a fall: On Kuta Square. I guess our plan of going to Ubud is slightly postponed; as she can hardly make it to the other side of the house for breakfast.

I have very few exciting things to write about this times, as most of our time has been used on pure relaxation. Yesterday we moved to a different guesthouse that has a pool instead of hot water (small sacrifice really). And we spend the afternoon swimming or floating and reading good books. Perfect tropical holiday.
If anyone ever makes it to Bali on a shoestring: Stay at Kedin's Inn II, Sorga Gang, between Poppies Gang I & II. It's beautiful for Rp90,000 (less than ₤6) a night for a double room, with en suite bathroom and breakfast. And of course the pool...

After such a relaxing an afternoon, we went to meet up with Pauly and Amy, who are now here on their honeymoon. Shopping is hard work in Kuta; so we went for a swim in the Hard Rock Hotel pool. Unfortuantely we only had a brief swim, until we were asked to either pay Rp100,000 each or leave, by the pool attendant. But we did get a taster of the high and wealthy life of Bali at least. Hotel pool crashing is not as easy as one would like it to be. Darn!

The heat! Oh, the heat! It's is sticky, humid and unbearable - but just what I wanted! Bali in the rainy season. Who could have thought that this would be my only wish at this moment, but it is. Getting used to the constant hassle of being approached (and sometimes pushed into shops!) and nattered at, is still taking some getting used to, without getting agitated. But I'm back in the heat! Yes!

The last couple of days in Melbourne were great too. Somewhat cold at times, but great.
Our trip to the Yarra Valley was fantastic. For those of you who are not into the fine joys of wine; the Yarra Valley is 1 hour Northeast of Melbourne and the area produces some fine wines. Well on the same level as Hunter Valley near Sydney.
It was probably the most friendly tour we have been on ever. Whether it was due to the wine or just the friendly people - I don't know. But I destinctly remember talking to someone before we made our first stop at Yering Station Winery even.
After our first tasting (which started at exactly 11.07am) of a pretty average Sauvignon Blanc and a few other interesting, but not exceptional other ones, I was slightly disappointed. But only until I made my way to the tasting bar and picked out a few cool wines ones myself.
By 3.30pm we had visited all 4 wineries (approx. 30 tasters later - and no spitting) I was rather laced, but felt great. That afternoon I had the best sleep ever. And of course I dreamt of grapes...

The Bali arrival was hard on me. Getting there and finding a guesthouse was pretty easy, but on our first outing in Kuta that evening and I was already annoyed.
The top ten of offers in Kuta you are not allowed to ignore are:

10. Surf board? Surf today good!
9. Souvenir t-shirt?
8. Guesthouse here! Good room. Cheap.
7. Look at menu! Good food!
6. Hello Darling, nice sunglasses for you!
5. Massage?
4. Manicure, pedicure!
3. Braid your hair?
2. Yes! Look inside! Neckless!
1. Transport?

Hoping to go to Ubud in a few days. Not that I hope there will be any less hassle there, but at least I hope it won't be as annoying. Someone on the beach yesterday even tried to sell me a bow and arrows! And what would I want with that?

It all started out with me being invited to a cool party by my French Canadian friend Alex, which - naturellement - turned out to be a pool party... Hey! Je ne parle pas francais! What's a Dane to do, but to down her drink, strip to her underwear, close her eyes and just jump in? I really didn't have a choice - this being an Australian pool party, I would have ended up in that pool with all my clothes on, if I hadn't. I'm sure I did the right thing! Well, no-one complained...

Too much red red wine - and a great French Canadian Shepherd's Pie - later; I was trekking back to Melbourne central and my bed. But alas! The boys in the room next door were having a party all night, so the 5 hours sleep I had planned for were lost to the bad sound of West Coast Hip Hop filtering through the open window.

But bright and early Monday morning I was chirping! Chirping with a fairly coarse voice: "Let me go back to bed, pleeeeaaaaassssseeeeee!"
No luck though. The bus was to pick us up at 7.15am and there was really no way I could have missed it. It was going to take us down The Great Ocean Road.
First stop was Bell's Beach. Legendary to all surfers as probably the best strip of surf in the world. Legendary to the rest of us as the second most fly infested spot in the planet! Although at the time it seemed like the most infested. 10am and freezing cold about 40 odd surfers were sitting in the calm water hoping for a wave. None seemed to come. Poor bastards...
Tea and biscuits were meant to prepare us for the rollercoaster ride that is the Great Ocean Road. It almost worked, but I was pretty happy for the stops on the way - OH! My poor head! Looking at the wild koalas I so wished I could do like them: Eat eucalyptus leaves for 4 hours, get stoned and sleep for 20 hours - and repeat... Lazy buggers!
All in all it was a great day, with many cool spots, including of course The 12 Apostles (THE most fly infested spot in the universe!!!!!!) and Loch Ard Gorge. I'll post the pictures as soon as they come off the roll.

OH! I almost forgot! To those of you who have read my post Summer Ill...: We drove past the house that Mad Max and his family lived in at the start of the movie and apparently it's now worth $4million!!!!!! What?!?!?! It's a beach shack!

A welcome change to the pretentiousness of Sydney - Melbourne...
The little brother of Sydney, where life just happens, rather than being a happening. I prefer Melbourne. Call me partial to the first city I visited here, but Melbourne just has so much more charm, and a much better vibe about it, than Sydney.
Sydney is beautiful and cute, don't get me wrong. It has the The Great Coathanger, The Orange Peels and beaches with funny names. What more can you want? I for one would like a little bit more soul to a city. Melbourne has that and then some. But no cool brigdes or wonders of the world - it just is... Mellow...

It's also a bit colder again. We arrived at a chilling 18 degrees. Brrr.... But it does loook like it will warm up a bit for the weekend. I really hope so, this is meant to be summer!

Outfit found, dinner had, pre-party BBQ attended and we're at Wharf 3 gawking at the view of Sydney Harbour Bridge. It's all ours for the night. Yay!

Great music, great view and the best company you can wish for - and all of this in Sydney on New Year's Eve 2005/06! It was amazing. It was beautiful, it was a memory for life.
And I haven't even told you about the fireworks yet...
Imagine this: A wharf. Outside. With a 3 diameter mirror ball in between 2 DJ stages. 150 meters of pure unobscured view of Sydney's beauty. A sofa. With us on it. Watching the fireworks exploding right in front of us. Behind us and to the right of us. While old frigate sail boats covered in lights sail past...
Sydney is number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on my list of all time top 10 New Year's Eve celebrations list! Thanks to Pauly! Good guy!

So it's now 2006. No-one here have really phantomed that yet - or anything else for that matter. The sun has welcomed us into this new year by blessing us with a 40 degrees rain of pure unfiltered heat. What little wind of mercy we get, is no blessing as it has the same effect as a hair dryer - dry, dry, dry, dry, damn it!!!
Hang-overs go unnoticed. Ask people how they feel today and you get a look of submission and a one syllable word: HOT! Some people have tried to find refuge at the beach - but most of those returned pretty fast. Too hot for any activity - I believe it's cinema night tonight! God bless the vexing air con!

Happy New Year!

Pictures

The last day of the year. Wow - again...
How many times in your life have you wished someone Happy New Year? Phew! Too many to recall hopefully!
But how many times have you done it in 32 degrees, in shorts, sweating, while the sun is laughing at you from above?
Just like with Christmas, this really seems like the wrong time a year for a digit change. Simply the wrong season. However, the happy smiles as the Sydneysiders wish each other happiness in the new year, does make it feel just like it should: A reason to celebrate.
And celebrate we will! With front row seats on the harbourside (Wharf 3 to be excact. Check out the view!) in one of the coolest cities in the world!

So to all of you cold, flu infested people back in Europe

Happy New Year!

And to all the rest of you - however fortunate or unfortunate you may be weatherwise

Happy New Year!

Hey there folks!

Just in case you were wondering: I'm still limping around the place. Not the entire place, mind! Just the hostel, the internet cafe next door, and the Korean restaurant around the corner. Pretty big space when you walk at the speed of a paralysed snail!
But today I'm making a break for it! You just wait and see! I will make it from Sydney Central to Bondi Junction without a wince! The rest of the way from the station to the beach might cause a bit of iffing, but I'll make it there... Before midnight maybe even...

Wish me luck!

Merry Chrstmas again to everyone! I hope you all had a brilliant time either with your family or friends - or as it happens on you own. Either way I hope you weren't lonely or sad.
Luckily we were neither...
We decided to follow a fellow traveller's recommendation and go to the King's Cross Hotel on Christmas Eve. Good music and a fun night out was in the pipeline. But first we set out to find that kangaroo steak we were hoping for. Unfortunately it wasn't to be found. So we were wandering around the notorious suburb of King's Cross (it's got nothing on Soho though!) to find an alternative. A little sign in a window caught our attention:

Try our special Danish hotdogs! Only $3.50!

Wow! Could this really turn out to be a Danish Christmas? Was this for real?
Well, as good as at least... If anyone is wondering what makes a hotdog Danish - go to Denmark and find out! Do I have to tell you guys everything?

Afer a few drinks at the King's Cross Hotel we decided to head home - we knew it would be a big day for us on Christmas Day, so we wanted to be prepared.

Early morning alarm finally gets us out of bed and after a while on a train to Cronulla for Christmas lunch with friends. A good old fashioned Australian Barbeque! Then off to the beach for that Christmas swim and tan. What a perfect Summer day!
Feeling lazy from the sun, we were then - like the royals we were - driven up into the Blue Mountains for an Australian Christmas Dinner. Has anyone out there ever heard of Balmain Bugs? Well, I haven't, but I ate one never the less. Quite yummy! Together with the chicken, the prawns, the potato salad, the ham, the salad and of course the Australian icon: The beatroot!

Recovering from Christmas in the Mountains we didn't make it back to catch the Sydney to Hobart boat race start off at 1pm. Not even on TV as we were simply just too tired to do anything. I'm not upset though - travelling is not about seeing things - it's about experiencing them.

And an experience I had today! After finding out that a climb across the suspension of the Sydney Habour Bridge would set us back $200 (£90), we decided for the cheap option of just climbing one of the Pylons (the funny towers at either end of the bridge) for just $8.50. All well and good - and happy with our excursion and our photos - we started on our way back down the 200 steps. Almost back at the ticket office I slipped off a step (yeah, I know!) and twisted my ankle. It hurt. A lot actually. But I was sure nothing was broken and just wanted to sit for a while, when one of the staff came up and offered to help. Man, I have never had so much of a fuzz kicked up about a minor injury before! And I have had my fair share - if not more. They wouldn't let me leave without having had my foot on ice for at least 1 hour and having it all bandaged up, while resting it on a pillow. They sat me down in the video room and I saw the 15 minute long feature film about the bridge at least 4 times before I managed to get out! And that's only because they were closing!
Glad to be out of that place - with an excuse to get a cab back to the hostel - we went to the pub for a few drink - and a refill of the ice bag. Reflecting on my history of injuries - this one will level with: That-one-time-in-Thailand-when-I-burned-my-leg-on-the-motorbike-exhaust-pipe. AKA The Silly Ones!

Being Danish and all I have to wish everyone a very merry Christmas TODAY!
It's in my blood and not a moment too early.
Tonight we will celebrate our Christmas the Australian way:
With a kangaroo steak and plenty of drinks! Well, that's what we recon we have to do anyway...

Tomorrow we are heading down to the southern suburbs where we have been invited to a Christmas BBQ lunch and of course - drinks...
In the evening we are heading up into the Blue Mountains to keep the Australian Chrimbo festivities going.

See you all on the other side of the Silly Season! Enjoy!!!!

Have managed to download some of Tanja's photoes from Thailand for you guys to enjoy too. Have a look at my new picture site:
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