Who says you can't go home again?

So here I am back in Adelaide. I will eventually get around to properly updating my blog... eventually. But here's a brief summary:

My last few weeks of my overseas adventures were spent in Vietnam, Cambodia and then finally, back in Thailand. I did an Intrepid tour (which I will admit, I was slightly hesitant about. I've always held a slight disdain for group tours) and I had a ball. An absolute ball. Vietnam was insane. Ho Chi Minh City is unlike anywhere I've ever been. And that's just the traffic! If you've been, you know what I mean!

I fell head over heels in love with Cambodia. For a country that has suffered so much and is stuck in a terrible cycle of poverty (Only 19% of the population has access to "adequate sanitation", of those 19% only around 4% has access to a flushing toilet!) the people are the most lovely, friendly and hospitable people I've met anywhere in the world. Not to mention the adorable children!

The highlight of my tour was a visit to an orphanage in Phnom Penh. I, along with our tour leader, Daniel, managed to convince our tour group to pitch in as much as they could to buy rice for the 29 orphans and staff. We managed to buy enough to last them for around a month and half. The final night of our tour saw my development studies student side emerge in full force again and I roped the group into participating in a quiz night to raise money for the Intrepid foundation.

But, now my Asian travels are over and I'm back home. Which is nice, but strange. I'm crazy busy, but oddly bored.

I am now working on the final challenge for ActionAid's Project TOTO Outreach Blogger. This one involves fundraising, which at this somewhat expensive time of year, can be tough. If anyone out there reading my blog would like to donate, all I'm asking for is ONE DOLLAR! Yep, just one dollar. And that you pass the information to as many friends as you can asking them to do the same. Secure credit card or paypal donations can be made here: http://www.everydayhero.com.au/sharna_bremner
You can also find out more about TOTO here. Please, help ActionAid help to give a voice to poverty!

The Amazing Union of Myanmar!

I realise I went to Myanmar/Burma a couple of weeks ago but exams, essays and ActionAid stuff has kept me pretty busy since then. I'm now in Vietnam after packing up my dorm room and leaving Green Park today. But I'll get to that later.

We left for Myanmar on Thursday Nov 26 at the crack of dawn. Literally. We saw the sun rise. And I'm not really great when it comes to early mornings. But we did it. Two Aussies, one Canadian and a crazy Finnish uni lecturer.

I don't even know how to begin to describe Myanmar. Everything I was expecting was completely wrong. We got in to the Myanmar airport around 8ish in the morning and from the second we got there, I think Danielle, Sarineh & I fell in love. Men, women and children were wearing longyi's, which is traditional clothing much like a sarong. Being in the city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, is like stepping back in time.

I won't go too far into the details of what we did, because I'd be typing forever. We were on the go constantly. One the first day we had a traditional Burmese breakfast of fish soup. Well, I didn't. I can't bring myself to eat seafood no matter what. Ever. Even if it means I'm being impolite. I just can't do it. But I did drink tea. Even though I swore I'd never drink tea because that would mean I was old. Only Nanna's drink tea. We went to a school where our uni teacher gave a lecture in Buddhism, had lunch with our awesome new Burmese friends, went to the National Museum which reminded us of Night At The Museum. We had a strange little guide who was wearing his longyi and a pair of Ray Bans. Inside. Despite the fact that there wasn't enough light for us to see anything properly. Weird. And then Marja-Leena (our teacher) and her friend Dr Pe Win took us to the Shwedagon Pagoda. Dr Pe Win was one of the funniest people I've ever met. He had this nervous little giggle that we don't think was actually nervous at all, that was just how it sounded. Everytime he laughed, the three of us (Danielle, Sarineh & I) looked at each other smirking like little kids. The Pagoda was incredible. Seriously, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it. And if Burma seems a little too far to go for some Pagoda action, Google it. It's unbelievable. After Chinese food and some Myanmar Beer it was off to bed.

For those of you who don't know, Myanmar's electricity is... well, lets just say dodgy. Every house, business and hotel needs a generator because the state-owned electrical system will only work for a few hours a day. It cuts out without warning and when the generator kicked in the lights all came on and scared the hell out us.

Day 2 was just as busy, if not more so. We paid a visit to the Shalom Foundation, a local NGO. After a discussion with one of the staff members, we found out that they work with ActionAid Myanmar and off we headed to the ActionAid office! I became a total Development Studies geek and was so excited. For those of you who haven't been following my blog or haven't been pestered by my non-stop facebook messages, I'm hoping to get a position with ActionAid Australia as their next Project TOTO Outreach Blogger so for me, a visit to the Myanmar branch was awesome. We met the manager of field operations, Sital Kumar, who could not have been nicer to us. Despite the fact we just turned up at his office unannounced and without an appointment, he spent a great deal of time discussing ActionAid's work in Myanmar, particularly rebuilding the areas that were hit by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and killed at least 100,000 people. Seeing ActionAid at work and learning about the way they have helped the wonderful, friendly people of Myanmar was quite possibly the highlight of the trip!

We visited another organisation and met Marja-Leena's Burmese teacher, Jennifer for dinner. We went to an awesome Nepalese restaurant. Well, it was awesome till we had finished eating and then I saw 2 giant rats running along between the walls and the tables. Yummy. But, hey, the food was good, and no one got sick! We had met a nice Dutch guy that was staying at our guesthouse the night before and we spent the rest of the night having some more Myanmar Beer on the roof. All fun and games til you wake up the other guests and get in to trouble like little kids. Whoops.

Day 3 was just as busy and just as exhausting as the previous days. A visit to an Armenian church for Sarineh and then a driving tour of Yangon. We went to a lake that literally could've been anywhere in the world. Sailing boats, a rowing club, beautiful weather. But we couldn't stay, more to see, more to do! We met Mimi's mum (Mimi is a fellow student at MUIC and is originally from Myanmar, her mum still lives there) and had Indian food for lunch. God I love Indian food. I could eat it anytime, anywhere. And this place just kept bringing the food whenever you finished some. Awesome.

Lunch was followed by shopping at the Aung San Markets, getting Indian sweets and sitting down at a little tea shop, in little chairs with little tables. A quick rest and we were off again! This time to the Myanmar Institute of Theology for their Christmas fundraiser/fair. Moments of pure gold were had that night. From choc mint ice cream, to the man-powered ferris wheel. That's right. Man powered. No motor, no engine. Just a bunch of guys. Picture a hamster wheel. One of those little wheels that you buy for a pet mouse. Now turn it into a full sized ferris wheel but substitute mice or hamsters for people. I refused to go on when I heard that some of it was held together with things akin to twist ties that you use on plastic bags. Erm.. thanks but I'll pass. We played some side shows, I won a soap holder thing (score!) and then it was off for a night out!

We headed to a bar named Mr Guitar, live accoustic music, beer, fries. What more could you ask for? Shame it couldn't last because our flight back to Thailand was early the next morning.

I must say that Myanmar is possibly my new favourite place in the world. The people are so lovely, so generous, and so accommodating. The city is green, much cleaner than Bangkok and is a crazy mix of old and new. Mostly old. :) If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate. Just go! Don't listen to those who tell you that you should boycott and don't be put off by those visa horror stories. It's totally worth it.

And now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh city. The trimester finished with much stress and people were planning what they were going to when they left Green Park. I had a minor freak out about being homeless and alone and booked a tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, kind of on a whim. Some of the other girls from the dorm left over the last few days, many, many tears were shed especially for those who won't still be around when I get back to Thailand. It's amazing how close we've all become in such a short space of time. We've likened it to Big Brother. You're crammed together 24/7 and have no choice but to become friends.

So my tour starts tomorrow. Exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time. I've gone from having friends around me all the time to being totally alone. But, hey, it's meant to be character building right??

Missing you all!!
xoxo

It Started With A Head Injury...

For those of you with a short attention span, here's a brief summary of what I've been up to in the last few weeks: Bangkok-Singapore-Philippines, head wound, creepy town, amazing resort, cave swimming, long bus ride, Philippines-Singapore, aborted take off at airport and a lengthy delay, Singapore-Bangkok, uni, trip to Burmese/Myanmar Embassy, a fish massage, "This Is It".

And here it is in detail.

I flew from Thailand to Singapore to meet up with little Jen and after a brief overnight stopover, we were off to Clark Airport, Philippines! No sooner had we landed, we went to get into a cab to head to Angeles for the night and I smacked my head getting in. Hard. With my sunglasses on my head. Somehow the sunglasses came off unscathed while I was left with a minor gushing head wound. Who knew a head could bleed like that?? I certainly didn't. But I was determined not to let it dampen my mood, (and was 100% sure I didn't want to go to a hospital in the Philippines!) and we headed into Angeles.

For those of you who have never heard of Angeles, there is a reason. Unless you're a middle-age to elderly American man, there is little need to know about the town, much less visit it. But we managed to find a hotel for the night, I washed the blood out of my hair (so gross right?) and were deciding what to do when welding sparks showered into our room from under the door. It was like fireworks. And was so, so funny. We thought our bed was going to catch alight! So after laughing uncontrollably for a good 20 minutes, we checked that the coast was clear and set off to explore. And soon discovered that there wasn't much to see. Except for the old American men with young Filipino girls. Yes, that's right. Girls, not women. It was awful. We walked around for a bit, standing out as the only white chicks around for miles and headed back to the restaurant next to our hotel to have dinner. Where we were again confronted with young Filipino females with older white men. I know that the sex trade is alive and well in Asia (you see it fairly often in some parts of Thailand) but this was something like I've never experienced. There was an American guy that I would've guessed was around 50 years old dining with a Filipino girl who would've been no more than 17 years old. Seriously. It made us feel physically ill. Or maybe that was the orange cheese on the taco salads.

Thinking we'd seen the absolute worst of Asia's prostitution, we headed to bed for an early night. At the same restaurant for breakfast the next morning, things somehow got worse. Not only were Mr 50 year old American and his teen girlfriend there, they were accompanied by another older American man and his heavily pregnant Filipino girlfriend who I would've guessed was 15. 15 years old. With an old man. It was sickening. And there was nothing we could do about. It made me so sad.

Feeling ashamed of being a Westerner like the dirty old men we had just seen, we headed off to the bus terminal for our journey to Bolinao. For those of you who may have been living under a rock recently, or are just plain ignorant, the Philippines has been battered by incredibly strong,deadly typhoons in the last few months. In a country where 45% of the population lives on less than US$2 a day, natural disasters can be catastrophic. Over 1100 people died and countless more were left homeless between September and December this year due to typhoons. Suffice to say, we were unsure of what to expect. I have to say, if you haven't yet been, go to the Philippines. Now. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. We were too far north to see much of the damage from the storms and the countryside is lush and green and... amazing. The people we met at the bus station couldn't have been more helpful and friendly. What we did see however, was poverty. And a lot of it. The gap between rich and poor was even more prominent than it is here in Thailand. We arrived at Puerto Del Sol resort in Bolinao (after a trike ride that we were convinced would cut our lives tragically short), an amazing, luxurious resort with a huge pool and a beautiful private beach, while there were whole families living down the road in a tin shed or a bamboo hut. No electricity, no running water, no couch or tv or internet or fridge. Grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, dogs, pigs, chickens, you name it. All living in a one or two room hut. Suffice to say, I was feeling more than a little guilty.

We spent the next few days living it up in the resort. Relaxing by the pool, hunting in Bolinao and Alaminos for an ATM that would accept an international debit card and eating awesome food. We watched the sunset on the beach almost every night, drank wine and watched the moon rise over the pool. We also took a trip to the Enchanted Caves, where we swam in the tranquil, fresh water cave pools. Incredible. All the while, people around me were living an existence that I couldn't even imagine myself living. But at the same time, they were happy and friendly and helpful. Jen and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they have it right. Ok, not the extreme poverty, lack of basic sanitation, health care and education stuff but perhaps it's a lack of greed and materialism. The more you have, the more you seem to want. And you don't really need that flat screen tv, or the latest mobile phone or ipod. But once you have one, you always seem to want more. Something for you all to ponder.

Eventually my time at Puerto Del Sol came to an end and I had to head back to Thailand on my own. It may not sound like such a big deal, but I'm proud of myself for surviving 1 day, 3 countries, 2 trike/tuk tuk rides, 2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, 1train trip and 2 flights all by myself! Especially when the bus ride was meant to have taken 3 hours and been on an airconditioned bus but instead took almost 6 hours, with no airconditioning, just open windows that left me in a thin layer of grease and grime. I was also the only 'westerner' for miles, so I got plenty of stares, points and whispers! I managed to get back to Clark airport in the nick of time, flew to Singapore and had some hard earned Burger King! There were so many Aussies in Singapore airport and I'm not going to lie. I got a little homesick. It could've been so easy to jump on the Jetstar plane that was boarding next to mine and heading to Melbourne! But instead I boarded the plane I was supposed to, AirAsia to Bangkok. As we were heading down the runway, rapidly picking up speed, the pilot slams on the brakes. We all went flying forward, resulting in many jarred limbs and a case of two or whiplash no doubt. But after a brief mumbled message of "technical issues" and an hour and a half delay on the tarmac and a cold, miserable flight spend in pain after the aborted take off, I finally made it back home to Bangkok.

Last weekend was spent with a day in Bangkok, going to the Burmese/Myanmar embassy to get my visa (scary, scary place. Really. Like a prison.), hanging out at Starbucks, going to see "This Is It" again and getting a fish massage. Which creeped me out like I've never been creeped out before. It was hundreds of fish sucking on your feet and eating the dead skin. It was how I imagined leeches to be and I lasted about 35 seconds before flat out refusing to do it again.

So. In summary, the Philippines = beautiful, amazing but sad at the same time, recovered from injuries, even more scared of flying than I was before, fish massage = EW, NEVER AGAIN!

But now, it's back to the reality of uni work and the fun, if slightly stressful, Project TOTO blog!

Miss you all at home to the moon and back!

xoxo

Hmmmm....

I’m sitting in the airport in Thailand, with 2 hours until I board my flight to Singapore, then it’s on to the Philippines tomorrow. I could’ve used this time to study, or work on my first challenge for Project TOTO however blogging seems more fun now. Although I can’t quite work out how to use the airport wi-fi so it’s more than likely that I’ll post this at a later date...

On the long cab ride here, I realised I’ve been living in Thailand for 2 months. Pretty impressive that I have survived this long, especially considering the number of times I’ve been in a cab. Those of you who have been in a taxi in Thailand will know what I mean. The radio in the taxi was playing the Thai version of cheesy 80’s or 90’s rock ballads and we all know those are the perfect soundtracks for a little reflection. I mean, who hasn’t listened to Bon Jovi crooning about life and reflected on their own?? So I came to realise a few things.

Thailand has made me infinitely more patient than I once was. Those of you who know me well know that I have the patience of a small child. I want what I want and I want it now. But here, things are never that easy. There are no bus timetables (well, apparently there are but schedules don’t seem to mean much here), people often walk slow (even though they drive like maniacs) and the language barrier means that buying anything, asking questions, even ordering lunch at school can turn into a lengthy process.

If you had asked me a month ago, I would’ve said I was ready to come home but in the cab ride to the airport, I also realised that I am actually going to miss Thailand. I will miss the hilarity that comes with the aforementioned language barrier. I will miss being able to utilise my miming skills that, after two months of practice, would now put Marcel Marceau to shame. Seriously. I can mime everything from drink, to lighter, chicken, no fish, and toilet. It’s quite a skill. I’ll miss cheap food. Really miss it. I’m going to be Adelaide’s biggest scrooge when I have to pay more than 50 cents for a Cornetto, or 25 cents for a bottle of water. And eating at Mayo Cafe and UBC at uni is going to be a real struggle. At MUIC’s canteen, I can get an amazing pad thai, or chicken curry with rice (although I have recently completed a week long boycott against rice), a fruit smoothie and some fresh pineapple for around $3. Going back to Mayo’s crappy chips and gravy is going to suck. I will miss Milo Nuggets, one of the world’s greatest inventions. I may even miss people constantly staring at me and taking my photos. When I step onto that plane to head home, I will no longer be a “celebrity”. Walking down the street without feeling like a movie star will be strange. As will be the ease of life in a country where you speak the language. I’ll be able to get into a taxi and tell them where I need to go, without using a map, or calling someone to tell them for me.

Most of all, I’m going to miss the people I live with. Sure, I’ll get to see everyone back home again, but I knew that you would all be there when I came back. When I leave here, it could be ages if I see these people again, if ever. Living in a dorm has its challenges **THIS MEANS YOU FRIDGE MONSTER** but I’m lucky enough that I when I need a break, I can retreat to my room. I also know that if I’m in a bad mood, someone will be there to yank me out of it. If I’m sad or feeling homesick, I can go downstairs to the common area and there will be any number of people there to cheer me up. Or even if I just get a case of the sillies, there is always someone around to be silly with. Yes, again, I have this at home, but here in Thailand, in the dorm, it’s right there. I don’t have to make a phone call, or travel far to see anyone. The thought of not seeing the awesome people I live with every day sucks. But there is a bright side. I will now have friends all over the world. And I love to travel (even if I hate to fly), so they can all expect an Aussie visitor eventually.

I’m going to find it strange to come home to Adelaide and no longer see greenery around. Or to walk down the street and not see a woman begging for money for her and her children. It will be odd to see Australian houses with their well kept yards, lined up street after street, without seeing mansions next to tin slums. To not see people bathing in the river. To walk down the street and not have my nostrils assaulted by the strange smells of street stalls, cooking fish and pork and god knows what else. There will no longer be stray cats and dogs everywhere that make me sad, no spirit houses and people will no longer “wai” me when they say hello.

Damn you Thai 80’s/90’s rock ballads!

Despite everything I’ve said that I will miss, I do miss you all back home, and can’t wait to see you again!!!
Hugs & love!!!

xoxo

PS - This was posted 2 days after it was written, while I was in the Philippines!

Better Late Than Never!

I realise my birthday was a couple of weeks ago however midterms have kept me from updating my blog for a while, so here goes...

My birthday in Thailand was awesome! Despite the fact I was less than impressed with being another year older, and trying in vain to convince everyone that since I'm in a different country, my birthday was non-existant or somehow didn't count, I had such a fun weekend. Since Amber's 21st was 2 days after my birthday (we won't mention how old I turned), we had decided to celebrate together with a dinner on the Monday night but what Amber didn't know was that Lisa, Annie and I had planned to suprise her with a weekend in a hotel in Bangkok. FYI, don't ever try to surprise someone like this. It's hard, it's stressful and since they don't actually know that you're going to be surprising them, they get kinda mad when they think nobody cares about their birthday! Yes, Amber, I'm talking to you!

So we headed into Bangkok on the Friday to have lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (not terribly Outback-ish really. Although I did have a crownie!), telling Amber that Lisa was headed to the beach for the weekend and I was meeting a friend and spending the night with her. Only the stories we came up with were much more detailed and elaborate than that. So as Lisa distracted Amber by taking her to a grocery store that sells American & Aussie food, Annie and I checked into the hotel (the same one I stayed at with Leah & Shaun the weekend before, scoring a free upgrade in the process) and when it was FINALLY ready, Lisa and Amber headed up. We took Amber to her room, telling her it was my room and I reckon it took her a good 3 minutes before she realised what was going on. It was so funny! It's a good thing she's pretty because clearly she's not too clever! (Just kidding Amber... Maybe....) And it turns out that those sneaky little minxes had in fact pulled off a double suprise, buying me wine, cheese, crackers, saladas, twisties and a bunch of other stuff while they were at the store! Cheeky much?!?

Saturday was spent shopping (of course) in a crowded mall, with my tolerance levels slowly but surely decreasing. Until we headed back to the hotel, stopping at a mexican restaurant for frozen margarita's. Amazing what a cocktail can do for my mood! After a dip in the pool, we headed back to the mexican restaurant for dinner which was sooo good. Seriously, just thinking about it makes me want to head into Bangkok for more of it. Like, I'm actually considering it right now. It's not that far. Only an hour or so by taxi... I got surprise number 2 at the restaurant when we were given cocktails and I was sung happy birthday to by all the staff! Nawwww!!! I will have fond memories of Coyote's Mexican restaurant in Sukhumvit. I will not have fond memories of the rats just outside. From there it was off to a London Pub for a few more drinks, a couple of games of pool, a cover band that just about had Annie and I wetting ourselves with excitement when they first song they played was Dancing Queen (we automatically turned into those girls that start screaming and saying things like "it's my song!") and yet another surprise when the band sang happy birthday to me! Loves it!!

We had to head back to our dorm on the Sunday, which was my actual birthday, but not before I bought more wine, cheese and snacks to enjoy with the rest of the people from Green Park! It was the perfect way to spend a birthday, until I got felt up later in the night by the lady from the Thai whiskey stand... Interesting.

The past week has been a little crazy with midterm exams and essay's due, Halloween fun and the Loy Krathong festival, which was amazing. (If you haven't heard of Loy Krathong, google it. It's pretty cool). Highlights of the week were: getting yelled at by a salesgirl in MBK **see below post**, getting proposed to by a tuk tuk driver "miss, miss, you so white, very beautiful, you give me your number, we get married!" and making it to the shortlist of nominees for ActionAid Australia's Project TOTO Outreach Blogger. This is something I'm pretty passionate about (I'd want to be passionate I suppose, considering I'm studying to get a bachelors degree in Development Studies) and is a great cause. I'm stoked to have made it on to the shortlist of 12 out of the amazing 52 original nominees. If you haven't heard about ActionAid and the fantastic work they do, I suggest you pop on over to their website at: www.actionaid.org.au, or you can find out more about Project TOTO here: http://blogs.actionaid.org.au/toto/2009/10/26/project-toto-shortlist/

I'm so so so excited, although a little nervous, about the challenges I now have to undertake to hopefully get the position! Not to mention the excitement of my impending holiday! Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore and then on to the Philippines on Thursday with Jen, who I have mentioned in other blogs. I think. If I haven't, she's ace!! That's really all you need to know! Keep your fingers crossed that they don't get hit by another typhoon, not only for us, but for the poor people who live there and have been battered by crazy weather for the past few weeks!

Missing you all loads!

xoxo

***Warning - This Blog Contains a Serious Rant...***

I realise I haven't yet blogged about my awesome birthday weekend, my adventures for the last week or so, or the craziness of this weekend however there are a few things I feel obliged to put out in cyberspace right now, if nothing else, just to get them off my chest. I promise that aforementioned, not so crazy ranting blog is forthcoming! After midterms are over!!

A friend of mine from Green Park purchased an "ipod" from a store at a mall named MBK yesterday. As the price was extraordinarily cheap, it was no secret that said "ipod" was not the real deal. What was unexpected however was that it did not work, at all. It wasn't even recognised by her computer, let alone itunes and resulted in her computer suggesting that the item may corrupt her computer. So we headed back to MBK today to get a refund for what was undoubtedly a dodgy product. When we arrived at the store, we were advised (in a not so polite manner) that she knew the item was not genuine and that no refund would be given. Knowing the Thai people do not like to "lose face" we stayed calm and rang the number the mall itself has posted everywhere for situations such as these. As I stood waiting with my friends computer at the store, I was clearly being discussed in Thai. No problem with that at all. Hell, if I was in the salesgirl's position, I would've done the same. I was then joined by another friend and filled her in on what was going on, only to be called stupid by the salesgirl. Um... What?? I ignored her but when other people came to the same store to purchase an ipod, we told them not to bother as it most likely wouldn't work with itunes etc and were then subjected to a barrage of abuse, not only from the sales people we had been dealing with, but also from the surrounding stores. We were yelled at, told to shut up and were called stupid bitches. I personally am proud of the way we handled ourselves, either ignoring them or suggesting that perhaps it wasn't the best example of customer service to abuse your customers. The abuse continued. The MBK customer service woman was polite and as helpful as she could be, mediating between us and the sales people but the damage was done. I was sooo angry. I've never, ever been abused by sales people before, and hope it never happens again. Suffice to say, I will not be shopping at MBK any time soon. The point of my little story? This is yet another instance which has made me feel like Thai people are simply out to rip me off **see previous posts**.
Foreigners have to pay more for everything, purely because they are perceived as being well-off or rich, I have been stolen from not once, but twice, and it seems that someone is constantly trying to scam us out of our money. I realise that I am a guest in their country and therefore have to play by Thai rules, and that it is only a small minority of Thai people who are this way, but I can't help but let it leave a negative mark on my experience here.

Closer to home, for those of you who are unaware, the last Friday of every October is the date of the annual international rally/march known as either Reclaim The Night or Take Back The Night. It's aim to protest against, and raise awareness of, violence against women around the world. It is an event which is held in many major, and many small, cities world wide and dates back to the 1970's and calls attention to a serious and very real problem in most societies today. Some of my amazing, incredible friends took part in the rally that was held in Adelaide last night (Friday, October 30) only to discover that they had been shown on Adelaide's Channel 7 news and publicly labeled as sex workers. Whilst I personally have nothing against sex workers themselves, for Channel 7 news to so blatantly disregard the notion of research when reporting a story is something I find despicable. To state that these amazing women, who are standing up for the rights of women everywhere (such as your mother, sister, grandmother or friend), who are actually trying to make a positive change in the world, demonstrates a severe lack of research and preparation on behalf of the media. These people are not sex workers. The message of Reclaim The Night has nothing to do with sex, or the sex industry. It is about the violence that permeates the lives of women around the world. Sex workers, mothers, students, the lady that sells you your coffee, that woman that lives next door. To detract from the true message of Reclaim The Night, to make it something it's not, and to denigrate the fantastic people who take part in such an event, those that have the courage to speak out, from a simple lack of research is shameful.

So before you come to think I've turned into a raging feminist (not that there's anything wrong with that. Until you take it too far and lunge across the desk at me in a Justice, Liberty & Democracy class, yes, you know who you are!) I assure you it's not the case. I am angry and saddened by the state of our so-called free media in Australia. It seems that you can do very little, or no research, say what you want to say regardless of the facts and put it out there for the world to see and take as gospel. And, lets face it, we all know a number of people who hear it on the news or read it in the paper and believe it to be the honest truth. So to Channel Seven Adelaide, I say to you, well done on buggering up a great story, defaming my wonderful friends and the other fantastic people involved in the event, burying the truth among your lies, and detracting from an important and worthwhile cause along the way. Nice work.

Where you go?

Again, I will apologise for the obscure title for this post, and again, it will only be some of the Green Parkers that will understand! It's just too funny to not use!

The last five or so days have been amazing, sad, fun, and pretty much a couple of the best days I've had here so far. As most of you know, my best friend Leah and her awesome fiancee Shaun came to Bangkok to visit and that, coupled with the fact that we were all going to celebrate Helen's 20th birthday at Cabbages & Condoms on Wednesday night, had me bursting with excitement. Like a little kid on Christmas morning. Or a fat person with an unlimited expense account in a McDonalds.

After a long day at uni, I got to have a somewhat girly, squealing, excited reunion with Leah and Shaun on a Bangkok street underneath a BTS station on Wednesday night before we dropped my stuff off at our amazing hotel and headed to a restaurant called Cabbages & Condoms for Helen's birthday dinner. (If you haven't heard about Cabbages & Condoms, google it. Instead of after dinner mints, they give you a condom. And it's all in the name of an amazingly good cause)We were joined by one of Leah and Shaun's friends from their tour, Jen from New Zealand so not only did I get to see two of my oldest friends, I made a new one. And had a frozen margarita. Good times!

On Friday, Leah and Shaun had organised for us to go to Kachanaburi province where we went to a war museum and cemetery. Along with the three of us were several others from Leah and Shaun's tour, including Jen and Belinda and Hayden who had gotten engaged the night before! Nawwwww... Adorable!The amount of information on Aussie soldiers, including our very own South Australian Weary Dunlop, in the museum kind of surprised me. We don't often hear or learn about Thailand's involvement in World War II or the Australian soldiers who were here also. I found the number of graves of Australian soldiers in the cemetery to be a bit of shock also. They're so far away from home and there was so many of them. And I won't even get started on how incredibly disgusted we were by the Japanese tourists posing next to headstones. Peace signs and all. Kachanaburi is home to the River Kwai, and the famous Burma Railway bridge from the book and movie "The Bridge Over The River Kwai". The bridge was built by prisoners of war (forced by the Japanese Army)and was also known as the Death Bridge because during its construction approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway, while an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians were also killed. And I was too scared to walk too far across the damn thing. One trip or stumble and you would end up straight in the Kwai, so Leah and I walked a little way and turned back to safety.

We had lunch at a restaurant right on the river and then it was off to the Tiger Temple. I had some reservations about going because of stories that you hear about the tigers being drugged etc, but the guide had assured us that it wasn't the case. When we got there (and after Leah had to buy a shirt that wasn't brightly coloured so she didn't get eaten), Leah and I were still slightly skeptical about the level of cruelty. The tigers were all lazing around like they were depressed, which I guess you would be if you were chained to the ground. A guide grabbed each person by the hand while another took your camera and then you posed for photos while the poor tigers just sat there. At one point, one of them started drinking out of his water bowl and was punished for not looking at the camera by getting squirted in the face with water. I was less then impressed and in my not-so-quiet voice let the perpetrator of said squirt know only to be reprimanded for raising my voice. Dude, you're the one flinging water at a giant cat. My slightly raised voice is not going to piss him of half as much as water in the face. I am ashamed to admit that it was kind of cool to be so close to animals that are so big and so rare. Plus, one of them kicked me in the stomach (accidentally I'm sure) and actually knocked me backwards. It's not every day you get kicked by a tiger. Afterwards we were approached by an Australian girl who worked at the Temple who again tried to assure Leah and I that the only reason they're so docile is because they get fed prior to visitors coming near them and that they're only on the chains for a few hours a day. I personally think that's a few hours too many, even if in the long run they're helping the survival of the species. Animals shouldn't suffer just so tourists can pose for a cool photo to show to their family and friends. I would be just as happy to see them from a distance if it meant they had more freedom.

After a long day of war museums, possible animal cruelty (we're still undecided) and a water taxi down a stinking Bangkok canal Leah, Shaun and I headed back to our hotel, showered and went shopping. For other people. If any of Leah's friends or family read this, I hope you appreciate the trouble they went to get you guys some gifts!!! All was not lost though when we headed to McDonalds for a quick dinner to discover they had cheesy fries. A-MAZING! Thank god we don't have a Macca's near the dorm or I would be even fatter than I am now. Seriously, Thailand is damaging my waistline with it's extremely cheap food!

On Friday we headed down to Khao San Road to do some shopping and meet up with Jen. After much shopping (DVD's, matching toe rings for us girls, clothes and enough nose rings to last Leah a lifetime or two) we stopped in at a pub, pretty much so Leah and I could use the bathroom, and it started raining. And it just kept going. Love the end of monsoon season. Out of nowhere the rain hits and it never ends. And its so damn heavy. But rain did not deter us from shopping some more for the ever-elusive quality designer replica handbag for Leah. Whilst we didn't find exactly what we were looking for we did see some awesome Armaci Vercedi bags. Which had us in fits of laughter when we realised they were meant to be Gianni Versace. God I love Asian-English translations. Oh and Leah, this one's for you "Shaun was wrong, he he was wrong"!!! 55555 (The word for number 5 in Thai is ha so 55555 is the equivalent of hahahahaha. Something that highly amused Leah and I). We had decided that we would go see one of Thailands infamous Ladyboy shows that night. Shaun had called to make a booking and was informed that he, Leah, Bel and Hayden would be charged one price and I, an MUIC student, would get a discount. Until they saw that I was not a Thai MUIC student, but a foreigner. All of a sudden, I too had to pay the same price as the others. This whole foreigners pay more than locals is a constant source of annoyance to me. I don't understand it at all and I don't think I want to understand it because I get the feeling it will make me angry. It seems... racist. But I digress. The ladyboy show was amazing. I did however spend a large portion of it staring at people's crotches, trying to work it out. Some of them were totally gorgeous with amazing figures and I reckon it confused the hell out of the guys in the audience! Afterwards, the performers all lined up to pose for photos which I thought was a bit weird. I realise we'd just paid to watch them perform but there was something about them lining up to have people take their photos that was a little zoo-like for me. It seemed kind of odd.

I felt kind of sad when we got back to our hotel because Leah and Shaun were leaving the next day which meant not only did I have to leave the comfy bed and shower with actual water pressure (!) but I had to say goodbye all over again. And of course when the time came, I cried like a baby. And not just until their taxi drove away but the whole way home. I stopped in a supermarket that they had found that sells Aussie and American food like Twisties and Pop Tarts, spent up big on junk food, had the sales guy give me strange looks either for spending so much money on crap or for sniffling my way through the store, continued to cry on the BTS and the bus home, fogging up my glasses in the process. On the bright side, I got to see two of my favourite people in the world, in Bangkok for almost 3 whole days, got to see some awesome new stuff and places, do things I never thought I'd do, and meet new friends. It was just so so so great to have my people with me, even just for a few days. I can't describe what a little familiarity does for a person!

So after a few days, hours of fun, matching jewellery, great food and an awesome hotel, I have to send a HUGE thank you and a ton of love to Leah and Shaun. You guys are awesomely amazing and I miss you both!!! Having you both here was the best birthday present ever! And if anyone from home wants to make my Christmas equally as awesome by coming to visit, please do!!!

xoxo