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Time for a New Blog

Thank you for following my blog for the last year. It's been a pleasure for me to share my experiences and wonderful to hear your thoughts and stories in return. Two months ago I decided to leave Laos for a number of reasons and to pursue a cooking c




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Chai Espresso

Gotta love a city that makes something called a chai espresso The old imagery of hot dog stands and pretzel stands needs to move over...in my many miles of walking already I have come across carts that sell souvlaki sushi tacos and even specialty dri




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Leaving OregonCrater Lake

After hearing horror stories about driving down the coast in a big rig we decided to head through central Oregon south to California. We camped at Cascade Meadows RPI because Bend Thousand Trails has no sewers and our new motorcoach is a primadona with a




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Istanbul

We arrived in Istanbul last night without too much trouble although our taxi unexpectedly went via a car ferry so we got a short trip across the Bosphorus from Haram to Eminonu. From there is was a short drive to our hotel which is in the heart of Sultanh




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As I sit here in the stairwell

I just realised I saved this blog but never published it. So it's a week late but here it isI am supposed to be working right now but with only 14 stayovers of about 10 minutes each and the need of a full days pay I am chilling in the stairwell unti




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A little package from home...

It has been awhile since I last posted I hope I have not kept you all waiting.... Well. To be honest this last week or so has been very busy and filled with a lot of ups and downs. The main thing to report is that my dad came to visit He came the




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The North Cairns and Townsville

We left Bob and Lyn's Alex and Shirley's spoilt and rejuvenated but ready to see some more of Australias' sites. We flew to Cairns and arrived to a slightly warmer stickier climate. The hostel we had booked into was at the back of cairns town but only




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Third Times a Charm

I had scheduled a meeting with a government official from the State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs SAFEA. I've been working on obtaining permits since March so that I can introduce foreign teachers to Chinese schools. I had made a pretty goo




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off to Tibet

Happy National Day holiday Next week is the 61st anniversary of the PRC so we have no school Thanks Chairman Mao Last night the overseas students office held a banquet for all the international students. The president or dean not sure which...i




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AFL Grand Final 2010 Take 1

R WritesApparantly I have to take the blame I've been told well by Carmel anyway. On Friday night the five of us were making our predictions on who would win the big game. All of the girls were tipping the Saints I think more for the fact that they




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Unbelievable...

My day started off in a fabulously stylish greasy diner at 1000 a.m. when I spied out of the corner of my eye a very handsome diner...as I drank my fabulously strong coffee I noticed that he was nursing a glass of white wine...Chardonnay no doubt to comp




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El Colibri for dinner

Anyone who's dined at El Colibri in San Juan del Sur knows why I forgot what happened the rest of the day leading up to it. In truth we took it slow today sleeping in and tooling around the small town of San Juan so Robyn could get to know the place. We




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Cracker in Melaka Part 2 and tioman

Welcome to part 1112 of the blog.continued from cracker in melaka ...The morning after the hindu procession i awoke to find Reuben and Livia had backed their bags and left for Cherating. After moving into a single room across the hall I went for s




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Toronto Taxis for Shame

In my mad dash to get to the airport for NYC the taxi driver popped the trunk so I could haul my luggage without any assistance into the trunk...the trunk sprung open like an animal trap and smacked me hard in the eyebrow...I was bleeding all the way to




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Irving Dallas and Fort Worth

Howdy from Texas...Fri 24th Sept Managed to find the train station from the greyhound station in downtown dallas got the train to Irving a suburb where the hostel was a woman and her daughter gave us a free lift from the train station to the hostel




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Lares trek notes in the margin

Okay how is everyone doing After 3 weeks I finally figured out how to use my blackberry on WIFI Now I will send out my updates without any issues....I forgot another couple of updates from the LARSE trekOkay so everyone know that I have d




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Silk worms Buddhist monks Fireworks

After escaping the menace of free whiskey buckets we boarded a 'VIP' bus amidst a chorus of yuppies complaining that it didn't have AC or a toilet. I think they looked at the wrong photo when they were buying their tickets and by India standards at leas




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Zanzibar to Chitimba Malawi

These two days we traveled over 1000 km along the Tanzam HIghway finally crossing the border into Malawi in the afternoon of the second day. Here are some of the impressions from our travelsThe Tanzam Highway is paved but that doesn't necessarily m




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Muscat Sink Hole Wadi's Wahiba Sands

Hi Allhere are some pictures of Oman. It took me a while to find a fast enough internet connection to upload them. I will write a bit more when I have a bit more time. Everything is good so far and I'm enjoying the sushine. Sometimes it's a little too




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DAy 18 Siem Reap

Up very early this morning to get to Angkor Wat for Sunrise. We left the hotel at 4.45am It was a 10 minute drive to Angkor Wat and once we were there we paid a dollar for a drink and got a seat free with the drink We sat down in near darkness at around




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A little China traffic story

Driving in China...or more specifically Wuhan. What an experienceLast Friday night we decided to go for a relaxing dinner out at Aloha restaurant normally a halfhour jaunt away by taxi or scooter. We should have known better Quiet Relaxing Ch




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Lombok and the Gilis

G'day all can you tell where we are yetSoooooooo much to tell you and hopefully some pretty pics for you all to see now. There won't be too much today as i'm fighting the clock on the computer that keeps eating my 2...so flamin expensive here in Oz




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Chiang Mai

After a sleepless night on the train we arrived at Chiang Mai train station. We took a free lift from one of the hotel touts at the station entrance and ended up at SK Guesthouse in the middle of old Chiang Mai. The accommodation was a little basic for the




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Cambodia heat to Bali Cool

April 15th and just like clock work it looks like it is going to rain and not a minute to soon thought I was living in a giant sauna for the past month here in Cambodia. The Khmer new Year is going on and it signifies the beginning of the rainy season so




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Our last few days in Africa

After a few days alone in Vic falls me and craig wanted out of Zim but guess what happend we got stuck literally We tried the train fully booked we tried flights fully booked our only option was to get the chicken bus to Bullawayo and hope we co




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An Epic Adventure in TransitParanoia in Thailand

So when I last blogged about our wonderful stay on Phu Quoc Island I was writing from an coffee shop in Saigon on Friday afternoon. I wasn't aware at the time but we had begun what would basically be 51 hours in transit as we blundered our way to an isla




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Rain and more rain

Hallo kidsso if anyone ever wants to go to Austria buy an umbrella No one ever told that this place is a rian forest I havent seen this much rain since I was in Prince Rupert It honestly has not stopped and makes doing things quite difficult. And th




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Cote Fleurie

30 September 2010 After another morning in Honfleur we drove through a succession of resorts along the Cote Fleurie the Northern Riviera and walked round the largest of them upper crust Victorian Deauville of race course fame.Then followed a jo




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we don't need no stinking guidebook.

i have decided to add a few countries to my itinerary. since i was only able to find a guide for turkey before my departure i am now travelling with less. somewhere along the way in turkey i had drawn a map adding romania serbia bosniaherzegovinia mon




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a great ending to bulgaria

i left nesebar for Ruse bulgaria and it was a grand trip. i chatted up my seat mate a young coed who tried to help me navigate the streets of ruse. sadly she was a little off but the cute factor may have made me forget that i was toting my 12kg knapsack




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Why I wear a whistle

still don't know that i want to post this especially considering that the last post was kind of negative. oh what the hell my camera won't connect so i am stuck with writing and this is a day in the life of claysome of the locals have asked why i a




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New Zealand Way to Taupo over Gisborne East Coast Road Opotiki and Rotorura

Arrived in Hasting we're slept on a nice Campsite near a Beach. The german Couple was 3 Days before us there. Manu and Vera are now 9 Month in NZ and have a Working Visa for 1 Year. On the next Day our 2 Vans heading to the North. We visit the Peninsula Ma




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Travel to Guayaquil

My travels to the largest city of Ecuador where pretty uneventful Nothing went wrong and everything ran pretty smoothly which was nice. I flew from Boston to Miami and from Miami to Guayaquil. At MIA Miami International Airport I met up with Gabriel whi




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Singapore

After what can only be called a slight lie in although the traffic on the road outside was dieing to wake us all up we went down for breakfast in the local restaurant underneath our 'hostel'. I think we've all learned by now that nothing starts the day l




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Reykjavik Halifax

SPdia 1He aprovechado la maana para hacer colada y secadora echar el correo y demas. El imprmeable sigue bastante cochino incluso despues de haber pasado por la lavadora asi que le he aplicado una sesion de cepillo y jabon quitamanchas en los




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Tag 22 Gardiner zum Old Faithful Inn 170 km

Zuerst Rafting auf dem Yellowstone River. Da dieser momentan sehr wenig Wasser fhrt duempelten wir langsam dahin und der Steuermann hatte groe Schwierigkeiten das Boot so zu steuern dass wir auch wirklich alle nass wurden.Das war sehr lustig.




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7 Banos Dirt Blog

Wrapped up my Banos trip focus was on Spanish classes but plenty of hiking opportunity and wanted to get dialed into vegetatation soils stability before Malinguapamba MP. Banos is warmer than MP and sets on metamorphic rock with volcanics above. Plent




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Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtSYLVESTER MOWRY Sylvester was born in October of 1830 and graduated from West Point in 1852 near the top of the class. As a sparkling new second lieutenant he went west and took part in the su




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Well all i can do know is count the days down

i handed my notice in today at work so 8 weeks to go they were really good about it and now i have done this the nerves have set in and im actually thinking what have i done.... well theres not turning back now.... yipeee So 8 weeks today ill b




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Travel Blog Invite

Hi GuysI have just set up my own Travel Bog and will update this whilst we are away and hopefully attach photo's.I have added you guys so every time I make an entry you will get an email.Just adding this now to test I have set it up correctly




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CANIA GORGE

Thanks to everyone who sent us well wishes for our travels. We like hearing from you We are learning fast the huge area of queensland that was affected by the january floods. Three of the places we have camped or tried to camp were totally covered




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How is this paradise It is but how

Would you stay in a place like thisAccommodation cramped dorms with outside toilets and showers only cold water and no soap or toilet paper. They were permanently dark and filled with comically offensive graffiti also without locks o




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Ludilo ctd.

Prav za prav bi lahko kar nadaljevala z vcerajsnjim naslovom ...Spala sem kot ubita z obcasnimi postanki za poslusanje huronskih nalivov skorajda 11 ur. Je bilo pac treba.Potem pa sem bila povabljena na frustk s svojo na novo posvojeno familijo. Ll




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video posted on flagoz.com

oct 72010. momentum gaining. video now viewable on flagoz.com click on youtube. tom and i spent three hours yesterday cutting form the clips i'd done into a three minute collection of vox pop and flag waving. very exciting and rewarding that i've done i




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Rurrenabaque Pink Dolfins Piranha FishingAnaconda hunting

Sept 27Oct 1stIt was really nice seeing John at the airport when I arrived. THe altitude of La Paz considering it is the highest capital in the world didnt affect me like I had assumed it would. I did purchase a coca cola which helps and John and I




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Incredible India ...

Tako kot gre turisticni slogan Incredible India ...Ugotovila sem da lahko zacnem razvijati nov adrenalinski sport lov na vzlet letala Po tem ko smo za dve uri neplansko obticali na avstrijski cesti zatadi prometne nesrece kamiona nalozenega z 22 ti




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Photos of Apartment and view from Balcony

Photos of my Guatemala City apartment and the view from my balcony. Photos 112.




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23 India Week 1

Hello helloWell we did it. 1 week down 11 to go in India. It took most of the first week but we now have a room in a flat a reliable internet connection sim cards in our phones skype set up and a few Indian friends to boot. Still no running wat




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Last day in Brisbane then Home Sweet Home

Hi allWell we're home now safe and sound and seem to have adjusted to the different time zone after a few nights of broken sleep We're both enjoying looking back on on the blog and on what a brilliant time we had in Oz so thought we would wrap it all




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Berkeley Revisited

Well I'm back here after spending the summer at my apartment in Paris with side trips to Marseilles and the Calanques county Dorset on the south coast of England London and oAmsterdam . On the way back to California I stopped off for a week in Bost