11 August 2013

Greek Islands . . .

I do not even know where to begin... My whole 2 weeks in the islands just seem like a massive dream and a little unreal now that I look back on it.
I arrived in Athens and almost cried. Having only ever travelled to Asia, to land in a European country was overwhelming and a bit of a shock to the system. I was so excited for the coming 2 weeks I couldn't contain myself.
My beautiful younger sister Alex and her bestie Georgia came to meet me at the airport and then we waited for our younger brother Kai to arrive.
Margarita was already in Greece so we met her later at our hotel in Monastiraki. The 5 of us were about to embark on a sun and alcohol fuelled 2 week party!
We caught the early morning ferry from Rafina to Mykonos and the second we arrived in Mykonos it was straight to the beach. Lined with straw umbrellas, restaurants and bars built traditionally with white paint and blue shutters and doors, crystal clear blue water, endless cocktails, eye candy for both guys and girls....
I'm rambling now.

Platys Gialos Beach - Mykonos
 After the beach, we all had a quiet night in as jet lag had struck Kai and I a little and couldn't muster the energy to do anything.
The next day we headed into Mykonos town to do the norm touristy sight seeing thing. We went to the windmills which look even better than they do on photographs, we watched endless waves crashing up against the houses in Little Venice, we saw Petros the famous Pelican that just waddles around town like a boss...
We ate gyro pitas, souvlaki sticks and got straight into the 2euro vodka breezers. When its that hot, and alcohol is that cheap, vodka tends to become second nature just like buying a bottle of water.
After looking in every shop possible, bottle in hand, it was time to head back and continue drinking/get ready for the night ahead.




We were enticed by a Jamaican promo boy that stood almost 7 foot tall called Buju, to buy tickets to Afrojack.. the 'not so cheap' price came with a free drink and a free shot. So we thought it was semi worth it, we were in Mykonos after all and not about to waste a minute!
We got out tickets and headed back to the hotel.
There were no DJs playing the first night so we walked 15 minutes around the rocks, walked through the central party beach of Paraga, then a further 10 minutes around the rocks to Paradise Beach and came to a beach bar called Tropicana. We'd only been there for 30 minutes and I was already having the time of my life... girls in bikinis dancing on the bar, guys in shorts on the podium rocking their socks! This place was great! Positioned ideally between the islands 2 biggest clubs, Paradise Beach Club and Cavo Paradiso, it was a struggle to NOT want to soldier on when Tropicana closed at 11pm.
Not much was on the first night, no special DJs but we still had a great night dancing until sunrise.

 
The next night, and the following 3 nights, we spent from 3pm to 7am drinking and dancing on podiums to the likes of Afrojack, Sven Vath and Paul Van Dyke. Slowly watching the sunrise over all the happy people, swimming in the pool which was conveniently place in the centre of the club, making friends with the most random of people from all over the world..
During the day, we mostly slept, or slept hungover by the pool, or the beach, curing our headaches with more daiquiris and chicken gyros... I semi regret not doing more during the day but we had TOO much fun during the night to have any form of energy to move a muscle by sunrise.

Afrojack at Paradise Beach Club - Mykonos
After Mykonos, it was a blurry 5 days in Ios... I never thought it could get more 'party scene' than Mykonos as Ios has no massive clubs but more bars, more smaller clubs and then some more bars. The 'club' entry and drinks were way cheaper than Mykonos, and even cheaper than you would find in Melbourne.. so, needless to say, the time spent in Ios just kind of melted into one very long night.
Whatever time we spent conscious, was spent at a gorgeous little cafe that served amazing breakfast and the best frappe lattes, we spent time on the beach and then, again, back to Far Out beach club to kick on at about 6pm...


Unfortunately, I didn't have as much time in Santorini as the others as I had my flight to catch back to Egypt/Malaysia/Melbourne... so the 12 hours I was there I made the most of it!
I met up with 3 beautiful girls we met in Mykonos and Ios, and they accompanied me to Oia for one of the most famous sunsets in the world.
I had been dreaming of this moment for years and every time I looked at a photo of Santorini, I would die a little from giving myself a mini heart attack that I would one day witness it for myself.
No photo I ever gazed at gave this place justice.
The girls and I found a spot on the lookout, and slowly waited as the sky got pinker, and the sun got redder.
After a while we figured it would take ages for the sun to set so we left our posi to grab a Greek salad at a cute cafe.
As we were eating, everyone (hundreds and hundreds of people) started clapping and cheering and we figured this must be the sunset so we left our table to watch. The brightest of red suns Ive ever seen was slowly disappearing into the horizon and people were taking happy snaps left right and centre.
I honestly have no words to describe how beautiful it was and hope one day soon I can go back and explore more of Santorini and the other islands.



After a brief stopover in Fira town with the girls, some frozen yoghurt and back to the room to pack my bag, it was time for me to leave for a 1am ferry back to Athens to spend one day exploring the Acropolis Ruins.
It was sad to say goodbye to Kai, Georgia and Margie, but I would be seeing them soon back in Melbourne. It was the hardest to say goodbye to Alex my sister as she was continuing on a year long journey around the world, back home at the end of April 2014.



Now, that I'm back in Melbourne, I'm back at work, back into the swing of things, dreaming of how splendid my bank account will look in a year to go back and do it all again plus more...

Until next time..

Keep dreaming.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR TIME IN THE GREEK ISLANDS

7 August 2013

Philippines . . .

After an eye opening, jaw dropping 3 weeks in Nepal, it was time to pack up our trekking boots and pull out the bikinis and head to the most tropical destination of the trip. El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines.

Now, this would have been ideal and the most 'relaxing' part of the trip, however Jono and I managed to pick up Gastroenteritis from Nepal. Not that hard considering how dirty the water is there.
The day we woke up in Kuala Lumpur was the first day the sickness struck. We both had to fight over who needed the toilet first. It was not pretty and definitely not a good way to wake up.
By the time we got to Manila, after a delayed flight, we had gotten even worse which resulted in us missing our morning flight down to Puerto Princessa. To cut a long story short, and to get the gross parts out of the way, we spent the entire 11 days being sick and found it hard to enjoy the sights and what El Nido had to offer. But I'm only going to talk about the good stuff now. One definite pro of being sick was losing 6kg...

When we arrived in El Nido, we took a tuk tuk past what I initially thought to be the most beautiful beach I had ever seen, to our amazing cottage accommodation. Bamboo huts with hanging white shades we were already in paradise and hadn't even ventured anywhere.
Being an exhausting 2 days we spent that arvo in bed sleeping off our sickness. Not wanting to waste a minute, we forced ourselves out of bed and took ourselves down to the beach to find tiki torch line shores with beautiful restaurants decked out with crazy Asian handcrafted furniture and live music.
It was so blissful and only into day 1!

Over the next couple of days we hired a bike and rode out to the middle of nowhere, got a local guide to take us 30 minutes through the rain forest to a waterfall and swimming hole. It was deep enough to climb up onto the rocks and jump in. When in Rome!


We rode out to 4km beach. Now I thought the beach we saw earlier was pretty special, but actually looks quite scummy and dull compared to this beach. The WHITEST of white sand, and CLEAREST blue crystal water. Lined with gigantic curved palm trees, and dropped coconuts this place was another form of heaven.
Relaxing under the sun in a woven hammock, we tried to forget about how horrible we felt inside and enjoy soaking up the salt and sand, bronzing up.


For sunset, it was known amongst locals to go to Los Cabanos beach, about 20 minute ride south. They weren't wrong, and I'm not exaggerating or lying when I say it was the most insane sunset Ive ever seen in my life.
Blue, pink and purples filled the sky in a way id never seen and probably wont ever see again.


Kayaking out to part of Cadlao island, we found a private beach with nothing but ourselves and a few palm trees. We baked, we played, we snorkeled, we found Nemo! We made the word PARADISE out of rocks and coral. Looking back on our time in Philippines it was like a dream. No place is THAT amazing.




After a few more days of waterfalls, stunning beaches and swimming (and vomiting and toilet runs) it was time for our final night. No better way to send us off than having 'the best pizza I've tasted', a $7 bottle of Malibu rum, some great company (the locals, and the hotel staff), beach bonfire and some drunken karaoke.
Back in Kuala Lumpur we reminisced with photos and videos and forever Paradise - Coldplay will remind me of El Nido.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR HOLIDAY VIDEO

#takemeback

Nepal . . .

Well, I would like to say that I'm glad to be back, but in reality, you can never be TOO happy to be back in freezing Melbourne after 2 months of blissful heat and contrasting scenery.
Let me start off with 3 weeks in Nepal.
Landing in Kathmandu for the first time, and seeing Mt Everest poking up above the clouds was inspirational breathtaking. Never had I imagined I would witness such a world wonder right in front of my eyes.
The culture, food, history, people and most of all the SHOPPING was beyond dreams.
True hippy heaven with all the tie dyed dresses, hemp woven skirts and colourful jackets. Not to mention the jewellery and home decor.
I truly had never seen a place like it before and completely underestimated how spiritual and just plain 'cool' the place was.

After a short shopping stint in Kathmandu, we spent a few days down in the jungles of Chitwan, where we frolicked with painted elephants, ran away from charging rhinos, almost capsized our canoe into a river of alligators and almost got attacked by a tiger. Not to mention the never ending swarm of giant mosquito's!


Another 7 hour hot bus ride and we found ourselves in Pokhara. The most chilled out hippy lakeside town I've been to. The bars, the cafes, the shopping and the scenery was definitely one I can go back to for another holiday. Absolutely beautiful.

From Pokhara, we took and hour and half drive to Nayapool where we embarked on our 5 day trek through the Himalayas/Annapurna.
I would highly recommend EVERYONE to take the chance and do any form of trekking through the Himalayas. No words can describe what you witness.



Although it was extremely difficult, and such a huge challenge for someone as unfit as myself, the feeling of reaching the 'top' at 3500m was of pure achievement.

The first day we walked UPHILL for 5 hours, had an hour lunch break and then started 4 hours up about 4000 steps. The second day was quite similar, another 2000 steps and a further 4 hours uphill, and again, on the third day, another 2000 steps and so many hours uphill.
The next 2 days were spent going a little up and then mostly downhill which surprisingly I found harder. The strain it put on your calve muscles having to hold yourself up while going down rough terrain but let me tell you, my legs are so much more toned now than ever before. 
After feeling extremely healthy and fit, it was time to pass out for 2 days back in Pokhara and relax.

In Pokhara, Jono and I found a homeless 5 year old sleeping in the gutter of the street and although its very common for there to be so many kids on the street, we could NOT with all our heart walk past.
We asked everyone if he had a home, no one seemed to know. We carried him back to our hotel, showered him, washed his clothes gave him food and water and put a cartoon on for him. I have a feeling that that might have been the very first time he slept in a proper clean bed too.
The next morning, we took him out to buy a new tshirt and new thongs, BUT I had never seen a bigger smile on a child than when we bought him a chocolate milkshake. The smaller things in life that make less fortunate people happy really makes you appreciate little things back home.
Later that day we found out he had an uncle in a close by village. Unfortunately and unrealistically we were not able to just take him home with us.. so I dropped him back and it was extremely hard knowing that he would most likely end up back on the street again that night but at least for then I knew he was safe at home with family.



Then again, a 7 hour bus journey back to Kathmandu for more shopping and finally meeting the 32 orphan children I have not stopped hearing about for the last 5 years.
My mother met these children during her first trip to Nepal, fell in love with them and has not stopped looking after them ever since.


They were ecstatic to meet me as well and it was all a little overwhelming to begin with that I almost cried. The smiles and the happiness in these kids personalities when we first walked through the gate was nothing like I'd seen before in any child.
We spent the day with them, walking around the village, eating Dahl Baht around the 'family' dinner table and then the next day walking through Bhaktapur Durba Square.


To cut it short, I was sad when I had to leave Nepal because I have honestly never seen a country like it. Everyones attitudes are so caring kind hearted. Of course you have the street sellers in your face every second trying to entice you into their shop, but there was not one person I met that I didn't like or that didn't have a heartbreaking, heartwarming or interesting story to tell.

Nepal is on my 'TO DO' list again. I will most definitely be back there again to see the kids, to fill up my wardrobe or to buy incredible decor for my future house. And I would highly HIGHLY recommend ANYONE to see Nepal at least once in their life. Its a shame I couldn't trek the Mt Everest base camp but lets be honest, I'm no way near fit enough for that yet. But there's always next time!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH MY TREKKING VIDEO


CLICK HERE TO WATCH MY 'MEET THE KIDS' VIDEO