PHUKET

Phuket

Phuket's blog page is gladly brought to you by wotif.com who gave us great deals at all the resorts. We paid between 38 - 55 Auzzie a night for 4 or 5 star resorts. Life is a beach!

Centara 29/10 - 1/11 (upgraded)

Kata Poolside 1/11 - 3/11

Diamond Cottage 3/11 - 8/11

Thavorn Beach 8/11 - 12/11 (upgraded!!)

Patong Inn 12/11 - 13/11

(Oh and no we haven't sold out!)

1 day turned into 2...... which turned into 15 at the blink of an eye.

Sightseeing tours? - Didn't do any.

Western restaurants - Pass.

Get a diving certificate - no thanks.

Room service? - 'Can you bring up some more toilet paper'.

Buying fakies.... maybe later.

Free Transfers somewhere? 'We're on it!'

Our time in Phuket was pretty uncomplicated....... and that's precisely why we loved every second of it!

HIGHLIGHT (at least 3 times per day) - Food, glorious food! If Oliver was here the boy wouldn't have gone hungry!! Never before have we eaten so mouth-wateringly well for so little. Red & Green curries, phad thai, noodle dishes, spicy soups, papaya salads, mango & sticky rice, satay spears..... ohhhhh the list is endless and the prices crazily cheap. Every meal was greeted with much enthusiasm!

(Editors note - due to daily gym sessions we did not get fat so there!)

What we did for the rest of the time when we weren't eating:

- Mauling loads of glorious sun.

- 1/2 price drinks @ the poolbar.

- TC becoming an aunt for the 2nd time courtesy of Jack Campbell. Good work N&G....... especially N!

- TC becoming a gym junkie.

- Watching the 1st 4 Star Wars movies on TV.

- Being upgraded to the OceanView suite with Jacuzzi on the balcony overlooking Patong...... could get used to that!

- Just chilling!!

TOOL OF THE WEEK - Steve McBacon.....you had to be there!!

Close second - Old dodgy guys with money!!

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur 25/10 - 29/10

After staying in beach bungalows for the past 16 nights, an air-conditioned room with a hot shower and satellite TV was like being in the twilight zone! We stayed in the heart of Chinatown between 2 major market streets where bargains were there to be found. The relaxed East Coast Malaysian vibe seemed to disappear and the local hawker stalls with dollar signs in their eyes took over. To sum it up, we dined at hawker stalls, browsed the new-age shopping malls complete with rollercoasters and fun parks, and sweated our way through city humidity. Back to civilisation!

MAJOR HIGHLIGHT - Going to the movies for the first time in ages. 2 tickets, drinks and snacks =10 auzzie bucks........ 1983 prices and loving it!

HIGHLIGHTS -

- Watching Liverpool v Arsenal fight out a draw. C'mon the Pool!

- 4 officially sanctioned 'No alcohol' days - gotta be some kind of record!

- Free meals and welcome drinks at the Swiss Inn.

- Internet access for the 1st time in 2 weeks (It's a sad life we lead!)

Palua Tioman

Tioman Island 9/10 to 24/10

The Lonely Planet sums it up perfectly

"intensely beautiful island where the locals have to be asleep to be more laid back".

The plan was to stay 3 nights and we ended up staying 16! It was our first glance of true remote tropical paradise! Our first 3 nights were in ABC in a hillside Chalet overlooking the beach - best place in the village! We spent 3 fun packed days and nights with Luke, Agnes and Enclaire before doing the jungle trek to the other side of the island.......after 2.5 hours straight over a mountain (TC thought she was going to die!) we saw one of the most beautiful beaches in the world - Juara. It didn't take us long to make the decision - back we went to get our bags this was going to be our home for the next 10 nights. The trip back with our bags involved a 4WD and a so called 'road' - most terrifying trip ever.

There was little to do apart from swim, snorkel, body surfing, sunbake, read and totally relax!! PERFECT! The only other tourists in the village were Steve, Matt and Steph all from England who were great fun to have dinner and a few drinks with each night. Our last 3 nights were spent in Salang - a busier village with great coral reefs - we even saw a turtle!

We absolutely loved Malaysia - the friendliness and hospitality of the laid back locals is truly amazing!

Highlights

- Celebrating Hari Raya with the locals - this is an Islam tradition were the locals invite everyone into their homes and share a meal after fasting during daylight hours for over a month ('open house'). We were invited into 2 houses and were offered sticky rice in bamboo leaves, curry and biscuits.

It also involves a few homemade fireworks!

- Going for a night swim and seeing the plankton! just like the movie - The Beach.

- Seeing moneys during our jungle treks

- Fish BBQs

- Rainbow Chalets & Bushman Cafe

Tool of the week

Sandflys & mozzies!

Singapore

Singapore 5/10 to 8/10

We fed a sad farewell to Europe.......thank you for so many fantastic memories!!!....and welcomed South East Asia. Sticking to our new S.E. Asia budget landed us in a hotel in the suburb Geylang - apparently the redlight district of Singapore! After dodging the girls we found some great local food stands
and our taste buds got a good workout...loved the clay pot and tofu!

After visiting the Singapore hospital to get our injections and stock up on meds we caught up with Gilsy and Brooke who showed us the city they have called home for the last 12 months.

Highlights

- Watching Torres equalise in the 92 minute mark at Gilsy and Brookes 'cool as' apartment overlooking the city.

- Chili stingray

- Half price cocktails at the Swisshotel.......some things never change!!

- Chicken feet!

Tool
The English expats who thought that they might have a chance to win the world cup after beating Australia.

Munich - Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest - 28/9 to 4/10

Oh.. this is hard to write about as it is one of the most surreal experiences we have ever had. Germans of all ages dressed in traditional kits, drinking steins and absolutely thrilled to be showing of their festival to the world - the more the merrier seems to be the motto!!

This year we started Munich off Aussie style - watching the AFL Grand Final and oh.....what a day! Up at 5am to the tunes of 'We are Geelong' courtesy of TC, we trained in into Ned Kelly's bar where we arrived to a packed house. Troy, Carls, Milton, Raj and Jerum were up for a stein for breakfast in the best seat in the house (once again Troy came to the forte!). TC was super nervous and didn't talk to anyone in the first half (editors note: she did happen to get thru 2 steins however!). The crowd was loud and merry, the beer good and the Cats were smashing Port! When the final siren sounded the Cat supporters went nuts singing and dancing....what a relief - after 44 years they had done it - Ronnies wish had finally come true. All this and it was only 9am!!! We looked at each other and the decision was made - off to Oktoberfest to celebrate!!

After a massive 18 hour session (well it was 44 years!) with TC still in Joel Corey's Geelong Footy Shorts, we caught up with 4 new arrivals from OZ - Clay, Jo, Hayden and Ang - who came over just for the fest. We headed in, got a great table courtesy of Tim (Milt's Mate) and caught up over a few cold large ones..... and I'm not talking about the pickles! Later that day there was no more dancing on the tables for Clay as he had trouble even standing up! Not sure if it was jetlag or too many steins but .... refer to 'tool of the week' for more info!

Needless to say - great city, great festival, great beers, great food and great company led us to have a super great time over the entire 6 days! Thanks to everyone who made not only Oktoberfest but our last week in Europe a BLAST!!

Oktoberfest...in a few words

Crowds, Phil Narkle, giant pickles, dumplings...but not bread ones!, Country Road, novelty hats, PROST!, snitziel sangers, bratwursts (x 15), crackling, singing, sore thumbs, mauling, late night phone calls, 21 in Italian, great cleavage, goulash, sauerkraut

Highlight of the week

After 44 long years (as Ron will testify to) watching the cats win the Grand Final will go down for TC in particular as the highlight of the year let alone the week. To be in Munich with close mates celebrating was something special and will be in our memories for the rest of our lives. GO CATS!

Tool of the week

Surprise, surprise....who else but Clayton could be so drunk, who else but Clayton could be so stupid, who else but Clayton could be so uncoordinated??

After heading home early from the fest on his first day, Jo guided the great man the whole trip home until she saw the hotel sign.....'Yes we're home!' she thought BUT our fearless leader had other plans - he missed the last step off the bus and headbutted the concrete. He was knocked out, had chipped his 2 front teeth and was lying in a pool of blood. Less than 24 hours in the country and in need of medical assistance......BUT to his credit - after a trip to the dentist at 10am the next morning he was back drinking at the Fest by midday! Congratulations Clay u r now the tool of the week and red hot favourite for TOOL of the YEAR!! PROST!

Zurich

Zurich 24/9 to 28/9

Next stop to see MC in Zurich. He greeted us at the airport and took us to his wonderful new apartment on the lake where we had drinks and caught up with all the goings on. As always, Maurizio was the 'host with the most' driving us to see the beautiful cities of Lucerne and Bern, taking us to the great bars and restaurants and due to our lack of clothes providing us with long socks, jumpers!!

Highlights

- MC taking us to a typical Swiss restaurant where we indulged in 3 mouthwatering courses, prosecco, beer and wine followed by an aperitif! Your are a legend MC!

- Bumping into a red knob in Lucerne and his wife. Good work Jimbo and Bianca.

- Riding our free McDonald bikes around Lake Zurich. Cadel eat your heart out.

- Having an Italian feast @ MC's parents to welcome their family from Oz. Thanks again Lucia and Giuseppe

London

London 19/9 to 24/9

We flew into London for the BIG prelim game - Geelong Vs Collingwood! 2 nights with Carls and Milts, including a home made feast (thanks Carls) and an early start down at the Slug@Fullam to witness the battle of our 2 teams. It was all of Fulham (Geelong) Vs Me (Pies) in what turned out to be a cracking game. 3 hours later with a hoarse voice and a few too many beers I jumped on the G-Town express with the rest of Victoria - Catters do us Proud!

We then headed to our old place in Holloway where we spent 2 nights in our old room - weird! The Super Sports Weekend was spent with Troy watching the Pool, 20/20 cricket and rugby world cup. Drinks Saturday night with Troy, Jean, Kristy, Marty and Kieran topped off a good weekend.

Highlights

- Watching the Brownlow live and cracking a bottle of wine when Jimmy Bartel got up. His mum is a teacher @ Geelong East Primary and is a good lady! Well done Di & Jimmy!

- Dropping in at our local Spanish restaurant 'El Molino' 1 more time!

- Enjoying 1 more Pad Thai at Chompoo... our local Thai fav!

Highlight or lowlight ....... depending on how you look at it. Geelong luckily getting over the Pies due to the class of one G. Ablett!

Tool of the week

Has to go to Dazza this week for being the jinx! All 3 teams he was barracking for got done - pool, pies and aussies in 20/20! Hang your head in shame!